New Year eve in Buenos Aires

After 12 hours of flight from Frankfurt (we were lucky to be among the last batch of stand-by passengers), we final touched down Ezeiza airport, Buenos Aires. We followed the advice from Lonely Planet and found the bank next to the airport exit. It was closed but the ATM machine was on. We also followed to find the yellow cab booth for a taxi trip to the pre-booked shared apartment. It cost us 180 Pesos. The driver even wanted to trick us for the extra toll (17Peso) and gave the small changes which we didn't know off (the 50 cents looked like the 1 peso coin). Maybe there would be bargain for the taxi driver approaching us on exit.

 

The apartment looked the same in the photos but 50 years older. We like the atmosphere but things were so old that it looked like falling apart easily. The oven in kitchen was not working.

However the host family was very friendly that the hostess offered to wash the clothes for us with her washing machine. They even invited us to their family dinner in this new year eve. Although I may want to go to count down milonga, especially the one in Club Sunderland on Saturday and also new year eve count down, I would rather joining local family dinner. It is a family with 2 boys and 2 girls. We tried our rusty Spanish without success. The children helps us and their parents translating.

After dinner, we talked and drank till the count-down, when we kissed each other. Then we went out to the balcony of the apartment looking at firework by local community on the street. Also there were drunk people blocking the street with a junk washing machine and banging on it. 





Feliz Año Nuevo !!!

路過法蘭克福的一天

  
慳家的電波夫婦捱了12小時的下等艙，骨頭打鼓，清早終於到了法蘭克福（Frankfurt)。出關後立即跑到Terminal 1, 到Lufthansa 櫃台看看能否confirm,那知全機只剩3個位，還有其他員工standby,情況不甚樂觀。行李可先checkin但要20分鐘前到閘口等叫名，起飛時間為22:15，那還有一整天。


買了一張最多5人共用的一天車票（車票價值14.9Euro - 對，我們窮但窮得老實，其實火車沒有閘口、電車亦沒有人查票，起碼，我們沒有遇上），出城去。


 
才早上9時許，在最大的車站Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof下車，天氣甚冷，亂上了一架電車，再找吃的，車往住宅區走，見到一個小商區便跳了下車，其實只是一家中東便利店、一家電池雜貨和一家麵包店；點了兩個飽和一杯cafe creme。


 那區的電車大約10分鐘一班，吃飽我們再往反方向走，經過銀行區，看著佔據法蘭克福的勇士們行了個禮，再走到充滿遊客和歷史的Romer，那邊有多家建築 華麗的教堂。Dom St. Bartholomaus,是較大的一家； Alte Nikolaikiche下午5pm有管風琴演奏。

在小市場外服裝店的櫥窗狗 (not for sale !)

為食天線帶領我倆到了一個小巿場Kleinmarkthalle，一家又一家的肉腸店，橄㰖、橄㰖油、麵包醬試食、再吃上幾條Weißwurst, Fleischwurst, Bockwürste及Landjäger，實在飽到不行，但手提行李愈提愈重，天寒地凍，找了附近一家beergarden喝了杯 Schofferhofer Weizen, 捷克的Krusovice Dark，再加上一杯溫暖的Gluhwein（mulled wine),頓時暖上心。走回 chapel 聽organ recital，再坐列車回機場去。

  

又回到Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof站，上了架沒有飛機公仔的列車，然後問電波公，「這真的對嗎？為何那些拿行李的人沒上車？」「噢！看錯了！」幸好時間充裕，下站下車重新再來。肚子有點餓，嚷著要吃豬手，居然找到food court 內只賣3.9Euro,加上一杯draft beer,真是完美！





到了機口，等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等等... 終於在一批upgrade/standby 客、兩位疑似LH crew及一家四口登機之後，我們終於得到boarding pass!


Buenos Aires，我們來了！

Frankfurt, wurst und bier

7am in the morning we are in Frankfurt airport. Getting on to an airport train we went to a huge Frankfurt train station where we took LRT (line 11) to a suburb of nowhere. We took the opposite direction then we expected because it was 4 degree Celsius out there and we desperately wanted to get indoor. After 15 minutes of trip we found a bakery then we took off. There we had our first meal overseas, bread covered generously with sunflower seeds and another bread with cheese, then coffee. Maria was impressed by the former bread a lot.

Then we took the same line back to downtown. We passed a grassed plaza with tents surrounded by modern commercial building (occupied Frankfurt ?). 



We took off when we saw a plaza surrounded by churches and Germanic styled building. There we come to Domplaz with a Gothic church. There is a relic site of another part of the church destroyed by war. The site is also used for theater school. 




