852

So today marks my one year of being in Hong Kong to mark this day I thought I'll pop onto blogger to answer and share a few questions people have asked me over the year about life and experiences here - as per usual non too personal.

Going to another country for a 'longer-than-a-holiday" time period.
My first advice would be, prepare everything and give yourself enough time to. I left myself about a fortnight to get my act together and prepare myself to go somewhere in which I won't easily return for a period of time that I wasn't sure of (to answer questions - I'm still unsure of how long that will be). Now in terms of preparing yourself this breaks down into a lot of categories;

Emotional preparation is key as you need to accept that you won't be back for a long time, I spent a good chunk of my time in the UK visiting family and friends dear to me as I never knew when I would see them again, even to this day it breaks my heart about how I selfishly moved away, so before making the decision of moving for a long time ask yourself seriously if it's really what you want.

Financial preparation, this is standard procedure, ensure you have enough to last you and ensure that you have a safety to enable you to go back to where you started. After all if it's hard for you to leave, you don't want to have the mistake of not being able to return should you want and/or need to. Tying up loose ends is also a good thing to do, ensure you have enough left over to pay any outstanding direct debits should you find yourself tied to contracts, I know this maybe an obvious point but sometimes it's the most obvious that you'll leave out. This also goes across the board for any contracts/legal documents/business related issues, make sure that they're all cleared for you to leave for whatever the time period it is that you're going for, it's a bigger hassle trying to organise such important issues across different timezones (not to mention being on hold for hours whilst paying an overseas surcharge)

Belongings preparation, pack things to remind you of where you came from, things that you hold dear to your heart. At the same time you can't take everything so you need to think wisely about this. You'd want to go out and pick up a few things (backups) of items you can't live without especially if they're not easily accessible where you're going to. The worst thing you want to do is be in a panic situation and not have a clue where to find these items, neither if the products from the foreign companies are trustworthy, different countries have different consumer standards so if it's important than stock up on things that you trust and know.

Physical preparation, like my last point, if you have any health issues you'd want to go get medication and check up in a hospital and/or with a doctor you know and trust, foreign countries also have different health standards and systems in which you may not be familiar with. Dependant on where you'll be travelling to there could be health issues you may need to be assessed for, including vaccinations should you need any - after all if you're planning on staying for a long time you would want to make sure you'll still be alive when you come back (touchwood).

Attitude preparation, just because you've spent a long time in one country and things work well for you it doesn't go to say that they will all work smoothly in another, keep an open and positive mind, stay curious, and of course be humble. After all you are part of the minority now, you should learn to adapt to their culture, I'm not saying you should become one of them, but look past the negative sides of the cultures and embrace the positives they have to offer - you chose to go to the country for a reason didn't you? So don't focus on the negativities, it'll make you homesick and you'll only begin to question your own decision which isn't a good road to go down. Friendliness is key, building a contact base of locals in which will provide you with advice and invaluable knowledge of the area, social skills within reason are essential here.

Little London
Or some of you may refer it to being Hong Kong, this place is rather comparable to London in terms of convenience, in which allows you to be a stones throw away from society, there's a wide variety for food and activities to suit any liking. Lifestyle really does boil down to mentality in which you have the choice to do what you want so long as you feel like it, which in different peoples eyes can be either positives or negatives, it's hot and humid here from time to time, it can also get really chilly, so adapting to climate change and processed air would be essential here, learning to air out your washing properly to avoid the horrifying damp smell as well as finding the perfect deodorant for yourself, tweaking everyday routines and healthcare for climate changes is a minor adaption.

Home
They say your heart is where your home is, in which inevitably is true. Home is within the memories and experiences that we have created and engraved into our hearts. As it has become something we know well it's where we feel at ease, in which is why we feel at 'home'. This doesn't necessarily mean that it is down to the precise neighbourhood you grew up in, because as time goes on the people and the area changes and it wouldn't be the same as you remembered. So home to me, is within my heart, and that will never leave me.

I believe I've covered most topics aside from the touristy questions, but that's all down to individual preferences and tastes so I won't cover that here.

Who knows where I'll be next

with love,

k x

Another day.

A request blog as well as something I've been meaning to blog about anyway:

My guide to you: The Hong Kong Experience.

What can I say to what comes across as a 'highly populated fast paced' city....

Pros being:

Opening / Closing times. Apart from places such like the bank and postal services the majority of the stores, entertainment and restaurants are open until later hours of the day, midnight (in comparison to the UK where stores are closed on ave 6pm, 8/9pm in the capitol / late night shopping) which means aside from going going home eating dinner showering and sleeping (I refer to the full-time 9-5 workers here) or to the pub till 11pm, I'll talk about these later, or to the club. There is a wider variety of activities to do after hours such like late night shopping until midnight, not having to rush to the cinema as the last viewing is at midnight, going to have a round of darts, bowling, eating, kareoke if you fancy it, I'm slowly loosing memory of what there is to offer here but you get the drift. Which would almost guarantee you with a busy lifestyle.

