You've Been Hong Kong'd!

So here I am in the Hangzhou airport waiting for my flight to Hong Kong. The drive here was a whole hour—this city is huge. I didn’t get any breakfast because I thought I would just get something at the airport after I checked in and went through security, but there weren’t any breakfast places. Just typing the word breakfast is making my mouth water. I was thirsty so I went to the only place that was open: China Duty Free. This is apparently code for “much more expensive than if you bought it anywhere else.” My small bottle of water was ¥20, and of course all I have are ones and hundreds.

Checking in and security was extremely fast—faster than I’ve ever seen. When I got to immigration they told me I forgot the departure card. I always forget the stupid freaking departure card. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a card with your name and your passport number and your flight number. All things the immigration officer can see on the other two things you give them: your ticket and your passport. I think it’s stupid and ridiculous. Mostly because I always forget about it. So I went and filled out the pointless card and got back in the line that had gotten much longer. Thankfully I heard the immigration officer call out, “American!” Which was obviously me. She motioned for me to come over so I got to skip the line and go through. Then right as I started approaching the security check, they opened a new line! Of course half of the first line sprinted into the other line like a bunch of crazy people. But I got in line fourth, so I was happy. The security was so easy! I think the US is paranoid about airport security, but they have the right to be.

Well I think we’ve been flying for thirty minutes. The weird thing about this plane is that there is no one sitting in the exit rows. So I asked if I could move there, but they told me it costs extra to sit there. Which explains why no one bought the tickets for those seats. It’s kind of sad when you think about it that the airline wouldn’t encourage safety by making the exit rows a normal price. What if there is an emergency? Who will be brave enough to open the exit doors? I’ve never been in a plane accident, but I’m very confident in the schematics of a plane to not have any type of flying problems. I just hope if something does happen, someone will step up and open those doors!

While I was waiting to board and visited that much-more-expensive-than-if-you-bought-it-somewhere-else. Side story—one time I was flying something, I can’t remember which airline it was—but their snack were these delicious little brown square cookies. The taste was very different and extraordinary. Anyway, I found those cookies in the store, so I bought some and I’m enjoying them on the plane right now. The only drawback is they’re individually packed so I have tons of wrappers.

One thing I do love about Asian airlines (not Asia Airlines, just general airlines in Asia) is that they serve a whole meal on every flight no matter how long it is. It’s always something foreign like Vietnamese or Indonesian food, or something like that. But hey, it’s free food! And really, who can say no to that? Speaking of which, the woman sitting next to me obviously didn’t get enough sleep because her head is bobbing all over the place. Also another thing I like about Asian airlines is that Asians are generally small, so sitting next to them is extremely easy.

For the very first time in my entire life, I went through immigration without any problems! It felt like a miracle. So I expected this grand airport to have more food choices. Of course there was McDonald’s and Starbucks, but I’ve been avoiding McDonald’s after I found out they downsized the menu. I’m not prepared to not see my favorite menu items. But I found a nice little restaurant called Ajisen Ramen and I’m sitting at the same table as an older Chinese couple because apparently that’s how they do it at this restaurant! Oh well. It’s strange here because the currency is the HK$, and its exchange rate is very close to the Yuan. So looking at a menu that says $75 for a sandwich freaked me out a little until I remembered it’s about the same in Hangzhou.

Well, I finally waited long enough to go through immigration and security. Once again, it was a breeze. But that’s just the end of that story. It began with me arriving in Hong Kong and immediately looking for which gate my next flight would be departing. Flight information in hand, I eagerly looked at the departures board for my flight. Problem: it wasn’t there. So I hopefully thought maybe it would be on a different departure board, but alas, it was not. Then I thought maybe it wouldn’t show up until later in the afternoon. So I found a nice spot to relax and enjoy Facebook for a couple hours. A woman sitting across from me even offered me a teaching job. I told her I already had a job and she gave me her card. Which was a postcard with her phone number on it. It was an odd experience to say the least. I went back up to the board to look, and it still wasn’t there! So I caved and asked an airport person where to check in and fortunately, she was a check in employee of the very airline I was taking! She took me to an empty desk and checked me in right away. As I walked to security, I noticed a very, very long line and it was for, yep, the same airline as me. I had just skipped waiting in line for probably 45 minutes.

At first, I thought the airport was rather simple, with only a few restaurants and shops. But after I went through security, it was like entering a massive mall! Stores and restaurants were everywhere! Bvlgari! Gucci! Rolex! Prada! Dior! Even expensive name brands I hadn’t even heard of! And this is just what I can see from where I’m sitting. Needless to say, this is the most packed and well-dressed with stores airport I have ever been in.

After being in awe for a couple minutes, I found a Starbucks and waited in line for a good 20 minutes to get some coffee before the next flight. While I was in line a huge clap of thunder echoed throughout the airport. Everyone was silent. It was very weird. Everyone was mostly ok. The other strange thing about this airport is I see Chinese looking people everywhere, but some of them most definitely speak American. That would be English with American slang. I even waited in the immigration line behind a ginger! I hadn’t seen one of those in a while.

So now I wait for the airport to announce which gate where my plane will arrive. This makes me nervous because there are over 500 gates in this airport and I have no idea even of which general area it will be. But it is delayed 50 minutes so that’s a bummer. This trip was much less exciting than my others, and I am totally fine with that because there were no complications! That’s a first for my trips in Asia. Part of me hopes this is just a one-time thing, because it’s been so easy! But part of me wishes it would have been more complicated, because that’s always more exciting and educational. So instead of saying, “better luck next time,” I say, worse luck next time!