It's the second to last week of my Hong Kong adventure and I can't begin to explain how fast it has gone. From arriving and being amazed by every street sign to now living a normal life here, it'll be hard going back to reality in New Zealand. The people I've met and the friends I've made will make it harder to leave this colourful city but I know I will see them again in the future. With 2 weeks to go I am going to take every opportunity and make the most of my remaining time as soon it'll all be a distant memory.
This week at work was still hectic. The never ending list seems to somehow get longer yet if I use my time correctly it hopefully will all get done. I juggled brand guidelines, fathers day promotion, social media posts, display ads, email templates and other tasks meaning there were many long nights. Yet with extra hours worked, meant I could enjoy my 'last' weekend with everyone. On Thursday night (starting the weekend a little early) James invited me to go to a music event just by work. It was held at an underground bar called 'Ping Pong' where electric and house music filled the small space. Hong Kong's creative community gathered here and I was able to meet film makers to writers all excelling in their field. The night flew by with the help of a few wines and before I knew it, it was 1am. That Friday you could say was harder than usual. But with the help of a lot of water and coffee we pushed through. Planning on having an early night, Jacky our Hong Kong liaison from Next Step Connections organised a farewell dinner. Thinking I couldn't not turn up to my own farewell, I went along and ended up having the best night. I meet other interns from America, Italy, England and Ireland who we spent the majority of the night with. We got to explore Lan Kwai Fong further, finding hidden bars and going to Club 7. We got home in the early hours of the morning and I was unsure whether Saturday would be very productive. Yet I surprised myself and headed to Lamma Island for the day. With the weather set to be hot, I packed my togs and was ready to enjoy the beach. With the boat ride only taking 20 minutes and costing 3NZD, we escaped the high rise buildings to find ourselves in a sleepy town. Local fishermen were out catching their dinner and few tourists wondered the streets making it the perfect escape from the city. Due to the extreme temperatures (35 degrees!) the goal was to make it to the beach, yet to get there, there was a 20 minute walk in front of us. Walking on a flat paved surface usually would be easy, yet with the extreme amount of sweating, heat and lack of shade it felt like a marathon. If I am being honest I did not feel human. Being in worlds of pain, all I wanted to do was get out of my saturated clothes and run into the ocean. And on arrival this is what I did. Not thinking about anything but getting into the water, once submerged I discovered the insane amount of rubbish floating around. From entire cups to bottle wrappers, the ocean awfully polluted. In New Zealand we obviously do have litter and pollution but I have never seen it on this scale. The shore line was decorated with rubbish and no one seemed to care. It made me further realise how bad pollution has become and that we all need to do something fast or else it'll be incurable. After leaving the sea of rubbish, I soaked up the afternoon rays for a few hours. With everyone feeling tired, probably due to heat stroke we made our way back to Hong Kong at around 5pm to have finally an early night.
Ferry to Lamma Island
With only a week to go until I set off on my 5 week adventure around Asia, I decided it would be wise to get ahead on my uni work. With everyone heading to Ocean Park for the day, I enjoyed the comfort of my room to do work and start my university poster. At the time all I wanted to do was go outside yet I told myself 'do it now and enjoy your 5 weeks of travel.' And thank god I did this. Now I can enjoy my final week in Hong Kong without stressing about trying to get everything done. Hallelujah! So with one week to go, let's do this.