Well, just like I said last nite, Ray was so tired he didn't move until after 0800 on Wednesday morning. So we went to breakfast and then came pack to pack. Did I mention about breakfast. The staff there likes to put all the kids in one part of the restaurant, at least that is what I think anyway. But unfortunately it is in the rear of the restaurant, and a long way from the food! So over the last two mornings I have started asking the hostess to put us a a table in the middle of the restaurant, I don;t think they liked doing it but what were they going to say...no...it actually works out better because it seemed like we spent less time there because of the better coffee service and less walking time. just a finny little thought I would share. The Hotel staff was always extremely nice and courteous. I believe they actually did go out of their way for us adoptive families. Anyway, Ray loves breakfast, he eats a lot of fruit, congee of course, he loves eggs and throw in a little bit of the cooked ham and he is set! The Rice Krispies were there just to occupy his time.
After breakfast we packed, I received a phone call from Simon. He ahd arranged a last minute shopping trip for something I was looking for directly. More on that later, I don't want to spoil the surprise. I caught a cab back and yes had to use the hotel card again for the translation of where I wanted to go.
After that, we met at 1430 in the lobby for check out and a bus ride to the train station. Another family, The Rikers were also going to Hong Kong by train, so we kind teamed up with them for numbers sake. They were very nice and had a little girl. We ahd been seeing them in the hotel and had spoken a lot throughout the week. That is the amazing thing, we didn;t know anyone's name but the common adoption made us all family! The train trip was really cool. Ray liked it too but remember he had travelled by train already, this was Connie and I first train trip. Interesting though, we definitely got on the right train, Simon had explained it all to the letter, but really forgot to ask or mention how we knew to get off at the right stop!!!??? About 2 hours of train trip later and we (Rikers and Geske's) figured it out because as Kevin and I were discussing it, a very nice lady quite simply stated it was the last and only stop! Duh! Express Train! I didn;t feel so stupid since no one else knew it either.
When we exited the train station, we were met by an onslaught of "street hawks" as they are called in Hong Kong. An older guy asked if we needed a Taxi, we said yes and he said to follow him. He then turned and asked how we were going to pay. I said I needed to change to HK dollars. He asked if I had any Chinese money Yuan and that he would take that and give me a higher exchange rate. I declined that and made my way to the exchange counter After that he said ok follow me, and as we fgot outside Connie and I both knew this was wrong. I said stop and asked him to show me his taxi license. He pulled out a picture of an older yellow sedan with no signs etc...I also noticed all the other taxi are red and white. I told him to forget it and Connie and I scooped up everything and left him. This is a prime example of being led off the beaten path by what seems a great deal, but not us so just beware.
Connie and I were both concerned for the Riker family so she went back in the train terminal and explained to Kevin (he too was talking to someone and they were being led the same) Kevin listened and he brought his family to the real taxi stand as Connie and I yelled at him as we were entering the real taxi. SO we watched the HK signs and about 25 mins later found ourselves exactly where we wanted to be. And did I mention that it was only 250 HK Dollars and not the 450 the fake driver wanted.
So we get to the room and what do you know, the Internet doesn't work there. I called their help desk twice to try to get it to work with their suggestions...I give up....just hire me to fix it!
So we ordered room service, ate a pretty good meal and went to bed. Turns out that booking this hotel connected to the Airport was definitely the right idea. (Thanks to our travel agent Sue Sorrels) It was just about a 15 min walk from the Regal Hotel desk to the Delta Check-in counter.
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