Scott Barronton (00:00)
Hong Kong, our final stop after nearly a month on the road. We flew here after disembarking the cruise ship in Singapore, and in hindsight, we probably could have stayed longer in Singapore, but this stop had purpose behind it. It gave Melissa a chance to see Hong Kong for the first time, and it gave me a chance to come back after almost 20 years. The last time I was here, Hong Kong was still a British territory. Today it isn't.
and I came expecting that difference to feel obvious. Maybe a little bit heavy, maybe uncomfortable, but honestly it didn't. Hong Kong felt very much like the place that I remembered, maybe a little bit bigger, a little more vertical, but the rhythm of the city felt exactly the same.
Speaker 2 (00:54)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
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Scott Barronton (01:22)
I think what surprised me the most is that things didn't really feel different. I expected them to, I sort of braced for it, but once we landed and started moving through the city, it just felt familiar.
You said something interesting when we were there that Hong Kong reminded you of London. What did you mean by that?
So I think it was just, once we got situated, we went to the MTR, which is their subway system. And I think that just felt very familiar, like using the underground. We took a few minutes and looked at the map to kind of see, okay, where are the stations and how does this work? I think that just felt familiar. And then the fact that it's just, you have the city and the big buildings, but mixed in with places to eat.
and just lots of different transportation. So double-decker buses, shopping, and water transportation as well. So you have, you know, the river there and you have the water here. I guess too, like most everything still has a lot of things in English as well, So, I mean, you do have the Chinese, but you have that. So I just think it felt very, I don't know, familiar almost.
like London, even though I had never been there. So I just felt like that was interesting. Yeah, it's just on the other side of the world. And once we started moving and navigating the city, I would say that that political shift kind of faded into the background. You didn't think about it after that.
One of our main goals in Hong Kong was to experience the city through various public transportation. When I was there, I had someone take me on a transportation tour the first time. And so I wanted to share that experience with Melissa. We started out with the MTR, which she talked about and she's right. It's set up. It's got these maps. The lines have different names. They have different colors.
They have the stops along the way. And so if you know how to navigate London city tube, I think you could easily navigate the MTR.
And the MTR was actually connected to our hotel through this kind of shopping mall thing. And right away it was clear how easy Hong Kong was going to be to navigate. And with a few minutes We had found our anchor points across the city and now we're on our way. And then Melissa, we used a water taxi at one point to cross the harbor.
so this is actually called the Star Ferry. And we had had, well you had done it before, but I had a couple of people tell me, make sure that you do this. And so that was one of the things we wanted to kind of start doing that night is, do the subway and try to do as many of these things as we could. So that ride was absolutely incredible and so easy as well. So you basically just walk in.
and it shows you when the next one leaves. And for us, it was just gonna be in a few minutes. We had heard before, people had told us that it would be easiest if we downloaded the Octopus app and you have to load a little bit of money onto that. You can use that for transportation, you can use it to pay for things in stores and things like that. But honestly, after the fact, we found out that just like London, we could have used just like a tap to pay credit card as well.
And I think that works the same way. Like you have like a cap for the day, et cetera. But we just, since we had loaded the octopus card, we just used that. So either way, was, it was super easy to navigate. We did this at night, which highly recommend that you do this at night. Can I say one thing about the octopus card? Before we go into the star fairy is they do require you to put a minimal amount on to that octopus card. And I think it was like,
50 Hong Kong dollars or something like that. Maybe 100 Hong Kong dollars. But that's the only thing to know because it's going to be difficult to get that back off afterwards. Yeah, and I think we could have been more intentional to say, okay, let's go to the shop and, buy something or whatever. But it wasn't very much. It wasn't very much money.
But with the Star Ferry, like I mentioned, we did this at night. Highly recommend that. And if you're here for several days, it's super easy. Like it would be easy to take back and forth places. So you could do it during the day and you could do it at night. But just really seeing everything lit up at night from across the harbor. We only took it one direction that you could, take it in either direction as well or, do it one way and come straight back or whatever.
