Hong Kong requires pre-arrival registration for Indians. As we are checking in at the wee hours of the day, the check-in attendant informs us that my registration has an issue.​
My passport says Mumbai and the registration letter says Bombay. The pull down list in the pre-arrival registration site didn't have Mumbai and only had Bombay. And surely everyone knows that they are the same.
"What if you are rejected at the airport?" So after 10 minutes of stand...ing on the side an indemnity form comes out; only post signing am I allowed to proceed.
I knew that Hong Kong authorities aren't this silly...you can't have only Bombay as a city and blame me for putting it!! For a country whose politicians love to change city names regularly, the Hong Kong trips are going to generate many indemnities in India!! And oh yeah the immigration clearance was uneventful, as expected.
The airport and the ride into the city brought so many memories - many trips were made to receive family and friends....and today we were tourists ourselves. We checked into our hotel and everyone took turns taking a nap and we left our hotel around 4:00 pm.
Today we visited Stanley market. For the 3 years that we lived in Hong Kong we lived in the south Hong Kong area - Repulse bay and Stanley area. So naturally this was going to be our first visit.
Lakshmi and I walked slowly through the Stanley market. A shopkeeper even recognized Lakshmi ...go figure. Aniketh remembered the many times we have visited the Stanley plaza - the play area, the cafes, the restaurants et al. Aniketh's school friend - Harry and his mom came by and the boys connected as if they only met yesterday and not in many years.
Another friend also dropped by and then off we went to my favorite dinner joint - Din Tai Fung. Our good friend Suhasni joined us for dinner and I haven't seen our kids eat like this in a very long time. Super happy that my kids love good food!! Tomorrow we are off to Ocean Park and LKF.