travel story : hong kong, day 1

My sister and I went to Hong Kong on the 24th of October for a 3-night stay. It was a last-minute decision aided by unexpected help.

Flight to Hong Kong was around 5:45am so I hardly slept cramming my packing. Very bleary-eyed on the way to the airport and could barely keep myself awake through check-in.

At the Eaton Smart Hotel before 9am but we had to wait for our room to become available. The wait was worth it and we caught up on some sleep until noon.

When we were more sober then we had a better look around the room. A printed guide advised us about the earth-friendly effort of Hong Kong to reduce plastic usage so bringing one's own shopping bags would be the best way to go. The stores will provide shopping bags but for a small fee. Fortunately I have already made it a habit to bring my own bags so there was no problem. The hotel itself also had earth-friendly practices in place.

We had a good view of Nathan Road from our window. I had a cup of free tea as I slowly absorbed being in Hong Kong.

A 7-eleven was right across the hotel so we stocked up on breakfast and snack foods to save on money.

There were a few treats from the hotel but we don't drink and the other offers could only be claimed by a purchase which we could barely afford so we passed on those.

In the evening we went to the Temple Night Market which was just two streets away. I had a roasted chicken and duck rice topping. Then we scanned the goods for sale and indulged in a bracelet each (costing HK$15 apiece).

We were still not fully recovered from the previous night so we also decided to rest early and plan the next day.

last-minute magic

I was bracing myself for not going. There was no way I can swing it.

As I cleaned and cleared my closet and dusted off my travel bag, a memory surfaced. There is this one project that I have shelved in my head but which still owes me a decent amount of money. I could get paid for it within November if I push hard enough for the project implementation (I have not pushed hard enough because I never liked pushing anyone into anything except maybe pushing myself). On the other hand, I realized that if I am going to be serious about making proper money from this business I should level up my aggressiveness a few notches.

So I remembered that project. And if I just do a couple of days' intense revisions to the materials I could push for a project implementation closer to my terms but which will benefit both parties. Hence it will not be too much of a stressful thing.

And if I am able to push for that project I can get paid. Then that gap in my budget which prevents me from crossing over to helping the trip happen can be filled enough to make me manage.

I did not practice kendo to reserve my energies for work and preparations. I scoured the Internet for hotels and I found a good promo deal from a 4-star hotel right along Nathan Road and right within the area of one of the walking tours that my sister and I want to do. We filled up the forms, reviewed options, changed our minds, searched, repeated the process, repeated it again, and lingered over the "confirm" button until we decided to press it together by 8:30 in the evening.

Then it was just the spending money, of which we need just a little because we were willing to survive on 7-eleven meals.

Our dear, dear friend Peter Paul got wind of our plans and casually mentioned he had some Hong Kong dollars stowed away. He offered to lend it to us, let us use it, and have us pay only for the exact amount we actually consume so we don't have to spend any extra for foreign exchange (of course we return all the extra dollars to him).

And that solves our daily cash dilemma. We have more than enough for meals, getting around and a few cups of good tea or coffee. Most of the time we intend to do walking tours, read in the parks, maybe visit a museum, take lots of photographs, write in our journals, and simply savor the deliciousness of being someplace else. This will be a strictly super-budget trip and I would like to see how savvy we can be on the thinnest of shoestrings. Maybe you can pick up a trick or two later on.

With everything being last-minute, I am now on a deadline to get packed and fully prepared, plus take care of some work details like emails to clients to remind them that I will be out for the week. Flight is at 5:40AM tomorrow.

I'm still not absorbing the fact yet 100%. But I will be going to Hong Kong tomorrow with my sister. Yaaaay!!!