Sweatiest Man in the World

The first leg of our journey was a 4-day stop-over in Hong Kong.  It was too low-effort and too comfortable to be called backpacking.  Our tour guides, the Ogres (also known as Marine and Romain), showed us a the must-see touristy sights and some top-secret spots. The Ogres are pictured below.

This post is titled to reflect one of our trip milestones: learning to live with what will certainly be one of our fiercest enemies: sweat. Hong-Kong was at least 1 million degrees, with 300% humidity. To understand what 300% humidity feels like, picture yourself jumping into a pool. Now, imagine that the pool is actually jumping at you. Now, imagine that there are 3 pools that are simultaneously jumping at you. There!  Now you know what we are going through, you lucky reader comfortably seated in your air conditioned cubicle, reading this blog in a tiny corner of your screen while pretending to work.

One day in HK, after many hours of walking around the hot city, we happened to ask a mall employee for directions. She looked alarmed.  This made us alarmed.  We all stood still, exchanging very concerned glances.  Finally, she broke the silence. Staring in awe at Jeremy, she said: “Oh my God!! Why you so sweaty!?”… And this is how we got directions and a free pack of tissues, captured on camera for your viewing pleasure.

Apart from the heat, this was a great weekend: we started off on Friday by going to the Peak, which is Hong Kong Island’s highest point, and an amazing viewpoint overlooking the city center. We walked most of the way up, opting for a bus once the road turned into a highway deathtrap for pedestrians.  Then, we went past the touristy observatory and continued to Victoria Peak.  All-in-all, 6 hours of hiking.

On Saturday morning Romain took us to Kowloon by ferry.  It was a quick trip just to see Hong Kong’s skyline and the Walk of Fame.  In the afternoon, we went to Stanley for brunch and beaching.  We ended the day by meeting a few French expats and about 200 other people at a beach barbecue.  We partied like crazy.  We did not hide and take a nap.  And we were, therefore, not caught napping during the party.

Sunday was dedicated to blowing our minds. BLOWING. OUR. MINDS. We set off for a 1.5 hour hike in a natural Park northeast of Hong Kong and got attacked by a pack of wolves. Just kidding, we just wanted to check that you were still reading.  At the end of that hike there was some more hiking.  But at the end of that, an amazing beach.

So that’s the story of our first stop.  Thanks for reading!

Jeremy and Alina,
Delivering Nonsense One Asian City at a Time.


Our amazing hosts, Romain the Ogre and Marine the Ogress to be:

The "Why you so sweaty incident":

A freezing Sunday hike:

DA beach:

The Peak:

Views from Kowloon:

Party on the beach:

This is the pack of wolves that we did not see and that did not attack us: