I'm back in Perth, Australia!

So its been 2 days since I've arrived home from the beautiful Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to blog during the last few days. I have a legitimate reason. I was very busy with work and they were taking us out afterwards for dinner and drinks! By the time I got home, it was probably about 12am. And my last reason is that on the last night, the internet gets cut off.

Ridiculous.

My friend Wendy and I were pretty much struggling (not really... we did for the first 20 mins).

Because I missed out on so many days I'm going to sum it up below

Day 6:

- Last day of the workshops.

- Mainly took lots of photos and videos.

- Worked with people with different forms of dissabilities. Some were in wheelchairs, blind, autistic, etc..

- Spent lots of time with my new friend Bruce.

- Lots of questions and answers.

- Saw what living in Hong Kong looked like.

- Didn't get home till 2:30am

Day 7:

- Decided to wear my new shoes.

- Picked up more face masks.

- Received new fresh blisters from my new shoes.

- It was too fucking hot.

- Stood in line for a good 30mins in the sun to get some cookies (Jenny Bakery Cookies). Was it worth it? not sure... the cookies are yummy though.

- Spent 5 mins contemplating whether I should walk home with two heavy bags of cookies, my two carry bags falling all over the place, and cut up bloody blistered feet; or to take a taxi back (even though the hostel was literally around the corner)

- Decided to stick it out, endure the pain, and walk home.

- Had Dim Sim lunch

- Had dinner at Themis's house with a whole bunch of great people.

Home:

- Woke up early and caught up with Kristen... it's been so long since I've seen her.

- Walked around the shops with her.

- Went home and started packing.

- Found out the cleaner had threw away some of my toiletries... bastard. At least they weren't as important.

- Caught the bus to the airport with Wendy.

- Made a new friend on the plane.

- After a long plane ride and a sleepless night, I made it home!

Being back home has been good. I do miss my family, boyfriend, and friends... though I've got to admit, I had a blast in Hong Kong.

I have the travel bug!

Just feel like getting up and going again! When I got back, I went straight to work. I had the day to rest and chill out. Of course go see Matt, and then had to work straight away that night. The next day, I didn't wake up till 11am... I was that tired!

I'm working with Daisy again which is good. I do miss her lots :) Also, I got offered another contract from Buzz to perform the Plain Jane duet for the Awesome Festival! How exciting. It's going to be full on because once that performance finishes, I perform with Daisy in the Blueroom.

I must stay calm and focus. I need to switch in and out just like that.

I'll be okay.

Spent too much since I've came back. Of course after I've done a big shopping in Hong Kong, I come back and there is a crazy mid season sale going on.

HATE THIS!

I think last time I said I had a big day...

Today I had a big day.

Normally the day for me would just consist of me doing the workshop and taking photos and helping out, and I would be fully investigated in everything... Today, I felt like I was completely out. Not in the scope of things. Not investing myself in the workshop. Although that was the case, I ended up investing myself else where - in my head.

Because I wasn't invested in the workshop today, I don't feel the need to explain the day and everything that happened in between. I only need to explain what happened in my head. Though if you need it, is below.

10 descriptions of what I did:

1. I woke up early as per usual and walked over to YMCA to pick up Philip and we took the train together to find our way to the studio. It was a really hot morning. I had a custard bun.

2. Did Lee's workshop which was a lot more relaxing that other days. We all did solos and showed each other.

3. Did Philip's workshop and spent most of it filming and taking photos (this was the time a lot of things happened in my head.)

4. Day was finished and was invited to go watch the performing arts students perform their rep.

5. Had an awesome reading from Bruce.

6. Ate dinner at a local shop and continued my awesome reading from Bruce.

7.  Watch the performance.

8. Went to look at the government building and saw a protest.

9. Went home and bought a shit load of face masks from Etude house (a korean brand) and also made the decision to starve myself for the next few days so then I can buy more things here in Hong Kong.

10. Had an epic conversation with my parents about my readings with Bruce in relation to our life.

Great, now that is over with I can get into the good stuff.

So like I said, wasn't really in it today. I started having lots of observations within myself and started asking myself these questions that actually made me feel kind of upset. I started having these observations during the second half of the workshop (Philip's workshop). I started realising all I did during these workshops were half participate, half observe, half assist, and half take videos and photos. I felt like there wasn't really any reason for me to be there, or there was any reason for me to come to Hong Kong. Looking at it, I wasn't really doing anything. That made me feel sad and upset and a bit frustrated with everything. But then I also learnt so much over the past few days, met some amazing and inspiring people, and have been having so much fun! It made me really confused with everything because I felt like I was loosing and also gaining at the same time...

