Day One - UK and Hong Kong - Arriving.

Day one. "and on the first day the lord said; "Let their be light"... and there was."


This has been a very long day so far, but not for any bad reasons. It started as Saturday 31st of October, and will run untill tonight, Monday 2nd November. Saturday night was spent celebrating my leaving England to go travelling for 10 months, the night itself was good fun, but seeminly uneventful, which is probably a good thing. And, although we returned to my flat at 04:00ish, that wasn't the end of the day. I had to finalise my bag, and pack it as well as I could, which bearing in mind it was 04:00 Sunday morning, and we'd been drinking heavily, probably wasn't the best idea, and I'm sure a few things have been neglected. Once this was done, I had two and a half hours to kill before my Mum arrived to take me to Heathrows Terminal 3, so, two hours kip were welcomed.

But, as two hours sleep often do, tiredness was only prolonged and the hangover pushed back a few hours. We proceeded to Heathrow, to be welcomed by pretty hard rain. I was dropped off at the entrance, and said goodbye to mum. From this moment, the trip was begining, and due to the lack of sleep it did still feel like a very long Saturday! At the Cathay Pacific checkin desk I was given a rather cruel choice, I could take my orignal flight, leaving at 11:30 (three and a half hours time) or, I could pocket a whopping 300pounds and take a 18:00ish flight. Whilst very tempting, I had to decline. "Maddness", I hear you cry. But the thought of spending either 10 hours waiting around Heathrow, before embarking on an 11 hour flight you know you could have finished, or, phoning mum, going back to Brighton and back to Heathrow seemed a little wasteful. Not to mention that I would spend the majority of my birthday on a plane. I proceeded to check in, and go through security.

Once the queuing and scruitany were completed, and with the hangover, tirdness and dehydration taking it in turns to make my head thump, I went to one of the numerous vastly expensive, over crowded 'pub' simulants. I order a tall water, and a breakfast. 6pounds 75 and 15 minutes later my WWII style rationed breakfast was cheerfully brought over by an underappreciated member of staff. My disgust quickly turned into annoyance upon viewing 1; 3/4 sausage, 1 microwaved swetty bacon, scrambled egg - yes a singular messure, ahlaf a tomato and approximately 5 mushrooms swimming in their own juices. Three deep breaths of food later, and I had inhaled the lot. Luckily the glass of water's warmth managed to go someway to filling the abbiss that is my stomach. I spent the next half hour wandering around the Terminal Lounge wasting time, working out what to do with just under 10 pounds of assorted coins, and almost forgetting my bag in the toilet. Luckily the bomb squad weren't called.

At 10:45 Sunday 1st November, we were invited to board our flight to Hong Kong. I quickly found my seat, put my bag in the overhead locker, and fell into a kind of alertless light sleep where any noise, movement or minute passing awoke me. Nemerous elbows, chair pulls and attempts to force the on board entertainment to begin early passed and we still hadn't pulled back or taxied into position, our flight was delayed until 12:15 due to 16 counts of, well, odd excuses. I had managed to sqeeze in my second mini nap of the day, and slept through all the waiting boredom that accompanies delayed anythings. Shortly after take off, which seemed long and drawn out... if a delorian can go back in time at 88 miles an hour, why does a plane need to be doing over 100 to take off?... I begin to look through the selection of inflight entertainment, things were looking up. A large film, TV, and music choice was at hand, and without specific start times, just choose and watch/listen. My first film would be Terminator Salvation - a film I had intended to watch in the cinema but never got round to it, I was slightly dissapointed, but when you're on a plane it doesnt matter, cause you didn't pay 7.50 for the pleasure. That was followed by G.I. Joe - Rise of Cobra, which sadly followed suit of being dissapointing, and moreover, followed suit of Transformers by ruining another of my childhood TV programmes. Bastards. I counter acted the annoyance by sleeping through the middle part of the film, I don't think much happened cause I didn't feel like I'd lost any infomation. Then I watch The Hangover, followed by another nap, and finally UP before we landed. Oh, and managed to fit in two meals aswell - both of which were larger, more filling and far tastier the breakfast which nearly made me cry earlier.

The plane managed to make up time, and land at 07:40. Today had now gone into its third session - having been 31st Oct, 1st Nov it was now the 2nd of November and my 26th Birthday. I had arrived in Hong Kong, the 1st stop on my 10 month trip around Southeast Asia. My dad picked me up from the airport, brought me to his home, that I hadnt seen for four years, but looks pretty much identical, although 'my' bed has shrunk from a double into a single fold up item, i'm sure i'll find worse along the way. Dad's gone to work, but will be back to take me for dinner and beers in Lantau. I was lucky enough to receive a birthday present from my girl friend, and be able to speak top her for a little while even though she is 12 hours behind in Bolivia. I've been for a short jog up a mountain path, but had to cut it short due to back pain - its been a long time since I've run. Showered, and now I'm writing this. The first of many updates.

Day one, 72 without loss.

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Part of trip: 10 months in Southeast Asia

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