Dim Sum
While recently traveling to Hong Kong, the trip fell during the start of the Chinese New Year. Our hotel was set amongst the middle of what looked like a busy area, however, while walking around the streets, we noticed most small businesses were closed for the holiday and later learned they would be closed for the remainder of our stay……drat.
Since we were only in Hong Kong for forty-eight hours, my friend and I decided eating dim sum was a must, but since our first evening had been occupied by the laser light show and getting to and from the heart of the city, we would have to somehow fit dim sum in on day two.
Day two arrived and we had a very full schedule planned, but decided we would find a place to eat dim sum for dinner. As planned, our day was packed and didn’t arrive back to our hotel until almost 4:00 pm. After calling the concierge for dim sum recommendations, he said there was a wonderful restaurant in a neighboring town. He would make reservations, the only caveat was dim sum was only served from morning until early evening, and most places stop serving it by 5:00 pm.
He also explained the hotel shuttle was leaving at 4:00 pm and we would need to be on it to make it in time to be served; it would be the shuttle’s second stop. It happened to be 3:58 as we ran out the door, down twelve elevator floors, through the lobby to just make the shuttle…..WHEW!
The bus was filled with people and luggage, as we headed down the busy highway. My friend and I were talking about how lucky to make the shuttle and the concierge’s call-ahead reservations.
The shuttle arrived at the first destination and my friend had to exit since she was in the way of people unloading, including the driver to retrieve additional luggage. As I watch all the passengers exit the shuttle, and was waiting for my friend and the driver to get back on. The driver started frantically telling me to get off the bus. He couldn’t speak any English except for the word “Down”. He kept yelling “down” and waving his finger and arm down.
My friend, still outside the shuttle was trying to understand why we needed to get off at the first stop when clearly we could see it was an airport express center. I was on the shuttle trying to communicate we would be the second stop, but he kept yelling and waving at us to go down.
Finally, we both gave up trying to understand and I exited the bus. Now, inside, we could clearly see there wasn’t a dim sum restaurant anywhere in sight. WHAT THE? My friend was finally able to get through to the hotel and tried connecting with the concierge on the phone, but the person on the line thought she could help, but kept going in circles because she didn’t understand. After a few minutes, my friend was finally transferred to the concierge and he explained he had called the bus driver to let us know the restaurant was closed for the holiday, and apparently we were instructed to go to the lower level to get the return shuttle within fifteen minutes.
We made our way to the hotel shuttle pick-up area after asking a few people for directions and sat down in the assigned chairs. Probably less than two minutes, we see the same driver holding a sign for our hotel………not making eye contact with either of us. Are you kidding me? He made us get off the bus, somehow find the shuttle pick-up area, just to get back on the shuttle…..LOL. We were the only people on the return shuttle. He held the sign up for a few minutes hoping other passengers would join us.
What an adventure that ride was and by the time we arrived back at the hotel, there wasn’t enough time to find another location. Unfortunately, we never experienced dim sum while in Hong Kong, but have a funny adventure story to tell. By the way, that night we ate steak…..HAHA. It was delicious!
xoxox…..Sheryl