Old Friends (and a new one too)

I had an entirely miserable weekend in Hong Kong last September. I mean, it was successful, in that I passed the exams I was taken, so it wasn’t a disaster, it just wasn’t very much fun. It was sunny when I was in exams, or revising for same. When I decided to have a break, it was raining, and I got soaked. And, I had absolutely no idea what to do, so the sights that I saw were rubbish.

This, incidentally, is the opposite of the Dodgess’ visit last December – which she loved. She had the benefit of her best friend from Singapore, and a local guide who also happens to be another long-standing good friend. My dislike of Hong Kong also went down rather badly with those 3 residents of Hong Kong that I know.

When I was first told about my second trip to Hong Kong – for a work conference – I was convinced that my second trip would end up exactly the same way. I mean, being stuck in a hotel outside of Hong Kong is not what I really want to do there, let alone the Corporate brain-washing that would undoubtedly be attempted during those three days. It was also going to be about 2 days before I had to go back to Vietnam, so I’d have like 12 hours in Singapore in between.

Then I gave up on going back, in between Hong Kong and Vietnam, giving me 24 hours in Hong Kong all to myself. I had some nice images of getting up The Peak, or perhaps see something else (again – I hadn’t really done my homework).

Once again, I didn’t get to see anything. So I still need to go back and sightsee, but I did have a great time. On the Saturday evening, I met up with a new friend. One who sat next to me at an engineering dinner in Singapore.  We spent most of it talking shop, but, somehow, spending time with a friend you rarely see is generally better than a friend who you see every day.

That philosophy also applied to a mate I met for lunch the day after. Another colleague, however this one I had worked with in the UK – where we hardly had the most memorable of times. This Sunday we did – a very memorable Sunday lunch in Hong Kong – probably the best British food since I’ve been in Asia.

Vietnam, frankly, could not live up – and didn’t really. In fact, by the time I reached Vietnam at midnight that Sunday I had lost almost all the high of the lunch earlier. In fact, save for one freak event, the trip to Vietnam would have been pretty awful – by the time I had been bullied into checking a bag in at Hanoi airport I’d gone effectively 6 days without seeing the Dodgess, and I had severe withdrawal systems.

That random event, in the Pearl River Hotel lobby as I was running out for a meeting, I got spotted. Spotted by a very heavily pregnant woman who had shared a house with one of my best friends at Uni. She had followed her (British) husband who has a job working in Vietnam. It was nice to catch up – we had about 6 years to catch up on. Next time I’m in Vietnam we’ll only be catching up for about 2 months, but I will meet her son, who will be about 2 months old less 3 days!

All in all, this could have been a pretty dreadful few days. There was plenty wrong with it – the conference was quite predictable, if reasonably enjoyable. Mind you, I was mighty pleased to finally get on the flights back – a real rarity in having about 50 seats to myself on the plane which made it better. And at the end of it was the best part of the week – a hug from the Dodgess.

Penang

On our second day in Penang, the Dodgess and I decided that we were properly spoiled when it came to holidays. We were walking around the centre of Penang, which is reasonably attractive, and probably very interesting if you are into Asian religions. The trouble is, as city centres go, it simply isn’t as interesting as Vienna, or Paris, or New York. We went up Penang Hill, which on a clear day would offer beautiful views over Penang. For us, it was a little foggy, and anyway, the views wouldn’t beat that over Paris from the Eiffel tower, or Central Park from Rockerfeller Centre, or Boston from the Prudential Tower.

The hotel is Penang was ok – well, apart from giving us two small beds, rather than one big one, but we’ve stayed in better in lots of places. The food was pretty similar to Singapore – perhaps exciting if you’re not living in Singapore, but living there, again, we’ve had better.

And yet, there is a reason that we left saying that we’d definitely go back. It all happens between 6pm and 8pm. The most magical sunsets imaginable. It takes quite a lot for the Dodgess and I to stop, but this stopped us, as we sat in awe of the sun setting over the sea on the north shore. The next day, we weren’t sat on the beach, but the colours were just as awesome as we strolled out for dinner.

We may not go back – we can probably find such a sunset elsewhere – but we did enjoy our break.

Penang was in the middle of June, a month in which almost everyone I met said I’d joined the Jet Set. Well, frankly, I’m glad that in July I’m not in that set anymore. It probably can be glamorous, but for me, the 12 flights in 5 weeks, with 5 trips overseas and 14 nights in hotels really was not. For now, my work in Vietnam is on hold awaiting decisions from others, which means that I’m massively busy in Singapore. Being busy is, I can confirm, better than being empty at work. But it is VERY tiring!