The wide variety of food at affordable prices, even though the majority of Hong Kong's population is that of native Chinese ethnicity, due to the British colonization there's a vast variety of food on offer within Hong Kong, and I'm not just talking about with a large price tag either, $100 (estimated to around 8GBP) is the average for my daily evening meal at restaurants. However you can find yourself some delicious bargain food for as little as $18 noodles from the side streets or $40 for a peppered lunch at the food court which is around the same price as McDonalds, but a million times better!

24/7 Transport to accommodate the needs of passengers, I haven't expressed my love for minibus' enough. Although they can be seen as dangerous as they speed round corners but it's because they're convenient, they cut to the chase and get you places on time whilst having a view of the places around you (as opposed to taking the tube). Which in turn provides you with the opportunity to explore the place you're coming from on the way, and going to. Most of the late night transport I take are via minibus - after clubbing etc, as be warned, the trains stop at midnight. You could be completely badass and stake out till 5am for the first train of course (which I have also done on numerous occasions)

This leads me on to addressing those even more hardcore party-goers. Clubs, and most bars close around 4-5am in which is enough time for you to get those alcohol induced food cravings out the way and be on your way to the train station to drag your tired ass home.

Separate from above but another pro is that many bars, that I know of, are open bar once you are admitted paid entry, perfect for those on a budget and preparing for pre-drinks on the night ahead. Ladies, most weeknights are free entry. Sorry lads, sexism at its best/worst again I suppose if you're taking a girl out you're kind of saving on paying for her too right?

Again as I've touched on before about the British colonization, is that a benefit from that is now the majority and I use that word lightly, have proficient English skills to serve you what you need (you may need to stick to basic English). However unlike other places that I've traveled to (eg. Korea) you wont need to pick up much basic native language skills as I had to there. You may come across a few street menus that have solely Chinese words on them but you can do as I do, eye up people eating and their food.. say you want what they have - if it looks good, you'll then begin to familiarize yourself with a handful of Chinese words you can then use on other Chinese menus.

Random fact: the size of Hong Kong, home to 7 million, is infact the same as London (within M25's radius) which populates around 7.8 million people - The only difference it that Hong Kong's alot more tightly packed so everywhere you go practically feels like oxford street.

The cons:

People, there's so many of them! I do miss how spacious it is in Britain!

People, again, the majority of people here are rather rude and don't seem to have much patience, it's like their life is about to end if they don't get on that train. Let's not forget the next one will arrive in 2-5 minutes.

5.5 days work for those of you considering to move and work out here a 5-day work is considered as a benefit.

Busy schedules lead for empty pockets, be prepared to be aware of your expenditure. You could live a happy life and saving money as you would in the for example Britain, as there's less to do by default you save a lot more - in Hong Kong it's a whole new ball game, if you want to save money you won't be wondering the streets at night.

Disclaimer : this is all in my opinion and my point of view, should you agree or disagree with it. I apologize if this may/may not offend people.

So here's my experience / advice. I will return with another blog in the series of a guide to food / shopping / sights&travelling / clubbing&drinking - that is. If you'd like.

I hope you're all well! I know I say this a lot, I'll get back into blogging soon, and next time with pictures!

love k x

HA-LO-WAI Ocean Park Halloween Special

Looking for something exciting to do this October? Well for you thrill seekers out there you ca always go to your local theme park! I'm not too confident to claim all theme parks but I know that back home Thorpe Park does a "freight night" event, whilst over here at both Ocean Park and Disneyland there's Halloween Specials. What happens in these events are that the theme parks are specially opened longer than the usual trading time in which you can have the experience of late night rides, additionally they open up a few more haunted houses.

Welcome to Ha-Lo-Wai!

We dressed up to go that extra mile for our evening out!
( Zombie makeup tips - apply foundation all over to remove any redness or colouration to your face, then get a dark muddy colour darker than your usual contour, and apply it generously your usual contoured areas, do make sure u slightly blend the edges to finish it neatly! Add fake blood etc if you want )

About the special event itself, the costumes were amazinggggg like you can tell they put way more effort in them in comparison to Thorpe Park, I couldn't take photos in the haunted houses but in some parts I was afraid to walk in, as the interior and makeup on the workers made it look and feel like I was walking into a horror movie. Scare factor was rather low, however the screams mainly came from shock, as people jump out at you from random areas of the mazes, but it is something I would defiantly recommend going to do at least once in a lifetime! After a couple it begins to get repetitive however the workers at the attraction made it that bit more entertaining, I heard that Ocean Park workers are more professional on that part whereas Disneyland runs out on steam but I haven't experienced it personally to say so.

