Phew...back from Hong Kong and I am feeling really really exhausted. I haven't been sleeping decently since thursday night.
This trip was rather abrupt and I only decided to go just one and a half days before I flew off. I have the thank Sham for this... :) I was there for the Hong Kong Salsa Festival.
Anyway, after that I had major packing to do before I flew off early the next morning. My flight to Hong Kong was one of the earliest flights there apart from the big shots who flew a few days earlier. Thus, I could tour around HK while we wait for the rest to arrive in the night.
Lucky there was Veron, the experienced tour guide, who knew the best places to go to or else the small group of us (Ronald, Pierre, Veron's friend) will be wondering around aimlessly.
Sadly I didn't get to shop on the first day since by the time the rest meet up with us, it was too late to go shopping along "nui ren" street. However, my stomach was damn bloated with food on that day. Those people kept eating non-stop:
We had noddles soup for lunch but carried on eating Portuguese egg tarts in some hotel just down the road. Subsequently we had alcoholic drinks with fried chicken wings and spring rolls. Terrible! I was too full for dinner.
Day 2 was when the workshops began. Luckily it was just across the road for the first few workshops so we didn't need to rush down too early in the morning. I must say that most of them were disappointing. I was expecting those all-whacked-out kind of sessions like during YQ's classes. But the classes were rather easy to catch. The only one I enjoyed was the dips and tricks class by the Russia couple and probably the On1 class by the French (but the class size was so large that it made dancing so irritating).
For the nights, the first night was performances by all the countries attending the event. Dawn and the rest performed the cabaret item but it was the breathtaking Russians that won the crowd's applause.
The second night was when the competitions began. Dawn and I pulled Leticia in so we were qualified for the group category since we cannot participate in the amateur's for both of us are girls. Towards the end of the whole thing, I really felt embarrassed and emoistic. Firstly, our item was not even pure salsa. Secondly it was so last minute (since I decided to go only at the eleventh hour) that our costumes sucked and dance moves looked less polished than the rest.
On the last night, it was the closure of the whole festival. The night ended on a very mild note. The size of the audience shrunk rather drastically from the difference between the competition night and the night itself. I guess most of them were catching a flight home for work on Monday.
The night party after the performances was at some club in another street. The ambiance there was nice. The club wasn't as small as I expected it to be and there were lovely couches and corners for us to sit and chill. Sadly the crowd was super small. Mostly of them didn't turn up for the after party event. I left earlier than Dawn since I had to fly off the next morning.
The trip to Hong Kong was pretty fun. But wished I had more time shopping and touring the bustling country. Wee...
PS: Pictures taken can be viewed on facebook.
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