I'm in Hong Kong now. It's 3:22 AM Sunday morning. Days become nights and days become blurry in the haze of travelling half-way around the world. I'm travelling with mom and Elaine (sister). They are sleeping right now.
We left for Pearson around 9:15 PM on Sep. 24th. My uncle drove us to the airport. We checked our bags and waited for the boarding call. My feelings about the trip is mixed. The intent was to travel to Asia alone, or at least with a friend who was interested in going and finding out later why we went. But that changed because I was afraid to go alone and because all evidence suggests that I couldn't handle it on my own (language being the principle defficiency). I have to admit that I'm defficient in many ways but there's nothing like a trip with yourself to expose them to the light of day.
We travelled Economy class with Korean Air. Mom asked around and we eventually settled on these flights. A very nice flight. Cheap seats and beautiful flight attendants. That's all I need to say. Red-eye flight so we left Pearson at 11:50 PM Thursday and arrived in Seoul 1:10 AM Saturday. Mostly uneventful. You try and sleep, you eat and then you try and sleep some more. If it weren't for our hostesses I would prefer to wake up in Seoul and have no recollection of the trip. The girls wore a beige jacket over a beige skirt, teal blouse with a scarf tied at the neck. Very elegant. Some wore short sleeves some wore long sleeves, some wore pants, most had their hair tied back but one had her hair short and cropped. Quite a variety. However, they all had their hair accented with a hair clip that looks like the traditional chopsticks. I enjoyed it.
We got to Incheon International Airport at 1:10 AM (local time). We exited the plane and walked to Gate 21 which would take us to our next flight (only our next flight was 6 hours away). This was the perfect chance to catch up on some sleep. I slept maybe 2-3 hours on the flight. But in Incheon it was 1:10 PM (Toronto time) and I was wide awake. With so much time on our hands your instinct is to explore. There were phones, washrooms and closed shops at the airport, a free public internet hotspot and an information desk. Mom and I walked up and down this part of the airport once or twice saying hello to some of the people we met on the flight. With nothing else to do (and not sleepy at all) I got online to see how I could entertain myself. Logged into MSN Messenger and began conversations with Americo and then Martin. Americo was still at work (sucker!) but Martin Kim (is a guy whom I met at D-Link Networks a few years ago) was free. We kept in touch, he left for Seoul in 2007 looking for better work. Well, since I was in Seoul (technically Incheon) I decided to contact him. He was surprised to hear that I was in Seoul. It was like 3 AM at this point but 3AM wasn't so significant compared to the 2.5 years and thousands and thousands of miles between us.
I'm having an aside moment :) Litmus test. Friendship. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted, Martin and I. We jumped right in. He took off from his place in Seoul (I believe he said Non Hyeon) grabbed a taxi and travelled like 40 km to see me. Very cool. All I had to do was exit through immigration, fill out entering Korea form as well as a customs declaration form and then I was in the arrivals section of the airport waiting for Martin at McDonald's.
Anyway, Martin got to the aiport around 5 AM and we talked for a few hours. I was happy to see him. Martin, like myself is single with no attachments. So for him, as well as I, going out at 3 in the morning because a friend calls you up one day is an excellent way of getting to know someone and becoming reaquainted. I know, for me, I didn't feel quite so alone in Asia. We talked about work, women and life since D-Link. He's working for Alcatel-Lucent as a sales-engineer. It was great catching up. It was like old times. In fact, it didn't feel like time passed all that much (not that 2 years is a big deal). He was the same, I was the same, only the location has changed.
We talked til 7 AM and then I had to leave. I'm gonna try and fly back to Seoul during this trip. I know that Elaine and mom haven't expected this little turn of events but I feel that it would be personally an excellent option. A friday/saturday weekend would be ideal (for Martin as well as myself). We can hit some of the nightspots and see what Seoul has to offer. Martin says that I'm more interested in women than he remembers of me (we talked mostly geekspeak in Toronto). It's a part of our reality now. They change everything.
So mom, Elaine and I boarded KE603 bound for Hong Kong. 3 hours flight. We landed at 10:40 AM local time. I watched a movie on the flight that I didn't get a chance to finish. I'll have to download it when I get back to Toronto. It's called "The scam". A Korean film. We passed through immigration and then located our bags and met up with my uncle. My uncle drives an S500 Mercedes Benz. Boy was it smooth. We rode to Shatin (where my uncle, aunt and cousins live) and we got settled in my cousins flat. Had dimsum and then I had to crash. I was so tired. I really didn't sleep much on the flights and without sleeping at the stop-over I was a walking zombie. I slept for an hour or 2 and then got up for dinner with my uncle/aunt/cousin/mom/Elaine. Came back to the flat and crashed again. For most of Saturday it's been a blur.
