Dear Readers,
Wowowowow! I really can’t believe how fast time flies. It feels like I just arrived in Hong Kong, but it’s actually been almost 3 months and now I’m headed off to Taiwan. I wanted to do all my travel adventure posts in chronological order, but my time in Hong Kong has been so special that I didn’t want to wait. Perhaps when I actually catch up on the travel adventure, I’ll do a more detailed post, but for now, I wanted to share the special memories I had now in the present moment.
The Hong Kong Adventure:
When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I only spent one night in a hotel before heading off to be a volunteer at the vipassana meditation centre called Dhamma Mutta. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it didn’t take long before the other volunteers and I were chatting away and snacking on peanut butter and digestive cookies in the kitchen at 9pm after the students had gone to bed.
After the camp, I stayed with Andrea for a couple weeks. Like all my adventures thus far, a lot of the pictures are of us munching away at some food or another. Andreas’ a wonderful influence on encouraging me to try new things. It’s easy to hear her voice in my head saying: “Oooo!! This is so delicious! Do you want to try?” or “this is so fresh – you must try!”. She introduced me to so many good dishes and made sure I tried the local cuisine.
Looking back, I find myself extremely lucky to have met such amazing wholesome individuals. I came to Hong Kong knowing no one and found myself a little family of vipassana friends.
I also spent a great deal of time with the little lady – Ching Kan! We met while in the vipassana retreat when we were both volunteering. She speaks no English and I barely any Cantonese, but somehow we manage to communicate and end up in fits of laughter. She has such a wonderfully strong and wholehearted nature. I call her my Hong Kong PauPau (aka grandmother in Cantonese). In her phone, I’m listed as “Canada” in Cantonese…she didn’t know my name until a month after we met.
More photos of the adventure…
Summary:
As I sit in HK airport, I can only feel gratitude to those who opened their hearts and homes to me in Hong Kong. Thank you for inviting me out on walks, hikes, BBQs, dinners and of course, just simply having me as your company. I can’t wait to see you all again in December when I return. Until then…may you all be happy. ^^
With love,
Tracy
World of Wandering Minds 