Strange.

I am happy though and I don't regret coming here and doing the workshop at all. Its nothing bad or something that I need to confront. It was simply an observation.

It makes me happy that I can observe, acknowledge, and move on.

One of the most amazing guys I met during this trip is probably Bruce.

He is a psychic.

There is another name for it.. a medium? I can't remember, but he has studied and practice this psychic thing. When he first was telling me his story I was so amazed and interested. I've never met someone who can see things in person. When he actually read me, that was a whole new level of amazingness. What he had told me was so spot on. He told me what my angel said about me and what I should and shouldn't do (to a certain extent. I wouldn't put it in that type of wording but that is the only way I can think of putting it... He did say I have a strong communication but need to work on it - something along those lines haha). What made things more crazy was that I asked him about my grandma, my uncle, my aunts, and my mom, and the things he said about what had happened to my family was exactly what my mom had experienced and also what her fortuneteller had told her.

Unbelievable, I know. But believe it.

Before this, I didn't believe in psychic stuff... 

Okay, I wouldn't say I didn't believe it, but I was just careful of it when people tell me what fortunetellers or psychics say.  What had happened to me completely changed. I know there is probably some fortunetellers who are fake but I definitely do believe now that there are some that are real.

This wasn't some broad shit like, "oh, something really big is going to happen in your life!" or, "oh you're going through some stuff." It was like fucking dead on the point and into detail. And it wasn't much about talking about your future, it was more about you and healing and your angel. Gah so good.

You know they're real when they've got 98% of everything spot on, in detail as well!

I'm truly amazed and I want to know more, listen more, understand more.

I think today has been just a full on realisation and observation day. I don't think I could fully explain here but shit the experience is something special.

I got a new roommate today, her name is Yuka (I think thats it? I keep forgetting peoples names which are like exotic aka, not english.) She's a 35 year old mom from Japan. She has a 8 year old daughter and she work for Jurlique Japan. She's quitting though for this other job where she gets to design stuff. She's only here for 2 nights so I won't get to see her much.

No photos today. My computer is completely full so I can't upload anything for the next few days :( I'll upload everything when I get back to Perth.

I'll name it "Overload Picture Day" or something haha.

What a day today. All I did was the workshop but oh man oh man I was overwhelmed.

Today I woke up at 8am and went straight to the train station. I just had a small yoghurt to eat on the go. It was so small it didn't even satisfy me but after all that shopping last night, I really got to spend wisely, aka spend nothing at all.

Made my way to the studio and this time I didn't loose my way. It only took me a few minutes to get to the studio rather than 45 mins.

Today's workshop was really good. There were lots of discoveries and discussions about things it was a bit overwhelming. In Lee's workshop, we had a huge discussion about creating an experience with the audience and also embodying the feeling rather than acting out the feeling. It was really great discussion and it made me think a lot. Possibly too much...

Philip's workshop was lots of fun as well but I think it got a bit touchy. We had to do an exercise were you talk to your childhood self in front of the mirror. When he said that task, I just couldn't do it. Not today at least. I ended up filming on the side. I think it reminded me too much of Status Room and the experience of that and considering we are still working on that project, I just couldn't separate myself from that. After that exercise everyone responded to each other what they experienced. It made us cry.

For the rest of Philip's workshop, I just filmed, took photos, and wrote in my travel journal.

Afterwards the team, a couple of participants, and I headed down to a local restaurant. I had this noodle thing which was not yummy. It was way to salty and just freaking unhealthy. It felt and tasted unhealthy. One of the girls had this French Toast, but it wasn't just any ordinary french toast! I think it was deep fried and had peanut butter in the middle. To add on it was smothered in butter and honey. Just a big plate of delicious fats.

I headed home afterwards, had a shower, talk to family (hey mom and dad) and started blogging.

I'm so tired today. And theres still so many things I have to do! Lots of homework from the workshops today.

Anyway the next two days will be quite boring I assume...

I have a new roommate today. Her name is Jean and she's Korean but she's from New Zealand. She's a music teacher and she looks like she's 20 but she's actually much older! She's only here fore 4 days 3 nights - short stay again.

