Days 50/51/52/53/54/55 - Hong Kong

So it pains me to say that this is the final post for this trip, the end of which has come round far too quickly. Writing this from my living room, it seems like only a few days ago I was packing and wondering whether I would actually make use of many of the superfluous items added by my mum (including, if you can believe it, sandwich bags... I can confirm that in no situation did I ever think 'you know what I could really use right now? A sandwich bag...'). 

Anyway back to the important stuff, which is the last leg of our journey, and also the only one to take place outside the US. Leaving LA and flying to Hong Kong took around 30 hours in total, door to door. It was a fairly exhausting trip, and our choice of budget airline 'China Eastern' ensured that this was made worse by cramped conditions, bad food and limited entertainment. Things got marginally better at Shanghai airport, as we were able to stretch our legs and access the intranet (though not Facebook or YouTube), and I slept through the last flight into Hong Kong (so that was pretty good really).

The next morning, having slept for a few hours at the hostel, we went to meet Nicky, our mutual friend who lives in Hong Kong but studied Law at Exeter with us. Nicky gave us a brief tour of Causeway Bay, the area in which we were staying, and then took us to Wan Chai wet market. I especially liked the markets because they were full of butchers, fish mongers, bakeries and other stalls, all of which were packed with unusual sights and smells. The fish and meat stalls were very different too - most of the fish are still alive, swimming in tanks, or have been recently decapitated, with the heads still trying to take in water through their gills. You can also watch butchery of animal carcasses in the street, or choose to buy a cooked duck with the head still  attached. The bakeries were my favourite however, because I'm greedy and nerdy when it comes to food, and felt I was obligated (by myself) to try several different types of breads and pastries (the pineapple buns were my favourite).

That afternoon we met some of Nicky's friends for dim sum, which really was so good - definitely not the tiny, greasy stuff you get in the UK. We had so many dishes I couldn't count, and every one had a distinct set of flavours and textures which made it so interesting for me. We were seated right by the kitchen too, so I had a few little peaks as to how the different dishes were prepared and cooked, and we even got to take a picture with one of the chefs (the poor guy obviously had no idea what was going on...). 

For the rest of the afternoon we went to a mall to have a quick look around, and to visit the Apple store (so I could begin the long process of deciding whether to get an iPad mini or not). We then were taken to the Peak, which is a look out point on the side of a mountain were you can get a great view of central Hong Kong and the bay area. Later that evening we had planned to meet up with some of Nicky's other friends, but jet lag kicked in and we decided to get an early night.

On our second morning in Hong Kong Nicky very kindly took us to a breakfast buffet which served both English and Hong Kong-style food, so after a full English of sorts we tried congee, which is a rice-based porridge which can contain meat or veg (it was actually pretty tasty).    Following breakfast we spent the rest of the day in Stanley, which is a short bus ride out of central Hong Kong. Stanley is a small area, right on the beach, with apartments by the water front, and also has a very busy market as well as shops and restaurants. We noticed there were a lot of European people in this area, and this reflected in the restaurants as there was a greater choice of western food here than we'd seen elsewhere (complete with a pizza express). One of Nicky's friends lives in Stanley, so we met up with him for a while, before heading back to central for some authentic Chinese food - including 'proper' sweet and sour chicken which puts our syrupy, fatty attempts in the UK to shame.

The next day we spent mostly looking around various different markets, including one of the biggest which is called 'Ladies Market'. Jack and I bought a few gifts, though not without a few problems along the way... We had both agreed beforehand that we would try to haggle, and had checked with a few people that this would be ok to do. What we didn't realise was that there is obviously an etiquette or a correct way of doing this, as is there a price below which you should not offer, as it is deemed rude or offensive. Unfortunately we broke both of these rules on a regular basis, and on one occasion I was ushered out of a stall for having the audacity to offer less than half of the price of one watch for two fake Rolexes... 

On the final full day in Hong Kong I went to visit the famous big Buddha, which was on the top plateau of some mountains way out of the city. Having taken the metro to the relevant stop, I took a cable car from ground level to the top of the mountain. This trip was actually pretty terrifying, as not only was it really high, but also very windy - the cable cars themselves were quite rusty too, so there were some hairy moments when it felt like big gusts of wind would blow the car off of the cable...

