In the air to Hong Kong

On the flight from Korea to Hong Kong, I sat next to another foreign teacher. We spoke for most of the flight. Also from South Africa, she lives in Hong-dae, Seoul (one of the party areas). She reminded me a lot of my other South African friend who was also a teacher in Korea - Hendrien.

In mid-sentence she said to me, "Ohmygod - one of my students is on this flight" And it was true. One of her little hagwon students was sitting a few rows in front of us. Anyways we chatted about all kinds of things...from all the delicious things we'd eat at home in South Africa to her dating a Korean guy.

We also told each other the kind of presents we bought for family & friends. When she mentioned Wii, I could have jumped out of the plane right then and there.

For so long, I was wrecking my brains trying to think of what to buy for my brother. He already has the latest computers, cellphones and gadgets - I couldn't think of anything to buy for him. And then on the flight I realized I could have bought him a Wii. I already planned that I'd call one of my friends back in Korea to buy one and post it for me within the week. (Didn't happen though).

We finally arrived in Hong Kong. The girl needed a smoke. I needed to walk so browsed through the electronic store. Arriving at the HK airport, ground staff were waiting for passengers who would take a connecting flight to Johannesburg. We were issued with our boarding passes pretty quickly. I was impressed with the efficiency.

*There were a number of announcements about swine flu,and many people were walking around with masks covering their faces.

I was in transit for less than 2 hours. Made my way to the boarding gate and quickly logged online to connect with Twitter and Facebook friends.

I flew South African Airways (SAA) from Hong Kong to South Africa.

I visited Hong Kong in 2008 for about a week. I wasn't impressed with their hospitality and I noticed the streak of unfriendliness again at the airport.