Tokyo

A deliberate visit to Tokyo with the purpose of syncing up with a friend who happened to be passing through Japan. Turns out another mate also was in Tokyo the same weekend, so it made the trip even more worth while. Still haven't figured out the best way to travel to Japan, again it was the red eye in Haneda, which given the proximity to the centre of Tokyo and Akasaka made traveling much less of a pain than a trip into Narita. That being said, disappointment would soon subside upon hearing the news that Tomita of Ramen Head fame had opened up a Narita Branch. I'll have to make the journey to Narita at some point.

Leisurely trip with a good mix of eating, sleeping and hanging out. Actually, I retract that, I ate way too much. The first day was the most productive: Managed to check out the new Fish Markets and caught the tail end of the tuna auctions, wandered Team Lab, sampled a colleague's favourite ramen joint, dinner with friends, dessert degustation, baseball batting cages, 1 Oak followed by some late night Ichiran. The second day, was mostly eating.

Currently reading: "When Breath Becomes Air"

Another one

4 pm, 6 employees stand and leave the office. It's quite the movement and draws attention from around the office. The crew, contains a spread of key personnel from the company, not enough for key-man risk, but definitely enough to leave a gap. It's the second trip with colleagues. A motley crew of travellers with a weekend trip away the target.

Our flight is delayed an hour at Hong Kong International Airport, and the knock-on-effect is followed by a meaty 40 minute immigration line in Taoyuan Airport. We clear customs, find our driver and check into our hotel by 11 pm. An ex-colleague (Yan the man) meets us, 20 minutes later, his flight was almost 1 hour after ours'. 7 hours door to door, which is counter to the initial reason why we selected Taipei. In any case, we hit Tonghua Night Market for 30 minutes of frenetic eating followed by a couple of drinks around the area. Coincidentally bump into Kyall, it's a small world.

Current reading "More Money Than God"

Pander Panda

We've come to that age where a casual dinner is no longer enough to mark a birthday or farewell. Given the accessibility and access to more disposable income it's not uncommon for milestones to be used an excuse to travel and explore. Traveling forges new memories and reinforces friendships through new adventures and experiences. Chengdu, the Sichuan capital, famous for the apothegm, "Chengdu, can do" and the home of the giant Panda would be the next destination.

Chengdu is a destination that is not high on people's traveling lists with the question of "Why are you going to Chengdu?" being the most common question. The natural answer was of course "Chengdu? For Pandas and hotpot of course!" which meant we had to see pandas and have hotpot.

Due to the last minute nature of the trip and the unintentional coincidence with Mid-Autumn Festival this turned out to be quite a costly trip. We secured flights from Hong Kong to Chengdu for 4200 HKD, corporate rates at the Ritz Carlton for 1200 HKD and a half day tour at the Wolong Panda Club for 3000 HKD.

The first evening was spent carousing Chengdu's own Lan Kwai Fong. Unfortunately the rain and the national holiday meant that the scene was a little weak, none the less, we found late night dumplings, headed to Jellyfish and found ourselves in the psuedo-projects of the Poly Centre which still kept us out until 4 am.

Saturday morning 8:35 am we were greeted by our friendly driver/host who was assigned to give us a tour of the Wolong Panda Club. The astronomical prices (400 USD) for the panda club included entry into the reserve as well as the rare chance to dress up as a surgeon and take a photo with a panda cub. Upon arrival (we were late), we were immediately whisked to an aluminium bench where were we given protective gear and asked to line up 6 others.

The panda was brought out from his enclosure and propped up against the bench. Not the most natural environment but I assume pandas find human furniture just as comfortable. We were issued the following instructions "You can touch him, just don't touch his face" and then the procession started, the cub was busying himself with carrot sticks as the attendant screamed out "next person", each person shuffled in next to the camera took a photo before the attendant screamed "next person" with a sense of urgency that was not reflected on the cub. It lasted 20 seconds. The cutest panda. Over. What a quick but fun experience! The highlight!

The rest of the trip was spent exploring Jinli Street and devouring Sichuan food. So. Spicy. So. Good.

