Option 2: Go to the city and end up stealth camping. I usually prefer this options, as I love my tent. It is a kind of third home to me, right behind my 'real' home and the boat. But I needed to be back at the airport early the next morning for my flight to Hong Kong, by around 7am, and didn't really think camping in the city was a good idea. Mostly because I get way too comfortable in my tent, especially in the early mornings, and I knew that I wouldn't want to wake up early in order to make a long trek to the airport.
This left option 3: Stay out until the rooster crows. Literally though, they're everywhere. Not an unfortunate option, but not the wisest either. It was possible for me to make it through the night since it was already 10 and even if I couldn't make it all the way there's always the opportunity of bailing into a cab directed towards the airport at any hour. Obviously, I took option three.
The cab ride into Hanoi was much longer than I had expected it to be. Not long, maybe 45 minutes, just longer than I had expected and more expensive too. I hadn't even had a location for the cabbie though, I knew nothing of Hanoi. I'd simply told him the name of the city as if he didn't already know where I was headed. There's just the one city. He asked me twice where I wanted to go in Hanoi, and I continued to claim simply 'Hanoi'. I trusted he would just take me to the center or whatever it is people come here to see. I couldn't see much as we were driviing into the city, the only thing I noticed is the air seemed smoky. I could tell we were getting closer to my unknown exit when I started to see more and more New Years decorations. Then there were people selling celbration items and balloons. The balloon sellers were holding so many balloons it looked as if they couldn't hardly hold another without disappearing into the smoky air. Soon there were to many people for the cab to even drive down the street so I got out short of the center, still not exactly sure where I was going. It was easy enough to follow the swell of people and it led me to this amazing lake in the center of the city. The whole thing was surrounded by such amazing festivities decorations. Buildings were lit up, there were lights in the trees and on bridges, and merriment all around. It took me over an hour to walk the circumfrence of the lake with so many people moving through the streets. By the time I made a complete loop I realized this wasn't simply a meet up and celebrate, everyone was waiting for something. I had the sneaking suspicion it was fireworks, because, well obviously because wha would New Years be without a firework show? I was milling about like everyone else when I decided to by some hotdogs on a stick and the first boom went off at midnight. A cheer rose up from the thousands of people gather to watch. Now there is no need for me to describe to you what a firework show is like, but, let me just say, I saw some of the biggest fireworks I'd ever seen that night.
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It's easy to forget I'm an educated man sometimes. College was such a blur of clawing my eyes out from boredom that, for the most part, I don't even remember going. Not that I finished mind you, I dropped out with one semester to go, but I wasted a decent chunk of time there. What I remember best about college was playing ultimate frisbee with an awesome group of people on Monday nights. Nobody cared who won, it was just a fun excuse to run around after a light up frisbee in the dark. That's where I met Kelvin. Kelvin from Hong Kong. He was studying at Texas tech the same time I was. Our only interaction was during a speckle of ultimate frisbee games, but that was enough. He would always joke that I should come visit him in Hong Kong some day as most people everywhere often do. If you meet someone it's not uncommon to extend an open invitation on the odd chance they come through your parts. It hardly ever happens that they come through, but that doesn't make the invitation any less sincere. I always reply to these offers the same. 'I'm sure I'll get around one day'. If there is anything, anything at all, you should know about me it's this: I take my 'one days' very seriously and I most certainly do get around.
So there I was, almost three years later, coming through with a light promise and meeting up with Kelvin in Hong Kong. It's always good to see a familiar face after such a long time. The catching up, chatting about frisbee, and how everyone we used to know is now married. I don't get a lot of that sort of chatting, since I'm always meeting new people, so it was a drink of cold water on a hot day. We spent the day chatting aimlessly as Kelvin lead me through the maze that is Hong Kong. Seriously, a maze. Almost every building is connected to another building by underground tunnels and skywalks. The buildings are so large on the inside that I immediately lost all orientation as soon as I entered. Not only that, but each of these buildings is fucking tall as well. True skyscraper status. Needless to say it was pretty cool. The malls were crazy, most of them had an ice skating rink inside somewhere. Some were upwards of 10, 11, or 12 stories of just mall. I went on a five story escalator! One even had a fake sky on the ceiling! And those floors were just the malls at the bottom of the skyscrapers, I'm sure there were still hundreds of floors of mysteries still above all that! It was a large city in every right.
During my time in Hong Kong we ended up walking all over the city. Kelvin asked me if I wanted to see fancy or the ghetto. I always go ghetto. We took a long bike ride that was absolutely gorgeous and ate some amazing things on the streets. I got a pretty good feel for the city I would say, but still look forward to coming back and doing more which is a nice way to feel after leaving a city. Exploring the city was fun and all, but the best time was spent with Kelvin and his family in a more 'real' setting. Chinese New Year seemed a bit like Thanksgiving, where the whole family gathers to feast and spend time together. I was lucky enough to be allowed at a family gathering and get a taste of the tradition. It was incredibly welcoming and a great relief to me considering the amount of holidays I've missed back in America. It's a weird blessing to feel a part of something and I don't always realize that I miss it.
The last night I was there was the night of the firework show. Remember when I said I saw some of the largest fireworks I'd ever seen in Vietnam? Well the show they put on in Hong Kong was at least five times the show of Hanoi's. It was fucking huge. So massive that it took 7 seconds for me to hear the boom after seeing the first explosions. 7 seconds! Yet, despite the distance, they still looked huge especially with the Hong Kong skyline in the background. I had a great view after joining up with a few Irish to sneak past a few guards and onto the landing of a fancy looking building. All in all it was an exciting couple days in Hong Kong and now I'm off again! Ever on the move, flying to Okinawa, Japan.
Be happy,
Beacon
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