LAX: The first stop

Having survived the subcontinent for the "reset" phase of my gardening, it's time to head to the Americas for the "fun" part of my gardening. The dynamics of supply and demand have resulted in astronomical flight prices for direct flights to the US . As a result, we've had to fly indirectly to Los Angeles. First stop, Taipei. Second, stop Los Angeles, California. 

I've been looking forward to this trip, as it's been over 3 years since this group of people have been together. People living in Puerto Rico, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, Toronto and Hong Kong. Really good first stop in LA, Comedy store (saw Craig Robinson), some Mexican food, walked around West Hollywood, Farmers Markets at the Grove, lamb at Mother Wolf, Musso and Frank.

Gardening begins

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about starting my very first gardening period. There is something about being paid not to work just feels nice. Although it's not the entire 3 months, I still count the 10 weeks as as close to awesome as it gets. The downside is that I would have liked more time in the first destination, but grateful to have this opportunity. 

Leaving the office I head home and pack my bag only to head to the airport for my 8:30 pm flight. It's Wednesday evening and the flight is pretty empty, I'm probably the only non-Indian on this flight. I sleep most of the trip, and 5 hours later I've arrived in Delhi just before Midnight. My (now ex) colleagues recommended I get a cheap hotel room at the airport and sleep, I decide against it, more in the interests of cost and also I just don't trust myself to wake up in 4 hours. 

I have 6 hours to waste before a domestic flight onwards to the final destination. I exit the international airport, hot air and crowds greet me as I move to the domestic departure terminal. Here we go.

First Stop: Aguas Calientes

"You're crazy, you will be flying for two days, just to spend a week in Peru" - was the reaction from most people after I told them I had decided to go to Peru for a week. For the record, it would be five days of annual leave, three days of flying/transiting, six days in Peru and 36 hours in Los Angeles. I couldn't think of a better way to spend ten days away from work.

Friday 29th - 12:55 pm: I board the flight in Hong Kong and start the 14 hour leg to LAX. Here. We. Go.

Friday 29th - 10:50 am: Arrive in LA, I didn't really sleep on the flight. Mental note, do not order the Oriental Vegetarian meal again. I check the clock, it's currently 4:50 am in Hong Kong, I've been awake for 21 hours. Is my timezone math even correct? I retrieve my luggage, grab a burrito and wait for my flight to Lima.

Friday 29th - 14:00 pm: I have been awake for 24 hours, I board the LATAM flight in LAX and start the 8 hour and 30 min flight to Lima. Drats. Middle seat, I finally dooze off.

Saturday 30th - 00:45 am: Arrive in Lima, retrieve my luggage and check into the connecting flight, charge my phone, waiting for the last leg.

Saturday 30th - 05:00 am: Board the flight to Cusco

Saturday 30th - 06:10 am: Cusco. I can't believe I'm here.

Touchdown! I retrieve my luggage (for the last time) and find myself exiting the arrival area only to be met by a sea of tour operators waving signs in my face.I scan the ocean of signs looking for my name. "Derek?" I see a Peruvian lady motion towards me. I wonder how she knows that it's me. Oh right, I'm the only Asian guy in the arrivals area.

We hop into a car and she gives me a run down of the next 48 hours. She leaves me with the driver and I start my adventure from Cusco, through to Urubamba, finally at Ollantaytambo. There's a lot of awkward Spanish/English conversation. Immediately I'm floored by the beauty of the country side, as we stop along the way for the odd commentary and photo opportunity. The driver bids farewell and I wait for the train to Aquas Calientes. Not being able to communicate with the driver makes you feel, this big. Next time I do this, I need to make sure I take a one month crash course in Spanish.

I think I've been sitting down for too long - my lower back hurts. Actually, now that I think about it, in the last 48 hours I've probably been sitting down for at least 45 of those hours. Meanwhile, the train ride is absolutely stunning, snow capped peaks, lush greenery, I am really growing found of trains. Choo Choo!

Saturday 30th - 5 pm: First destination. Aguas Calientes, I have an early dinner followed by a much needed massage.

Saturday 30th - 7 pm: I sleep. My hotel room has a Jacuzzi.

