Navigationally Challenged
Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong. Once the plane landed, there was shy of forty-eight hours before the return flight. My friend and I had a lot of ground to cover, since I was confident I wouldn’t be returning any time soon, and wanted to make the most of the stay.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we quickly determined what we would do for the remainder of the day. We were told one of the famous sights while in Hong Kong, was the laser light show. Perfect, now we just have to figure out how to get there. We were delighted when the concierge said we could hop on the free hotel shuttle. We soon learned we would need to find our own way back, since we were told would never find the return shuttle the first night in the city. The best way to get home was the metro and in his best English, the concierge tried to explain where we needed to go. Oh, my gosh, I must have asked him four or five times to clarify and still had no idea what he was saying. I asked him to spell it and still had no idea….LOL. This was going to be a challenge.
We were also told how to get the best view of the laser light show and once at the harbor area we needed to take a ferry. As we were dropped off, we didn’t see the sign we were told to look for. Someone on the bus quickly pointed us in the right direction. However, there were two different ferry lines we could take…..argh! After running around for several minutes we watched crowds of people head towards one of them and decided that must be the right one. We somehow managed to buy tokens from a nearby machine, stood in line with the others and prayed it was the right option….LOL. I’m happy to report it was.
After the light show we had to figure out how to get back to the hotel and the map the concierge supplied, which had the tiniest of printing, did us no good! In a moment of panic, we decided to hail a cab. What happened next was a white-knuckle ride to our hotel. The driver spoke little English so I handed him the hotel address card and prayed for the best. The cab was jerking along and I couldn’t figure out if the car was ready to break down or it was just his driving techniques. He swerved in and out of traffic, as we slid around the back seat, exclaiming we had to pay extra for some tunnel and needed our OK. “OK”….what else could be said? Praise the Lord we made it back, even though it was an expensive ride.
Throughout our entire stay, we would ask for directions and everyone but two people gave ambiguous, unclear directions. One gentleman told me to walk straight down the street five minutes and I’d run right into the metro train station……ummm, not so much. After asking for another set of directions found out it was take a left, then right and follow a statue. We did manage to take the metro on two occasions which worked out well once we determined where we were going…..HA!
Navigating the city felt much better being lost in the daylight hours rather than the dark of night. On another set of random directions, we stumbled across the most beautiful city park, Hong Kong Park. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We discovered beautiful gardens, fountains, koi ponds, lush walkways, an outdoor wedding chapel, and the Olympic square. It was like a jack-pot sort of a day.
I’ll admit to being ‘navigationally’ challenged, however, when given partial directions, I’m claiming the fifth….LOL. At times we felt like chickens with our heads cut off, running in circles, turning to and fro and back again. It was a whirl wind forty-eight hours, I can’t imagine how many more hidden gems we might have found given more time and bad directions. Seize the day!
xoxox…..Sheryl