Thankfully that didn't happen, and I spent the afternoon in the small village at the base of the Buddha, taking in the view and the surrounding area. There was also a Buddhist monastery, which I had a quick look around but was unfortunately at the time undergoing repairs.

Over the last two days we sought out some places to eat which did street food, and were not disappointed by what we found. For around £2 each, we had big bowls of noodles and broth with pork, chicken with fresh veg, and also some BBQ style pork with rice. For me, this was part of the trip I really enjoyed, as I think with somewhere which is so different to home it is important to expose yourself to as many different experiences as possible. I think we certainly did that, although shamefully the last thing I did in Hong Kong was to buy an iPad mini... 

And now I'm back in the UK. The flight back was good (Malaysian Airlines is far better than China Eastern), although the five hour wait in Kuala Lumpur airport wasn't so great. I must admit it feels pretty crappy that the trip is over - I had such a great time - but one of the things I'll take from this is that it won't be the last time I take time to travel, either in Asia or America. And it really is worth taking the time to do it you know...

Days 46/47/48/49 - Los Angeles

So it really sucks that the American part of the trip is over (although its cool that I'm writing this from China), and LA is the final instalment. Since this was over a week ago some of my detail may be a bit off but I'll try to overcome my awful short term memory...

When we arrived into LA we went to find our hostel, and ended up somehow in north Hollywood, a good 10ish miles away from where we needed to be... Luckily we stumbled upon a theatre which was producing a musical about mods and rockers in 1960s London, and the people there were helpful in setting us on the right track, and also gave us free tickets to see the show. (Unfortunately we couldn't go because, as has been the tenor of the trip, we got our dates mixed up and thought we were flying to Hong Kong a day later than we actually did...).

Having eventually navigated the journey, we found our hostel, where we were shown to our 'pod' - the hostel is split into individual pods where you sleep, watch TV etc - it's a fun idea where you get more privacy than regular hostels. Before we had time to unpack, we met an Australian guy who persuaded us to go on a LA bar and club crawl. It was a fun evening and we got into five different places, with free drinks at each one, for like $20 (the price of a drink in one club). It was strange because so many of the people we met were either from Australia or the UK, but it was interesting to chat about travels, and we got to know some of the others from podshare too. The Australian from podshare also told us that the night before, a fight had broken out on the street where podshare is, as a group of guys were trying to steal a car - apparently the car owner had tried to stop them but had a gun pulled on him! Literally outside our window!

This kind of leads me onto observations of LA. Various people had warned me that it was rundown, and it's true that there areas of Hollywood that really are horrible. It's common to see rubbish piled on the street, as well as used needles, and the fact that medical marijuana is legal means that distinct smell seems to follow you around in most places. On top of that there is a crazy amount of, well, crazy and homeless people who are far more aggressive in their pursuit of money from people in the street than I've encountered anywhere else.

The converse of all this is that we packed loads of touristy things into our few days, including the Hollywood walk of fame (which started right by out hostel), the Hollywood sign and Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica/Sunset boulevards. Finding the observatory for the Hollywood sign was actually an achievement in itself, as it took several hours of walking and multiple direction requests to end up at the right place. When we got there the observatory itself was closed (boo!) but there was an advert being filmed there, which we think was for toshiba.

In fairness there were non-tourist things that I enjoyed doing too; on the first morning, I went to get lunch at a farmers' market just down the street, which had loads of fresh produce and the newest gluten-free fad products. Speaking to a saleswoman about a new Japanese tea which is fermented using a 'starter' liquid (think sour dough bread, but for tea), I really got a sense that some LA stereotypes about fads must have some basis in truth... We also stumbled upon the Hollywood Fringe, which was set up by people from the Edinburgh equivalent, and later on saw the set up for the premiere of Monsters University on Hollywood boulevard. 

Our last full day in the states was spent at Santa Monica beach, where we visited the pier, and took a walk to Venice beach. It was quite busy and the weather was great, so it was a fitting way to finish our trip, and being on the coast on the pacific side really made me realise how large a distance we actually have covered. Having said that, the distance has now subsequently become a lot bigger...