Philip's Workshop

French Toast!

Pineapple Bun

Today was a huge day.

I didn't get to sleep till 2 last night (and the same will happen tonight as well) and had to wake up at 7 this morning. I was so knackered. I had this bun thing that is very popular in Hong Kong. They're called pineapple bun with butter. So basically they're these buns with a block of butter in the middle of the bread and it has like this crunchy yummy thing on top of the bun which is also butter. It's also supposed to have like a enhanced taste but to be honest it just tasted like bread with a block of butter. Healthy breakfast much? I had to had something on the go... Anyway, I caught the MTR to Fortress Hill and according to my map it said it takes 7 mins to walk to Studiodanz.

It took me almost an hour.

I was freaking out because that side of town didn't have any road signs or maps on the corner of the road saying "you are here" so most of my morning consisted of wandering around trying to find a road name and just trying to use my sense of direction to figure my way around. I almost had a breaking point because there was only 5 mins till 9 and I haven't reached my destination. I just wanted to catch a taxi. Eventually I decided that this was bull shit and that I should find any western shops so I could ask for directions. Luckily I found Starbucks (and once again I walked out without a coffee in my hand - pathetic) and the girl at the counter helped me out heaps. She drew a picture and said which buildings to look out for.

I wasn't that far away from the studio.

When I reached there, I was like thinking "what the fuck" because the area was a dead end and the building was like for trucks to off load things. At this point I just wanted to give up and go back to the hostel. After wandering around in circles for about 3 mins and asking 2 people where this is, I finally found it (it was in the building) and raced up. When I got up there (about 9:05am), no body was there! I was so confused. I asked the ladies at the desk what time the workshop started... it started at 10.

kill myself.

At least I wasn't late! Though I was extremely tired.

The studio is called Studiodanz and it's a really pretty studio space. I've never seen so much art and beautiful dance space in such a long time. So fancy. I did Lee's workshop in the morning and afterwards semi-assisted and did Philip's workshop. It was fun and I got to meet lots of Hong Kong artists which was fantastic! Not going to lie I'm super sore now and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do tomorrow.

I got to meet some really interesting people and got to listen to their lives. I really enjoy that, listening about peoples lives and their adventures. I think thats why I kind of suck at researching people up because I realized today, I don't like knowing who they are before I meet them. It's much more interesting when you find out that persons biography when you speak to them. Also if I know who they are, it'll make me nervous and I won't be able to talk to them at all. I think its a bad thing to have this especially in the dance industry, but there is something so raw and real about listening about one human beings life story. And they're right in front of you.

Afterwards, I headed back home and met up with my roomies. We all went up to Prince Edward station and ate at One Dim Sim. Holly shit it was amazing!!! The dim sim was incredible and we just loved everything we ordered. Something new that I had that I just loved was custard buns. They were terrific! I hope they sell good ones in Perth... probably expensive though.

Shopping came next! We walked down the street towards Mong Kok where the street markets were as well as local roadside stores and holy shit I went mental. I legit spent half my money on shopping. So worth it though! In total I got:

2 sweaters

1 dress

1 cardigan (finally got one)

2 notebooks (for shu)

3 little handmade cards

1 pair of shoes

1 hand bag

In total, the cost was $132 australian dollars! Such a win! The most expensive things were the shoes and the handbag, they cost around $82 australian dollars, and this was after discount because I was such a cool gal (I got a special discount! The store lady called up her boss just for me!) I was stressing out before because I was thinking it was exactly the same price as in Australia but I justified myself by saying it is one of a kind, it is good quality, and when I finally found the shoes and bag I should get it. I've been looking for these type of shoes and handbag for so long and especially something that is good quality so I'm quite happy with my purchase.

No more shopping for me though, except for presents... broke life.

After lots of shopping, we headed back home and had liquid nitrogen ice cream! amazing stuff! the flavours we had were HK crispy toast, bakedwell tart, and mango and pineapple greek yoghurt.

Awesome way to end the day :)

Today was a pretty chilla day in Hong Kong.

