EcoLog08 - Hong Kong to Xuzhou

Day 1 - Hong Kong to Xuzhou - 19 June 08

We left Mui Wo at 12. 50 setting off to meet Konomi and Paul at Exchange Square in Central. Merrin attired in shorts t-shirt and tevas, Louise in town clothes! Cycled down the valley – Merrin with a 20kg pack on his back, Louise with two small backpacks carrying important things like passports, computer, makeup etc in the bike baskets.

It sure was a, planes, trains, automobiles (and ferries) day. From Central we caught the MTR to Kowloon Tong, changed to the KCR to the Lo Wu border crossing from Hong Kong SAR to Mainland China. In Shenzhen, the bus terminal for the airport bus was next to the station with the bus stop in the middle of the road. The only indication a number marked on the road. Travelled through the busy streets of Shenzhen then pulled up at another bus stop where it soon became obvious that we all had to pile off the bus and buy tickets to get on the “real” airport bus. From here about a 45 min journey to the airport. Check in was exceedingly simple but things became a tad more complicated after that! Firstly the boarding gate we were given had been changed….but that was the least of our worries. We found the correct gate and after experiencing our first photo as the celebrities we are (a local Chinese man wanting a photo of his wife with us) we boarded on time. Got the take off spiel and then….nothing! Next a message telling us takeoff would be delayed for one hour…so they proceeded to feed us. Finished our meal (and all the beer on the plane) and strapped in for takeoff accelerating down the runway only to abort about halfway down! Taxied back to sit and wait while the pilot figured out what to do, which included walking from the cockpit to the back of the plane a few times. Finally took off about 2. 5 hours late and made it to Xuzhou by mid night…thankfully. Piled on the bus at the airport and set off on an hour long journey to our hotel.

Paul and Konomi had been staying at this hotel before they went back to Hong Kong for their visa run and had assured us it was very nice…which it was indeed – a five star hotel called Bayview Holiday Hotel (http://www.xzhtjr-hotel.com/) with very nice rooms but…rock hard beds, which we finally fell into at about 2am.

Grow well
Dr Merrin