A week in pictures (from Hong Kong)

Written by Torbjørn C. Pedersen on 01 October 2021.

Day 2,913 since October 10th 2013: 194 countries out of 203. No flight, no return home, min 24 hrs in each country and 1 pandemic!

(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).

Be a good example for others

pano

You may or may not know that I rarely have any real interest in writing these weekly entries. But I do it anyway. I know that many of you enjoying reading them and they also serve as a point of reference for me. Enjoy.

Last week’s entry: Beach clean-up, parking ticket, coin bus, pig intestine, chili wings and more (from Hong Kong)

Drew Binsky once told me that he started out blogging but once his girlfriend gave him a camera it changed everything for him. Not long after he made a video from North Korea, got millions of views and never wrote another blog. I’m sure I could boost Once Upon A Saga’s YouTube channel greatly if I began uploading interesting videos on a regular basis. But I fear that a lot would go lost. Spending a few days on making a 5-minute video on one specific topic is not how I want to live my life. And there are already plenty of people out there doing it. Most of them far better than I ever could. Yeah – so you’ll have to make due with my tired old writing. Eventually there will be a book with the best stories from a near decade old journey. Learnings, memories and lessons. It is clear to me that that there is no way we will reach the final nine countries in less than ten months. And it is currently not looking good in relation to reaching any new countries anytime soon. However, our man on the ground in Palau, Mr Roel Bruysters, is working overtime to create some sort of miracle which will enable me to bring you all to Palau on a ship which does not have everyone vaccinated. And that right there…is hope.

Before we continue to a pure “picture and caption” entry I would like to introduce those of you whom have never heard about Tony Giles, to this remarkable man. I first met Tony in Beirut, Lebanon, back in early 2018. He’s a highly unique world traveler in that Tony is 100% blind, 80% deaf and has been to 125 countries! Tony has also been to every state within the USA. Tony’s hearing is pretty good with hearing aid and he has a great sense of humor. When Tony wrote me that he was planning on a trip to Denmark together with his blind girlfriend Tatiana, I did my best to connect him with family, friends and press. As a blind traveler Tony relies on trust and assistance from other people. But not as much as you might think. The Danish Travelers Club stepped up to the occasion and gave Tony and Tatiana a warm welcome in Copenhagen. Journalist Simon Staun from fyens.dk met them in Odense and wrote a really nice article about the inspiring couple. My father was set to meet them in Aarhus and drive them to the northern tip of Denmark where two oceans meet. Unfortunately my father fell ill and had to cancel. But needles to say, Tony and Tatiana had a great time and I’m so happy that so many responded to help and assist them within my home nation. From hereon out the entry will this time be pictures and captions. Enjoy.

Can WE find Alfie a bone marrow transplant?!? Alfie is the nephew of my friend Katherine. He’s an 8-year-old boy, born in Hong Kong and of mixed race (Asian/Caucasian) making it harder to find a matching donor. Stem cell donation is totally different to organ donation. It is less invasive and, in many cases, it is just like giving blood. In short, Alfie is suffering from Aplastic Anemia, a rare blood disease where the body stops producing new blood cells. You can follow Alfie on Facebook and learn more about how you can help (or contact me).

THANK YOU. Let’s make a difference for Alfie.

With temporary Port Chaplain Margith Pedersen back in Hong Kong I am no longer the only one visiting danish flagged ships.

Reverend Margith and I have more or less divided the work load so that I primarily visit ships while she primarily arranges for church service and the annual Christmas Bazar.

Delivering newspapers to Captain Hesseloe shortly before midnight onboard the good ship Gerd Maersk.

Hong Kong Tourism Board aka Discover Hong Kong arranged a four stop guided tour in West Kowloon for us "Hong Kong Super Fans". I brought my friend Jessi. Here we are visiting Liu Ma Kee Fermented Tofu Store which was founded back in 1905. Fascinating!

Cheung Shing Fans Factory. Sandalwood and incense filled the air within the charming shop and left a memorable impression.

This Tin Hau Temple was originally founded in 1865.

We caught a Chinese Opera performance within the Tin Hau Temple.

Jessi and I standing before "The School" in connection to the Tin Hau Temple. Once a free school, then a fortune-telling parlour, a smithy, and a Chinese medicine clinic. Now an unmanned book store.

Tung Nam Lou Art Hotel is a special gem! It's a heritage building with a long history. It now celebrates local art and culture in a very cool and surreal way.

Seated at an Alice in Wonderland themed table with the "Hong Kong Super Fans" at Tung Nam Lou Art Hotel.

Here's why you should be a good example for others. Notice the little girl observing Reverend Margith during service last Sunday.

See her now. Children copy grownups and it's up to us to lead the way and set good examples.

On an invite from Tanje Amate (from Finland) I paid the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong a visit and spoke before these students within building M class M904. Interesting experience. Hard to interact with them but had them laughing and interacting at times. Just one guy amongst the students. Look at him hanging his head! :)

Appearance on Dzien Dobry TVN (Good Morning TVN) hosted by Marcin Sawicki in Poland.

Animal attack on an adult porcupine along this years HK50 Trail. A bit of a mystery to Anders and I. What would attack and eat such an animal in Hong Kong?

While out on the HK50 Trail for 2021 together with Anders, I ran out of fuel!! The 50km (31mi) ultra distance got the better of me. It was neither the longest nor most the one with the most elevation I have dealt with. But for some reason I was on my knees towards the end. Anders is strong and in good physical condition. He had to pull me through to the finishing. I have yet to identify why it was so hard for me. It was definitely the hardest experience I've had on a trail in Hong Kong? I might have miscalculated my energy level. It could have been the heat, the humidity and the pollution too - but Anders also had to deal with that. Oh well...thank you Anders for getting me through!

Nobody makes larb moo like Jakob's wife Kai!! Oh my goodness!!

I'm technically in training mode right now which means no smoking, alcohol and aiming for a healthy lifestyle. But the other night the nutcases and I had a good time. There were only five of us and one took it easy as he had to drive home. So how the heck did we make it through nine bottles + the beers? Okay, no more alcohol the next nine days!

While somewhat pressed for time I wasn't going to stay away from Oscars (Dutch) fifty year birthday party. So I made a "quick" trip to Lamma Island to celebrate him. He's such a good fellow. Here you see Johan (Sweden) giving him a hug. Happy birthday old man :)

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

Hi Res with Geoop