Going back to California-

I'm at the airport waiting for my plane to take off. This will be my last oversees blog. I've become so addicted to blogging, I'll miss it for sure. I am really excited to get back and see everyone and talk to people on a normal basis and not just short phone calls or emails.
I love Asia. I love everything about it: the people, the food, the landscape, the religions, and ideals. I have really enjoyed my trip and would love to return here someday. I have to say my favorite part was northern Thailand, life was so amazing there!
I didn't have a very good welcome to Hong Kong due to the whole hotel thing but the city grew on me fast. It is such a large beautiful city! It reminds me a bit of Vancouver... clean, green, and modern with huge mountains all around. I got to see so much of the city by hopping around on all the different types of transportation- trams, buses, subways, and ferries.

The one day I took the subway to see the "Giant Buddha" It's the bigges Buddha in the world. It was wat up at the top of a mountain on a separate island that that of Hong Kong. I took a cable car that that stretched over a large mountain valley and it raced along a track that was over 300 feet from the ground. It was such a beautiful place that had Zen gardens all around and one large temple at the top. From there I took a bus to a small fishing village to eat some seafood. I got there just at sunset so I sat down to enjoy the view. One of the locals, an older man, came and sat by me and started talking to me. He knew English very well and was very interested to hear what I had to say. I could tell that he must be very lonely. He insisted on showing me around his village and telling me everything he knew. He was excited that I was interested in Anthropology so he wanted to tell me about his culture. We stopped at his house so he could drop off his bags and he invited me in for tea. He lived in a small little house and he wanted to show me everything he owned as well. He kept giving me food to take with me on the bus. He was so nice! We then went to get so seafood- we ate dinner and then it was time for me to catch the bus back. I thought I was only going to be in that village an hour but it ended up being 6. His name was Ping-Ki Lui which means "A miracle will come". He was a firm believer in reincarnation and told me he hopped it to be that way because a miracle never came in this life for him. It was so sad.
Every night at 8pm they had an event called "Symphony of Lights" and the whole city would glow as each building would light up in an array of different colors. I was really glad I got to see this city. Although it was an expensive place to pass the time it was well worth it. All the hills in the city made me think of San Francisco and made me very excited to move up there this fall.
I have more to say but I'd better go catch my plane- I'm about to travel through time.. haha. My flight leaves Hong Kong at 1:30pm on Monday and arrives in Los Angeles at 11 am on Monday as well due to the time change. If all goes well I'll be back in Ocean Beach San Diego by 5pm on Monday night!
America here I come!!!