I just returned from a trip to Hong Kong. There were some interesting things about the people in/from Hong Kong. It began on the flight there. The passengers were 90% Asian. I assume that they were either from Hong Kong or mainland China.
I had upgraded my seat to a preferred seat. They gave me a seat at the bulkhead on an aisle. I had plenty of room. I was in the center of the plane, with no row to my left. So, there was an empty space to left of me where an emergency door was located and right behind the bathroom.
There was a nice gentleman from Hong Kong seated next to me on the plane. We chatted for awhile and then the plane took off. I read for about an hour. I had started a book that my son recommended, Heart of Darkness. The airline had served drinks and a snack. After that, one or two people at a time began to line up for the bathroom. They would wait in the empty space between me and the exit door. I began noticing that when it was one person waiting, they were almost always exercising. The first was a woman who bent over and was lightly punching with her fists all along the outside of her legs. Later, there was a man who put his hands on his hips and was doing leg squats. There was a dwarf who pressed the front of his body against the wall of the airplane with his right arm extended above him, stretching against the wall. Then, he switched arms. There was a lady who leaned over and grabbed the exit door arm and alternately stretched her legs behind her. I have to say that this one worried me. I needed to know what it took to open that door. It was dim in the cabin by now, so I had to really squint my eyes to see the directions for opening the door. It seems as if there are a few steps you need to do before rotating the arm to open the door. So, I was relieved. Then, there was a lady who lightly punched her shoulders and arms over and over again. It was very interesting to watch all this activity and made the time go by very quickly. I am sure this was done for health reasons to keep the blood flowing and so that muscles did not get stiff. I have heard many recommendations that on long flights, you should walk around the plane, do exercises in your seat, wear compression sox, but I have never seen this parade of exercises before. To be honest, even if I thought that I should do it, I couldn't because it would be as if you were performing in front of an audience. The exercises were done in front of the first row of seats on that side of the plane. When I do my exercises at the Fitness class, which has a wall to wall mirror, my plan is usually to be directly behind the instructor so that I really cannot be seen. I could not exercise in front of 200 or so people in that section of the airplane. But I am sure that all those exercising people felt great when they arrived in Hong Kong.
I didn't remember this happening when I took a flight from Saudi Arabia to Beijing last year. But I wasn't sure if it was just that I didn't see it because I wasn't seated right next to that open area. On my return flight this time, I was seated far to the back. I could not see that area to tell what was happening. But, about a half hour before the plane was ready to land, a man across the aisle from me, got up into the aisle put his hands on his hips and started rotating his hips around and around as if he was doing the hula hoop. So, there you go.
There was another very nice thing that happened during the trip. My son and I decided to hike a trail called Dragon Back. We took the Metro to a bus station where we were to take Bus 9. We found it and used our "Octopus card", which is a pre-paid card. My son had printed out the map and bus stops and was counting the stops as we went to know where to get off. You are out in the country and at one of the stops, you just head up into the trail. At one point, probably 30 minutes out, the lady next to me says, "Aren't you going hiking?". I guess she knew that because of our backpacks and clothes. I said yes we were. She said, "Well, we just passed the bus stop where all the hikers normally get off. You should ask the bus driver to stop immediately. Then you can walk back up the hill to the bus stop and entrance to the hike.". My son went and spoke with the driver and yes, we had missed it. It turns out they don't stop at all the stops unless you let them know. So the bus driver pulled over and told us it was just a 5 minute walk away. I wasn't too crazy about this. We were out in the country. What if we couldn't find it? Did they tell us the correct info? etc, etc. But we got off and did find it. There was even a port a potty to start the hike off right. We sprayed up with "Off". I sprayed up so much that my son commented that I was going to leave a trail of dead insects as I went along. But there WAS a sign at the beginning of the trail warning of dengue fever. So, mosquitoes, beware! Anyway, it was very nice of the woman to notice that we were going to hike and advise us of our mistake.
It was quite a long hike. It was supposed to last 2.5-3 hours, but because I am a slow hiker, it took us 4 hours. There were beautiful vistas, interesting areas of vegetation and flowers.
It ended at a lovely beach. My son went swimming and I laid out on the beach.
Around 4 pm, we decided that we had better start back to Hong Kong. First, we had to find the bus stop. Since we had come off the mountain, we had no idea how to get there from this little village. I began asking people and a young man pointed the way. We saw the bus stop for Bus #9 and there was a group of people waiting. After about 15 minutes, a small bus stops (which has a sign saying Bus #10) and everyone standing there goes to get on. I ask a Russian guy if he knows if it goes to the Metro. He says that it goes to the same place as #9. You just can't use your Octopus card. You have to pay cash, $7 Hong Dollars. We decide to get on. As we are going along, we see Bus #9 pass us. This route becomes a little different. We are stopping at lots of places in the village. I ask a young girl seated next to me if this bus goes to the Metro. She says yes, it is the terminal stop. So, I relax. As long as we get to any Metro stop, we can get anywhere. We get to the end and we are the last to get off. I give the driver my fare and he says NO, it is $10 Hong Kong. So, we go through all our change. We are short 10 cents. After a long day of hiking, I am thinking, I am just going to overpay him with the lowest denomination of currency that I have $20 Hong Kong. I just want to be back at the hotel now. Then, suddenly, the young girl who had been sitting next to me on the bus, gets back on the bus and asks what the problem is. I tell her that we are going through our change, that we are 10 cents short. She hands the driver a $10 HK note and says OK, it is fine. I say to her, let me pay you! She says it is fine, but if I really want to do it, get off the bus so that the driver can go. We get off the bus. I give her the $20HK. She gives me $10HK and then points us in the right direction for the Metro. I just wanted to hug her, but I did not want to scare her. :)
Everywhere we went in Hong Kong, the people were so very nice to us. The people were just about the nicest part of the trip and the trip was great!
