Arrival in Hong Kong

The journey started at different airports after months of waiting for the final take off to our first destination: Hong Kong. For the main group, a bus shuttle was arranged to transport us to the hotel. We are all from different institutes, so we didn´t know all people that would join and hence the meeting at Hong Kong airport was far more difficult than expected . In one case the only hint that a fellow scientist had just arrived at the airport was a Zargesbox with a Max-Planck-institute sticker on it.

In the evening we explored the city. Hong Kong is very impressive especially because of the large number of tall skyscrapers. During the city tour the big challenge was to withstand the tropical temperatures and the high humidity.

Tasting the food of a different culture is the best way to become familiar with the country and the people living there. So, we tasted new things like chicken feet and the ominous Durian, but we rejected the offered, probably delicious, innards. Some of us visited a typical tea shop and tasted different teas. At the end the short stay for shopping tea turned into an extensive tea ceremony.

The next morning all scientists joined for breakfast and later met with other arrivals from other hotels before taking the bus to the RV SONNE docked in the port. During the bus ride the anticipation for the upcoming scientific cruise increased minute by minute.