In April I visited Hong Kong. Two weeks of family time, meeting up with an old friend, eating, and some light shopping. Then it was time to go home. I booked my flight on United, because they had an easier departure time from Hong Kong International Airport. Cathay left in the morning and United had an evening flight.
After a slow morning, seeing my niece one more time, and having lunch at a Michelin-starred Szechuan restaurant nearby, I left for the airport. My brother booked me an Uber to Central Station. From there, it’s an easy ride on the Airport Express.
Hong Kong International
For those travelling on Cathay Pacific, Greater Bay Airlines, or Hong Kong Airlines, you can check in at home, hotel, or office and book the airport service to deliver your luggage for you. Or if you are travelling on Cathay, HK Airlines, Quantas or Singapore, you can check in at either Kowloon or Hong Kong Station and drop off your bags between 24 hours and 90 minutes prior to your flight.
Hong Kong International
When I was waiting for the check-in kiosk to open, I met a few people transiting through Hong Kong airport. I chatted with an Ecaudorian businessman, there with a colleague returning home from a tradeshow. After transiting in Los Angeles, they still had to fly to Panama first. I was early at the airport; they had already been there for a good part of the day.
After finally dropping off my bags and making it through security, I found a cart for my backpack and knapsack. What I noticed first was how bright the airport is – the natural light through the windows bouncing off the high-gloss glaze of the floor and the white canopies overhead.
The earliest airport buildings were very simple: on one side there was a road and on the other a field where aircraft landed into the wind. The route from landside to airside involved a walk from your car through the terminal and out to your plane, which was always in view. Stansted attempted to recapture the clarity of those early airfields, together with some of the lost romance of air travel.
Foster & Partners about Stansted Airport in London they designed and whose concepts they continued with HKIA
Hong Kong International Airport is a bustling hub. 120 airlines fly to over 200 destinations.
Having outgrown the capacity of the original international airport at Kai Tak, which handled nearly 30 million passengers in 2016 (Wiki), the Hong Kong government opened the new one in Chek Lap Kok in 1998. According to the designers, Foster and Partners, Hong Kong International Airport has capacity to handle 80 million passengers by 2040 (Heathrow and JFK combined). In 2019, it already had 71.5 million.
When people think of Hong Kong, it’s unlikely an image of 200+ islands comes to mind. It’s two of these islands that became the current international airport. It was a reclamation and excavation project at once. Dredge Brokers noted that “938 hectares of reclaimed land and 310 hectares from the two original islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau” crated the platform. They flattened the islands, removing 600 million tonnes.
Robot cleaner at HKIA. The cute face to make people feel more comfortable.
Eating & Shopping at HKIA
Despite how being such a busy airport, I still felt it was spacious. Like other large airports, international brand names flanked the walkways. LV, miu miu, Hermés…Local shops added to the scenery. Unlike many airports, some opened 24/7.
While I was looking for places to buy homeopathic remedies and natural medicine, I noted that Sl…owood was also at the airport. After leaving security, it was one of the first shops I spotted. Slowood’s brand is organic, sustainable, and zero-waste. Not a new concept; it was a welcome reprieve from the usual airport offerings. As a corner space, Slowood created a sitting area at the far end of the store where you could sit and enjoy a slow moment and the expansive view.
Opened from 8AM to 9PM, Slowood has a lot of interesting products, including a fill-it-yourself array of bulk dried fruits, candies, and other snacks. After browsing for a time, I grabbed a couple of drinks and a cute trinket. While the food court offered a good selection of eateries, they all offered the same high fructose syrup options.
Hong Kong International does have quite an array of shops and eateries. I was most intrigued by the local ones, like Kee Wah Bakery which sells Wife Cake/老婆饼 (lao po bing). Also called Sweetheart Cakes, these are flaky pastries with sweet melon filling. I’m pretty sure I haven’t had any of these before actually. Since I was off gluten, I didn’t buy any to try either. With several stories about the origin of the name, it’s unclear which is the correct one. It seems it’s so called because the wife made it to save the family from financial ruin or to prove her southern Chinese hometown food was so much tastier.
If you’re looking for a gift, tea shops such as Fook Ming Tong Tea Shop, The Peninsula Boutique, and Tea WG Boutique.
M+ Museum Shop
I didn’t make it to any museums this time in Hong Kong. We talked about M+, a modern and contemporary art museum in Kowloon. Both my sister and I had wanted to visit the Cindy Sherman exhibition. We just ran out of time, between all the errands everyone had to do and me getting sick.
So when I saw the museum shop, yes, I stepped into the colourful display of books, Yayoi Kusama items, postcards… I had some leftover change and so I got myself an orange-ink gel pen. I was tempted by the colourful canvas bags. Can a person have too many bags?
(The M+ Museum Shop is opened from 7AM to 11PM)
Looking at their museum shop photos online, I was reminded of the one at Perez Art Museum Miami (officially, Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County). It turns out they were both designed by Herzog & de Meuron. My mom and I visited PAMM while on our Florida road trip ten years ago.
As the clock ticked closer to my boarding time, I decided to make my way over to my Gate. From the signs, it looks like Hong Kong International Airport has 530 Gates! And two terminals. So at least, that’s not confusing.
Actually, there are not 530 Gates. There are a number that do not exist. It goes from the 200 series to 500 series.
As it turned out, I needed to take the train, or the Automatic People Mover to another concourse. I took the elevator with my cart and was walking toward the closing door. Happy to wait for the next one, I eyed a guy waving his arms in panic. I didn’t know he was trying to alert me. No carts allowed.
My HK-LA flight was full and the waiting area was packed. I still found a seat though I decided not to put on my compression socks. I repacked my bag to have handy what I needed for the flight – noise-cancelling earphones, tissues, manuka honey cough drops, homeopathic remedies, propolis with echinacea throat spray my sister gave me, the natural Chinese cough syrup packets my brother gave me…and a mask in case my cough got bad. It didn’t. I hardly coughed. That Hong Kong pollution did quite a number on me.
Until next time.