Great plans are made to be changed

Three days ago I got an email that I have been waiting for in excess of a year. This email effectively scrapped my plan of traveling for months or years, and instead I have another three weeks left. What was in the email was a job offer with the Finnish Defense Forces in Afghanistan, as part of an ISAF Provincial Reconstruction Team. So now I'm spending another three weeks in Asia before returning to Finland and starting work again. I thought about the best way I could spend these weeks, and came to the conclusion that it would be diving in Thailand. So this evening I'm catching a flight to Bangkok and will then head straight to Koh Tao and spend two weeks there preparing for my return to life as a working, if not respectable citizen.



But what else has gone on? I last wrote in Harbin, and it feels a long time ago. From there my plan was to head for Dalian and then Hong Kong to get a new visa. I did exactly this, and now I have a useless double entry visa to China, as I received the email about work the day after I applied. But hey, visa is better then no visa, and its valid for six months anyway.

My plan for Dalian was simple: relax. Of the four days I spent there I spent three at the beach, which is meant to be very good on Chinese standards, but have to say is quite low when compared to any beach in South East Asia, or even Finland for that matter (yes, they do have beaches in Finland, and sometimes they have sun as well). But I was happy to spend my days with thousands of Chinese enjoying the sun, waves and sand. Like almost everything, the way Chinese spend time at the beach is different from other counties. Very few people know how to swim, so the first five or ten meters in the water is incredibly crowded, but after that there is almost no one. Even signs posted on the beach confirmed this, as they advised to contact "staff or foreigners" in case someone was drowning. Awareness of the effects of UV radiation also seems to be lacking, as I saw some soon-to-be-VERY-painful sunburns, and I saw no one using sunblock. The people who did know how to swim were very proud of this, and took swimming very seriously. One family, fully equipped to actually swim, spent ten minutes stretching and exercising in preparations for their endeavor, led by the father, only to swim five minutes.





From Dalian I traveled quickly through Yantai and Shanghai to Hong Kong. The British influenced city/country quickly took me in and embraced me. I was expecting a fascinating place but wasn't really prepared for how cool it was. Never having been too impressed with cityscapes, Hong Kong showed me beauty in the first few hours. One could almost think they planned the city emphasizing the scenery, with the skyscrapers and bay embraced by the surrounding green hills. The bay is probably one of the most photographed views on the planet, with good reason.









The city seems to offer everything that you might want. The bustling turmoil of tens of different Asian cultures, predominantly Cantonese, infused with the efficiency of western planning makes for a city easy to love. Daily you can decide which culture you want to be immersed in, yet still in the evenings you can enjoy SOHO with its western dominated bars and engage in a proper conversation (especially after a month in China where its not always so). The only thing which might make you think twice is the price of accommodation, as its not exactly cheap.







I also had time to do some shopping, and a new lens, filters, and a proper tripod have found a home in my bag. Now I only need to learn how to take good photos and everything would be perfect.







RANDOM FACT GENERATOR

What is the biggest problem facing photography in Hong Kong?

Answer: Lenses fogging up because of extreme humidity and excessive air conditioning.