Wednesday, April 5

TRAVEL DAYS – APRIL 3 TO 5

Our first leg is behind us!!  And what a leg it was.   It seemed we traveled forever just to get to Hong Kong. 

For the most part, our flight cross country was uneventful.  I did get some nice shots of the Colorado River and the beautiful terrain from 36,000 feet.

The hardest part of the trip was sitting in Los Angeles for those 11 hours.  I think I must have looked at the clock every 15 minutes or so.  The plane boarded at 1:30 a.m. L.A. time on 4/4.  Just before we started to head down to the gate, I took an Ambien.  It was almost a mistake since I know I was wobbling walking down the concourse.  I remember getting into the plane, taking off my shoes and a flight attendant coming by to “stow” my shoes.  That was my last recollection until about 4 hours into the flight.  I do not remember lift off, food service, etc.  Speaking of food, who eats dinner at 2 a.m. anyway? 

We finally got to the Sky City Marriott in Hong Kong around 8:30 a.m.  We were met at the door by our neighbor, Phil Clark.  He arrived the night before and was on his way out to visit the Giant Budda at Po Lin Monastery then into Kowloon for an afternoon city tour.  No visit to Hong Kong is complete until you climb all 268 steps to get to the top of the Budda.  We were here in 2001 and I climbed to the top.  Today, Phil did the same and has the picture to prove it.  We didn’t have any plans for the day other than shower, relax and relax some more. 

Tonight we had a light meal in the bar and came back to the room to organize and repack for the trip to Xian tomorrow.  I thought it a good idea to download my few pictures.  Much to my dismay, I brought the wrong USB cable – but good news is: now I can download all the golf courses of Asia since I am traveling with my cable for my Sky Caddie!!