Home, Sweet Home

Oh it feels so VERY good to be Home!

For the record, this is just a visit...not our Home Coming. I don't have a date for that just yet, so I'm making the most of this time, back in our comfortable Home, soaking it all up, taking it all in....I'd bottle it if I could.

The emotions involved in returning Home after 9 months are many and varied. Mostly though I feel strangely content just being in the house...the quiet house...the only constant sound the hum of the air conditioning. It's so peaceful here. We're lucky with the weather too. It's gorgeous out today. Thirty degrees and sunny without the oppressive humidity that I've become so accustomed to in recent months. I even took the time to blow-dry my hair this morning...a rare thing indeed!

It's lovely to be able to catch up with some friends while we're here too and revisit our favourite haunts... to reconnect with the place. Of course this is not our home country, but right now it certainly has that feel of Home to me. A place that's familiar. Safe. A place to keep your stuff. A place where people know you...recognise you and say "welcome home...we've missed you!" A place to feel grounded and secure. A base from which to step out of every day, in your chosen direction. Of course it's also a place that requires your commitment; your attention. There are jobs to be done around the place, maintenance is required - like all of us, the house has aged a year and the wrinkles are beginning to show! Thoughts of decorating...colour charts and new furniture...home improvements and a desire to spend time at home envelope me. But these things are not for now. These things must wait. For now is the time to simply Enjoy. To Be...in the house...on the deck...with friends... it's good to be Home.

Bye Bengaluru

Bengaluru has been a visit of contrasts. A nice hotel with plenty of space for the 3 of us to chill, have our own space and reunite. This is our refuge from the Real Bengaluru. Outside, in the Real World, it's a very different story and I'm pleased to say that we did brave it out there with the locals, the wild dogs, the oh-so-persistent street vendors and the very crazy traffic. It was definitely an experience to be had. Did I enjoy it? Honestly...no, not all of it, but I'm glad I sampled it. We've now experienced a Bengaluru shopping mall complete with grocery shopping experience, several rickshaw rides, bought some local crafts, been followed the whole length of one major street by a street vendor desperate to sell us a wooden snake. "No thanks" doesn't appear to work here. Even less so than in Kowloon. White faces are very few and far between too which can definitely make you feel very conspicuous. A bit of a target. Not that we succombed to the pressure but I confess to feelings of extreme annoyance at being followed and hassled for what must have been a good 30 minutes. One of the most intense moments yesterday and a memory that will still for a while, is that usually simple task of road crossing. Oh my....Quite The Experience here! It must have taken me at least 15 minutes to cross one road. To be fair there were about 4 lanes of traffic in each direction and due to the fact that nobody abides by lines in the roads, it can be more than that. In the end I developed a strategy that worked. I found some locals, who themselves seem to prefer to cross in groups. Safety in numbers and all that. I found a friendly-looking group and tagged on. As they gradually shuffled across, one lane at a time, I did the same, sticking as close to them as my personal boundaries would allow... We did it..one lane at a time which was exhilarating. Imagine standing in the middle of a 4 lane highway with traffic flying past you on both sides! Oh My....and then once I got to the middle, I had to do it all again with traffic approaching from the other direction. Anyway, we made it, to squeals of delight and jubilation! The locals we'd "used" seemed quite amused by our delight in making it across the road in once piece!

Preparing for Departure to India

I can't remember the last time I felt this nervous about a trip. In just 1 hour I'll be setting off for the airport for my flight to Bengaluru; the new name for Bangalore. I rather like it..it sounds more indian.

Maybe the extra nerves are due to the fact that I'll be travelling solo or that I have a rather tight connection in Bangkok to make, although whilst those things do concern me slightly, I think it's probably got more to do with the fact that to me, India has always felt like a very distant, somewhat mysterious and although magical place...also a rather daunting country to visit. I've got a small handful of friends who have been and experienced and without exception acknowledged that it was an "experience"...the bustling crowds, the mad taxi drivers, and the extreme poverty in some areas has proven too much for some. I know there are people who have been and had "Awesome" Experiences, but it just so happens I don't know any of those people! Or if I do...it's not something we've discussed!

I'm sure that once the connections are all made, the airport transfer shows up and delivers me safely to my hotel and I get to hug the great friend I'm meeting there...it will all feel much better. Or if I'm lucky, it will happen by the time I reach the airport....after all, they do say that Life is about the Journey and not the Destination....

Summertime Blues

I've been itching to blog lately and yet I've been unsure about what to say, or rather how to say it. I think it's partly due to the fact that it's an odd time here in Hong Kong right now and I don't think I'm completely alone in that thought. I suspect that other "expats" are feeling it to a degree as well, as so many of HK's temporary residents flee back to their country of origin for some (a) relief from the weather and whatever else may bother them about this place and (b) to spend some time with their families. The group of friends and acquaintances that I've acquired here over the past 9 months has depleted in the last few months as people go about their lives...moving around the world... it's fascinating really that so many people live like this. I always used to think of Life as living in a house in a familiar place, surrounded by friends and maybe even family, going to work, coming home, having a social life and then doing it all again, day after day...or something along those lines. Life right here, right now, is Oh So Different to that. That's not necessarily a bad thing of course, but it is an adjustment. A different lifestyle that requires a different mindset.

With Summertime in Hong Kong, comes an ever-increased humidity level. The end of June was quite oppressive, and it rained a lot. Big, fat, heavy rain. For days at a time. I started off thinking "it's just rain, why should it stop me going about my day?" Then after I'd got completely drenched despite the fact I was sheltering under a perfectly good umbrella, a couple of times, I decided to re-think that plan and I stayed home. I didn't end up wet but I did feel imprisoned and I know that was nothing...just a taster of what is to come as the typhoon season approaches.

Thankfully this last week has been quite different...we've seen sun, blue sky and fluffy white clouds for successive days and it makes such a difference. It's uplifting. I wonder if it's just a blip...or here to stay a while...hopefully the latter.