a departure an arrival
Getting out of Wellington was alright. Three hours across the Tasman to Sydney, arriving ready for lunch when it was local breakfast time. Perfect clear skies over Sydney, and the flight path took us way out over the north then straight over the city, so I got to see all the sights without having to bother with customs and immigration.
Flying out of Sydney was the same, except that from the Blue Mountains on northwest there was a solid layer of cloud below. There I was flying over this entire continent of desert, and the weather below was a solid overcast that didn't start to break up until we were somewhere over Indonesia.
I arrived in Hong Kong just a one and a third years too late to experience the excitement of an approach into Kai Tak. But Chek Lap Kok has its own joys. I followed the (in hindsight rather naive) plan and caught the train in to Central. And that's when it hit.
Such a magically smooth train speeding through a mix of high rise, industrial, transport infrastructure landscapes, in and out of tunnels and over bridges. Concrete, steel, electric light, rising up out of the earth reclaiming space. Then the taxi ride out to Mt Davis, speeding along elevated highways past more high rises, more light, more electricity.
Then we were off the magical sci-fi movie roads and going up a steep, narrow track through bush. That was quite startling. Arriving at a white concrete complex that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The youth hostel was chill, and people were sitting around tables in the yard chatting about their big adventures. In the distance boats sat on Victoria Harbour. Of course, my particular mix of social anxiety and the 'tism - none of which I had the words to describe or concepts to understand at that tender age - meant I just hung around the edges until I was too exhausted.
In the morning the city felt much more of this world, and not quite so otherworldly sci-fi-come-to-life. I packed up and caught the shuttle in to Central, found the left luggage office at the train station, and set off to explore. I didn't have a huge amount of time, but Hong Kong is small and compact. I managed to get up the Victoria Peak Tram and back with plenty of time to get back out to the airport.
The train again, not quite as magical an experience in daylight, but so incredibly smooth.
It wasn't much of a visit. I was on my way elsewhere. But it was a good start.