Trip to Hongkong

The ferry terminal card my colleague Yoon gave me at 9pm yesterday had shown the timing of the ferry from Geoje Island to Busan as 8:30AM in the morning. Then only I can reach at the Gimhae airport for the domestic flight to Seoul. Had some urgent work on some last minute work given by Sr. Manager on something quite important to the company for which I had to be at office all alone till past 11pm at office. Then packed off the documents along with the
laptop, reaching room. Ironed the clothes, loaded my Canon with new batteries and four sets of spare batteries for catching the shots at Hongkong.

I was glad to have reached boat ferry by 8am today, and it felt good to see the majestic ferry ready to roar. Upon enquiry at booking counter, they told that due to some Engine related fault, the ferry is cancelled. Fortunately Ramkumar Sr, had come to drop me till the ferry so he took me straight to the Geoje bus station to catch the bus to Pusan. I had four hours and I knew I will make it till pusan before the flight departure. Took the bus to Tongyong, from there took the bus to Pusan. Road block, added with heavy rains and fog, we could see cars lined up like ants on a sweet floor. Reached Pusan bus terminal by about 11am, and with the company of a fast car driver, he took me to the Gimhae airport by 11:30am in spite of the heavy traffic. Great time, I thought. Upon seeing the Airport passengers, I felt something's wrong. And when I enquired with the Korean Air counter, the pretty lady across the counter gave me shock by telling all flights cancelled till further notice. I asked how come, Busan airport is an international Airport and you would be having the facility to fly in spite of hostile weather conditions. Otherwise why would I have cancelled the initial booking from Sacheon Airport to Seoul, I questioned silently. That I will miss my connecting flight from Incheon was definite. Then I got my Cathy pacific flight from Incheon to Hongkong postponed to 8pm at Night.

And now I write this while travelling in Korea's fastest Train - the KTX. It's my first time on train in Korea, and given the fact that I had my childhood dream to become a train driver, it is a wonderful feast to explore Korea through rail and that too at a speed that it must be named the shatabdi express, had the Koreans knew Hindi. The KTX is not on a broad gauge. I observed the lines and it is same as the Indian Metre gauge. Signalling system, construction methods,etc are almost same, however the coaches are much better and ofcourse they have to be coz of the extreme climate conditions here in Korea. There was an onboard TV displaying the speed taken by Train and it felt great to see the speed as 290km/hr. Upon enquiry with the cabin attendant, heard the train takes upto 320km/hour speed at times. The onboard TV Screen says, Seoul station is arriving soon, and I think I will take a break.

The above mentioned entry was written on Mar 31st, and today is April 6.

Reached Hongkong at 11pm on Mar 31st and the Client Agent was there with a sign board with my name. It has never happened before, so I felt good. Booking was done at Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hongkong. Was busy with technical discussions with the client and managing / coordinating the work done by subcontractors / equipment suppliers.Didn't realize that the first two days of April got exhausted so fast, and I hardly got any time to roam the city.

Travelled in the excellent MRT Subway system and took a ride in the cable car to Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong and visited the biggest bronze Buddha in the World.
Saw the world's longest rail and road suspension bridge connecting Lantau Island with main land China. Went to the "Avenue of Stars" to look at the majestic Hongkong city and capture it in camera. Cancelled the plan to go to the "victoria peak" due to bad weather condition.

Left Hongkong on April 3rd and reached Geoje Island,Korea same day at night.