I love travelling, but my language ability is terrible hence I will probably have communication problems in so many places in the world. English and Cantonese are definitely insufficient for me to see the world. There are so many countries in the world that I want to check out. Hence I need a plan. This plan needs to reassure primarily myself that the chances of me returning is relatively high. This plan will first go through a Beta testing phase as shown by my countdown in the Welcome page. At least it will give me more material to put on this blog.
Dialogue in the Dark was one of the place which I identified as a must do during my time in Hong Kong.
The exhibition itself was a series of dark rooms furnished to the surrounding that a vision impaired individual has to negotiate through everyday. I was given a stick to find my way through these rooms. The uncertainty of what was in front of me was really unsettling. I was actually afraid of the dark, permanent darkness. There was not a switch that I could simply flick on to see again.
There was a guide who guided me through the whole exhibition. The start was actually a traumatic experience. I was so difficult just to walk the first 5 metres. It gave my an insight of what a vision impaired would go through their life. It made me realise how lucky I am. It also made me realised how unimaginative I was. Everything I heard or felt took me back to a place I have been and I simply could not imagine. It was definitely a humbling experience in that the guide used her hearing and voice to guided me through. She could tell I was pointing in the wrong direction based on my voice. Dialogue in the Dark gave them a platform to express themselves and to support themselves. I was really inspired by the guide’s story, felt sad in a way that my passion in travelling would be difficult to share with them but not impossible. From now on, my travelling would not just be captured visually through my camera. Hopefully, I would be able to capture sounds, like the Tibetan Monk Band waking me up at 6 a.m. in the morning. Sound was a little bit underrated by me but not anymore.
I will tell you after 24hrs whether we match or not.
The only reason that I only carried a single hand carry for this trip was to avoid waiting for the hold luggage on the conveyor belt. My problem with the concept of hold luggage was that I always had to wait longer than the people who get their luggage before me.
Anyway, it meant that I cut at least 10 mins of waiting time and that was 10 minutes sooner to dinner. The Chiu Chow Braised Goose 潮州滷水鵝…. was waiting for me.
The other dishes that I had a brief “catch up” with*:-
Chiu Chow Oyster Omelette – 蠔烙 – “You are one special omelette…”
Chiu Chow Cold Crab – 潮州凍蟹 – “I agree that simple is beautiful. It is all about good timing and ingredients, wise words.”
Dim Sum – 點心 – 蝦餃燒賣 and 糯米雞 – “You are always right, never wrong…”
Peking Duck – 北京烤鴨 – “Oh, you have never changed…”
Nanjing Salted Duck – 盐水鸭 – “I remember you from three years ago, really surprised to see you here…”
Drunken Chicken – 醉雞 – “I am not an alcoholic but I am addicted…”
Xiao Long Bao – 小籠包 – “I might have met you in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing and London, it is always good to see you…”
Sour and Hot Soup – 酸辣湯 – “I was surprised that you two are together, but it works so fair play…”
Pig’s Blood – 豬紅 – “I never liked you at first but perhaps I was too quick to judge…”
Wonton Noodles – 餛飩麵 – “You really have slimed down. You were great when we first met ages ago. Now the portion is so small that I don’t know if I recognise you anymore…”
Unagi (Grilled Eel) Sushi – “I liked you since my first sushi more than a decade ago…”
Ikura (Salmon Roe) Sushi – Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom….
Japanese fried noodles – “I didn’t see you last time…We will always catch up in future…”
Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls – “Love the healthy lifestyle, Spring Rolls and Tofu Skin Rolls can learn a lot form you…”
Vietnamese Raw Beef Pho – “Beef, Chilli, Onion, Coriander, Lime, Ginger and other herbs that make the broth which I don’t know your names, nice to meet you all…”
Fresh Oysters – “I will tell you after 24hrs if there was any regret…”
Pig’s Colon – “Get out and I will never want to see you again. “
*I didn’t really had the above conversation with my food because that would just be weird.
Hong Kong. [When I rewrote this entry. Hong Kong changes a lot in 2019]
I was born in Hong Kong and in 1996, I went to the UK for my summer holiday. I guessed I did not understand the concept of emigration then. This meant that my sequent trips back to Hong Kong were to primarily spend time with the family. Apart from that, I never do anything in Hong Kong. This time, I lined up a number of activities to do.
