Delirious Dreams

A hopeless dreamer of pretty much everything

[deliriousdreamer]

Washington DC... So much history, and the aura of a city with this level of gravitas. #capitalofusa #helloobama #whitehouse #washingtondc #museumsgalore #ohwerejustwanderingaroundthecityatnight #notdodgyatall (at Washington DC)

[deliriousdreamer]

Broadway ticked! Aladdin! #arabiannights #awholeneworld #hellofromtheotherside #genieus #canyourfriendsdothis #disney #paxusatrip (at New Amsterdam Theatre)

[deliriousdreamer]

Chicago, you magnificent city. Farewell for now. #illbeback #magnificentmile #cloudgate #chicagoriver #lincolnpark #lakemichigan #bestcitysofar #despitestubbingtoe4times #whowantsmorepizza #omgnotanothertrumptower #nosleepnoproblems #paxusatrip (at Chicago, Illinois)

[deliriousdreamer]

San Francisco, you've charmed me like no other, despite your consistent rain over my visit. #goldengatebridge #alcatraz #ohanothervisittomacys #yesplease #letslookatmorehandbags #whenitrainsitpours #missingaucklandweather #350bucksuberbill #noproblem

[deliriousdreamer]

City of Angels, it's been lovely knowing you. #disneyland #universalstudios #losangeles #alwaysnostalgic #willnevergrowup #itllalwaysaweme #paxusatrip (at Los Angeles, Ca)

[deliriousdreamer]

Farewell Vegas. You've been grand, in every sense of the word. First leg done. Onwards to California! #lasvegas #lasvegassign #finallygotaskedforid #crazythemes #withcrazypeoplewhoactuallyimplementthem #paxusatrip (at Las Vegas, Nevada)

[deliriousdreamer]

Almost exactly a year on! #alwaysagoodsign #prettyasapicture #spring #blossoms (at Fairview Rd)

[deliriousdreamer]

Well hello there spring #lookatallthepink #itsalmostlikesakuraseason #aucklandyoubeauty #springtime

[deliriousdreamer]

Totem, you were an absolute treat! #whyaretheytallsotalented #

[deliriousdreamer]

It's here! #kindlepaperwhite #soexciting #geektimesalloveragain #

[deliriousdreamer]

Ten years in the making! @yuyangpei going to miss you! #hesofftonewyork #hedoesntknowthatillchasehimthere #heydoyouknowhowtobeatsephiroth #theycoming #shoothim

[deliriousdreamer]

#HongKongskyline #anotherprofile#somanyprofiles#skylinesarethebest

[deliriousdreamer]

Pretty pretty Hong Kong #HongKong #hk #victoriaharbour #atleasttheshipsarethesameeverywhere

[deliriousdreamer]

Time to cannon down the Grand Lisboa in Macau! # Macau #cannonry #grandlisboa#smiliestcannoneeralive

[deliriousdreamer]

Casual waterfall photo at Hong Kong Park! #waterfall #HongKong #hongkongpark

[deliriousdreamer]

Adventures in the Fragrant Harbour - 1

First impressions tend to last. It’s a good thing, then, that my first week in Hong Kong (meaning the Fragrant Harbour) has been a shock to the senses. The sights, sounds, smells and the tastes are all overwhelming to a little kiwi. 

Exciting introduction: I had someone hold up my namecard for me when I arrived at the airport! That was just a little exciting… just a little… 

The second thing that’s hit me hard is that I was woefully ignorant of Hong Kong’s geography. If you think that Hong Kong is just a concrete jungle, think again. It’s a concrete jungle with a real jungle around it. Pleasantly, the rolling hills and the greenery are as wonderful a shock as the incredible buildings and cityscapes. Both are incredible examples of craftsmanship, one of man and the other of nature. I’m an absolute sucker for both, but don’t take my word for it, here’s some photographic evidence. 

Hong Kong is known as the world’s most vertical city. I didn’t quite appreciate what that meant till this:

"The Arch"

"Tall building I forget the name of"

"Other tall buildings, are you starting to see a pattern here yet?"

It’s incredible how high these buildings go… as apartments… eep, good luck if you have a fear of heights and live in one of these.  

