Low Approach

Enough of talking about Hong Kong for a little while. Let’s talk about awesome low approaches into St. Martin airport, SXM, in the Caribbean. It is a famous airport for large airplanes and low approaches. It is a tiny island, and the runway is only 7,200 feet long.

SXM is a favorite visiting spot for many from the Netherlands and France, two countries that share ownership of the island. There is such demand for flights into SXM, that both Air France and KLM fly large aircraft into that small airport, because of the popularity of the island. This is a great combination for large airplanes close to the ground because of the size of the plane and the length of the runway. 

Planes cross over the beach with sometimes 10-15 foot clearances over the heads of the sun bathers on the beach! I’m in training to fly the 747, pictured above, and the close proximity to the people on the beach shows just how big the plane really is, and how amazing this approach is. Too bad that Cathay doesn’t fly there!

This YouTube video below, is one of the best I’ve ever seen, of any landing in SXM. The picture at the top of the post shows the landing from another angle. Just look at how close the landing gear come to the fence next to the road, which runs next to the runway. In the picture above, you can see two white specks -- those are two guys who just had the plane cross over their heads, and I’ll bet their looking for a bathroom! Just a little bit low by the pilot means a huge crash and certain death to anyone standing that close to the fence. To dispel any rumors, there have been no major crashes at St. Martin.

There are a couple bars that are close to the runway on the beach, and I can imaging how cool it would be to sit there drinking a cool drink and watching jumbo jets pass by just a few hundred feet away.

Normally, planes try to touch down 1,000 feet down the runway, marked off by runway markings. Here in SXM, the runway is too short to do that, but landing beyond the runway threshold is always a must -- the threshold being a white painted line or bar across the runway. But, some of these guys touch down prior to the runway, in the run-up area, marked off by yellow lines, seen above. Pretty wild and pretty cool.

Below will be the best landing I’ve ever seen in SXM. Enjoy



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Symphony of Lights

We wanted to see some views of Hong Kong from a lookout point in Kowloon. A lot of photos of the old airport were shot from the Lung Cheung lookout point, off of Lung Cheung road. The famous pictures of aircraft flying over the building tops by just a few hundred feet, and the aircraft lining up with the runway from a steep bank, were all shot from this part of Hong Kong.

Old Kai Tak airport closed back in 1998, to the chagrin of many aviation enthusiasts and photographers alike. It was built into the harbor like a long pier, and planes had to fly right over the city to land on the runway. It was a challenge for pilots and really wasn’t the safest place to build an airport, as the traffic increased into the airport and as Hong Kong grew. Building heights had to stay below a certain minimum and with only one runway, there was no potential for growth.

In 1998, as Kai Tak closed, a new airport was opened about 20 miles away, Chek Lap Kok, and is one of the newest airports in the world, and one of the most amazing. It’s new Terminal One is breathtaking and there is food and shopping all over. The airport, as land is at a premium in Hong Kong, again like Kai Tak, was built by reclaiming land off Lantau Island. Even Cathay headquarters and the hotel we are in, is on land that was reclaimed and built up into the harbor. The new airport is away from the city, so there are no views of aircraft coming in to land just over the tops of the buildings. Too bad, but that is what progress does, I guess.

There is a video at the bottom of the post shows that I am not joking about it requiring some skill to land at old Kai Tak, especially when the crosswinds were high. Not all the pilots could do it, or at least smoothly and safely. All Nippon Airways, or ANA, is notorious for having pilots that struggled when landing there. Korean Air had one of the worst, though. This 747 was one of the worst captured on tape, in posterity, for all to see. The pilot landing in this picture dragged the far left engine (number one) and it had to be overhauled. Wild stuff, to say the least. I just wish I had an opportunity to try it.

Now, all that is gone. From our lookout point, we could see the old runway that is now a go-cart center, a drag strip, bowling alleys, and more. The view of the city was pretty amazing and we could see all the growth that exemplifies Hong Kong. The view wasn’t as wild as our view from Victoria Peak, but it was still pretty cool.

We then walked to the train station to catch a ride down to Victoria Harbor. Every night at 8 p.m. in Hong Kong, they do a light show with the buildings across the Harbor blinking and set to music. Some nights they set off fireworks, but every night there is a narration that introduces each building and as that is done, each building’s lights blink as it is introduced. The narration is done in several languages, one per night. This night wasn’t in English, but we still enjoyed the show. Laser light, strobes, and flashing lights on the buildings were pretty cool.

It was dark enough that I wasn’t able to get a lot of shots that weren’t blurry, so next time, I’ll have to buy and bring a tripod. Every visit to Hong Kong needs, at a minimum, to see the light show.

Click on the picture at the top of the blog entry to see more photos from our day and the views of Hong Kong. Click below for the landing movie.



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Home away from home

This is just a quick view of my new home away from home. I try to spend as many hours a day as I can sitting here learning about the 747. It is a pretty amazing bird, but the voice that talks to me in my headphones doesn’t seem to care that his tone and inflection never change. It gets hard to listen to him for hours at a time.

Meanwhile, Laura is enjoying herself in the room, working sudoku and crossword puzzles and watching t.v. shows. Her favorite is on Discovery Channel, which we don’t have at home, called The New Detectives. Detectives solve real mysteries in the lab, catching criminals by finding their DNA and so forth. Also, today, she was able to hang out by the pool and only managed to burn herself just a little bit!

