Hong Kong Part 1
Brian was nice enough to drop me off bright and early Saturday morning for my 13+ hour flight to HK. My airline of choice was United, and it was a poor one, as it made me wish I should have booked it on Cathay Pacific or Singapore, since they have their own personal TV systems for every seat and you do not have to crank your neck to see the in-flight movies. My seat light did not work either, so I was only able to read one chapter from one of the three books that I brought before they made us close the shades so everyone can sleep. Luckily, Yves had lent me his DS so a large portion of the time was spent playing Trauma Center if I wasn't listening to my iPod. I even drew a small audience, as two little kids came over and started watching me, and directing my every move. Gosh! As if savings lives weren't stressful enough!
Fast forward some, and I ended up landing in HK "one day" later, where my cousins Ryan and Ayrton were waiting for me. We jumped into their car and started heading back to Sheung Shui. It was just as I remembered it seven years ago, as their house is nestled between different farms in the northern (I think) part of New Territories. I was pretty dead tired by then, so I had some dinner and was getting ready for bed when my aunt decided to show me some wedding videos. Since I had been here last, two of my cousins had gotten married, and one -- Ryan -- even had a kid, who is supposedly turning two this week! I have not met him yet, since he went with his mom to mainland China, but I will. In fact, they're coming back today, or actually in a few hours. Apprently, he is a troublemaker, too! I was also given the honor of christening him with an English name. Something with two syllables that goes well with Wong. Hmm, such responsibility, I tell you!
I found myself up the next day at 6:30 in the morning and after a few hours of putzing around, the family and I decided to go to Fanling to meet my grandma for dim sum. She looked older and a little bit tinier, but as with the rest of the women in my family, she still has a lot of spirit! In fact, she was just telling us a story about how she went with a tour group around HK two days ago to look at medicinal herbs or something, but did not have a lot of fun since it was just pouring. Man, almost eighty, and still on the go! That is pretty awesome.
After lunch, I went with my aunt to Kowloon (the Wan Chai area) to get my immigration paperwork done. For those of you who do not know, since I was actually born here, I get to apply for a HK ID card by showing them my birth certificate. In other words, I get to be a dual citizen of both the US and HK. I am not sure what this really gets me, other than I now know that I do not have to go through the Consulate in SF for a visa every time I want to visit mainland China (and omg, that was an ordeal in itself). Anyway, the rest of the details are pretty boring, so I will spare you of that, but it is sufficient to say that it was a pretty involved process.
Ayrton finally woke up and met us out there later that day, and he and I walked around the touristy parts and window shopped for a while before we got bored and decided to go see Spiderman 3. That pretty much killed two and a half hours and since it was dark and I was starting to get tired again, we hopped onto the train to go home.
And there you have it!
Fast forward some, and I ended up landing in HK "one day" later, where my cousins Ryan and Ayrton were waiting for me. We jumped into their car and started heading back to Sheung Shui. It was just as I remembered it seven years ago, as their house is nestled between different farms in the northern (I think) part of New Territories. I was pretty dead tired by then, so I had some dinner and was getting ready for bed when my aunt decided to show me some wedding videos. Since I had been here last, two of my cousins had gotten married, and one -- Ryan -- even had a kid, who is supposedly turning two this week! I have not met him yet, since he went with his mom to mainland China, but I will. In fact, they're coming back today, or actually in a few hours. Apprently, he is a troublemaker, too! I was also given the honor of christening him with an English name. Something with two syllables that goes well with Wong. Hmm, such responsibility, I tell you!
I found myself up the next day at 6:30 in the morning and after a few hours of putzing around, the family and I decided to go to Fanling to meet my grandma for dim sum. She looked older and a little bit tinier, but as with the rest of the women in my family, she still has a lot of spirit! In fact, she was just telling us a story about how she went with a tour group around HK two days ago to look at medicinal herbs or something, but did not have a lot of fun since it was just pouring. Man, almost eighty, and still on the go! That is pretty awesome.
After lunch, I went with my aunt to Kowloon (the Wan Chai area) to get my immigration paperwork done. For those of you who do not know, since I was actually born here, I get to apply for a HK ID card by showing them my birth certificate. In other words, I get to be a dual citizen of both the US and HK. I am not sure what this really gets me, other than I now know that I do not have to go through the Consulate in SF for a visa every time I want to visit mainland China (and omg, that was an ordeal in itself). Anyway, the rest of the details are pretty boring, so I will spare you of that, but it is sufficient to say that it was a pretty involved process.
Ayrton finally woke up and met us out there later that day, and he and I walked around the touristy parts and window shopped for a while before we got bored and decided to go see Spiderman 3. That pretty much killed two and a half hours and since it was dark and I was starting to get tired again, we hopped onto the train to go home.
And there you have it!
Labels: vacation
