The Langham

Now, The Langham is a great hotel. Full of tradition, and somewhere I wouldn't otherwise could afford to stay in. This was where I was put up in Hong Kong and also where the conference was held. And it was snack in the middle of the posh shopping district. A mall sat quite literally next door. If only Ringgit was strong ...

The hotel had pedigree. A sign of the colonial past, which reminded me of E&O in Penang. I was told that the Peninsular in town was even more a pedigree, but I don't think that this hotel was that far off.

The famous lobby

The lobby was small and the pool sat right on the top floor - unfortunately I didn't even have the time to have a peek at the pool. It was supposed to be grand. What the lobby lacked in size was more than made up by its sheer elegance. There was a cafe by the reception with the main eatery where breakfast and lunch were served sat on the other end. The lobby cafe was famous for its English afternoon tea - served on a specially designed Wedgewood.

There was also a two Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant on the first floor plus another two more American-themed joint located in the basement. The reception dinner was held at the Bostonian - where I had Halal ribs - and right next door to that was an American cafe called Main Street. Wished I had time to have a look at that.

For breakfast ...My room was a standard one on the seventh floor. Nothing much in terms of view from my window but the room was spacious and cosy, great amenities and the in-room dining - I had some salad on the night I arrived - was superb. They had a full movie and sports - alas no football - channels as well as pay-to-view and the internet was free. I had the 30Mb speed courtesy of the conference.

Breakfast was a mixture of continental and Eastern food. They knew how to make a decent omelet there, and I have Halal meals especially prepared for me for lunch.

The service was top notch. The staffs spoke perfect English and knew how to make the visitors welcomed. Transfers to and from airport took around 30 minutes. There was a metro station right next door.

Don't think I could ever afford to stay here again, and the place was certainly up there when it came to opulence.

More write-up on the trip here.

Second Day

Had a very fruitful day yesterday and I had a good night sleep after a quick walk around town after dinner. Rather tired when I reached the hotel, and I then realised that they do not show football here. But the Rugby World Cup was going on, and I fell asleep in front of the TV

Early start this morning, breakfast and then a quick morning stroll around the hotel. Not much to see as there was already plenty of people walking around. I hang around a bit by the pier, before walking back to the hotel, packed and went to the lecture hall.

I planned to go to the shop for a quick shopping after the morning tea. That should give me enough time to return before the last session and check out. My transport to the airport would be right after lunch. Back to the lecture ....

More on the trip here.

Hong Kong Meeting

Away for the weekend and unfortunately it wasn't for pleasure. But I planned to make the best of it anyhow.

It was an update event organised by one of the pharmaceutical company, concerning the latest treatment for myeloma and B-cell lymphoma. The drugs would prove to be too expensive for my patients at the moment but at least I got to gauge the direction of the future treatment. The speakers were all from the Asia-Pacific region, and with this, they tended to either speak too fast or cover topics which were rather too scientific. On a few of the lectures, I actually lost interest half way.

The meetings would end by 5 this afternoon, and tomorrow would be half day. But no time to have a look around town except for this evening since my transport would take me straight to the airport straight after lunch tomorrow. Maybe I could squeeze some time for my customary morning walk tomorrow morning.

Back to the lectures .....

More on the trip here.