Off to get some sushi for dinner . . .

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Riding the bus

Not only do people eat octopus around here (including me), they also name their electronic debit cards after them. We purchased two Octopus cards today, and that allows us to go “cashless” here in Hong Kong, around town in stores like 7-11, for meals within Cathay City, and especially for riding the bus and MTR.

It saves us 10% over purchasing MTR tickets with cash at the ticket stands, and also saves us a bunch of time, as we can just flash our card over the card reader, and it automatically deducts our stored dollar value from it. They are pretty nice, especially since they can be used at places more than just the bus or train stops. I’m sure they have things like this in large U.S. cities, but I don’t know about them.

With our new Octopus cards, we headed out for the S64 bus line to take us back to Cathay City. It was fun to ride on the upper level and it was Laura’s first time in a double-decker. It was fun, but it was nothing in comparison to riding on the Lightrider!

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Royal Fireworks

As we taxied from the gate in JFK, in our Cathay Pacific 777-300ER on our way to Hong Kong, back in June, I was struck by this music in the inflight entertainment headphones. It was simply magnificent. The music started playing automatically from the “Classical Moods” section of inflight music.

At first, I had no idea what it was. Was it some British anthem? Was it the some score written for Cathay Pacific? Was it some majestic melodious music meant for meditation? Whatever it was, I knew I was listening to greatness. It was so powerful, so majestic, so imperial. 



The notes in harmony, along with the rumbling timpani drums was so much I almost shed a tear! A tear of pride. I was traveling on a plane operated by the company that I was going to work for -- a highly esteemed company that flies all around the world in amazing airplanes and is considered the zenith of aviation aspirations (at least my own).

The music made me think of old British royalty, with their white wigs, long canes, and curled pipes, all marching into a throne room. To be in that room would have meant to be amongst greatness. And for me, sitting in that business seat, behind that Cathay cockpit crew, on that beautiful 777, headed for Hong Kong, I too, was seated amongst greatness. The music made it all the more real for me, as it painted a picture of pride in my mind. Proud to be apart of such a great team. Proud to have made it this far. And hopefully, humble enough to attain the greatness that exudes from an international flight crew like this one, skillfully navigating half way across the world with hundreds of lives in their hands.

I know this all sounds like my head has exploded, but really, it was just an overwhelming experience, riding on that plane and hearing such wonderful music. I felt a little like Salieri, when he first met Mozart, and realized his own insignificance because he was truly in the presence of greatness.

So, without any more pomp and circumstance, click on the player at the top of the blog with your speakers turned up, and let your ears take your mind to a new and high place for the next six minutes. This is truly one of my favorite passages of classical music -- so much so, I bought the album! Enjoy.

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Tsing Yi

Tsing Yi is an island in between several other islands that make up Hong Kong. It is also a stop on the MTR (subway) and there is a large suspension bridge that connects it with the other islands. We wanted to find both the bridge and the observation deck to see it.

We got off the train, but no where on maps or signs pointed us in an obvious direction. Our plans of just winging it had worked so well in the past, that I suppose we got a little cocky. Nevertheless, we forged ahead to see what else we could see. Click on the picture of the flowers at the top of the blog to see more photos of our day on Tsing Yi.

Never finding the bridge (we’ll find it another day) we found a park to walk around in with some nice views and plants. Also, on our way back to the MTR to head home, we saw a fresh food market. Now this market made the whole trip worth it. It reminded me of our friends back home, because I’m sure that the pictures of the market are what they assumed all of Hong Kong was like (“will you have to boil your water?”) Uh, no. But, we also don’t shop in these types of markets.

My mom did her shopping years ago in Indonesia in many markets like the one in our photos, but thankfully, Laura doesn’t have to prepare food from it’s rawest state. There were fish in tanks that were just waiting to be butchered and that is about as fresh as it gets.

In a way, I felt sorry for the poor fishies who wound up here, because this was definitely the end of the line and the train was not going to pull out of the station. But, I remembered my dinner the night before, and how tasty it was, and realized that this is just the way it is.

Some of the fish were split in half on tables of ice. I couldn’t identify all the “parts” inside, but the hearts were clearly noticeable. Mostly because they were still beating! Or at least twitching with leftover impulses. The place was so crowded, and the fish butchers were hollering out in Cantonese -- something like “cold beer” shouts from ballpark vendors. Cuts of meat, slices of fish, veggies, and everything in between, was for sale, and throngs of people were buying it all up like crazy.

Overall, it was fun to see people in this type of fresh market because it isn’t something us Ohioans get to see everyday. Next time we’re in Tsing Yi, we’re taking a better map to the bridge!

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Lamma Island

We headed over to Lamma Island, Hong Kong’s third largest island, to see what we could see. We had read that it was a little slower paced, and much more poor part of Hong Kong.

We caught a ferry from Hong Kong to one end of the island, and planned on hiking a trail to the other side of the island, where there was another ferry stop, to take us back to the main island. The hike was about an hour, and took us past some nice beaches. There are several nice ones around here, but this one is supposedly one of the better ones.

