At 7:00 a.m. this morning we were being gently pushed alongside the terminal in Hong Kong. This is on the site of the former Kai Tak Airport. It was here in 1996 that the Lisle family arrived for the first time. The approach to the runway was literally across the roof tops and one was certain that washing on the line outside the apartments certainly moved by the jet blast.
Following disembarkation and immigration we transferred to our hotel overlooking the harbour near the Hung Hom Ferry Pier. As we left the terminal one drove over parts of the former concrete runway (this area is still being developed) and in conversation our experience of 1996 reminded the driver of his grandma’s experience living in Kowloon with the aeroplanes skimming her roof top. He said, ‘she just got used to it’.
Very soon after check-in we witnessed the Chinese Ferry ship passing by and soon we were on the Tsin Sha Tsui East Promenade to the Kowloon harbour front. Beneath the Holiday Inn on Nathan Road we had our favourite sweet and sour pork served in a pineapple. We were even served by the same waitress that we met in 2017 having travelled the 24 hours by train from Beijing.
As we write it is 9:00 p.m. and we have eaten the most delicious food overlooking Victoria Harbour. In the distance is the MS Westerdam and to the east the Convention Centre on Hong Kong Island.