The Longest Day of My Life

I was able to squeeze a second night out of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is another one of those places that's hard to get to know after only 48 hours and it would have been really impossible for me to get a feel of the place after only 24 hours... what was I thinking? I kind of remember - I wanted more time in Thailand, and San Francisco, and I wanted to get back to Boston in time to get myself organized before starting work. Hong Kong got squished in the process.

So in Hong Kong, I met up with cousin Amber (who I'd met up with in Liverpool earlier on the trip), her husband Ian, and 3 kids, Zach, Jasmine, and Zabrina. Ian is a police officer in Hong Kong and the whole family lives in a government flat on the outskirts of the city on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong Island is a big mountain, and being on the 11th floor of a sky scraper on a mountain means you have views out your balcony like this:Not bad for a government flat.

I actually wasn't able to change my flight until the day of my flight. I think the airline was trying to sell the extra seats for a really high price. They kept telling me that the flight I wanted wasn't available, then suddenly it was. Anyway, we thought I only had one night in Hong Kong, Amber and Ian wanted to make sure I had a good 1 night, so we went out.

On day 2, since I had time to explore, I decided to get lost in Kowloon. It was fun. I found the flower market, the bird market, the fish market, the market market...

I ended up getting a little sick of markets, even though they weren't like markets I'd find back home, I wasn't going to buy anything. They flowers would have rotted, the birds would be a poopy mess, I would have committed cruelty to fish because the bag would have popped and the fish would have died a slow painful death by suffocation in a non-liquid atmosphere.

I ended up walking around the Nan Lian Garden, then having traditional Chinese tea in the tea house. Then I trekked back up the hill to find Amber for our 2nd night out.

The next day was the longest day of my life (so far). Litterally, it lasted 39 hours. Hong Kong is 15 hours ahead of San Francisco, and I got to cross the International Date Line (no, I did not feel a bump), but this is as close to time travel as I think I'll ever get.

I woke up at about 8:30AM, and Amber and I took the dog (Pudding) for a nice 2 hour walk through up on the mountain. Then we came back for lunch and I left for the airport. I got on the plane (or time machine) at about 4:25PM on August 30. I spent the next 13 hours in a place where time has no meaning. Ironically, I started my trip by watching the 4th Indianna Jones, which was the bridge between archeological myth and science fiction. I think George Lucas got this series confused a bit with Star Wars, but I'm not picky. I still found it entertaining, although I can see why some people really didn't like it. I stepped off the plane in San Francisco at 2:30PM on August 30, about 2 hours before I took off. I met up with my aunt and uncle and we went for Mexican food in Santa Rosa, and said hello to Snoopy (Charles Schultz is from Santa Rosa). I managed to stay awake until at least 9PM... not bad. I at 5 meals on August 30, which seemed about right. I at 4 meals on the 31st, and I'm shooting for 3 meals today... that should put me back into reality. I think the sci fi writers got it right when they say that time travelling takes it's toll on your body, but I'm feeling like going on a couple more adventures before coming home.