10.05.09 Going back to Beijing

I took a free shuttle bus from a hotel close by our hostel, to the Kowloon Station where a bus to the Shenzhen airport left. The shuttle bus driver was in a lot of hurry, and I wasn't too sure about safety, but luckily the ride wasn't too long. At the Kowloon Station, I managed to find the Shenzhen airport bus pretty easily and it left almost right after I got on it.

The bus was pretty convenient, because it took me to the boarder where you only had to walk through a building with your luggage and go through the customs desks. On my way to Hong Kong, I crossed the border in another place and there you had to go around the building for ages from one floor to another. This time it was really easy and fast, and when I got through the customs there was a lady waving me to go to the right bus. Sometimes it's good to be different and easily recognized, because I really didn't remember what the bus looked like that I was supposed to get on.

At the airport, I checked my bag in and went to a Starbucks to enjoy a cup of coffee and some free wireless internet. When I got back to Beijing, it was time to take the airport shuttle bus to the university and see the Beijing airport for the last time. When I go back to Finland, I won't be flying away from Beijing, so at least this time, this was the last time I was at the Beijing airport. Time sure goes by fast.

Now that I was in Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia, I think one day in Macau was enough for me and I saw enough. In Hong Kong, I'm sure there's a lot to see, but I don't think I'd go there again as a tourist. Working and living there could be nice and so much easier than in Beijing. It's very hard to live in Beijing sometimes without knowing Chinese perfectly and although you try to speak Chinese, some people don't even try to understand you. Hong Kong, on the other hand, is a Western country that looks a little Chinese and the people are more Western. I talked with few Finnish women and they agreed that when you go to Hong Kong, it looks kind of Chinese but then when the people start talking to you, you realize that you're in a very Western style country that is far from China and especially Beijing.

Malaysia was a country I'd like to visit again some day for a longer time and go around and see more. During the trip, I talked shortly with a Western couple that had lived in Singapore for some years, and I think the peninsular Malaysia and Singapore would be very interesting to visit also. From Hong Kong all those places would be easy to reach ;)