Day 2 - Off to Hong Kong

After my amazing flight to Asia, the excitement of seeing my Best Friend (Jen), and with less than 3hrs sleep since arriving in Tokyo, I woke up at 4am (Toyko time) and headed to the airport (again!) with Jen. Why? We needed to catch our early morning flight to Hong Kong!

Then, while waking up and preparing for our flight (and trying to adjust to the crazy time change - 11hrs a head!), I ran across this article on Facebook - While it gave me hope that Hong Kong would still be accessible (especially for a coffee) - I was nervous that our journey to the "Pearl of the Orient" might have some difficulties... As Typhoon Haima was set to be terrorizing Hong Kong during our trip... We found out hours before we were to depart. Oh well! That is what adventures are all about!? Right?

So Jen and I headed to the airport!

One thing Haneda airport has going for it are the shops! I have never seen so many posh shops all together, in an airport.... Plus this one looked super fun! Haha

Next, even though it was around 5am, the only type of food places that were open served Ramen, and Curry. There was no coffee to be found! So a soda, and some curry later, we were ready to head to Hong Kong!

We flew with Hong Kong Express, and it was a quick 4hr journey. Some of us were able to sleep.... While others just took selfies....

We arrive to HK and the Typhoon is in full swing... EVERYTHING is shut down. No buses are running and the metro is a limited use... Still we were able to hope a train from the airport, get on the metro, and head to our Hotel... I wish we had realized that our Hotel was literally next to the metro stop! Because we came out the wrong exit, and had to run a couple of blocks in the Typhoon (with luggage). Therefore, you are about to see "before and after" pictures from this escapade.

Before... On the Train...

After walking several blocks to get to our hotel....

So because of the Typhoon, all the shops were closed as well. So we snagged a quick bite in our hotel, and then went back up to the room. Where we both proceed to nap for like 3hrs! Jen has kids, and I was just on a 19hr journey... So this was completely understandable!

And actually, it worked out really well! Because after we woke up it seemed that the worst of the Typhoon had passed, and things were starting to open. So after a quick Google search on what might be open for the night, we found the Ozone Bar located inside The Ritz Carlton. It is actually the highest bar in the world and has stunning (or suppose to) views of HK. The Typoon brought a lot of fog and mist, so we were unable to enjoy the view, but we went, had amazing food, and enjoyed our walk around the city afterwards. All in all a great night!

We ended the night with a bit of wandering, and found a Starbucks (I had to collect my HK mug!). Finally we headed back to the hotel (thank you Uber!), and were set for another early morning, because we had to travel 1.5hrs by ferry and bus to go check out the Tian Tan Buddha!