It was going to go to Shanghai's Pudong Airport to get to Hong Kong.
Unfortunately "the system" would not allow our bags to go through to Hong Kong which meant we had to go through customs and passport checks to get our bags at Pudong.
We would then check back in at Pudong to get back on the flight to Hong Kong.
"The system" needs fixing because it was a real pain in the derriere.
But back to Paris for a moment. Predictably we were only two of a very small number of Europeans on the passenger list.
The Chinese, if you had missed it, are now cashed up and travel quite a bit.
They have yet to learn to do it quietly as check-in queues bear more resemblance to a fish market, noise wise, than an orderly airport terminal.
By and large they also have no personal space requirement and often will bump you out of the way if you stand between them and a place they are going to.
Coughing, sneezing without covering up your mouth.
Being very loud on your mobile, anywhere and everywhere..
All good! Welcome to China, round eyed person!
It's a different culture and one that take a little getting used to.
At Pudong we enjoyed a display of Chinese Customs officiousness.
Not overly worrying but when you add a 24 hour no sleep period into the mix it was awfully difficult to smile and be polite.
It reminded me of the customs guys in Tangier but without the threatening looks or the multiple locations to have your papers looked at or the constant thought of ending up in a back room cage with Bubba Abdul if you were found to be contravening some unknown, to you, law.
We finally arrived at Hong Kong at 13:45 on Saturday. Tired and in desperate need of sleep.
We caught the A21 bus into Mong Kok, which was a 40 minute ride, for AU$7 (but AU$2.50 for me, 'cos I'm a "senior citizen"!).
Buses here have reliable fast wifi. VicGov, are you listening? In fact, is anyone in Australia listening?
We got off at the Sino Centre, which is about half way up the well known, especially to shopaholics, Nathan Road.
I like to pick a point of reference when I first arrived at an apartment or hotel, just in case I go walkabout and lose my bearings.
I looked around and saw a jewelry shop called Chow Tai Fook Jewelry.
"Yep, that's easy enough to remember. I not get lost here."
Hahahaha. There are close to 1000, and probably more, Chow Tai Fook Jewelry shops in Hong Kong, and never more than 200 meters and almost always less.
There was a spot where one would have to walk more that 200 meters to find a Chow Tai Fook store,
so they're going to rectify that major Hong Kongese problem!
No matter how you try to explain it, there is something NQR here.
It's similar to "that" take-away food shop that the "insert appropriate nationality" own down the road.
You know, the one that never seems to have anyone in it, apart from shady looking characters who never stay there long enough to order anything. Yes, the one that the owner drives an AMG Merc.
You get my drift?
This town has a lot of "interesting" jewelry stores.
Our landlady meets us and walks us to the apartment which is only two short blocks away.
We're here for two nights so it will do fine.
As we put our bags down we are both struck by a wave of tiredness.
Neither of us travel east all that well, and you throw traveling "cattle class" into the mix it magnifies the effect.
We laid down for a few hours and got some much needed sleep.
Later that night we ate at a place where we the only ones that weren't squinting.
Seven types of meats, hacked neatly with a cleaver, steamed green stuff (I'm sure it had never had a heartbeat, so it filled the vegetable requirement my lovely girl had) with garlic by the bucket load and a large beer + iced tea made up dinner.
No pics today because ....... well, because it was a god awful boring day commuting on the big flying bus and then the double-decker bus full of people using it as their own form of heavy haulage transporter and we just couldn't be bothered.
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