So I also felt like that it was fairly easy to find. We kept seeing signs too, because we knew, okay, when we got off the MTR, here's the direction toward the water. And then there was some different signs. And then when you kind of made your way over there, you could kind of tell where that ferry entrance was. So we got off and we walked a little bit, but our next goal for that night was to try and ride the ding ding train.
So this is iconic. And from what I understand, it's really something that's only left in Hong Kong. Like you're not going to find this anywhere else. So this is a must. So let's talk about what this ding ding tram is. So they are like double decker buses, but it's a tram. So meaning it has the, like a streetcar tram tracks and the electricity and stuff. So they are affectionately called ding ding because of the ding ding of the bell that
is to warn people in cars that they are coming. They date back to the early 1900s and then they started making them double decker as the population grew, as their popularity grew, as a form of transportation so it could carry more people through the narrow streets.
So like I mentioned, many other places have discontinued the use of the trams, but on Hong Kong Island, they remain as an inexpensive and reliable and a well-loved form of transportation, which I think every tourist needs to try and seek out and do this. So again, think of it as like a double-decker bus, but it's really narrow and tall. It's almost like could be in something like a Harry Potter thing or something too, but they're really cute.
different ones are different colors and they have very tasteful advertisements on them like maybe advertising like a fashion thing or some exhibit that's coming up but it was super easy to use like you could literally get on and I think you had to tap when you you just you get on and you ride and then you tap when you get off. nearly forgot to tap when I got off. Yeah so it was it was really easy and it's also in
in Google maps will also tell you, where they are as well. And, and the thing is, is this is probably more for most people to ride it, just to ride it, ⁓ as a tourist. So it wouldn't be a big deal if you, go several stops and get off or, go and come back or, or something like that, but definitely want to put this on your list. it goes right through that main financial district and
So I would imagine that a lot of people might use this as a part of their daily transportation. Yeah, and I'm not sure exactly where we got on, but I know that we got off at the Admiralty Station, which was close to our hotel. And then like we mentioned, we went inside and then there was the shopping mall and... Yeah, we got on at the Central Station. We had to a little ways to go find the Ding Ding tram stop, but...
It wasn't far from the central station and then got on, rode it to Admiralty because that's where our hotel was. I would also say that at night you're going to find a lot of people, it may be true during the day as well, but at night a lot of people are going to race to get up there and get those upstairs seats. Like maybe you get the better view from up there.
Yeah, and I would say too, probably the longer that you ride it, like if you wanted to be like right in front, you might could ride it for a while and see if they get off, you whoever's in front could get off. We did go up stairs even with you having your crutches and everything just to do it. So yeah, definitely put that at the top of your list for Hong Kong.
And then there's the tram that goes up to the peak. We also did this at night, which was fantastic.
This tram's a bit more pricey and you have to buy a separate ticket, which you can do that online or when you get there to the station. Now we've read that it's super busy during the day and you may have to wait a long time, but we went late at night and went right on. And I think there was a lot of people who bought their tickets just right then. And I was thinking about this the other day is
would this be a good thing to do during the day or is it better to do at night the way that we did it? So I guess I'm kind of torn because seeing the view at night was spectacular. And I can also imagine that if it's like really hazy during the day, then you're just not going to be able to see the city really well. But we also had a clear night. So we were really spoiled with that.
The other thing though is if you go during the day, there are things that you can do up there. So the building that the tram is in has a lot of shopping and restaurants and things like that. There is an observation deck that you can also pay to go in, but you don't have to do that. So don't think that you have to do that. if you do the tram and then walk out, there's almost like a Chinese pagoda type thing on the edge. And they said, the view is just as good from there.
