Digital Nomad

In Central Citibank Tower Pacific Coffee. Dressing formally drinking a cup of coffee nearby my old work place like in the old days. I was there after an interview for the US visa. The first time in almost a year to wear heels again.

I am excited my visa got approved. My plan is feasible. I am going to the U.S. and South America!!

I have researched on all those questions and cases where the visa was declined for single young women. The more I researched the more stress I had and I pictured all those scenarios that I was being challenged and declined. I even brought my Invisalign braces to prove that I was going back to my country to see my dentist for sure! Haha! I thought of as many points as I could to defend myself that I was not going to stay in America. I was lucky anyway my visa got approved in just 5 mins. Thanks god thanks visa officer thanks everything.

I have got two projects on hand with a crowdsourcing company. One for Cantonese transcription and one for website rating. Hopefully I could pass the qualification test and start working on them. Then I would have good income while at the same time freedom of location! Though it may not be a stable job/career but in the meantime it really fits my needs. I could be anywhere not necessarily traveling volunteering or studying!

Being at home is more pressured than traveling. I feel my choices are more limited as when people around me are all talking about the importance of money and marriage. These thoughts grow stronger when at times I am not sure of what's next. Perhaps it's better I stay somewhere else to clear my thoughts since now I'm locationally independent in terms of work:)

Capitalistic Seoul

Part of the reason why I'm struggling of studying in Seoul is that I'm not sure if I like the city. When asked by the Koreans which place in Seoul I liked most I could think of nothing but shopping. Yes shopping here for clothes and cosmetics is great. But once I've replenished my supplies (torn jeans and Korean cosmetics bought 2 years ago) my shopping mania died down and I have no incentive to even walk around.

I don't even watch any Korean dramas or listen to KPops. The palaces are not spectacular and food is too spicy. So am I interested in Korea really?

I enjoyed very much being with the people though. They are super friendly and funny. Proud of their own culture, language and identity (which sadly we Hong Kong people find hard to) on the journey I've came across with all kinds of people and most of the best friends are Koreans, even though we had a hard time communicating in English. You can truly feel they value the friendship with you and not just a random person to kill time with. 

I have yet to decide whether I like Seoul. It is a huge city. Everything new, convenient, hot shower, wifi (2 things I have been longing for) but something's missing.

I want to be with the nature. It is so big that it is hard to escape. Maybe I'm not familiar with the place yet. But I miss Hong Kong, where I could find as many trails as I want to walk on. Seoul is truly capitalist. So glamorous and new that you hardly see any old poor people in the city. (Or I have a tendency to be with people who suffer?) It is all very mechanical, not natural. I have yet to observe.

Almost the end

Sitting on the balcony of the orphanage watching sunset has been my favorite pastime these days. It gives me plenty of time to think. I'm thinking about the past, the future. I know I should be enjoying the present. But some times you need to have time to reflect right?

Coming to this point I am always thinking of getting home and the situations I would face. I had just finished a book about an inexperienced backpackers story. When he got home he could not tell clearly what had happened to him. And his mum just couldn't understand and lost interest and kept rambling about nothing important that happened during the time he left. 

This is exactly how I'm picturing the situation when I get home. I would be meeting some old friends and they would ask me about my trip. I wouldn't know how to start and the topic changes when they could not understand or lost interest in what I'm saying. Then the conversation would resume to the normal cheesy tv drama or work or career or relationship or gossips. Even just imagining that made me scared. It was a priceless experience for me though. But I could just keep it to myself, or those interested. 

I miss home somehow, for the food, for the things I don't have here. People tend to remember only the good things. And it strikes me that I had almost forgotten about what I hated most, the boring conversations, the inescapable tv dramas and noise. 

Thinking about that made me a bit melancholy. I'm afraid that I could not enjoy my time any further. I'm also afraid that I would not have the determination to leave my family again once settled down. It is pointless to think so much about the future though. I will know when the time comes.

Hong Kong, in between the east and west

I was often asked how it is like in Hong Kong. And some are surprised of how different I am from their Chinese friends.

