Hong Kong--So Close, Yet So Far

I leave for Hong Kong next Wednesday, so I'm now spending every waking minute that isn't spent doing things for the paying job putting the Hong Kong trip together.  I am amazed at how many people would like to meet me while I'm in Hong Kong.  My calendar for the trip is filling up fast.  What ever made me think 8 days on the ground in Hong Kong would be enough?  With all of the Leslie Cheung events?  For all of the AnD folks I am hoping to meet?  Sadly, it begins to look like I will barely have time to see the city, except as I travel from appointment to appointment and event to event.  I will manage to squeeze in an avant garde theater production put on by the good folks at Zuni Icosahedron that is part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.  I'm also going to a karaoke night with Leslie Cheung fans.  I think surreal is the only word that will describe that experience.  If the planets and stars align correctly, I may even be attending the Awards Gala Party for the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and also  meeting with some folks over at People Mountain People Sea.  Then there are the formal Leslie Cheung activities and opportunities to meet, greet and eat with fellow fans.  A fan from Australia (by way of HK) wants to take me to the flower market to pick out flowers to leave at the various memorial sites for Leslie Cheung on April 1st.  This is the fan who produced the ultimate guide to Leslie Cheung's Hong Kong--a 9 page single-spaced list of places in HK (some already gone) associated in some way with Leslie, his life and career.  Together, we are working on translating all of the songs that Leslie sang in the Passion Tour concert series in Hong Kong.  I just found out yesterday that another fan was planning on participating in the Cantonese Opera Appreciation Class at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum that I, too, want to attend.  Since it is offered only once while I am in HK, we are planning on going together.  And so it goes:  on and on and on.  This is going to be an amazing trip:  such an amazing trip, in fact, I'm already planning for my return in 2013, the 10th anniversary of Leslie's passing which promises to be even bigger than this year's commemoration.  Maybe, if I cut up my credit cards and don't replace my (currently) 9 year old car, I'll have the money for an even longer visit next time.