From: Hong Kong International To: Helsinki - Vantaa

About three months ago, during one of the many sleepless nights I had before going to Hong Kong I was playing with different scenarios about Hong Kong. What if I don't like my job? What if I start to miss home? What if I don't meet any nice people? Knowing myself (or so I thought) I was 100% sure that I would cry myself to sleep for at least 10 times while embracing a Finnish book and looking at pictures of reindeer and hills.

If only I had known how wrong I was. What if I don't like my job? I can't remember a single day that I actually wouldn't have wanted to go to work. What if I start to miss home? I can't remember myself wishing I was in Finland. Except once - as I was walking home in this deadly heat - I think I wished I could be in the middle of a Finnish winter.

What if I don't meet any nice people? And here's where I went really wrong. During these three months I've built my social life up again from a scratch. I've met people with whom I can be myself . People, that I want to keep in touch with in the future.

Before I left Finland, I read through (more like memorised by heart) around three Hong Kong guide books and marked all the things that I wanted to do during my three months. I wanted to...

....Visit Macao

....Go to at least one hike

....See Big Buddha

...Visit Disneyland

 ...See Lan Kwai Fong ("once")

...See Infinity Pool

 ...Spend time on the beach 

 ...if possible, visit an Asian convention

...and of course Victoria Peak

...and Afternoon tea

...and first and foremost - learn how to enjoy life.

And I ended up doing every single thing from my little bucket list, most of them more than once. What surprised me the most was how much better I learned to know myself. I learned that hey, I can actually do things. I learned to smile more and rejoice the little things like my doorman saying hello to me every morning.

I haven't really talked about my job and I won't talk about it in the future either - at least not in this blog - but I've got to say that career wise Hong Kong was definitely the right choice. I learned so much more both about entrepreneurship and marketing and I think I know just a little bit better what I want to do for living in the future.

To conclude, I think I have spent the best summer of my life so far. That summer comes to an end tomorrow as my plane takes off to Finland. Of course, it feels horrible to leave it all behind and I will surely miss this place but right now, it's my time leave for the new adventures!

P.S I still have no clue how to write my name in Chinese although I've added that fancy little picture to all of my posts.

From: Hong Kong International To: Helsinki - Vantaa

Noin kolme kuukautta sitten eräänä unettomana yönä (ja niitä oli paljon ennen Hongkongiin lähtöä) kehittelin kauhuskenaarioita Hongkongista. Mitä jos en tykkääkään työstäni? Mitä jos koti-ikävä iskee? Mitä jos en tapaa ketään kivoja ihmisiä? Itseni tuntien (tai niin luullen), olin 100% varma että itken itseni uneen ainakin 10 kertaa ensimmäisten viikkojen aikana halatessani suomenkielistä kirjaa ja katsoessani kuvia poroista ja tuntureista.

Jos vaan olisin tiennyt kuinka väärässä olin. Mitä jos en tykkääkään työstäni? En muista päivääkään jona en olisi halunnut mennä töihin. Mitä jos koti-ikävä iskee? En muista ajatelleeni, että olisinpa nyt Suomessa. Paitsi kerran kävellessäni kotiin paahtavassa kuumuudessa taisin hetkellisesti toivoa olevani keskellä Suomen talvea.

Mitä jos en tapaa ketään kivoja ihmisiä? Ja tässä olin kaikkein eniten väärässä. Kolmessa kuukaudessa oon rakentanu sosiaalisen elämäni uudelleen täysin tyhjästä. Oon tavannut ihmisiä, joiden kanssa voin olla oma itseni. Ihmisiä, joiden kanssa haluan pitää yhteyttä vielä tulevaisuudessakin. 

Ennen lähtöäni luin ehkä 3 Hongkong opasta kannesta kanteen ja merkitsin asioita joita  haluan tehdä näiden kolmen kuukauden aikana. Halusin ainakin...

....Käydä Macaossa

....Käydä ainakin yhdellä vaellusreitillä

....Nähdä Big Buddhan

...Käydä Disneylandissa

 ...Nähdä Lan Kwai Fongin ("kerran")

Käydä Infinity Poolilla

 ...Viettää aikaa rannalla

 ...jos mahdollista, käydä Aasialaisessa conissa

...ja tietysti Victoria Peakilla

...sekä kokea Afternoon tean:

...ja ennen kaikkea oppia nauttimaan elämästä

Ja päädyin tekemään joka ikisen asian siltä listalta, monta niistä useammankin kerran. Mulle itselleni ehkä eniten tuli yllätyksenä se, miten paljon paremmin opin tuntemaan oman itseni. Opin että hei, mä oikeesti pystyn tekemään asioita. Opin hymyilemään useammin ja aidosti iloitsemaan pienistäkin asioista kuten siitä, että ovimies tervehtii mua joka aamu.

