Closing Time

Closing time – you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here

…

Closing time – every new beginning comes from a new beginning’s end

-Semisonic

And so began my last week (well, ten days actually) in Hong Kong. I wanted to make sure I was doing the most I could, seeing the people I wanted to see, doing the things I wanted to do, and overall having an excellent time and creating excellent memories.

Monday I spent in TST on my own. I had to go down around noon to drop off my passport at the India Visa Center, which has been outsourced to a private company. Interesting idea, and it was much quicker and efficient than any other visa I’ve heard of. After dropping off the passport for processing, I walked around TST, just soaking it in. I was overcome with this feeling that I sort of knew where I was going – I had never felt too comfortable with my sense of direction in Hong Kong, and I suddenly felt like a sheet had been pulled off my eyes.

I went to Mong Kok to look for a replacement battery for my netbook. If you remember, I cheaped-out and bought a fake netbook in Shenzhen. Among some small inconveniences within the computer itself, the battery is complete garbage.  It lacks the basic functionality of what a battery is – it doesn’t hold any charge at all. A little upset, but I guess you get what you pay for. Of course, none of the shops in Mong Kok sold or had heard of the brand name of my battery, so I’m a bit SOL for now.

After searching around the electronics market, I had built up a bit of a hunger. As a very belated birthday gift, I went to Sushi One. After paying the bill at my birthday dinner in February, I was given a frequent user card. For each $100 you spend, you get a stamp. Ten stamps gets you $100 towards your next meal. I had been saving this card for a special time, and this seemed perfect. I enjoyed everything except for the lack of salmon – the volcano had made its impact on my life as well, as they source all their salmon from Scandanavia apparently.

After lunch I went back into TST to enjoy the rest of my afternoon – I had to wait until 6pm to pick up my processed passport. So, after four months, I finally made it to Kowloon Park. This one was far and away better than Hong Kong Park, and actually reminded me of something remotely similar to Forest or Central Park. It used to be the barracks for Indian soldiers during the British occupation, and has twenty-foot walls surrounding the park. It was so lush and beautiful, full of birds, trees, ponds and fountains. Just a great place to relax and kill a few hours. I took a little nap and awoke to an elderly man walking around the gardens doing Tai Chi. I finished my book about Cambodia, which I highly recommend, and also my most recent audiobook, Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson, the owner and creator of Virgin – Music, Atlantic, Records etc etc. Really interesting read – he is a quite dynamic and unique businessman. I look forward to his more supposedly inspirational book Screw It. Let’s Do It.

Tuesday was mostly uneventful. The only exciting part was going to the US Consulate in Central to get new passport pages. Yup, after only four months, I have filled up my passport, after only starting with 1.5 pages filled up. Impressive, but more impressive is how quickly and free I was able to get new pages stapled in.  I think they expect me to use these over the next 8 years when my passport next expires, but I have this weird feeling that it won’t last.

Wednesday was forcefully spent studying for my Accounting final on Thursday. This was more painful than I imagined, and after only an hour of studying slides, I stopped, annoyed that I had to study such stupid material. That’s when I decided not to let academics get in the way of life. Around 6, I enjoyed a nice, over-cooked dinner at the UC Canteen with Kaitlyn, and then we were off to Wan Chai for my final night at the races. As always, it was loads of fun, with my favorite people, in my favorite places.  I even met up with the last time with my plane-friend Will from Staten Island who I always seem to run into when we go out. He’ll be back in NY this summer, and I plan to reunite sometime. Wan Chai was wonderful as usual, plenty of free drinks thanks to Kaitlyn, and a night-cap at Ebeneezers made for a great night… that ended at 5. It’s a good thing my final wasn’t until 1pm :)

Thursday after my final and tutoring Ahn, I was off again to my last night in LKF. It started out really wonderfully at a birthday dinner for my Dutch friend Renate. About 14 of us went to a great Singaporean restaurant in TST and then next door to Ned Kelley’s the best jazz bar I’ve been to in HK. It’s a band of three Chinese men and one Irishmen playing New Orleans-style music. So much fun. Then , we migrated to LKF for a final night at the club Fevar for the 3am open bar. As usual, tons of fun that got me home just in time to watch the sunrise at I-House.

