Remembering the best parts

Where did those six weeks go?

Arriving in Hong Kong remained a blur. I met my grandparents and stayed for three full days only before making my way to Taiwan.

In Kenting, I saw Cheer Chen live. I also went to Spring Scream, and biked like I never biked in my whole life (12km one-way to the music venue, sometimes in total darkness, on the side of the sea). In Taichung, I got lost, but eventually found my empty hostel. I was creeped out, because it was empty, in the middle of nowhere, and felt like some sort of spirit of a tormented assassinated backpacker was to pop out at any moment. Then, I was in Taipei for two days, visiting more night markets, and hung out at a student cafe, and took pictures with the giant sitting Chiang Kai-shek.

Back in Hong Kong, I hung out. I took a bus to Kowloon and got lost, walked for two hours and a half in a part of Kowloon that I did not know. I went on an artistic storytelling tour of Hong Kong, to Mount Davis, and then South Bay Beach.

Then, I went to Beijing... I did see Tian'anmen, and some of the Olympic venues. I went to a rock show at D-22. I met an architect who showed me a habitation complex being built. I went to party with a distant relative learning Chinese in town, and then watched live hockey on the internet. I met my friend's friends living in Beijing, drank with them. My friend surprised me by staying one in Beijing w/o telling me in advance. I bumped into young overseas Chinese entrepreneurs who opened a cafe/design shop on a new commercial street. I saw a Mongolian music performance. I played role-playing games. I visited universities, and took pictures with my Canadiens shirt in front of Peking University.

Then, back in Hong Kong, I saw marches... Bumped into a Labour Day march on Hennessy, and the day after, I was at the torch relay in Wan Chai. Then, the day after, some high school students in various uniforms appeared in Causeway Bay, as I was doing shopping, parading perhaps for their school end thing. Then, I went to Kaiping in China, by boat, to visit those diaolou, and ate fresh chicken. I came back by Shenzhen, where I visited relatives' factories. I met with one of my blogging world heroes in Hong Kong, and shopped at UniQlo.

And finally, after a 14-hour trip back to North America, a 6-hour wait in Newark, and 1.5-hour flight, I will be home!