Ryan’s Place

We got up crazy early (ok, 5:15AM) to head to the airport in Hong Kong.  Opting against waiting for a bellman to get our bags, we hopped into the elevator and headed to the lobby.  A bellman, seeing we carried our luggage on our own, ran over to us (yes, ran) to grab our bags and get us a taxi.  We needed one to get to Hong Kong station, where we could hop on the Airport Express train (to use the final ride on our “Traveler’s Octopus Card”).

The bellman loaded up the trunk and I told the driver we needed HK station.  As we started to drive away, the cabbie decided to argue with us in broken English.  He said something about not taking us to the station and instead taking us right to the airport and we began to get nervous.  It was something about it was cheaper to just drive to the airport and not take the train.  Well, no, that wasn’t the case as we had free rides on our Octopus cards.  We told him that but he continued to argue for at least a couple minutes.  Thinking we might be driven right to the airport (30 minutes away even by train), we agreed to not pay him a dime (or a Hong Kong dollar) if that was the case.

I think the cabbie realized this too, so he took us to the station as we requested.  Upon arrival at the station, the cabbie unloaded our bags for us and sped away as fast as he could.  I think he was disappointed with the short distance he drove us.  Nonetheless, it was still a $40HK ride (about $5US).  After he sped away I turned around to find out that he had literally dropped our bags on the ground then drove off.  He didn’t move them to the curb or even make the effort to stand them up.  They were left in the street, on their sides, immediately behind where the cab had been.  Good thing I didn’t tip him.

Hong Kong taxis suck.

When I first got to Japan, signs inside each Starbucks advertised an upcoming new drink: coffee jelly.  It was first offered on 4/15.  We ordered one (~530Y for a grande) and it was decent.  It’s basically a frozen frappuciono style drink with jellied coffee at the bottom.  It’s similar to bubble tea, I guess.  I didn’t get a chance to see how they store/dispense the jelly, but I’m curious how that’s done.  Is it my new drink of choice (when in Japan, of course)? No.  But it was interesting.

I wouldn’t look forward to seeing it stateside.

I thought it was interesting that Japanese Starbucks include the “short” size on their menu.  Americans can order a “short” drink, but they’re not going to see the size advertise on the menu.