And We're Off!

Finally finally finally, my dream of going to Bali is coming true! I think I first started dreaming of going to Bali in 2005 when I spent time in Australia and all the Ozzies were telling me how great it is. Since moving to Vancouver and talking to many more people who have traveled there, my desire to grow has just grown stronger.

Originally Hitoshi and I planned to go with two of our best friends, Mark and Elesa. We booked tickets back in September, only for Mark to find out a week later he was going to have to have minor surgery. Since he had to take time off work for that, he decided not to come to Bali since it would mean even more time off. Being the awesome husband he is, he encouraged Elesa to come with us anyways. Although we will miss Mark every day, I am grateful that Elesa was still able to come. Thanks Mark, we will make it up with lots more traveling together in the future.

Our trip started in Jan 28, and meeting Elesa in the Vancouver airport, so we could all leave together. Our flight included an over night in Hong Kong, so our first flight was a 14 hour one.


I pulled some serious fan-dangling and snagged us three exit isle seats. That meant enough space in front of us for the three of us to sit down on the ground and have a picnic. Or for an older Chinese Tai Chi instructor to teach Hitoshi and I some moves.


I had been dreading the long flight, but somehow it passed quickly. The stewardess kept offering us more and more wine, so Elesa and I did a little celebrating.


Then we all watch Eat Pray Love on our own tvs that popped up from under the seat, trying to time it so we were all started it at the same time. The movie was pretty lame, but we figured why not watch a movie about Bali on the way to Bali. A little nap and one more movie, and we were in Hong Kong.

Since our flight left the next morning, we decided to check into our next flight with Cathay Pacific before we left the airport. Good thing we did, because Hitoshi and I learned since we did not have our flight from Bali to Manila booked, we could not check into our flight to Bali. Unless you have a ticket out, no ticket in. I was a pretty choked at our travel agent, because if I hadn't tried to check in early, we would have had to do it in the morning and probably missed our flight. It took about an hour of frustration trying to find internet, book us a flight and show it to Cathay Pacific so they would check us in. I later realized that in my tired state I booked a 6 am flight, but at least we were set for the next morning.

Troublesome stuff out of the way, it was time to get into vacation mode. We took a short train ride to Kawloon, across the bay from downtown Hong Kong. Elesa had found us a little hotel called the Maple Leaf Guest House, on the twelfth floor of a huge building filled with tiny twisting hallways. When you walked in it felt like little India, I don't think there was a single Chinese person to be found. After walking down hallways filled with Indian restaurants and shops, we went up to our room. The manager was very nice, and although the place was pretty small, it was very clean and we were happy to drop off our stuff.

Our room at the Maple Leaf Guest House, snacking on Elesa's never-ending bag of trail mix.

The back alley behind our guest house.

The halls downstairs of our place (early in the morning so all of the Indian shops were closed).

I really wanted to eat a good meal, and we found a place right across the street filled with restaurants. Most of them were Japanese, but we ended up eating at a great Chinese place, and I had huge prawns in a XO sauce (whatever that is). Mmmmm.....


After that we headed to Victoria Peak (http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp). It is apparently Hong Kong's most famous attraction. It is 552 m (1,811 ft) high mountain, where all the famous shots of HK are taken from. We took the subway a few stops and then it was a short walk to the base, where we took a tram up a really steep hill.




We had a good look of the city, but since we were freezing in the chilly wind (we only packed clothes for Bali!), we quickly headed down.

After that it was off to bed, and only one more sleep till Bali!!

Buildings under construction with bamboo scaffolding.

Last photo of HK as we fly off to Bali!