Never knowingly taking the shorter route

So, no joy on the visa front.  The possibilities that I had haven’t worked out and, while I could scrape around for something to do somewhere or go travelling again or something I don’t really feel like it now, so I’m going to come back to England and then re-assess.  I’ll be getting back on 28th March and working things out from there.  I’m not aiming to rush back into work, especially as I really don’t know what I want to do, so I’ll probably just bum around staying on friends floors and at my parents and stuff for a month or so (consider this notice).

So, has this all been a waste of time?  Has it been a mistake?  Hmm, I’d say no.  I had a really good time travelling, met loads of nice people, had lots of interesting experiences, and since I got here I’ve met nice people and seen a side of Africa few people get to see, so I’d say its been a good experience.  There have, obviously, been negatives, though.  I’ve not been able to do the work I was promised, and that’s really got me down.  I think I’ve learned a lot.  I am more suspicious of development work now, I wonder if it can ever be sustainable and I have learned that there needs to me a lot of organisation behind work such as this.  I have a big bunch of questions in my head that I will ask if I do this again.  And will I do it again?  Maybe.  I am not decided.  I think if I did I would do it with a bigger organisation and with a better idea of what sort of support I might get and a more concrete job description - but I’m certainly not put off totally by things.

What’s the future hold, then?  As I say I’ll be thinking about this from now on and I’ll try not to rush into anything in England.  Maybe I’ll try and get a job I really enjoy in England (what, I cannot say).  And if not one that pays a lot in London, then use that money to do something nicer that pays less at some later date.  Maybe I’ll do neither of these, I really don’t know.  Suggestions welcome.

Ok, so I’ve spent just over a week in Hong Kong. In this week I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Kowloon park, reading and thinking about whats gone before and planning whats about to happen. I’ve also been to Cheung Chau island - that has no cars and brilliant seafood, Lantau to see a giant buddah, I’ve spent time shopping, getting visas and meeting people.

Probably the most surprising thing I’ve done this week is go on the roof of the building I’m staying in - Chung King Mansions. The building itself is a sprawling mess of former apartments, now turned into low-rent hostels and hotels. There are 4 sections to it, each with 17 floors. The other night, one of the peopl in my hoste, who seems to have been here forever, showed us how to get on the roof. So we did. We sat, at one point, with our feet dangling off the edge of the roof, with Nathan Road (the main road in Kowloon) 17 floors beneath us, looking at the now pretty quiet road and being able to see right from the harbour, right up into the actual main land where the street ends and turns off. It was an amazing view. It was so late that there was no traffic on the road or in the harbour, and everything was eerily still. We then went down to the harbour and looked at the still water. Something you never see in the day, ever.

So, yea, I’ve been having a brilliant time, though I guess the thing that’ll stick with me the longest isn’t in any guidebook. Incidentally, there is a film containing Chung King Mansions (though it was a 15 years ago and isn’t quite as ropey as it was) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109424/ - Chung King Express. I’m going to have to watch it one day and see what its like.

So, what’s next?  Well, I’ve got my Vietnamese visa and I’ve booked trains as far as the border, so I’m leaving about midday tomorrow.  Hopefully I’ll be in Hanoi, Vietnam the following evening.  But that does depend on me being able to work out how to get across the border.  Should be OK, though.

I’ve been thinking about this trip.  The time I’ve spent in Hong Kong, because its been a lot longer than elsewhere, has enabled me to get to grips with the place in a way that I haven’t really managed so far on this trip.  However, I’m aiming to get to Egypt by the first of December, which only gives me about 11 weeks to do a minimum of 7 countries, so I’ve realy got to aim for a week and a half in each, so I’m going to try and limit the number of places I visit in each country and I’m going to accept that I’m only going to get a snippet of each of them.  Its a shame, I would like to spend a bit more time in each place, but I guess its just not possible.  Though, I will get that experience in Tanzania, I guess, so that offsets it a lot.

Anyway, have to sign off now, next update from Vietnam (hopefully).

Emily left yesterday evening and it really feels like my trip is starting properly now, so I thought I’d write about my general thoughts so far and a little about what I hope is going to happen over the next few months.

For the last few weeks I’ve really been traveling quickly. Half way round the world in three weeks, mainly overland, is a bit of a job. This is because I have been traveling with my friend Emily and she only had three weeks off work and could get a cheap flight back from Hong Kong. It has really been fun and, while I would have liked to see more of Russia and Mongolia and China, its been a really good experience. However, due to the speed and the deadlines to meet etc, there’s not really been much of a time to stop and think. Also, as I’ve had Emily with me, its been a bit safer, a bit more like just another holiday, so its finally hitting me that I’m on my own (well, will be when Anne and James leave later today). Thats a bit scary.

I think the highlights of my trip so far have been the Trans-Siberian, because it was a bit of a once in a lifetime thing, and really fun to see the world really whiz by and walking on the great wall. I would definitely go back to Berlin and Beijing, I’d definitely like to visit Mongolia properly, and I have a suspicion that there’s something I missed in Russia. I’m going to try to avoid sleeping in a hard seat for a night again (though I have a feeling it might just happen at some point) and I’m going to try not to rush things so much again either.

So, how do I feel? I feel a little scared about stepping out into the unknown for such a large amount of time by myself, I keep questioning if I have made the right decision in doing all this and I miss all my friends and family back home a hell of a lot. But I’m also excited about what’s going to happen, I’m looking forward to so many of the bits, I know that people back home are supporting me and wishing me well and I know that if things get difficult I have loads of options to sort it all out.

So, I’m going to spend this week in some of the greener bits of Hong Kong, I might go to Macao, I’m going to sort out my visas for South East Asia and I’m going to relax, build up my reserves for the journey ahead.