Status Update – 2 months in Hong Kong

(Him: Charlie)

Happy Chinese New Year!! If New Year is about embracing changes and new beginnings, then this past New Year of 2013 was a perfect one to celebrate, as Jo and I settled into our new life in Hong Kong!

Although I had visited Hong Kong a few times, I’ve never lived or worked here. So having grown accustomed to the life in the Toronto suburb, the different life style in Hong Kong did take a bit of getting used to. To name a few changes, like millions of other people in this compact city, we now live in a tiny little apartment among a massive housing estate; we no longer own a car, but rely on the super efficient public transit to get around; we no longer have the sidewalk to ourselves, but share it shoulder-to-shoulder with a seemly never ending crowd; we no longer stock up food for a whole week, but simply walk downstairs for a snack, or two more minutes to a lively market. It is uneasy to forego the personal space I was used to, but at the same time, it is fascinating to experience the sophisticated urbanism and tight-knit communities.

Work wise, after two months of ramping up, I am almost fully integrated into the group – this means rushing on every task and churning out deliverables at crazy pace. So far, working has been quite challenging as I try to grasp the way of life in the office and the expectation of boss and clients. Colleagues are easy-going and collaborative. As for my boss, albeit being a workaholic and demanding at times, she is absolutely dedicated to her job and is a reasonable boss. For some reason, I feel she and my mom share a similar personality – both have an utmost devotion to things they commit to.

The water industry in Hong Kong (possibly the whole region) faces a lot of challenges, as many facilities have to cope with tremendous growth demands and ridiculously tight space constraints. As a result, I see adoption of cutting edge technologies and processes, which we only talk about in North America. I am convinced that I will absorb knowledge like a sponge and, in combination of the fast pace here, drastically increase my skills in the next few years!

Having said the above, I am not sure if I can handle working in Hong Kong forever. Life can be demanding here, so you don’t always get the chance to look around, pause and think about where you are headed. You can easily get overwhelmed, totally submerged, and trapped in the rat race! Luckily, Jo and I are both adventurous people, and hopefully we can remind each other of our aspirations and goals.

In our spare time, we like to explore the hundreds of yet very accessible hiking trails in Hong Kong and various neighbourhoods packed with old fashion street vendors and traditional snacks! I have to say that Hong Kong is a wonderful and unique city, where old and new co-exist impeccably! Like any cities in the world, social problems exist, but from a new-comer’s perspective, the city is still one of the best in the world and definitely has not lost its shine! I hope people here can chill out, look beyond the microscopic issues (really, many of the issues on local news are so trivial that they don’t make to the news in other countries) and look forward. 

Day 273 – Hong Kong Pace

(Her: Joanna) 

We all know the pace in Asia is fast. But how fast? 

The distance between places are counted precisely by the minute not by the unit of 5 minutes. For example, Charlie’s co-worker told him it takes 4 minutes to walk from his office to a specific store (yes, it does indeed take 4 minutes precisely). 

When you go into the subway during rush hour, you feel like you are in a speed walking race. Don’t worry. You definitely can walk really fast as the person behind you and around you will make sure you match their speed. If you want to throw something away into the garbage can on the side of the walkway, forget about it. It feels like you are crossing the highway. 

You would think seniors would not be in a rush walking in that pace, would you? Oh…you are wrong. After a lifetime living in Hong Kong and totally living up to the saying “money is time”, you can’t resist to rush in a senior’s pace. There are plenty of seniors crossing the road when there is no car passing even it is a red light. Are they rushing to some place? No. They are just going home or to the wet market. With this pace, no wonder why people in HK are stressed.

Day 181: The Trip Comes to An End, Yet A New Journey Begins! – Guangzhou, China

(Him: Charlie)

Sitting at 30,000 ft in the air approaching GZ, we are closing in on the conclusion of Jo.Charvel’s Euro-Asia trip. In a little more than an hour, I am about to see my hometown for the first time in nearly 3 years. To me, GZ may well be the end this amazing trip.

Looking back in the last 6 months, it has been as awesome time with Joanna through dozens of countries and countless different cultures. We began to lose count on the number of countries we’ve been to – for some we spent merely hours, but others for weeks, so what does the number matter? To us, getting to know every culture along the way, as well as reflecting on pieces of history, are the essence of this journey! Just on the topic of religions, we have traversed through areas dominated by Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Christian, Judaism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and even the original Chinese Taoism. On every encounter, we spent hours reading Wikipedia and gaining invaluable knowledge that we would otherwise never get to now back home.

As this journey comes to an end, it is quite sad to realize I will stop backpacking for a while, but at the same time, I feel energized about the new life in HK. During the last few days on the Qing-Zang railway, my mind would often imagine Jo and I living and working in HK. To me, the experience ahead is in an uncharted territory and the excitement is definitely no less than backpacking! I am glad that I will be sharing this exciting experience life with Jo. So let the thrill begin and see what life can throw at me!