Days 41/42/43/44/45 - Las Vegas, Grand Canyon

It's pretty rubbish to think that this has been out penultimate destination in the US (not including Hong Kong) - not because its a rubbish place (its awesome), but because it means the trip is nearly over - but it's probably an indictment of our poor planning to leave one of the most expensive locations to last, when budgets have been all but decimated. Still, Vegas has been fun and we definitely tried to maximise the little we have left to make the most of being here. 

Also, sorry but I can't be bothered to give a day-by-day account of what happened, so highlights will have to do...

Upon arriving, we decided to check out a few casinos and bars, which was fun until I lost quite a lot of money on the slots. The following two days we explored most of the casinos on the boulevard. We soon realised that we would not be affording the $20+ buy ins to most tables, but gave a few of the cheaper ones a try. We also realised that beer is cheaper than water in Vegas, so we made the most of that...

[I actually had a really good picture of us in a casino, but I've accidentally deleted it which is annoying]

Another thing that's strange strange is that prostitution is legal in Nevada, so you can't walk more than a few meters without someone waving a stack of cards with pictures of naked women at you. I'm not exactly complaining but the people doing it are all like old Spanish-speaking women who look like they could be your grandmother... Very odd...

We spent our nights out in the casinos and bars, where again we met loads of Brits, but the most notable was stumbling into a female mud wrestling contest. We had chosen to try out a few bars at Treasure Island at the recommendation of a couple of Americans, and having stopped off at a Coyote Ugly bar (it is exactly what you think) we saw a big crowd of people cheering - at a good old mud wrestling competition...

The hotel we were staying in was called Circus Circus, and one of the major attractions is their 'world-class' circus acts. I'm not actually being facetious with that - it was really good, and we saw several shows (including a dance troupe from Americas Got Talent apparently). I think though this was the only time I felt out of place, as every other group of people had at least one child accompanying them...

Jack fulfilled a long-term ambition in Vegas, which was firing a gun. I didn't fire one myself, but it was cool to go to the shooting range and watch people's faces light up with glee upon pulling the trigger. The guys working there all looked like ex-forces, and were very enthusiastic - shooting a gun for one of them was akin to 'scratching an itch'. I must admit that being surrounded by loads of guns did make me quite curious to see what it would be like, though Jack's assertion that it felt exactly how he thought it would meant I decided to leave it for now.

I think the final noteworthy event for this part of the trip was our day tour to the Hoover Dam Grand Canyon. It's difficult to describe much about the actual canyon because it is just so vast, but I did feel quite taken aback by just how huge it was. It's quite funny too because there are parts of the walk way on the west ridge where there are no railings, so you can peer over the edge to the very bottom. Some people on the tour went on a helicopter down to the bottom, which I was really jealous of, though at one stage we did consider hiring mules to take us down. Although it was definitely worth going, and I'm really glad we did, the day lasted over 20 hours overall, as we were picked up at our hotel at 5.30, and didn't get back until about 1.30. Still, saw one of the seven wonders of the world...

Days 39/40 - Austin

My time in Texas' 'fruit loop city' has been completely different to Houston, as expected, due to the fact that the state capital is full of, well, fruit loops (not necessarily in a bad way thought). We were staying on the infamous 6th street, which had been recommended to us by several people, who said we would have the best time there.  And I did... 

On the Saturday we arrived, we set out to explore 6th street and see what was on offer at the bars and music venues. It was similar to what I expected, in that nearly everywhere is offering you cheap beer, air conditioning, and some kind of live music. We grabbed some food, and decided to duck into a few bars to listen to some bands, all of which were pretty impressive. I'd been talking to a few people from the hostel earlier in the day, who said that the adjoining bar/lounge was really well-regarded, so I head there to listen to a country/blues five-piece.

That's where I met the circus folk...

