Why do I travel

I travel to learn about the rest of the world.
But also to discover things about myself.

I don't belong to the place I travel to, but sometimes traveling makes me unsure of whether or not I truly belong at the place I call home.

No matter how many times I travel, it doesn't make me an expert, or any give me any authority.
I am merely a visitor, an observer.

Traveling for just a few days only gives you a glimpse of what's happening there, a drop on the tastebuds.
But even a glimpse of the unknown can feel like a large dollop of discovery.

Travel isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
Sometimes it hurts, humbles, humiliates.

Travel is about leaving marks on your memory, consciousness, heart, and even body.
Travel is about being changed by the journey.


(Inpired by Anthony Bourdain, in his Borneo episode.)

Justice and photography

[edit: after I posted this, I was asked to take the photos down a day later...sensitive issues here]

My latest photography adventures has taken me to the heart of very much under-addressed justice issue in Hong Kong - the plight of asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong. The Justice Centre Hong Kong is currently doing a campaign to raise awareness about the terrible conditions the refugees have to put up with in Hong Kong - a city of affluence and prosperity. In their words:

Refugees in Hong Kong are not allowed to work, so they have no money to buy their own food. They have to pick their food up every five to ten days, pre-packaged from a grocery store that is usually far away from where they live.

Sometimes the food is out-of-date; sometimes it’s rotten; always, it is limited. But we think it doesn’t have to be this way. Because in a city of plenty, no one should have to eat like this.

A few of us were asked to do a documentary on these guys from [an oppressive African country] as a part of the campaign - my two friends did the videography and I the photography. It involved going to Sham Shui Po to pick up their 10-day ration of food from the government, walking half an hour in the heat and humidity to their street because they can't afford to pay for transportation, walking up 8 stories to their tiny old flat. At this point the back of my entire dress was drenched, and my makeup gone. But I was too fascinated to care. We then got them to show us what food they got from the government, they cooked their dinner and ate, told us their story, while we filmed and photographed creatively so as to avoid getting their faces in any of our footage, in order to protect their identities. Their lives and stories really put things into perspective - who would ever think that one day their own government would turn against them, torture them, and even threaten to murder them?

The documentary is their story, and it should be out soon. Will post again.

I think this photo should be OK to keep though. right?

Occupy Facebook

I absolutely can't bear my Facebook feed these days.

Rant: the loud flop

One of my (million) pet hates - when someone walks a lazy walk, such that just before their heel touches the ground the heel of their shoe touches the ground first with a very loud click or clock or flop - was made a thousand times worse this morning when, making that excruciatingly long walk from Central station to Hong Kong station with less than 6 hours of sleep and sweat dripping down my back and through my shirt, a young male adult flops his flip flop with exceptionally loud flops, and even when I tried to walk faster to get further away from him I could still hear his noise pollution from miles and miles and miles away. It was as if he was telling the world, at 8 in the morning, "LOOK GUYS I'M IN MY FLIP FLOPS AND T-SHIRT AND SHORTS AND IT'S FRIDAY MORNING AND IT'S SUNNY AND I DONT NEED TO GO TO WORK UNLIKE YOU SUCKAS WHO STILL HAVE ANOTHER 12 HOURS BEFORE YOU GET TO ENJOY THE WEEKEND MWAHAHAHAHA." Or along those lines.

Lord forgive our trespasses, and forgive those who trespass (lazily in flipflops) against us.

Explaining Hong Kong in 2014

This is a pretty good article summing up the recent political events in HK

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/24/world/asia/hong-kong-politics-explainer/index.html

There are a lot more issues than that - the disputes over the North East New Territories development plan, the corruption scandals (Sun Hung Kai), HK citizens being annoyed at mainland Chinese tourists, and the general discontent about everything Leung Chun Ying says or does....it's heating up over here!

TERRIBLE!

It's almost the end of May, which means I've not blogged for almost 4 months, which probably means nothing exciting has happened at all in the last 4 months (thankfully not exactly), or means I'm too busy to blog (also not entirely true), or I'm just plain lazy (this would be the most likely answer out of the three). So in short:
(sorry the photos are all over the place)

February: Celebrated Chinese New Year with lots of food and sunshine

Mid-February: brought a 7-week old puppy home for fostering and fed him and trained him and watched him grow and grow

Late February to early March: rolled around in the snow in Niseko, Japan while attempting to slide down the powdery slopes with my feet stuck to a board




Mid-March: shopping and feeding therapy weekend in Seoul




Mid-April: returned foster puppy to HKDR :'(




May: Italy (Rome, Amalfi coast & Florence) and the UK for my grandfather's 90th birthday

 

Rant: Highway to frozen

Dear sir

Is there a design flaw in your buses' air conditioning system, or was the e11 driver lying when, after I had kindly asked him to either reduce the wind strength of the aircon or adjust the temperature upwards, he told me  he could do nothing but turn off the aircon completely?

Not only had I felt like I was in the middle of a polar vortex, I find it ridiculous that temperatures inside the bus are actually significantly lower than temperatures outside of the bus, and this is during the winter. WINTER! You are doing your company and the environment no favours by burning more fuel with this level of aircon on in the winter. I came near to giving up on life multiple times while taking your unreasonably cold e11 buses to work in the mornings. And now I'm close to giving up your bus service and resorting to the much warmer MTR.

Please let your drivers know that their passengers aren't penguins or polar bears, we don't want artic temperatures, and would much rather prefer it if the bus was warmer than outdoor temperatures when it isn't summer.

Looking forward to warmer journeys.