I had upgraded my seat to a preferred seat. They gave me a seat at the bulkhead on an aisle. I had plenty of room. I was in the center of the plane, with no row to my left. So, there was an empty space to left of me where an emergency door was located and right behind the bathroom.
There was a nice gentleman from Hong Kong seated next to me on the plane. We chatted for awhile and then the plane took off. I read for about an hour. I had started a book that my son recommended, Heart of Darkness. The airline had served drinks and a snack. After that, one or two people at a time began to line up for the bathroom. They would wait in the empty space between me and the exit door. I began noticing that when it was one person waiting, they were almost always exercising. The first was a woman who bent over and was lightly punching with her fists all along the outside of her legs. Later, there was a man who put his hands on his hips and was doing leg squats. There was a dwarf who pressed the front of his body against the wall of the airplane with his right arm extended above him, stretching against the wall. Then, he switched arms. There was a lady who leaned over and grabbed the exit door arm and alternately stretched her legs behind her. I have to say that this one worried me. I needed to know what it took to open that door. It was dim in the cabin by now, so I had to really squint my eyes to see the directions for opening the door. It seems as if there are a few steps you need to do before rotating the arm to open the door. So, I was relieved. Then, there was a lady who lightly punched her shoulders and arms over and over again. It was very interesting to watch all this activity and made the time go by very quickly. I am sure this was done for health reasons to keep the blood flowing and so that muscles did not get stiff. I have heard many recommendations that on long flights, you should walk around the plane, do exercises in your seat, wear compression sox, but I have never seen this parade of exercises before. To be honest, even if I thought that I should do it, I couldn't because it would be as if you were performing in front of an audience. The exercises were done in front of the first row of seats on that side of the plane. When I do my exercises at the Fitness class, which has a wall to wall mirror, my plan is usually to be directly behind the instructor so that I really cannot be seen. I could not exercise in front of 200 or so people in that section of the airplane. But I am sure that all those exercising people felt great when they arrived in Hong Kong.
I didn't remember this happening when I took a flight from Saudi Arabia to Beijing last year. But I wasn't sure if it was just that I didn't see it because I wasn't seated right next to that open area. On my return flight this time, I was seated far to the back. I could not see that area to tell what was happening. But, about a half hour before the plane was ready to land, a man across the aisle from me, got up into the aisle put his hands on his hips and started rotating his hips around and around as if he was doing the hula hoop. So, there you go.
There was another very nice thing that happened during the trip. My son and I decided to hike a trail called Dragon Back. We took the Metro to a bus station where we were to take Bus 9. We found it and used our "Octopus card", which is a pre-paid card. My son had printed out the map and bus stops and was counting the stops as we went to know where to get off. You are out in the country and at one of the stops, you just head up into the trail. At one point, probably 30 minutes out, the lady next to me says, "Aren't you going hiking?". I guess she knew that because of our backpacks and clothes. I said yes we were. She said, "Well, we just passed the bus stop where all the hikers normally get off. You should ask the bus driver to stop immediately. Then you can walk back up the hill to the bus stop and entrance to the hike.". My son went and spoke with the driver and yes, we had missed it. It turns out they don't stop at all the stops unless you let them know. So the bus driver pulled over and told us it was just a 5 minute walk away. I wasn't too crazy about this. We were out in the country. What if we couldn't find it? Did they tell us the correct info? etc, etc. But we got off and did find it. There was even a port a potty to start the hike off right. We sprayed up with "Off". I sprayed up so much that my son commented that I was going to leave a trail of dead insects as I went along. But there WAS a sign at the beginning of the trail warning of dengue fever. So, mosquitoes, beware! Anyway, it was very nice of the woman to notice that we were going to hike and advise us of our mistake.
It was quite a long hike. It was supposed to last 2.5-3 hours, but because I am a slow hiker, it took us 4 hours. There were beautiful vistas, interesting areas of vegetation and flowers.
It ended at a lovely beach. My son went swimming and I laid out on the beach.
Around 4 pm, we decided that we had better start back to Hong Kong. First, we had to find the bus stop. Since we had come off the mountain, we had no idea how to get there from this little village. I began asking people and a young man pointed the way. We saw the bus stop for Bus #9 and there was a group of people waiting. After about 15 minutes, a small bus stops (which has a sign saying Bus #10) and everyone standing there goes to get on. I ask a Russian guy if he knows if it goes to the Metro. He says that it goes to the same place as #9. You just can't use your Octopus card. You have to pay cash, $7 Hong Dollars. We decide to get on. As we are going along, we see Bus #9 pass us. This route becomes a little different. We are stopping at lots of places in the village. I ask a young girl seated next to me if this bus goes to the Metro. She says yes, it is the terminal stop. So, I relax. As long as we get to any Metro stop, we can get anywhere. We get to the end and we are the last to get off. I give the driver my fare and he says NO, it is $10 Hong Kong. So, we go through all our change. We are short 10 cents. After a long day of hiking, I am thinking, I am just going to overpay him with the lowest denomination of currency that I have $20 Hong Kong. I just want to be back at the hotel now. Then, suddenly, the young girl who had been sitting next to me on the bus, gets back on the bus and asks what the problem is. I tell her that we are going through our change, that we are 10 cents short. She hands the driver a $10 HK note and says OK, it is fine. I say to her, let me pay you! She says it is fine, but if I really want to do it, get off the bus so that the driver can go. We get off the bus. I give her the $20HK. She gives me $10HK and then points us in the right direction for the Metro. I just wanted to hug her, but I did not want to scare her. :)
Everywhere we went in Hong Kong, the people were so very nice to us. The people were just about the nicest part of the trip and the trip was great!
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