HONG KONG 香港 🇭🇰

I arrived early Saturday evening with my winter cardigan on that I had been wearing on the plane. That quickly came off the moment I walked out of the airport to the bus. After buying a ticket in almost complete silence from the lady behind the counter, I navigated my way to the bus I needed to get to my hostel. Quick but much needed shower then dinner. I had a quick chat with the super unfriendly guy at reception and he pointed me to this Hong Kong Restaurant. I headed off in search for my first taste of Hong Kong cuisine. On route I found a games arcade which was full of various games machines all very brightly coloured!

Dinner consisted of prawns in OK sauce on noodles with a side of choi sum and some bizarre green iced drink. Delicious.

Sunday. Given that I had forgotten to buy my octopus card at the airport yesterday, I walked what City Mapper called a 33 minute walk to the Museum of History. Maybe I took a wrong turn somewhere but an hour later I rocked up to join the queue to buy my ticket. It’s a good museum with some interesting stories from the opium war and what Hong Kong was like in the 60s and 70s.

After a couple of hours it was lunch time and I realised I hadn’t eaten yet so headed out to find some more tasty treats. I looked around and ended up next to the bins at a Vietnamese restaurant. Mare.

After lunch I took a stroll around Kowloon park. Jet lag was beginning to hit so I sat down and started to read. I was surrounded by Indonesian and Filipino girls who were maids in Hong Kong and have the day off on a Sunday so they took to the parks to relax and chat. And giggle. Lots of giggling. I eventually moved to a quieter spot where after 20 minutes I was accosted (and I mean accosted) by a bizarre Asian lady who asked for a photo. I figured she meant of her and her husband in the park.

No. She meant of me because naturally I look like a local(?!). She must have taken at least 10 photos of different poses including various hugging situations which even writing about I am cringing over.

A very unwelcome experience. I did however spot this cute dog and these cute guys painting.

Dinner was much more enjoyable. I met a friend of a girl at work who was able to take me around and try some other HK food. I tried congee with a thousand year eggs and noodles with dumplings. Both delish. We also had radish cake which apparently is actually turnip. It was good either way.

Our post dinner activity was the Symphony of Lights. I am glad I saw it but it’s not the most exciting thing in the world so I will end the day there.

Monday. Today I was meeting another friend of the girl at work and although having lived in HK his whole life he had never seen the Big Buddha so we headed off there. Lots of steps up to the Buddha though. Not enjoyable in the heat either. But I made it and lived to tell the tale.

There was also a monastery on the site which we headed to too. It was pretty and very ornate and had a service going on when we were there so I don’t have many photos but it was a fun thing to experience.

I also tried dried squid. Salty and chewy. Yummy. Lots of bizarre looking creatures in the market too. For example this happy fellow:

The view from the top of the Buddha steps:

Tuesday.

Today I slept in and it was wonderful. After asking my good friend #backpackchiu where was good to go, she suggested I went to the Hello Kitty secret garden. When I googled this glorious concept I found there was a restaurant and given that it was basically lunch time now I found myself off on a bus for a much anticipated visit. Oh my, I was not disappointed.

What an enjoyable place.

I then headed up the peak. Admittedly today was not the best day to go as it was hazy but I felt I had to do it so I waited in the queue for the steepest tram ride of my life. It was like a roller coaster but without the fact you go down again. Crazy. Although obviously I did go down an hour or so later.

Steven, my Big Buddha friend took me to a local Cantonese cafe for dinner. Best sweet and sour pork I’ve ever had. The British Chinese are doing it so so wrong.

Tomorrow I am heading over the boarder. I’m hoping I manage to pick up my train tickets in my non existent mandarin but we will see. If I can’t I’m stuck in HK. Which wouldn’t be such a bad thing but I’d need to invest in a portable air conditioning unit so wish me luck!

So after three 3 days and 4 nights in HK I’m sadly due to leave. I say sadly but I’m happy to be walking out of here in solid form and not have melted in my time here. It’s been 28 degrees and, as far as I can tell, 90%+ humidity and although fun, I don’t think I will rush back unless I can be assured of a gentle breeze.

And I’m off!

