We made it!

Well here I am in Hong Kong! And surprise surprise - taking photos of animals :) But seriously this dog was begging to have his photo taken! I found him rather endearing, although he was a bit snappy when I let him sniff my hand. We had a lovely afternoon of shopping - but almost didn't even make it over here after the previous nights events....

It was a complete comedy of errors from start to finish - only I wasn't laughing and neither was S. We left Tam Dao with a huge thunderstorm brewing. Our driver is usually slow anyway but with the threat of rain and lightnight coming it only made him drive slower! This coupled with bad Friday afternoon traffic meant a that we were cutting it very fine to get to the airport in time for check in. Then S. tells me she only realised right before we left Tam Dao that she had left her passport in the hotel we normally stay at in Ha Noi .... um, crap! So she'd organised for a xe om driver to rush it to us at the airport.

Arrive at airport (shit airport!!!). Couldn't find check in counter - many trips back and forth along the departure floor. S's xe om nowhere to be seen and keeps calling her but speaking no English. At this stage our flight left in less than an hour...

Freaking out! Managed to find check in counter - ten minutes to spare! Still no sign of xe om driver .... found out he's waiting in Arrivals!! Called our wonderful translator to call him and yell at him politely explain that we are in departures and he needs to RUN.

Ten minutes later ... Xe om driver comes running ( :) up to us! Passport handed over. S. tries to check in. Check in closed - pleaded and explained situation. S. allowed to check in - yay!

Hmm 35 mins to departure ... RUN to customs! Arrive in customs, nearly empty. Feel silly running (its not a big airport). Clear customs and security. Find Gate. Boarding not commensed yet. Need a drink. Head to cafe. Order a beer. Laugh. Casually drink beer. 10 mins to departure. Start to freak out - no boarding calls? Scull rest of beer. Head to Gate. Speaker announcement - Flight Delayed!! Arrrghhh! Back to cafe. Order Cocktail (Pina Colada thanks very much).

45 mins later - board plane - YAY. Land in Hong Kong. Catch MTR. Exit station. MASSIVE taxi line. Weird creepy guy stares at us lots. Get in Taxi. Arrive at Hotel. No booking.... WTF? Excuse my language... try to be nice.... Find out we are at the wrong hotel (same name two addresses). Hmmm about 1am at this point. Get in another taxi. Arrive at correct hotel. Reception lady very confusing. Five minute argument about deposit money. Sort out deposit money.

1:30 am Checked in to our room. YAY! 8 hours from start to finish. And at the end we could still have a good laugh about the ridiculousness of our 1.5m x 1.5m bathroom which required sitting at an angle on the toilet seat to avoid hitting our knees on the bathub.

Welcome to Hong Kong :)