If you're booking a stay at the Robert Black College Residence (photo: left)) on the campus of Hong Kong University (HKU), make sure you pack light! We arrived after curfew and had to lift and thump (too many pieces!) our luggage up the stairs to a third floor suite - the elevator only went to level two. The RB staffer who opened up for us was pleasant enough even though we had clearly arrived 'after hours'. Not too smiley, but he did help with the luggage - a much appreciated gesture.

So...we settle in! Nice place! Very spacious! Beds comfortable. Simply furnished but newly painted and clean. A bit of trouble with the 'flushing' mechanism in the toilet, but that is fixed right quick the next day. TV, internet access, a fridge, dining table, telephone service. All around well equipped. A special 'perk' is our lovely view of Hong Kong harbor between the highrises that weren't there in 1967 when we first arrived or in 1969 when we left.

Round about 8 am the next morning we head down for breakfast in the staff dining room on the ground floor facing an inner courtyard. About 15 others there ahead of us - singles, and groups of two and four. Some chatting; some speaking Chinese, others English mostly. On the menu - choice of congee, eggs and bacon, fresh fruit, juice, coffee, tea. Simple, but decent food.I order eggs and bacon - eggs well done, as suggested by the WHO (World Health Organization)after China had to kill thousands of hens when several in a facility were found to be infected with the 'bird flu' virus.

After breakfast we head to the concierge's office for a map of the campus and to pick up an "Octopus" card - an MTR (Mass Transit Railway) pass. The agenda for the day is to check in with the Classical Music Department (photo: left) to meet with the folks handling Paul's lecture is this evening, tour the campus, and then head downtown by bus to see if we still recognized anything there. Hong Kong, you see, was our first home as a married couple! We got married in Montreal July 1966, and by September we were heading for Hong Kong where Paul would assume his first university teaching position - lecturer in Philosophy at Hong Kong University.

What a thrill for us to be 'back home' (in the poetic sense) again!

(click on collage to enlarge photos)

Five AM in the morning we are picked up by our pre-arranged shuttle. Bleary-eyed and slightly comatose, I offer to help load the luggage. No help needed! I crawl into the back seat while Paul and the driver hoist the big'uns into the trunk space. I want to go right back to sleep, but I fight it, figuring there will be time enough for a long nap on the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong - after the 2.5 hour flight to San Francisco!

At the airport, the lines are mercifully short. We rid ourselves of our massive suitcases at check-in, and join the line at security. This too goes fast and fine! Time for a bit of a nosh! I seem to get the urge to eat a huge meal every time I am in an airport - and it is usually breakfast, which I rarely eat at home! What do you make of that?

Finally...boarding time. Our UA flight to San Fran is packed! Two and a bit hours and a pleasant flight later, we're in San Francisco, waiting for our HK connection at 11:55 AM. On time.

We settle in for a nice long ride. Five hours into the trip I've watched 3 movies! Time to sleep.

At 6:45 PM the next day, we land at HK's new airport (photo collage: above), an incredible piece of achitecture - on Lantau Island, and board the Airport Express train to Hong Kong (Victoria Island) Central. This is our first experience with a totally 'user-friendly' airport facility! What a pleasure! From the moment you get off the airplane to the moment you reach Hong Kong, travel is made easy for you. It starts with the free carts, which, by the way, are twice the size of any we have used in North America, and can easily handle our massive pieces of luggage.