Yesterday, I returned from a four-day exile journey to 汕頭 (Shantou) in Guangdong province, where apparently my relatives on mother’s side are local tycoons that own and run pretty much everything in the city. No, not really. Would certainly have made the trip a hell lot more interesting. This ended up being one of the more miserable travel experiences of my seventeen years of existence. And that means a lot, coming from me – I’ve certainly had my share.
From the beginning, even the purpose of our visit was a bit sketchy. My mom said we were “visiting” our grandpa — who, turns out, normally lives with us in Hong Kong…? Uh, okay. Not that I had a say in the matter anyway. Initially, I welcomed the trip as an opportunity to really get some studying done (APUSH, to be exact). Then, on the morning we were set to leave, I came down with the stomach flu.
Long bus rides in China are pretty bad already, if you’re familiar — imagine bumping around for hours with little food, having nothing to do but (a) watch sketchy mainlander commercials on TV, or (b) look at vast stretches of nondescript fields/streets out the window. Did I mention that the bathrooms are notoriously dirty? Personally, I’ve never had the guts (or sheer necessity) to use one, so I can’t speak from experience.
Anyway, completely nauseated and having already vomited once in the morning, I had to endure a 5-hour long bus ride. I figured the best way to get by was to sleep, but waaaaay easier said than done. Thanks to my overpowering nausea, the bumpy roads, and some other passenger’s incessantly beeping device, I could only sleep ten or twenty minutes at a time. Awesome! By the end, I’d vomited a couple of times (in a plastic bag) and was feeling worse for wear.
Laundry list of what I had to endure the next few days:
- More stomach flu tomfoolery (sketchy mainland medicines aplenty!)
- Going out for almost every meal (except one day where I slept at home)
- Meeting random relatives and struggling to remember their specific titles
- Oh yeah, no internet
When I did finally get better on the last day, I spent it studying, though little info was actually retained due to my persisting headache. I also burned through a host of random iPhone games I’d downloaded. (Started Earthbound again; it’s actually really freaking trippy.) All in all, a pretty unproductive few days, both in terms of work and play. I’m just glad that it’s all over and done with, now that I’m back in Hong Kong.
In retrospect, perhaps it was better that my sickness coincided with the trip, rather than coming afterward. Rather have the shitstorm all at once, yeah? Anyway, I’m back and ready, able to hang and chill. With that said, this post also marks the end to a very much unofficial and unannounced holiday hiatus from blogging. Remember back in the day when I promised a post a day? Those were the days. But in the words of a certain Kirk (taken horribly out of context — sorry, Emily!): “Rather than lament the past, let’s look to the future.”
In short, it’s good to be back.