I woke up at 9am (yes I actually got up at the time I was meant to get up) and got ready to go out and explore the harbour side of Tsim Sha Tsui with Themis. She picked me up at 10 and we drove down. We got to walk through the Art Exhibition Centre (I think that is what it is called) and saw really cool contemporary statues of everyday lives in Hong Kong. We kept on walking down till we hit the Avenue of Stars and took some silly photos with the statues there. There were so many people trying to get in a photo. Every time I go in to take a photo someone else jumps in! I guess my Australian etiquette isn't applicable here... Need to be more feisty. We then stopped by Starbucks (YES!) and grabbed a quick drink and snack. I didn't have breakfast so I ended up getting yoghurt and blueberry muesli and grapefruit fruit juice. So stupid - I went to Starbucks and didn't even get a coffee.

Afterwards we headed back to the hostel to pick my up friend Cheryl and went to this shopping mall which I can't remember the name but its a new mall. We had to drive around the mall about 4 times before we finally found the parking entrance! There were so much construction happening around that mall it was a joke. Apparently that is a new area that is being developed.

We had Japanese food for lunch and oh my god it was amazing! I had salmon with salmon roe. It was a big bowl of deliciousness! I never had salmon roe; they're like caviar but giant sized and they burst into liquid when you eat them. They're super salty too!

After good chats and a full belly we all parted our own way. Themis had to go back home and Cheryl went off to see the Lion rock. I decided to get some shopping done since the shops are right there and I managed to get a giant dusty blue turtle neck knit sweater and a very cute bikini set. Altogether it was $298HK which is around $40 aussie, which is a joke!   So cheap! I did get the sweater on sale so that was a bargain.

After walking around I caught a taxi back to the hostel (because to be honest I could not be bothered to walk around and find the MTR station) and hung out with my new roommate Wendy!

Wendy is 25 years old. She's a Chinese teacher and she teaches at Cheryl's old primary school! (how crazy!) She's super cute and such a sweet heart. I'm amazed she doesn't have a boyfriend! But she said she's okay just being single even if she is single her whole life. She's so different from the typical Singaporean girl. I like her :) She's also a bit of a mama bear!

After spending some quality time chatting to Wendy, I quickly got ready for the "welcome dinner". I got to meet everyone! Felt slightly out of place because everyone there is so much older than me but it was alright. They were all great to talk to (even though I didn't get to talk much). We ate at the Marco Polo hotel in some Shanghai restaurant. Yummy food!

After dinner, I headed back down to the harbour to take more pictures of the beautiful view. It started to sprinkle a little bit to I ran down the road and went into H&M to see if there was anything in this store I wanted to get. There were no winter stuff there and there wasn't much on sale. SAD FACE. There were a few things I wanted to get but then I started thinking cheaply and was like, "oh is it really worth 10 aussie dollars?"

I think I'm going to wait and just go to Temple Street or one of the markets/shops where its local boutique store or set up stalls and buy some stuff there.

I do need to get shoes though.

My first official day exploring and seeing Hong Kong was definitely crazy.

First I need to correct my roommates name, its spelt Cheryl.

Today we spent the whole day in Hong Kong island, and wow let me tell you it was a huge day.

We woke up at 10:00am when we aimed to wake up at 9:00am (fail). We finally got out of the house by 10:45am and made our way out. Decided to stop by the egg waffle place for breakfast, but unfortunately, today was a public holiday due to the Dragon Boat Festival so we decided to just catch the train over to Hong Kong island and grab food at Stanley Beach. It took us forever to Stanley Beach. Firstly, catching MTR to Admirality Station wasn't that bad; finding bus number 6 took ages. By the time we found its station we waited for a good 30 mins before it arrived. Just as we thought our adventure was about to begin, we got kicked off the bus into the main bus station and was forced to line to up go back up on the bus again. How Hong Kong buses work, I have no idea... After we sat on the bus, we realised that we went in a small circle back to the same bus stop we were waiting at before. Pathetic. Never the less we continued our journey to Stanley Beach.

On our way to Stanley Beach, I started feeling really sick. Let me tell you my tolerance for motion sickness is pretty damn good, but oh my god I felt so sick on this bus I thought I was about to puke! The bus was driving so fast and so jolty! And because theres so many curves and swerves on the road I kept flying from one end of the bus to the other. On top of that there were so many people! We managed to find a seat about half way through the bus ride and I just pretty much sat and closed my eyes. It was also because I had nothing to eat.

Next minute, I lost my Octopus bus card. $300HK (about $40AUD)  just disappeared just like that. I figured it fell out of my pocket when I was hunting for a seat... Someone must have picked it up and kept it. Great start for my first day in Hong Kong huh?