Tokyo + Halloween + Stag

Passed the exam. There's a certain satisfaction in not having to read through the material and instead jump on a flight to Tokyo for 24 hours. Ended up talking the 1 am flight on Saturday morning arriving in Tokyo at 6 am local time. Mental note, try to avoid this flight time at all costs.

I arrived into Narita with just a backpack, toiletries and the clothes on my back. The direct bus to Roppongi shuttled me into Tokyo in a short amount of time and I was checking in at 8:30 am. The Whatsapp group was littered with activity up until 7:40 am. Either they had a quiet night in or they had a late night back. Given this assemble it was highly probable that they have only retired to their hotels within the last hour.

Turns out, one person was awake, not awake early, but rather, still awake. It was was a friend who had flown in from New York and with my freshness and his jet lag, we hit up Tsujiki fish markets for breakfast. Checked into the room and heading straight to lunch and kick started the buck's party. What would follow would be a romp around Shibuya dressed up as Street Fighter characters and the buck dressed as a lone Chun Li. The Halloween romp was followed by a group dinner before we retreated to the hotel to reassemble for the club.

Headed back to the hotel to drop off some water before heading to Agaha. Only to fall asleep. I wake up propped up against my bed with a million messages along the same line "Where are you?", "Wake up", "Get here now". It was 4 am, I had flown in for one night and managed to sleep through the entire evening. I pulled myself out of bed to meet up with more stragglers at 6 am for some morning sushi. What a whirlwind 24 hours in Tokyo.

Sydney

I have a break between jobs! Exactly one week worth of doing nothing. As much as I would like to spend that time in Hong Kong catching up on errands (think: going to the tailor, fixing the halogen lights in my bedroom, getting new bedsheets, buying a vacuum cleaner, buying some new kitchenware, eliminating the light pollution from my bedroom, relaxing, the list goes on ... ); my mind raced through the endless possibilities. I entertained the usual destinations: Malaysia, Thailand or Korea. With the standard agendas: eat, sleep and yoga. However a recent trip from my dad convinced me that it would be nice to return to Sydney and decompress on home soil. With the help of CX Fanfares I managed to pick up some opportune flights back to Sydney (only 4400 HKD return).

3 days in Sydney. Mom had time off due to recent eye surgery and it presented a good opportunity to hang with the family. It was exactly what I needed. Cool, early Spring weather. Great food: hotpot at home, Sydney Cafe, Butter Sydney Fried Chicken, food court Sushi and Pho An. Lots of sleep and the recalibration of my body clock. Shopping for bedding, sports equipment and kitchenware. Physical activities, walking, (double) yoga and my first float. But most importantly some quality family time.

Currently reading: "Four Hour Chef"

Singapore

First opportunity to travel with my current work to Singapore of all places. Now as I sit going through the receipts accumulated over the 4 day trip, I wonder if it was actually necessary to be eating 6 times a day. The breakdown of my expenses are as follows: Taxi, breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, taxi, dinner, supper and so forth. Not too sure what the Finance department will say when they see my 11 pm order of Nasi Goreng and a Milo Dinosaur.

Actually, the purpose of the trip other than to justify the new campus was to promote the brand of the separate departments. Highlights include, Client Management winning the trade fair, me being selected to stage a 'question' for the APAC CEO and the campus buffet.

Vietnam

Sometime, throughout the course of the year my then, (ex) Employer changed the the Annual Leave policy. The new rules stated that come December 31st the maximum number of days that could be rolled over into the new year could not exceed 5 days. All days in excess of this number would be forfeit, without any compensation. This new mandate saw the Q4 period become a pseudo holiday period with employees scheduling leave for the sake of reducing their total leave. This new policy was of course two-fold. To prevent employee burnout but more importantly, reduce the overhead of employee payouts should employment termination ever come into the fray.

I had pencilled in leave immediately after the work Christmas Party and had planned to join some friends in Vietnam for a few days. In hindsight, I wish I had booked a longer trip...