The ride over on the ferry took about 20 minutes and then stepping off the boat was like stepping into a whole other world. There were a few hotels, but nothing I’d want to stay in. Some of the places to eat looked a little sketchy, so we moved on. We hiked the trail across the island, and it was a fun, good walk. At the midway point, we got to a look-out pagoda and got to catch our breaths and take in the scenery. It was getting dark, so we continued to the other side of Lamma, and found some more outdoor restaurants that sold fresh seafood. It was about 7:45 p.m. and the next ferry left at 9:00 p.m., so since we had time, we figured we’d eat some local seafood.

Stopping by the restrooms to wash up, we found out that not all bathrooms in Hong Kong are equal! These were glorified “squat pots” in stalls, with a porcelain hole in the floor. Wow, I certainly lost any urge to purge, if you know what I mean.

Dinner was absolutely awesome! We got to pick out “our dinner” by pointing to the fish, crab, scallion, lobster or whatever, and then a few minutes later, it arrived, freshly boiled, steaming hot on our plates in front of us. One of us loves seafood, and the other of us doesn’t care for it too much. Well, the hungry one of us who enjoys seafood found out that the one of us who doesn’t care much for seafood all of a sudden liked it, when it was fresh and hot. So much for my big meal, but it was fun to share! Laura kept saying, “Oh that’s good too!” The food was delicious, even if I did have to cut the heads off of my own shrimp.

Bonus: we found out that the ferry was free with a validation from the restaurant! The place ran their own private ferry, and we enjoyed a free ride back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is quite the sight, when approaching it by night over the water. The views were spectacular and it was a nice cap off to a great time today. These types of experiences are once in a lifetime and I’m so glad we are able to enjoy it together. If or when you visit Hong Kong, make sure to see it by night and ride a ferry over Victoria harbor, it is simply amazing.

To see more photos of our travels to Lamma, click on our picture at the top of this blog for more.

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First week is finished

There isn’t a lot to update on this week. The first week of training is over and honestly, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. But having said that, it is a lot easier than the rest of training will be.

The first two weeks are orientation and then tests that I have to pass to convert my F.A.A. license into a Hong Kong license. Cathay really doesn’t care much about me at this point, because I’m just in the conversion process. I took two tests on Thursday and one today. I’ll take one more next week, and then I’ll have my Hong Kong licensing taken care of. The following week is when I’ll actually start training on the 747 and Cathay Pacific procedures.

Laura and I are looking forward to the weekend and will probably head downtown again. I’ve run into several of my friends here and it’s been fun to get caught up a little bit. I bought a sim card for my mobile phone, so that I can make local and international calls from my T-Mobile phone here in Hong Kong for reasonably cheap. I found on the internet a string of codes to enter into the phone so that it would accept a new sim card. Then I went to the local 7-11 and bought a sim card with prepaid minutes on it. I can refill the card with minutes at any local convenience store. So, I just popped out my T-mobile sim card and popped in my new card and, “presto,” I have a local phone now, with a local number and all. Now I just have to figure out how the voicemail setup tutorial works, because I can’t figure out how to hear it in English! Either way, local calls are just pennies a minute, and calls to the U.S. are the same. When I know for sure I’m going to stick with this card, I’ll give out its Hong Kong number so you can call my H.K. number!

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Induction Day

As I type this Tuesday morning, I’m still recovering from the ill effects of expelling some bad lunch I got yesterday, with fever, aches, chills, and more, which I won’t go into detail about, but involves both ends of my body.

Things started well on Monday, where I met up with three other guys, all from the U.S. and we stopped by the HSBC bank to get bank cards and new bank accounts that Cathay wants us to have. I spent an hour in this bank on Friday, but that did me no good, because I found out that I needed a different account. Bummer! The bank opened at 9:00 am and we all needed to be up at the sixth floor to begin orientation at 9:45. The first guy was finished at 9:30, and then I finished at 9:45. I rushed up to the sixth floor, but they said just to wait on the other two guys. All that rushing around for nothing.

Thanks to Deby’s help, Laura’s mom, I had one form letter that I left back in Ohio in my hands, and it’s a good thing, because I definitely needed it. Deby was able to find it in our house and e-mail it too me. I printed it off while waiting for the others to finish up in the bank.

Once everyone was on the sixth floor, we all met Amy Cheung. I had corresponded with her a lot via e-mail, but this was the first time to meet her. Everyone else was in suits because they had e-mailed her and asked what to wear for day one. I, on the other hand, hadn’t asked, so I was in a shirt and tie -- there’s always one in every crowd, right? We signed a bunch of forms, were given a syllabus, handed over the forms we were to bring, got our ID pictures made, were given tours, and signed more forms.

It was during lunch that I got some chicken curry, one of my favorite dishes, and things weren’t the same after that. My stomach felt uneasy, and for the rest of the orientation, I felt light headed, my back ached, and I was sweating a lot. “Nerves,” I thought. Well, it was all I could do to finish the orientation before heading back up to the room, taking a shower, and going to bed. This was about 6:00 p.m. Around 7:45 is when the troubles hit me. Let’s just say that I felt much better after my episodes in the bathroom, but even this morning (Tuesday) I still feel bad and achy. I hope this all passes because I have to study for a test I have to take on Thursday.

