PU1

PU stands for "Personal Update."  You're free to pronounce this as "P-U" like it stinks or as "PU" like poop, your choice.  Now I personally don't really like talking about myself or my current situation very much.  This might be apparent from the lack of actual personal details I've stated so far, but maybe it isn't so clear to everyone.  In any case, I'd like to dedicate this post to my last day in Hong Kong and the crazy circumstances behind it.
Originally, I was supposed to stay in Hong Kong until July 29th, but the weather was bearing down on me and I felt it was time to leave early.  However, I was expecting to have at least a week to walk around, shop a bit, be a tourist.  This did not happen.  Around noon on June 30th, in Hong Kong time, I got a call from my cousin saying that my flight had been changed to later that evening around midnight, again Hong Kong time.  Frantic, I got my stuff together and soon enough we were off.
Since I am, at least ethnically, Chinese I had to go see my deceased grandfather's remains.  Turns out he was cremated and placed in a building that had a few cats roaming (see picture below).

While the tone of this last statement seems really rude, I truthfully had no clue about my grandfather's remains and I had only ever met him once when I was very small and therefore have no memories of him.  Regardless, it was a very powerful and emotional span of time for me.  Those unaware of Chinese customs regarding the dead may learn something from the next few sentences, otherwise I think you know where I'm going now.
First off, I'd like to say that the building and surrounding areas were beautiful (see pictures below).

Chinese customs generally deal with a lot of burning of things to send them to the dead.  For example, you burn incense a lot.  It's hard for me to describe exactly what kind of feeling you get as the smoke from the incense reaches your nose, as you close your eyes and get an indescribable feeling of maybe calm and perhaps remorse from the very particular smell.  It is also a tradition to buy special paper money to burn for the dead to use in the afterlife.  This is burned in pretty much a bonfire, a blazing inferno with a lot of heat and a lot of smoke.  Although my trip to Hong Kong was largely uneventful, it's doubtful I will ever forget those feelings and my thoughts at the time.
Afterward, my cousin, my aunt (father's sister), grandmother, and myself went out to go for food and shopping.  Truthfully, it was getting late and we rushed a lot and much was left unbought but perhaps that is a good thing.  Interesting fact, my last meal in Hong Kong was Pizza Hut, more on that in the post on Hong Kong food about food not liquids.  While I feel sad that I didn't get to sit in Hong Kong as a tourist for long, I'm personally glad to be going back to the United States for reasons somewhat hard to explain.  Look forward to many more posts today and tomorrow as summer 2010 begins and I finish up my Hong Kong wrap-up.  Also, don't expect a lot of personal updates as I'm not that kind of person.  On a last note, for two flights in a row now I've been sitting in a row with 2 people with the middle seat empty also I'm at the window seat.  Also, seeing a 40+ year old man watching Hannah Montana disturbs me, almost as much as me recognizing that what he's watching is Hannah Montana.

--CsMiREK