Traveler’s diarrhea is a digestive tract disorder that commonly causes loose stools and stomach cramps. It’s caused by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. Fortunately, traveler’s diarrhea usually isn’t serious in most people — it’s just unpleasant.
– Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/syc-20352182
16 years ago I returned from my first international trip to Hong Kong, and low and behold my uneducated self sat on the toilet. I deduced that accidentally drinking a little shower water in a hotel might’ve created the pain I had to endure for the following days.
I planned today to take a journey back 16 years, kicking my digital heels off to travel again to Hong Kong for the first time, again.
The Preparation
I was blessed with digital imagery from my camera, my companions camera, and my cellphone. All in all the presented information is vast, and I had to do some preparatory work ahead of time as the imprinted information within the digital data wasn’t exactly synchronized between devices.
I found an image of me taking a photo of my LG-VX8350 phone showing the “local time” in hours and minutes. The filename created, however, stated the image was taken 5 minutes afterwards leading to an offset of about 312 seconds.
I found a second image shortly afterwards of me taking an image of my Casio Wave Ceptor WV-59RD-1A watch showing the time as it was back in the US at Eastern Time. The difference between my camera and that was 59 seconds. I feel that I had enough foresight to synchronize the digital camera with a trusted time source.
My companions photography, however, was timed off significantly. After comparing sets of matching photos I was able to find a set of images that were very, very close in time and determined the difference in timing between our cameras (assuming mine was exact) to be around 4566 seconds, or about 75 minutes.
The Journey
The trip wasn’t that bad. Departed Buffalo, NY and arrived in Newark, NJ. Waited about 5 1/2 hours until departing from Newark, NJ direct to Hong Kong. The flight was about 16 straight hours, and I arrived in GMT+8 on October 31, 2009 at 1925.
October 31, 2009
Once we met in the Airport and grabbed our Octopus Cards we found the bus directly to the hotel and enjoyed the sights. We checked into the Panda Hotel in Tsuen Wan, found our room 2506, dropped our stuff of, and decided we both were hungry. The first meal we had was what we called “Grandmas Food”. We sat outside of a small place on Tsuen Kwai St (22.3690962,114.1220923) next door to a 7 Eleven and ate some noodles. We grabbed some basic necessities at the 7 Eleven and headed back to the Hotel to sleep the first night.
November 1, 2009
The days activities was to go to Mong Kok and have lunch at Bali Garden. This was also to be introduced to my companions brother who was a Maître D there. After enjoying some Indonesian cuisine we did some travelling and shopping at Sogo Department Store in Causeway Bay, made a stop for some coffee at Pacific Coffee Company on Percival St, and then headed back.
November 2, 2009
Woke up that morning and decided to our the Panda Place, the shopping area at the base of the Panda Hotel. I recall lunch was at a KFC and the food was, well, KFC. Afterwards we met our third again for a tour of the mainland including Stinky Tofu and an “American Bar” called Stormies.
November 3, 2009
Today was a very full day, starting off with Lunch at Swagat Indian Restaurant at Chunking Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui. We took the ferry to the island and walked over to The Peak Tram. Once we hit the top we spent a significant amount of time in Madame Tussauds and looking at the mainland from The Peak. We departed, ferried back, visited Kowloon Park, and ended up having some late McDonalds from outside our hotel in Tseun Wan.
November 4, 2009
This was a travel day out to Sha Tin. We visited the New Town Plaza / Hilton Plaza intending to Ice Skate and eat some local cuisine. Unfortunately I wussed out on the Ice Skating and the cuisine was closed so we went onto their Roof Garden and soaked up the sights. We ended the evening watching horse races at Shatin Race Course in the Grand Stands.
November 5, 2009
We spent this day walking around Panda Place again, perusing the shops. I made a minor note that I think I pooped for the first time that day, and it was a simple as a thumbs up. We made it out to Tsim Sha Tsui and ate at The Sweet Dynasty, a desert shop. Afterwards we tackled the Walk of Stars on the edge of the water and watch the Narrated Light Show that happens on the Island from the Mainland.
November 6, 2009
This we took as a day of rest and relaxation. An amazing late lunch and we goofed off so much that my companion found imagery relevant enough to be hosted at deviantart.com/darkshine00
Youth-by-Darkshine00-on-DeviantArt-1.pdf
November 7, 2009
Today was another relaxing day as we planned nothing but shopping. Lunch first at McDonalds outside the Hotel, and then we travelled to Tsim Sha Tsui. The bus from the hotel dropped us off at the Grand Centry Place and we walked as far as our feet could take us.
