A 2-day layover in Hong Kong...

Erik: It was finally time to head home. Hard to believe – after 18 months, we'd soon be sleeping in our own bed, free to take long, hot showers with great water pressure, etc. Flying back from KL, we would need to overnight in either Tokyo or Hong Kong. We opted for the latter for budget's sake, and decided to take a couple of days there to get to know the city. We did some research on hotels and came up with the Butterfly in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of HK. It was a new, very modern and comfy boutique hotel, and they were offering 3 nights for the price of 2. We had 3 nights there, so perfect!

The flight on Cathay Pacific was luxurious compared to our spartan trips on Air Asia – food, wine, in-seat movie system – nice! There's a great train system in HK, and we arrived at our hotel in about 30 minutes after clearing immigration and customs. For once, our hotel splurge was worth the price – a decent-sized, well appointed room with AC, cable TV, broadband wifi, fridge, coffee maker and even a microwave, not to speak of the large shower with steaming hot and powerful water. We never wanted to go outside!

We did make it out the next day, though, to the Museum of History, which was free on Wednesdays (and thus swarming with locals and tourists). It was very well set up, with interesting displays on HK ethnicity, culture and history. We learned about marriage rites, fishing techniques, gods, theater, etc. Most interesting, though, was the history of the city including the Opium War, from which Great Britain took control of the island, and the horrors of the Japanese occupation during WWII.

Hong Kong reminded us a bit of New York – tall, modern buildings, busy sidewalks, hot and humid, just like a NYC summer, only more so. If New York's Chinatown were to continue to expand into the financial district, then you'd end up with something very similar to HK.

The next day we got up early and took the scenic (and cheap) Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island, where we took a 100 year old tram up to the top of “The Peak” - a very touristy lookout point, but rightly so, as the views were truly beautiful. We were lucky, as we narrowly missed the early morning rain, and the skies cleared as we headed up the peak.

The Avenue of Stars was fun as well. On the waterfront, it is modeled on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, with inlaid stars and hand prints of famous figures from Hong Kong cinema. I'm sad to say that I was only familiar with a few, but it was fun to see the stars for Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat.

Perhaps the one thing I'll remember most of Hong Kong, though, are the never-ending shopping malls. There must be more high-end shops per capita than any other city in the world. Getting from here to there will almost always necessitate walking through one or more of the fancy mega-malls – they're absolutely everywhere. They're huge, and they're oh-so-modern and chic. After a year and a half of living out of a backpack, though, we were hardly in consumer mode, and had no urge to shop. The AC inside was nice, though.

Finally the day arrived for us to go. Such an odd blend of excitement to see our city, our apartment, our family and friends mixed with fear of culture shock, unemployment, and generally being able to “fit in.” I'm writing this several days after arriving home, and I still feel odd and very unsure of what to do with myself. More on the travails on re-entry later though. Hopefully we'll have the gumption for one last installment of the blog discussing our feelings on being back.

Talor: My skin was shot, my knees had dropped and I had put on 10 lbs... yes, it was time to go home. After three days spent in KL, which was surprisingly quite pleasant (because we hardly went out) and productive (worked on the blog), we were ready for one last hurrah in Hong Kong...

If it was one of the the first stops on our tour of Asia, HK would have been so exciting, but given that it was our last before going home, it just wasn't all that. First of all, HK is all about consumerism... everywhere you go, there are mega-malls after mega-malls for all budgets, but especially high-end. It's also all about eating, which normally I have no problem with, but surprisingly, a lot of the eateries we went to, the menus were in Chinese. Let me clarify... there was always a Western Menu, but the more interesting stuff and cheap stuff was on a Chinese-only menu or written on the walls in Chinese. It was frustrating given that the staff couldn't tell us what the specials were. But we managed to get a taste of HK... indulged in Yum Cha (tea with dim sum) and an oyster pancake, deep-fried and yummy!