When I was with westerners I could see many differences between both cultures. The way we think, habits, interpersonal relationships etc. but it is with Asians that I realized Hong Kong is much more international (or should I say westernized) than other Asian countries (China, Korea and Japan). Interesting facts like:

We all have our own English names

Everyone can read, write, speak English at varying degrees

Some of us can't even speak Chinese

We listen to western music, and dramas and movies

We have so many western brands

We have the same shoe size measurement as Europe and US (or maybe it's Japan who is different)

Our official language is English and Chinese and everyone learns English from kindergarten (and shamefully not speaking well)

We have lots of expats from around the world

And many of us studied or lived abroad for some time

We have restaurants of all kinds of cuisines

And (maybe) our media reports from the western point of view

Etc etc.

Other interesting things:

Our trees never turn yellow in autumn

It never snows

It never had earthquakes (Japanese thought it happens everywhere)

We don't need visa for Russia and Europe

We speak Cantonese, not Mandarin

I begin to feel it is such a comfortable place to live in. Everything close at hand. Convenient, fast, efficient. But sometimes we Hong Kong people lose our strength and instinct with the nature by being too comfortable in the city. Bad times may not come in our lifetime. But who knows? Sometimes it is saddening to know young kids kill themselves for just minor failures. Strange world.

In the end, we are all traveling solo

It was a long story. 

I met 2 Koreans and 1 Japanese friends in Moscow. We became good friends instantly and had a very good time and in touch even after we split from Moscow.

The Korean boy and girl were good friends but not a couple. They headed to Eastern Europe and I joined the Japanese girl again in Iceland.

The Korean boy was very outgoing and funny and the girl was not very adventurous and spoke no English. It seems that every decision was made by the boy (which Korean men were very pleased to) and the girl just followed. They knew each other very well but no romantic relationship in between.

Days after we heard from them they separated and the girl was traveling alone by herself. We were surprised because the girl knew no English and it was the first time she was abroad. She was always very nice to him but don't know why she suddenly left him. We thought at some point even good friends may not want to be together all the time...

I had been traveling with other girls (girly and not girly) but it did not work out very well. Maybe its just me who are not compatible enough. I prefer meeting people and explore off the beaten track but they may fancy seeing some famous sights and less keen to meet new people. But one thing for sure we felt better when we can go independently whenever we wanted. 

The time with the Japanese girl was great. We cooked together and came up with new ideas each other day. We met new people and had an incredible road trip around Iceland with 2 Eastern European guys. She was fearless (and careless), flexible and willing to try new things. We planned our next trips together and I thought we would travel together for the rest of our journeys.

But no one is perfectly compatible. I'm afraid traveling with someone is more dangerous than being in a relationship...at least for me. The other day she found 2 Japanese guys and we went on a another road trip together. They had no plans, indecisive and dependent. They talked only in Japanese and I could just follow. I was more pleased to be just silent and watch the window and think and go wherever they took me. But too many stupid things happened and I decided better not to go with them the next day. I was never a fan of Japan and I am sorry this made me even more negative...

So I am traveling solo again. But somehow this helped me decide to visit my friends in Germany instead.

The Trans-Siberian Journey

10 Sep 13:50 to 14 Sep 13:50 (101 hours, 6266km)

Day 1 18:00

I have been spending 4 hours sitting on the train doing nothing but to watch the mongolian landscape. I could not take my eyes off the window.   After the Gobi it was nice to see the greener side of Mongolia. I enjoyed watching the tiny spots of cows, sheeps, horses and people wandering on the green hills and vast land, the colorful villages and trees shedding their yellow leaves. Everything is in such a slow pace. 

21:38

Before boarding I was expecting to meet people on trains. But now I seem to quite enjoy being alone in my room. Privacy is not easy to have while traveling, especially when sharing a ger with 5 men and women you can only change your pants in a sleeping bag.

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How much can you live without?

One of the most important thing I learnt from traveling is how to live simple and flexible. In a small backpack you could only bring what is necessary and can't live without. It was a compact 50L backpack to most people but still quite heavy for my size.

On the Gobi trip it was interesting to see what others brought with them. Although 3 meals are included, they still had the family sized coffee, milk powder, salt and pepper, chili sauce, whiskey and honey with them. It was nice to have though. But for me it does not bother me much to eat just what was offered. I am not a snack person so it took me weeks to finish a pack of Oreos cause I always forgot to eat them.

I'm still struggling to leave anything unused behind. When I pack I always want to have my favorite brand of shampoo, conditioner, cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen with me (I have a sensitive skin and my hair gets oily with other brands) I've packed supplies that last for months but now I'm looking forward to replace them soon. I can buy them even in Mongolia. Or maybe I can adapt to what the locals use, or not use at all!