RAINBOW DAYZZZ IN HONG KONG!!!!!

oHHhh Hiya from CHILLY Seoul~( Winter finally arrived! Minus 2 some mornings this past week....to think just a couple of months ago it was hitting the horrendous humidity of 38 degrees!!!)
Thought I would share some rainbow photos from a recent adventure~ so last month I took advantage of a long weekend and hotfooted it over to magical Hong Kong for a whistlestop jaunt! This is one of the things I love so much about living in Seoul~ it's perfectly located for hopping around other cities in Asia with it being a mere stones throw away from Japan and only a short flight away from soooo many other glorious dreamlands... so any hint of a long weekend and I'm taking the chance to grab my little suitcase and see more of beautiful East Asia!!!

Hong Kong has long been one of my favourite places on Earth and a place I have found myself a few times over the years for both work and holiday~ it had been a long time since I last had the joy of visiting this rainbow land of dim sum and neon so I felt it was a way overdue trip! And also to visit my dear, old chum Gloria who I hadn't seen since a glitter filled night at 'Circus' during the Soho Revue days when she trotted over to London!!! She was as ever the perfect host as she knows THE BEST places in town so it was veggie gourmet feasts ahoy... you can follow her global adventures as she writes and tracks down the most awesome food all over the world, so  check out her instagram: foodandtravelhk !!!

So I actually landed in HK amidst the peak of the 'Occupy Central' protests in October... I was staying in Causeway Way which was also one of the protests sites so it was really poignant to see the 'Umbrella Revolution' as it unfolded on my doorstep and really incredible to see so many passionate people, peacefully standing up for what they believe. Also somewhat strange because only hours before I'd seen the scenes on the news and then suddenly found myself standing in those very same scenes.
These protests are such a key moment in HK's future so it was really incredible to see people voicing their thoughts and hopes in a way that was so dignified and calm~ There were little gazebos set up offering food and drinks to the all-nighters and and overall nice sense of comradery.

When I first arrived it was straight out for dinner where we went to the most incredible veggie place in Causeway~ AWESOME crispy taro rolls, bean curd stew, lemon and ginger, tofu, dumplings....more and more dishes kept arriving on our table!! I'd been DESPERATE for some Chinese food for months as the last I'd had was a Kung Po extravaganza of a takeaway before I left the UK!! And HK does vegetarian feasts to absolute perfection!!!
250,00000000 dishes and a million gallons of jasmine tea later and it was onto dessert which was dreamy matcha ice cream topped with shiratama rice balls and piles of azuki from a glorious Japanese dessert cafe called 'Via Tokyo' .... this place was amazing...I wanted everything on the menu!!!

So I will save you from the blow by blow account of what I did every minute of every waking day on my trip.... but all in all it was a really lovely break and so lovely to both catch up with friends and see some magical sights.
One of my absolute favourite places in HK is Lantau Island~ it's breathtakingly beautiful and a total contrast to the mayhem of Kowloon with endless green mountains and teeny fishing villages~ so I was straight on the tiny, local bus winding my way up Ngong Ping to take in the giant Tian Tan Buddha and enjoy a deluxe veggie lunch from the cantine at Po Lin Monastery!!!

I LOVE LANTAU SO MUCH~ the monastery and it's temples are incredible and the smell of incense lingers around the whole area... the misty mountains seem to go on forever...  I also saw a horrible spider bigger than my hand hanging around outside the toilets...wahhh NATURE!!!eeep!

During my jaunt I also paid a visit to Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin temple and the nearby fortune teller alley... the ambience was kind of quashed when a TV crew and some random boyband/ actors/ celeb situation showed up ( I've yet to establish who these guys actually are so answers on a postcard please!!!)... the crowds were going wild so I decided to scoot out of there and onto calmer pastures! Well....as calm as things can be in raucous Hong Kong!!!

Aside from a spot of sightseeing my trip mainly consisted of...glorious food, riding the Star Ferry, gossip times, shopping, walking for miles, night markets, drinking lots of tea, towers of deluxe neon, dim sum, more shopping.... and believe it or not MARKS & SPENCER!!!!!!! So my trip to Honkers pretty much marked the 6 month point of my foray into Asia....I can't believe how fast time has gone and that I've been living as an official Seoulite for more than half a year!! Needless to say it was getting to the point where one or two cravings were starting to kick in...namely mint sauce, veggie gravy and of course CHUTNEY!!! The first time the chutney craving ever kicked in was back when I was living in Taiwan...until then I didn't really like chutters....but now I'm obsessed.... so 6 months without and I was more that ready for a nice cheddar and chutney sarnie....!!!
So whilst I was in HK I used the opportunity to fill my suitcase to the brim with lots of British products ready to haul back to Seoul.....honestly the absolute joy of going into a M&S and stocking up on jam rings, salt and vinegar crisps, veggie Percy Pigs, spiced chutney, cranberry sauce ready for Christmas, shortbread, fudge.....GLORIOUS!!!!...then imagine my delight when I found another shop selling an abundance of Dairy Milk, Maltesers, MARY BERRY FRUIT CHUTNEY (?!?!?!!? I've never even found this in the UK!!!) Lemsips, Strepsils.....and all number of treats!!! As you can imagine my little Korean kitchen is now full of all number of treasures!!! Don't even get me started on prepacked sandwiches either....I was beyond ecstatic to also stumble across Pret A Manger so was straight in there... I'd actually forgotten about it's existence !!!!!!!!!
Ok... so all in all such a magically wonderful trip of dreams....I won't be leaving it so long next time as there's still soooo much I still want to see in HK and plenty more gossip to be had!!!! So I shall leave you with a few snaps....
I'm off to crochet some Granny Squares and brew up some chai~ weird to think that only last month I was tropically hot in HK and now I'm freezing and wrapped up in Winter coats and scarves in Korea... so nice to finally see some lovely autumnal weather though and have an excuse to crack out some fluffy knitwear?!!!!!!!! Seoul has been looking SUPER exquisite as we now near the end of this short but beautiful Autumn...so next time I'll share some snaps of how pretty this city looks with all it's red maple leaves and twinkling, golden ginkgo trees~ sad that they've mainly all fallen already!!!
Love from Seoul,
Emma
xxxxx

Emma's Asian Adventure 2008!!!!

