Spike Pritchard

spike77

For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in Asia, I love the people, the culture and especially the food, going to Hong Kong to see the Chinese New Year celebrations has been a dream of mine for over 2 decades! I think it all started when I was young with our weekly take away night, I would always hope it was Chinese. As a child you are told that you eat sweet things at the end of your meal for desert, so imagine my amazement when I tried Chinese food for the first time, stir fried chicken coated in a sweet and sticky sauce hmmm!! I’m fascinated to see how in their cooking a lot of ingredients, techniques and equipment are just so alien to us. When I left school I knew I wanted to go into catering and become a chef, and over the next 20 years I feel very lucky because my job has enabled me to travel half way around the world and work in all types of restaurants in America, France, Spain and England.

This year I achieved a decades old dream of mine to visit Asia on a kind of "Food Pilgrimage", my plan was to spend 2 months backpacking around trying the food, seeing the sights, making new friends and of course getting the T-shirt! Starting my journey with 10 days in Hong Kong then moving on and spending additional time in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xian, Beijing, Tokyo, Bangkok and finally Phuket for some much needed relaxation on the beaches.

Last summer i worked my socks off and the hard work has paid off, i totally paid for my trip both transport and accommodation. I Also hit my saving target for my spending money, and finally in Feb of this year i set off on what turned out to be the trip of my lifetime!!

The trip was soo good that i have already started organizing a trip to Asia again next year, this time i would like to visit Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Thailand again to do my Padi diving course, Cambodia, Vietnam and finally go back to Japan as i was so impressed by Tokyo last time that i cant wait to go back!!