Monday, July 24, 2006
Day 1 Hong Kong Business Trip - 10 July
I have never been comfortable with air travel. This, despite having the privilege to be able to fly, on average once every 2 years, until I was 21. I don't know, but part of it is due to having that trapped feeling when you are in the cabin. Add to that the fact that you are suspended in mid-air and at the mercy of the elements, to me, it's a recipe for disaster. Newspaper reports of air crashes now and then, don't help to alleviate my fears. Given a choice, I prefer sea travel. At least, if anything happens to the vessel, I can still bail ship and hang on for rescue (of course, being eaten by sea creatures is another matter altogether *da dum, da dum, da dum*). But that's the point, at least I have a fighting chance to survive. In an air plane crash, there's no where to run... and all you CAN do, is pray for the best.
Well, that praying moment did come during my flight to Hong Kong recently. I thought I could have a nice rest and just concuss on board. After all, I did stay up to watch the Italy-France Finals for 2006 World Cup and was totally zonked out. Unfortunately, the big guy up there was bored decided to play with aeroplanes. The flight hit some major turbulance halfway through, and when the meals were served no less! The captain even had to warn all crew to stop serving and buckle up! So the plane took a few dives, which didn't really sit well with me (I hate plunging roller coaster rides by the way). The water in my glass was spilling, kids were crying, everyone was tense. To me, what made it worse was, there was no loved one with me. No family or friends whom I could hold hands with and hang on to. That would have been more comforting. Unfortunately, it had to be a business trip and my manager was most certainly NOT going to hold my hand or reassure me...
But, thankfully, we arrived in HK in one piece. I was so happy to touch SOLID ground.... manager and I had initially thought we could check-in straight to the hotel and go to Causeway Bay for some shopping. He wanted to bring me there since we didn't have the opportunity to go there the last time due to the WTO strikes. But... as per normal, fate had other plans. We made the mistake of giving our flight times to our HK office manager. As soon as we touched down and turned on our phones, sms and phone calls came streaming in. YES... we have been summoned to THE OFFICE *insert psycho music here*
We reached the office an hour later (that was about 3.30pm) and we didn't manage to check into the hotel till 10pm at night. Once at the office, it was PR with the HK colleagues, meetings, meetings and more meetings. Even dinner was a dinner meeting. It was relaxed, but still, it was talking about work. Gosh...
Later that night, we checked into the Lan Kwai Fung Hotel. Lest you think it's located in the uber popular Lan Kwai Fung clubbing district, you will be sorely disappointed. But, the hotel was extremely new (only having opened a month ago) and it was located at Kaw U Fung, which was a pretty quiet district, but a stones throw away from our office in Central. It was a boutique hotel. My initial thought was that it was modelled something like the Scarlett or Majestic in Singapore, tastefully done and only a few stories high. Well... this boutique hotel is tastefully done, but with 30 floors! Each level had only 7 rooms... and boy were they tiny! My room was 1407 (14 floor, room 7), while my manager was in 1401. At least this time they had the sense to put both of us on the same floor, not like the last time.
My room was schweet....! ha ha ha! It was modelled to have a very oriental feel with brocade runners, cushions and curtains; ceramic cups; intricate wooden carvings; paper lamps; nice dark wood furniture; brass lion knockers etc. It even had a seating area at the windows. The washroom wasn't spared of the oriental touches either: the towel rack was actually a bamboo ladder, the tiles shiny black; the amenities stored in a nice wooden carved box. Thankfully, the commode wasn't anything like the ancient Chinese toilets, so no, there was no huge ceramic bowl with water and pail in it :P heh heh. Overall it was nicely done. However, here comes the irony of it all: it was full of mirrors! The whole back panel of the bed was mirrored and the surface of the wardobe was mirrored. Serious clash of Feng Shui here. And the entrance to the washroom was puny. I imagined a fat American having trouble wriggling his way through. And quite frankly, the entrance to the washroom could actually be mistaken as the wardrobe door. Yup. It was THAT narrow. The bathtub was 2/3 the size of a normal bath tub. And the room was friggin cold! This despite the thermostat being set at low at 24C.