November 8, 2009
One of the larger days, we headed out to Wong Tai Sin Temple and visited the Koi Gardens. Afterwards we planned to see a Dragon Show at the Kwun Tong Recreation Gardens, but we were late to arrival. After walking around for a bit we headed off to Lei Yue Mun Seafood and ate some deliciously fresh picked crustacean and fish at Hoi Bai Seafood. Finally we goofed off again in Tsim Sha Tsui before heading back for the night.
November 9, 2009
This was an interesting day. We started off with McDonalds, eating a “local special burger”. We ferried across from TST, took the Tram across and visited Gooseneck Bridge to watch shoes beat the shit out of enemies. One the way we did some shopping again at Sogo in Causeway Bay. While in Causeway Bay we visited more of my companions relatives at their place of business, Padang Indonesian Restaurant. Once we departed we headed over to Tin Hau on Fortress Hill to visit more of her relatives. Afterwards we made it to our first (and not last) trip to Iccho Japanese Restaurant in Causeway Bay. We spent most of the time afterwards soaking up the goofiness of Causeway Bay, and never thought we’d call it home a year or two afterwards.
November 10, 2009
Today was a Tuesday. There are no photos or documentation of what we did today.
November 11, 2009
Today was a visit to the Hong Kong Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui. We not only visited many of the exhibits but we hopped on top to the skywalk and enjoyed the seaside air. We were going to also view the Planetarium but that side of the museum was closed.
When approached by Laura Stampler of the Huffington Post to be interviewed about my long distance relationship she asked for some pictures. I was able to provide her one of these with a brief history of what “we do” to help make the capital we needed to.
Dating-In-A-Virtual-World_-Massively-Multiplayer-Game-Users-Find-Real-Life-Love-_-HuffPost-Women.pdf
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dating-virtual-world-online_n_934064
November 12, 2009
Aside from waking up late and feeling all red from the time before we had one goal: Make it to the island and eat some Sashimi. I don’t quire remember the place but I do recall we arrived early and they shooshed us away. We ended up returning a couple hours later, ate to our hearts content, and departed. Later on that evening we were caught up in rain and ducked into Penang Prawn Noodle Shop in Wan Chai.
November 13, 2009
Today was all about Stanley Market. We made it to the mainland, hopped on the bus, and prayed that the driver didn’t take us off the hill on the way to the other side of the island. We visited the Promande and Waterfront Mart, viewed the shrines, and walked the waterfront pathing. We took a meal at the Club House and munched down on some Rice Noodle. Before leaving we purchased many cheap knickknacks to give to people at home.
November 14, 2009
Today was walking through the Ladies Market in Mong Kok to get more knickknacks and souvenirs to take home. It was the last day, as we’d both be leaving tomorrow and going our separate ways.
November 15, 2009
The day we both separate and depart Hong Kong for our native countries. I arrive back in the US with it raining, a physical manifestation of how I was feeling to leave my companion behind. I returned home that night at 4pm, leaving Hong Kong on November 15 at 1:35pm, travelling 20 hours, and arriving back in Buffalo, NY at 6:17pm on the same day.
Epilogue
I wanted to do this last year but I didn’t have the time nor the patience. This year, the 16th year, gives it a bit of meaning. I spent a lot of time walking through old items I had, such as saved plane ticket stubs, images, videos, google maps files where I detailed as best as I could the path we took. Travelling Internationally I understood was to be a one-time experience. Instead it led into a 4 year whirlwind of not caring about anything but the love you can give one person.
I found this interpretation of a “Japanese Legend” called Tsukikage that I feel fits this “16 years later for 2 weeks”:
月影 | Tsukikage | The Moon and the Shadow
It says that every person you love leaves a shadow on your heart, not because they meant to hurt you, but because they once lit something up inside you for a long time. You try to run from it. You stay busy. You stay loud. You fill your life with things to make you forget, but one night when it’s quiet enough you finally stop running. You sit with it and you realize the shadow isn’t darkness, it’s what left of the light they gave you. It’s the laughter you still remember, the warmth that still lingers when you think ok them. The proof that you once loved deeply and were loved back.