This last year of travels has been very rewarding and memorable for us but there is always a bitter feeling every time we have to say goodbye to a city that has been our home for a month or two. By the time you start to create a routine you have to think of packing your bags and getting ready for the next step.

From San Francisco to Hong Kong, we have had amazing friends giving us tips, showing us around, enjoying their city with us and helping us out while we have decided to bring the house on our backs. We will always be thankful for their company and although we were really lucky to have them scattered around the world we secretly wish they were living in the same city as us.

We already started to think that we have two more weeks to go in Hong Kong and there is still so much we want to do!. This flip flop weather has kept us enjoying the outdoors most the time and we have not visited one single museum or art gallery. I could sacrifice all the museums of the island for a HK beach day but it looks like we are going to have to prioritize a couple of places before we go.

The minute I leave HK I know I am going to miss this Cuba-like weather where hairdryers are nonexistent (at least for me) and the skin needs less body lotion. The cheap and tasty food everywhere, the wet markets with flavourful fruits, the crowds of people up and down and the safe environment at any time of the day or night will also be missed.

I am glad that I can write and say to everyone that the citizens of this busy town are friendly and will try to give you a hand even if they do not speak a foreign language. Actually, they are more expressive and direct than I ever thought, you will get a nice comment about your chopsticks skills or will be asked to move your laptop and coffee one table over by an annoyed customer looking for extra space.

It looks like not too many foreigners living in HK learn Cantonese as a few poorly pronounced words in their mother tongue will get the widest smile and compliment of any seller. It is too bad that I cannot speak more than a few words, I am sure that my charm or ridiculous choice of words would have dropped that hoodie price at Bowring Street Market by now. 🙂

It is interesting how people in North America, including myself on this one, criticise the foreigners who hang around their community all the time, not mingling or integrating easily into the new country that has welcomed them. Well, it looks like North Americans, Australians or Europeans do the same thing abroad, staying in the so-called expat’s social circle most of the time. I guess it all comes down to how much you need to mix to survive (find work, buy food, have friends or go to the doctor) and how curious you are about your surroundings and the new culture.

One thing that I have on my “to-do list” is to find some music scene in HK. So far, the music played around has been all cheesy pop and commercial. The Gangnam Style song will always remind me of Hong Kong, unfortunately, therefore the need to add more tunes to this trip’s soundtrack. Where are the dive  bars? We have not noticed them around so it is time to look it up on the internet.

There is so much activity in this beautiful land. It is hard to imagine this was a fishing village 150 years ago.