If you guessed a place with initials of H.K., you guessed right.
The flight was painless as they usually are on Cathay Pacific.
I was a bit nervous because I chose the aisle seat furthest in the back. I walked back to find a girl sitting in the window seat next to the aisle seat -- it was a two-seat row.
She looked like a schoolteacher in her sweater, glasses, and jeans. But as she talked about her busy schedule from Rio to NYC to HK, I had to ask what she did for a living and she said she was a model. And she was on her way to Hong Kong for the first time for a 2-day visit for a Prada show.
I cast a shy glance at her again with this knowledge and I could see the outlines of a real beauty hiding behind her glasses.
As I only got her first name, I had to Google a bit to find out that this is who it was on that plane next to me!
Good thing I didn't spill anything on myself this time!
In all honestly, Sophie was remarkably charming and very, very down-to-earth. I felt a bit sorry for her as we landed and she looked for her agency's representative at the gate.
I saw a skycap holding up a cardboard sign reading "Prada" and I knew I had been sitting (and sweating) next to a real model for the last 15 hours.
Sophie smiled and went her way as the crowd congealed towards the exit and immigration.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Sophie grinning with the skycap ambling next to her. She smiled the sort of smile I'd expect a model to smile, her beauty now more obvious and readily apparent.
She said something like "Everything's okay now!" as she was on her way, fears of not finding her contact gone.
She said something nice about me, words to the effect that I was a nice person to sit next to, or something.
I was humbled.
Cathay had a TON of great stuff to watch this time but I couldn't work up the energy to sit through Shaolin (2011) yet, and I decided to not watch Let The Bullets Fly (2010) until I got the DVD, or the return flight home.
I did watch All's Well Ends Well 2011 (2011) which was about what I expected it would be.
It was quite funny to see Jo Koo's cameo where she was hyping her dessert place considering I had met her at that very same dessert place.
And Cecilia Cheung reminded me all over again why I love her as an actress. Her mix of toughness and vulnerability is something I've missed in HK cinema and just seeing her in this film made me happy.
This time, since I didn't bring my iPod, I played a lot of cuts on the in-flight system.
"Subterranean Homesick Alien" by Radiohead sounds even better on a darkened airplane rocketing over Asia.