The time has finally arrived and yep you guessed it – I went for the big bag. Naturally it’s too full for any small Chinese child so no panic there. I do think however that I packed well – I took out a pug jumper but replaced it with a Christmas themed penguin jumper. I’m sure the Japanese will love it.

Saying bye to people one by one was sad – made it hit home that I am actually going. Mental. But I’m now finally at the airport waiting for my gate to open. Upgrading to business class was £1200+ which although I’m sure worth it, was above my £600 limit of what I would have paid. Let’s hope if I buy in Istanbul it’s cheaper. I feel I’m optimistic.
My phone and watch are already on Hong Kong time so it’s now 23:22 and way past my bed time. I got my handy travel pillow though so I’ll be straight asleep when I get to my seat!

First stop HKG.

HKG – China – DPRK – China – Tibet – Japan – HOME FOR CHRISTMAS – Guatemala – Honduras – Nicaragua – Costa Rica – Ecuador – Galapagos.

And a sneaky trip to Atlanta on the way home.

I can’t wait. Hong Kong is 26 degrees and Tibet is 3 degrees. My body will be on a temperature roller coaster. My mind probably on an emotional one. I’m going to find myself and come home a gypsy.

I got random bag searched on the way through security. Those spare pairs of pants your told to put in your bag? Yeah well mine were picked up by the bag man and in an attempt to keep my dignity he hid them under my woolly hat. What a guy. Shame you can’t rate them like you can uber drivers, he would have got 5stars.

Right gate is open and I best ring my grandad. Likely to shed a tear there!

See you on the other side!

I need a PA to pack for me

So the exam is finally over – 4 hours writing about cycling is enough to send anyone to sleep. But now for the bigger challenge. Packing.

Choosing between a 10kg bag of hand luggage size, ideal for travelling with ease and less hassle and (what will likely be when I have finished packing it) a 25kg bag almost big enough to fit a small child in, to take on my back for my time away is as hard as choosing between the twix and the fruit and nut mix in the vending machine at work.

I DON’T KNOW.

The hand luggage bag will be so easy to carry around and it will prevent me taking all the unnecessary rubbish that I am likely to insist I will need if I take the backpack. But if I take the hand luggage bag, where will I put all my Mulberrys and fake designer goods?

I’m having a mare.

I’ve also read I need a sleeping bag. So who knows where I will put that in a hand luggage bag!

I recently read “Hand luggage packing guide” written by “A Blonde Abroad”. Admittedly she’s one of those a super annoying people that gets paid to travel the world and write a fun blog and gets free stuff at the same time which therefore means we wouldn’t be friends (who am I kidding she’s my idol and that’s what I want from this blog since blogging about travelling is super original and edgy right?) but she’s got some handy tips on there. So I bought a cardigan and ordered some eye moisturiser as she reckons they were key things to take. We will see. Personally I think straightners would be on that list but what do I know.

My next issue is footwear. I need outside shoes for walking (most likely taking my super snazzy trainers) but I would quite like my Uggs to keep my toesies warm. My Uggs won’t fit into my hand luggage sized bag though so another point to the backpack.

A blonde abroad recommends Tieks. I can’t justify $150+ on a pair of flats so maybe I will just wear the uggs and tie my waking boots to my bag. There must be a way to bring both!

I’ve pulled out all my clothes and although Sam managed to do 6 weeks on hand luggage turns out thats much harder when you are heading to 5 degree ‘heat’. I’m going to freeze.

I’ll leave you all in suspense of what I go for.

Life’s all about life living on the edge right?

15 days and counting

Visa arrived.

Tibet plans fell through – TravelTibet.com is a Chinese company NOT Tibetan. So I’m booking through Explore Tibet who seem helpful and I used rentafriend.com (better known as the Lonely Planet travel forums) to find someone who was out that way and wanted to join. Happy days that that got sorted.

Got a new coat. THANKS BRO AND SIS. It’s snazzy and will keep me warm.

Bought an ipad for travels – bigger screen to FaceTime on. LUCKY ME.

13 days until my exam. Need to sort my life out.

Not enough time to work eat and sleep. Certainly not in that order.

The visa process

I used a company called CIBT for my visa – I’ve dealt with them before and they are pretty helpful. The China visa application form itself didn’t seem too complicated but since I need a double entry visa, they seemed to want a large amount of information on flight and hotel bookings.