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City early Saturday night. Hong Kong had only this week dropped below the 20 degrees Celsius mark and the warm South-East Asian Saigon climate was unexpected. My friends were asleep, it was 6 pm. They had experienced their first night in Ho Chi Minh, namely Apocalypse Now, a local haunt that catered to expats and local revellers until the early hours. The recount of Rooftop bars, Magnums of Belvedere and foreigner-filled bars corresponded with zeal of their greetings, or lack thereof. That night we indulged in a steaming bowl of Pho (30,000 VND ~1.50 AUD) and headed to Lush, a cigarette fumed club. So it began, the following four days we literally ate and snoozed our way around Vietnam.

A short flight to Da Nang, and we arrived at base camp, the Hyatt Regency (we squeezed them for a free upgrade). Here we stole naps by the pool, in the car, in the hotel, anywhere we could really. We lazed by the pool, participated in daily yoga, sat in the sauna and made the occasional day trip to Hoi An and Hue. We consumed cakes, donuts, all-you-can-eat breakfasts, Hoi An Chicken Rice, Pho, Bun Bo Hue, Cafe Su Da, until our pours oozed fish sauce and mint.

Excellent trip - four days of not having to worry about being an unemployed 30 year old. I wonder if I can work in Vietnam?

Currently reading: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Niseko

Hong Kong, the orphaned child adopted by British parents only to have the biological parents claim her back as an adolescence. The fusion of Western upbringing and Chinese heritage means that Hong Kong lends traditions from both cultures; best exemplified by the annual public holiday calendar. In total, Hong Kong has seventeen public holidays. Easter, Buddha's Birthday, Queen's Birthday, Christmas and of course Chinese New Year.

The first three days of Chinese New Year are public holidays, which means two days of annual leave equates to nine days off work. It also makes it a very popular time to travel for people in Hong Kong with locals wanting nothing more than to escape Hong Kong during the beginning of the lunar year. With this in mind a group of eighteen decided to head over to Japan for a nine day romp in snowy Niseko, Sapporo.

Despite having the foresight to book almost eight months in advance, we still only managed an indirect flight to Sapporo costing almost 10,000 HKD for a return flight. The first night was spent in quaint Sapporo where we raged into the early hours of the morning at A-life Sapporo. 8 am the following day we caught a private van to the village of Hirafu, Niseko. So. Much. Snow. What would follow was eight days of powder, snowboarding, getting stuck in waist-deep snow and plenty of sore muscles.

It snowed continuously for the first eight days and on our final day we were greeted by blue skies and excellent conditions. Highlights include, the Americans celebrating Australia Day while the Australians slept. The delicious but sodium enriched Japanese food; nothing beats a bowl of steaming Ramen after getting off the slopes. Watching the NFL conference finals. Watching a montage of Robyn "Call Your Girlfriend" youtube clips. Me, losing my phone on the slopes.  Us sitting in the Jacuzzi at the end of each day while we licked our wounds sipping on snow-chilled beers. Me, constantly being told by the group to get a bell for around my neck (I always got lost). Going through Blueberry and Strawberry fields, wow. The minus 20 degrees temperature at the top of the mountain. The group yoga sessions. And of course, the excellent company and countless laughs shared.

Can you tell me how to get ....

Hong Kong is one unbelievably efficient city. The city's public transport system hums like a well-oiled machine with tires, tracks and engines purposefully pumping people around Hong Kong like blood through the arteries. I would go as far as saying that Hong Kong is spoilt with transport options. Trains, buses, mini-buses, private cars, ferries, trams, the trusty Crown Comfort Taxi and finally not forgetting that there's a bloody escalator pushing pedestrians up and down a mountain; like a factory conveyor belt. It comes as no surprise, that it takes less than 50 minutes from sitting at my office desk to be sitting outside the Gate 22 of Hong Kong International Airport waiting to board my flight.

My first time to Jakarta. Reminds me a little of Malaysia. The best thing about it all is that they have an abudnace of US food chains: Kenny Rogers, Krispy Kremes and Dunkin' Donuts; Junk food I've sorely missed.

Part of the reason to visit is because I've never been, but also to visit a close university friend and his young family. It's his daughter's first Birthday and all the Hong Kong uncles were making a stop over for the Sesame Street themed gig. As with most weekend trips, this would include the regulatory weekend nightlife exploration: Blowfish, Stadium and Immigration some of the local haunts we headed to. It's a strange feeling to have a friend tell you he needs to go home because he "needs to wake up early to look after his daughter" and it becomes more apparent when there's two of you sitting outside the hotel vomiting in front of the security guards. The real juxtaposition is the Saturday morning, balloons, cakes, giant cut out Seasame Street figures, mothers, screaming kids and us; a bunch of hungover uncles. That period of my life just seems so far away.

"Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Seasame Street?"

Last stop: Phnom Penh

We were all slightly dubious about the estimated travel time between Siem Reap and Phnom. 'Around 6 hours' we were told. Around? Was this determined by the traffic? Dependent on the weather? None of the above, it was invariably down to the number of people climbing on and off along the way.

To our surprise the bus we had boarded was rammed with Cambodians and not the expected clientele of backpackers and tourists. Every now and then the bus would pull to the side and grind to a halt. Somebody might get on, somebody might get off. This explains why we were only given an "approximate" trip time. The drive itself was very enjoyable - the scenery was exceptional and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through the countryside. Our bus finally arrived in Phnom Penh at 9 pm on Friday 5th.

Earlier that morning I had learnt that my Hong Kong Visa had finally been approved! As expected, this news disappointed me as I was secretly hoping that I could spend more time travelling abroad. I needed to be back in Hong Kong on the Monday to start work on the Tuesday. With a definite end point to this trip I braced myself for my final weekend on the road. Also after 2 weeks of glorious weather ominous clouds rolled into Phnom Penh and the heavens opened. Symbolic perhaps?

Phnom Penh Itinerary

Spent one evening around Sisowath Quay aka 'The riverside'. Plenty of pubs and restaurants although it didn't strike me as anything terribly exciting, again definitely geared towards tourists. While wandering the streets we saw a pretty brutal fight involving a couple of Antipodeans. For our only full day in Phnom Penh we hired Cheng a Taxi Driver for 40 USD who would drive us around to the various sites in town.

Tuol Sleng, the Genocide museum.

Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields.

Psah Thmay, Central Markets.

The National Museum of Cambodia and the Royal Palace as well as a sneaky meal of KFC

(The food is starting to get repetitive).

For an additional 20 USD Cheng was kind enough to entertain us in the evening. We were treated to a nice local restaurant, as well as a live Variety Show, complete with Cambodian Boy Bands and on stage dramas with transvestite lead actors and Platinum the local club scene. The end of the night we gave him an extra 10 USD so that he could find a place to stay the night instead of heading back to his village.

We left Cambodia the following morning with majority of the party heading back to Kuala Lumpur. It was at KL where I left them and headed back to Hong Kong. What an extremely fast two weeks. Hong Kong. Go!

End Point

I distinctly remember leaving Sydney with the mandate to try Hong Kong out until the beginning of May. By 'try' I had intentions to see if Asia required somebody with my skill-set. This seemed like a reasonable plan, and if after 6 weeks there was zero interest in my resume I told myself (and others) that I would attend the wedding and simply return to Australia and resume life in Sydney. I secretly knew that this wasn't really an option.

So, now it is May and I've not much to report. The market has been extremely slow. A far cry from my first few weeks in London where interviews were constant and consistent! I think this contrast is part of the reason why I still remain here, determined to set myself up in Hong Kong. To this date I have had zero interviews with companies and I'm starting to feel like I've outstayed my friend's couch. As strange as that sounds I find the lack of interviews re-assuring. The general feedback I've received from recruiters is that my resume will definitely provoke interest and that I just need to exercise a little patience as the market was "unusually" slow right. So enough about my situation and back to the main post topic, the wedding.

It has been over 5 years since I was last in Taipei and it still remains one of my favourite Asian Destinations. Friendly people, excellent food and an overall great vibe - not a lot has changed. Despite being here before I was secretly excited to spend the weekend in Taiwan. Firstly it would be the first family gathering since my Grandma's funeral and I couldn't wait to see Aunts, Uncles and immediate family from Australia. Secondly, the two getting married (my cousin and his fiancee) helped me a lot while I was in London and I owe them so much for the way my London Experience panned out.

The wedding itself was traditional, intimate and a lovely ceremony. I was, by default the best man, by tradition, the definition, an unmarried male from representing the Groom's side. Wonderful time, excellent food and a renewed vigor to get back to Hong Kong to set myself up!