FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Hurray for Hong Kong

The children reading their kindles before boarding

We survived the flight...phew! Jonah thankfully slept for enough of the flight. I had expected a lot less and so was pleasantly surprised! The Qantas staff also surprised me by being extremely friendly and helpful. It was definitely an added bonus. We breezed through immigration, baggage pick up and customs. We arrived at the Cosmo Hotel in Wan Chai a little after 7am. Our rooms were understandably not ready!

Malcolm freshened up and we caught the free shuttle bus provided by the hotel to the Convention centre. The children waved goodbye to Daddy and we wandered off towards Admiralty in search of some food. We stopped in the first place that was open. It happened to be Delifrance! By this stage, Jonah had fallen asleep so it was rather peaceful drinking iced coffee, eating cinnamon scrolls and studying maps of Hong Kong, shuttle bus timetables and the information pamphlet of the MTR. The shops took forever to open. We had given up on admiralty and made our way to Times Square instead. We had to make another food stop at Starbucks. You would think that the children had not been fed for a year...

By this stage it was nearly 11am and some of the shops were starting to open. Hurray! My eyes popped at the numerous camera stores with all those awesome products. It was handy dragging three children along as they were rather inhibitory for purchasing purposes. I had just excitedly spotted the Zara store when the whining began. I walked in stubbornly but the whining became unbearable. We waited unsuccessfully for the hotel shuttle bus. I decided to walk back to save time much to the horror of the children.

Inside the huge Convention Centre

A humungous thing inside the cavernous hall. Still not sure what it is...

A cloudy and rainy Hong Kong. Jonah was fascinated by the building "in the cloud"

Delifrance!

Cinnamon scrolls and iced coffee

Thankfully our rooms were ready. They turned out to be another pleasant surprise. The Cosmo Hotel is a budget arm of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. The rooms were small but were clean, modern and comfortable. We also got free breakfast and free internet for the ridiculously low price we paid for our interconnecting rooms. The fresh daily plate of fruit and selection of pillow didn't go astray either! We lightened our load, and ducked into the upmarket arm of the hotel next door for a quick lunch of friend rice and noodles.

I was delighted to discover that the cavalry had arrived from China and were checked into the room down the hall! They took Lara and Elliot out for a second lunch whilst Jonah and I had some much needed sleep. By the time we woke up, Malcolm had finished for the day and we wondered back to Times Square for some shopping before meeting up with my father's long time friend for some very delicious dinner.

A great way to end our first day in Hong Kong!