But if you keep walking around in that area, like outside of that building, there are, looks like there's restaurants and all kinds of things. So you would have time to explore. But being, we went up at night and then we bought a round trip ticket. We stayed for just a little while because the last one was going to go down in just a little bit. So I don't know. I've really enjoyed it at night. It would be neat to, if you had more time to look around up there and then maybe stay till the evening.
for the more adventurous, there is a hike that goes from the central area up to this peak, but it was pretty steep. Yeah, it was very steep. there was times when the funicular, so guess we should talk about what that peak tram is. It's basically a funicular and at times it was, I mean, it was going really like...
really steeply up, I guess I should say. it was, Disney themed. I don't know some kind of Disney sponsorship or something, but it was not for Disney parks or anything, but like for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, like they literally played, if you're familiar with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, they played it over and over again. And that song like gets stuck in your head. So there you go. I would also say that when you're going up,
The best seats, I believe, are going to be the ones that are on the downhill side of the funicular. I just don't know that even if you got those on the uphill side of the funicular, I'm not sure how much you would see because at certain times you were just kind of going straight up. But if you have those seats looking back down the tracks, you see how steep it is in the city below. So if you can get in there and you can get on early,
Grab those seats up front.
or when I say up front, mean the ones that are on the downhill side of the train.
and this was the first time that I had gone up to the peak and seeing Hong Kong lit up from above is absolutely breathtaking. The ride itself is part of the experience and the view at the top is worth every bit of the adventure. And, like I said, it would be interesting to see if the view is nearly as good during the day, but go up there, maybe enjoy that high street.
have dinner up there because there's lots of little restaurants and then stay for the view at night. Because you can go back at any time that you want to. Like you don't have a timed ticket that says, you've got to go at this particular time. Just before the last one goes down. And we did not wait for the last one. Scott was like, we're not missing that last tram. That's yeah, I was not walking down.
And if I would say, if you don't do anything else in Hong Kong, make sure you do this peak train. is very well worth it. We'll put a link to it on the show notes. It's called Victoria peak. And, you can check out more information on their website.
All right, Scott. So let's talk a little bit about what we ate. So I would say our downfall of not having very many days is we didn't get to try a lot of different food. But what we did was very memorable. So on our first night, we went to a Michelin star Cantonese restaurant called Sang Kee. And it's actually been a Michelin star restaurant for like years and years in a row. And what stood out to us was not the star.
but how familiar it felt even though we had never been there. So we walked in and there are family celebrating birthdays, multiple generations together at the tables, people just enjoying time together. And the funny thing is it literally could have been anywhere in the world. And we were quickly reminded that if you're traveling in Asia, you should assume that shrimp isn't everything.
because it's like in the paste that they use. And we began to learn that very quickly in Lombok and then in Penang and then here as well. And I think in this case, you ordered egg fried rice, but it came with shrimp. Like shrimp was nowhere in the description. Shrimp was nowhere in the title, but the egg fried rice came with shrimp. And didn't we even say to him, she's allergic to shrimp. So I don't think it translated. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it understood. what would you do? Like allergic to shrimp is not a thing. Yeah. He told us, you needed to tell me that ahead of time. It's like, yeah, I know we did. But, I wanted to just say real quick is this restaurant was recommended to us by the concierge at the hotel. we say that one of the things you should always do is ask a local, where should you eat? And, ⁓ he said, Hey,
this is your first night. You guys look a little bit tired. I think we did look maybe a little bit tired. and, he said, let's get you somewhere that is good. He said, it's a Michelin star Cantonese restaurant. said, you'll really enjoy this and it's not too far away. And so, he went and, made the call. I, I mean, the place was full. It was packed. The place was packed out.
So I think he actually did pull a string to get us in there, but I would also say that this was probably one of the most expensive meals that we had had in several weeks. which is funny because I don't know that I would have expected that. I would have thought things would have been more expensive in Singapore, but I mean, it was well worth it. And we weren't going to do this like a multiple, multiple times.
