The Chinese visa saga

Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

Will get the visa? Won't get the visa? We'll see!

I thought it would be more simple to get the chinese visa in Hong Kong... Faster maybe, but simpler, I'm not sure.

I flew from Sydney to Taipei, then to Hong Kong. Long enough to lose the notion of time. I got in Hong Kong in the morning with the intention of getting my visa during the day.

After some verifications, the office which receive the resquests is close to the hostel. You can walk there (and be hot because of the humidity) in 25 minutes.

Note : the office is open between 2 and 5 PM. Closed on the week-ends (I didn't think of that and we're friday). Closed on April 4th because of a holiday. It doesn't leave me a lot of time since my flight for Shanghai (if I get the visa) leaves on April 5th... The three working days they need to process the visa are starting to scare me a little bit.

Note : we are in Hong Kong. Finding an address is not always easy. But I got there around 3 PM.

I start filling the forms, but oh, misfortune, I don't have the address of the hostel I booked in Shanghai. And I haven't booked anything in the other cities. But I must declare everything.

Got back to my hostel really fast. Booked hostels. Printed proofs. Back very fast to the office, getting lost on the way... Not being sure what I should have answered to some questions. But... those forms are now in the hands of the chinese authorities. Gave them away at 5 PM on the dot. They didn't ask for any photocopy. *sigh*

I'm now without my passport. I will get it on Monday, hopefully with a visa, because I asked for the express treatment. I'm crossing my fingers and every other parts of my body for luck.

Hell... (but not really)

That first day in Hong Kong wasn't a easy one. Because I needed to apply for the visa. But also because I need to adapt to this first country where I have a hard time making myself understood. Also because my brand new bottle of soap for my laundry exploded in my luggage on the way to Asia. But also because my razor broke down... while I was starting to shave my hair. Doesn't work anymore... Needed to search for a new one I could buy.

That also mean my new "permanent" and "irreversible" look was inevitable. No more hair. And I didn't get to visit anything on that first day.

Paradise... (but not really)

Karma came back for that second day. I went for touristic places to get use to the area. From the top of Victoria Peak, where Gilly is on the picture, I got a 360 degrees view of Hong Kong.

After a while, you become used to the crowd. You start finding your way. You find out how transportation works. And fears go away until you need them again.

For the second time in three years, I walked randomly on THE place in town where a giant pillow fight happened to celebrate the International pillow fight day. I saw the same thing in Krakow in 2009.

Tidbits

When, in the restaurant, the waitress ends up bringing you a fork and a spoon, that probably means you don't look like you can handle the chopsticks...

Saturday was the event "One hour for the Earth". So instead of seeing the light show they usually have on the skyscrappers at night, around 8:30, I saw Hong Kong getting darker. The only thing I didn't get was why they had a show with microphones and speakers to celebrate it... You know, when you tell people to use less energy... do the same with your show.

Temperature wise, under the neverending grey sky, it's around 22 to 28 degrees for now. That's hot.

For the language, I'm ok, even if I'm starting to feel a wall in front of me. Hong Kong is bilingual and almost everything can be read both in english and in cantonese.

Note to myself : stop ordering chicken. When they give you the meat with the bones and the only things you got are chopsticks, you need to work hard to be able to eat...

The end of Oceania

Sydney, Australia

Don't tell me it was too short. I know. 35 days in Oceania is short. Especially to visit both New Zealand and the enormous country Australia is. But the intelligent choice, in the circumstances, was probably the one I made : concentrate on Melbourne and Sydney.

No Uluru's Rock, no West Coast, not even a minute in Brisbane or Cairns. Too bad!

That said, since I didn't have a cultural shock yet, Australia share the comfort of a society very close to ours. Same for New Zealand.

Especially since there are numerous occasions to surround yourself with nature, everywhere, minutes away from downtown or in the middle of nowhere. It's probably a necessary cure before diving in a sea of people in Hong Kong and, eventually, in Beijing.

I'll remember that even if Australia is the home of eight of the ten most dangerous snakes in the world, three species of sharks, spiders that can seriously handicap you, the real dangers, for most people, are really small.

The memories I'll keep, probably like everywhere I traveled to, will be the people I met. Unexpected friendships, sometimes, with people way younger or way older. People I saw, saw again, and then left with a simple handshake on the corner of the street. More goodbyes. Those to new friends. Those to the places I might never see again. Melancholy the next handshake will chase away, a handshake to a stanger who walks with me for a while before more goodbyes.

The blues won't last. I'll change gear and it will be fine. Even if after a complete week in Sydney, I felt nostalgic, in a park under Harbour Bridge, before going back to my hostel to get my luggage. In a day where I was always a little bit out of time, I at least could stop and take a little bit of sun.

From there, I took a shuttle with a crazy driver who unbelievably brought us alive to the airport. "I'm more than scared" said a passenger. It didn't cost us a lot to tip the driver.

Tired of my day, I will easily fall asleep on the 9 h 40 flight from Sydney to Taipei for a stopover.
Great news. As soon as I'll get in Hong Kong, I will rush to get my chinese visa. I already feel it's gonna be a big adventure.

I'll see if the chinese wi-fi and internet allow me to give news from day to day.

This koala is not sleeping

Here is a video of a koala who is not sleeping. It's pretty rare.

The Guy Who Smoked

There are a lot of things you shouldn't do as a backpacker, even in a hostel : turn on the lights of the dorm at 4 AM to find your bed, play loud music even if nobody wants to listen to it, not wearing clothes to go to the shared bathroom, share a bed and make noise on the mattress even if everybody can hear you, play with a plastic bag for hours while others are sleeping, etc.