Regardless we made it to Stanley Beach and we managed to get free ice cream! Winning! We then headed to Stanley Market where there were lots of stalls selling cheap things. We ate at a local restaurant, which had a chinese name to it. I had wonton noodles (typical me). It had so much MSG Cheryl and I couldn't finish it. We had to drink a whole jug of water!

We further explored Stanley Market and then walked back to Stanley Beach and watched a very short dragon boat race.

We then caught two buses and did lots of walking to get to Happy Village which is famous for their horse races. Unlucky for us, they were closed so we weren't even allowed to walk in to take pictures! Well, at least we got to see the outside of it.

Something to add... on the bus, I saw an older mans balls, penis and pubic hair hanging out of his shorts!
MOST DISGUSTING THING EVER. 

Caught another bus and a tram to Victoria Peak where we found out that it was pricey to catch the tram up to The Peak so we legitimately treked it all the way to this main road which is near Central Station just to catch a bus that goes up to The Peak. Once again, it took forever to find. Two lost girls just making it up on the spot. 

I got to admit the walk and the multiple buses and the confusion of directions was worth it because when we got up there, the view was beautiful! One side you can see the mountains and the other side you can see the city. We stayed there till it got dark and ate some baked goods and bubble tea. We had good chats about traveling, our lives, careers etc etc...

After spending some romantic quality time together, we headed back down and catch a ferry back into Tsim Sha Tsui. 

So many beautiful lights.

We wandered around town where all the big flash shopping malls were and then settled down for dim sim - yummy!

Over all it was a successful day. Even though it started out badly it ended amazingly and I had such a good time!

I swear to god we went round in circles so many times... we saw the same place about 5 times!

On another note, we lost two room mates but gained a new one! She's from Korea and she's only here for 4 days. She's a 25 year old recent graduate in design and she's working for some company where she gets to design phones I think. 

cute store in Stanley Markets

Stanley Beach

Dragon Boat Race at Stanley Beach

More boats at Stanley Beach

Me and my partner in crime at Happy Village

The Peak (side 1) in the day

The Peak (side 2) in the day

The Peak (side 1) at sun set

The Peak. Just saying there is a lot in this photo.

The Peak (side 2) at night

Star Ferry!

My token to board the ferry.

I am finally in Hong Kong! After 10 hours of flying and 8 hours of waiting around doing nothing (mainly just playing on my phone and staring blankly into the space) I landed in this beautiful city.

Got to admit I'm extremely tired even though the majority of my day consisted of sitting, eating, and sleeping. Something about flying makes you really tired. Also my flight from KL to Hong Kong got so delayed because they couldn't find 3 luggages that were meant to be on the plane, SO they had to off load all the luggage and reload them back on one by one. I think we were delayed by an hour. 

I was lucky enough to get picked up by my mom's friend Themis and she was so kind to drop me off at the hostel that I was staying at. Let me tell you if she didn't come pick me up, and I just took public transport to where I was staying, I would have been F-U-C-K-E-D, fucked. I would have gotten so lost. And In this heat and humidity! Oh man I would have probably given up and started crying on the side of the road.

The place I'm staying is called Just Hotels and its really adorable. Its quite simple and small but great for if you're here for just a few days. I probably should have book out a normal room rather than the dorm rooms because I just have too much stuff and I can't fit it anywhere. Oh well... Going to have to make do!

I met my roommates, one from Singapore and two from China. I'm struggling to communicate with the China people because their english isn't too good! But its good practice for me and I like to try anyway. Sheryl is the girl from Singapore and yay I can speak to her easily. The other two names are Wade and some chinese name I forgot (yes I'm horrible). I'm going to have to ask her again later... They're all really lovely people :) but they're only here for a few days so I have a feeling I might be all by myself for the rest of my trip? Maybe someone will come up... I kind of hope someone comes up.

 My plan tonight? Sleep, talk to anyone who is awake which is probably no body. Attempt to talk to chinese to my roommates. Make a plan for tomorrow? Need to explore my surroundings and find the MTR station and get all the maps and stuff. Thats a must!!!!

Anyway, no photos for today. I think I might upload all the photos later when the whole trip is done. Or maybe I'll just upload the video that I'll be sending everyone here at the end.

:)