Returning to Vancouver Through Hong Kong

November 5, 2011: Returning to Vancouver Through Hong Kong

Our red eye flight from Kathmandu arrived in Hong Kong at 6:30 am local time. Most of our group decided to stay at the airport, but our afternoon flight to Vancouver did not leave until 4:30 pm, so Karalee, Jan, and David decided to go explore Hong Kong. We took the train from the airport, past high rise apartments and the commercial harbor, arriving on Hong Kong Island before 7:30 am.

We explored the area near the Star Ferry terminal and then went looking for the longest escalator in the world. After asking a few locals (almost all of who speak English) for directions we found the start of the escalators. Unfortunately, the escalators run downhill in the early morning for people who are commuting to work, even on a Saturday morning. It was only ten days previously that the three of us had climbed up the 1,000 steps at Chhomrong, so having found the escalators we decided to climb the steps running beside the escalators. We felt like we were back trekking in Nepal and the humor wasn't lost on us that we had travelled to one of the most modern cities in the world to try out the outdoor escalator, only to be too early in the morning to have them running in the "right" direction. It reminded us of hiking uphill in the Himalayan Mountains in order to get downhill.

After reaching the top, we enjoyed the view and then took the escalators part way down the hill. We stopped at the Peak Cafe Bar around 9:00 am to have a coffee and stay awake. After a relaxing time in the cafe, we left a little after 10:00 am, only to see that the escalators had switched directions and were now traveling up. We came for the escalator experience and in the end we only took the stairs, except for our very short segment downhill to the Peak Cafe.

We walked back down, through markets, marvelling at the food for sale and the hustle of people out doing their Saturday shopping. We shopped, did some more walking, and then headed over to Hong Kong City Hall. Our intention was to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant at City Hall, but the wait was over an hour, and we did have a plane to catch. We stopped at another restaurant, had a nice lunch, and watched a wedding party have their pictures taken in the City Hall gardens.

After several hours in Hong Kong, we made our way back to the train station. It was time to finish our trip with a ride back to the airport, where we met up with the rest of our group heading to Vancouver for our overnight flight to Vancouver.

We were away from Vancouver for just over three weeks. For Karalee and David, this was our first time in Nepal. It was an incredible experience in so many ways that even a year later we are still drawing from our Nepalese experiences. We are filled with gratitude for our friend Marian Leighton who made the trip and experience possible.

Our trip was organized and led by Marian Leighton of Vancouver, BC with local support for our trip provided by Razzu Tuladha of Samsara Journeys based in Kathmandu, Nepal.