I think my brain is more scattered than my luggage at this point.

Bonjour! (no, I am not heading to France).

Welcome back to my travel blog! I felt it appropriate to add an entry one day before I embark on another exciting adventure into the heart of Southeast Asia and later, Colombia.

The surface of my bed is jam-packed with a plethora of clothes, sketchbooks, shampoos, and other essential items, such as lip gloss. The fact that I will be a wanderer for most of the next three months has not fully hit me, and feelings and thoughts cannot be put into words. I hope this passes soon or this blog will prove to be moot.

I hate packing, but love living out of a suitcase. When your world is stuffed into a portable home that can be wheeled around the world, your options are reduced, and you need to be resourceful and clever with what you have. You are aware of everything you have in your bag, and an old shirt you would've never given a second thought to at home suddenly becomes your favorite shirt to wear while traveling. And your hair conditioner becomes a great shaving creme, a razor becomes a pathetic but somewhat effective weapon, and your earrings a great trade for food (which I have not yet experienced but am prepared for nonetheless).

Just to update a few of you who are unaware, I am traveling to study urban agriculture in dense cities around the world. A few months ago I was in Vancouver, and now I will be researching in Hong Kong and Bogota, Colombia. But along the way I will be taking trips to Taiwan and Thailand, for personal growth and well, just because I can. When if not now?

I am excited to begin my research in Hong Kong, especially because I have been called crazy by numerous people as to why I chose this urban concrete for a research destination:
"There is no food production here!"
"Looking for farms? Ha! You ignorant, beautiful girl, you!" (Okay I added the beautiful part, but it softens the blow)
"You are making a big mistake!"
etc.

This, my friends, is the very reason why I pick HK. It is a skyscraper-centric environment with slabs of marble and concrete soaring above the bare, tree-less streets, and who mainly depend on mainland China for food importation. But what outsiders, even locals, don't realize is that Hong Kong is filled with small-scale efforts in organic farming, fish-farming, government agriculture intervention, and land dedicated to improving the city's sustainability and overall health. This will be a challenging site, I admit, but as people (only me) say, "When you stop challenging yourself, you stop living."

But besides the research (which may be a snore for some of you), I'm eagerly awaiting the taste of authentic, fresh dim sum and thick noodle soups to fill my gastronomic passion. I can't wait to hike and explore the nature that is a rarity in Hong Kong.

I look forward to writing from Hong Kong and other cities. Thank you for turning into mini figurines and coming along in my day pack!

Cheers.