Recently in Misc. HK Stuff Category

Not to be outdone by ANA's Pokemon jet, UA now issues their 747s window shades so the dashboards wont be dried out by the sun when the plane is parked.

Do you suppose the headrests have doilies and there's a keychain alarm?

This was the plane that flew me back to SFO from HKG. My SWU finally cleared when I landed HKG from SIN. Too much excitement for an upgrade...

Speaking of excitement, there was a passenger who decided to give the HKG based crew grief BEFORE TAKEOFF. Apparently he did not approve of the contents of the kosher meal he special ordered. AFAIK, on UA, you get to order the type of special meal, not the contents. This ain't SQ and you can't Book the Cook with any other airline but. Anyway, he kept name dropping "Global Services" every 15 seconds and threatened to get off the plane (which he should have done). The captain had to come out of the cockpit to read the riot act to this bozo, who because of his shenagans, prevented the cabin crew from locking down the plane for takeoff. The bozo (which shall be his name now) tried the "Global Services" namedrop but the captain simply said, "I don't know and I don't care about what Global Services is, my job is to fly this plane which is now late for take off. Do you want to get off the plane?"

After seeing that namedropping Global Services meant nothing to the captain, bozo shut up and takeoff resumed. Apparently, bozo lived in San Francisco. He was full of smug and was heading home (how appropriate!). I found it interesting he gave far less grief to the non-HK based crew on the plane. Typical. When we landed, I made it a point to shake the captain's hand and to extend my support for his actions. He and the cockpit crew appreciated the gesture.

My good deed of the week...

I found a blog with useful tidbits about mainland China and Hong Kong travel.

http://annatam.com/

She also has a handful of entries on how to get from Hong Kong to SZX to take advantage of the MUCH lower flight prices to other parts of the PRC. For some goofy reason, Hong Kong is considered "international" when flying into the PRC. Tickets are hella expensive. However, when you cross the border into Shenzhen and fly out of SZX, flights are considered "domestic" and are at LEAST half the price. Think of it as taking public transit from my house in San Francisco to OAK. About the same amount of time involved.

If you've got some time, best to save some RMB, huh?

Am killing time at the CX lounge, "The Wing" as I wait for my flight to PVG.

The Wing is directly above all the CX gates

You will notice the lack of blue sky above. I've been a frequent visitor to the Big Lychee for close to ten years now. The pollution from Guangzhou has gotten progressively worse, especially over the past couple of years, to the point when within 24 hours after I'm here, I get the funny itch in my throat and burning eyes that is attributed to smog. Or what the PRC locals call it, "fog". I'm from SFO and I know fog. What you've got here in HKG ain't it!

Yeah, I'm sensitive to pollutants. And I'm going to Shanghai. Smart!

Three Hong Kong icons in one shot!

Bruce Lee statue on the Avenue of Stars

Bruce Lee in the foreground, a Star Ferry passing behind with Hong Kong Island in the background. Does it get any better than that? Well...

on the Avenue of Stars, Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk (張曼玉) and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (梁朝偉) have stars next to each other. Maybe a reprise of the "couple" relationship they have had in recent movies?

What's missing in these pictures? Hint: the missing thing is gone because of the crap that blows downwind from Guangzhou Province...

One of my frens got sent here for work.

She gets to see this from her hotel, I hope...

While mucking about on the internet (and missing my biannual trip to Hong Kong), I found this page that makes me miss it even more.

Apparently, the guy who took the photos was there during Xmas. Twinkley lights!

Oh yah, saw MI:3 tonight. Not bad! Especially her.Wow! She's also based outta Hong Kong...

Yup, still missing Hong Kong. That could have something to do with the fact that it's 8 degrees C (47 degrees F) outside right now...which means it is cold inside the house too!

Yes, San Francisco does get cold too!

Tonight we are walking on the overpass crossing Connaught Road Central on the way to IFC 1. The traffic is fierce going toward Central; chill going toward Sheung Wan...

Here's a sign that I saw in Mong Kok, at the intersection of Nathan Road and Argyle Street.

For those of you that don't get it, here is what it means. Ready?

The sign is a red bordered triangle which usually means "Warning"! Inside the triangle is a ped who did not pay attention to his surroundings and as a result, got hit by the very old looking car. So the sign is basically saying, "Warning! Pay attention otherwise a very old car will hit you". But, if you look closely, you will notice that there is no one inside the car. So maybe it's a warning to stupid peds to be careful, otherwise they will walk into a very old car that is parked.

Which only someone really dumb would do.

We need a LOT of these signs in San Francisco.