Cometan travelled to Hong Kong on Saturday 24th August for a week-long stay in the Asian city.
He had planned to meet his two friends, Heastward and MK, both are Chinese nationals.
The philosopher and author had been in the subway station Prince Edward just an hour before the shocking attack by police on passengers took place!
Cometan has safely made it home, but was almost stranded as protestors barricaded routes to the airport the morning of his flight.
A Lancashire-born philosopher of Astronism and author of the Jesse Millette books has recently travelled to the Asian city and Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong were over twelve weeks of protests have been taking place.
Cometan had organised the trip back in May before the unrest began and had planned to meet his two friends, Heastward and MK, both of whom are Chinese nationals in the city for a week of sightseeing as part of Cometan’s summer vacation schedule.
However, the unrest that erupted in the city back in June over China’s increasing power and influence there after an extradition bill was proposed, worried both Cometan and his friends. Their doubts about the trip were raised to new heights when Hong Kong’s airport was closed on 12th and 13th August due to protestors which was just ten days before their trip was due to begin.
Thankfully, an injunction had been put in place following the airport shut-down which meant that protestors would not be allowed inside the airport and only passengers were granted access inside the terminals.
Cometan has been sharing images all week of his visit to Victoria Peak, the Tian Tan Buddha at Po Lin Monastery, as well as meals with both Chinese nationals and citizens of Hong Kong, some of whom are actively involved in the protests.
Cometan and his friend, Heastward, who will becoming to the UK this September to study accounting and finance at the University of Central Lancashire, were told by one of their Hong Kongese friends on the early hours of the morning on Sunday 1st September to get out of the city and rush to the airport as he had received a tip that protestors would be blockading routes to the airport earlier than expected.
Cometan and his friend then rushed to pack their bags, but because they were leaving the city two hours prior to what they had planned, the bus they had arranged to catch had not yet started its service. This resulted in Cometan and his pals having to rush through the streets of Hong Kong at 3am to find the bus to get them to the airport.
Having reached the correct bus stop, they anxiously waited but the bus was taking longer than expected. Just as Cometan had agreed with a taxi driver a reduced fee to get them to the airport pronto, the bus arrived and thankfully, Cometan and his friend managed to get to the airport before protestors arrived.
On social media, Cometan thanked his Hong Kongese friends for giving him the heads-up that protestors would blockade the roads to the airport earlier than they had originally planned because if not, the philosopher would likely have missed his flight and would have been stranded halfway around the world. He also showed his support for their cause and wished for a resolution to present itself soon.
Article written and published by a member of the PR team for Astronism.org publisher.