This Mid Autumn Festival! I love holidays because we get Monday off haha. Since Monday is off, Tuesday class is cancelled, and I don’t have any classes on Wednesdays or Thursdays, I decided to take the chance and travel a little. Spontaneously, I booked flight to Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo is just like another Hong Kong, except people all speak Japanese around me. I have to admit that Tokyo is a lot cleaner than Hong Kong but besides that I like Hong Kong better (I start feel like Hong Kong is home). Although I was travelling alone, I soon made friends with workers in a local restaurant. They are all Chinese and one of them is actually from Hong Kong. They invited me to their BBQ party on the second night, which is on the day of Mid Autumn Festival. It is truly an amazing experience to bond with people who speak the same language when I am traveling and being able to celebrate the traditional holiday with them. I haven’t had a real celebration of this festival for five years, because normally I will be in United States. Also, this year happens to have the super moon—the biggest and brightest moon in 30 years. At the moment, everything just seemed perfect and I felt really blessed.
The next day, I travelled to Kyoto. It literally feels like time traveling. That train just took me back to 500 years ago. The modern cities are gone, instead there are traditional buildings, old streets and people dressed in Kimonos. Time instantly slows down and everything was a lot quieter. I am glad that I chose a traditional Japanese style hotel. The hotel itself is a view in the city and the restaurant in the hotel carries the most authentic traditional Japanese dishes. Thinking back, I am surprised how much ramen and rice I had in two days. It is quite an experience learning how to eat food properly and the table manners. That night I decided not to go anywhere but to stay in my room and enjoy the peacefulness. In the end I had to call McDonalds delivery because I missed the dinnertime. All the shops close between 8pm and 10pm. Being in Hong Kong and Tokyo, I am so not used to it. My next stop is Osaka and I will be seeing some friends from Kansai Gaidai—the ones exchanged to Rollins before. I am super excited and cannot wait to share my stories with them.