⁓ But definitely recommend that if you have a concierge, even if they don't make the recommendation, please call and see if there's a table or if you can get us a table because literally when we walked in, he said, like they knew, right? That you're from the Conrad. And we're going to talk about in a little bit why we were kind of tired and frazzled too. So Scott, what was your favorite dish once we got?
to Sang Kee ⁓ 100 % crispy pork belly. It was just so crunchy and flavorful. And I love that. Matter of fact, I think we ended up ordering it like two rounds of it. Yeah, that same same. So what was interesting is that obviously there was a lot of shrimp. But then there was also a lot of things that
You had to order ahead of time. Well, we didn't plan ahead to order ahead. So another way that you can tell that this is a very popular place for locals that have their favorite dishes. So some of the things that we like to get, like I typically like to get like a crispy duck. Well, that was one of the things order ahead. then there was also a lot of things that were unfamiliar to us or were parts of the animals and that we probably wouldn't have eaten.
typically maybe if we had had a food guide or a food tour. And I think that's, one of those things that we've kind of learned. But I mean, you can't do that at every meal. So we definitely enjoyed ourselves despite, and we're not going to complain about things like, well, we did say that about the shrimp. I mean, it wasn't a big deal and we weren't going to make a big deal of it because it just wasn't a big deal, but we.
found things that we enjoyed. And I think at this price point, we weren't going to just start selecting a lot of different dishes just for the sake of trying them.
because you had, you you were talking about there was parts of the animal that we don't normally eat and it's like, that could be good. I don't know. but at the cost, weren't going to take the risk of trying those. And so we did try to stay to something a little bit more familiar. but then, I remember they brought out the Jasmine tea and we drank two pots of that, think. Yeah.
Yeah. So let's just say for sake of understanding, like the cost. So I think it ended up being about 120 us dollars, but it was, the crispy pork belly. We had the rice with the shrimp and then we got the rice without the shrimp. And I think we had one other meat dish and then a couple of the pots of tea. Did we have anything else? I think that was about it. So it ended up being about 120 us dollars, which for that, I mean, it is a Michelin star restaurant.
did feel a little bit expensive, right? Like you wouldn't say, okay, I wanna do this every single meal. But it wasn't like we're not talking about hundreds and hundreds of dollars either. Yeah, but we had just been in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Indonesia where the price of food was extremely cheap. So this did feel very expensive at the time.
Well, Melissa, one of the things that we did on this trip is that we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. And while it wasn't a part of our original agenda, it came up while we were booking the travel for the trip back. And you had originally thought that we would just fly home directly from Hong Kong. Like, it was almost a stopover city, maybe one night stopover, and then we would fly home from there.
You know, we had already been gone for almost a month at that point. And I think we were ready to, to get back and get home and to see our dogs and, see the grandkids But, when we talked about the opportunity to go to Disney and ask you about that for you, it was an automatic. Yes.
Yes, absolutely. 100%. Visiting all the Disney parks around the world, I think we've mentioned this, is on my bucket list. And so this was actually an easy opportunity to check that off. And it's funny because we had always talked about the transportation tour that you did. You wanted to take me back to Hong Kong. But we had also talked about that when you were there 20 years ago, the Disneyland Hong Kong had just opened.
And there was a story that it was so packed out that people would literally throw their kids over the wall or into the park to enjoy the park because you couldn't get a ticket. don't know if that's true or hearsay, but that was the stories that you heard. Funny enough, cause we kept saying, how long has it been since you've been to Hong Kong? Well, Disneyland was having its 20th anniversary. And so that's kind of how that was kind of our benchmark for that. So I will say, thank goodness that we did not.
fly into Hong Kong one day and then try to leave the next day. Like that would have been too much. let's talk about Singapore was different because we got off the cruise that morning. So it wasn't like we had any travel, like we literally got off the cruise, So then we had the whole day. I think that I would have probably cried if we had like gotten there late, all like get to the hotel, do all the stuff and then you're literally leaving the next day. That wouldn't have given us enough time at all.
So I'm so glad that we did this. So the other reason that we went to Hong Kong at all, it was just kind of on the flight path everything that we looked at to go from Singapore back home was gonna have some kind of layover or stopover or something in Hong Kong. And so that was kind of what even prompted this in the first place. And you were like, well, let's just book that on our own separately and do this stopover.
So back to Disney real quick. I definitely feel like that you can do this in a day. So like if you are there seeing Hong Kong, take a day to do this. There's only one park unless you just have a ton of time and want to stay at the Disney hotels and spend a couple of days. I mean, you obviously could, but I would say prioritize Hong Kong and then do this as extra So I would also say stay in the city.