There were four activities, all entered in my notePad. (Note, not an IPad). My notePad (abbreviated as MyPad) had similar functions. It had ICal where my schedule and locations where I need to be were recorded. It also had Ijournal where I maintained my habit of keeping a journal to whenever. I would like to clarify that I keep a “Journal” not a “Diary” because I am not Bridget Jones, nor a teenage girl. And no, I do not start each entry with “Dear Diary”. Other useful function MyPad had were Maps (sketches of the location of interests) and contact lists. My previous MyPad even had IPhoto where I could sketch the scenery in 30 minutes. I was proper old school with pen and paper.
I did some Expat styled chill out in Lan Kwai Fong. An evening hike on Hong Kong Island was a great experience to explore the trails at night lit by the city lights. I took the Tram to anywhere. Other activities such as Picnic on a beach, an Exhibition in the Dark and Ocean Park with a fellow traveller.
Photography is quite big in Hong Kong. Everyone seemed to have a bigger camera or longer lens than me. How intimidating. Panning is a type of short that I think are improved by using worse equipment. My not so good light sensor would require a longer exposure time thus will give a larger blur. The light weight body meant that I could track the object better. So there are things which size doesn’t matter and it is about how you use it. The Taxi above was turning in a left with myself in the corner of the pavement. This kept the distance of the taxi to my camera constant. Hence I simply had to turn matching the angular velocity of the taxi. I think the picture above is the best panning shot I have ever taken mainly due to the distance from the object.
Finally, we were back in British soil. However, we were still closer to France than home. Jersey was one of the major Channel Islands, the other being Guernsey. Almost home now, just the film festival left. The Branchage.
Well, the writing business was tough so I used more pictures here to tell the story. Branchage was interesting but I think we were a bit travelled out to really find out more about it. There were loads of other places on this little island. WWII underground hospital, continental market place, beaches, and beautiful castles.
The last train leg was from Paris to St Malo. The ticket for the french highspeed rail required a top-up fee as well. We did not budget for that so kudos for the ATM inventor saving us again.
St Malo was a beautiful french town next to the English Channels. We had a day to chill. Dinner at St Malo was awesome seafood. The biggest pot of mussels I ever had and chips. Yummy!! The house white wine was silky smooth as well. Amazing.
Since Jesse booked the accommodation, he specified a double room, which he later “explained” was the only option available, (Ok Jesse). It was the last night of bedsharing which was sad purely in a bromantic way but I was totally comfortable with that. Again, bromantically speaking, it is not gay when there is no touching.
Home is on the otherside.
St Malo old town. The wall that surrounded the town added extra character to the little port town. There was a citadel, beautiful old buildings and a length beach. This was planned as a night stop for us to catch the ferry to Jersey on the next day.
WWII
WWII fortifications dotted around the place overlooking the coast. It was hard to imagine the battles fought on these lands 70 years ago.
Now was about getting home. Unfortunately France was in the way hence we had to travel through France. We attended the Fete d’Humanites. It was in deep in Paris suburbs which made me glad that we ultimately returned home because it did not look like that would be possible for an hour of that day. It just showed how useful a compass to find the way home hence I valued that compass more than my moral one. Eventually, I worked out from a map realistically where a festival could be held. The compass then pointed the way (I had to twist the bearings to NorthEast).
This festival was interesting until the point that it became a political rally. I was no expert in french, but Fete d’Humanites translated as Festival of Humanities. It was full of different food, cultures, influences from former french colonies. The food was delicious and the wine was smooth. Towards the end of the day, the atmosphere changed. Clouds gathered and rain started. It became a Communist Political Rally, in french. It was (not really) about to kick off so we got out of there.
There was a free bus offered to go somewhere. This lead to my theory on free buses. It really doesn’t matter where the bus go, (anywhere in french or in any other language) it is impossible to go wrong with a free bus. A free bus will always take you to a better place. For example, I have taken free buses to hotels, free buses as rail replacements, all taking me close to where I wanted to be. This one turned out to go to a metro station. It took me to a better place just like it had in the past. My advice; always take a free bus.
The night sitting in an overnight train took it toll and the night before sleeping in the tent did not help either. There was no time for sleeping with all the travelling. A double expresso delayed the inevitable. I was buzzing. The french hotel owner tried to con cash out of us, well sorry french guy no extra money for you. We were given this barely 2 people’s room and he recommended an upgrade by paying extra. I politely declined. It was a rather cozy double bed but again, it is not gay when there is no touching.