Since I am going on a gadventures tour and I booked all my flights through flight centre, I was entitled to a discount on their visa fee.

I paid an extra £46 on top of the £111 embassy fee for my visa but considering they do all the checking of documents and I was not going to risk being rejected, I figured it was a good investment. Especially as I had a number of different hotel bookings – including the fake ones required because I want to go into Tibet. God forbid you mention that on your visa. I was told it’s almost a guaranteed rejection. It would be like the UK Government saying to tourists, yes you can come to our country but you must not go to Wales. Weird.

Flight centre are an absolute dream to book with. I recently went to Bali on a family holiday and we booked our flights with a lady called Megan in the St Albans office. She then moved up to Manchester but took our booking with her and kept us updated on flight changes and the like.

As a result of how wonderful she was, I asked if she would help me in booking my flights on this trip. I sent her my handy trip spreadsheet – see, an auditor at heart, and she came back with various options for flights – especially for the second half of my trip which is still all up in the air but at least we were able to get the Asia part sorted!

Booking with flight centre also gives you a discount on the gadventures tours and the flight centre people get paid by some form of commission so anyone looking to book through flight centre, I would highly recommend it! Not sure I could have done it without them to be honest.

A waiting game for the visa

Back in May this year when I should have been revising for my final exams I stumbled across this article: How One Man Realized His Dream of Visiting Every Country on the National Geographic website.

I had already been toying with the idea of taking some time out when I qualified but didn’t know how long I’d have or whether work would even want me back.

This guy confirmed that seeing every country was possible and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I dreamed of living my life all over the world, ticking off all those “100 places to see before you die” (one of which is space?! Richard Branson if this ever reaches you, please know it’s something I’m keen on doing so please do just get in touch) until I realised that my family naturally worry when I’m driving down the m6 on a Monday morning let alone on a plane into the unknown depths of Africa.

As a result I’ve since reined in my wild dreams of every country and just want to live each day as it comes, planning the next trip instead of doing the audit I should be doing. (I jest I obviously always do all my work and I obviously ❤️ audit).

So when I finally qualified I figured I would take some time out. I say finally because a) 3 years of exams after 3 years of uni after 15 years of school slowly kills you and b) because out of the 15 exams I should have taken, I’ve managed to do 18 – exams are so much more fun when you have to do them twice.

It’s now September 2015 and yes I should have qualified but I’ve learnt such things don’t go to plan and I’ll hopefully be qualified when I’m touring Japan. If again that doesn’t go to plan, I’ll just have to take another 3 months off next year, which I’m totally ok with. Fingers crossed that won’t be the case though.

So anyway, I’ve got 3 months off and I fly out on this world tour 2 days after my final final exam. I’m going to have to remember revision > trip planning.

Currently planned for the first leg of the trip are China, North Korea (DPRK as they prefer to be known) and Japan. Obviously I speak none of these languages and I’m about as British looking as they get so naturally I’ll blend in and no one will ever know I’m this lost English kid looking for a bed for the night.

The Chinese visa has finally been sent off though so once my passport is back in my hands – I’m good to go.

I just need to play the waiting game to get it back.

Previous travels

2007 – Malaysia, USA

2008 – Italy, Portugal

Amalfi Coast Lisbon

2009 – Austrailia, New Zealand

2010 – Turkey

Side sunset

2011 – South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Vatican City, Spain

2012 – France, USA, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Spain

Paris

2013 – USA, Canada, Hungary, Czech Republic, Morocco, France, Austria, Slovakia

2014 – Belgium, South Africa, USA, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, The Netherlands

2015 – Nigeria, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, Indonesia

Nigeria

Where it all began…

My first real trip away from home was on a World Challenge expedition to Borneo in 2007. This meant a month away from home, sleeping in the jungle and trekking up mountains – and for those that know me, they would know that neither of which were hobbies of mine. It was also the place I won an award for “The best lobster impression” on the basis that I burnt to a crisp on a beach one day. Sitting down was sore for days.

So, since the near death experiences on Mount Kinabalu and falls out of hammocks and that God-awful sunburn, I have never looked back. I have been to a new place and experienced new cultures every year despite now having a real life gown up job.

I want to see the world.

Even these places. One down, 9 to go…