Results tagged “Airports” from Hong Kong and Taipei 2014

The Ambience Hotel sometimes had *ambience* in the form of a violinist playing during breakfast!

After breakfast I walked up to the Regent Hotel so I could make a "been-there" out of the opening scene in Lucy.

Statue in Linsen Park

The Regent Hotel

Me standing where Scarlett Johansson did at the beginning of Lucy.
Forty years ago yesterday that Lucy was discovered.

Street down from the Regent Hotel, seen in Lucy

Regent Hotel entrance, as seen in Lucy

Then came back and we packed and sorted ourselves out for coming home.

We went back to the Evergreen Hotel to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.

Elevated railway outside of Taipei

Arrived at the airport at around 12:20, and the lady checking us in said we only had an hour turnaround in Hong Kong, and normally our ticket wouldn't allow for an earlier flight but she got approval from her supervisor and put us on a flight two hours earlier. This turned out to be brilliant because our other plane ended up being an hour late and we'd likely have missed our plane back to Australia.

Taipei airport departures hall

Orchids in Taipei airport

Had lunch at the airport in Taipei before boarding. Turns out the plane was quite empty - there were only like half a dozen people in the whole back section. I played (and won) a game of p0ker.

Our lunch at Taipei airport

This, believe it or not, is an *airbag* !!

A very empty plane

Leaving Taiwan

Lunch on the plane (the opened box looked quite *blah* for a photo)

I loves me any plane that has power points in the seats!

I think the air traffic controller was playing Flight Control for our approach into Hong Kong

Park Island, approach into Hong Kong

Looking towards Hong Kong Disneyland

Forward cam view

Hong Kong airport

Our plane from Taipei to Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific A330-300 - B-HNI

In Hong Kong we had time to go to the Qantas club for a couple of glasses of bubbly (after we found it - I don't know if they're in a temporary spot, but there's no signage whatsoever to welcome you)..

Don't look only at your mobile phone

Hong Kong airport

Sunset at Hong Kong airport

Sunset at Hong Kong airport

Our plane arriving at Hong Kong airport - Qantas A330-300 - VH-QPG

Christmas tree in Hong Kong airport

Then the tortuous trip home. Mum cursed me with restless legs, so couldn't even sit still, let alone get any sleep :(

Can you tell the sweetie is thrilled to be on another plane?

I watched Lucy first up, because "been there!". Then Blended, which I liked a lot more than I thought I would, on account of it being an Adam Sandler movie and all.

Dinner on the plane

Then just sat there miserably for a few hours.

We flew over Manilla and Darwin which was pretty cool.

Over Manilla

They turned the lights on for breakfast at 2:50. Urggghh. I could barely stomach breakfast. Far too early to be eating a full meal.

Breakfast on the plane at 3:27am

Bendigo, Victoria

Got to Melbourne and had some juice in the Qantas club.

A380 landing at Tullamarine

Then our last plane home.

Calder Park, Melbourne

Lake Hume

Talbingo Reservoir

Approaching Canberra

Our last plane - Qantas 717-200 - VH-YQW

Got home and mostly unpacked, then crashed for a couple of hours.

Sorted out all the various paperwork from the trip, then we had pizza for dinner (on account of no food in the house).

So a pretty good trip. The weather was certainly fantastic, if a little hot sometimes. Saw lots of cool stuff and did some hot but good hikes. And towers, always towers :)

Woke up first at 5:30 but got a bit more sleep til 6:30. Up at 7:00.

Maccas got my order correct hurrah.

Final Hong Kong Maccas breakfast

Still took us a while to get out the door. After 10:30 by the time we got away.

Saying goodbye to our hotel

The Butterfly Hotel

Took the train to Hong Kong station and did the in-town checkin thing. Then got the sweetie a coffee at Starbucks. Had a quick stop in Dymocks before catching a train to the airport at 11:50. Goodbye Hong Kong! We'll be back one day very probably.

Hong Kong station. At busy times this whole corridor is full of moving people

Hong Kong station

Red velvet cake (I think) at Starbucks

Hong Kong from the Airport train

At the airport it was the usual get through security and immigration then we had to take a train along to the fork of the big Y and our gate was in the right hand arm waaaaay out the end.

Hong Kong Airport

World clocks in Hong Kong Airport

Right at the very end - in the fork in the Y

We weren't rushing, but we weren't really dawdling either (other than stopping for coffee), so it was a bit of a shock that we arrived at the gate just as they started boarding. So it took nearly two and a half hours to get to the airport :(

When we booked our flights, we couldn't choose seats at the time, so I put a preference in for a window seat for me. On Tuesday morning I went online to see about selecting seats and saw that they'd put us at each end of a row of four. Above the wings. Almost the worst seats on the plane. So I chose some seats for us up the back. As it turned out, the flight was only half full, and most of the back of the plane was emtpy. So seating preference requests don't mean a thing, and they'll just pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey to allocate you a seat. Fail Cathay Pacific, fail. Anyway, Stu could have had his own window seat but chose not to.

