01-052008HK

I'm going to try out something new, and write down little bits of memories I've recalled. The code-like title is the month and year I went to a particular place

I couldn't keep track of the time. It was morning, and I just had an average lunch in Shenzhen with the family. I say average, because last night's dinner at Chongqing was possibly the most delicious I've had in my entire life. Then, the next thing I knew, we were scrambling around the MTR train station in Mongkok, trying to find a ticket vendor. We couldn't possibly have known the tour guide said we needed to get down at Hung Hom station. We all agreed that we heard the tour guide say 'Mongkok'.

I didn't know what time it was, but the next thing I knew, a tall African-American man led us out to the right station exit, and we finally found the manager. The manager owned the travel agency that we paid for this trip. He looked so mad at us, and I couldn't understand why he was mad at us, when we should have been mad at him. 

We rode a small bus to our hotel with the forgettable name and the unforgettable glass chandelier in the shape of a dragon at the lobby. It was kind of cramped, but very modern and comfortable. I bunked in with my mom, and my brother, while my aunt, cousin, and grandmother stayed in another room. 

As I watched my brother lie on his bed, and then mom unpack things, I headed straight for the bathroom with the sleek and large showerhead. I looked at the shiny showerhead, and wondered how this massive thing could not be in my own bathroom. I closed the door, took off my sweat-stained clothes, and took a hot shower.

We've been lost in translation, and this strange city of Chinese neon lights and tall skyscrapers, a shower was the only thing that could have brought back sense into me.