Hong Kong Travel: From Penang to Hong Kong

It’s an unplanned trip, so last minute that I was:

• Working in the office 15 hours before the flight (3pm);
• Researching the internet on Hong Kong 12 hours before the flight (6pm):
• Gave up preparing information about Hong Kong and bought a Frommer's Hong Kong guide book 9 hours before the flight (9pm); and
• Only manage to finish packing 4 hours before the flight (2am).

I finally could have a few hours of sleep when I took the 6am flight from Penang International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport, although I was forced to sit other that my assigned seat because of an ignorant semi-bold and fat Penangite who landed his big bulky butt in my assigned seat, telling me in Hokkien “Air Asia can sit anywhere u like”.

I planned to tell him “If so, can I sit on your face?” but before I opened my mouth, the passengers behind told me that there was vacant seat there; so I just took the seat and tried to grab some sleep.

Arriving Hong Kong, I was greeted with the most complicated airport terminal – there were so many stairs, so many elevators and so many directions to go. So, no choice, I need to deploy one of my survival strategy,” Monkey See Monkey Do”, I followed where most passengers went (except the ones that went to the toilet), and found my way to the immigration area. I didn’t know whether it was me or the officer was having a bad day or he didn’t know English at all but when I greeted him with “Good Morning”, he responded with an odd expression, as if I was going to kill his family. Maybe it was because I was from Malaysia which was famous for H1N1 virus that he thought my existence would kill him.

After getting green light from the custom officer, I went to pick up my backpack and finally exited into the public area. My guide book recommended me to get an Octopus card for convenient purpose, so without hesitation, I went to counter to get one.

Before I flew to Hong Kong, I was advised to speak English instead of Cantonese or Mandarin unless my Cantonese was as good as the local. The reason was that most Hong Kong folks disliked or looked down on Chinese from China (or they called them “Mainlanders”). Speaking inappropriate Cantonese or mandarin would sort of associate Chinese ethnic folks with mainlanders; and it would certainly deny those travelers to some assistances or services. Wonder why so? Watch the video below:

Despite being a crown colony of the United Kingdom for more than a century, I found it amusing when the guy at the counter tried to explain the usage of Octopus Card in English. It reminded me of a guy in South Park Animation, the City Wok Restaurant Owner and yeah, he sounded like him:

Well, it seemed I was ready to meet Hong Kong by then; I boarded bus A21 and headed downtown with my HK$67 (HK$100 minus bus fare) preloaded Octopus Card.

Little did I know, my bad luck followed me to Hong Kong. Stay tune for the next entry.