Day 1 proper (11 July 2014) We land in Hong Kong

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Friday 11 July 2014, 2 pm and we are being served breakfast !! As we prepare to land my (Lesley) mind wanders back to 1985 when I came to Hong Kong last. As we approached the runway you could see two skyscrapers at either side of the wing tips. It is very different today. Today as you approach it is like a built up area in a crater with beautiful green mountains surrounding and protecting the town. And then as the plane descends into the sea the wheels touch down n on terra firma.

We walkwd about a mile to immigration and then went to find our bags. That was another mile walk. Good exercise after a 10 hour flight. Our bags were amongst the first off and the another mile to find a taxi. All signage is incredibly efficient and there is a very orderly feel to things - China influence?

Then we walked out into an intense heat that quite literally takes your breath away. The humidity makes Ra'anana feel quite cool. We had landed in pouring rain but now the sun was shining.

The taxi took us to our hotel, the Garden View hotel. As you can see from the pictures taken from our hotel window, the view is quite something - greenery and concrete. The length of the bridges we crossed to get to the city centre was unbelievable. The feat of engineering is something to be admired.

We had signed up to eat at the Chabad and went to the Chabad synagogue four doors down from the hotel. Then a walk up the road to the home of Rabbi and Rebetzen Avtzon. To get to their apartment we walked up 3 ramps of the car park and then up 3 flights of stairs. We met up with young people from Israel, America, the UK and France. The Israelis were on their "gap year" after the army. The others were out to earn their fortunes in banking, law, advertising etc. With the highest rate of tax being 15% I suppose who can blame them.

We had an amazing evening of spiritual discussion, and of course food and drink. But the highlight of the evening was the singing and when somebody chose Am Yisroel Chai (the people of Israel live) the whole apartment throbbed with the noise and sentiment. We fell into bed with such an uplifted feeling.

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Photos

Public Garden in HK
view from our hotel window - the Garden View YWCA

Public Garden and HK skyline
view from our hotel window - the Garden View YWCA in Hong Kong mid-levels