San Francisco and Hong Kong

December 29, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Dec 29 AC 757 YYZ-SFO,
Jan 1 AC561 SFO-YVR, AC7 YVR-HKG,
Jan 4 TH605 HKG-BKK, TH642 BKK-NRT,
Jan 5 NH6 NRT-LAX, AC790 LAX-YYZ

This year we split our New Year travel between San Francisco and Hong Kong.  The trip required a bit of strange and long routing, but was designed to take advantage of some very good fares and earn a few miles.  We had a few days of warm and sunny weather both in San Francisco and in Hong Kong and it was a nice break from the winter.  These are two of my favourite cities and although we’ve been multiple times usually find something new to do each time. 

Dec 29
Toronto to San Francisco

Coastal Highway 1 drive

Sea lions off the coast with an active surf

Pigeon Point lighthouse just before sunset

Before fighting traffic back to San Jose we wait for the sun to set

Dec 30
We head into the city for a nice lunch and a walk along the coast

The skyline from our lunch

Dec 31-Jan 1
The fog rolled in, so not a lot of photo ops. prior to our earlier morning flight

The heavy curtain of fog is still present as we take off for Hong Kong on the 1st

Jan 2
Hong Kong

The skyline decked out for Christmas.  The entire city was decorated

Jan 3
Hong Kong

The Hong Kong skyline from Kowloon

Ceremony in front of Convention Centre Golden Bauhinia (location of transition to China)  

Harbour ferry looking back to Hong Kong and the tall International Finance Tower

Enjoying the new cable car ride (sure beats the old 1 hour bus ride) to Lantau peak and Po Lin

Looking down on the massive HKG airport (a now flattened island) from the cable car

Making the climb to the Tian Tan Buddha statue at Po Lin monastery

Looking south from the statue

The largest outdoor seated Buddha statue up close

Proof that I made it to the top

When in China, seems like a good idea to eat at the Canadian-themed restaurant

Jan 4
Hong Kong to Narita airport

Apparently I looked like a friendly person and had to take a lot of photos

The view from Victoria Peak

Escalator banks that go up to Mid-Levels of Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s expat nannies relaxing on their Sunday off

Kong Kong’s trolleys making their way along Queensway

Jan 5
Narita to Los Angeles and on to Toronto

With a day at the airport lounge we got a good view of Singapore’s A380

Push back crew sends off the each ANA flight with a salute and a wave

Although it seemed to take a long time to get in the air, the A380 showed it could fly

After a long day of travel we eventually get back to Toronto