Chasing Ziah

where did i leave off…..

after i bought tickets to hong kong at the airport in australia, because i didn’t have a visa for china. we spent one night in shanghai. went back to the airport, flew to hong kong found a place to stay. $70 gets you a room in a guest house where you can actually touch both walls while sitting on the bed.

oh rewind….at the airport i was told i can do my visa to mainland china in one day…..the cost would be $600 for the both of us. are they kidding me….i lost it. didn’t know what i was going to do….

the next day woke up and went to the chinese embassy…they were no help at all. if i decided to make our visas they wouldn’t be ready till wed. due to public holidays. we were supposed to fly back to shanghai on sunday.

i went back to my guest house and had a bit of a meltdown. after weighing my options i realized the only option i had was to stay in hong kong till my flight on the 6th to israel, which would cost me about $150 to make the ticket change. with a little help from my mom and my girlfriend yael in shanghai we made the change to fly back to shanghai on the 5th. I just had to keep my fingers crossed that they would give me another one day stay permitto enter shanghai, so i could pick up my duffle that i left at the hotel.

Todah raba for all the help that yizchak + chana from the chabad in kowloon. They are really great people. if you ever find yourself in hong kong for shabbat, go see them. www.chabadkowloon.org.

Hong Kong is nice, but it is all about the shopping, If you don’t have alot of money….then really it’s no fun. I have never seen more Prada, LV, Gucci, Chanel, per square mile in my life. Everywhere you look is a shopping mall…..in the MTR stations, hotels, on the streets….then there are all the individual stores, and markets.

Ziah and I walked around alot, went to Lantau to see the big Buddah one day. Rode in the cable car, at night went to Ave of the Stars and looked over to Kong Kong island. Quite beautiful. The chinese love to light the buildings up in all different ways. (I will post pictures soon).

Thursday we woke up early took the bus to the airport, went to pay for the difference in the tickets…didn’t have to. It was a long trip.

Hong Kong - Shanghai - 6 hours wait - Moscow - Israel.

Glad to be here with good friends…and feel at home.

Happy Birthday Israel…..tomorrow is Israeli Independance Day.

HONG KONG M1 DISCO / TIK TOK

Spending the last 10 day s in australia in hotel wasn’t ideal, but the apartment i thought i was going to be staying in was rented out. If I was told prior to my return to Melbourne I would of made alternative plans. Maybe we would have gone to Bali or traveled some more around Australia. We got thru the 10 days….it was great to spend some time with an old friend and her family. With all my travels it never even crossed my mind to see if we needed a visa for china. No one mentioned it. Expedia doesn’t tell you when you book your ticket. We arrived at the airport on the 27th, and the check in lady asked where my visa was…….I told her i applied online……thought she was talking about my australian one. You cannot receive an entry visa on arrival to china, well you can but only for 24 hours. My choices were stay in Australia and go back to the very area, St Kilda, where i stayed in a hotel for 10 days (i could of had my visa done within that time) but the next flight would only be on saturday and who knows how much it would cost to change my flight or if there was any available seats. with all my luggage and nowhere to go………. I decided to rush to buy a flight to hong kong for the 28th and hope to do my visa there. i hope that i can do our visa in a day the 29th which is a friday. last night i tried to find a hotel in hong kong…nothing cheap. so we are going with no confirmed room. just got a room….. found out at the airport they want $650 to do our visa in one day…….. WTF….

Spending the last 10 day s in australia in hotel wasn’t ideal, but the apartment i thought i was going to be staying in was rented out. If I was told prior to my return to Melbourne I would of made alternative plans. Maybe we would have gone to Bali or traveled some more around Australia. We got thru the 10 days….it was great to spend some time with an old friend and her family. With all my travels it never even crossed my mind to see if we needed a visa for china. No one mentioned it. Expedia doesn’t tell you when you book your ticket.We arrived at the airport on the 27th, and the check in lady asked where my visa was…….I told her i applied online……thought she was talking about my australian one.You cannot receive an entry visa on arrival to china, well you can but only for 24 hours.My choices were stay in Australia and go back to the very area, St Kilda, where i stayed in a hotel for 10 days (i could of had my visa done within that time) but the next flight would only be on saturday and who knows how much it would cost to change my flight or if there was any available seats. with all my luggage and nowhere to go……….I decided to rush to buy a flight to hong kong for the 28th and hope to do my visa there.i hope that i can do our visa in a day the 29th which is a friday.last night i tried to find a hotel in hong kong…nothing cheap.so we are going with no confirmed room.just got a room…..found out at the airport they want

i have to cut our travels short. which is fine….i am fresh and ready to get back to work.

i will be booking sessions starting june 5th. please email info@samiamphotography.com

see you soon. Miami here we come.

I know i haven’t been keeping up to date on our travels. I am sorry. Everyday life sometimes gets in the way of my cyber world……..

I have so many great photos and stories to tell……

So over the next few weeks I will be posting them…..

we left Miami on December 13th for New York 

Celebrated Ziah’s birthday in NYC.

Flew on the 16th to Israel via Ukraine.

Spent 5 days there….Ziah was very excited, she met her father for the first time.

12/22 we flew to Kenya via Ethiopia (Addis Abba)

While in Kenya I got to spend quality time with one of my closet friends and her family in Nairobi.

we spent

1 week at the coast in Galu, most amazing.

1 week in the Mara at the Karen Blixen Camp, another world.

A few days up at Lake Nakuru Lodge, and I also went to up country, Molo.

Kenya was amazing except having $3500 stolen from me in Nairobi. 

Moving FORWARD……

2/19 India….

flew into Mumbai - 10 hour wait till our flight to Goa.

The Orange House - 18 days

best memories riding the motor (scooter), ice lollies all day, driving to morjim beach, going to the pool, market day.

Off to Malaysia……

1 night nr KL airport ( well actually slept all day)

Decided to go to Langkawi before going to Thailand

Spent 4 nights in Langkawi -  met some great people.

Took the speedboat to Thailand , Koh Lipe. Immigration on the beach (how great is that).

Spent 5 days on Koh Lipe…..ziah went snorkeling for the 1st time.

Next Phuket 4 days -  spent time with my brother.

VIP night bus to Bangkok.

Saw some old friends and went to Purim party with Ziah.

Flew the day after to Australia to Melbourne, via Sydney.

Now we are in Gold Coast with an old friend and his family.

I was stuck and didn’t know how to travel the rest of Australia…..

Being that each time I fly I end up paying for overweight, and the bus system is more expensive than flying. Hotels are really expensive as well……even the cheap ones.

I have found a great alternative……

RV companies need people to drive their camper vans back since many people only use them one way. They give you gas money…..So I will drive one from Brisbane to Sydney, that way I can stop in Byron Bay, Bondi Beach……and wherever else I want. Then if we like it we can get another one from Sydney to Melbourne. Maybe even from Melbourne to Perth. 

The company I found is http://www.apollocamper.com/reloc.aspx

They are also located in New Zealand and the US.

I will keep you posted……..

GOLD COAST AUSTRALIA

TYALGUM NEW SOUTH WALES

AUSTRALIA

koh lipe thailand