Traveling can be confusing. Thankfully, I usually at least know what time it because I wear a watch... but my watch doesn't tell me the date.
For the past few days I have been living as if it was a day in the past. Yesterday I thought it was Tuesday and this morning I woke up thinking it was Wednesday, and started going about my day following the palns I had made for Wednesday. I rang the Sunrise Hotel on Lamma Island to make a booking for Thursday and Friday nights. The guy on the phone seemed confused when I said "Not for tonight - for Thursday and Friday night, so tomorrow and the next day." There was a pause and he said "Are you in Hong Kong Miss? Its Thursday in Hong Kong today." At first I thought he must be wrong but one glance at the front page of the Hong Kong Standard confirmed he was indeed right.
All of a sudden things started clicking...like WHY there were so many people in the Irish pub on what I thought was Sunday evening, and why I got charged weekday rates for a bus ride on what I thought was Saturday.
Thursday (which is today, incase anyone was wondering), is not only check out day but its also visa pick up day!! My Wednesday plans to explore some more of Hong Kong Island would have to wait.
The check in time of the Sunrise Hotel on Lamma Island is 1pm and they said they could only hold my booking until then...so, I had three hours to check out of my Kowloon hotel, pick up my visa, catch the 2 ferry's to Lamma Island and check into my new hotel. I decided to pick up my visa first and then check out, so I could leave my stuff in the room.
When I got to the visa office and finally got to speak to someone, I was informed that my visa wouldn't be ready until 2:30pm. What the hell was I going to do? I needed to check out by 12pm and be on Lamma Island by 1pm! I would've gone and checked into the Sunrise Hotel straight away, but its a 45min BUMPY ferry ride over there, and I can't get there only to turn around and come all the way back.
Especially not without my passport as I know some hotels in China won't accept you without checking your passport.
So here I am waiting until 2:30pm in the net cafe by the Victoria Harbour ferry docks. I'm going to have to get a taxi to the visa office at 2:30pm then a taxi back to the ferry dock and then a ferry over to Hong Kong Island where I can then catch the ferry over to Lamma Island. I won't get to Lamma island until about 3:30-4pm, and I might not be able to find a hotel room...in which case I will probably have to come back to Kowloon or Hong Kong Island.
When it comes down to it my passport and new Chinese visa are pretty important, so I just have to run the risk of not getting this Sunrise Hotel room. I'm sure It will be fine though. Hopefully the Sunrise Hotel won't be too busy and I can still get the room I've booked. Its all quite funny really. I'm looking forward to going to another part of Lamma Island than where I went yesterday. My hotel is in Yung Shue Wan, which is the main village on the north part of the island. There is apparently a great night life in Yung Shue Wan, with ex-pats and tourists having regular parties and bonfires on the beach. I can't wait!
I've really come to love Hong Kong in the time I've spent here. I've experienced both the city side and the nature side, and I adore both. Hong Kong is just a cool city with everything you could ask for right on your door step. If you want to go shoe shopping at 10:30pm on Sunday evening - sure, you could do that. If you wanted to spend the morning in the middle of the city surrounded by people and the afternoon on a tiny island with no one for miles...no problem. Its a really accessible and interesting place for people of every culture and, well... I'll be sad to leave.
