Sunday, January 31, 2016: Day 4 in HKG, flight to HNDSunday started out cloudy. Shachris was at 8am, but I skipped breakfast afterwards in favor of brunch. That’s right, Seven Zero also has an all you can eat buffet on Sunday for brunch. It costs HKD200 at starts at 11am. I decided to just go there instead of paying for another mediocre breakfast at Mul Hayam and not having a lounge to supplement it with (I’m only lousy SPG Gold and don’t have the Business SPG card so I don’t have lounge access).
Right after davening (which was super quick I might add, 38 minutes!), I packed up and headed back across the harbor to the Peak Tram. I took the MTR to Central, exit J2, and walked the couple blocks to the peak tram. By this time, it was 9:25 and there weren’t many people queueing to buy tickets. It costs HKD83, cash only (unless you buy the tickets online), and was on the tram up a few minutes later.
Lucky for me, there were no clouds at the top, but there was a lot of wind. It was still a cloudy day, so I couldn’t see too much past Kowloon, but it was better than any other day on my trip. I went to the hop viewing deck, spent some time there, before going to the viewing deck in the Galleries mall across the plaza. Most of the stores weren’t open yet, but I didn’t really care either way.
Views of HKI (foreground) and Kowloon (background)
View of the south side from the peak (the sea)
Tram ride downI took the tram down (again no lines) and walked 20 minutes to the JCC for brunch. There were a few other people already there. The food was plentiful and good. I’m the person at an all-you-can-eat buffet that the restaurant counts on to make money. I’m a light eater and usually can barely eat enough food to justify paying for such a thing in the first place. I also ordered a pizza to go for lunch the next day in Tokyo.
Someone didn't understand how English works
Seven Zero Sunday brunch buffet. There were many individual pans of seared salmonAfter lunch I walked down the Central-Mid escalators (or more accurately the stairs next to them) and took the ferry back to Kowloon for HKD 2.80 (the upper deck is HKD3.40 FWIW).
Can someone please explain to me why people set up these little cardboard areas on the covered walkways on Sunday? They weren't there on Thursday.
And I thought Jews were the only ones who used the term hawkersI walked backed to the hotel, checked out, and took a cab (HKD42) to Kowloon station to catch the Airport Express back to HKIA. The cab charges $5/bag, so of the $42 fare, $10 was for bags.
I got to the airport about 3 hours before my 4:20pm flight. I was flying CX F on a B744. After check-in, security (no priority line) and immigration (again no priority queue), I was off to The Wing to check it out.
CX First Class check-inWhile I though the lounge was nice, I wasn’t that much of a fan of the black marble everywhere. I did love the view from The Wing (HT: Gary) and the cabanas that are talked about. I didn’t actually shower, but did check them out.
My
View from The WingI then headed to The Pier to spend the next hour until my flight.
While the foot massages were all booked up for the duration of my stay, they did have a rest area open to relax in. The views from The Pier are not nearly as nice as The Wing, but the decor is nicer. As a kosher traveler, the only food they had that I could take advantage of was fresh fruit, so I’d say the major selling points of the lounge were lost on me. Sure, they have a bar and an awesome looking restaurant, but I found myself bored after about 45 minute. It didn’t help that the lounge was super crowded at the time (as was The Wing).
With 15 minutes to boarding I headed to my gate, 30, and boarded my first CX F flight.
While the suite was one of their old ones, the only real difference I could find was that the upholstery was older, but the size and shape appear the same. It was quite a bummer when our Scottish pilot announced that we’d only have a 3-hour flying time. However, the airport was quite busy at that time, so despite pushing back on schedule (shed-jewel), it was another 30 minutes or so before we took off.
CX F
The plane right in front of us for take-off. I may not have known were 99% of the other flights were headed, but I knew this one's destination 
Our runway
HKIAThe service on CX was great. I was in seat 1A, and the guy in seat 1K decided to play his movies on his laptop without headphones the entire flight. The guy in 1K was hard of hearing (he had a cochlear implant) so I’m sure he didn’t care. I didn’t mind personally since I was busy typing up this TR, but I can’t believe people actually think it’s okay to blast your own entertainment without headphones on. /Rant
Dinner from Hermolis. Main was Ratatouille with turned vegetables. There was also a lamb dish which I passed on.
Personal noteWe landed a few minutes behind schedule at Haneda and taxied for a few minutes to our gate. I was the first one off the plane and through immigration. After customs I found an ATM to take out some cash for the train to the city. Turns out the ATM I tried only had ¥10,000 bills. I was not in the mood of trying to find an ATM that had smaller denominations, so I just took one of those.
With cash in had I headed to the ticket machines to purchase my ticket. I was a bit confused about which train to select (even in English mode), but a helpful train employee who spoke English quite well was there to help. For ¥530 I was on my way to the city.
Train to Shimbashi stationThe train station is right under the airport, so it was quite easy and quick. I took the Tokei line to Shinbashi station which was about a half mile from the hotel. Once outside the station my plan was to walk pretty directly down one street to the hotel, the Andaz Toronomen Hills. However, it was not so simple.
Streets in Japan do not have names. Blocks are numbered (blocks are the areas between 4 streets) but streets themselves have no signs. Even block numbers are in Japanese only. I was trying to use Google Maps to navigate, but due to some buildings in the area, the GPS was not super accurate. I tried walking one way, then another, then another to find my starting point, but it just wasn’t working. At this point it was around 10:30pm and I was tired and just wanted to get to the hotel. I did ask some guys on the street if they knew where to go, but they didn't really speak English and were visitors to boot, so they didn’t know the area.
I ended up walking back to the train station and just getting in a cab. I showed the cabbie the address (I’d printed it before leaving home) and he took me on the 2-minute drive for about ¥730. Even after paying almost ¥1300 to get to the hotel, it was way cheaper than the ~¥6500 Uber or a cab would have cost.
The hotel was just amazing. I was greeted at ground level by hotel staff who promptly took my bags and headed up with me to the 51st floor lobby. I checked in and got assigned a room on the 48th floor (guest rooms are on floors 47-50) with a great view of the Tokyo Tower. I also confirmed my kosher breakfast for the next morning and asked for it to be delivered at 8am.
Here are pictures of the room:
I settled down, showered and hopped into bed, excited about my day in Japan the next day.
Nighttime view of the Tokyo Tower from my room
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