As far as the park itself though, I felt like it was roughly about the size of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. give or take a little bit, but for the most part, I think it was around that size of a park. Yeah. And it doesn't open as early. They were supposed to have a nighttime show. ⁓ It had gotten canceled because of some tragedy that they had had in Hong Kong. So they canceled it kind of out of ⁓ respect.
But yeah, about that size, I wouldn't say there are quite as many rides. and then there are shows that you would find in some of the other different parks. Scott, what would you say, guess, surprised you the most about Disneyland Hong Kong? Well, there was a lot of people there, but the rides inside the park were not extremely busy and the wait times for the rides were not extremely busy. So I was having a really hard time.
wrapping my head around that, but I think we figured out why that's so. Yeah, so lots of people there to take pictures. Lots of people there with different outfits and different costumes. They are to see a lot of the characters as well. They do have a Fastpass or Lightning Lane system, but we went during the week. So they say holidays and weekends, you might need that. There might be more people.
I would say more of the people riding the rides seem to be people who were visiting, right? And then the people who were there to see like Zootopia had just come out, Zootopia characters are doing all their photo ops were maybe more local. That was kind of the impression that I got. Yeah. I made the comment that
the lines for characters in those meet and greets were 10 times longer than the lines for rides. And that was a little bit surprising, but, not so much because you definitely have this huge social media culture, in Hong Kong. And Melissa talked about the people who had brought different outfits to change into. mean, you saw people with two and three.
iPhone sometimes or, you know, different cameras. definitely a lot of tripods, which aren't allowed at, Disney world in Orlando, but a lot of people with their tripods and you could see them and they're just talking and talking and talking about, the experience there. And so I think that's why most of those people were there that day, not for the rides.
It's funny because also it says large tripods are not allowed, but smaller tripods you can have. So one of our favorite moments was actually something that we almost missed. I hadn't really planned to do like a lot of the shows. They have a Lion King show, which we've done. And so we wanted to really prioritize rides that were different, like completely don't exist anywhere else or were different.
But one of our favorite moments was the character show, Mickey and the Magical Book. We were like kind of walking by it and the guys said, don't you want to come in? Funny because he was like the person for like the accessible entrance. And maybe he was like, okay, I don't have as many accessible people. We had talked about Scott, we actually rented Scott a wheelchair during our Disneyland day just to give him, know, crutches weren't going be an option. Give him a break from the knee scooter.
So that was actually a great option. So he was like, hey, come, we got a place. And it was a really great show. Hopefully they'll bring it to some other parks. But what was great about it, even though like our, would say our whole other experience in the parks was everything was in English, in Chinese. Jungle Cruise had an English line and a Chinese line since that is a speaking type of thing. But this show, Goofy, Mickey and Olaf,
The main dialogue of the show was in Chinese. And so then the translations were displayed, but then all the songs were in English. They didn't like try to translate any of those. they were just the normal that you would hear in the movies. Yeah, they had a big monitor over to the side of the stage. And so that's where they did the translation.
So we really enjoyed that. It's a spectacular show, Broadway style with just lots of like special effects types thing. ⁓ The food also, so we had heard good things about the food. I don't think it's as well known or they have as many options for fun snacks as Tokyo Disney does. But the food was definitely very localized. And it was also interesting because not only did the different restaurants have pictures, but they also had like
the fake, like it was fake food, but to show what it was. So I would definitely say even although we didn't do like a reservation dining restaurant, we did do what Disney calls the quick serve, which is basically just order and sit down. I definitely say it is, was elevated and among the, like the ones we say are our favorites at the parks in Orlando as well. Well, if you want more information on Hong Kong Disneyland,
Go back to episode 149, which is our Disneyland Hong Kong, everything you need to know before you go episode. We recorded that when we got back to the hotel from the park that night. So everything was fresh on our minds. And so I would encourage you to go and just check that out if you want more information about that Hong Kong Disneyland. That's Scott's way of saying Melissa could talk about Disney all night.
