4 – Bilbo to Bulbuls

Bilbao to Hong Kong

For the past few days we’ve been heading east, not in a big, or dramatic way, just baby steps. Leaving behind the familiar routine of home in Asturias and adopting a fresh lifestyle, with variety, uncertainty and choice. On Tuesday afternoon we battle the one way system and a stubbornly wrong GPS and find the offices of Hertz in downtown Bilbao, or Bilbo as it is better known to its residents.

Being relieved of the car is a blessing, and we luxuriate on foot, stopping for ice cream and cruising at a snails pace through the busy, yet clean streets of the Basque city.

In the evening as our last dusk in Spain descends, we are on the river bank, looking across at the incongruous Guggenheim Museum, a beautiful structure and a joy to photograph. Joggers, power-skaters and cyclists cruise by, punctuated by slower moving rotund pedestrians.

We manage a few hours sleep, but all too soon the 04:30 alarm gets us moving; into a taxi and through the quiet, black streets to the airport. Paris for a few hours, then the numbing 12 hours to Hong Kong, arriving just before 7am on Thursday.

Bang, we’re back! Instantly we slip into the Asian Groove; Hong Kong is super clean, super efficient, the people polite, quiet and respectful. It’s all so familiar, having been here dozens of times over the years, it feels familiar, comforting and homely.

We zip along at 300 feet in a streaking silver hover car, weaving through the skyscrapers of steel, glass and carbon – orderly and futuristic. Shortly, we begin to descend into a thick smog, the wheels touch down and we’re in traditional traffic of red cabs with white roofs. After checking into our hotel, we head for the Thai Embassy in Admiralty and receive a blow when they wont issue Juanli a 60 days visa, despite previous email assurance – our future in Thailand relies on a smooth immigration when we arrive in Bangkok on Monday.

Hong Kong is a wonderful mix of juxtaposing elements – the wild modern architecture of the CBD and the traditional apartment blocks squeezed into the worlds most compact and expensive land mass. For the weekend though we’re heading out to Sai Kung to stay with a close friend.

Within 40 minutes of megatropolis we’re sat by a beautiful bay under swaying palm trees. Azure waves lap at golden sands and junks sit offshore allowing adventurous kids to jump into the crystal ocean. As Juanli and I sit there, sipping cool drinks we have a moment to breath, simple reflection on a lot of miles between us and our recent past.

Next week we travel to Thailand, and if the visa isn’t friendly, probably re plan and go to Indonesia. SE Asia is a compact and wildly diverse zone – food, culture, architecture, geography and geology – rain forests, volcanos and coral reefs.

Our little 4 day mini break in Hong Kong passes quickly – catching up with friends, talking business and planning for the next year. We sit on the balcony listening the cheerful banter of Chinese Bulbuls, striking birds and quite ubiquitous in these parts.

As the afternoon slips by, the wind picks up, the monsoon weather packing a few last punches – the rain comes as we pack our things into the back of the taxi – out to the airport – into the future – the time for hover cars and skyscrapers ends, and we head for rural Thailand.

Next Instalment - Visas and Vespas.