Sitting in Hong Kong’s international airport in late December, I had one of those – what I think of as – “twilight zone moments”, when nothing seems quite right. The hour was indeterminate, the past weeks of frenzied activity – entertaining, tramping through endless malls, packing for the long journey to India, and the long journey itself – was catching up, and I found myself staring balefully at the plate of dim sum in front of me.
Normally this is one of the attractions of this stopover in Hong Kong, snacking on the delicious foods available at the airport. Not this time. To add to my general sense of weariness, there was little chance of luxuriating in long, holiday sleep-ins anytime soon.
A niece’s wedding was scheduled to take place soon after our arrival. Never mind the jet lag, we’d have to hit the social whirl running. At that moment, the prospect of having to dress up in wedding finery and head straight into festivities soon after arriving in India was enough to make me want to head for the hills.
Little did I realize, our niece had had precisely the same idea – heading for the hills, that is!