And so we're moving on. we're moving on. Well, let's talk a little bit about where we stayed. So in Singapore, we stayed at a Conrad, which is a Hilton hotel. And then we found one in Hong Kong as well. And in a city where location really matters, this was a great hotel with a great location. Very convenient to...
trains and trams and the ferries and easy to walk and then staying somewhere central really helped you with getting around inside of a city. Yes, this really was an ideal home base. So it was easy to get from the airport. And then we just did the day trip to Disney and back.
so that we could do some other things like the peak tram. So definitely checked all those boxes. Not only is it ideal home base, I think I was like ready to move into this hotel. because Scott has the diamond status with Hilton, that he gets through his Hilton Amex, we actually got an upgrade to a suite on one of the upper levels of the hotel. So this was on the corner. And so we had a view of like downtown,
Well, the Shangri-La and downtown and the water on one side and then the mountains and the peak on the other side. I mean, it was absolutely beautiful and fantastic. remember we said in the Singapore episode, we had just gotten off of the ship a few days earlier. We had spent 21 days inside of an inside cabin, which was very small.
So this felt like we were in a mansion. mean, we had so much space. went and I mean, we actually hung out in the living room area of the suite because it just was like, it's here. And this is nice because we have all this room and let's just hang out here. And so here's the other thing about this is that we didn't pay for this day at all. but let me explain why. So.
We talked about in the Singapore episode for that particular one that it just didn't make sense to use points, the cash price. So we checked it here. We ended up booking one night with points that we had. And then one night with that Hilton Amex credit card, you get one free night per year according to their weather stipulation. So we booked those. I think you ended up having to call and say, hey, can we combine these two things? And they did.
And so to have that and have that suite and then we didn't pay anything out of pocket was absolutely incredible. So also that room had access to the lounge for breakfast and happy hour. So we used it for breakfast for two days, which I felt like was over the top. Like they had the like a small buffet and then anything you wanted cooked to order. I mean it was just...
Absolutely fantastic. Like I said, I was honestly ready to move in. I mean, I guess depending on the time or what it's going on, it could be expensive, but I feel like that, it's just a really good option. we opted to use the executive lounge for our breakfast, but we could have actually gone down into the restaurant.
and they had a much larger and more international buffet set up down there in the lobby. Yeah, the lady at the desk said though, she said, go to the lounge. So for this particular one, she knew that that was a really good option. It was nice. it had a fantastic view. That's the thing. It had a fantastic view over the water. So hopefully we've sold that to you. So definitely look at that as an option because again, it is great location.
Easy for transportation. think a great value ⁓ even if you, were paying for it unless they were had just had some kind of crazy something going on. Yeah, very short walk to that Admiralty Station that we talked about for the MTR. And so public transportation, quick and easy access from there.
Would you stay here again if we went back to Hong Kong, Melissa? Can you not tell? Yes, of course I would. And sometimes it's nice to, try different places, but then sometimes it would be nice to go back to somewhere that seems familiar to you you know, it's like, would just provide an exceptional stay. Well, let's talk a little bit about how much time you really need for visiting Hong Kong. We said that we needed probably two to three days or
or more in Singapore, but definitely two to three days. What about Hong Kong? So I think if you're just visiting Hong Kong, two days is probably sufficient, maybe three, depending on what you wanted to do. So, I mean, it just, really depends on, how many different meals you want to have the ability to, do. And then if you wanted to do shopping and that kind of thing. If Disneyland is part of your plan,
extend that definitely by one day. So two to three for the city and then extend that by one day. And we're not huge shoppers. So we didn't spend a lot of time in the shopping malls. Like we walked through it in the evening after all the stores were closed to get back to our hotel. But it was good enough for us to kind of look through the windows as we were walking by and we were done. But
in Asia, would say shopping is very much a part of their culture. so lots and lots and lots of shopping available in Hong Kong. saved you a lot of money by that. It shops being closed. True.
