A really short blog! (Hong Kong continued)

Day 2,465 since October 10th 2013: 194 countries out of 203. No flight, no return home and min 24 hrs in each country 

(The opinions expressed on this site are my own, and do not reflect the position or policies of the Danish Red Cross which I represent as a Goodwill Ambassador). 

A mad step challenge and beyond

There is no escaping Hong Kong. And it is a good place to be during COVID-19. However the clock is ticking and I don’t know what it has been set at. Some say December.

Jeeeezz!!! I entered another step challenge with Jakob. I thought I could handle it. However we decided to invite a bunch of other people. So all in all we are twelve competitors (Jakob, Poul, another Poul, Thomas, Natali, Luis, Jakob, Kenneth, Anders, Lars and my fiancee). Whoever reaches the highest step count between Monday and Sunday (midnight) has won. Naturally I want to win. I am highly competitive and goal oriented. It turns out Poul also wants to win. He is fit, currently unemployed and has a treadmill with his iPad set up in front of him so he can watch movies on the go. He also has a nice air-conditioned room and he does not need to bother with carrying anything as he can leave it next to the treadmill. He’s likely stepping away in his boxer shorts as we speak. And he is stepping away!! So on the first day Poul did 51,380 steps!! And he has been keeping it up!! So in order to match him I need to spend 8-9 hours per day!! And I still have the Saga to run. Fortunately things have slowed down this week so I’m at about 30 hours of work…plus 60 hours of keeping up with Poul! Unbelievably time consuming. It’s for charity though… Jakob came up with the idea and every step counts in terms of money once our accumulated steps pass a million. That should be soon!! The money goes to the Red Cross as I am a Goodwill Ambassador of the Danish Red Cross and have been doing my utmost to promote the world’s largest humanitarian organization for almost seven years now. Thomas and Poul (not treadmill Poul) have matched Jakob’s contribution per step so it is not all nonsense. My goodness it is getting painful though! On average I have been doing a full marathon per day. And I do have other stuff to do.

So in a very brief picture update: here we go!

I DO LOVE Hong Kong's nature and I am fond of hiking in it. I felt a little more cocky about the step challenge on day one.

I met Phil (AUS) and Marcus (SE) who both work at PacSafe. Cool! They invited me for a talk at SoHo House.

Phil invited me for dinner at Tung Po Kitchen at Java Wet Market. We were joined by his wife Carman and entertained by the legendary wacky co-owner of Tung Po Mr Robby Cheung. Good food and fun! 

I'm now living in Fo Tan which is an industrial neighborhood in Hong Kong.  

Well technically I'm living in Wong Chuk Yeung Village which is up a steep hill from Fo Tan.

Thomas is the owner of the apartment I'm staying in. He has two wonderful grown children: Natali and Luis. And we all went for a boat-ride with Thomas' friend Morten.

Wong Chuk Yeung Village has been around for 17 generations! It is a tiny place.

Rain often comes without a warning! And disappears again. Here you can hardly see the buildings across Victoria Harbor.

James suggested I should check out the Maritime Museum. It is brilliant! I'll go back when I have more time. I miss the Savagar's but am doing good without them too.

I got into an accident with a moving van. I hit it so hard the side-mirror came off. It was completely my fault and I only sustained minor injuries to a few fingers and my knee. One step further onto the road and I could have been dead. On the bright side I have almost recovered from my forearm injuries which I sustained last week. My knee still hurts a little and my fingers have almost recovered. The driver was very sweet and concerned. He didn't want money but I gave him HKD 2,000 for the damaged side-mirror. Amazing that I did not sustain more damage than that given that I took the mirror off! I was a bit shaken but carried on with my plans.

After the van accident I met up with Phil, Carman and their friends Holger and Anne from Germany. We enjoyed cheese from France and Anne's crazy good pasta! Good times. 

I was invited to speak at Trimco Group. It would take me 60min to reach by public transport and I could hike it in 1hr 40min. So I hiked there and back earning some steps and saving some time.

Trimco Group is a Hong Kong based leading global supplier of identity branding items such as labels, hang tags, badges etc. Salomon is actually a client. I was invited by Mrs Amy Wan who’s the Group CEO and also happens to be Poul’s wife. Poul (not treadmill Poul but the other one) is a friend and I also spoke at his office (ZIM) in May earlier this year. It’s all connected. It was a great mixed crowd containing sales personnel, management and general staff who posed some really interesting questions. Thanks to everyone who showed! This talk became the 115th Saga Talk I delivered across 59 countries.

In a lovely collaboration with Tai Kwun - the Centre of Heritage and Arts - I have written a special blog for you all called: 'Tai Kwun is a special part of Hong Kong'. I hope you will enjoy it. In this photo I'm lucky to be next to Kaitlyn at one of the centres many "instagramable" places ;)

On one of my hikes back to the village I had to jump over a Chinese Cobra coming down a concrete staircase I was heading up on. Darn it I'm spending a lot of hours hiking and walking. And a lot of energy too.

I had a meeting at with the kind Tim Huxley at FCC so I hiked there (22km / 13.67mi).

I finally managed to meet up with Patrik and his wife Phoebe. We've postponed it so many times. He lives above the Race Course. I walked there too. 

My visa extension is about to expire so I needed a new one. I hiked to the Immigration Tower and back (40km / 24.85mi). I love Hong Kong Immigration! So efficient!

Finally: how am I doing? Well…there is much to be grateful for. And some things really suck. I am currently physically banged up and tired. I love Hong Kong but really wish we were on our way. In fact if someone offered me the choice between a suitcase with a million USD vs. a ship to the next country I would choose the ship every time! The Saga is a very stressful project and it is very hard to escape. The side projects and crazy step challenges help but it is not the cure. Getting this project done is the only cure. Over the years I have discovered that I possess a few superpowers: First of all I can always pick the line at the supermarket which will take the longest time to get through. Also when I trip I almost never fall. I’m obviously ridiculously stubborn or goal oriented so that might be another one. The most recent superpower I have discovered is that I can pretty much always deliver a convincing smile…and that shows on photos. However don’t put too much trust in social media…there is always more behind the curtains.

 

 

I would like to thank our esteemed partners for their invaluable contributions to Once Upon A Saga: DB Schenker Denmark, Kameli, Red Sand Solutions, Salomon, the Danish Red Cross and Ross DK / Geoop

 

If you enjoyed this blog or think I am doing a good job then you can support here below. The Saga needs funding. Thank you :)

 

 

 

Best regards
Mr. Torbjørn C. Pedersen (Thor) - mentally and physically tired.
"A stranger is a friend you've never met before"

 

Once Upon A Saga