Sawadeeeee!!!(That's hello in Thai, don't you know?!)

Ok....so now the reason behind my disappearing act....and an explanation as to why I havent updated my blog in like a month!

December saw me finally finding a moment to have a bit of time out and do my annual trip of dreams....so, with backpack in tow I scuttled off to South East Asia for an inspiration trip, come fabric sourcing quest, come holiday! And I have returned with a big, fat, juicy journal and some SUPER GOURMET fabrics and trims for my AW09 collection!!!I'm so excited to get sewing!

Muchos as I LOVE London....it's always fun to unleash from the box every now and then and brew on a bit of variety....and I feel as though my optical, feast of foreign parts, 2008, may keep my itchy feet ermmmm....un-itchy, for another few months...well maybe....

So....the trip of dreamzzzzz......

As ever it wasn't a straightforward endeavour.....the day before I was due to fly into Bangkok, my flight was cancelled due to the political drama kicking off in the airport...

So my flight suddenly turned into a TROPICAL, re-route of TREATS!!!My whole trip (which was initially planned as an overland adventure of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) had now turned on it's head which meant Hong Kong and Malaysia had now been thrown into equation?!!?

So, to cut a long story short....my Asian Adventure 2008 now saw me hitting Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong....and I had the most AMAZING time!!!

I could go on FOREVER AND EVER telling tales of the travels....but you would be sitting here for DAYS....so if you really want to know all of the gory details....then feel free to pop round mine for a Chai and a flick through the bulging journal.....

However.....I will hit you up with a few choice segments....and some cheeky photos!!!!

Believe it or not....it was exactly a year to the day when I touched down in Hong Kong since I had last visited HK......I absolutely LOVEEE HK.....it's amazing...in everyway.....I got to hang out with Gloria and visit all of my favourite places as well as do a LOT of shopping!!!eeek!I knew at this point that by the end of the trip the backpack would be busting at the seams! On my first day there I also had a drama in that at 7am the hostel I was staying in got raided by the police in a "routine check" to see if the place was being used as a brothel?!?!After a 14 hour flight and very little sleep....I was not best impressed to wake up and find the police standing at the foot of the bed!!!

OK.....so this is totally the abridged version of the WHOLEEE trip which breaks my heart as I would love to sit and bore you for hours with the whole spiel.......

So...my next port of call saw me hitting Malaysia which was amazing and gave me a chance to spend some time with my old housemate, Siz Siz, who I used to live in Wembley with, a couple of years back!

I had an awesome time in Malaysia...spent time in Kuala Lumpur and in a town called Melaka on the west coast.....It was here that I picked up a lot of bits and bobs for the new collection....so WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

YAHHH.....so Malaysia ROCKED!!I loved it....!!!

Thailand, to this day....from every country I have ever visited in my life...still remains my most favourite place on earth....I love Thailand so much...and to be honest it will take some beating....and to date, even though I've been utterly amazed by everywhere I've been since...Thailand still rules the roost!!!

So, it doesn't take a genius to work out that I was SOOO EXCITED to be paying it a return visit!!!And I was meeting Alexis there so it was set to be a corker!!!

One tale that I will indulge in....So me and Alexis were sitting enjoying a bucket or 6 of super strong Thai Whiskey and Red Bull....when all of a sudden a knob of an American lad rocked over to the table and whipped his balls out...he them proceeded to attempt to put them in our bucket of cocktail.....next thing we know some 7 year old street urchin boy had nicked his baseball cap in retaliation....before we know it the street urchin is taking a beating from the American dude and two Ladyboys have been knocked to the decks in the melee...next thing a street brawl had erupted and we had a pile-on situation involving a couple of trannies, the street urchin, the dickhead and our new ginger mate from Glasgow.....I happily sat back enjoying the spectacle and polishing off the cocktailio!!!!It was a corker....one of the funniest incidents of my life!!!!

Our next leg of the travels saw us heading to Vietnam...a country I have dreamed of visiting FOREVER!!!!

I spent my 26th birthday in Hanoi in Northern Vietnam which was amazing and the day saw a Water Puppet theatre show, Ice cream at a place called "Fanny's", lunch by a beautiful lake and lots of backstreet shopping and rickshaw riding!!!!

Vietnam also saw an amazing venture to the INCREDIBLE Halong Bay in which we sailed around all of the islands in a traditional Junk Boat!!!Sooooo pretty!!!!!

I think without sparkling a sleep-a-thon Ill call it a day with the travel stories!!!!Believe it or not I actually took....950 photographs and wrote a squillion pages in the journal about the whole escapade....

What I will say is, December was totally amazing....my trip was filled with temples, chopsticks, Buddhas and rickshaws.....monkey infested caves brimming with Hindu shrines, ancient ruins in Ayutthaya, side-stepping through a million motorbikes in Vietnam, and abundance of tofu!!! The most incredible experience!!!And of course.....10 passport stamps later and double the luggage weight I left with....I have returned with some SUPER SPECIAL fabrics and influences for my new collection!!!

Love and Asian Antics,

Emma xxxx