Our plane to Taipei - Cathay Pacific A330-300 - B-HLW

Us on the plane to Taipei

There were plenty of seats free

We actually pushed back right on time at 13:30. The flight was pretty boring. We took off to the west so no views of Hong Kong. I played p0ker on the in-flight entertainment system and was doing well until they turned it off for landing. Lunch was a very small wrap and some oolong tea (no choice in drinks and we were quite thirsty :( ).

Saying goodbye to Hong Kong

Food on the plane

Mailiao Power Station

Air traffic control tower at Taipei airport

Once in Taipei it took *ages* to get through immigration. Don't know why it was so slow. Maybe it just felt slow because each agent had its own queue, rather than how they do it at other airports where it's one long line that's always moving. Finally got through and went and got our bags.

Arrivals hall, Taipei airport

Arrivals hall, Taipei airport

From there we went down the side of the arrivals hall to get our local sims. That was really quick and easy. Then we went downstairs to find the ticketing counters for the buses into town. We took an Evergreen bus because that went fairly close to our hotel. Only 140NT each too (~$6 each). The bus left at 16:45 and we were off it in town at 17:55. Then a five-ten minute walk to the hotel.

So all up it took eight and a half hours to travel 1000km :(

First view of Taipei 101

The hotel is nice. It's got a pretty funky bathroom with a Japanese style toilet and a huge bath/shower area. But there's a see-through curtain between the shower and the bedroom - weird!

Our room at the Ambience Hotel

Our room at the Ambience Hotel

The bathroom had a window for a wall between it and the bedroom

View from our hotel room

After we'd settled in briefly we went out to find some dinner. Wandered up and down and eventually stopped in a fairly popular restaurant because they stopped us and said they had an English menu heh. Stu chose some.. interesting.. dishes... There was one of vegetables and these little fish. I wasn't a fan of the fish, but it did have some interesting little fruits that we thought might have been pickled unripened plums. Then there was a stirfry squid dish that didn't have much squid but had a big black chunk of *something* that reminded me a bit of black pudding. Then some "stinky tofu" which was ok but again a bit too spicy (*everything* was spicy which was challenging for me). And finally a "little fish" dish which was actually two whole small fish. This was actually quite nice, but super fiddly to get the meat off without taking bones.

The first 'little fish' dish

Stir fry squid dish

Stinky tofu

The second 'little fish' dish - this was actually my favourite dish of the night

Stopped in a 7-Eleven for some supplies then back to the hotel. I watched the last two thirds of the Corpse Bride before going to bed.

Woke up at 5:45 but got a bit more sleep.  Spine was annoying me. Up at 7:00. Had a very slow start. They got my order right at Maccas though which was useful (it helped that they were a lot less rushed). Didn't get out the door til 10:00.

Maccas brekky

First up, we dropped all our laundry off at the local laundry. $120HKD for the both of us - a bit pricey, but saved us having to do it ourselves in the hotel sink.

Then we went on a bit of a train adventure - three different trains to get to Kowloon Bay.

Stopped at a Starbucks so the sweetie could have a coffee.

Then we jumped on a #86 green bus down to Kai Tak. They've converted the old runway into a passenger terminal for cruise ships. But there's also a little park at the end of the runway, the approach checkerboard is still there, and there's a "remnant" of runway 13 - a stylised mosaic of the 13 that used to be there.

Model paper plane with history of Kai Tak airport

Buildings in Kwun Tong

Stu reading about the airport history

Oriental Dragon

Kai Tak Cruise Terminal

Checkerboard for the approach for runway 31

Looking north-west along the path of the old runway

The 13 (which was actually located at the other end of the runway)

Pearl of Oriental dinner cruise ship

We stopped so Stu could do a drawing of the view

You can also go up on top of the passenger terminal where they have a rooftop garden. Sadly they don't let you get anywhere near the edge, so not great for unobstructed views of Hong Kong.

Control tower of the cruise terminal

Looking down the length of the cruise terminal

The garden prevents you getting close to the edge to take photos

The garden and view

Looking towards the ICC

Hong Kong from the cruise terminal

Back on a #86 minibus back to the station.

Took another train up to Lok Fu where we stopped and had some lunch at a Japanese place.

Then into Lok Fu Park to try and get to the top of Checkerboard Hill. This was where they had a checkerboard painted onto the side of a water reservoir which was part of the approach to the old Kai Tak airport. Pilots had to head for this hill and make a visual sighting of it before making the sharp right turn down to the runway. I'd hoped to be able to get on top of it and see down to the old runway, but there were too many fences and trees in the way for a good view. So that was a bit of a waste of a very steep climb up a lot of steps (sorry sweetie!).

Tin Hau Temple, Lok Fu Park

Looking up towards Lion Rock

The edge of the water reservoir - the checkboard is right below this

This is the best view I could get looking towards the old airport, and you can't really see it

We went down then to get some photos of the front of it. There's a lot of trees in the way and it hasn't been maintained in sixteen years so it's not as pretty as it used to be.

Checkerboard hill from below

Checkerboard hill from below

Checkerboard hill with Lion Rock in the background

Then we walked down to Kowloon Walled City Park to have a wander around. There's some interesting photos and information boards about the place, and one of the original fortress buildings - the Yamen - is still there. Quite interesting.

