Hong Kong International Airport

So we had to transfer plane at Hong Kong. With only a half-hour interval, we tried to walk around the transit. It's a pity we can't get to see the trademark ceiling of the airport. Yes, I mean the typical scene in Hong Kong dramas. But nevertheless, the airport was a great place.

First off, the symbols you see around the airport are very much different as the ones you see in Singapore. Look at the exit sign in the picture above, left side, green. "He" is running away from what appears to be fire. Maybe that's the Hong Kong people's way of differentiating the Exit-Man from the Green-Man you see on traffic lights but I'd like to throw in a little cheeky question: "So where is the exit for flood if its not an exit for fire?"

Anyways, moving on to facilities. Since our transfer flight was a short period away, we didn't get to use much facilities around the airport. The toilets were pretty small considering there only two cubicles from the one I entered(which was right beside the gate upon arrival). Then there were some really sweet and useful facilities too. there were computer stations near every departure gate so it was my very first time trying to use universal keyboard and mouse. Thanks to that, I got the chance to pop by my Facebook for a short status update.

One cultural shock for me was the presence of a smoking area within the transit. More like a smoking cabin with an average of 10 adults choking in. No offence to smokers but I hardly imagine it possible to survive through a 5 min smoke break when the inside is almost like the scene of a fire outbreak. The "cabin" was located beside the moving sidewalks and there were more than one so every time we passed by one "cabin" I can feel my lungs squealing inside me. The doors don't even have to be open!

Maybe I was being over-reacting but besides my unpleasant experience on the moving sidewalks, the airport was a lovely place! The announcements made for departing planes come in so many different languages that I forgotten how many there were. English, Cantonese, Japanese...Mandarin? So part of the joy in the airport for me was to try speaking Cantonese after we all got Cantonese poisoned into our brains by the repeating announcement calls for departure.

With that, off we went to Taipei. Finally!
Link to Hong Kong International Airport: http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/index.html