Food

One of my primary reasons to travel anywhere, to eat. 

With Hong Kong, if you ate at a different place every day, it would take you about 30 years (how’s that for a random, probably somewhat inaccurate, statistic) to get through all the food joints in HK, and this is assuming that there are no new ones added, which is a silly assumption. So if you were zealous enough, you’d never ever eat at the same place in Hong Kong. But, as a creature of habit, and due to the practical limitations, I think I’ll probably find a couple of places I love and just go there. (Honestly, even fast food like Maccas and BK have an HK flavour and are fantastic.)

Having said that, my first few meals in Hong Kong have been full of variety and a whole palette of new flavours, which have been thoroughly enjoyable. Michelin star anointed dim sum to a quick fried noodles to Japanese food to traditional homemade style Chinese food. Let’s just say if I pack on a few kgs before I head back home, I will not be particularly surprised. 

ALSO, FRUIT IS AMAZING! OM NOM NOM GRAPES ALL DAY EVERY DAY! 

The Big Buddha

First thing ticked off the tourist agenda in HK, the Big Buddha. While there’s an incredible amount to say about it, I think I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. What the photos don’t capture is the level of detail in the sculpting. The eyes in particular, they honestly seem like bottomless pools. 

The MTR and other public transport

Hong Kong is a great city for people like me in more ways than one. It is next to impossible to get lost (somehow, I think I’d still manage to), but it’s quite foolproof. The signage is perfection, and the world famous MTR can get you nearly everywhere in Hong Kong. 

The trams are a delight to catch, but when are trams not delightful?

And you can get a bus app that starts to buzz you as you get closer to your stop. Now THAT is something else...

As it stands, my first week in Hong Kong has been an intense and entirely different experience to all my travels before. This is a properly big city, with its ginormous ups (pun intended) and downs, and I'm looking forward to finding both... But here's to going to random places such as these in the next 3 months! 

BAHAMA MAMA's

Yours,

[deliriousdreamer]

Day 3 in Phuket: Phang Nga Bay

Since some of us travelling didn't realise that Phuket was an island, I'm sure more people out there are likely unaware. Yes, Phuket is an island, with very many beautiful beaches. Today (Day 3), we found ourselves on the water. We booked a cruise to a very popular destination: Phang Nga Bay (the "PH" does not become an F sound as you might expect, it remains P, so it's essentially Pang Na Bay).

Early morning starts are always such a chore when you're on holiday, but definitely worth it most of the time. Today was one such day. Considering that we slept really late, we were up at 5:30/6ish to get ready for the pickup that was coming. We were joined by a charming Canadian woman who was travelling Thailand herself and advised on Bangkok, which was to be our next stop. 

Soon after, we were on the boat that was to take us around for the rest of the day. Phang Nga Bay is known for its beauty, and it did not disappoint. It is the bay that a James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed at. These are some of the photos taken from the Bay. 

We did some kayaking, and were also kayaked through a cave that opens up into a beautiful little lagoon. Unfortunately, at this point, our cameras all seemed to have some trouble, so only one camera really got some reliable photos which I shall upload later. 

The highlight of the day for me was the swimming. We got to a certain point where the boat anchored. The boat was two stories high, and a lot of us were jumping from the top of the boat. There is nothing quite as exhilarating as flying through the open air... and landing into the water. I ended up doing the jump multiple times, and it was so easy to just swim in the open ocean. Definitely an experience that will be hard to forget.  

The people on the boat were easy to talk to and were all there to bond. But the boat's crew stole the show that day. Those Thai boys can dance... we had some music put on, and some of us were dancing rather fobly, well most of us. 

Backflips, handstands, walking on hands, jumping over each other, dressing in drag, etc, were all part of their act. It was a fantastic end to an altogether brilliant day. The rest of the night was reasonably quiet, we were quite wasted by the end of the night to do much so ended up walking around Patong a bit, having dinner and then chilling at the hotel. 

One thing we did decide though, four of us were keen enough to diving and we called up Peter. He offered us a great deal, and I'm looking forward to the experience! More water awaits!