Beijing Trip - Hong Kong Airport

Just arrived in Hong Kong after a 14 hour flight. Unlike Leon's flight earlier this week, the interior was still old and it was a packed flight. Sometimes I need to go to the bathroom a lot on a trans-Pacific flight; however, this time I didn't have to go at all. I did need to get up and walk around a bit to keep my left leg from swelling too much.

Since the plane arrived so early, I was able to take a shower in the Business Class lounge. The layover this time is only 2 hours so I need to start walking to the gate soon. After all the Olympics frenzy, it's easy to forget that the Paralympics are still taking place. Our plane arrived at gate 1 and right when you walk out, there is a media credential center. I didn't know there were equestrian events at the Paralympics though.




I take this same shot every time I'm here... there are a lot of planes this early in the morning (6am).

Back to LAX, Cathay Pacific did not update the departure board in the lounge so I went to the gate at around 11:00pm for my 11:45pm flight. The departure gate is 102 which is way on the south end of the Bradley Terminal. They are still renovating the terminal so none of the people movers are working. It a LOOONG walk from the lounges to gate 102; it took me about 15 minutes. Imagine my dismay when I read on the departure board that boarding was delayed until 11:40pm. We ended up boarding at almost midnight and the plane did not take off until 12:45am, an hour late. Amazingly, we still got to Hong Kong on time. There must be a lot of slack in the schedule. Maybe they fly slower when there's more time available since Cathay flights seem to always arrive on time in Hong Kong.


Everybody sit down... it's not time yet.

The girl (Sandra Chen) at the business class check-in counter at LAX was pretty friendly this time. She tried to make small talk, and we ended up talking in Mandarin. Turns out she's from Hainan Island in China; I was just there this past February. I thought most of Cathay's counter people were from Hong Kong so they can speak Cantonese. Maybe I should have asked for her phone number or something.

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I just got an email with links to photos (here and here) taken by other NewSong people that are already in Beijing.

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I also tried calling Leon. He was checking in for his flight from Chengdu to Hong Kong at 8am. I think our flight leaves at the same time though my flight is from Hong Kong to Beijing.