The other three guys are Dave, Barrett, and Chris. Dave is from Peru and living in Miami, and flew for American Eagle. Barrett flew for ASA, a Delta Connection airline like my own Chautauqua, and lives in Atlanta, and Chris is former Navy, flew at Southwest for a year and then came here. They seem like really great guys.

We had a vice president come in and talk to us about Cathay. He was really nice and talked about the culture and business model that guides Cathay. He said that we are completely independent, and receive no government help. He talked about how in the U.S., the airlines seem to be run more by lawyers, than managers, free to have a bad business model and then just bail into chapter 11 for recovery. Chapter 11 for Cathay here in Hong Kong is not an option. He also talked about how Cathay isn’t a government sponsored airline like Singapore or Thai, where the government gives breaks to the hometown airline. For example, Cathay built a maintenance hangar in between the runways here at the airport. Believe it or not, that hangar was the most expensive real estate in ALL of Hong Kong, per square foot! More than property on Victoria peak or anywhere! But, Singapore Airlines built a similar hangar at their airport, and the government charged the airline one dollar for the whole building!

Cathay feels like the only way to survive in this market of uncertainty and to be profitable for the long haul, is to have lots of money on the balance sheet. Some airlines, like Emirates, would rather buy big shiny airplanes, where as Cathay, being more conservative, would rather have money in the bank, than a big shiny airplane sitting on the ramp, not making any money.

I tell you, after arriving here, I feel a lot better about the stability of my career than had I stayed at Chautauqua. No place is perfectly secure, but I think Cathay is about as sure a bet as any. Now, being on the bottom of the seniority list, I hope they keep growing! Rumor is that Cathay has enough money, that if all income stopped, they could still operate for two and a half years! Amazing. Could a U.S. airline do that? No way.

We’ll, I’m feeling a little better, and the trips to the bathroom are fewer and fewer, so it’s time to start studying. We’ll see how the test goes . . .

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Calm before the storm

This is the last day of freedom before the buzz-saw turns on and I get to walk into it. We’re glad that we did all our sight-seeing this past week, as it is raining and dreary here today.

Monday is orientation, and Tuesday it begins, with, I believe, a test on Wednesday. We are taking it easy today, and with no where to go, that is fine with us. We’ll see how the first week goes . . .

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Hong Kong Day 5

For the foreseeable future, today was going to be the last day for us to go out and sight-see because we plan on taking it easy on Sunday, and I start work on Monday. Also, it’s supposed to rain on Sunday -- which is nice, because it hasn’t rained on us yet. For more pictures from today, click on the picture of the temple at the top of this post.

We wanted to see some local things or some culture, so we decided we’d see Wong Tai Sin, a famous Taoist temple in Hong Kong.

On the way there, we stopped in Mong Kok to see if I could get my six bucks back from the guy who sold me a non-working photo card reader. He hemmed and hawed and only gave me another one, not my money back. I asked if this one wouldn’t work either. He just shooed me away. No one who worked in the store would then look at me, so I stepped out of the store and told people who were about to enter that junk was sold there. I did this for about five minutes and that sent lots of people away and lots of yelling in Chinese from inside the shop! Ha, ha.

As a side note, when I got home, I checked, and both my flash drive and card reader worked; at least for now . . .

Stepping out of the subway MTR station, we could see the Wong Tai Sin temple. There were lots of people there buying incense sticks that they could burn and then request things from the temple, in search of luck and prosperity. In a way, it was sad that so many people can believe in this hocus-pocus. I’m sure they would feel the same about me and my beliefs, or at least until they’ve read: I don’t have enough faith to ben an atheist. This book uses logic to basically prove Christianity as true, or at least the best alternative to other religions. There are lots of pictures from today that can be seen by clicking the picture of the temple up top.

Later on, we took the MTR down to the Science Museum and Art Museum, but neither had interesting exhibits. The Science museum had an IMAX theater, but on Saturdays, the shows are only showed in Cantonese. So, instead we headed over to the Hong Kong Clock Tower and water front.

Finally, we ate in downtown Tsim Sha Tsui, a part of Kowloon, at the Spaghetti House. It was good to eat some pasta with seafood, mushroom, and sun-dried tomatoes. The air conditioning was great and the view was very nice. We were up on the second floor of a downtown building and could look down on the busy sidewalks and shops. We didn’t walk as much today and made better use of the MTR, but we were still tired when we got back home.

Once in the room, we were able to video chat with Laura’s sister, brother-in-law, and their kids. It’s fun to see people on the computer screen, live. Having the Vonage is nice and having iChat is great too. Of course, nothing is as good as the real thing, but that will have to wait several more months.

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Day four in Hong Kong

Happy Independence day, everyone! This is our third Independence day to be together, but we’ve only seen fireworks once out of those three. The other two years, we’ve been out of the country -- in Denmark and now in Hong Kong! What jet-setters we are, huh?