Day 174: 美丽的西藏，纯洁的西藏 - Lhasa, Tibet

(Him: Charlie)

西藏的确有着迷人的风光！自从在四川/云南地区进入西藏，所有的风景就好像忽然升了一个等级 - 水是那么清，天是那么蓝，深秋的山林是那么得醉人，而耸立的雪山又是那么的神圣与纯洁。

西藏的风景之美丽不容置疑，牢牢地吸引着我的却是西藏独一无二的藏族文化与风俗。

在西藏，一切似乎都那么神圣和平静，那么的与世无争。一路上，我们总是看到虔诚的信徒一磕一长跪地沿着公路向拉萨朝拜前进。每逢来到一座庙宇，第一个进入视线的总是念念有词的转经者。对于没有信仰的我来说，我只有无限的敬佩 - 敬佩他们的虔诚，敬佩他们的坚毅。我无法理解他们把生命奉献给他们的信仰，但同时也无法体会得到他们心灵中因为有信仰而得到的充实。

在西藏十几天，最煞风景的要数“三步一哨，五步一岗”的“便民警察”。尤其在拉萨，警察

和安检多得离谱。这些所谓的“便民警察”在景点设置检查站控制游客和当地的佛教信徒。据当地人说，这些检查站经常阻挠信众的出入，给他们带来朝拜的不便。其实我看来，政府可以给这些虔诚的藏民多一点理解和包容，他们需要的是更多的自由空间和与世无争的生活。明明西藏是自治区，但政府却严加控制，处处打压。结果导致草木皆兵，人心惶惶。真的有必要吗？

Day 154: Adrenaline pumping at Almaty Airport!! - Almaty, Kazakhstan

(Him: Charlie)

As much as we want to cross the border by land, the “sacred” National Day holiday in China just would let us. Who closes their land border for 7 days on a holiday? Oh well, so we had to fly if we want to make it to Cheng Du by Oct 7. Ka-ching!!!

Normally, I wouldn’t write about the mundane border crossing, especially the boring custom passing at airport, but this one is different. It’s a crazy one – it’s one that almost got our hearts stopped and it’s one that got our hair raised… it’s one that got me even more broke! Fuck!!

Apparently, according to the Kazakh law, a tourist has to register at the local immigration police if he/she intends to stay within the country for more than 5 days! (Yea, who does that on top of a stupid visa??) So the ignorant Charlie and Joanna, who haven’t seen anything like that before, didn’t realize the seriousness of this requirement, and continued on with the visits in the country.

On day 7, when we came face to face with the passport control at Almaty Airport, disaster landed upon us!!! At first, the officer said we couldn’t board our flight because we had to go to the city the next day to register. This almost gave me a heart attack – the images of us running around switching flights and re-organizing everything came to mind. At this point, we would be happy to just pay the fine and leave the country. And then, the officer told us the bank is close now (9pm), and we would still have to pay the day after. Shit! The same images of “chicken-running-around-with-heads-cut-off” came to mind again… “shit, shit, shit” we thought, but “please, please, please!” we begged!

AND THEN, after some panicking on our end and a couple of phone calls on the other end, the officer offered a solution – a officer’s “friend” could pay the fine for us tomorrow for a “fee” of 4000 Tenge (about $30US). With the fine at a hefty $120US, it means we have to cough up $300US to get out of the country.

At this point, what choice do we have? Being able to catch our flight is definitely more important than the $300US! So we agreed, and we couldn’t care less if the process is even legitimate – we were told that we had to “pay” the fine discreetly by passing over the money folded in our passport! So we moved on with the security, and handed over our money filled passport as instructed, and halleluiah, safely boarded our flight. Voila and Ka-Ching!

We can’t be sure whether the officers took the fine as pocket money or, maybe he was really doing us a favour and the money really went to the government as a fine. Either way, there goes our $300US, and there goes our expensive lesson learned from this bureaucratic country! What a night!!

(Renown Turkistan Mausoleum, Turkistan, Kazakhstan)

Day 154: China, here we come!

(Her: Joanna)

Time flies.  We have been on the road for 5 months and finally heading to China, which sounds really far away 5 months ago.  The last 5 years of my life, I have been wanting to visit Tibet.  And I'm closer to closer to it.  

The last 3 weeks of travel had been rough but adventurous and exciting at the same time.  I am happy that I have the opportunity to visit this part of the world which is so mysterious.  

I also feel very privileged as a Chinese Canadian as being a Canadian (and sometimes Chinese) can make your life a whole lot easier traveling to some of the countries we have been.  Whether you get to visit and travel to a certain place besides "I want to" have a lot to do with luck.  Being a Chinese/Hong Kong Canadian definitely grant me a lot of privileges.  

Tonight we will be in China.  Temporary good-bye to everyone as we cannot access our blog and Facebook in China.  We will update as soon as we arrive HK in 3 weeks or so.  

Wish we luck that everything will be smooth sailing in China.

Hasta Luego, Amigos!

What a Backpacker Likes On The Road.....

I like free WiFi at MacDonald

I like free toilets

I like hostel with drinkable water

I like GPS on my iPhone

I like swiss army knife

I like free and fluffy towel

I like free lockers at the hostels

I like train/bus station with luggage storage

I like city public transportation to and from bus/train station and airport running 24/7

I like hostels who doesn’t charge any booking fee

I like friendly people who help us figuring out the ticketing system on buses

I like tourist information at the border crossing

I like withdrawing money with no transaction fees

I like hot shower

I like free tea and coffee

I like toilet separate from sink and shower in hostels

I like multiple plugs in the room at a hostel