Day 8: Thursday July 7th 2016
Today we were going to ride the elephants. Being that we had a flight to catch that night we were only able to do a half a day. But that was more than enough. We were originally supposed to get there with a free shuttle that would pick us up from the hotel. Since the elephant place was far we would have had to been ready by 7:30 in order to get there at 9. After having the driver we had the day before (he was the husband of one of the girls who works in the TA next door to chabad) we were very happy with him and the free “baby sitter” they sent along I asked her if they can take us again to the elephants. She said she could but it would cost a whopping 1500 baht. I tried to bargain with her but she would not budge as she claimed it was very far and they would be using lots of gas. I reluctantly agreed and she told me to be ready by 8.
Lounge LM CNX
View from the lounge
We were picked up on time after a quick breakfast of fruit in the lounge and arrived to Baanchang Elephant paradise resort. Right behind us was the shuttle that was supposed to pick us up. It had 4 Israeli young guys and an older couple. We went in and got changed into our elephant clothing. TIP: bring foot wear that you do not care about.
Junior Elephant clothing
The leader told us that since I had 2 kids with me he would let me ride on his girlfriend which was the biggest elephant and could fit all of us. My wife who was pregnant was not allowed to ride the elephant. He then taught us how to speak to the elephants.
Elephant class
Close up of the lesson
Next order of business was to feed the elephants as you do not want to ride a hungry elephant.
Feeding the elephant
My elephants “boyfriend” on the left
Next we have to get on the elephant. First the babysitter went on and sat on the back. She was then given my son. Next it was my turn to get on. I had to tell the elephant to lift his leg so I can climb on it. I got up and was given my daughter to hold in the front. She was petrified the whole time but I was holding her which calmed her a little. My son was having a blast in the back. My wife together with the wife of the older couple who chose not to ride had to walk.
Our “babysitter” and us on the elephant
Elephant Fleet
The ride was bumpy and the elephant kept veering off to try to eat. But it was really fun and a great experience. After what felt like forever, it was time to wash the elephants. They let us get off as they didn’t want my kids falling into the water. We decided not to get back on as it was a short ride back after they finished washing the elephants. It was fun watching it and not actually doing it as the trainers made the elephants spit water from their mouths on to the people in the lake! Gross!
Elephants going in to get washed
Washing the elephants
They then gave us fruit and drinks and we were on our way back to chabad for lunch.
After lunch we went back to the hotel to shower, get rid of all the elephant from us, finish packing and get ready to go to the airport. It was an international flight to Hong Kong leaving at 6 so we were told to leave the hotel at 3. I again requested the same driver as he was very good and for a measly 300 baht he took us to the airport. The security for the bags is done as you enter and that was pretty quick. We got through customs quickly as well and had an hour and a half to kill before our flight. I was not able to find a lounge that would let us in. So we had to wait like the “regular people”
Anyway something weird they do in CNX is they have 2 flights leave at practically the same gate at the same time. To avoid confusion they make you wear a sticker with your airline on it. For this reason they boarder early as well, and since everyone was on the plane early we were able to take off early as well. The flight was Dragon air which I booked in Y for 7500 avios plus $20 per ticket. Pretty good deal! The meal was hermolis but salmon. I do not eat fish, my wife does but did not like it at all, but the desert was good so I had that. The kids passed out as soon as they sat down so they did not eat either. A nice thing the airline did since the plane was pretty empty was they blocked 2 seats for us so instead of having 4 seats we had 6 (2 rows of 3 next to each other). Of course both kids wanted to sit with me so my wife had 3 seats and we each had 1. (She really trained them well)!
KSML
The flight went by quick and before we knew it we landed in Hong Kong!
Hong Kong
HKG is huuuge! We got on the train to go to immigration and luckily we were placed on a short line since we had kids. You lose an hour from CNX to HKG so although the flight is only 2.5 hours it was already 10:15 by the time we were ready to get out of the airport. I wanted to use uber but I couldn’t figure out how to tell them where to meet me so I just cancelled it. I did some money changing and found a taxi. Somehow they fit all our luggage and 4 people in a regular sized car!In about 25 minutes we arrived to the Sheraton Kowloon!
Small Taxis
I really wanted to stay in the W but it just didn’t make sense this time around. It is not Shabbat friendly and we were leaving Sunday at 4 PM and arrived late Thursday night. The Sheraton was perfect we were able to go up and down the steps and it was a 10 minute walk from kehilat zion shul and restaurant. We finally got to check in and the guy informed me that there were no suites available but he could get me into 1 tomorrow, but… It won’t have a harbor view! I told him that would be perfect and we went to the room.
We tried to feed the kids some food that we had but they just wanted to sleep. I promised them a good breakfast in the morning and they went to sleep! Another fun and exhausting day in the books.
Lobby Sheraton Kowloon
Harbour View Room
Shower/Tub
Bathroom