We walked and found an indoor market (Kleinmarkthall). How come Maria and I always went into something we wanted ? This time it was food and we paid 6 euro for a dish of mixed sausages, got full at noon already.

By the way, so as not to disappoint you, Maria mentioned about having Eisbein in Germany. We had that in the Frankfurt train station before setting off for the flight to Argentina

Farewell Hong Kong...for a little while

Christmas is about getting together...I had a real good time having lunch, tea, dinner, drinks and parties with friends and colleagues and loved ones- friends who are/was colleagues; colleagues who are family; family who are friends...

Thank you for sending me away in style with massive food and drinks-dumplings in mid levels, sumptuous party food in office happy corner, Chinese dishes in Tung Chung, Italian lunch in Headland, homemade cookies, jumping frog hotpot, Aberdeen fish market seafood, Grand Hyatt steaks, Marriott dimsum, fois gras, oysters, chocolate orange slices, glutinous rice, illy coffee, wine, mulled wine, champagne, hugs, kisses and kind words.

I'll miss you all even if I've got no time to meet up before I go, my gratitude for your love, care and prayers, catch me along the trip or we'll meet again soon.

Packing 2 years of things in 3 hours !!!

On the last day before set-off we were still very busy collecting things for the trip: foreign currencies, a repaired computer (but we left it in Hong Kong !!!), the last hair-cut in Hong Kong, eye-checking. There was too much waiting time and traffic jam. Finally I got home at 7pm, 3 hours before setting off at 10pm. We were fanatic packing things up into the rucksack, even including unnecessary things in my wallets: coupons, membership cards, extra credit cards etc. Worse are my backup harddisk which I should leave behind but now on the way, and leaving the new laptop which I too so long to wait for repairing on the last day. 

At home the rucksack was repeated in packing because the lb mark in the scale was mistaken as kg, all our rucksacks were twice heavier than expected and we had to repack again.

.

With an easy taxi trip we went to the airport and hopped to the plane with leisure, unlike my previous trips when getting onto the plan always linked with lateness and hassle. After 10 hours of uncomfortable flight, we are in Frankfurt

Thanks, Justine and Ming ... "What ? you are leaving tonight ?"

During our manic last minute packing, our two dear friends, Justine and Ming offered to have dinner with us before we go. There were two French stone crabs in the freezer, so we tried to finish it, along with some broccoli and pasta.  To our surprise, they bring in a rather sumptuous dinner, however, we are out of time and kept on packing, while they eat and chat.  Then, we called a taxi.  We told them, we are going now, you may stay a longer while if you wish.  They asked, where are you going?  We said, “To the airport!”  “Tonight?”  “Yes!”  It’s was hilarious that, they thought we are leaving on 30Dec evening.  And we got two good friends seeing us off on the taxi!

Equipment Wish List before start-off (updated on Dec 30)

You know we are in tight budget, you know it's Christmas...here is our wish list for our Santas.  We would be very grateful if you could send as gift/ lend/ share/ sponsor/ offer us discounted price for any of the following:

UV water Steripen
http://purewaterfreedom.com/osc/steripen-journeypkg-wbpa-free-nalgene-bottle-p-267.html


There are more to come ...

Thank you for supporting our journey!

Hi Friends, thanks for your care

Glad to have several Christmas parties and milonga that gave good chance to say goodbye to friends. Most showed care and reminded us their worry; they appreciated our boldness and adventurous mentality. Strangely I did not feel much sad tone of missing because it is so convenient nowadays to communicate using internet. We can easily see each other through video-conferencing.



We are using different software for communication. From Skype (adleytsang, ), Tango (www.tango.me) - I like that because of the name :), MSN (adley_t@hotmail.com  suntma@yahoo.com) to google talk, of course facebook.


We also thank a lot to our friends who show support by helping out visiting our mom when we are not here. Viewing that we shall be away during lunar new year, our parents do need more care when their children are not around. We were even given changes of foreign currencies for easy use upon arrival, also Christmas gifts that we need in the trip.


Many thanks to all friends.

Hi, family, can't you learn to say something better ?

Just had a good great dinner with my family tonight, great in terms of food and a time of family gathering. I should not ask for more. However, out of the parent's worries about our world trip, they kept telling scaring stories about people being robbed, organ being stolen etc. I know their intention of raising my awareness. In their view the world is a dangerous place. My younger brother tried to persuade my mom that it is pointless to raise such awareness, but his reason was weird. It was because I am going anyway and I am not going to listen.


