Well, my idea is to get you to think of a travel guide, which ultimately seeks to tell you where and how to spend your money. I am fortunate that I do not need a silly travel guide to most places I go, because I have friends in most of the countries I visit. So the first stop was Hong Kong, a completely unpredictable trip that reaffirmed my approval of that island’s way of life. It was not meant to be touristic, the first time I want to Hong Kong (two years ago) I did all the touristic things with my boyfriend, ie. the Big Buddha, museums, HK Bay junks, Ocean Park (only pandas on the island), etc. We even went as far as Beijing and Tokyo.
So I’ve had a taste of what different main Asian cities are like and Hong Kong is by far the best mélange of all. Why? Well because it is the mix between East and West in one very small, very modern island. It has something I NEED in life: beaches (even if most are too polluted to go into). The weather is tropical but it still gets chilly in the winter. There are mountains and the most efficient metro system I’ve seen at the same time. And the people are just SO NICE, a human quality that is increasingly restricted to Asian culture.
So, bottom line, I really really like Hong Kong. The only downside I can comment is that I could see the difference between two years ago and now in the increase of Chinese from the mainland, byproduct of the handover. This just means that you are more likely to get shoved around in the metro and stepped on in the fish market, it is a subtle difference you would never notice as a tourist, but because I lived with a local family I was able t notice the things that affect local people.
Of course I can only remember hearing some awful news almost each morning as we had breakfast: the devastating snow storms across Europe and the US (with relief that I’d escaped in time), the Nigerian student who tried to blow a bomb arriving in Detroit, the Pakistani-British man executed in China…Such a nice way to end the year. Nevertheless, it was an amazing trip.
Next stop (after my EU Constitutional Law final :S) was Paris. Yes, Paris. And you DO NOT want to go to Paris when the winter sales begin in France, not with a credit card anyway. I was a good girl; I only bought one pair of shoes that were 60% off (how can you not?) After all, I followed the advice I got from previous Holy Cross girls: Wait till Jan to shop! This time Paris was freezing cold, and that just means you will be forced to spend money cause you will always be spending time in a small coffee shop where the cappuccino is never less than 5 Euros. Luckily I was only there for 3 days….
Final stop: VIENNA.
TO BE CONTINUED 😛