The weekend was full of great people, great friends and great food. Friday was Josh’s goodbye dinner at Sushi One. Saturday was Kaitlyn’s goodbye dinner at a Korean BBQ buffet, and Sunday was Niclas’ birthday, where we celebrated at, get this, a WESTERN restaurant in SoHo. At this point, Alex and I realized that our dinners were so huge, that we ended up only eating one meal per day! This was a great culmination to the week, getting to be around my favorite people for some great meals. It dawned on that I had made many of these friends only within the last month or two, and yet, had some of the strongest relationships with them.

(My last day tutoring Ahn. She was so courageous and hard-working, I'll always remember her. She even bought me a tie to thank me - too much)

(Bus stop before dinner for Niclas' birthday)

(Walking up through LKF)

(Business as usual in Hong Kong)

(No place like home, no place like home)

(FANTASTIC Australian-beef burger place)

(Great restaurant we went. Shout out to Chimes!)

(Great people, great places. Hong Kong)

(The birthday boy)

(Great people I won't soon forget)

After my fantastic penne ala Vodka and red wine, we ventured to a renowned bar in TST called Aqua. On the 30th floor of a building, was the 360-degree windowing at a really upscale and trendy bar. I had been advised to go there so many times, but of course, only in my last week did I end up going - typical, but not regrettable.

(Swanky coasters)

(Inside the bar- only lighting was from under the tables)

(I still contend this is the best skyline in the world. And we got a perfectly clear night to boot)

(My "Ice Volcano")

(No flash)

Since Sunday has been very uneventful, and in that regard, I have been embracing a surreal freedom that you can only achieve when you have nothing to do. I have been spending a lot of my time closing up shop here in HK, and planning my travels for the next few weeks. I have been getting so excited about these travels, getting the worst case of the travel bug, that it pulls at me like a tug-o-war that I have to leave this great place of Hong Kong.

Closed out my bank account. Checked out my library card. Did my laundry. Said some goodbyes.

In final news though, mostly only of interest to a few of you, I shaved my beard today after 5+ weeks of grizzliness. The comparisons to Moses and Abraham Lincoln will have to be put on hold for a bit, until I let the beard back into my life. To save space, I won't be packing a razor, so by the time I get to India, I will probably fit right in :)

(Phase 1 - just for kicks  - I tried for a Nike swoosh, but it didn't work out)

(Phase 2 - my arm got tired)

(A possible keeper)

(Me disguised as a 14-year old boy)

Now I’m ready. Now I’m excited. I’m expecting this trip to be groundbreaking, life-changing and overall fantastic. There will be challenges and struggles, but that’s what traveling is all about. If it were easy, everyone would do it. I look forward to seeing some of the most amazing things in my life. I look forward to meeting some interesting and different people. I look forward to having some time alone to contemplate life.

I will be bringing my netbook/desktop with me, as it can only be used when plugged in, to take notes, and maybe publish a blog or two while I’m on the road. I will not have Facebook in China, and the notifications will be turned off. So, in the meantime, you will have to just imagine the beauty and excitement in my trip.

May 6 – May 10 – Guilin and Yangshou with Alex

May 10 – Take Economics final at 9:30am. Do a load of laundry, pack up, close up shop completely, say my goodbyes and head to the airport around 3pm. My flight to Kunming is at 8pm

May 10 – 13 – Stay with Kathryn Sparks in Kunming. Possible trip to Dali.

May 13 – 14 – Chengdu with Kathryn

May 15-16 – Xi’an

May 17 – 20 – Beijing, including a 2-day hike of the Great Wall

May 20 – 23 – Shanghai, already have my ticket for the World Expo.  I will be meeting up with Mike Wu (Notre Dame) here.

May 24 – 26 – Mumbai on my own

May 27 – 28 – New Delhi with Neehar Garg.

May 29 – return to Hong Kong. Possible reunion with Alex Rosenberg.

May 30 – fly back to the glorious U – S of A.

See you on the other side of the pond friends.