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Published: June 25th 2008
Hong Kong
I made it - Vladim's lucky pendant worked and I arrived a bit tired but very happily in Hong Kong!So after an overnight train from Beijing with a carriage full of american college kids and the familar no sleep routine I finally stroll into Hong Kong - I have made it fully intact and with no problems so Vladim will be happy to read that his lucky token did the trick. Hong Kong is rainy and warm and I am met by my great friend kam at the station in Kowloon and I am really looking forward to some great food - particularly some dim sum which I have not had since last year - and a good bed to sleep in. Kam is amazed at how much stupid stuff that I am carrying with me and helps me to collect my things before we head out to Tsing Yi which will be base camp for the coming weeks. I planned to spend a couple of weeks looking for work and then to get back into China before getting on to Mongolia in July - but the market in Hong Kong has proven prickly and my two weeks has turned into five with mixed results. But I have managed to see some of the sights and get acclimatised to the
The first picture of what I was carrying!
You can see the kit shouting tourist - mug me - that I had lugged all the way from Luton Airport Parkway to Hong Kong - six thousand miles and a fabulous adventure! mix of searing heat and tropical rain which has been frequent through the weeks and as I am writing this we have recently got to Typhoon warning number eight which sees the whole city shut down! I have been doing a fair bit of running - usully managing three miles a day in the slightly more forgiving heat of the early evening and this has helped me to acclimatise. Now I am like a native and really do not feel the heat but it can still be difficlt to get to sleep in the evenings.
Kam has taken me round some new places to see like Stanley - which has some fine beaches and also to some of the temples and the other sites. We have been planning a trip to Lamma to see about the living conditions out there but the weather has stopped us finding the time to get it done. I have been trying hard on the symbols and have made some progress but as I discovered recently that the symbols combine to form different meanings - such as the symbol for goat and fish being put together to make the new word - fresh -
Bank of China
Hong Kong is bright and spectacular at night! this could take some time. Other than that I have learned to play Mah-Jong with some success and manage to beat the locals in the odd game here and there!
We also got up to the peak on one of the clear evenings and got some great shots of the city and the bay while eating some ice-cream which was a great adventure!
So it has been a great few weeks but I still do not know what will happen after Mongolia - but I am not worrying as I have learned to live hour by hour over the last months and my options will be clear soon. I will be heading out to Mongolia this coming Saturday via a few days in China - and I am very excited to catch the Nadaam and then camp for two weeks. I managed to catch up with Florian when he made Hong Kong for a while and the stories and pictures that he showed me were unbelievable so there is going to be plenty of adventure ahead and perhaps the chance to break into that full time wrestling career that I have always wanted but never had the time
for. So the rough idea is that I may get the time to go to Shanghai and then Beijing to catch the Trans-Mongolian to Ulan Bator - two weeks of Nadaam and then two in a yurt and maybe some solo camping.
I will have some additional fun as I have one visa entry left into China and I am not allowed to organise one for the return until I get to Mongolia which organising a chinese visa in Mongolia will be lots of fun and there is no easy escape route as every direction requires a visa! So ths should be interesting.
Other than that I can now take a reduced pack back into China as the cold weather gear is not required and I certainly will not miss carrying all that six thousand miles. So more pictures soon!!!!!
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Nadim Riaz
non-member comment
Luton university
Is that Frank from the university of Luton!