Like I said in an earlier post, we brought our Vonage box with us so that we could make free calls back to the U.S. and allow you all reading this to call our home phone number for free, and we could talk a lot and get caught up. Well, I put that box in our checked luggage, and it gave up its ghost the day I tried to get it to work here in the Headland hotel. My gracious father bought us another Vonage box and FedEx’ed it here on Tuesday night. FedEx is awesome because it left Tyler, Texas on Wednesday morning and got here Friday morning, at 9:00 a.m.! And that’s after heading to Memphis, Anchorage, Hong Kong, and then losing 12 hours! I plugged the new box in and bingo, we’re now cooking with gas. I called my parents and Laura called hers and we are off to the races when it comes to communications. By the way, would you like to talk to us? Call us on our home phone number between the times of 10:00 p.m. and 9 a.m. EST. If you don’t get us, just leave a message and we’ll get back to you. I love Vonage, don’t you?

Today, we wanted to run down to Mong Kok to get some good deals on some electronics we needed, or at least I thought we needed. I wanted a flash drive that I could use for work, and I wanted a camera card reader so that I could take the photos off our little point and shoot digicam and put them on the computer. You can click on Laura’s picture at the top of this blog entry for more photos from our day in Mong Kok.

The streets were packed, as usual, but there is something fun about just walking along and seeing anything and everything you could possibly ever want to buy. The only trouble is, at least with electronics, buyer beware! If you want a real Prada bag or a knock-off, this is the place to be. If you want a tailored suite for $150 U.S. then this is the place for you. But if you want high end camera equipment or other electronics, then the NYC internet wholesalers are the place to be, not here! Try Adorama or B&H for anything electronic, from a camera that costs $150 bucks to one that costs $15,000 bucks. They are in NYC and are trustworthy. For everything else, use Amazon. But don’t buy it here in Mong Kok. I learned this after finding a good “deal” on card reader that when I got it home, doesn’t work. Now I’m afraid to even open the flash drive I got because I want to take it back. We’ll see tomorrow if I ever get my money back. I can buy the same flash drive for less, right here in Cathay City. Arrgh! The trials of life, right? Also, I realized that I can get the pictures off the digicam without the card reader anyway . . . bummer.

Anyway, we had a fun time, even though it was hot, just walking around and seeing all that was for sale. The standard fare here is to be offered something, like a beaded necklace, for an exorbitant price: “For you, 85 Hong Kong dollar.” One U.S. dollar is 7.8 HKD. So these beads worth just a few bucks are offered at US$10.89. No way! We start walking away. “Okay, 60, for you.” No response from us. “Forty!” Okay, now we are getting somewhere. The Asian way is to offer something very high knowing that, I, the customer, is to offer something lower. One never pays sticker price or first price quoted here in Asia -- it just isn’t done that way. They know it and expect you to know it. The good thing for buyers is, that you can walk off and they will give you the absolute best price they can, and if it isn’t low enough, 10 other merchants can be tried out, within 100 feet. It’s a tough way to go for the timid, but can be rewarding too. And no, we didn’t buy the beads, but we’ll be back!

Afterward, we got some takeout food from the food court in Cathay City, the complex our hotel is in, and enjoyed being in for a change. The running around wears on you after awhile. It’s been a good week, so far. I know we have been posting a lot of pictures and blog entries, but they will slow down as I get busier. But for now, it’s fun write to you all about the goings on here in Hong Kong. Tomorrow is Saturday, so enjoy some fireworks and cook-outs for us, will you?

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Day three in Hong Kong

Today was a more laid back day where we didn’t do as much running around downtown like we had yesterday. I had some things I had to do to get ready for work, so we got a later start to the day. Click the picture above for more photos from today.

In the morning, I was in the HSBC banking office getting signed up for a new account for salary purposes and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy out in the hallway looking in at me as he walked past. I thought to myself, “That dude’s staring at me, what gives? He does look a little familiar, though.” I was looking at him like, “do I know him?” and he was looking at me the same way. Sure enough, we recognized each other at the same time: it was Matt Grondin, a friend of mine from Purdue, (we were RA’s together in the same hall) and we flew together at Chautauqua, 8 years ago when he was a new captain and I was a new co-pilot. Wow, small world and crazy running into each other. Also, he lives just a few miles from where I grew up in Texas and wants to move into Arlington, where I was born and grew up! Pretty crazy. He’s been here about six weeks, and helped me get a lot of good information about the upcoming training.

Laura and I ate and headed out to see Hong Kong’s Botanical Gardens. We took a three dollar cab ride to the subway train station at Tung Chung, and headed into the Central Station in the middle of Hong Kong Island. It was all good until that point, then the heat and humidity got the best of us. Hong Kong island is on a hill, or mountain, hence the pictures of Victoria Peak from our last post. So, since we started out near the water, the walk to the Botanical gardens was completely up hill and I, once again, looked like I had taken a shower with my clothes on! We carried some bottled water, but that didn’t help too much. We got to the gardens and saw birds in an aviary, some animals, and lots of greenery. It wasn’t as spectacular as some gardens, like the Fort Worth Gardens, but it was nice to walk around and relax.

Afterward, we enjoyed a nice downhill trot to the central district, where there were lots of pricey shops and throngs of people running around. With our money, there wasn’t much we wanted or could afford, so we set out in search of some local cuisine. After an hour of walking around and looking into different places, we finally decided on Hop Fung Noodles. The place was not exactly four star and we certainly didn’t want to see what the kitchen looked like, but the food was outstanding (even Laura liked hers!). The waiter was very courteous and even brought us silverware. The chef in the front of the restaurant was busy keeping many boiling pots of “things” cooking and frying. I’ve noticed that many of the restaurants downtown, that serve local food, have the guys cooking the food on the street side of the place, with glass windows around him, as if to show off what is being cooked in the store. It convinced us, we went in, and we got some great food. Laura got vegetable soup with noodles and I got some curry chicken. That and two drinks puts us back less than $10 U.S. and we were stuffed!