En oo puhunut paljon työstäni, enkä tule siitä puhumaan tulevaisuudessakaan ainakaan tässä blogissa, mutta täytyy kyllä sanoa että Hongkong oli oikea valinta myös uramielessä. Opin hirveästi uusia asioita niin yrittäjyydestä kuin markkinoinnistakin ja tiedän ehkä ihan vähän paremmin mitä haluan tulevaisuudessa tehdä työkseni. 

Kaiken kaikkiaan oon viettänyt ehkä elämäni tähän mennessä parhaan kesän. Se kesä päättyy huomenna koneen noustessa kohti Suomea. Tottakai se tuntuu kamalalta ja tuun varmasti ikävöimään tätä paikkaa mutta mun on aika lähteä kohti uusia seikkailuja! 

P.S En muuten vieläkään osaa kirjoittaa nimeäni kiinaksi vaikka oonkin lisänny ton hienon kuvan jokaiseen blogikirjoitukseen. 

Tai Long Wan beach and my thoughts about leaving

In one week I will be on my way to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. In one week, I will see my dear dog and other family members and breathe the clean and fresh air of Finlan. Even though the whole idea of getting back to Finland makes my head ache, I'm still kind of happy to go back to my "beloved" home country.

I already knew before I left to Hong Kong, that I just don't belong to Finland. And after three months of living here, I'm more than sure that my future is definitely somewhere else than in Finland. Is it in Hong Kong? Maybe, maybe not, no one can know that just yet! I'm 100% sure that I will return to Hong Kong though, at least as a tourist, if not more permanently.

One of the many reasons I love Hong Kong is the fact that even though we all live in a big metropolitan city, the whole area is surrounded by the most amazing nature. On Saturday last week, I managed to go for a hike to Tai Long Wan with my friends -  for once according to plan (instead of spending the whole Saturday morning in bed). The hike was about 1,5 hours and to my mind - it was definitely worth it.

Landscapes

To get to Tai Long Wan, you must first go Sai Kung, which you can either reach by a combination of MTR and a minibus or take the easy way out as we did and take a cab. From Sai Kung we took another cab to the pavilion at the start of the hike towards Tai Long Wan. The cab ride was rather exciting as the road to the pavilion was only broad enough for one car but naturally the cars were going into two different directions. Eep.

Cow? A nice cow?

Stairsssss

The hike itself was very easy to walk but it involved quite a bit of climbing and as it was approximately 40 degrees warm, it didn't feel too nice. There were also quite many free-running cows on the track that (thank god) were all nice and tame because I really wouldn't have wanted to run away from aggressive cows in hot weather and uphill. The beach itself was under a long set of stairs but it was worth climbing them down because the beach was breathtakingly beautiful and silent!

We spent most of the day just floating in the water and laying on the beach until 7.30 PM when we took a speedboat back to Sai Kung. The Speedboat was also quite an experience, because the boat was literally jumping on top of the waves and it had no seatbelts of any kind. Well, at least it was fun;) Although I was tired after spending the whole day at the beach and hikins, I still decided to go with the tradition of my weekends in Hong Kong and after spending an hour in the shower (and still probably finding some sand in my hair..) I headed towards the oh so familiar LKF...

Even after spending three months in Hong Kong, I hadn't had a chance to try Hot Pot, and when I noticed that there would be a hot pot meetup next Tuesday, I couldn't help but join in. Hot pot is basically a boiling kettle in the middle of the table where you cook all kinds of meat and vegetables. My favourite was definitely tofu, as I don't really fancy the Hong Kong kind of meet because it's mainly bones and tissue.

So much food..

An an experience, hot pot was rather exciting, but if I'm being completely honest, I was happy with trying it only once. I just didn't find the idea of mixing beef, chicken and fish in the same kettle too appealing and without the Beijing style Satay sauce the food hadn't probably tasted much of anything. Well, at least I've tried it now! :)

Yesterday I went to Granville road that is an amazing street for shopping (guess who just found it after living right next to it for 2 months..) I spent way too much money on cosmetics and shoes, but while shopping, I discovered this "delicacy" in Paisanos...I didn't have enough courage to taste it.

Diabetes in pizza form..yum??