 Jack had gone to bed, feeling a little under the weather, so it was just me at this point, sitting at the bar with a beer and watching the band. Next to me was a stocky American guy with the most insane handle-bar moustache I've ever seen (it even had massive curls at the end, obviously styled with some kind of wax and a comb). Anyway we got to talking and it turned out that Hamilton was from New York, but had moved to Texas to fulfil his childhood dream of being in the circus - he was the strongman. I kind of assumed travelling circuses didn't really exist any more, but he assured me that he and his circus-mates were in town for a performance, and asked if I wanted to have a drink with them.. 

So I agreed to, and spent the next few hours in the company of two knife-throwers from his circus troupe, and Hamilton'd girlfriend. They were really funny (and generous with beer...) though it did dawn on me at one point that I was really quite drunk and didn't know where I was. So I parted company with them and eventually managed to find my way home...

The next day we took our guidebook like the tourists we were are, and went to check out the state Capitol building, a local art gallery and the University of Texas at Austin campus. The Capitol building was really awesome, as it had been around since Texas had been its own republic, and its lush grounds were filled with sculptures and structures paying tribute to confederate soldiers from the civil war. It's quite an amusing balance they have between being American and being Texan, though you can really tell the latter is equally as important (if not more so) as the former.

 

Inside the building was a huge rotunda and dome , the walls of which are adorned with portraits of the previous Texan governors (including a certain G.W. Bush). They also love Lyndon B. Johnson there, and in the senate and representative houses there are (not quite) life-sized portraits of the only Texas born and bred President of the US. We also saw inside the Texas Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, whilst wondering how many people had been sentenced to execution in those rooms over the years...

That evening followed a similar pattern to the previous, minus the inclusion of my friends from the circus, and we again saw some interesting music acts and tasted some locally brewed ale. Austin for me has been one of the most varied places we've been to, and it feels like nothing here is forced. There are some 'unusual' people on the streets, but this happens in every city, and most of the people we've come across here have been equally as inviting as in the rest of the places we've visited, even more so than some.

Unfortunately our time in Texas is now at an end, and I'm genuinely regretful that we didn't plan to spend more time here. It's been the most surprising of our destinations I think, due to the fact I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy being in a place that many people perceive as being dangerous or bigoted. My experience has been completely the opposite.

Anyway, next stop Las Vegas...

Days 36/37/38 - Houston

One thing from my previous post I didn't get a chance to mention was the food I had on the first night in Houston. I really wanted to try some texmex, after some people in our hostel raved about it, so I went to a restaurant which claimed it had the best texmex food in town. And who am I to disagree... It was delicious, and at first I thought they had made a mistake by giving me two plates (nachos and enchiladas), but apparently that's just what they do here (hence why I would balloon if I lived here).

Houston overall has been far more relaxed than expected, and the hostel we were staying in reflected this. There are some fun restaurants and bars nearby but most evenings were spent discussing travels with others at the hostel. It's been interesting because there is such a wide variety of people who come to visit Texas (which I found fairly surprising), from other parts of North America and Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, and we got many more travelling tips for the future as a result.

Although the hostel was laid back, there were some excursions organised to places of local interest, and I went along to a trip to the museum district. The Natural History and Science museum really gave away that this was Texas... The biggest exhibit was about how to dig for oil and natural gas. They have some fairly unusual takes on natural history too, and as I was browsing one of the dinosaur exhibits I heard two guys asking where Adam and Eve come into all this...

  

I also took a day to visit the Johnson Space Centre (I really love space...), during which I was given a tour of the mission control room from which the first excursion to the moon was based. Similarly I got to see the persevered remains of the Saturn V rocket, and other cool stuff from the Apollo missions. On the way to the space centre I had to wait for a bus in downtown Houston, and I got talking to a local girl called Shoniqua, who started laughing at me because I was trying to stay in the shade at the bus stop. Shoniqua was great, very funny, and had some interesting views on things that I would like to share. According to Shoniqua:

- More people vote for American Idol than for the President 

- People in Houston hate Beyonce

- Li' Wayne is the greatest rapper of all time (... apparently I have good music taste)

- The Queen of England is really young, just got married to 'some bald guy' and is pregnant...

Seriously though, it was an enjoyable bus ride, and I even got a queue jump at the space centre (Shoniqua was an employee there). 

