Prologue

So, I suppose I should start with a little introduction about myself. I was born in Middlesex Hospital, London and moved to a town called Watford when I was 1. I’ll skip the school days, but I attended the University of Southampton studying Music and Management Sciences. After graduating, I worked for a record label for a short time, but then decided that I wanted to go on an adventure. That adventure took me to Hong Kong where I lived the life as a guitar and English teacher/tutor. This meant that I could earn money and take as many holidays as I wanted!!! Which I took full advantage of, in the last 2 years, I have gone on about 7/8 holidays! I went to Beijing in Feb and spent 5months there studying. I came back to Hong Kong for a few months and made enough money for this journey!

I would like to say that Hong Kong has been really good to me. I have made a lot of good friends who I hope will be friends for life. I have met some really special people whom I hope will always be close to my heart. I know I will miss Hong Kong and it will be a very important chapter in my life! But as I was always told, 2 years is the max in Hong Kong. Any longer and you will be stuck there. Which is good, as I have spent 2 years and 10 days in this wonderful city!

So, what am I thinking now? I will be spending the next few months in China. I do have some fears about this journey. I’m taking a leap out of my comfort zone and doing something very, very brave I think. I don’t know how I’m going to stand all the people and all the rudeness and dirtiness. It’s a big contrast from the squeaky clean Hong Kong lifestyle. I’m dreading the squat toilets. One of my biggest fears in life is falling into one of those. I think if I ever do, I will dig a hole and bury myself in it!

I have a few hopes for this journey. I hope that this will help me find something which I have been looking for (no… not a Chinese wife :P). I hope that by surviving this adventure, it will make me a stronger person. I hope that I will carry on meeting people who are really interesting and from different worlds, not just the Chinese culture, which I am about to immerse myself into, but also different people on their own journeys. I hope that this will help me move on to another part of my life.

Don’t worry people, not all my entries will be so mushy! I hope that part of this blog will help introduce you to the Chinese culture and the quirks and funny customs they have. I will also be interviewing people and asking the hard hitting questions in life! I will also have my pedometer to measure the distances I have walked!

So to sign off this first instalment of my blog, I want to thank people. I want to thank KCC (Kowloon Cricket Club) for giving me a team and a chance to do something I really enjoy doing. I want to thank my boss’ James (Rebecca, Denis) from ALE, Anna from Color My World, Kathy from the scout hut and anyone else I have had the pleasure to work for in Hong Kong. I would like to thank Jane, my sister, who has put up with me for the last 2 years and all the shit I give her, all the problems I cause, all the money I have borrowed! Lisa, for being such a special person to me. Most importantly, I want to thank all my friends for just being friends. It means a lot! Also a special mention for Paul, who is going to be the editor of this Blog as I am not sure if I can access it when I am in China and he does a great job with all the techie stuff!

I will miss Hong Kong.

So, good night Hong Kong, good morning China. This is the start of the 10,000里 (li) journey…