Paris did not impress me as much as She did before. Perhaps the novelty had worn off. It was Jesse’s first time here, so I took him to all the major touristy sites. The Sacred Heart, Arch of Triumphant, the Pompidou Exhibition Centre, Pantheon and Luxembourg Gardens were excellent spots. All being free for 25 or under, which luckily I still qualify for. We were low on cash. Our budget did not account for the surcharges for all of the night trains. We knew we had to pay for some night trains, not all. We could only afford baguettes. We survived on 3 Euros a meal with a baguette sandwich but beer was always budgeted for.
Above is the Centre Georges Pompidou is one of my favourite places in Paris. I liked the modern art and the blend with some exquisite pre-Raphaelite work which really inspired me in a way that would be difficult to describe.
Actually, it was free and I liked some of the installations, thought provoking. My understanding of art was to create an emotional response about the piece.
Jesse asked me, ‘It is the journey or the destination that you live for?’ “Wow, that’s deep.” I replied. He said that I gave the impression that I am always for the journey, perhaps it was my laidback attitude. After about a 10 seconds pause when various flashback reminded me of myself. “Destination, every time.”
Jesse preferred the journey then I asked him is it the fear of the destination that was keeping him on the journey. Then he answered my question with another question, what if the destination was not the destination you want? I answered his question with an answer. The destinations which I find myself in were decided by a combinations of choices. Some choices are made by me or made for me. If I decided the choices which I could, combined with the choices made for me then that would lead to the destination I want. It is that simple. I followed my answer with a question, Where are you going with your Journey?
An in-depth conversation continued and minutes passed. Eventually I understood Jesse’s reasons for the journey. He continued his journey and I arrived at my destination.
OktoberFest.
It was Day 1 of the Fest. The beer tents were jam packed. Since we did not turn up at 6 am, there was no space inside a tent. Jesse was losing faith, we might struggle for a beer ironically in a beer festival. I said to him, I will get you a beer in this festival, this destination included a beer. We spotted an empty bench outside a beer tent. It wasn’t till later that we found that we have to wait till noon for a beer anyway. Jesse wanted to move in his quest for a beer. But I had to refocus him that the destination for the beer was here. The journey was going to be tough, it was going to be a long worthwhile wait.
See the result below.
The beers was costly @ 9Euro/Litre but refreshingly great. It was the atmosphere that really made the festival worthwhile. The anticipation that came with the first day of the festival set the mood for everyone. The organised drinking began. Periodically, one must raise his/her glass and cheer before drinking. The three beautiful swiss girls improved the visuals and were really friendly to talk to. A true smooth operator like me would ask them to order the drinks for us in German. When the conversation “dried up” I managed to spill half a glass of lemonade onto her. It did restart the conversation somehow. It was an accident to be fair. I couldn’t take all the credit for that. All the cultures were united by a marathon drinking session. There were a lot of Aussies everywhere however I think the true Bavarian character was still somehow retained. A great festival ticked off the to do list.
Note how I fitted in with a checkered shirt. Experienced traveller should wear the appropriate attire in any country. 😀
The picture above was one of my favourite panning moments. The relative counter rotation of the tea cup and the ride itself meant that there a range of synchronous speeds. I was bound to capture something as long as I moved the camera fast.
Good evening Munchen, as the night fell, vomit started to fly. It was time to get out of there. Jonny Foreigners could not hack the drinking from noon. Despite the vomits, day 1 of the Oktoberfest was an unique atmosphere. The epic Europe trip continued. Then on to “the midnight train to anywhere…..” Paris to be precise. “It goes on and on and on and on…..” This was mainly to do with having solid 90 degrees upright seats instead of a sleeper train. Always take the bed option. If I could have one advice for night trains.
Every part of Munchen demonstrated the term ‘German efficiency’. Everything seemed to have that discipline, like the whole place would just clean itself. The weather was glorious. I ate a currywurst for breakfast. It was good but could be better by eating a lot more.