Currently reading "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman!"

Phuket

Third weekend of travel, desperate for rest and relaxation and the company that are heading to Phuket are a bunch of old friends that I haven't been collectively together since I left Sydney at the start of this blog. Cannot wait to see everybody. Managed to finally use up the final day of carry-over annual leave.

Shanghai - Stag

Typical of most stag weekends, there's not a whole lot of photo evidence. Going through my phone, there's only two pictures that were taken over the course of this weekend (See below). Thankfully enough, the memories are still fresh in my mind. I arrive into Shanghai conscious of the delays that plague most PRC airports. The last time I was in Shanghai, my flight was delayed by over 4 hours - today, taking a midday flight, it's a little better. 

This trip into Shanghai would be slightly different to the last few visits, the groom has a friend from Shanghai who has organised everything. Golf, Go-karting, local cuisine which all come together for a memorable 'last hurrah' for the groom-to-be. 

The holiday formerly known as the wedding

It comes as no surprise that a significant portion of my travel is dictated by weddings. It's a lovely excuse to travel and meet up with friends and family at sometimes new and exciting destinations. The Easter Long weekend was to be the celebration of a friend tying the knot to his partner of eight years. Alas, this was not to be the case. Months before the wedding, the bride called it off leaving the groom with a wedding reservation and a whole lot of questions and what ifs.

Overcoming the initial disappointment, he rallied those who had booked flights and accommodation and hosted a reunion party gathering friends from London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. Dragon Air recently introduced a direct flight to Da Nang from Hong Kong, the upside was that there would be no brutal layover in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, the downside was that it departed at 7:50 Hong Kong time. It would only be fitting that a red eye flight be taken in order to see London friends. The Visa process in Da Nang was something that could only be described as chaos. No system, no procedure, but 45 USD later we each had a Vietnam Visa and were soon speeding off to the Intercontinental to see the groom.

The groom was in high spirits, the honeymoon suite was (as you expect) exquisite and he had ordered a huge spread of food for our arrival. We would make three trips to Hoi An, each time feasting on the delicious Banh Mi and sampling the delicious local food. New and old faces and an epic night on the evening that was supposed to be...

Thirty, too!

The problem, with not immediately blogging events is that, you forget details. I've been trying to catch up on the events of the year and admit that the 2014 Nudierun accounts aren't exactly "realtime". So, as I go through what looks like an endless list of "draft" post I can see for this entry titled "Shanghai" that the prompts I left myself are "Birthday weekend" and "lightning storms"; they do little to stimulate the writing.

So, here goes, from what I remember, this was the celebration of Lewis' Birthday in Shanghai. It has been over 10 years of knowing Lewis. In fact one of the first conversations I had with him was when we were in our early twenties. The conversation went something like this "Hi, I'm Lewis", "Hi, I'm Derek", "I'm twenty", I'm twenty-two", "Oh, me as well, I'm twenty too". We had a laugh and I would never forget the age gap. Fast forward now, and 5 days ago, Lewis had surprised everybody by proposing that his 30th Birthday be celebrated in Shanghai. On a last-minute whim we booked our flights and hotels and headed to Shanghai.

So, that's the first prompt. The Birthday Weekend. Second prompt. I had arranged to fly from Hong Kong to Shanghai at 9:15 pm, scheduled to arrive at 11:40 pm. The plan was to meet the first group of people who had flown in the night before as well as the 7:15 plane earlier than me. It just so happened, that the weather wasn't going to let that happen. An evening of severe lightning storms had  all incoming planes in holding zones and outgoing planes backed up and delayed for hours.

I boarded the Dragon Air flight at 9:00 pm and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for the next two and half hours. By the time I finally arrived at the Astoria, it was 3 am. The earlier flight had been also significantly delayed and those who had arrived the night earlier were obviously drunk from all the waiting and preparation. Thankfully, Hollywood provided a haven for those looking to revel past 3 am. We stayed out and eventually called it quits at 7 am. We were shocked as we left the venue, not by the early rising locals walking their dogs but by the clearly anachronistic group of people still lining up to get into the club. It was a long weekend.

