(12/21/22)
I find myself recollecting all the sights and sounds and smells and tastes and feel of Hong Kong. From the dorm room that has come to feel like home, as they always do, having somewhere to come home to even in a place so far from home. To the particular beep of the Octopus card when I scan it on a bus or at the metro. To the closeness of the city and the skyscrapers all around me. To the lights and designs that light up the sides of those same buildings. To the brilliant greens of trees against a blue sky. To the comfort of a warm cup of tea, even on the hotter days at the beginning of my exchange abroad. To the sound of laughs around the table at dim sum as we struggle to divide the dim sum dishes that usually come in quantities of three, between a group of four. To the distinct rattle of a two-story bus that is somehow comforting, familiar as a moment of calm on the way to some activity, or else a companion on the ride back after a long day of delicious food and beautiful sights. To the sweet smell and taste of a custard bun or the pepper of the pepper beef dish that I discovered here. To the dazzling sunsets bright against the buildings clustered at the horizon…
It’s my last day in Hong Kong and I join my friends in going to the Tai O fishing village again, wandering around by the water and between shops, counting eight or so cats over the course of our trip. Then we take a ferry to the place where a cable car will take us to the Tian Tan Buddha. On the cable car, we realize that all four of us are to some extent intimidated by the distance between us and the ground, dangling by only a strengthened cable over water and hills on our trip to the buddha.
It turned out that the last cable car returned at 6 pm, and we only had half an hour to see the buddha and return to the cable cars. The stairs up to the buddha also closed at around 5:30, so we weren’t able to walk up to it, but we did get to see it from the bottom of the stairs.
On the way back, we ended up in a car with a see-through floor, as at the end of the day, all the cable cars were used, regardless of one’s kind of ticket (we had opted against paying the additional cost for the cable car with a clear floor). But taking the cable cars at the end of the day and being able to see the sunset over the hills in a 360, with absolutely nothing obstructing the view, blew me away.
As we approached the destination, it was getting towards dusk, and we could only see the vague outlines of trees beneath us, and then the lights of the city and the cars reflecting in the water. A last, lingering view of Hong Kong.
Until next time,
Kelsi