My German was pretty bad. I tried to learn it for 1 year, a decade ago. The difficulty of travelling without knowledge of the local lingo was clear. As I recalled how I got by most foreign countries through pointing at food or random menu options. My luck in that had been great in the sense that the worst food I had on my travels was the meal that gave me food poisoning but I was pretty sure that I did not order that. Then closely followed by the mongolian pastry with lamb lard, that got me, got me good.
Germany was about the beer. Beer halls, beer garden and the Oktoberfest, which was like a beer festival. They must have been pretty drunk to hold this festival in September. Out of all the festivals planned, this was the most exciting one and we arrived to Munchen as planned.
Beer Hall looked quite intimidating. Perhaps, just not knowing the etiquette was putting me off. There was a lot of noise, we settled on a relatively quieter street side beer for our daily beer.
A beer garden in the interestingly named “The English Garden” with an oriental structure. Must be the drunk again when creating this park. It was a really nice park until a continental man exposed himself, just so not British. Crazy continental Europeans nudist….
For the night in Munchen, we checked into Wien’s Camp (Party Camp), apparently where the party was at. I never felt so old or out of place before. I never thought I was ever ‘into’ that anyway. The tent was spacious, apparently you can fit 4 people into it. Again bromantically speaking, its all good as long as there is no touching.
The ground was so cold, and without a sleeping mat, or sleeping bag, it was freaking freezing. The travel light with no sleeping bag decision was a bad one in the end. I was wearing a jacket, hoodie, 2 x t-shirts (one clean and one not so clean) and two pair of trousers, again one clean and one not so clean. I slept on my left arm to keep my core body away from the ground. It took me a lot time to regain some circulation there in the morning. Sorry buddy you weren’t born on the right side. I will never sleep in a tent without a sleeping bag again.
Day 2 in Krakow. The time in Poland reached the midway as quickly as the end. Krakow city centre took about two days to explore with some time to spare. During that time, we had an epic sh*t head battle which I lost pretty heavily in what was essentially a game of chance. Personally my favourite travelling game is Carcassone where I learnt that in Nepal. Sh*t head is a close second because it is an easy game to teach. The book of choice for this trip was “Alice in QuantumLand”. It was good to read about quantum physics because it challenged what conventional physics or logic which broadens my horizons, kicked back, sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time. Little to know the wheel of fortune was about to turn later at night.
Sometimes how a single moment of intervention could define an outcome. Jesse and I waited for the train. However it turned out to be a train that was never going to arrive on the platform. Jesse was leading the trip in Poland. I asked him to checked the information. He said “I have it covered”. He disappeared for almost 10 minutes and returned with a grin of his face as if he misbehaved like a school child. I asked, “Are you sure we are in the right platform?” “I THINK so.” Jesse replied. The confidence rapidly deteriorated as the time was running out and our way out of Poland was nowhere to be seen. We sprinted to the information board realised that T4 did not mean platform 4 (We were in Platform 2). The actual platform number was 9. Needless to say, we ran.
I was less than impressed. I calmly explained that the importance of taking the right train. How you need to know where the train will take you. He interrupted with a quiet Jesse voice, “I bought you some chocolate”. It turned out that Jesse saw the information board, took a picture on his mobile phone and queued for some chocolate. That was his “had it covered” in the ideal Jesse world. Predictably, I again calmly explained that chocolate would only satisfy needs that were not real. Reality was to catch the right train. I had to snap him out of his inception of his emotional needs which only desired for chocolate, to remind him why we were in a train station and to catch the train that will take us to the right place.
Eventually, “Thank you for the chocolate, Jesse.”
We were waiting for a train to Bohemia, I thought that place only existed in fairy-tales.
Tram in Krakow.
I like taking pictures at night because the ambience is difference. The longer shutter time improves the panning effect. Panning is a technique where the camera moves to track the movement of an object. The low light made the pictures less clear. I like that. I like trams too as shown by the picture. I was actually devising a new panning technique with the zoom. It is quite simple really, first stand in front of the moving tram, zoom in from the start of the pan and as the tram move closer to you, zoom out during the shutter opening while trying to keep a spot focused, then jump out the way of the tram. The concept is sound but execution could be a bit risky. Please don’t try this innovative pan, it could be dangerous, with moving trams or trains etc.
We had a coffee in Vienna.
Vienna train station, not much to say here, as we were waiting for the train to Munchen. Perhaps we should have added Wien into the itinerary as it looked really interesting. It will be a destination for the future.
Adventures of Delboy 