There is no choice for family members. I spent so much effort to escape this pessimistic and anxiety-prone family. I expect them being proud of me doing this journey, which is out of their reality. Can't they do something better by encouraging me, showing their faith of my belief, trusting in me and supporting my decision ? Also the freaky brother says nothing about my plan, subjectively I sensed his jealousy of me. Freaky in a sense that how on earth a son does not let grandparents see their grandson ? At the end of the day, while I am still in the worry of all unpredictable possibilities in the trip, this visit to my family adds nothing positive to my trip.


As God gives me a wife to unite with, I am leaving my parent and have my family. I shouldn't take them so serious, but it is frustrating somehow that I feel negative energy passed to me from them. I lost the mood for tango that evening.

Finding Vitamin M along the journey

A good journey needs vitamin M to make it healthy (to us and to the Earth), innovative (to give you insight), memorable (brain cell needs vitamin too), attractive (so more of you can follow our journey). We have been thinking about different ways to find Vitamin M along the way. Some are suggested by friends and we brainstorm some. If you have more ideas and even better, help on the following, please comment and feedback.


1) writing Chinese calligraphy and sell them on the road


2) selling small egg tart (雞蛋仔) on the road


3) playing music on the road (I know harmonica and dizi)


4) cooking meals for each home hosting us (I can do Chinese, Italian, some French cuisines, Maria is good on desserts)


5) any online job (I can do psychological research, online search, statistical analysis, journal article drafting). Please write us email and I'll send you my CV, you can also search me in google scholar "Adley Tsang"


6) online counselling session through MSN, Skype, Tango


7) selling good photo along the journey : you can find the low resolution here, once you pay we sell you the full use and copyright of the high-resolution photos


8) anymore ? please suggest.

First staying place in BsAs - have a comfortable start

After many exchanges, some of them in Spanish using Goggle translate (it is odd, but better than nothing for a new Spanish learner like me, we finally find a room in an apartment. The host is an eager man who speaks simple English and seems to use translate website to write English with us. We'll stay here for one month, when we shall be finding another cheaper place.

It only costs US$400 a month, with kitchen, shared bathroom, internet,  parrilla. It is located at


435 Cochabamba (between Defense and Bolivar), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina


http://maps.google.com.hk/maps/ms?msid=212522051720559287784.0004b496088a3e6c5370f&msa=0&ll=-34.622751,-58.371853&spn=0.002521,0.003449


It is in San Telmo area. Wish us luck about the place. If you know other cheaper place in BsAs (especially near Palermo), please inform.

Are we specially pessemistic or born worriers ?

Last night I had a Christmas party with the GA crew. The crew I have been with on the boat called GA since 2006. They were very excited about our world trip, also having concern such as medical insurance, the difference between pickpocket and robbery (as the later can claim insurance), transportation, food, money, work and living place after the trip etc. To them we are doing a very bold move, to me they have too many worries. A typical Hong-konger certainly has a lot of worries about such a trip with concern about what next and money. I shared a view that if next year is the end of the world, would there be difference between facing it next to the Iguazu Fall and facing it in your office with piles of work around you. I regretted not going further talking about Jesus's coming at anytime. My point at that time was to challenge their lifeviews. I sensed that they did have some reflection about "would we do that ?". They also suggested many ways of earning money along the way. They are very creative, such as writing Chinese calligraphy of sale (I should buy brush and ink, which are easier to carry than electrical egg pie machine), merchandising local products and selling online etc. They were excited, also mixed an atmosphere of missing and nostalgia.



(watching Maria doing belaying in climbing exam at the moment, kind of distracted now)




Another information I got is the trip from South America in Antarctica. The cheapest way is to wait in the port for budget seat, and that still cost USD5000 per person for a 20 days trip. It is so expensive and we may not go there.


Finally, I won the lucky draw of 3 sunscreen lip balms, which should be enough for use in these 2 years.


It was a good farewell gathering. I left 2 race shirts for Arthur for my successors, don't know if we shall take the same boat when we are back. When I said in a humorous tone that we shall not be back (who knows, but with an idea that we may settle somewhere), they were very worried, with implication that we shall lose our lives somewhere. Why do HK people so pessimistic ? No matter what, they are good people and friends of mine




Thanks to GA and crew for these years of good sailing.

Hello World !!!

It is the first time starting our blog and it turns out to be something great : an interactive blog for our backpacking trip around the world.


It is interactive in a sense that
1) the blog is open to anyone interested in our trip,
2) who can share information about any part of the trip,
3) with specific tags, these information could also be shared among other.
4) We also welcome any backpackers and friends joining us in any part of the trip.