"I'm thirty, too!" - Lewis

Back to where it all started: Kaohsiung

T8 in Shanghai

It turns out touch football has quite the following in Asia. The migration of antipodean expats has expanded throughout the region with a large percentage of the major cities running domestic leagues. As a result, the governing bodies have put together and Asian Touch Rugby circuit, where teams fly to different destinations in attempt to win the country title and claim bragging rights for the year. These annual tournaments are held in Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok and even Hong Kong.

As a new joiner to the T8 Touch Team I was both flattered and thrilled to be invited to play in the upcoming Shanghai International Touch Tournament. The reality was, they were short players and it was an excuse to tell people the reason for traveling was to participate in an "international touch rugby tournament".

By the time we had landed in Shanghai, cleared Chinese Customs and checked into the hotel it was already time for bed. It's an odd feeling to be taking a Friday after work flight and going straight to bed. Most weekend trips have a set routine, after work flight, check into hotel, and head out to experience the local nightlife. It was one weekend, where we were trying to be athletes. No alcohol through out the week, calculated carbohydrate loading and going to sleep early.

The hotel we stayed in was less than desirable. Many team mates complained of cigarette infused bed sheets and the incredibly thin walls. The 6 am wake up call and strange "Continental Breakfast" interpretation solidified the fact that we would forfeit our second night's stay and look for a more appropriate abode. After a rushed breakfast we jumped into a minibus and were soon on our way to the rugby club for the tournament. The sun was out and the weather was amazing, a perfect day for sport.

For a lot of us, it was the first time playing together and the lack of cohesion was obvious. We were pooled in group A, and came out with 1-3-1 record. Despite feeling a little disappointed with our performance, we had adrenaline surging through the body which delayed the soreness and stiffness that would eventually arrive. We sat down in the cafeteria after the group stages and treated ourselves to a feed. Pizzas, pies, hamburgers, fries and beer. It was then when somebody ran in screaming "T8! We're in the shield semi-finals! All the teams are waiting for us to field a team!". We booted up and ran onto the field in a semi-dazed state only to lose in the semi-final by one point.

The rest of the trip was spent exploring the city, changing hotels and consuming a lot of dumplings. So. Many. Dumplings. Excellent trip with a nice balance of activity and debauchery.

The Gang head to Taipei

Weddings aside, it's rarity that the Australians and the Texan steal away for a holiday. In fact, over the course of my Hong Kong stay we have managed to travel a total of two times; both for weddings. Considering that we as a group spend so much time together here in Hong Kong and that we always have a great time overseas it was decided that we should try to arrange a non-wedding trip somewhere in Asia. To avoid problems with annual leave and destinations it was decided to travel somewhere close. Taipei.

The funny thing is, this trip went from a initial group size of eight to final number of twenty two people.

Hanoi

This post has been sitting in the drafts folder for over a month which explains the inactivity of my Blog. It had been over 5 years since I was last in Vietnam - it was one of the more enjoyable sections of my 3 months around Asia. The details of this trip would be a little different. For one it would be significantly shorter, a weekend as opposed to an entire month. Secondly, the locale would be different. North Vietnam, Hanoi as opposed to Saigon.

Flying out on the Friday night we stayed two nights at the Hanoi Sofitel Metropole an exquisitely fashioned hotel with a French Colonial flavour. Food wise, I found Hanoi a little disappointing, especially compared to the delicacies of Saigon, Da Lat and Nha Trang. (Although, this was probably more a case of not knowing where to eat). Night life was good without being outstanding and we were overwhelmed by the multicultural representation at the local haunts: Press Club, The Red Room, Tay Ho Hotel and Phuc Tan.

Sour note, experienced dramas with (temporary) missing peoples and aggressive Taxi Drivers, other than that, an excellent trip where we managed to check out the following:

Snake Village - served King Cobra blood and meat.

Hoa Lo Prison aka The Hanoi Hilton.

Sofitel Metropole

Unfortunately missed out on the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum as well as Halong Bay - I might just have to go back!

Springbreak

Milestone #1. First Trip in Asia