Planes, Trams, and Automobiles...

Thursday morning came a little too quickly for me, as the excitement of actually getting started on our journey battled with the intense exhaustion of having only 2 hours of sleep left me as a shaky mumbling mess for the morning.  For some reason it kept running through my head that this is how the Deadliest Catch guys (as I'm an avid fan of that show) do it---busy working all day, 2 hours of almost-sleep, and then back in action (as if somehow packing a suitcase can somehow be compared to battling sub-zero temperatures and battling the Bering Sea...).  Though everything was packed except Toothbrushes and the like it still took us awhile to get us all moving, and the house ready to leave. 

10 minutes earlier than expected at about 7:30 the doorbell rang and our taxi was there.  He mentioned he tried calling the phone number I gave him to let him know that he was there, and it wasn't working (I guess its not a good idea to try to recite personal information at 4:00am for things like calling a cab...).  After a last minute scramble, we all left, and jumped in the cab with all our luggage.  As we backed out of the driveway, we went through the obligatory barrage of "did you remember this?"... "oh wait, what about that....?"  All answers were affirmative. ....until two blocks a way "Wait, stop.... I forgot my phone." (Natalie).  The cab driver, who appeared to have some of our anxiety now rubbing of on him quickly hit the brakes, and prepared to u-turn....at which point Natalie said "Wait...nevermind....Found it!"  So we continued.

 

Lunch at Chili's-O'Hare

The rest of the morning was as uneventful as could be expected, which is always good when embarking on air travel.  The girls were excited to get to Chicago, as my mother (who lives 2 miles from O'Hare) had offerred to come meet us for lunch at the airport.  We had a quick lunch at Chili's, which resulted in a surprising emotional goodbye (specifically from Kalyssa) as we then said goodbye and made it to our gate. 

I beleive this was the first time I've every departed from the international terminal at O'Hare (and I must say I'm unimpressed-great way to show off the city to the newcomer Chicago...).  Stepping off of the airport tram into Terminal 5, it was clear the trip was beginning, as you go from 95% Americans speaking mostly English, to what seemed like 95% foreigners speaking mostly other languages.  German, French, Spanish, and others all mingling together into a cacaphony of language...broken only by the occasionaly employee of the city of Chicago barking out orders to straighten the line, and to form 3 lines to the gate, in typical Chicago City Employee Customer Service fashion...

 

Our 14 and a half hour Cathay Pacific flight unfortunately was delayed a little over an hour.   Finally we boarded, and the airline was nice enough to parade us all through First class....then Business class...then through the curtains to the coach area.  Still much nicer than a typical domestic flight, but clearly looked like we'd be pretty cozy for awhile.  Once we boarded, and the entire plan went through the process of trying to swap seats to get everyone in their respective party together (of which we also successfully participated), we pulled away from the gate....and proceeded to wait on the tarmac another hour....before finally taking off two hours late.

Our intention was to sleep for the first half, to shift us towards Hong Kong time.  And after the dinner (which included complimentary wine, I was very pleased to find out!) we tried to do this.  Unfortunately, our body clocks prevailed, and it wasn't until the backhalf of the flight that most of us truly got restful sleep. 

When we finally got to Hong Kong and made our way through immigrations and customs, there awaiting was the familiar face of Natalie's brother David.  There is a strange emotional pang when travelling this distance to a foreign land and see a familiar face, and this time it was Natalie's turn to become emotional.  David had a taxi waiting for us, and we jumped in for the 30 minute drive from Lantau Island to the southern edge of Hong Kong Island.  As we got into the cab, the girls all wondered why Uncle David was getting in the driver side, followed by the mental vertigo, as the all realized the steering wheel was on the other side.  Though they had known that would be the case, there is still always that feeling of mental disorientation when you first see that.

View from David's Balcony

Once we arrived at David and Jing's apartment, we enjoyed some Cantonese takeout and some homemade Crocodile soup that David made (which was very good!)  After a couple after dinner drinks (some sort of armenian brandy) we turned in for bed to try and get some sleep for a busy day ahead of us on Saturday.



Dinner at David and Jing's



Homemade Crocodile Soup