prior to march 9, 2007, i have never ever been to hong kong. okay, there was this time when i missed my flight back to manila coming home from portland, oregon, and i had to stay the night in kowloon. although, back then, i didn't know i was in kowloon (actually, the hotel i stayed in was located in tsuen wan, which is in the new territories, which is not anymore kowloon). when it was clear i wasn't going to make it to my connecting flight, the people from united airlines (it was a delayed departure from san francisco that caused this entire chain of setbacks) led me to a bus, which dropped me off at the hotel i stayed in, which picked me up early the following morning, which brought me back to the airport, where i caught my rescheduled flight. when i got back to manila, i thought nothing more of my little hong kong jaunt (i owe it to my irrational dislike for hong kong back then).but after march 9, 2007, everything changed. climbing out of tsim sha tsui station and stepping onto nathan road for the very first time, i thought i had stepped out of the subway in new york. at the end of my first day, although weighed down by shopping bags from my first shopping spree in hong kong, it was clear that whatever animosity i carried with me for this place was obviously misplaced and was now lifted. my heart was beating fast. cynic that i was, i had now, willingly and eagerly, fallen in love.
