Leaving Hong Kong

I spent my last few days of Hong Kong with family.

The night before I left, I had dinner with my grandpa, step-grandma(?), uncle, and cousins at my grandpa's apartment in Choi Hung. My cousins actually took work off and came down from China to see me off. :(

Anyway, I woke up, had my last breakfast in HK with my family, and headed off to the airport via bus. It was a nice sunny day, which I was really happy about because it was raining all week. -__-

If it weren't for the rain, I would've gone to a few more places.
1) hike on the Dragon's Back trail which would lead me to Shek O Beach
2) go to Mammy Pancake, which is apparently where the best egg waffles are made
3) go to Macau
4) go to Lamma Island

But, of course... there was rain and typhoon warnings and gray skies that made people not want to do anything. Yes, I am extremely bitter. :(

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Pictures of the road to the Hong Kong International Airport...

There are actually a few ways to get to HKIA
1) Bus (most economical option, cost me about $20HKD)
2) MTR - Airport Express (ranges from about $100-200HKD)
3) Taxi (price will vary depending on your starting point, but HKIA is kind of far from civilization... so chances are it'll cost quite a bit)
4) Walking (Um... I'm gonna say this is impossible, but I mean... if you're up for the challenge...)

Arriving at the HKIA

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I'm not sure if it's because we kind of lagged in the morning... or if we underestimated how long it would take to get to the airport, but when I arrived, I had less than half an hour to check-in and everything. Actually, I just realized that international flights have to check in one or two hours before your scheduled flight. For example, my flight was at 10:40AM... so assuming I have to check in two hours earlier, then I'd have to check in by 8:40AM. Be sure to check your check-in requirements!

Anyway, it was super chaotic. I didn't even have time to say good bye properly to my relatives. :( I wanted to thank them for taking such good care of me while I was here in HK.. It wouldn't have been the same without them. I actually choose to study abroad in HK so that I could connect with my family.

I got really close to my uncle during my stay in HK. We always had dim sum and dinner every weekend... sometimes weekdays too. Every Sunday rain or shine (unless I was busy studying). He'd give me allowance (LOl). For some reason, he always thinks I'm starving and have no money, so he gives me money to make sure I'm well fed. -___-;; 

I got really close to my cousins too. There was sort of a language barrier at first because only one of them spoke Cantonese and the others spoke Mandarin. They thought I didn't speak any Mandarin at first, so they didn't know what to do with me. LOL. Awkward... I do speak Mandarin, which they realized later. It's just not as fluent as my Cantonese... They also didn't think I read very much Chinese. -___- I am mildly insulted by that, but I guess that's the stereotype (that Chinese-American's don't know a lick of Chinese). 

I really miss them. LOL. It was nice being the second to youngest cousin there. ^__^ Everyone was older than me, so they all felt obligated to take care of me. I'm not complaining. :) ... Except, I won't get that in America anymore. Sigh.

That was the last picture that I took before leaving Hong Kong. LOL. -___- It really should've been a picture of my family or something.

Please make sure you leave to the airport a little early so that you can say your good byes properly. Don't be like me! :(

Jenn

Day of Departure

My silly friends made me these random patriotic-ish posters. LOL! #insidejokes

Mom & pop

My flight was at 1:30AM on Monday, September 3rd. I left to the airport around 9:30PM on Sunday. My parents like to go to the airport really early. Most of my friends went to the airport to send me off to Hong Kong. :') I entered the terminal at 12:30AM. I started crying as I hugged everyone good bye. When I hugged my mom and dad, they kept rushing me to leave. T_T

There wasn't really a line for the security check. Everything went pretty smoothly. Since I got in early, I went to take off my make up and change into more comfortable clothes. I actually ran into a friend from high school (Tony) while waiting to board the plane! I think I'm hanging out with him on Monday. Yay to more exploring!

The airplane left on time. Cathay actually served pretty decent food. I didn't eat any snacks because I had no appetite. I was awake for about three hours. I slept for about six and stayed up for the remainder of the flight. It was really hard finding a comfortable position to sleep, but that was expected. I sat on the right side of the airplane near the aisle. The person in the middle didn't show up, so there was actually a little bit more room. :) I landed at 6:30AM (HK time), which was about 30 minutes earlier than expect.

Jenn