Thursdays are all about travel writing, but there are days I mess up my schedule so nothing gets written.
Today is yet another attempt to write, before the feeling goes away I am putting down my experience of my single travel journey.
Where it all started...
In 2007 I joined Star TV, and over next few days, I came to know about one of their cool policy.
If we miss our own shows' delivery deadline we were supposed to carry the telecast tape to Hongkong for satellite uplink ( See, we didn't have permission in India to uplink our own shows back then).
Well, why would I mind this on earth?
So I used to keep volunteering even if it wasn't for my show, I didn't mind being a parcel girl till I was getting to enjoy a paid holiday with a stay in the fanciest Hotel in Hongkong.
Once the telecast tape was delivered we were free to stay in HK for next almost 1 and a half days for free.
So Hong Kong became my groundwork for curiosity and being a traveller without fear. I think I got lucky here:)
On my 2nd day in Hong Kong, I decided to explore the waterway and took a Star Ferry from Harbour bay to Victoria Harbour.
This wasn't the era of GPS, google maps were not invented so all I had was the printed map from the hotel concierge and the will to explore.
Travelling during peak hours in the morning gave me an extra shot of adrenaline rush and purpose since I was surrounded by busy residents of HK chasing their morning hour.
I walked out of the harbour and found a quaint cafe called Greenland cafe ( can't find it on the internet now ) and ordered a meal bowl.
All I can remember is that the meal bowl was bliss.
Overlooking the pier I saw the boats coming back and forth, people rushing in and out of the pier and I happily sat on a work day enjoying my
After satiating myself, I walked to the nearest bus stop and asked for the last stop ticket, this is my way to know a city.
The passengers in the local suburb bus were amused looking at me, and why will they not. In a quiet Southern suburb of Wah fu, you really don't find tourists and here I was travelling with them to nowhere.
I got down at the final stop, it looked like a middle-class suburb with parcels of simple buildings, kids playing, Women carrying groceries, men chit-chatting at the local shops, and senior citizens sitting on the parapet reading newspapers.
I was enjoying the sight and walked towards a water body, later came to know it is called Water bay Park.
It was a narrow path with water on one side and a park on the other, I kept walking, and gradually I saw small Buddha statues appearing on one side of the park.
The more I walked, the more Buddha statues I found, in stacks of hundreds, thousands, I was amused, a sight to behold.
They all looked like old Buddha statues in different shapes, and sizes, small, and medium, a world of Buddha around me.
It was almost peak afternoon and there was hardly any soul in the park.
I initially decided to walk fast and get out of the place but gradually I started soaking in and I spent the next few hours going back and forth in the park looking at possibly all kinds of statues till my stomach started making noise.
It is one of the most surreal experiences I had, from wanting to run away to be able to spend the next few hours in the park were precious.
I spoke to a few locals and was told that people here don't believe in throwing old Buddha or damaged Buddha statues so they leave them here and there is a caretaker who manages all these statues and keeps them on one side of the park.
It is a collection of statues over years from various homes across Hong Kong.
I walked from the park with mixed feelings but kept buddha's in my heart and took a bus to causeway bay, a big busy retail hub.
As I was walking like a new bee tourist, looking at the fancy stores with a price tag I couldn't digest, I felt the day spent was worth every minute.
I ended my day in a very small local bar with drinks and again a dish of noodles and pork, HK actually taught me how to eat pork.
Travel days are always blessed and this was no different.
15 years past I still miss and remember this journey.
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