Somewhat jet-lagged, I’m awake naturally at 8am. We’re here, finally, in our hotel room in Hong Kong. Our flight from Sydney was delayed by an hour or so due to strong head winds from connecting flights; then those same winds slowed us too. We landed at Hong Kong and made our way through security and customs, then hailed a taxi to the hotel. The journey was quite something — Hong Kong at night is a spectacle, so many huge buildings, so many lights. It was more how I had imagined Tokyo to be than Tokyo actually was!
The hotel was teeming with people milling around, we weren’t mentally prepared for it. After the peace and tranquillity of New Zealand it was a culture shock. Soon we discovered why it was so busy: So many flights had been delayed, lots of guests were still in their rooms in the hotel. Our room wasn’t ready; despite us being late ourselves. We were given access to a shower and a free dinner, but it was still 10pm before we could get into our own room. Retrospectively I think we should have kicked a bit more of a fuss up about it, but being awake for nearly 24 hours and our brains weren’t quite ready.
Nevertheless, it was lovely to get some sleep. The room is fairly nice; we can just about see the harbour (through some nasty-looking buildings). Internet access at last too; though I need to buy some wireless access cards to get access. Despite there being 24 wireless network access points within range, none are set up for free access; boo!
Matt Godbolt is a C++ developer working in Chicago for Aquatic. Follow him on Mastodon.