Goodbye Hong Kong!

Me and my bears boarded the plane with much wistfulness. Little Sydney was rather sad too. He didn't want to sit with me and bawl, preferring to sit by the window to see the last sights of the city and drop quiet little tears as we lifted off the tarmac in a melodramatic grey drizzle. He didn't cheer up till the very hilarious meal was served.

Would I return to Hong Kong again? Yes, but not without the girlfriends. I'd need to go hiking, say, on the MacLehose Trail (麥理浩徑) and finish half of them. I've done the trail at Tai Po Kau ((大埔滘) nature reserve but I want to do it again. I'm not interested in coming to solely eat or shop. I'm not surprised that nothing (groceries are not counted) has been purchased on this trip. The family isn't bothered about these almond cookies and whatnots- nobody eats them, so thank goodness I don't have to buy any. Getting new clothes, shoes and bags isn't attractive because I live in a giant shopping mall. I don't need more of those. I appreciate the other facets of the city more than its exciting shops and neon lights.

This has been the trip of a lifetime- not the fact that I get to go to Hong Kong, but rather, the exhilarating feeling of being in the same city with girlfriends who live in different countries and still took the effort to meet. This isn't going to happen again anytime soon. I mean, I knew it earlier, but it didn't sink in for real till now.

We hung out, had random conversations and laughed. We came with no expectations and left with a bagful of smiles and happiness. It wasn't so much of it being 'Oh I flew up here for you.' I loved how we also reminded ourselves that it would be 'my vacation' too. No such thing as apportioning blame or responsibility to someone else to make our days in the city fruitful and fun. It's amazing how much we enjoyed ourselves during this short trip, saw so much of a city that's not quite the same as what travel ads say; understood a little bit about its people, culture and social policies. We did it. :)