I’m posting briefly from my stopover in Hong Kong before flying to Fiji later. I’m not quite sure how to sum up the past 36 hours in a family-friendly way; I’m not sure that’s possible, so will probably need to gloss over large parts of it. Suffice to say that HK has lived up (down?) to its reputation and I’ve had a great time here. If I could have my time again, I’d have drunk slightly less on Monday night, to enable me to make more of yesterday, but I still have some time today to enjoy the city once I’ve checked out of my hotel room.

My flight here from London was comfortable and uneventful. I was rather amused to see that my flight roughly followed the path of the trans-Mongolian railway. The journey that took me several weeks in the summer of 2010 passed in hours while I was fast asleep. Looking at the on-board map reminded me of several places I’d almost forgotten existed (Choir, Mörön, Ulanbataar) and brought back some good memories. That trip feels like such a long time ago.

I can confirm that the seats in Cathay Pacific business class really do recline to 180 degrees and in fact slightly further, like a firm yet comfortable massage bed. It was bliss to be able to sleep properly and not wake up every 10 minutes with a sore neck. The serenity of the lounge at Heathrow – watching the rain pour down outside while enjoying a martini and Har Gau – and the plentiful and delicious food and drink on board, meant that I arrived feeling relaxed, pampered and happy – as I’d hoped. The upgrade was worth every penny.

Martini and Har Gau at Heathrow

A good omen? Can’t believe I finally won this game!

Once I’d checked into my hotel room (which is on the 23rd floor and has amazing views!), I met an old university friend, Jess, for dinner, as she now lives and works in Hong Kong. She’s very busy with work at the moment so we grabbed a quick dinner near her office. It’s the norm here for people to queue up and then share a table. At her recommendation, I ordered a bowl of noodles with pork, and we shared a bean curd side dish. I’m aware that my chopstick technique is horrible (the sticks aren’t supposed to cross over) but it does work! It was lovely to catch up with Jess after not seeing each other for a couple of years. When we parted ways she pointed me in the direction of a sky bar with an amazing view of the city, and that’s where the night continued!

View from hotel room

View from sky bar

One of the few upsides to having a sleep disorder (idiopathic hypersomnia, for those of you who don’t know) is that jet lag is effectively non-existent. My wakeful phases are largely synthetic, being triggered by medication, so I can time them to fit in with travelling and the new time zone. If this comes as a surprise, I promised myself recently that I would talk more about my condition and try to acknowledge the few upsides that exist! It’s rare and there’s very little information available about it. I was momentarily worried last night that I was still on London time, as it was past midnight and I wasn’t tired yet, but I don’t think that was the case after all as I woke up this morning at about 9.

I’ll let you know what else I manage to see of this city before flying to Fiji this evening.