The Last Day and a Half in Hong Kong

Once I landed in HK, I went took a bus to Tung Chung MTR station, the MTR to Lai King, then transferred to the Tsuen Wan line towards Central to go to Prince Edward and then transferred lines to go to Choi Hung.

I got back, dropped my stuff off, showered and then headed back out towards Admiralty Station to meet Evan and Sumana. After meeting up with them, we waited until my brother got to the station and then headed up to Victoria’s Peak to look over the amazing skyline one last time.

Sumana and I had wanted to go up to the Peak at night for over two months. So to be able to do so on my last night in HK.. I couldn’t have asked for much more.

My brother joined us and took a bunch of probably spectacular pictures up at the top of the Peak. We would have stayed up at the top for way longer but we were all freezing so we had to leave a little earlier than we had wanted.

We took the minibus down to Central and then took the train over to Mong Kok where my brother and I proceeded to shop a little bit. I didn’t get everything that I needed to get so we cut out early to meet up with Sumana and Evan at the infamous, amazing desert place, Hui Lau Shan. The three of them got something to eat and then we went back to campus so that we could all start packing to get ready for the next day.

I stayed up pretty late to pack and do laundry and then got up fairly early to get ready. I finished my laundry, folded it up, closed my bank account, got my ID card deactivated, and then ran over to the souvenir shop to get a couple of UST tshirts. After that, I went into town and met up with Elizabeth and her great uncle and Aunt. We went into the ladies market where we bargained some and she helped me pick out some different gift items and wall hangings for my room. After I decided that I didn’t have any money left, we went over to TST and sat at the harbor and talked about a lot of stuff including how she decided to stay in Beijing for a full year and how I felt about going back home. After a good hour and a half of talking and freezing on the waterfront, we met up with her family again and bid farewell to each other. I am sure happy that we got to meet up while she was in HK.

I went back to Campus and started to pack. Sumana came to visit and sit with me while I packed and my brother came in and shortly after Suki and Koko (locals) came to sit with me while I packed. After short time, Ray came to say goodbye and after walking down to the waterfront one last time, I checked out of my room, said “see you later” to Sumana and then got into a cab to get to the airport. I might have had some tears while going back to the airport. I checked into my flight and found out that my bags were overweight so after some fandangling..I got my bags to be just right and went through the Hong Kong Resident’s side of immigration one last time. I got onto my flight and after a quick phone call to my parents to let them know that I was leaving HK, the plane departed and I fell asleep almost immediately. I definitely planned on staying up for the first 8 hours of my flight but that definitely did not work out so well for me.

I slept for about 7/10 hours of my first flight, landed in Vancouver, and then slept for the next 3/4.5 hours of my next flight to JFK. After reaching JFK, I proceeded to stay up all day and evening all the way. I think I was able to limit my jetlag that way and am so happy for that.

When I landed in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions. I was happy that I was home but I felt so incredibly out of place. It was an extremely odd feeling and I wasn’t expecting it in the slightest. I am used to feeling completely elated about being home but for some reason I didn’t feel as excited.

I got home and found that my mom had put our Christmas tree up for me and soon after getting home, one of my best friends came to visit and started to be my chauffeur for the day. I can honestly tell you that I felt really weird wandering around a snow covered city as opposed to a palm tree covered area. I missed Asia and Hong Kong and I saw some random reminders of the area that reminded me that I missed what I had only 30 hours earlier.