Our flight left early Monday morning so we asked Jason and Sally Platt (the couple that stayed with our children) if they could arrive Sunday night. Jason and Sally obliged so we spent Sunday night at Connie's house in Salt Lake City. We were nervous about leaving our kids but excited for the trip and the chance to spend some quality time together. I don't think either of us slept a wink at Connie's house. The next morning Lori showed up bright and early to give us a ride to the airport. Lori is superwoman when it comes to airport duty!

The flight to San Francisco was uneventful and Nancy got to experience my favorite travel restaurant when I'm flying to Asia - the mexican restaurant (Andale) in the San Francisco International terminal. Buddy was a super traveler and hardly made a peep the entire two week trip. Also, sitting in business class was a nice change from the coach seats that Brooks Automation provides when I fly to Taiwan.

The Island Shangri-La

We arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday night, got our luggage in the fancy new airport (in the New Territories I think?), and met Kent and Connie at the arrival gate. They were all smiles and looked spiffy as they tooled around Hong Kong together. We took the train to the island part of Hong Kong and a cab to the hotel - the Island Shangri-La.

Atrium in the Island Shangri-La

The Island Shangri-La is a very nice hotel. It is just like all of the other modern buildings in Hong Kong - tall and skinny. One of its most amazing features is the famous atrium. The mural is rumored to be one of the tallest murals in the world.

Our room had a view of the harbor and no sooner had we settled down then the entire hotel shook with a BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!. It turns out that we arrived on a Chinese national holiday and were treated to fireworks bursting over the water right outside our hotel room window - a fitting way to cap off the day.

Up: ChinaTrip