It was getting late, after 10 p.m. and we were getting tired, so we headed home, but all in all, it was a fun and relaxing day here in Hong Kong land. With all the people, things to do, and places to see, it just amazes me that all this exists and I never new about any of it. I mean, people living their daily lives, hawking junk to tourists, selling wild food, shopping, working, living, and now we get to be a part of it. There is someone who knows about all that goes on in this huge world of ours, but we as finite humans only get to catch a small glimpse of all that goes on under the sun. I’m glad that we are able to see and do things that very few others from our part of the world get to see and do. This place has been bustling with people long before we got here and will continue long after we’ve gone, with so many people’s stories and lives and situations. God cares for each one of these people here in Hong Kong. I am overwhelmed with how many people there are here, and each person is important to Him. It shows me just how big a God we serve, and that He can be a loving, caring father to each person in this great big world we call home.

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Day two in Hong Kong

Today was a great day for us in Hong Kong! We saw some amazing sites and had a wonderful time. Click Laura’s picture for the photo album.

I woke up about 3:00 a.m. and just got up and started working on the computer. I wanted to stay up so I’d be tired enough this evening to sleep through the night (It worked!) Laura got up a few hours later because she is sleeping better than I am. We got up and went down to the breakfast buffet. She had some fruit, frosted flakes, and a muffin, while I dined on scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, raw salmon, oat meal, and dim sum. It was very tasty, and that ended up being the last time we would eat until dinner.

Stop one on our grand adventure today was to ride the cable car up the side of the mountain, just a few minutes from the hotel. It only cost $10 bucks for both of us and the ride ended up being even more fun that we thought it would be. It was about 10 minutes up and 10 minutes back down. The views were amazing and the entire airport could be seen, along with the hotels, condos, and mountains. Those condos, by the way, are about 50 stories high!

We stopped in a shopping center style building to use the restroom. I asked an employee where one was and he had no idea what I had said. I then remembered that on maps, the word toilet was used, so I asked him where a toilet was, and that did the trick. We headed into one and I found two urinals that literally had less than one inch between them. I’m glad I was the only one using them. Then I went to wash my hands and found that there was water, but no soap or towels! A man came out of his stall and proceeded to “wash up” with only water. I had to leave when I saw him starting to rinse off his face and use his hands to bring water to his mouth to rinse and drink! Laura faired worse, because when she came out, she said she would hold it until we found somewhere else. Not only was there no soap or towels, there was no toilet paper anywhere! No where in the stall was there a place to hang it. She found out later in another bathroom, that some toilet paper is hanging outside the stalls. Hmmm. Better grab you enough, I suppose.

Then we bought train tickets, and once again headed into town. We got off at the Jordan stop and walked the fifteen minute hike to the Hong Kong History Museum. There was a sign outside that said: “Free on Wednesdays.” Awesome -- can’t beat that! We got to see lots of the culture and also enjoy some of the air conditioning. One of my friends told me that the sun hasn’t been out for almost two weeks, but it has been nice and sunny ever since we arrived -- God is good. Sunny and humid, I might add. Some of the pictures of me will look like someone threw a bucket of water on me. Well, they didn’t, I am just suffering the injustice of a lack of evaporation . . .

After the museum, we hiked, and hiked and hiked our way through people and traffic to the Star Ferry that was going to take us on a 10 minute ride to the Island of Hong Kong. It cost Laura and I a combined $12 dollars Hong Kong - or $1.54 U.S. to ride the ferry. I must say I do hate these high prices! (Kidding -- our money is traveling as far as we have!) For those confused about being in Hong Kong and then traveling on a ferry to see more Hong Kong, your confusion is understandable. Hong Kong is really a group of islands and peninsulas. Looking at a map here, you can see that there are several parts to it, all connected by either train or ferry. Kowloon is the main part of HK that is connected to mainland China, and HK island is the island just South of Kowloon where most of the tall buildings are that are seen on post cards. The airport is on Lantau island, off to the west of HK about 10 minutes. All of it, though, is Hong Kong.

After the ferry, we more or less wandered for an hour, hot, thirsty, and hungry. We wanted to be at the top of Victoria Peak during the dusk hours, so we had to plan out where we had to go to make that happen. We saw a bunch of shops and street vendors, and I was checking the prices on a few electronics and camera stuff; my wonderful bride, being ever patient while I did so. We decided to eat something and stopped into an air conditioned restaurant. I asked if they had English menus and the hosted said yes. It was nice, and we sat in a booth that had large windows that overlooked the street below (we were one story up). I opened the menu and that is when the trouble started: Ox tongue, eel, shark, most of it raw, and plenty of other things I didn’t recognize! They brought us tea and that is when I offered to pay for the tea, because we would have to leave. They graciously declined and we headed out.

