About Sonia

Sonia September 22, 2019 22 Comments
Hi! My name is Sonia. I am a Czech currently based in Hong Kong where I relocated after a wonderful six years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am eternally grateful for this shift in my life as its timing couldn't have been better. It's been an amazing ride so far and I hope I can bring more stories from my new home to you soon.  When I started blogging two years ago, purely for fun, I had no idea...

Luang Prabang – When travel gets messy – Part 1

Sonia August 11, 2023 0 Comments
In my previous thirst-provoking post I hinted at one of my trips. From the photo you surely guessed I was in Laos. While sampling local beer was fun, the same couldn't really be said about the trip itself. Though it wouldn't be me if I didn't find silver linings. So, in these two upcoming posts, I will reveal both the good and the bad of my trip to Luang Prabang, though in reverse order. Let's...

To beer or not to beer – should that be the question?

Sonia June 12, 2023 4 Comments
I'm sitting here besieged by a thick smog and there's absolutely no escaping it. It's everywhere. It attacks my eyes, my nostrils, my clothes - everything. I am mostly depressed but I find a strange pleasure in returning to this little restaurant located at the edge of a busy touristy street, thus offering respite from the overwhelming buzz. Another thing I love about it is its proximity to a...

Spending summer holidays in Hong Kong aka how to make the most of it

Sonia April 18, 2023 4 Comments
Yay! It's July. Holiday time! On the one hand you jump for joy, immensely looking forward to having a few weeks of a well-deserved and long-awaited time off in the summer. But the minute you realise you are still in 2022 and tight sealed Hong Kong, you suddenly experience a bout of depression. It's holiday time but your are not going anywhere. That is not anywhere you would like.  But c'est la...
Traditional Chinese boat with Hong Kong urban skyline behind

Mini tales from Hong Kong – Part 2

Sonia January 16, 2023 2 Comments
Lots of people assume that Hong Kong is an incredibly exciting place to live. As I've already explained, this is only true to some extent. In fact, considering all the challenges from housing, work culture to money, status and hierarchy driven society, I feel that many long-term residents and even locals would admit that there's not much left to label as exciting. Unless you are rich and you can...

Mini tales from Hong Kong – Part 1

Sonia November 1, 2022 6 Comments
From my previous posts you already know that Hong Kong is a never-ending tale itself. But sometimes you just have that extra element of surprise here and there that's worth writing about. Quite honestly, my inspiration for articles has been severely limited. All my energy goes to building resilience in this matrix and writing often becomes the last thing I'd want to do. But it comes and goes in...
Empty street after rain with a man holding umbrella and a smiling boy with glasses on a large window poster

Lessons from Hong Kong aka how to deal with misery when it strikes

Sonia July 10, 2022 8 Comments
It's been almost a year into my life in Hong Kong and I've been balancing as if it were a decade. So many people abroad keep telling me how exciting it must be to live here and how lucky I am. How wonderful Hong Kong for sure is and that it's an experience of a lifetime. While there's a grain of truth in each of the comments, and I've dedicated my previous post to positive sides of living here,...
sunny street with high shop sings

20 Things I love about Hong Kong so far …. and you would probably too

Sonia April 4, 2022 5 Comments
As you might have heard Hong Kong is or perhaps I can allow myself to say 'was' under fire. In February the pandemic was raging and suddenly the experts who kept the city safe for two long years were at their wits' end. The house of 'dynamic zero Covid 19 strategy' crumbled and economically, politically, socially Hong Kong started plummeting. It fell into an abyss so dark and deep that grappling...
A Muslim couple walk in the street of Kuala Lumpur by sunset

Why Malaysia is not a country for love

Sonia January 2, 2022 16 Comments
Remember the amazing James Brown's 'This is a man's world' sung in his distinctive raucous voice? Nowhere else is this more true than Malaysia, or, actually, any other Islamic country. Severely traditional and religious societies are not uncommon in Europe either. However, I still firmly stand by my opinion stated in one of my previous posts that there truly isn't a more retrograde force in this...

The ins and outs of my settling in Hong Kong

Sonia November 25, 2021 12 Comments
A couple months of life in Hong Kong have passed. Now that you know how my move and quarantine went it's time I revealed more about the actual process of settling in. Coming from Malaysia to Hong Kong feels like leaving behind a heavy, tired, and lazy bear, who just wants to eat honey and watch TV, and moving towards an incessantly roaring, restless, and agitated tiger. Basically, from a...
My buddy, a plush tiger, sitting on the hotel bed.

My Memorable Hong Kong Quarantine

Sonia October 22, 2021 18 Comments
As soon as my check-in is over, I feel an incredible relief. I know that leaving Malaysia gets real now and I'm yet another step closer to starting afresh in a new country. All the pent up tension starts to slowly dissolve in the excitement of flying towards new beginnings. Fresh blood pumps into my veins and I can barely stand the weight. But there's one more obstacle on my way to freedom - the...