The flight to Toronto was fine albeit really bleeping early! In Toronto we had a couple of hours to kill so we had a snack and wandered around. Then was the flight to Hong Kong. Very very long (I keep forgetting how long the Canada to Asia flights are!). It was pretty smooth except of course for when we were flying over Japan, then things got a little rocky. Anybody who has flown over Japan knows that the air currents are very unpredictable and often cause moderate to occassionaly severe turbulance. We experienced some high moderate. Enough to make me feel a little green lol. The it was fine. 15 hours and we finally landed in Hong Kong. We dragged our sore and exausted bodies around Hong Kong airport for the 4 hours between flights. Then we proceeded to gate 22. Around 10 minutes before the boarding time we're told it is at another gate. Everybody piles onto an airport bus and we get taken to the new gate. Once there we quickly realized there was no plane yet so it was apparent that we'd be waiting awhile. so all of us, including the pilots and flight crew, hung around waiting for the plane. It finally arrived about 20 minutes after the time it was meant to take off. But the best was yet to come...when we made it to the desk to go through to the plane we were promptley told that we were not on the list for the flight but becuase we had boarding passes we could get on but we would get no meal and our luggage would stay in Hong Kong...say what??? Apparently the Cathay Pacific person in Toronto erased us from the Hanoi flight by accident. So then this dude is getting impatiient and saying it is Air Canada's problem and we had to make up our minds right away if we wanted to go as the plane doors were about to shut. What about our bags we asked politely?? No guarantee they will be sent after and anyway not his problem. So we politely (lol) reminded him that in fact it was Cathay Pacific not Air Canada that messed up so it was his problem and no we would not get on a flight without knowing if we see our luggage again! so the plane left and we were trundled off to the Cathay Pacific service desk. Pat was expecting a fight but once they realized it was their fault they booked us on the the next night's flight and gave us a voucher for the airport hotel and meals.
So the next stage of our adventure was an unplanned night and day in Hong Kong. Oh well, we decided to make the best of it. actually the night was a complete write off. After no sleep for 30 hours it took all the remaining energy we had to get ourselves to the hotel room, shower and pass out...and I mean pass out!! after about 10 hours of sleeping like the dead we got up, had breaky and went into the city to explore (I will add pics in a bit). Hong Kong is pretty cool. Very hilly with lots of little alley ways and streets to explore. We unfortunately did not have enough time to really see a whole lot but we spent about 5 hours wandering around. Then it was back to the airport to see if our next try to make it to Hanoi would be successful...it was as we are here!
We were picked up from the airport by the agency rep and her family and driven in to Hanoi to the first hotel where we will be staying. we will staying at 3 hotels during our stay lol. The first is right in the old quarter of Hanoi and we will be here for 2 nights. It will give us a chance to explore the city and be right in the thick of things (I can hear all the honking as I type). Then Tuesday we head to Hoa Binh province where we will likely stay until Friday which is when the G&R will probably take place. Up until friday we will spend the days in the orphanage with Van and then go back to our hotel at night. we'll do this until the G&R then we will take Van back to Hanoi with us. We are quite excited by the prospect of being able to hang out at the orphanage with the nannies and other children (and Van too of course!!). It will give us a chance to see how he has spent the first 10 months of his like. something precious we'll be able to share with him. It will also give him time to get used to us and hopefully make his transition a little easier.
Anyway, that's all for now. I am going to have a quick snack then early to bed. Get a good start on exploring Hanoi tomorrow!!
We will post Hong Kong Pics a bit later :)
Meg
Here are a couple of our Hong Kong pics:
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