Sweating and tired, we couldn’t find the Peak Tram that would take us to the top of Victoria Peak. It turns out our map was wrong! We paid $2 U.S. and caught a cab who took us to the tram. The tram is a cable car like vehicle that is towed up to the top of the peak via a huge cable. We hoped it wouldn’t snap on our journey. Once at the top, we saw what all the rave was about: A breath-taking view of the city that only pictures can describe. We hung out on the ledge a while and then ate at one of the few places that looked affordable: Bubba Gump’s. It was good food: I got a burger and Laura had onion rings and a salad. Coming back down the tram, we could still see the amazing sights of the city at night.

We found our way back to the central station and headed for home. All in all, it was an amazing day! Lots of sweating and lots of walking, but now we know a little more about where things are and how cheap the ferries and cabs are. If there is much walking to do again, I’m opening my wallet!

I only wonder what tomorrow can bring? We’ll see!

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Day one in Hong Kong

I uploaded pictures of our trip over to Hong Kong and they can be found by clicking the picture above. Now we are in Hong Kong and experienced our first full day here, and it was very nice. We woke up about 8:00 a.m., after going to bed the afternoon before around 5:00 p.m. As of right now, our bodies are experiencing the throws of jet lag as our circadian rhythms are all messed up.

I ran into a friend, Adam Horbach, who has just finished up his training in Hong Kong and is heading home for some R&R. It was God that brought him to us, because he explained a lot of helpful details about starting out here in the Headland Hotel. Like: Instead of paying for laundry service, there are washers and dryers up on the 22nd floor, walk a certain trail to Tung Chung, instead of paying for a cab or bus (Tung Chung has shopping and is the cheapest train station to get to downtown Hong Kong), where to eat, that I need to wear a tie on day one and for simulator check rides (oops, gotta buy those today!), and more. I’m glad we ran into him.

After meeting him, and him giving us a general tour, we ate some lunch at the hotel restaurant and headed out for some adventure -- in other words, to find me a shirt and tie! We walked to Tung Chung to look around at the shopping and then catch a train ride down town. Tung Chung is just a small district and is where I stayed on my last visit to Hong Kong, for my second interview with Cathay. It’s a little pricey over there, but if you need groceries or fancy clothes, the shopping is there for you.

Then we took the train down to Mong Kok, a shopping district that Adam told us about. He got a tailored suit with a high thread count, three shirts, and two ties for less than $300 U.S. Wow! We looked, and did find a shirt and tie, but not within the sales price that Adam found. I hope to hear back from him exactly where he went, because I want deals like that. Mong Kok is dubbed the busiest place on the planet, with the Guinness book of world records placing it as the highest population density in the entire world! Crowding through the streets, I can see why.

I saw some good deals on high-end camera equipment, to the tune of about $300 U.S. dollars cheaper than in NYC, but I couldn’t fine Wii’s cheaper here -- yet. All the Wii’s I run into are more expensive than in the U.S. if I want the English, U.S. version. I’ll keep looking for a good deal. However, there is no trouble getting one like back home, as they are stacked on every street corner!

We headed back on the train to Tung Chung, and the entire train round trip for both of us was less than $10 bucks. Nice.

Our Vonage box went out when I plugged it in here in the hotel. Bummer. I read on the internet to expect them to last for around three years and mine is that old. I’m guessing that I probably should have kept it in my carry-on luggage, instead of checking it, where no doubt, it got banged around pretty hard. Oh well. My dad is sending us a new one, and if or when we get it up and running, our home phone number will be in use shortly. But, PLEASE do not call our mobile phones, for any reason -- they are shut off, but messages, once received, will cost us. If our phone just rings, receives a voicemail or text, or contacts the cell tower for any reason, it’s a $1.50 and then $1.50 a minute! For emergencies, call our families, and they will have the number to the hotel and can connect you. (If you have Vonage, to call us here in Hong Kong is four cents a minute! Without Vonage, hang on tight!)

We look forward to the next day and see what it has to offer. I feel like these days of fun are the calm before the storm, so I’m trying to enjoy as much of it as possible. Only sleeping a few hours a night can make the days seem long and irritable at times, but that too shall pass. I’m certainly glad that we came early, because I wouldn’t want to feel like this on day one of class. Also, if you are headed out on a vacation to a far away land, like Australia any time soon, may I make a recommendation? Spend the money and go for an extra two or three days. That way, you will have more days to recover from the ensuing jet lag and thus enjoy your visit even more.

Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow!

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Trip to Hong Kong

As I type this, Laura and I are traveling at over 500 mph, at 37,000 feet, approaching the North Pole, on Cathay Pacific’s flight 841, from JFK to HKG. The moving map shows us with Greenland off the right, and northern Canada off the left with just over 11 hours to go until touchdown in Hong Kong.

Cathay put me in business class, so I have a power port for my computer, and a real comfy chair that reclines into a bed, inside my own little cubby hole. Since we purchased a ticket for Laura, she is in coach. Coach, on international flights, isn’t like coach on domestic flights. A personal T.V., more leg room, and better reclining ability. Still, it isn’t business class. I have offered several times for her to trade me, at least for a little while. She seems to be happy curled up next to the window with the pillow I gave her from my seat. I may still get her up here, at least for a little bit, to see how the other half lives. There is a lady near me with two, yes two, kids with her here in business. They are probably six and eight, are quiet, and well behaved, but I just can’t imagine what it costs to buy tickets in business class for the whole family! I’m here because it’s free, and that’s the only time I’ll see it!

