What's happening?

I'm back!

Fabulous holiday. Very memorable moments.

I got exactly what I'd asked for. Cold weather. Winter clothes. Great company. Long talks. Good times.

And closure. To the new year and many other things with it.

And just like any other trip, this one too was not without its share of happening and not so happening incidents.

Not so happening - Heavy fog at Victoria Peak rendered 'the view' invisible.
Happening - Walking around the area at night in pitch darkness and a slight drizzle more than made up for it.

Not so happening - The wind was so cold and wild that if my hair was a wig, I'd be stripped of it in a second.
Happening - Hot lemon tea and warm conversations in Delifrance

Not so happening - Construction work at Discovery Bay had closed the many eating places, except for one.
Happening - The food at that one open place, and the serene beach with the beautiful sounds of the lapping water, moments of silence... heaven.









Not so happening - Not knowing Cantonese and so not being able to place orders in some of the street food places
Happening - Placing our order by pointing to the same thing that the guy at the next table was eating (amazing street food made with maggi (!) and other things)

















Not so happening - An exhausting hike that rendered me breathless many times
Happening - The sight of the breathtaking view ahead of us. Wow. I mean, double wow.

Not so happening - Fellow hiker, with a record of 13 skips, teaches me to skip stones, and I do a 1.5 at most.
Happening - I learned to skip stones!




















Not so happening - "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Bugging fellow hikers about the mid-point of the hike.
Happening - The sight of the beach when we finally reached the midpoint
























Not so happening - The water was brrrrr... cold cold cold! I had to literally drag my friend into talking off her shoes and entering the water.
Happening - The warmth of the receding water and the feel of the fine sand underneath my feet, a little game I like to play with the waves called 'catch me if you can'


















Not so happening - Realising that not only were we too tired to complete the hike, but we would be late for the new year's party too if we hiked it back
Happening - Taking a rickety speedboat on choppy waters of the South China Sea back to the start of the hike

Not so happening - The speedboat is really living up to its name, there are no life jackets, the boat goes through rocks and my friend completely freaks out
Happening - Fellow hiker gets to be the knight in shining armour and hold one girl in each arm. Dude, cherish that moment, it may not happen to you again!

Not so happening - Sayesha and her friends are squashed in a sea of people as crowd management closes some paths in Lan Kwai Fong for new year's celebrations.
Happening - The beautiful Hong Kong people, all dressed up to usher in the new year

Not so happening - Having vodka and cranberry juice spilt on my new year's clothes by some drunk chick
Happening - Togetherness during the countdown with people who matter

Not so happening - Random drunk African American guy comes up to me in the middle of the road on new year's and says "Give me a new year's kiss, baby!"
Happening - I freak out and having nothing else in my hand, raise my mobile phone in defence. Guy kisses the mobile phone and walks away happily, leaving an indescribable expression on my face.

Not so happening - Trying to bargain for a further discount on Bollywood DVDs that I was already getting for about five Singapore dollars each
Happening - Finding movies that I had been looking for, for a long time now -- Chandni, Maine Pyaar Kiya, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, etc.

Not so happening- Me pointing to a Harley Davidson complete with rider in black, and excitedly exclaiming, "Oh look! Harley Davidson! I'd never seen a Harley Davidson in real life! Complete with rider in black!"
Happening - I saw a Harley Davidson complete with rider in black. :)

Not so happening - Trudging to HKUST at the end of a tiring tiring day
Happening - Realising how very beautiful the HKUST campus is

Not so happening - Terribly cold weather and tremendous chilly winds aboard the cruise on new year's, making it impossible to stay on deck for more than 15 minutes
Happening - Spending 1st Jan on a cruise that goes to nowhere

Not so happening - My travel mate goes down with food poisoning on the cruise and needs medical attention
Happening - The two hours of silence and thoughts as I watched her resting in the observation room. I generally don't get such long phases of silence to really sit down and think about stuff. Stuff like What is important to us? Who are important to us? What are we doing about it? Whom are we living our lives for? What is it that we want out of our lives? Where are we eventually headed? Many many broken thoughts...

2005 was a great year for me. Best moments. Best holidays. Best relationships. Best friends. Best conversations. There are so many things about 2005 that I will miss, that it almost breaks my heart.

And no matter how optimistic I am, I have to face it. There will never be a 2005 again. Which is why, on some levels, I don't want to look forward to what 2006 has to offer me. Yet.

For fear of belittling what 2005 was to me.

Sayesha falls silent for a while as intense thoughts take over her words.