Wall of Kowloon Walled City

Entrance gates to Kowloon Walled City

Kowloon Walled City Park

Kowloon Walled City Park

Kowloon Walled City Park

Kowloon Walled City Park

Bonsai in Kowloon Walled City Park

Kowloon Walled City Park

Model of Kowloon Walled City Park

Yamen (Almshouse) in the model

Yamen (Almshouse)

Yamen (Almshouse)

Yamen (Almshouse)

Yamen (Almshouse)

Kowloon Walled City Park

Remants of the South Gate

South Gate plaque and Kowloon Walled City plaque

Then another three trains back to the hotel (after we picked up our laundry).

We got back to the hotel a bit after 18:00 completely exhausted. Sat down for a while before going to get some supplies and meat on a stick for dinner.

Meat on a stick!

Charging station - three phones and a battery

In bed just after 20:00.

Monday night I slept like crap. Only about four hours sleep. Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was Ingress portals in Hong Kong or Candy Crush. Very frustrating. So fortunately I slept really well on Tuesday night. For Wednesday we departed.

We were up at 6am to get ready, and our taxi arrived right on time at 7am for an uneventful trip to the airport.

Fountain at Canberra Airport

I grabbed a couple of pancakes and a banana from the Qantas club for breakfast and then we were off.

Our first plane - a Boeing 717-200 - VH-YQT

We had a 717, and I'd chosen the same row as my last 717 flight (I couldn't choose anything further forward of the wings - I tried), so got the same view of the engine and wings, just on the other side this time. Canberra was cloudy, so the view got boring slightly after takeoff. But then the clouds cleared and was able to see a bit of snow around on the snowy mountains.

A grey morning in Canberra

Lake Eucumbene

I watched some of Frozen on the iPad minis (although it kept crashing on the same spot near the beginning, so the third time I skipped past that bit and then it was fine).

iPad Minis!

Snackages on the plane

In Melbourne we were off the plane, through security and immigration, and to the next gate as they were boarding. So no time to grab any more food in the Qantas club or do any duty free shopping.

Our next flight was on an A330-300. Up the back on the left.

Our second plane - an Airbus A330-500 - VH-QPE

Us getting ready to head out of the country again!

The interior of the A330

Departure from Melbourne would have had us a nice view of Melbourne CBD, but it was too hazy and polluted for a decent view.

Looking towards Bacchus Marsh

Manangatang, rural Victoria

I watched the rest of Frozen, but missed the iPad which had a much bigger and clearer screen than the screens in the back of the seats.

Lunch was more like a proper dinner, which included the option of wine so I took it. Quite enjoyed have some wine and cheese and crackers actually.

Lunch on the plane

Wine and cheese and crackers

Next I watched How to Train Your Dragon 2, which was ok but it probably a lost a little in not having seen the first one.

At the end of that movie, four hours after departure from the gate and we were *still* over Australia. Stoopid big country :)

The red heart of Australia - the Simpson Desert

That's Darwin down there in the haze

Next I put on A Most Wanted Man, but I struggled - planes are not good for that sort of movie because it's just hard to follow on such a small screen with such bad sound quality. And I felt a little dozey after the wine, so gave up on that and dozed for a while. Then watched a couple of episodes of Sherlock (The Empty Hearse and The Sign of Three). And finally a documentary on Stories of Survival.

I loved these clouds over Indonesia

Pulled beef sliders

Pretty clouds near Hong Kong

Landed in Hong Kong and drove *all the way around* the terminals - a much longer taxi than last time.

Air traffic control tower at Hong Kong

As we were getting off (we're always nearly last), I noticed the cockpit door open and asked if I could go say hi. So I did :) The Qantas guys are always so lovely, and they insisted I go sit in the pilots seat, and even put a captain's hat on me and photographed me (I shoulda given them my real camera heh). So that was all super exciting. I still think it's weird that planes don't have the old flight yokes anymore, just little joysticks on the left. The poor sweetie was waiting outside for me :)

Cockpit of the A330

Me in the pilot's seat :)

At the airport we got out some money then went to find sim cards. Except we got given the wrong thing, so don't know if they'll work as nicely as the sim we got last time. We haven't opened them yet, might make an attempt to swap them over.

Then hopped on the airport express into Hong Kong, and an Island Line train to Tin Hau to our hotel, which we found pretty easily.

The hotel room is nice enough, although not much of a view. We were soooo spoilt by our last hotel! The left side of the bed is a bit of a dead zone though - there's no space, no bed side table, no power point. But they do have a power adapter built into the power board on the desk, so we have plenty of options for power.

Our room at the Butterfly Hotel, Tin Hau

These cute little butterflies labelled the pillows as soft or firm

Went out to grab something for dinner (dinner on the plane wasn't very much at all). It was like 8pm here, but 11pm our time, so we were super super tired, so we just ended up getting Maccas because it would have taken too much energy to find anything else.

And then back to the hotel to crash. I plugged in a bunch of devices to charge, but didn't blog or do any photo downloading.