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Martin and Daria's Honeymoon Adventures!
M: So we left Beijing and on the morning going to the airport Daria and myself were glad to be getting out of China. We had seen enough and hadn't even recovered from the massive hike up the Great Wall. Our journey to the airport was an effort having to move our massive suitcases over the many stairs on the Beijing underground - getting to our train was a mission in its self.
Once at the airport we checked in and that took minutes. We went through security and made our way to the air china business lounge. It was very impressive and very spacious. We sat down and had some nasty dry sandwiches which were disgusting We noticed a Pizza Hut downstairs so went there and ordered a pizza which cost about £9. Once we finished we went back upstairs to the lounge and Daria then noticed another dining area which had hot food - I was pissed off having just spent £9 on a pizza when we could have had a bowl of noodles for free....oh well! We boarded the plane straight away and were both impressed with the seat that Air China has for its business class. I know most will not care about this so I wont go into it, I'll save it for the pictures!! The flight seemed really short even though it was 3 hrs and 20 mins. I passed out for most of the flight and before I knew it we were in Hong kong. We left the airport and were great by hot tropic weather in the early evening. We got a bus to the area of Hong Kong island where our hotel was. Before we had left Daria booked a cheap room which was a 4 star hotel for the first night. The bus dropped us off more or less outside the hotel so that was easy. We checked in and it was nice to have a normal hotel room with all the comforts after 2 and a bit weeks of s***. We had wifi in the room, so Daria called home while I got some emails done. Once we showered up we were going to go for a walk around the local area. We asked the concierge where was good to eat, and he recommended the buffet upstairs on the 5th floor as most everything else in the surrounding area was closed due to it being a National Holiday in Hong Kong. We didn't need telling twice. We headed straight up there. The price was rather expensive, costing 25 pounds each, however our justification was that we would have free breakfasts and save money at the Conrad for the next 2 days. With that in mind, we went to the buffet and the food was very good. After roughly 20 minutes we were both in a food coma and so we headed back to the room and passed out. Day 2: We both woke up early, around 7am and I said that we should try and go to check into the Conrad early, as we may be able to get a free breakfast even though we may not be able to check in till 2pm. We got a taxi and took the short ride to the hotel. As soon as we told the cab driver where we were staying at the Conrad he was very impressed and would not stop talking about how its a 5 star hotel!! We arrived at the Conrad and as soon as the taxi stopped in the drive way, 2 door men came over and greeted us - talk about service!! We walked over to reception to try and check in and after a few taps on the computer the receptionist said 'Oh Mr Ryan, you must check in at the executive floor, I will take you there'. The look on Daria's face was priceless. We were walked to the lift and went upstairs to the 59th floor where the executive lounge was. Straight away the views overlooked Hong Kong and were just amazing. The receptionist said something to the lady at the desk where we were then asked to sit down. The lady immediately offered us a drink as she checked us in. She started to explain the hotel and about the lounge and its free breakfast and snacks in the evening etc. Once that was done, the lady then explained that because it was our honeymoon, she had upgraded us to a suite! Now I certainly didn't expect this and I politely said that this was very nice of her. We were offered breakfast before we went to the room, and of course, who are we to turn this down? We were given a table for 2 by the window over looking the harbor and although it was a self service buffet, the service was certainly restaurant style....and the best bit was it was all free...thank you Hilton and God bless your Gold card!!! Once we finished the lady came straight over to us and said that she will take us down to the room. Within a minute we walked into this suite and were both blown away. We thanked the lady and then spent the next 10 minutes checking out the room, amazing! The video on the blog will show you how great it was! Not wanting to leave the room, but wanting to go and see a bit of Hong Kong, we went out and walked around the local park which was impressive. We then took a cable car up to the highest point of Hong Kong (victoria peak). This cost about 16 pounds in total but the views were stunning. We took some great pictures which we will upload later. After seeing this, we went back to the hotel where a bottle of champaigne, chocolates, and fresh fruit were awaiting us. We cracked open the bottle and had a few glasses. Afterwards we went up to the lounge for something to eat. The had a variety of appetizer type foods and that took care of dinner, perfect! Day 3: Today we woke up and lounged in the room for awhile. The room was so nice we really didn't seem much of Hong Kong. But we didn't have to because we could experience it from just looking out our hotel window! We went to the restaurant downstairs on the 1st floor for breakfast - which was also free Afterwards we decided to get out and headed to Nan Lian Gardens and Nunnery. Both were stunning and had beautiful gardens comparable to any Japanese style garden you might find. It was very peaceful walking through here. After that we made our way back to the hotel and just chilled out for the rest of the day. Day 4: We were meant to check out of the hotel today but we still hadn't decided where we were going to next after Hong Kong. Our flights were booked to Japan but we knew that if we went to Japan it would kill the budget. We spent hours looking at flights to various places, but still could not decide. We then went back up to the lounge to use the computer with the purpose of booking somewhere. We had signed up with Couch surfing a week earlier to see if someone would host us in Japan, but no one came back to us. As a result, Japan was out of the question...until Daria had an idea of flying to Tokyo with our original flight and staying for 2 nights, then flying back to South East Asia...the hunt was on for a cheap flight from Tokyo back to Singapore or Thailand. The prices were stupid so in the end we said that we would just fly to Kuala Lumpur. A regular price was around 120 each, so we ended up using some air miles to book an economy flight for only 30 pounds each to KL, perfect. The next issue was the hostel that we were due to check in that afternoon. It was going to cost $45 USD but as we cancelled our night at the Hilton in Tokyo, we had those points refunded. We worked out that it would only cost $35 to buy more points which we would then clear out to book one last night at the Conrad. So it was either $45 US dollars for a s***ty hostel, or $35 for our suite...go figure what we did! Once we made the booking, we handed the reference number back to the lady at the executive desk who then said that we could keep the suite for another night...lovely! We then finished the afternoon having some more free drinks and snacks in the lounge. The last night was spent calling home and watching TV, and every so often looking back at the view of the harbor. Daria also found The Voice on T.V. so she was very excited to be able to watch her show in Hong Kong! Day 5 We woke up bright and early and had breakfast in the lounge. We got a free bus service to the airport express and we were at the airport and checked in within the hour. As Daria and myself are both Silver members of British Airways program we were able to use the business class lounge at Hong Kong, even though we were flying Cathay Pacific. We walked in and it was amazing. There was a separate coffee shop area and a noodle bar, along with an area that had Western food...all free. We went to the noodle bar and ordered some soup/noodles. The food came and was great. After a short while we went to the gate and boarded the plane....next stop Kaula Lumpur!!- comments