Our trip actually began late Friday night, packing up stuff, frantically trying not to forget anything, but also not pack too much. We finally got to bed about 1:00 am on Saturday morning, saying that if we forgot anything, we’d just buy it once we got to Hong Kong. With two hours of great sleep, we woke up at three, because Laura’s parents were going to take us to the airport at 4:15 am. Wow, that’s early, even if you don’t go to bed at one in the morning!

I got up twenty minutes late on accident (I must have hit my snooze while sleeping) and then proceeded to rush around like a mad man. Her parents arrived early, in case of a flat or closed road, and they patiently waited for us to finish our final packing of toiletries and shutting down the house: the hot water heater, the air conditioning, and so forth.

We headed to the airport and had plenty of time for our early flight to JFK. I grabbed a Starbucks and got on the plane. Cathay paid for my ticket to JFK and we purchased one for Laura. Why did we go so early, especially since we weren’t leaving for Hong Kong until Sunday morning? We originally were going to send Laura on stand-by to NYC, and save the cost of a ticket, but at the last minute, we decided to go ahead and buy one for her. Traveling stand-by is much easier in the morning, before all the delays, cancellations, and problems. I bought my ticket for early so that we’d reach NYC about the same time, but once we bought her ticket too, it was just too early! Oh well, we could nap once in New York.

Looking up from typing, it is strange to see London off the right and Anchorage off the left! Polar flight routes play mind games with me. Special navigational computers are needed to cross over the pole, because regular compass flying and headings don’t work anymore this high up “on top of the world.” When you think about it, it makes sense: At the north pole, every direction is South -- so how does one navigate like that? Magically, we will stay on course and arrive in Hong Kong with no troubles.

Once we arrived in New York, we were going to go up town and see Central Park, or at least the Empire State Building, but fatigue got the best of us. Our several hour nap turned into five hours! That worked out best, though, because later in the afternoon, it started to pour down rain, and we wouldn’t have wanted to be caught in that. There was nothing around the hotel because it was in an industrial complex, so we ordered delivery from a local pizza joint. Boy, that was some seriously good food! We got way too much because the portions were so huge. Laura ordered a sandwich on a roll. We thought, for four bucks, it’d be on a bun-like roll. Nope! It was a twelve inch sub! I got spaghetti alfredo that was out of this world, and we got garlic bread and pepperoni pizza. Way too much, but of what we could eat, it was great.

We watched some TV, headed to bed, and got up at six a.m. the next morning, Sunday, to head to JFK. When checking in is when I found out I’d be able to sit in business class and that afforded me a chance to check out the First/Business lounge there in terminal 7. It was very nice, with coffee, juices, liquor, fruit , newspapers, highspeed, large lounge chairs, and so forth. I went in to use the restroom, but headed back out because Laura wasn't let in. I wanted to just sneak her in, but they scan your ticket -- they are serious!

The plane we are flying on is a Boeing 777-300ER. It is painted up with the “Asia’s World City” color scheme and is a gorgeous airplane to behold. The cabin is huge, with seats in coach in a 3-3-3 configuration, and four across in business, with just six seats in first! It seats over 300 in total. There are four versions of the 777 currently in use. The 777-200, the 777-300, the 777-200LR, and the 777-300ER. The older two are the 200 and 300. The 300 is bigger than the 200. The new 200LR has the same fuselage size as the older 200 and the 300ER has the same fuselage size as the older 300. The only big difference is that the 300ER and the 200LR have the same sized wing, which is even bigger than the original 200 and 300. That large wing, that can hold a lot more fuel, plus very efficient engines, makes these airplanes a hot commodity in the airline industry and gives them very long ranges. The 200LR, since it has the same sized wing as the larger 300ER, but is smaller and thus weighs less, is the longest range airplane in the world, and competes directly with Airbus’s A340-500. We are on the larger, 777-300ER, which has no trouble traveling 15 and a half hours from JFK to Hong Kong, non-stop.

We took off on time out of JFK and arrived fifteen minutes late on arrival into Terminal One in Hong Kong. Laura, in her coach seat, was able to sleep some, but I, unfortunately, didn’t sleep a wink. It was a great landing and touchdown in Hong Kong, and clearing customs didn’t take too long. Finding the bus to take us to Cathay City, was a different story. Two people that I talked to and thirty minutes later, we found the bus that would drive us the five minutes it took to head over to the Headland hotel.

The plan was to take a nap and then get up and walk around. We landed at 2:00 p.m. and got to the hotel room about a quarter to four. But, like NYC, we laid down and that was it -- we were out! Hopefully, tomorrow will go smoothly, and the time change won’t kill us too much, but we’ll see. All in all, it was a great day, with lots of excitement, adventure, possibilities, and new beginnings ahead of us. We traveled half way around the world and didn’t have a hitch or scratch -- that says something about modern air travel. As we were headed toward Hong Kong over Northern China, after having been aloft for 13 hours, I was struck with the idea of just how large this world is. The 8066 miles doesn’t even come close to covering this planet, and yet how many people, villages, cities, and country side did we pass over? It is a great big world, and it is all in His hands. I’m glad that we get to see at least a small part of His world, a half a world away from home, here in Hong Kong.

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