Yeah, I would say that if you had two days, that's probably sufficient. But like you said, if you're going to add Disneyland, then add one more day for Disneyland and extend it out to three. Yeah, and I wish we would have probably had one more day to walk around, look around. There was one more transportation thing that we could not fit in. You have always talked about the I think it's the longest outdoor
Is it moving sidewalk or it's escalator? Yeah, I think they call it an escalator, but it's really more like a moving sidewalk in SoHo. And you did that last time? No, I've actually never done this one. Okay. So, okay. I thought you had done that last time. So there was actually, and I didn't realize you didn't do the peak tram either. yeah, so I, would do that. And then I think just to, have a couple of more meals and then just maybe ride some more of the transportation again. Yeah. I think last time,
We did more of the transportation. We did a taxi. did a like a rickshaw type taxi thing. And we didn't do those this time. But I didn't do the, I didn't, well, there's a whole part of Hong Kong that I don't think we made it into. Okay. And it's probably in that Soho area where all the shopping is. Because I remember
That was where they would come and grab you on the street and ask you if you were interested in a Rolex or, Louis Vuitton purses. And literally you followed them down this long alley and you're thinking, my God, they're going to murder me. and then they put you on this elevator that's made for two people, max, really just one person at a time. They send you up to what looks like almost a residential.
area and when you go in, they have a shop selling that time. was a, all knockoffs, but super high quality knockoffs of the big names like Rolex and Louis Vuitton and, all of those things. And what they said is that they would have a storefront, for this, but the storefronts are very expensive down there in that area.
And so you have to walk a ways off of the storefront and then back down those alleys, the real estate becomes a lot cheaper. And that's interesting because you were there with people that were, were locals as well. and you also mentioned that we mentioned that the Sankey restaurant, was upstairs in a, almost an office like looking building, I think for that very reason as well. So, so yeah, I think one, one more day to kind of do some of those things as well.
So Scott, one other thing before we close is I want to talk about a couple of little hiccups because I don't want you guys to think that everything that we do, we talk about all these great things and these great meals and you know, besides the shrimp being in this and that, that everything goes according to plan. And so these are two small things, not a big deal, but they just happened like right as we arrived. And so probably yes, by the time we got to the hotel and the concierge and we're hungry and he's like, okay, like y'all look frazzled, but here's why.
So in last week's episode, we told you about how when we got off the ship in Singapore, we could not find Scott's camera case, his Pelican case. No crisis avertis, we found it. So when we were flying to Hong Kong from Singapore on Cathay Pacific, I checked the luggage requirements. They were very similar to what we had faced in Australia.
The hand luggage was limited to seven and a half kilograms per person. So of course you can't bring that camera case on. So we were just like, okay, we're gonna follow all these rules and everything. So we checked that. Well, we get to Hong Kong, we go to the baggage claim, we get all our bags. And once again, no camera. Everything's done. It's like, my gosh. Thankfully his air tag was still in there. It is in that room somewhere. Scott could tell, but it's like, okay, where is this? Hopefully somebody's not walking out of the airport with this.
So I very quickly, because at this point Scott has the knee scooter, the crutches, I go over to the lost baggage thing or whatever, hand her my ticket. I was like, I've got to find this. I know it's in this room. And she immediately, she just like looks at it she's like, it's an oversized baggage. Maybe there was some kind of code on there. Maybe they had written something that I didn't understand. So I was like, okay. So went very quickly. I saw some golf bags and the, but then the guy pointed, pointed to it. So, okay. So I have relief,
And we wouldn't think to go to oversized luggage because this thing's actually the size of an international carry-on bag. And not more than 50 pounds. So not out of the weight limit either. Maybe. Yeah, but they weighed it. I think because they put fragile stickers on it. That was the problem. Okay. So number one, we got that done. So we had it.
been told and had planned, we're just going to get a taxi to the hotel to make it the fastest and easiest way. But not realizing, I guess, that the taxis would be cash only. So I started seeing signs. Well, they told us they were cash only. Yes, they But we took a cab later and they all accepted credit cards. Yes.
