Leaving Home to Travel the World and 9-Hour Layover Tips for Hong Kong
We arrived at Dulles International (one of Washington, D.C.’s airports) just before midnight on November 3. We said tearful goodbyes to our parents that night, and were bribed with the promise of a “designer puppy” (whatever that is) if we decided to stay. It was our dad’s way of upping the stakes. For the past year, we’ve told our friends and family that we need to follow our truth and embark on this journey of self-discovery, and the day had finally arrived. It was a bittersweet departure – we were leaving our loved ones and the place we had called home for the majority of our lives, but we were excited for our new chapter.
The start of our journey couldn’t have been better. Given that we had scored credit card points a few months earlier from paying off our wedding, we were able to book two one-way, business class tickets on Cathay Pacific for a whopping $33! More to come on how we did that. We had never flown anything higher than economy so it was truly a treat for us. The seat that reclined into a bed, welcome champagne, and multi-page menu of delicious food (for a flight at least) were airline luxuries that I didn’t know existed. I had the burger for dinner and Mike had soup accompanied by wine and followed by a cheese dish. How do you go back from that? Suffice it to say, we arrived refreshed and ready to hit up the streets of Bangkok after spending the past 20 hours traveling from Washington, D.C.
Before Bangkok, we had a nine-hour layover in Hong Kong where we did a quick spin around the city. You may already know that Hong Kong was a former British colony since 1842 with the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, brokered in the aftermath of the First Opium War. It was a tense period between China and Britain that boiled down to illegal importation of opium into China that led to massive opium overdoses of the Chinese people and a resulting Chinese blockade of one of its main ports. It changed hands over to the Chinese in 1997, which was the end of a 99-year lease. Some say that heralded the official end to the British Empire. I was curious what the locals thought of the handover of Hong Kong (commonly known as the “Handover”), particularly the expats who were living there. My mom and dad, who were diplomats living in Hong Kong in the 70’s, say that was the heyday and it’s no longer the same. We ran into an expat Brit who had been living in Hong Kong for the past 30 years so we asked him his thoughts. He seemed neutral on the topic and mentioned that the only change he had observed was a shift from Cantonese to Mandarin as the lingua franca. Not the juicy details I was expecting.
Given that we really only had four hours to kill, we were targeted in what we wanted to see. If you too have only a few hours, we recommend seeing The Peak, or Victoria Peak, and taking a ferry to Kowloon Peninsula, which is a territory of Hong Kong. We first took the Hong Kong express train from Hong Kong International Airport to Hong Kong’s central business district. From there, we grabbed Bus 15, a public bus, that takes you straight to The Peak. Along the way, I was immediately struck by Hong Kong’s landscape – it was unlike anything I had ever seen. Its geography consists of steep mountains that roll into the sea, and the buildings defied all laws of gravity, as skyscrapers that rival the Empire State Building, precariously perched on the hills of Hong Kong. It was also very lush and green.
As we ascended toward The Peak, different types of flora and vegetation, and of course, bamboo, were interspersed between buildings. We seriously considered moving there that instant. After a 30-minute bus ride, we reached The Peak at an altitude of 1,811 feet (552 meters). We were fortunate to have beaten the boondoggle of tourists, having arrived at 7am so we had unobstructed and unspoiled views of Hong Kong looking down into Victoria Harbor. 
After moseying around The Peak for about an hour, taking in the different vantage points, we took the tram back down to sea level. The tram, which has been in operation for over 100 years and is a bit rickety, takes you down a 45 degree angle slope – a little frightening I must admit, but it’s well worth it.
We then wandered toward the ferry, dodging in between the rush-hour commuters, to take us across the harbor to Kowloon. For a nominal fee, we traversed across the harbor, admiring the sights that included a ferris wheel – the Hong Kong Observation Wheel. We walked through the streets of Kowloon, mostly admiring the fashionable locals, toward the train to take us back to the airport.
When we arrived at the airport, we were hungry, and admittedly smelly after the long journey so we were in desperate need of a hot shower and food. Luckily, we had access to Cathay Pacific’s business class lounge, which offered luxurious rain showers and toiletries (we had never been more excited to take a shower) and a noodle and dumpling restaurant. We then boarded our flight to Bangkok where we were again welcomed with champagne and a hot towel (it never gets old). Check out our next post to hear about our time in Bangkok.