August 5, 2005 Archives
I'm in Chek Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong. My flight for Tokyo leaves in about 1 hour, and tomorrow night, I'm back in Canada.
Right now, I wish I wasn't so nervous, anxious, sleep-deprived, b/c I would've like to have appetite (just for a last real meal in HK - a siu yok fan at Cafe de Coral, is really what I'd like).
I had 228HKD in my wallet before entering the bookstore, close to nil upon leaving. I bought some magazines for men (you won't find those in Mtl for less than 20$CAD), a copy of The Economist, a South China Morning Post, a few TVB-ish magazines, one fancy fashion mag called Jet with Sun Yanzi on it. I guess I can find a good use to my 15,000yen over at Narita.
Hand-carry is extremely heavy. Actually, all was heavy. My aunt helped me carry my luggage on the bus. We took the 14M minibus instead of catching one of the 11 Citybus, or even less conspicuously, the 21M minibus. Instead, we circled up on Jardine's Lookout, and came all the way down from the Eastern flank (near Wan Chai) of Causeway Bay, just to be caught having to walk 100 meters with 32kg + 20kg + 10kg worth of luggage under the sun. All for the adventure - just like how all this has started.
Now venturing back into the recursion. Japan is the next stop, for a day. What can you do during a night transit?
...
A day I started in Repulse Bay and Stanley, showing my friend about some of the calmer places in HK. Then it's an intense buying spree, which included a dinner for my Aunt Nathalie's birthday at Uncle Jimmy's restaurant, the "Red Pepper" in Causeway Bay (Northern Chinese cuisine, for Westernized tastebuds), some intense mooncake buying, and a camera for Wee (which I will be using to "try out" - I have a gig to document the way home). I bought a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I bought some goggles with prescription. I emptied my pockets. I owe 33.000-something HK dollars for four months of intense consumerism. :(
Basically, you can greet me at the Dorval airport. It will make me feel better. It's going to be a AA flight from Chicago, arriving at 15:11 in Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau International Airport.
Anyways. It's the end of a great adventure. The start of another, I hope. I like Hong Kong more than any other place; but it might just be a symptom of "hating home". I wouldn't travel to another place. Except perhaps Tokyo. Europe is cool, if I wasn't responsible for paying for it, but it isn't my cup of tea. It's cold, and old, and Western. I need Oriental. In China, I see more than my country of origin. I see a source of pride. A part of me (but just a part of me). I like reading the South China Morning Post - the news are interesting to me, whereas any Canadian newspaper makes me fall asleep (or want to rush to the Maison de la Presse Internationale or Chinatown). Take skin magazines for instance. Well, anyways, that's background. The food is also pretty fabulous, and I feel stupid to have forgotten about it. Can you get a BBQ Pork Rice for 26HKD at your local fast-food shop? Or even just Xiao Long Bao that have soup inside them. Sigh. How about Made In China clothes starting at 30HKD a t-shirt at Giordano or Bossini or Baleno? Whatever... Or "seuil fo" electronics for a fraction of the regular price, and no sales taxes? And teh bargaining...
Indeed this time I've brought back stuff that made me long for HK starting three years ago. It's impossible. I don't know how I can live like this. It's a dream. Like dating the girl of your dreams. There might be so many great things about her, but can it really work out?