Good to be Home Once More

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." -- Jawaharal Nehru

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey." — Pat Conroy

I have truly enjoyed our recent travels.  Although we took some wrong turns in trying to find various places, they were truly not wrong turns as they allowed us to experience something unanticipated.  Many people helped us find the right path after we got lost.  But as Lawrence Block wrote, "Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else."  

However, I will confess that one of the more amusing moments was while we were trying to find the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin.  Two Britons overheard us speaking in English and asked us for directions to the monastery.  :-)  I had a rough idea due to my Internet research and invited them to come with us. To my surprise, they were expatriates who had been living in Hong Kong for 3 months. I was shocked that I knew more than they did about the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery.

But before I become too smug, I owe it all to the Internet.  :-)  Without the 'Net, I would not have found out about many of the sights and eateries that we enjoyed.  Heck, without the 'Net, Google Maps in particular, I would not have even been able to find many of these places.

To see our relatives in Hong Kong once more, especially "Gooh Paw", was rewarding.  Finally meeting Daisy, the National University of Singapore's coordinator for the University of California's Education Abroad Program, after many Emails was fantastic.  Seeing new sights, eating new foods, and meeting different people were all part of the mosaic of our voyage.

Gooh Paw waving goodbye at us from the sixth floor

Special kudos to Kacy who went everywhere and tried everything without a complaint.  As this was her first trip to Asia, I am sure she found many of the meals, sights and sounds to be vastly different from what she is accustomed to.  But through it all, she always had a smile and was always in a good mood.  More importantly, she put up with Patrick  :-)

Thanks to Patrick for showing us the many places he enjoyed during his time in Singapore.  With his insight, we experienced Singapore almost as if we were native Singaporeans. Also thanks to his unerring navigational skills as we could have easily ended up lost without him both in Singapore and in Hong Kong.

Many thanks to Teri for ordering for us in the many eateries in Hong Kong that were not used to having English-only speakers as customers.  Without Teri's knowledge of Cantonese, we would have been totally bewildered as to what to order and would not have enjoyed many of the meals that we did.  Last but not least, thanks to Teri for bearing with me as I can be grouchy at times, especially in the morning hours.  :-)

I took many photographs but there are far more images and experiences within my mind.  Although it may sound ostentatious, this most recent journey is but the latest chapter of the book of my life.  As Saint Augustine wrote, “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.“ I plan to have more journeys and more experiences as time goes by.  But until my next journey, it is good to be home once more.

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -- Lin Yutang

Good to be home among friends and family once more. :-)