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Jul - Sep 2002: This is a continuation of my China trip, but includes travels to other countries in Asia.

Southeast Asia, month 3

Jennifer Radcliffe
2005-11-12 11:00:20

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London, and we all went to dinner one night and then out for a night on the town. The clubs we went to were some of the same ones he took me to the first time I passed through Hong Kong, and I felt both sentimental and giddy to realize how much time has passed - and how many wonderful experiences I've had - since the last time I had been here. Sentimental because for the first time, my past experiences seem surreal - Asia is a memory now and I won't be adding to it; giddy because I have experienced so many beautiful moments since my trip started, and all those memories have fused to become a part of me. Asia is a part of me now. My feelings of nostalgia remind me of a great quote I saw recently: "A pleasure is not full grown until it is remembered." (by C.S. Lewis)

Hong Kong seems a bit different than I remember it - another clue that I am seeing through different eyes. It seems more convenient, more westernized, and even more clean than I remember. I don't remember it being so multicultural either, but it really is compared to the rest of Asia that I've seen. The first night I was here, I sat in a cafe and watched people pass by on the sidewalks outside. I was surprised by the diversity of the people on the streets. You're likely to see a group of expats in suits, western tourists in shorts and sandals with camera bags slung over their shoulders, sari-clad women clutching the hands of little children, confidently strutting African men towering over stylish, clean looking Hong Kong Chinese. In Hong Kong I've met people from Bangladesh, South Africa, India, England, Canada, America, Pakistan, Australia, Japan... the list goes on! I love the varied mixture of people here, all working and playing together in capitalistic harmony.

I fly home on the 18th morning at 12:40am. I have a layover in Seoul and one in Tokyo. This is wild - I will leave Tokyo at 1:55pm on the 18th and arrive in Los Angeles ...