At some point, I had enough. I can stand the noise. Even if you're the only one watching a movie on your computer and even if you're beating the record for the noise at 4 AM. I can do with lights. Even if there is three of us asleep and you've decided you need lights to watch a movie without headphones. But dear mister, when you decide to smoke marijuana at 2 AM, in the bed under mine, you're facing danger. (It's already not a great idea to smoke in the bed...) I know, the window is far to blow your smoke away. Going down three sets of steps to go outside, it's hard.

Too bad. The director of the hostel wasn't too happy when she learned. Not happy at all. Because it's already forbidden to smoke in the room. So your marijuana made her angry. "I will kick him out", she said. It's sounded angry.

Sorry to learn you have been kicked out, dear flatmate. Well, not really. Tonight, I'll sleep better.

The lizard

In the "Almost" category... I thought I almost saw a snake today. On THE day I decided to wear my flip-flop for a stroll in the forest. I saw a big snake head (about 12 to 14 centimetres) about 30 centimetres from my foot. First reflex : I need to take a picture. First thought : would be better to back off.

It happens that this big snake head was a lizard head, attached to a big body with really small paws.

He ran away, the lizard. But I watched the trail until the end of my walk (with breathtaking views on the way) to ensure I wouldn't come across some other beasts.

Almost! But almost, it doesn't count.

Road Trip, take two

What day are we? Sunday? Monday? 24th? 25th? Don't know!

Time goes by at a fast pace but stays suspended at the same time. When you have fun... and you're not really ready to go back home... I don't know yet if I could go on for years, but I'm not afraid that I will need to give up before the end of the six months I planned.

The last week was very intense. And I need a little bit of time to recuperate and think. I'll make sure it happens in the next week.

Blue Mountains

After a road trip on the Great Ocean Road, the one between Melbourne and Sydney was unique too. Exactly 24 travelers in a bus for three days... you make friends. We drove through the most southern point in Australia and the longest beach of the country. From there, we walked up the highest australian mountain before stopping in Canberra parliament.

Even if all the travelers I had fun with are now in different hostels in Sydney, we stay in touch and we try to meet again for an activity. Five of us have went to the Blue Mountains together today. Those mountains were named because of the eucalyptus steam above it. It's the Grand Canyon of Autralia. There, you can find a cable car which leans to an angle of 50 degrees... That is something.

When we came back, we shared a kangaroo and cranberries pizza before spending the evening next to the Sydney Opera.

I have now booked my hostel in Hong Kong where there is not a lot of places when you search for a dorm. I still need to plan the time I'll spend in China and Japan to plan how I'll get my visas.

I'm under the impression that I'm throwing all my money by the windows, but I still hope that Asia will be cheaper. I haven't checked yet the amount I have in my bank account since I left home. And I don't want to.

Tips

- For those who wish to book a hostel online, hostelbookers and hostelworld are the most popular websites. If hostelworld is easier to use, there are booking fees of 2 $ each time you use it... unless you get a gold card, which costs 20 $ and will cancel all the booking fees for a year. For a round-the-world-trip, it's totally worth it.

- Talking of surcharge,  most hostels add 2 or 3 % to your bill if you pay by credit card. You must know that your bank would add some fees anyway if you were going to an ATM. Both end up costing the same thing most of the times.

- To get to know a new city, the best way is often to go on a free tour. You can find some in a lot of cities in the world. Most of the times, they are offered by students or young adults who only get paid by the tip you give them according to your appreciation of the tour. Don't hesitate to ask them if there are cheap ways to travel with the transportation system. They know most hints needed to save on train tickets, trams, buses or subways. They will also be able to tell you what event is going on at that moment.

One month - Assessment

For those interested, I have been gone for a month now. I'm happy to realize I used EVERYTHING I have in my luggage, excepted some medicine. Nothing useless then. 

I had some problems, like I have told already. The most recent one is my ticket for Hong Kong I bought online but the company refused to approve it because of supposed problems with my credit card. On the other hand, the amount was billed on my credit card as soon as I bought it. It was removed afterwards. Now, everything is ok. 

Here are the cities I've been in in the forst month : 
Sherbrooke (CAN)
Burlington (USA)
San Diego (USA)
Los Angeles (USA)
Auckland (N-Z)
Rotorua (N-Z)
Taupo (N-Z)
Wellington (N-Z)
Queenstown (N-Z)
Milford Sound (N-Z)
Queenstown (again) (N-Z)
Franz Josef (N-Z)
Christchurch (N-Z)
Melbourne (AUS)
Phillip Island (AUS)

The koala scam

Sleepy koala in Ballarat, Australia

Short words to tell you about the koala scam.

Without any predators, sleeping all day long, those small cubs are still protected in Australia. It seems it's totally forbidden to touch them. If you do, the police could track you.

But you can touch a koala in a natural reserve. There is the entrance fee, between 15 and 25 $, usually. And, if you want, you can buy food to feed to kangaroos, which you can touch as much as you want. But for the koalas... the koalas...

Touching a koala? They will charge you 10 more dollars (or 25, maybe). A picture with the koala? They will take it for you for another 10 $... And the price keep on rising if you want the whole family on the picture.

We, on the other hand, went around that rule in Ballarat. Around 2:30 PM, an employee took the koala out of it's enclosure so we could pet it. We could take pictures. For free. There you go. That is called magic.