Reflections on Hong Kong

We've really enjoyed our week in Hong Kong. The Conrad has been an amazing place to stay. We just got a goodbye hug from Eunice, the Guest Relations Manager of the Conrad Executive Lounge. What a wonderful staff she has. They've freely offered us advice and have shown us great hospitality throughout our stay.

What's been really interesting is that we find people throughout Hong Kong to be similarly friendly and helpful. On our first day here, for example, we were puzzling over some MTR (subway) instructions and a passer-by asked if we needed help and then pointed us toward a booth where we could get some change.

It's an easy city to get around, although you have to get used to crowds. While it may not be absolutely the best deal, we bought a "special" Octopus card that includes a round trip on the airport express and three consecutive days of travel on the MTR. What we did was spend the first couple of days walking and buying individual MRT tickets as needed before starting our three days Monday.

The food in the Conrad, from the amazing breakfast to the evening appetizers, has kept us satisfied to the extent that we haven't eaten as many meals out as we might have in other circumstances. We've eaten three meals in the basement of Pacific Place in Thai Basil, Zen, and the Peking Garden. Our favorite of those was the "afternoon tea" in the Peking Garden just this afternoon. While it was called tea, it proved to be a mini-buffet of Cantonese specialties arranged on a three-tiered tray, including the two largest prawns we've ever seen, drenched in a Singapore-type chili sauce. Yum!

Even though we're not shoppers - and Hong Kong is obviously still a shopper's mecca - we've thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and will depart with many fond memories.

Now, if only Brian's upgrade clears tomorrow...