Three months in Europe came and went quicker than it takes weefee to get his phone out and check for wifi at any given restaurant. We couldn't believe that the biggest chunk of the trek was over and we were moving into the third piece that was expected to be completely different to anything we were used to and yet extremely exciting at the same time. We left London bound for the far east, and specifically, bound for Hong Kong but not before we were forced, at Heathrow Airport, to book a ticket out of Hong Kong for visa purposes.

For those of you who aren't sure, Hong Kong is not part of China. It's an independent state just outside of mainland China. It has its own government and currency. But realistically, for all intent and purpose, it is another Chinese province. We decided to stay in Kowloon District which is meant to be a cheaper side of Hong Kong especially compared to the up-market and business hub of Central District. With hind sight now, it seems difficult to put Hong Kong and cheap into the same sentence as everything is expensive. In fact, it's probably on par with Scandanavia and Paris in terms of costs for food and drinks. Accommodation and public transport are however quite reasonably priced.

The decision to stay in Kowloon was a good one as there are plenty of markets and night markets to wander and also get great reasonably priced local cuisine. Other things that you can get up to are taking the train up to the Peak for awesome views of the city or go for a ride across the river on the Star Ferry. Otherwise, just walk around to try come to grips and become one with the pace and people that are moving around this huge Chinese-market like city in the vivacity of its neon signs and lit up overhangs. It is also quite easy to head across to Central, by underground or taxi, for the night life of Lan Kwai Fong: a cool street of bars and clubs that is the drinking home of both ex-pats and locals. Before you head here it is worth getting a few pre-drinks in you or joining the many other economy drinkers at the 7-11 for much better priced beers or canned cocktails. And as our last tip, if you're out and about and looking for food after 10pm then make your way to one of the Sushi One restaurants for some of the best sushi you'll ever have and all at half price!

On top of all this getting to grips with being in a completely new culture and part of the world we were also in town to celebrate Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and the most important 25 hour fast that we have. We were welcomed at the Chabad of Kowloon by Rabbi Eisenbach and the members of the community that were around for this special occasion and would like to thank the Rabbi again for welcoming us an inviting us to their pre-fast meal. It's amazing how you can be on the complete other end of the globe and yet the community, people, songs and shul are exactly the same as home.

Throughout America and Europe our sleeping patterns were completely inconsistent. In the beginning, it was unlikely that we'd get to sleep any time before 2am and often be up and about with an early rise. But this could not continue long term and we had our first 24hr sleep in when we got to Austin. We basically allowed sleep downtime to happen when necessary and when there was nothing else to keep us busy. In fact the soothing downtime of a bus, train or flight were perfect opportunities to catch up on some much needed sleep. We thought that our completely messed up sleeping patterns would result in us not being affected by jet lag when we shifted time zones to the far east. But, contrary to that, we were hit quite badly by jet lag and became near nocturnal. We spent more time awake at night than we did in daylight. It was a weird experience and a bit unfortunate as we possibly missed out a little in Hong Kong but we made the most of it and still tried to see as much as we could of this dynamic city.

We eased our way into the far east by starting with one of the new age, east meets west cities of the far east. The mix of high rises and western brands amongst the culture and people of the east was one of the most interesting experiences we have had and we were looking forward to getting more involved in the eastern culture as we prepared to move into mainland China.

Trek on…Brett and Darren

P.S. Keep up to speed with where we've been staying and how we've been getting around in our blog posts from Johannesburg