History and Law...sounds fascinating!

Well after a week of walking around and taking in the scenery that is on display in central London, I stumbled across the statue of King Richard I, aka Richard the Lionheart. I discovered that there is a rather interesting story behind his life and what happened after he was slain in battle:

Richard the Lionheart and the Magna Carta!

Richard the Lionheart was King of England over a 10 year reign. He was constantly campaigning and in battle in Israel during the holy wars. While he was away his brother sat in the throne and took over responsibilities of ruling England. During his reign he managed to lose most of the French territories that his father King Henry II managed to claim. Anyway in the end Richard was killed in battle and his brother, later known as King John took the throne. King John turned out to be an absolute shocker in power and he kept demanding higher taxes and he was pretty much hated by all. In the end the Barons of England got together and wrote the Magna Carta and forced King John to sign it. Turns out that the Magna Carta is a list of laws that kept King John under control. An interesting thing is that this document was the birth of Law as we know it today and all law that we use today is based from the Magna Carta. Sweet! Rules that applied then still apply today. If you want to see the Magna Carta it is kept in the London library which is beside King's Cross station.

History is cool!

Well I have to hand it to London for history. It's everywhere and believe it or not it's actually quite interesting when you are reading it off plaques instead of from textbooks. Definately worthwhile checking out for a bit longer.....

Changes and choices

Well after some serious research and figuring out what line I wanted to take on the trans siberian railway I found out some interesting facts that stopped me in my tracks, mind the pun. It turns out that in order to get a Russian visa you have to be in the country where you have been a resident for at least ninety days or where you are a citizen. So in saying this I have to be in New Zealand in order to get a visa through Russia, so there goes that plan.
If you are planning on doing the trans-siberian one day here is a really good website that gives you a great run down and background whether you are travelling from the UK across Russia or if you are starting in Beijing and heading across that way, check it out if you are interested http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm. Remember to get your visa whilst in NZ though...DOH!
Well after this disappointing news I decided to see how difficult it would be to go under Russia by land. It didn't seem to difficult and I could easily get entrance and visas for most countries but then I discovered a notice on the NZ consulate webpage warning travel of any westerners into certain areas of Pakistan which included, yeap you guessed it, the areas that I needed to get through, 'bummer' is what came to mind.
After serious consideration of how likely it would be that I would kidnapped and ransomed I am left with the realisation that the World is a well unstable place at the moment and that I had best change tactics as it seems unwise to put myself in pretty daft situations. Flying might be the best option at the moment.
Changes and choices.......the way of life for me at the moment, but indeed it is fun!

London Bridge/ Doubt over Africa!

Well it's now been a week to the day that I touched down back on UK soil, London to be exact. So far I have indulged in consuming lovely pints of gorgeously refreshing brew which tastes like heaven after spending a year drinking Korean beer. (Sorry Korea but you really have to sort your beer out!). I have done preceisely one thing since arriving and 'yes' that thing is 'being a lazy bastard'. I said it first so no one else can have the privelage of calling me lazy! I have sat around reading books and walking up to 'The Angel' to get groceries. Nothing really exciting is going on here although the other day a person was stabbed to death outside the supermarket that I go to...apparantly drug dealings gone sour. (Drugs are bad Mmmkay!) Apart from that though I have relished in the prospect that I have nothing to do and that I can leave on adventures when I feel like it, so right now I am just unwinding after a year of kids and reading books and going on solo missions up trees in the parks which admittedly is getting strange looks from the locals but as always "who cares"... the council and PC douchebags care I suppose! Anyway I have been looking into Africa a bit more closely and it seems that I can go there for a month and then have to go back to NZ so I have decided to head to Egypt and then work may way from there across and up to Russia to take the trans-siberian through to Beijing. From there if fundings permit I'll head downwards into Vietnam and Cambodia before heading home. That's the plan anyway...wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on this proposal!

Heading out from HK!!!

Well the couple of days that I had to enjoy Hong Kong are almost over. Although a tear is coming to eye in saying this I am definately stoked about jumping on the plane to London! Only a few hours to go and I'll be seeing my ma and pa again and with any luck having bangers and mash for dinner. Well the last couple of days have been rather a hectic blur with too much alcohol being consumed and too much intensive excitement! Hong Kong is definately a wicked place to visit and I recommend it to anyone who is thinking about heading here. On Sunday I met a lad named Jason in my hostel and we headed out to have some dinner. After having some Indonesian curry and talking about the differences and similarities about teaching in Korea compared to teaching in China we headed to the peninsula of Kowloon for a beer. He was tired so he went back to the hostel while I jumped on the metro and headed to Central to check out a place called Lan Kwai Fong which is home to a variety of bars. I met an Aussie and an Italian named Simon and Luigi respectively. Turned out that they were in Hong Kong attending an artificial intelligence seminar and that they had worked on developing Asumi the famous Japanese robot that can walk and run etc etc! Anyway that was well cool. After many beers later and hanging out with the band that was performing and talking Kiwi music with them I ended up in a club that had continous strobe light action.....I kid you not it was relentless strobe! Man did it give me a headache! Was a swell night! Well I'm going to grab some food and hit the streets for my last glimpse of HK before heading to the airport.

ENTER THE DRAGON!

Well, I wrapped up my year teaching in Korea yesterday and got on the plan to Hong Kong. I arrived at 1030pm and finally found my guitar before jumping on bus A21. I met a couple who were heading to Israel to see their son who was Jewish and studying his religion over there. It was interesting and they also had a map which saved my ass from walking the streets till the early morning searching for my guesthouse. I managed to check in and the manager gave me an upgraded room for being a 'nice guy'. Sweet! Got up this morning and donned my backpack and headed into the streets. I broke into a sweat instantly so downed some juice and headed for the TsimTshaTsui dock and boarded a ferry which took my lanky bones to Central HK! From there I stuck my Mp3 player on and cruised the streets. I ended up stumbling across a neat temple called Man Mo which was filled to the brink with incense....I can now see the finer qualities of being a Buddhist; you get stoned everytime you go to pray!
After bailing out of there and hitting the HK streets again I headed East and found myself in a very happening part of town, so after going home, eating dinner, having a shower and finding some clean clothes, I might head over to have a brewsky!