Travel 2

The flight took a little longer than expected due to some circling around Tokyo because of a closed runway, but I finally landed. While circling I really liked being able to look out over the ocean. I could see the curvature of the earth in the distance, as well as the shipping vessels below me, that although they are huge, looked miniscule in comparison to the vastness of the Pacific.

My experience in the Tokyo-Narita Airport was pleasant. TSA agents should take a class from Tokyo’s security in niceness. These people at least looked like they didn’t hate the world and everyone in it. They were friendly and helpful to the tourists going through. After going through security, I had an hour in the Tokyo airport. The first thing that I had a problem with was the moving sidewalk. I knew that they drove on the left side of the road, but it initially confused me that the sidewalks were going the wrong way. I found a little shop, and I found my new favorite candy, Green Tea Kit Kats. They taste like Green Tea Ice Cream, and are delicious. I also celebrated being of legal drinking age and bought myself a Sapporo Beer. It tasted bad, and was more than $7 USD, but being able to buy it was what made it special.

I then boarded my final plane and sat down in my seat. From that point on I don’t really remember much until close to when we were landing, I just fell asleep and didn’t wake up, even when we were taking off. Upon landing in Hong Kong, I got off the plane and went down a very long hallway to Immigration. Immigration was painless, but if I had been a little later it would have been more difficult. It was 12:30 am and they were closing one of the two visitor stations for immigration, but they didn’t coordinate which one was being closed and ended up closing both and sending everyone from one to the other. Luckily I was already in line and just got to watch annoyed travelers.

After immigration, I grabbed by checked luggage on a cart and headed for the taxis, all of which was simple, I didn’t even have to go through any type of customs. The taxi driver loaded my luggage in, and I showed him a piece of paper with a translation of my destination and then we departed. The ride from the airport was very cool. There are lots of tall buildings everywhere. It seems every opportunity that there is to build a building, they build a building that is more than 30 stories tall. The journey to HKUST included lots of bridges and tunnels, and was on the “wrong” side of the road, which was exciting.