Hong Kong high
Am in HKIA (Hong Kong International Airport) now, waiting to board my international budget flight back to London.
It's been a whirlwind five days in Hong Kong. It seems like everyone knows everyone in this place. 6.9 million people in the Hong Kong SAR, and yet there are like 5 bars/clubs which everyone goes to. The expat community seems to be really tight. And the Hong Kong chinese (hell... the Southeast Asian chinese community even...) seems pretty small as well nowadays.
The first day I was in HK, when we stepped off a 12-hour flight (during which I'd slept only abt half an hour) straight into a few hours of sightseeing, a dinner at Felix of the famous Gents at Peninsula Hotel, and clubbing at Dragon-I in Lan Kwai Fong, I ended up meeting, entirely by accident, a couple of people from my bank, one of whom I had met before when he was in London, another of whom was a fellow countryman previously working in the London office, but had never spoken to. The second night, we met the fellow countryman walking out of Aqua as we were going in for a quick drink. And on New Year's Ever, I met another fellow countryman, who also studied the UK, who flew in to HK with his girlfriend. And we met a bunch of other Asians, one of whom knows my neighbours in London...
It's scary how small the world is....
All in all, I had a blast. Loved almost every moment of my short time here, despite my aching feet which have never hurt more intensely and over a more prolonged period than during this trip, and despite not having seen the legendary outdoor Buddha at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island (funny story for another time which involved getting lost in housing estates...), not having seen the Wong Tai Sin temple near Kowloon, and having been ripped off by some guy who, I swear to God, looked like a triad member from a HK movie!
I don't know how much of that love is due to having had an amazing time, or how much of it is due to the adrenaline rush of the rushing around and the weird, surreal experience, or how much due to the company and the thinking through things, ideas and half-formed plans that have been popping up frequently (how much of that is due to just having Time to think?), or how much of it is due to pure gratitude at being out of the office, or how much of it is due to having been away from the boy problems at work?
It's all a crazy jumble of thoughts, feelings, ideas.. Suddenly, returning to Asia (at least for a short stint) doesn't seem like such a crazy idea.
One thing for sure, I'm so happy I came out here. As lavish a whim as it was, it was worth the high.
I'm now so upset at having to take a long long flight, then walk off the plane and straight into work. WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH........
Good night, dear world.
And happy 2007 to us all!!*
Note:
*more about 2007 another time
It's been a whirlwind five days in Hong Kong. It seems like everyone knows everyone in this place. 6.9 million people in the Hong Kong SAR, and yet there are like 5 bars/clubs which everyone goes to. The expat community seems to be really tight. And the Hong Kong chinese (hell... the Southeast Asian chinese community even...) seems pretty small as well nowadays.
The first day I was in HK, when we stepped off a 12-hour flight (during which I'd slept only abt half an hour) straight into a few hours of sightseeing, a dinner at Felix of the famous Gents at Peninsula Hotel, and clubbing at Dragon-I in Lan Kwai Fong, I ended up meeting, entirely by accident, a couple of people from my bank, one of whom I had met before when he was in London, another of whom was a fellow countryman previously working in the London office, but had never spoken to. The second night, we met the fellow countryman walking out of Aqua as we were going in for a quick drink. And on New Year's Ever, I met another fellow countryman, who also studied the UK, who flew in to HK with his girlfriend. And we met a bunch of other Asians, one of whom knows my neighbours in London...
It's scary how small the world is....
All in all, I had a blast. Loved almost every moment of my short time here, despite my aching feet which have never hurt more intensely and over a more prolonged period than during this trip, and despite not having seen the legendary outdoor Buddha at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island (funny story for another time which involved getting lost in housing estates...), not having seen the Wong Tai Sin temple near Kowloon, and having been ripped off by some guy who, I swear to God, looked like a triad member from a HK movie!
I don't know how much of that love is due to having had an amazing time, or how much of it is due to the adrenaline rush of the rushing around and the weird, surreal experience, or how much due to the company and the thinking through things, ideas and half-formed plans that have been popping up frequently (how much of that is due to just having Time to think?), or how much of it is due to pure gratitude at being out of the office, or how much of it is due to having been away from the boy problems at work?
It's all a crazy jumble of thoughts, feelings, ideas.. Suddenly, returning to Asia (at least for a short stint) doesn't seem like such a crazy idea.
One thing for sure, I'm so happy I came out here. As lavish a whim as it was, it was worth the high.
I'm now so upset at having to take a long long flight, then walk off the plane and straight into work. WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH........
Good night, dear world.
And happy 2007 to us all!!*
Note:
*more about 2007 another time
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