Took a nice hot shower. The shower actually had a Grohe Rainbath shower head (located at the top, so it makes u feel like u were bathing in the rain). But i couldn't figure out how to work the damn thing. Nonetheless, packed up for the next day's outdoor activity, set my alarm clock for 7.30am. Turned on the TV (LCD and hung on the wall!) and crashed.... zzzz
Well, that praying moment did come during my flight to Hong Kong recently. I thought I could have a nice rest and just concuss on board. After all, I did stay up to watch the Italy-France Finals for 2006 World Cup and was totally zonked out. Unfortunately, the big guy up there was bored decided to play with aeroplanes. The flight hit some major turbulance halfway through, and when the meals were served no less! The captain even had to warn all crew to stop serving and buckle up! So the plane took a few dives, which didn't really sit well with me (I hate plunging roller coaster rides by the way). The water in my glass was spilling, kids were crying, everyone was tense. To me, what made it worse was, there was no loved one with me. No family or friends whom I could hold hands with and hang on to. That would have been more comforting. Unfortunately, it had to be a business trip and my manager was most certainly NOT going to hold my hand or reassure me...
But, thankfully, we arrived in HK in one piece. I was so happy to touch SOLID ground.... manager and I had initially thought we could check-in straight to the hotel and go to Causeway Bay for some shopping. He wanted to bring me there since we didn't have the opportunity to go there the last time due to the WTO strikes. But... as per normal, fate had other plans. We made the mistake of giving our flight times to our HK office manager. As soon as we touched down and turned on our phones, sms and phone calls came streaming in. YES... we have been summoned to THE OFFICE *insert psycho music here*
We reached the office an hour later (that was about 3.30pm) and we didn't manage to check into the hotel till 10pm at night. Once at the office, it was PR with the HK colleagues, meetings, meetings and more meetings. Even dinner was a dinner meeting. It was relaxed, but still, it was talking about work. Gosh...
Later that night, we checked into the Lan Kwai Fung Hotel. Lest you think it's located in the uber popular Lan Kwai Fung clubbing district, you will be sorely disappointed. But, the hotel was extremely new (only having opened a month ago) and it was located at Kaw U Fung, which was a pretty quiet district, but a stones throw away from our office in Central. It was a boutique hotel. My initial thought was that it was modelled something like the Scarlett or Majestic in Singapore, tastefully done and only a few stories high. Well... this boutique hotel is tastefully done, but with 30 floors! Each level had only 7 rooms... and boy were they tiny! My room was 1407 (14 floor, room 7), while my manager was in 1401. At least this time they had the sense to put both of us on the same floor, not like the last time.
My room was schweet....! ha ha ha! It was modelled to have a very oriental feel with brocade runners, cushions and curtains; ceramic cups; intricate wooden carvings; paper lamps; nice dark wood furniture; brass lion knockers etc. It even had a seating area at the windows. The washroom wasn't spared of the oriental touches either: the towel rack was actually a bamboo ladder, the tiles shiny black; the amenities stored in a nice wooden carved box. Thankfully, the commode wasn't anything like the ancient Chinese toilets, so no, there was no huge ceramic bowl with water and pail in it :P heh heh. Overall it was nicely done. However, here comes the irony of it all: it was full of mirrors! The whole back panel of the bed was mirrored and the surface of the wardobe was mirrored. Serious clash of Feng Shui here. And the entrance to the washroom was puny. I imagined a fat American having trouble wriggling his way through. And quite frankly, the entrance to the washroom could actually be mistaken as the wardrobe door. Yup. It was THAT narrow. The bathtub was 2/3 the size of a normal bath tub. And the room was friggin cold! This despite the thermostat being set at low at 24C.
Took a nice hot shower. The shower actually had a Grohe Rainbath shower head (located at the top, so it makes u feel like u were bathing in the rain). But i couldn't figure out how to work the damn thing. Nonetheless, packed up for the next day's outdoor activity, set my alarm clock for 7.30am. Turned on the TV (LCD and hung on the wall!) and crashed.... zzzz
# posted by Xallista @ 12:05 AM 
