HONGKONG AIRPORT HOTELS

The building of the new Hong Kong International Airport and its accompanying required infrastructure - the Tsing Ma suspension bridge, the Kap Shui bridge, the West Kowloon Reclamation, and the Western Harbour Tunnel - not to mention the highway and rail links between and on these structures - is one of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken in the world.

The airport alone took six years to build and cost US$20 billion. Completed in 1998 and built on a small island shorn up with tons of landfill (Chek Lap Kok) just off the large island of Lantau, the airport replaces the aging, small Kai Tak airport on the Kowloon Peninsula.

Inside, the passenger terminal is nearly a mile long and boasts a shopping mall with 140 restaurants and retail shops, including Harrods and Gucci. Though it's rather large, it is very easy to navigate around the terminal building. Pedestrian traffic flows smoothly with clearly marked routes for arriving and departing passengers, aiming to keep each of these groups on their own level. Where changes of level are unavoidable, ramps, lifts and escalators are provided. There are plenty of bilingual signs (English and Chinese) about and internationally accepted icons are used wherever possible as an aid to clear communication.

Hong Kong International Airport is one of the few airports in the world with its own internal underground rail network. An Automated People Mover swiftly transports arriving or departing passengers from the furthermost gates in about 70 seconds. This is complemented by over three kilometers of moving walkways or "travelators" located inside the terminal building. Adjacent to the terminal is the ground transportation center where fast transfers to urban Hong Kong can be made via the Airport Express, public buses and taxis.

Arrival is very straightforward. All traffic funnels toward the transportation center from where you can either take a bus, hop on the Airport Express Line (train) into town, find your hotel transfer car, or grab a taxi.