Our five days in Hong Kong flew by, and all too soon it was time go. At least our flights from Hong Kong weren’t until the late afternoon, so we still had most of our last day to explore. One of the few places, I haven’t been to in Hong Kong is the Big Buddha near the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, which is fairly close to the airport. So I figured our last day would be the best day to go there.

After one last breakfast at the Hyatt Centric, we piled into three cabs and headed to the airport. My mom and sisters were able to check their bags with Singapore Airlines. Our friends, Mrs D4L and I weren’t quite as lucky and stored our bags at left luggage on the arrivals level. Free of our massive bags, we walked to the bus depot and hopped on the S1 bus which took us to the Ngong Ping cable car station.







Since we got to station right after the cable cars started up at 10am, I thought we’d avoid the crowds. I was wrong.



Luckily, I bought tickets for the glass bottom “crystal car” that also let us skip the line and have the car to ourselves.







Midway through the ride, we had nice views of HKIA.









The ride took about 30 minutes and then we walked through a maze of Starbucks, Subway, and Burger King before we finally got to Ngong Ping Village









Nothing like a massive staircase to remind me how out of shape I am.



Somehow, I/we made it to big Buddha.







Then it was back down to the temple.







We headed back to the airport around 1:30pm as the journey back to the airport took a little longer than an hour. After getting off the cable car at the terminus, we walked back to the Tong Chung Bus Station and hopped on the S1 bus back to the airport.







After grabbing our bags from left luggage, it was time for the big split: my mom and sisters to Singapore, our Texas friends heading home, and Mrs. D4L and I to Da Nang. We said our good byes, and headed off to check in for our respective flights.

Luckily, I splurged on UFirst which let us skip the massive check in queue. As the norm at HKIA, check in, immigration and security were very efficient and we walked through the “mall” to get to the terminal train.





HK Express flights depart from the midfield terminal along with all of the other low cost carriers. I briefly thought about popping into going to the Centurion Lounge, but I figured heading to our midfield gate would be the smarter and less stressful option. So we hopped onto the train and made it to the midfield terminal in a few minutes. I hadn’t been to the midfield terminal in years. It was as nice as I remembered it, and actually pretty tranquil.



The only downside of the midfield terminal is limited shops and restaurants to kill time. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so we found a spot at quick service spot and enjoyed a bite while I did a little plane spotting.





After our very late lunch, we headed over to our gate. Frankly, hanging out at the not very crowded was about as comfortable and more tranquil than chilling at the Centurion Lounge.







HK Express 558
Hong Kong (HKG) – Da Nang(DAD)
Depart: 4:45PM
Arrive: 5:45PM
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Seat: 13A (Economy Class)

While I would have much rather flown Cathay, they didn’t see Da Nang fit for mainline service. Instead, Cathay’s low cost carrier subsidiary, HK Express, toiled the route.

Boarding began right on time. Thanks to the UFirst package, we were among the first to board.



Operating our flight today was an ex-Dragon Air A320 in an all coach configuration.



I splurged on exit row seats, we ended up with an empty middle seat. As these were older seats, padding was fantastic and legroom was solid. But otherwise, the plane was absolutely no thrills.







The flight was a little over half full, and we got buttoned up and pushed back a few minutes early





We took off right after an Asia Pacific 757-200F.



There’s a pretty solid buy on board menu, though it’s cash only.



Otherwise, the flight was quick. We slept for most of it until the plane was on final approach to Da Nang. The only other airport I’ve been to in Vietnam is in Ho Chi Minh, which isn’t very nice to put it mildly. I was very pleasantly surprised to step into Da Nang’s very modern and pleasant terminal.