That evening we joined others at the hostel for a dinner put on by local members of the community, who had been involved with hostels in Houston for about 30 years. Also in attendance was a local evangelical preacher, and former Vice-Presidential candidate, named Wiley Drake, who was broadcasting his radio show from the hostel. It's ironic actually - ol' Wiley is a staunch homophobe and outspoken racist, and the Morty Rich Hostel is one of the liberal hubs of the surrounding area, so god knows why he chose to stay there... Please google his name though, some of the stuff he comes out with is completely nuts, but very entertaining - even George W. Bush described him as a loon...

 

  

Days 33/34/35 - Miami

So having arrived in Miami with the weather crazy hot, we were determined to make the most of our few days at the beach. This turned out to be a slight overestimation as, upon leaving our hostel bleary-eyed and a little worse for wear after our first night on south beach, we were a  disappointed to find the weather was a bit cloudy. This brightened up later though, and we both 'caught the sun' (no explanation needed...).

That evening we went to a roof terrace BBQ and drinks at a neighbouring hostel, which was actually packed with Brits and Europeans. It was pretty fun, until it turned out that the BBQ was just chicken, and the tickets we had were for a salsa dancing club. Suffice to say anyone reading this will know me well enough to know that I did no salsa dancing that evening...

The next day was similar weather to the previous one so I went off to explore some of the other parts of south beach. It's funny because the more I walked around, the more I felt Miami adhered to its stereotype of palm trees and art deco. I also went to check out the holocaust memorial nearby, which was very tastefully done. I'm not being facetious but the Americans do know how to do a memorial...

The people in Miami were really friendly too, and even if its was just getting coffee or a few drinks, there was good conversation to be had. There was a mix of people looking for beaches and nightlife, and others who have chosen to live on the beach side (for similar reasons I guess). Maybe the one thing that wasn't so great was the price of drinks outside happy hour - obviously we took advantage of the offers, but outside of this it's like a minimum of $6 a beer, which is similar to New York prices.

Today we left to take a flight to Houston (where I'm currently writing from). We had a slight scare this morning as my alarm didnt go off/I slept through it, and the bus there was late, but we made it with a bit of time to spare. 

One thing about Houston already is that it is hot. Like really hot. We had been warned but since we've been here its already got to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so suffice to say I'll be taking more care with the burning than in Miami...

Days 30/31/32 - Busch Gardens, the mall, greyhound to Miami

I really can't believe that it has already been a month since we set off for Boston, and I don't really want to think about the fact that we only have the rest of this month left... I mean I'm having such a great time, which is why it's going so fast, but I want to put off the reality of leaving for as long a possible.

So the last few days in Florida have been enjoyable but quite quiet. The whole of Friday was spent at Busch Gardens, a theme park and zoo, which we both enjoyed due to the amount of really fast rides (regression back to childhood complete). One of these includes a 200ft vertical drop, facing the ground, on which - during a visit years ago - the ride broke down, right at the top of the drop... So potentially this was some kind of catharsis, by going through with it again (it probably wasn't...). The zoo was cool too, which we viewed from a zip ride gondola (which awkwardly was full with lots of couples...), as were the water rides. These were especially enjoyable as jack and I both wore ponchos, and whilst we were ridiculed by some Americans in the same raft as us, lets just say they weren't laughing when they emerged at the end looking as though they'd gone for a quick swim...

The next day we head to the mall, full of optimism of buying gifts and knock-off designer clothes, but all we ended up with between us was a plug adapter that actually doesn't work. However the true highlight of the day was the food court (a developing theme), where we consumed vast amounts of delicious Chinese food, and managed to waddle to Pinkberry later too.

We've also eaten at a few more steak houses (when in Rome/ Florida), but seeing as the money is starting to run out we thought it wise to return to our diets of fast food and coupon deals...

Today we are on our way to Miami, which I think will be good for recovering from hangovers on the beach (or so I've heard...). For one thing it will be quite different (returning to a hostel), to the last few weeks where we have been staying in a mountain lodge and a hotel, and I guess I'm going to have to adapt to not having a double bed...

P.S. There's a crazy lady on the Greyhound, who keeps spraying something around the bus and talking to herself... I hope we make it...