The hotel was super noisy and located right above a busy Hong Kong street.  Surprisingly I still got a good sleep.  It was needed, since the ordeal to get the bike onto the high speed train this morning was intense.

The journey started with a 500 meter walk in the rain hauling the heavy bike bag towards shelter.  Then we went downstairs underground through a convoluted maze of corridors and checkpoints.  Frequent breaks were needed as the luggage was awkward and I was already drenched in sweat.  As we entered the West Kowloon Station, so began the arduous journey.

Checkpoint #1:  Check tickets.  This one was quick, but the crowds blocking all the corridors presented an extra challenge.  I told my wife I couldn't stand Hong Kong because of all the crowds and how expensive it was.  My limit for this city is about 2-3 days tops.  How these people live here year round is beyond me.  Thankfully we were getting out.

Checkpoint #2:  Security.  This meant unloading the bike and through the X-ray machine.  Then it was a long walk through the station towards the next one.

Checkpoint #3:   Health code QR check.  The digital health code is still in use, surprisingly.  This meant scanning a code and entering information for them to then scan it again.  For whatever purpose, who knows.

Checkpoint #4:  Hong Kong exit immigration.  I had to use the manual lane.  After the queue, the officer wanted me to fill out a departure card.  First time they ever asked for this since 2015.  It was just my bad luck.  So back to the far off table to fill one out where nobody else had to fill one.

Checkpoint #5:  China mainland entry immigration.  This one went smoothly

Checkoint #6:  China customs X-ray.  By now we were getting sick of all this.  Didn't we just pass through security earlier?  The bags had to be unloaded again and sent through the machine.

Checkpoint #7:  Another ticket check.  If by some improbable fluke you managed to make it this far without a train ticket, then the final checkpoint would be your gotcha moment.

But it wasn't the end.  There was a mad rush of crowds pushing and shoving their way onto the elevator down to the train platform.  At this point, there wasn't enough time despite how my wife had the sense to allow at least 90 minutes to get through all those checkpoints.

We had to scramble onto the train at least 5 carriages back from where our seats were, which meant lugging the bike through the narrow train.  The doors abruptly closed and then it took slow and painful progress to navigate through.  Sweat was pouring off my body and my heart was racing.  This was the equivalent of a fitness class.  If it wasn't for F45 and my fitness level I would have given up on this task from the beginning.  But we settled into our seats.  We had made it.

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At least until halfway through the train ride that is.  They turned the seats around and the bike had to be moved to a different area, but thankfully this was anticipated and not nearly as bad as the beginning.

Eventually we made it, quite exhausted to be fair.  Then at the very end, we noticed that the quick release mechanism on the front wheel of the bicycle had been damaged.  Whether that was from the train shenanigans or the earlier flight, who knows.  It was impossible to fix it in the dark so I just dumped the bike in the basement, locked it, and called it a night.  That problem could be dealt with the next day.