香港

Ah, Hong Kong. What a strange and mysterious place. Like the city of the future 50 years ago that's already lived through the future and is now a bit saggy and patchy. There's clearly money everywhere, but wandering around the shopping haven that is Central I kept wondering about who actually buys this stuff? Who lives here? Who, indeed, can afford to live here?

I ate wonton soup, Michelin-starred restaurant lunches, street-food buns filled with red bean paste and cream, Hong-Kong style comfort food (which, incidentally, is absolutely delicious). I had cocktails in bars with incredible views of the famous, and deservedly so, skyline. I walked everywhere, got lost a lot. Discovered the only remaining shop in the city dedicated to Chinese scroll painting and bought ink sticks and brushes to practice my calligraphy. I went to the outskirts of the city to check out Hackney-Wick style (though commercial) art galleries, and then had a meeting with the director and curator of soon-to-be the biggest museum of visual culture in the region: M+. 

In some ways, there's not really a lot going on in Hong Kong apart from the usual métro-boulot-dodo, which seems strange since the soft-power of cultural consumption is what's so often sold as the psychological carrot for urban dwellers. If there aren't theatres and cinemas and art museums, no one will live happily in the squashed conditions necessitated by urban density, but I suppose in Hong Kong, that's what the high-end shopping and eating establishements are for. Who cares about Turandot when you've got Otto e Mezzo? Personally, I need both, which is why I'm in London and not Hong Kong, but the city certainly makes for a fascinating visit and I'm looking forward to going back to see how M+ develops.

 

how to do nothing

I’m not very good at doing nothing. In fact, I’m terrible at it. My mind has a major temper tantrum when I try to turn it off. Part of it is because I like doing stuff, but it’s also partly because of the curse of the PhD. You always feel like you should be working on your thesis, not spending Sunday afternoons sitting in the park, or if you are going to spend Sunday afternoon sitting in the park you feel that you ought to take some work with you. Not that I always take work with me to the park, mind, but I’m always thinking about it or thinking about things I’ve got to organise for an exhibition or an event or whatever. I’m hard to switch off.

When my NYC holiday was cancelled thanks to the Icelandic volcano of doom, I rather spontaneously booked a flight to Bangkok with my refunded funds. I figured I’d give the whole doing nothing thing a proper shot. Turns out that spending a week on a beach with nothing but a bikini and a book is really rather glorious. Not that I did nothing the whole time, but I figured out that I’m better at the nothing game than first I thought.

I went snorkelling at the Similan Islands, one of the world’s top dive sites, and swimming with sea turtles in waters so turquoise no photoshop needed. I got stung by a jellyfish. I rode on an elephant, actually on it, not on one of those seat bench things. I went canoeing in Khao Sok Natural Park. I hired a scooter to spend the day driving around the Mae Sa valley in northern Thailand. I ate as much coconut ice cream as I could without making myself sick. I managed to snoop around the crazy goings-on in Bangkok without getting myself into trouble, even though it was probably the scariest place I’ve ever been. I didn’t much care for Bangkok, which reminded me of New York City done Vegas-style. I was grossed out by the sex tourism in Chiang Mai and bemused by the monks who have iPhones and get iced lattes in Wawee coffee shops. I turned into an actual human being: in the city, I’m a smirking cynic, but after a few days in Khao Lak I was getting teary eyed reading Rudyard bloody Kipling. I killed my camera battery after only five days, which was fine as I had already filled up the memory card by then anyway, so half of the pictures below are unfortunately from my phone.

I loved living outside for two weeks, even though it was ridiculously hot in the north. Makes me long for nicer weather in London. Being inside all the time is not good for people. More than anything, though, I just loved being away somewhere different, someplace new. Novelty is exciting and travelling alone is good for recharging. I love coming back after being away. I feel so hyped up, ready to get on with things. Time to get busy.