Other than that Happy Halloween!

Disclaimer: I wasn't paid to create this blog via Ocean Park or any of their representatives, however if the people of Ocean Park would like to hire me as a zombie, or send some freebies my way I'd be more than happy to receive them (HEHEHE)

if i asked you would you elope with me?

So recently I learnt that moving somewhere to live wasn't eloping, eloping is to wed someone. As per usual I digress again. So you may or may not me aware that I've moved recently from the capitol to a town/city. Anyway for those looking to visit London, or currently still there here's the things that I will miss from the capitol:

Tinsel Town

First introduced to me by my cousin, which is when I fell in love with their Oreo cookie milk shakes, I don't think you can find anything comparable at 3am! This promptly became a tradition for me an one of my close friend's when they came in to visit

Hi Sushi Salsa

I was initially brought here by my boyfriend at the time, the food is fresh with a choice large choice of sushi (arguably the best affordable quality) as well as sides. A bonus is that they also do a buffet for about £15 a head!

Misato

Amazing food, large portions for affordable prices

Shisha

Cafe East Vietnamese Cuisine

Wasabi Seaweed Unagi
Snog
Arang
Patisserie Valerie
Candy Cafe
Beard Papa this one's no longer available in the uk

Tower Bridge, Namco Views, Canary Wharf

best places I feel for taking a breath and just relaxing and enjoying the views, imo they're best at sunrise/set and

Epsom Downs, Boxhill

Both situated on high ground with amazing views of the night sky and city lights

Camden Town

in this area of London you'd find some extraordinary boutiques, if you look above the shop line you'd also see how shop windows and decorations span further than the eye level. I love how individual and alternative this area is.

Carnaby Street

home to a more urban version of Camden Town, comprising with more

Shoreditch

also known as Brick Lane, home to creatives in london, where you can find little cafe stalls and markets

I've realised it's mainly food

Things/places that you can get elsewhere but not where I am:

Primark

Selfridges

Louis Vuitton

Kareoke

Short trips to Brighton/Bournemouth - sun&moon bathing

Places I wish I went:

Portobello Market

Kew Gardens, Richmond Park

The little things

Well you don't expect for me to wear my heart on my sleeve

Some people like moving around, living in homes temporarily calculating it's stock value whether it will increase or decrease in worth, creating luxurious designer homes only to move onto another shortly after and starting from scratch over again.

I prefer to find somewhere I feel comfortable, where I want to settle and spread my roots as deep as the foundations, that is what I call home.

homes are for living.

Roadkill

If you saw something on the road, like slap bang in the middle of the road and you had nowhere to go as someone's parked on the other side and already assisting them? Sit? Stare? Help? Be the coward. Drive away. Enjoy your sleepless night. And mess up your next day. There's no use regretting now, because once you looked away there was no going back.

Heartless.

Wo Zai Xiang Gang

Wo Zai Wang Jiao

I F"#King Miss This Place x

Snails never move.. they take their homes with them

When you move out... You never really realize what you leave behind;

Being a uni student, naturally you become this.... hermit crab

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You move habitat almost yearly... now I've had my fairshare of 'lodgings' some more memorable than others, but a large selection were luckily for me, clustered in one area (mk)

31 Rolvenden Grove

4 Speldhurst Court

55 Douglas Place

18 Tynemouth Rise

5 Cavan Way
117 Farriers Road

57 Hook Road

9 Fusion Court

27 Avante Court

Thing is, it's not just the memories that you leave behind, it's the people too.

I miss it, I really do... things were so much easier then x

It's MY home too.

About to get evicted, shunned from what I used to call home.

ImeanjustbecauseImovedtogotounidoesn'tnecessarilymeanIwon'tcomeback?

I don't even get nice "how are you?" messages anymore... Anytime you contact me is

"Do you still want your shit?"
"Keeping the table or shall I give it away?"
"Want that plant? You left it to die here anyway"

"I rang you but you didn't pick up................ it was about your books... want them?"

It just... hurts... Everytime I get comfortable somewhere begin to fluff my feathers; We move house. I've got nowhere I can truly call home anymore; there aren't enough memories. How can they be so cold to just throw it all away? I left my clothes / things there on purpose, I thought it'll give them a message that even though I'm at uni, I still live there, I still belong there. Now I need to find space to pile the rest of my things; especially with all the deadlines at uni at the moment... How can I handle that AND moving... worse off is they'll be living at my grandparents leaving me with nowhere comfortable...

I just hate it. HATE IT that you don't respect me, or my things, take what you want and leave the rest to rot along side the trash.

Treat me as your own why don't you

"I want us to be friends" Boxing Day 2009 Bullshit.