After our weather break in Perth and pleasant temps in Kuala Lumpur, we were back in the super hot and humid territory again. It was all too tempting to hole ourselves up in our way-too-comfortable room at the Butterfuly on Prat, but not wanting to waste the two short days we had, forced ourselves out to see the sights and be tourists again... hit the HK museum, the Jade Market, an old temple and the square where folks congregate and socialize under the banyan trees. But above all, I will remember HK for the amazing views of the skyline from the waterfront. Every single time we walked to the waterfront, it was like “WOW!”

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, but it was time to go home. I felt ready... sorta...

Our photos...

Hong Kong

G'days in Perth, Australia...

Talor: Perth was my idea, and it seemed like a good one up until we arrived at the airport at 5:30am, and it was freezing! Took a taxi to Northbridge, a neighborhood just outside of the city center, then checked into a clean but very basic and cold room at Governor Robinson's Backpackers for AU$75 (about US$60)/night! And that was with a shared bath...yikes! I immediately thought... whose brilliant idea was this?!? After 5½ months in Southeast Asia, we were in some deep sticker AND temperature shock! And as a cruel twist of fate, we happened to choose a neighborhood with blocks and blocks of Asian eateries... HA! Ohhh, the irony... the only affordable food was the one we were tired of... and it was at about ten times the prices we were used to paying... HA HA!

So we immediately went out in search of warm clothes and cheaper housing. Hit the good will second hand stores all over town, and checked out every single backpacker lodging. Every time we needed to reach into our pocket to pay for anything, whether for coffee, food, clothes, etc., it was like OUCH! It was more expensive than New York City! It's not like we didn't try to mentally prepare for this, but it's still always a shock when reality sets in. Anyway, mission accomplished... by the end of the day, we got warm outerwear and found much more affordable housing at the North Lodge, just a short block away, which made everything seem a lot more manageable. With a sigh of relief, we went out to celebrate the fact that we were in Australia! Woo hoo! We may have celebrated a little too much...

The next morning, feeling a bit hungover, we moved into a large room on the second floor of the North Lodge. With a balcony, a kitchenette, dining table and chairs, we thought it was the best deal in town... twice the room for about half of what we paid at Gov Rob's. And it had the tiniest bath, but it was all ours, with plenty of hot water! Yay! Though we couldn't cook in our room because we had no burner, we could prepare coffee and simple meals such as sandwiches and salads. Also, there was a community kitchen downstairs we could use to cook if we wanted to. And we wanted to, not just to save money, but it's been ages since we've had kitchen access, and it was exciting. So we went shopping for food. And also treated ourselves to a space heater. Felt a little guilty whenever we turned it on, but better than being cold and miserable.

With all that done, we went out to explore the capital city of Western Australia and its surrounds, hoping the good weather (sunny and mild) would hold out. Walking around Perth is a pleasure... it's super clean, the sidewalks are in good condition, drivers don't try to run you down, and it never seems too crowded even during rush hour. The public toilets are cleaner than most private toilets we've had. It even smells good... environmentally conscious, the buses use clean gas, there are no open sewage systems or piles of rotting garbage lying around. Then it occurred to me... all these pleasantries don't come cheap, and that's what we're paying for. After that epiphany, I stopped complaining about the prices.

Perth is not a new city, but it has been built up quickly over the last decades with the mining boom. Everything looks brand spanking new, except the old stuff, which has been wonderfully restored. The city planners must've taken great care when they experienced rapid growth because there seems to be a coherence to it all. It's not in your face either. I just realized that after a few days, I had yet to point at something and say, “what were they thinking?!” Population is 1.3 million, but you wouldn't know it since everything outside the city center is spread out. The multi-cultured folks of Perth are friendly, but not in a needy way. Overall, they are very easy on the blood pressure... kinda like the city, or is it that the city is a reflection of the people? That's probably more like it. But no matter what came first, the chicken or the egg, it was all good, and I was happy we were there. On the other hand, we could've been anywhere, especially when we went out into the suburbs, which generally consists of neat rows of manicured houses with malls and car parks... sound familiar? There was nothing uniquely Australian about it, except for the accent, the way they play football, and seeing kangaroo burgers on the restaurant menus.

