A day of pain

After 10K run yesterday, this morning went to the dentist to clean my teeth. In the afternoon went for a foot and shoulder massage. So much pain /cry

UNICEF 10K Run @ Disneyland HK

Got up at 5 this morning and managed to get to Disneyland by 6am. It was still dark by then and I actually made it there in time for the start of the half marathon. Since I had nothing to do I went to the starting line to look at the competitors. My race started at 7 so I spent some time stretching and lined up for the starting line. The race was alright, jogged pretty much all the way but there were parts of the race where the course was a bit too narrow for the amount of people there. I finished in around 55 minutes which isn't too bad, I can probably go harder but couldn't be bothered. The highlight was when I got to high 5 Mickey Mouse at the start of the race. When I was going home I realised that I didn't really see much of Disneyland but the Disneyland MTR connection is pretty cool. The handle is in the shape of Mickey's head and they have curved couches rather than the regular seats.

Top 10 things I will NOT miss about the UK

Again, not in any particular order:

1. The tube - better than Melbourne, but it's still crap. Line closure every weekend, strikes, random failures, delays... 
2. Fat people on the tube - the score shall remain at 2-0
3. Getting to the Emirates and then back home - there has to be a better system... took me 2 hours to get to the game once and over an hour to get home. When I went to Camp Nou, a much bigger stadium (thus more people) and taking the metro took me 20 minutes door to door covering similar distances
4. British people and Europeans, seriously you are not as good as you think you are, get over it!
5. American tourists - rude and stupid, there are nice people and smart people but a lot of them are not. I still can't get over the white sauce bolognese questions in Italy 
6. Chinese groceries - the fact that I can't get everything I need at the same place
7. The weather - dark and cold in the winter months. The fact that when it snows, sure it looks pretty but nothing works when it snows
8. Black nose coming home everyday
9. Crap food - apart from Dinings of course
10. British TV - lots of channels but also a lot of crap

Top 10 things I will miss about the UK

Not in any particular order...

1. Arsenal FC and  games at the Emirates - although recent performances have been very disappointing, losing to WBA, Newcastle, Spurs, and Braga... Seriously... Spurs? After leading 2-0 at half time... heartbreaking
2. Weekend trips - back in Melbourne, where can I go for the weekend... Daiso?
3. Dinings - I look back at those food photos and damn... truffle soy mmm...
4. The tube because I know Melbourne public transport is even worse
5. Hyde Park for running - it was so convenient
6. Online shopping - Amazon is pretty awesome, back in Oz you are restricted to buying certain items on Amazon like books and CDs and other small items
7. Paying by card at restaurants - as in splitting the bill with 10 cards if you and your friends feel like it
8. Cheap and fast internet - Australia is still pretty expensive
9. Going out - I heard people back home are boring! In London I guess people would come out and hang if they are free because everyone is in the same situation
10. Football - no need to watch during stupid hours because I was in the right timezone!

Because I am lazy

Have not blogged for ages and since my last packing post  I have traveled to Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan. At the moment, I'm in Hong Kong again before going back to Melbourne on December 10th. As of 11 hours ago, my boxes are in the China sea according to Marine Traffic dot com. Hopefully it will make it to Australia OK and it's not scheduled to arrive until after I get back.

So far the past 1 and a bit months have been good, basically eat, sleep, wake up, do nothing and that is about it. Have only gained around 2kg so far which isn't bad. Although this Sunday I am suppose to run 10km at Disneyland in HK. Hopefully there isn't a lot of hills in the area but I think I should be fine.

I'll try to post more later and make it more interesting for my readers :p

Packing Plan

Sunday Evening - File paper work
Monday Evening - Throw away all the crap I don't need
Friday - Clothes
Saturday - Random remaining items
Sunday - Random remaining items

Hopefully everything will be done by next Sunday.

The hills are alive...

In Salzburg, the town of Mozart because the locals here do not know what The Sound of Music is about. Came for the weekend via Munich and I was a bit worried initially because the connections were pretty tight. Luckily for me I managed to clear customs and made it to the S-Bahn in time for my connection to Salzburg at Munich Ost. I was pretty tired after a 4am start and wasn't impressed to find the train packed so I had to stand for some part of the journey. All was forgotten though when I got to my destination as glorious sunny weather was there to welcome me. When I checked into the hotel I asked them about certain tours but unfortunately the afternoon tours were all booked out. It wasn't a bad thing I guess and I decided to have a longer lunch before heading up to the fortress to get a view of the city.

Lunch was at the oldest restaurant in Salzburg and the food was pretty good. Wasn't impressed with the initial service though as the waiter at the front basically ignored me while I was standing in front of him. I was given a small table by the window and the guy who served me was a lot better, so I gave him a tip at the end.

Walking past the funicular entrance I decided I couldn't be bothered lining up so I decided to walk up the hill... damn it was steep and tiring... It was a nice day so the view was pretty good, but the tour inside the fortress itself wasn't that great. Wouldn't recommend unless there is nothing else better you want to do. I took the funicular back to town and had an ice-cream while watching people play with the giant chess board.

I rested a bit back at the hotel before going out for dinner. This place was listed as no 2 on Trip Advisor. I had a schnitzel and I was quite full after that. I walked around a bit after dinner before calling it a night as I was pretty buggered by then.

Woke up the next day by the church bells and after breakfast I went to the meeting point for my Sound of Music bicycle tour. I had a bit of time on my hand so I walked around the Mirabell Gardens before all the tourists start packing the place. I waited for a while and the guide didn't come until 5-10 minutes before the tour start, but no matter because she was pretty hot. Maclaria was probably like some of the girls' experience with Mike the hottie but in no doubt hotter because she is female. The tour itself was great and highly recommended if you don't want to be on a bus singing along to the Sound of Music and want to get some exercise on a nice day while enjoying the scenery of Salzburg. It takes you to all the places you expect to see from the movie. You don't have to be fit either as there was an American family with 3 girls all less than 10 year old doing the tour. Their dad however being American was being an American asking me 'can...you...speak...English?' after telling him I'm from Australia... He then said 'Oh...Australia...so...you...must...speak...English...then...' all in slow motion.

I was pretty tired by then and after lunch I sat in the gardens for a bit before collecting my bag and headed back to Munich. As I was buying my ticket some guy offered to sell me his Bayern ticket so I got it for a slight discount. The only issue was it was a group ticket and when the guard checked my ticket and asked me whether I was by myself I was like I don't speak German and I have no idea what you are talking about. A fellow passenger then offered to translate but it didn't really matter since it was a valid ticket.

Right now I'm sitting in the BA lounge waiting for my flight, probably try to get a bit more food before the flight so hopefully photos will be up sometime later in the week.