Day 229: The Coolest

Today was my last day in Hong Kong - man, that sucks! In only five days I've come to completely love this city. It may just be the coolest place on the planet. I love the energy and the excitement here, all the people and languages and foods and cultures from every corner of the globe, the beautiful scenery and the unreal cityscape, and the variety of sights and attractions. Hong Kong - a cliche as it may sound - truly is an amazing fusion of East meets West. You get the best of both worlds - foreigness and history and exhilirating Asian chaos mixed and mingled with modernity and familiar comforts and conveniences and Western efficiency. Yep, it's true - Hong Kong officially kicks major ass!

I would totally move here in a heart beat...another day, another journey perhaps? (a possible future extension of The S2H World Tour?)

I slept in a bit today and wanted to be at the airport by around 2pm or so, so I didn't have a lot of time on my last day to do stuff. I went back into Central to wander around and have lunch at a restaurant that I had been dying to eat at since I arrived. But first I went and did something totally cool and innovative and sensical... I went and checked in my luggage and got my boarding pass for my flight...at the downtown train station!

Yes, you read right! At the Central Station of the Airport Express, you can actually check in your luggage and get your boarding pass for *any flight that day* and then go off and play in the city, knowing that your luggage is safely on its way to the airport without you. And you won't see it again until you arrive at your final destination. How cool is that! Man, I love this city!

Alrighty - time for lunch! I went to El Taco Loco and had *real Mexican food* (I guess dreams DO come true) and it was absolutely scrumptious! Mexican food is one of my favourites and another treat that cannot be found in Korea (at least not anything of reasonable quality.) I gorged myself on a giant bean burrito and then went out to do some last-minute sightseeing.

I decided to go and ride Hong Kong's Central-Mid-Levels Escalator. 'Now Scott why would you go and ride an escalator???' you may ask, but be rest assured my friend, this is no ordinary escalator! It's actually the *longest escalator in the world* - and is nearly a kilometre long! 'Holy shit, that's a helluva long escalator!' you may say, and with that I reply 'Yeppers, it sure is!'

The escalator was built to help bring commuters from the hill-side Mid-Levels residential area down into the downtown Central area. Before, residents had to take long, windy drives down the steep mountain-side. Now they can just hop on the escalator and cruise gently and swiftly into the city centre, brief-case and cappuccinos in hand. It takes just over twenty minutes to ride the escalator from end to end and is actually broken up into several 'pieces' to allow riders the chance to get on and off at various points in the city. Not only is the escalator just plain fun to ride, but it's a great chance to see the city as the ride provides a unique view of a cross-section of various neighbourhoods. Once again, I feel the need to repeat myself, but Hong Kong is way cool!

After my ride up and down the escalator it was sadly time to head out to the airport. Boarding pass in hand and luggage long-gone, I just hopped on the train and was whisked off to the airport. Upon arrival I got to skip all the long queues at the airline desks and head straight for security and immigration. Mere minutes later I was on 'the other side' and waiting patiently for my flight back home to Korea. Dinner on the flight home was courtesy of a restaurant at the world-famous Peninsula Hotel and was pure deliciousness!

Three hours later I was back in Korea, already missing Hong Kong. I had to wait forever at Incheon Airport for a bus to come and take me back to Ilsan, and it was close to 11pm by the time I rolled into my apartment. It's back to work tomorrow, and I'm soooo not in the mood to do that. My vacation was really awesome and even though it flew by really fast, I felt like I saw and did a lot. I landed and conquered that city - mission accomplished, baby! Now it's back to reality and normality (well, as 'normal' as life gets for an expat teaching kids overseas, haha!)