Transfer In Dubai Airport - Leaving China 'Temporarily Forever'

I’m currently in Dubai Airport transferring flights from Hong Kong to Manchester, and I’m terribly tired. It’s been 9 hours on the plane already, and now there are 11 more to go…. So in order to prevent even poorer quality writing later on, I’ll give it a try now.

My last 2 nights in China were spent in Hong Kong, and it was fantastic. My new aims in life are:

1.       Finish master’s degree

2.       Find a short/long-term job in Hong Kong

I just love the city so much. I’m aware that loving a place has been a common theme throughout china, but Hong Kong is different. There’s a certain charm to the city which I’ve never experienced anywhere else, it’s like being in the centre of the world. There are so many people from different cultures here and they all seem to get along, and they’re all so friendly. You can tell that life here can be really rich, even if your wages are low (having said that I have been informed that the average cost of an apartment in Hong Kong is £800,000…).

After leaving Guangzhou we arrived at our sleek and shiny hotel, situated in the more ‘rustic’ part of the city centre – but it had a great view.

Later that night we met Yinzi’s friend who took us to a brilliant restaurant, it’s the only time I can recall in the past 6 months where I’ve eaten to the point that I look pregnant.

Then we just walked around the wild streets of the city, something which I can do aimlessly for hours but still be entertained.

 

the street our hotel was on

Last time I came to Hong Kong with Yinzi she complained that I forced too much into a strict schedule, and she had a good reason to complain. So for the second day we just relax and explored. 

First we took the ferry from the hotel on Hong Kong Island to the new territories.

Here we visited Kowloon Park. Flamingos? In a park?

By this time it was raining pretty heavily, but this presented some stunning views of the cityscape against the misted mountain peaks. Hong Kong manages to please me even when I’m being soaked!

We visited the Wong tai Sin temple where we engaged in a relationship binding exercise! This statue is of Lue Lao (I think that’s the name) or the ‘old man under the moon’.

The legend goes that he unites couples with a silken cord, after which nothing can prevent their union. We had to tie a red ribbon each to the chords of the opposite statues, thereby wishing for a long life together and future marriage. If marriage is to occur, we must both return to this place soon after the wedding ceremony to thank Lue Lao. In short – Yinzi is now forced to marry me! Hahaha!

When night time came we decided to take a look from the Peak, where I took some pretty amazing city photos during my first visit – however this time I hoped to capture the entire city at night!

Unfortunately….rain. Lots of rain, which presented me with a view of the city behind a big load of cataracts…

It occasionally cleared up for a split second though.

Nevermind, Hong Kong never fails to impress me. It was a fantastic end to a brilliant trip to an amazing city, concluding the most amazing 6 months of my life.

Then the big moment came the next morning, I had to say goodbye to it all. Me and Yinzi made our way to the train station, which brought back memories of when I took the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou all those months ago – only this time Yinzi was making that journey without me. 

We took one last wander outside where we found a public display of worship, as it turned out today was the birthday of the Buddha!

It provided a wonderful setting for us to say our goodbyes, and where everyone was too occupied to notice me crying like a baby…Luckily for Yinzi, she only gets majorly upset in retrospect. She cried a little, but to those who did notice us it must have appeared like she’d just dumped me…

The time reached 1pm and she had to board her train. Letting go of her hand was like cutting off one of my limbs, a limb which held all of my essential internal organs. It was painful.
 

To make things more painful as I went down into the subway station I noticed that her train was opposite to mine, but with a large metal mesh wall between. With a 10 minute wait for my train I watched Yinzi board the train, unable to call her as her mobile didn’t work in Hong Kong, and unable to shout over the sound of the train engine. Her train left, and now I had the lone 25 hour journey ahead back home.

So a 2 hour wait in Hong Kong airport and a 9 hour flight, here I am in Dubai airport with a cup of coffee. My time in China is behind me, and now I’m just 10 hours away from the UK. Although I’m ecstatic thinking about meeting friends, family and British food again I can’t help but feel like I’ve left a big chunk of my life behind me.

I’m not unhappy though - I must look ahead, I must think about the times in China where I missed the UK and couldn’t wait to see it again. At those times this moment felt miles away, impossibly far into the future. But here I am. I’m going home with a new mind and a wealth of experiences. I can’t wait to share them with everyone (apart from this blog, I mean face-to-face).

Life will continue, and before I know it I’ll be in this airport again with only a few hours to go until meeting with China again.

Zai’jian/see you in the UK!