We considered traveling around the country a bit, but that would require lots more planning and a whole lot more time, which we didn't have. But like I said, it was all good! Felt great just to take a break from the heat, humidity and biting insects. It also felt good to see Erik putting a bit of weight back on with a more protein/less carb diet (beef, cheese, eggs, etc.).

After nine days, I would say my top three experiences were:

1. Petting kangaroos and koalas at Caversham Wildlife Park;
2. Walking through King's Park on a beautiful sunny day; and
3. Meeting Justine, a new friend. Had so much fun talking to her and listening to her life story, which is pretty interesting. Let's just say if she wrote a book, I'd buy it immediately. (Hear that Justine?)

Of course the time flew by, and despite the earlier adjustment period, I'm really glad we went! Would love to go back for an extended stay, but that will have to wait til the next time...

Erik: Perth in mid-winter. Who's idea? It's a city known for its beautiful golden beaches, but it was too cold to spend time at the coast. It's also known for its diving, but it was a bit cold for that as well. Cricket? No, that's summer as well. Before I sound too let down, though, it is a beautiful place any time of year. Just seemed that the more we read about the top things to do and see, the more we wished we had gone there at the beginning of this trip rather than the end.

And sticker shock, indeed! The place really is more expensive than New York in many ways, and two that are dear (no pun) to me: beer and coffee. A pint in an average pub is about AU$8 – about US$7!? And it's only marginally cheaper to buy it in a shop and take it home – crazy. Coffee is about AU$4 (US$3.50!) At least we could make ourselves coffee in the room, and I found some passable and relatively cheap Western Australian wine. We did need to keep our evenings in the pub to a minimum, though.

The city did remind me of a small American city except for the accent and the cars driving on the wrong side of the road. Actually, that's not entirely fair, as the streets are much cleaner than in the US, and Perth's waterfront is drop-dead beautiful, especially seen from high-up, as the view from Kings Park. We also got a great view from the top of the Wheel of Perth, a large ferris wheel like its famous cousin in London. It's formal name is the Wheel of Excellence, which I found comic in a Simpsons kind of way.

With our usual impeccable timing, we arrived the same day as a huge American aircraft carrier, and by the end of our first full day, the streets and the pubs were filled with American sailors, adding to our general geographic confusion. Luckily, having the city crawling with rambunctious, uniformed yanks didn't seem to dampen the warm, friendly welcome we got from everyone – Perthians are an open, friendly and unpretentious lot – very refreshing after all of the odd looks and money-grubbing we'd encountered throughout Indonesia.

We took a few days trips while there – one to the old colonial town of Guildford, where I greatly looked forward to having a pint in the oldest pub in Western Australia. True to what we'd seen throughout Perth, though, they'd recently remodeled the place and it was now a posh wine bar. (Aaargh!) We didn't stay long enough to even peruse the drinks list. I left feeling a bit depressed, but I did find what I was looking for around the corner in WA's 2nd oldest pub, which was a real dive full of drunken old-timers at 5pm on a weekday! Phew – stayed and had a couple there.

We also headed up the coast to see the Aquarium of Western Australis (AQWA), which was fun. It has an underwater walkway where you get inches away from sharks, rays, turtles, etc. It's really well put together and it was fun to share with Talor some of what I see when diving.

Finally, on our last evening, we took the train out to the nearby harbor town of Fremantle to see an Aussie-rules football match. It was exciting, and remarkably easy to understand, especially with all the curious locals coming up to help explain the rules to us. We finished off the evening with delicious fish-n-chips near the harbor, and finally felt that we were truly in Australia. Too bad we had to leave the next day!

Here's a link to our photos of Perth:

Perth, Australia