after we are done roaming at T2, we went to the massage salon, thinking of getting a foot massage. but it cos 150hkd for 15mins!! that's daylight robbery!! in the city, it cost 150hkd for 60 mins. so the airport cost 4 times as much!! terrible.. so we didn't get the massage. we decided to go thru the immigrations and have dinner inside. there was long queues at the immigration. i shall avoid going on holidays during public holiday periods in the future. cos everywhere we go, it is queues, queues and more queues. we queued 1 hours to take the cable car to lantau island and also queue almost 45 mins for the tram ride to the Peak. and at immigration, it is queue again!
anyway, so we went thru the immigration and had dinner. after dinner, i seem to feel even worse.. nose and feet as well. feet is feeling sore from the excessive amt of walking in the past few days. i wore sneakers which were very flat, so there wasn't any cushioning for my feet. dear and i went to the waiting area near our departure gate. i ate the flu medicine i bought and lay down to rest. napped for about 1hour plus and it was time (10.40pm) to board the plane. the crew asked the business class pple to board.. and then economy class row 1, 2.. and then the boarding stopped. there was some technical issues so they halt the boarding. about half an hr later, boarding resumed. we went onto the plane and settled down. after all has boarded, door closed and the plane was being taxi to the start of the runway.
but it didn't take off. we kept waiting but it just remained on the ground. waited and waited..and finally the captain announced that the plane has some technical problems and they need to taxi the plane back to the gate for the engineers to come on and repair. it was already 1am then! but there's nothing we can do..so plane is taxi back to the gate. they ran a diagnosis and said some parts need to be replaced. the replacement will take 1hrs plus..so will finish at 3am. so they on a movie for us to watch and start to serve drinks and snacks. very sadly, they soon ran out of drinks!!
by 3am, the plane still got issue. captain said they gg to run one final diagnosis and if still doesn't work, flight will be canceled. so they ran the diagnosis and at about 3.30am, captain said the flight is canceled. they will disembark us and arrange for us to go thru immigration again and checked into the airport hotel to stay. they did not open the door immediately cos they need to get ready the immigration ppl n the hotel ppl outside. so we stayed inside for another half an hr. we finally left the plane at 4am.. at 4am, the train to the immigration is not working. so we had to walk for 15 mins to the immigration. den went to hotel, wait to check in. it was already 5am by the time we entered the hotel room.
the only consolation is that the hotel is a 5 star hotel..and we got one of the good rooms. bed was comfy, tv is big.. i had a hot shower, ate my flu medicine again and KO. had a good sleep and woke up feeling better. was waken by phone call. auntie called to tell us we are flying back via cathay and flight is in the evening 6plus pm. went back to sleep after that. we were given buffet breakfast vouchers but me and dear are too sound asleep to go have breakfast..
this is the first time i experience a flight cancellation.. quite drama. and an interesting experience. besides the flight issue, the hk trip was okay. i did not do much shopping. only bought souvenirs, 2 clocks, 1 pair of track shoes and my fav. lao po ping. seems more of a walking and eating trip. ate at those hawkers in temple street..also ate the famous mido cafe. tried quite a fair bit of their local fare. and also took the ferry from hongkong island to kowloon. i think the ferry is quite cool..and it is real cheap. only 1.70hkd, which is less than 40cents in singapore.
but air pollution in hk is quite bad. there are alot of smokers around..everywhere is cigarette smoke. same for macau. the day trip to macau was quite boring. but i know more about the country than before. i used to think that macau and hk are 1 country before return to china. dunoe how come i will think of it that day. but they are 2 separate countries before their return to china. and now, they are 2 special administrative region of china. some might claim that macau is the las vegas of asia. after all, it has 31 casinos and its gambling earnings exceed that of las vegas. but i think las vegas is so much more fun than macau. macau casinos are v focused on gambling but las vegas casino offers more than just gambling. they have dances, muscial shows, and other entertainment stuff. and smoking is only allowed in certain parts of the las vegas casinos. in macau, the entire casino is like a smoke chamber!!
as for heritage, not much.. only that church ruins. some of the buildings are nice though..
went to victoria peak and it is different from how it was when i went there 8 yrs ago. it doesn't seem as romantic and nice.. maybe becos it was too crowded.. i told dear i dun want him to propose to me there anymore. ha..
oh, on 31st dec, there was fireworks and countdown in hk. we went to see the fireworks..waited for an hr. sat on the floor and wait.. when the fireworks started, a girl standing near me kept saying in cantonese,'so pretty... so beautiful..wow..wow..'.. well, i think she should visit sg some day to see fireworks. the fireworks at the hk countdown is boring.. the 5 of us think it is quite duh..
all in all, quite a relaxing trip cos dun need to plan for anything or look after anyone. but i will not be back to hk so soon.. maybe in another 8 yrs?? oh, and definitely i will not take united airlines again. not even cathay too i think. their takeoff and landing was jerky..
mood:
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