LA to Hong Kong, on the way to Mongolia

Dear Family & Friends,                                                                                 Sunday, September 15, 2013

We are in Hong Kong enjoying the last of the warm weather we’ll see for a couple of weeks.  I never thought I’d be wishing for the hot and humid, but in light of an approaching Mongolian winter, I am changing my mind.  We are going to train a new humanitarian couple—this should be interesting since we don’t know very much—I guess we will have to learn together. 

We left just before midnight Friday on Cathay Air (even their bathroom smelled fragrant!) and flew for about 15 hours, except for the fact that they ran out of gas (headwinds) and had to make an extra stop for fuel in Taiwan.  We didn’t care because we knew it would be a while before we could get into our room.  They booked us into the Regal Airport Hotel—it was so nice not to have to leave the airport for just one night—you just walk through the airport till you find it.  It is gorgeous.  We got in our room a few hours earlier than the 2 PM time they gave us.  We were even given a free upgrade and are on the 11^th floor in a sort of junior suite (not quite as big as it sounds).  They wanted to give us twin beds so Jim asked for a queen—the only one available at 11 AM was an upgrade.  On the 12^th floor they have the larger suites and they get other special privileges like the big breakfast—they let us know that they would not go quite that far…luckily there is a McDonald’s close by for all of us cheapskates.  We took advantage of the pool and workout room, mostly to stay awake during the daylight hours and get switched around.  It worked.

This doesn’t quite do the hotel justice—it really is quite pretty.                     

It is all glass and shiny floors.

This is the outdoor pool--behind the glass is the indoor pool.  The water was perfect!

Tomorrow we fly out at noon on Korean Air, first flying to Seoul, Korea where we hear that they have the number one rated airport in the world—and to think I was worried!  We change planes to another Korean Air flight and end up in Mongolia at 10:30 PM. 

Love, Mom & Dad, Jim & Karen, Elder & Sister Greding