So I even asked like the taxi attendant, do they only take cash? She says yes. So I was like, okay, well, let's just take an Uber real quick. Problem was the Ubers weren't right there. This has been, I think this is becoming really common in a lot of places. And so we weren't sure where it was, but then we, this man said, it's in this parking garage right here. It's a hotel parking garage, but it's right here. So of course, lots of people taking Ubers, but we're trying to figure out where.
because the guy's like, no, I'm going to meet you over here. And so that was the point where I think I realized I had started, especially on this trip, getting really good at just asking people. Like I probably over asked that guy. That guy was probably like, why are you asking me these questions? I do not know. But we finally found the place. Funny thing is the guy, like other people were getting into his van. And so we were like really confused.
So we're just like, okay, maybe that's not him. And they do all this stuff and they get all this luggage. And I think at that point, that's when they realized, this is not the car. And then he still texted me, where are you? We have literally been standing by this car for 10 or 15 minutes. So finally we realized it's him and we get in and get to the hotel, but it was just like, okay. So that is why I said if I would have had to then leave the next day,
I think I literally would have cried because it was just, you know, when you fly in like that, just some of the hassles and the obstacles. So everything turned out fine. You you find your way. It just takes a little bit longer and it's a little bit more frustrating than you think it's going to be. So we were very glad to get to the Conrad Hilton and have a fantastic stay and have a fantastic dinner. And I just want to add when we got on the plane in Hong Kong going home and
We had to stop in Seoul, South Korea. I have been in that airport probably three, four times, never been to Seoul. So we don't count that on my list of places that we've been to, but it was so nice because all of a sudden we realized now we're on a Delta flight leaving out of Seoul and my status kicks in and we had been upgraded to Delta one. It was a hallelujah moment.
You know, just at the end of all of that, to be able to now say, in this long haul flight, we're going to get to get upfront and lay flat seats. And, and so it was wonderful. And then on top of that, they told us, Hey, in Atlanta, you don't have to go and collect your baggage and recheck it anymore. It's going to go all the way to Jacksonville for you. So
When you get off in Atlanta, go through customs, bypass the baggage thing. You will have to go back through security, but you don't have to worry about that bag. And, with the knee scooter and the crutches and everything else, that was just an absolute hallelujah moment. I think we're ready to hug that girl. That's always been a situation that we haven't never understood. You literally get it off a carousel and you move it to another carousel. ⁓
no customs, no anything. I think the only advantage is for people who have bought duty free because you couldn't carry that back through. And so I'm not really sure what you would do. We typically don't do that anyway, like liquids and duty free, like perfume or alcohol or something like that. But yes, we were ready to hug that girl. I just like, I say that just to say that we want you to think that everything is easy and it goes according to plan, but just pack your patience.
And honestly try to stay calm, because I think sometimes you do try to, you you do panic, but then just try to stay aware and think about what your options and then quickly how to handle those situations, right? Quickly try to say, okay, let me go to this and ask about this bag before you like jump to conclusions, somebody stole my bag. No, it just got put, whatever. And just try to calmly handle situations.
But for me, Hong Kong was going back to a familiar place. Didn't seem to have changed that much. It was very much the way that I remembered it 20 years ago. And for Melissa, it was a city that felt familiar, even though it was new to her because of the similarities to London.
Hong Kong turned out to be a really fitting final stop for this trip. After weeks of moving through different countries and cultures, what stood out wasn't how different it felt. It was how familiar it was. Coming back after nearly 20 years, I expected change to be the big story. it's under Chinese rule now where it was British territory before, but instead it was pretty much the same way that I remember the people.
the city, all of the hustle and bustle. And for Melissa, it was really a first impression that felt instantly recognizable, even though the city was completely new to her. Thinking back of how there were so many similarities to London, whether it was riding the MTR, crossing the harbor by ferry, or seeing the city from the peak, or even spending a day at Disneyland Hong Kong,
It was the perfect ending to this trip. And as the final chapter of a long journey, it just felt right. Because sometimes the best way to end a trip isn't with something dramatic. It's with a place that quietly reminds you of why you love to travel.
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