I was surprised to see a USD 149 sale round trip Cathay Pacific ticket available when I booked last Sunday. It was a spur-of-a-moment decision, and I took it, separated from my family for the first time since I got married.

It was for a business trip, an exploratory one. It was also a curiosity trip as I wanted to see if Hong Kong is really as f*cked up as the media protrayed it. I was half expecting burning MTR stations for my stay.

For many years, we’ve always taken Cebu Pacific. To my delight, the Cathay check in counter was pretty empty.

“Cathay is very efficient,” my father in law told me. They flew in an earlier flight. “It does not mean the airplane is empty.”

“I’m not in the budget airline counter!” I told my husband.

The airplane left on time and I was happy to have inflight entertainment and food.

I watched “Us” this trip. I managed the finish the entire thing and have of “Fresh off the boat” before the plane landed.

Yes, small things like taking a non budget airline makes me happy.

At the airport, it was pretty uneventful. The only weird thing was the scene here where airport staff were stricter in allowing passengers to come in the airport.

I took the bus which only cost me HKD 33 to the city. If I took the Airport Express, the cost would have been HKD115 and a taxi to spare.

I was hungry when I got to Tsim Sha Tsui and went to eat at Tsui Wah.

That’s one way to show I miss my husband. We usually eat here when we are in Hong Kong.

My hostel only cost php1,000 a night (I kid you not!) and it’s the cheapest place I’ve stayed in Hong Kong. The room’s decent though and it has hot water and free internet.

The protests really screwed Hong Kong tourism up, so everything is cheaper than it usually is. Hotels are half the price of at its peak.

I bought these lotions at a ridiculous HKD 8 each bottle (The Perfect Whip was HKD19), which shows that shopping is also slightly cheaper than before.

So far, no protestors around the area and relatively safe. Kinda happy to be back in a place I lived in for almost 5 years.

It’s weird — never thought I would push through. Hope this is a productive trip. Have a good week everyone!