On my last day in Korea, I went to the airport early in the morning and was met there by two office mates who had also been in Korea but I didn’t know about until the previous night. I contacted Anabelle and she told me their connecting flight from Hong kong to the Philippines was 8 hours after their touchdown to Hong kong so they could do a bit of touring, so I had my flight moved so I could go with them.
When I saw Dennis, I laughed, because I had seen him several times in Korea already but I had thought he was a Korean who looked like someone in the Philippines – turns out he was that someone from the Philippines.
We checked in and took advantage of the free food in the business class lounge. Business class sure has its perks. When we got into the plane, I made sure to order a non-alcoholic cocktail and a flute of champagne, the latter of which I took only one sip of before deciding that I can’t stand the bitter taste.
Once in Hong kong, we each bought an Octopus card, a prepaid card worth 200 HKD which you can use to pay for all sorts of transportation in Hong kong except for cabs. It was warmer in Hong kong than in freezing Korea, but it was still cool, at below 15 degrees celsius.
We rode a double-decker bus to Tsim Sha Tsui, and on the way we saw the Tsing Ma Bridge, the world’s longest road-and-rail suspension bridge. We got down in one of the shopping districts where the streets were lined with rows upon rows of bazaars.
But upon looking, the goods being sold here looked suspiciously like the ones we have in our Divisoria tiangges. So I just bought some magnets for my friends. They were initially being offered at 39 HKD apiece, but when I said I thought they were too expensive, the sales girl brought it down to 10 HKD. And I didn’t even make an effort to haggle!
I also bought an HK t-shirt for myself. I think the best shopping bargains in Hong kong are for designer clothes, which I don’t buy. Annabelle was able to buy a thick coat in Giordano for only about 1,500 pesos though.
After shopping we headed to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. It was breathtakingly beautiful there and there was so much to see — the ocean and the buildings across it, the trees (I adore trees), fountains, the clock tower.
We took lots of pictures and when dusk was falling, we walked over to the Avenue of Stars with its hand imprints of Hong Kong’s most talented actors and actresses. We couldn’t find any familiar names though.
When it was dark we knew it was time to go, so we rode the Star Ferry to Central, and from Central we rode the special train to the airport.
In the airport, we rested our a feet for a few minutes in the business class lounge, and I also had some Haagen Dazs ice cream. I was so full that when they served my dinner in the plane, I ate only one bite, returned the rest, and slept till Manila.
Manila was extremely warm compared to the two countries I had just been in but still, I was so glad to be home.
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