On top of it all
There’s one tourist attraction that every visitor in Hong Kong seems to have to do: take the cable car up the steep hill and enjoy the view over Hong Kong and the harbor from Victoria Peak, or simply: the Peak. I went there on a Sunday, which might have been a bad idea, but as […] Read More
Soho
In this case: South of Hollywood Road. Well, every renowned city today is proud to have a Soho district, right? I just floated around on Saturday, not really having any goal or thing to do. I walked up along the stairs that lead up towards Victoria Peak, through the high apartment buildings, little streets filled with […] Read More
Sai Ying Pun
I’m on Hong Kong Island, an area called Sai Ying Pun. It’s a bit west of the center and downtown, but high-risers are everywhere. In my case it is more residential high-risers than office glass towers. But it’s dense nonetheless, after fall they need to fit those seven million onto the island, somehow. Sai Ying Pun seems […] Read More
Lei Ho , Hong Kong
It’s Cantonese for ‘Hello’. Even though I reckon I will be perfectly fine with English here…. The flight to Hong Kong was smooth. We were a bit delayed for take off, but then favorable winds made us make good on the delay and we even only needed 15 hours to fly to Hong Kong. All […] Read More
Polar route
And I am off to my longest flight ever, on this trip, and beyond, beating my previous 14h record for the Frankfurt-Buenos Aires route in 2011. I’ll board a United Airlines Boeing 777 today, to fly 15h35 to Hong Kong, on a polar route that will bring me within some 70 miles of the North […] Read More
The rainy city
Not talking about Brussels. I mean Chicago. The once Windy City presented itself today in one continuous downpour! I arrived in the early afternoon, took the metro and the bus towards Boystown, where I had my hotel. I had opted against an easy airport hotel and preferred to be in town for the day. I […] Read More
The Heisenberg principle
In quantum physics, the Heisenberg principle describes the impossibility to measure both the speed and the place of any particle precisely. The more precise you are on its speed, the less precise you can say where the particle actually is. And vice versa. I discovered today that this also applies to me. My own private […] Read More
Cost of living in Mexico
From all I had heard, I knew Mexico would be one of the cheaper stops on this trip. The cost of living is, in comparison to Europe, much cheaper, and the exchange rate adds to that, too. Which immediately made me book a nicer place, as I felt I could afford it… and it was worth […] Read More
Illinois
Mid-october already… Which means: I’m heading to Asia. But first, a short stop-over in Chicago, for technical reasons. On paper, I could have made the connection from Mexico on to the United flight to Hong Kong in Chicago. But with only 1h25 in between flights, it seemed too tight. Anyone who has waited ages at US immigration […] Read More
Caravansary
On the final night, despite still being a bit sick, I had to see my friends Jimena and Antonio one more time. Antonio proposed to go for a tea, at the Maison Française de Thé Caravanseraï. Caravansary? I’m in. After all, it’s the fitting theme for this year. How could I have missed out on this coincidence at […] Read More