I've got only 7 days left and those days include way too much boring stuff like packing, way too much shopping and goodbyes because many of my friends are also going back home this month. I'm just running out of time:(

Maybe it's actually the right time for me to come home - At least for a week or two as I received quite exciting news from Beijing and so far it looks like I'm going to BTBU after all! Yay! Waiting for more information...:)

Last weeks in Hongkong

Fine, let's translate this one too:D Love you guys ♥ 

--- 

As much as I'd love to stay in this metropolis and continue my life in here, I have to face the fact that all good things come to an end. I still refuse to believe that in less than 3 weeks, I'll be on board a 9h flight back to Finland. Today I will need to go and sort out my rental agreement for an early check out as my flight leaves at 9.30 AM on 15th of August and I don't want to miss my flight. (Ok yes I do) And as much as I'd love to do something fun today, today's plan will be just as exciting as sorting through my stuff because I need to send some of it to Finland before me:(

For the past few weeks, I've tried to keep myself busy and not think about leaving as it always makes me depressed. Last week's Thursday I headed to a Design event held by Italian Chamber of Commerce (No, we totally didn't go there just for the free wine) It was nice to wear a fancy dress and at least pretend to be sophisticated for once.

After spending a few months here, I've started to know quite many people. It's good because I always have some company, bad because I have to say goodbye to all of them. The best part, however, is that there're always something to do. On Saturday I headed to Macau for the second time and apparently there was some kind of a dance festival going on. There was even a team representing Finland but I'm not sure if they were actually Finnish...

My travel companions ♥

After returning from Macau, we headed to LKF for some sort of beer festival. I was supposed ot head home early after a whole day in Macau but as I returned home by MTR (Which goes from 6 AM to 1 AM, and no, I didn't go before 1..) I think my plan failed:D

♥

I also visited Victoria Peak again, although this time it was dark and I have to say, Hong Kong is really beautiful once the sun goes down. There were so many grasshoppers by the Peak that it sounded like a car alarm (Or then it was a car alarm) After Victoria Peak we went back to TST for drinks so that we wouldn't need to take a cab back home. I didn't remember to snap a photo but there's actually quite an amazing view from Eyebar in iSquare. Definitely recommended. 

We tried to take one with HK as background but I guess we failed.

Endless sea of lights.

On Friday I got to visit Ani-Com - one of the biggest conventions in HK, for my work. It was a rather interesting experience, because although I have a long history with cosplay as a hobby and I've been to multiple conventions back in Finland and Sweden, Ani-com was something way different. The event was held in a huge convention center and there were stands from e.g Play Station, X-box, Sanrio and Marvel and probably every single publisher of Manga/Anime.

Flyer

I may have fangirled a bit..

 Although I liked seeing local cosplayers, I couldn't help but to feel annoyed as I saw all the bought costumes. There was maybe one self made costume among a hundred. I'm not judging, but after six years of cosplay making with hot glue bruises, the day-before-con panicking and tears, I wasn't too excited to see all the bought costumes. Even if my interest towards cosplay/ conventions had sort of died, I still noticed how happy I was to see a huge Naruto by the Jump Stars stand and how I silently screamed inside when I noticed a long ruined wig. Who knows, maybe I'll get back to my dear hobby once I return to Finland;)

Trying to hide the excitement

!!!!!

After a 3 hour day in Ani-Com (Just enough tbh) I headed to Causeway Bay with my colleague to go to The Wired Coffee, where they had this limited time only Kumamoto cafe. And the coffee was so good I could almost taste Finnish coffee. I think I need to go there again. The best part however, was just how cute the coffee looked like!

So cute!

Kumamoto

After lunch I went shopping and then back home before heading to Kristina's for some pregaming. The night then continued like our normal Fridays - until very late. Woah. I spent my whole Saturday by sleeping insted of going to the hike I had planned. Sometimes you just need a day off, right? I did laundry, cleaned my flat and went jogging and most importantly just relaxed. Sometimes the life in here is a bit too crazy:D 

On Sunday morning I woke up at 6.30 and went jogging again before heading to the Central Pier 10, where the boat headed towards the ocean. I wasn't just any boat but one of the famous Junk Boats! I had wanted to do it for quite long time, so I was really excited - and I not in vain. The boat trip was so much fun with the slide (!) and all and I loved getting to swim in the ocean. 

girls♥

As much of a fun as the boat trip was, it was still rather exhausting. I still decided to join my friends for dinner somewhere in lkf and after that for a small hangout by the red bar. You guys are the best ♥ It was also time to say goodbye to Ela who has been a great part of our group of friends and who will surely be missed! I finished my night with a Skype call to my best friend Karoliina. Miss you ♥