Onehungrycoconut | A Backpacker’s 7-year Journey: Not Everyone Can Plan for Their Lives
Born in the 80s, Onehungrycoconut has traveled across the globe for seven years, hitchhiking, meeting people from different countries, and experiencing all kinds of lifestyles. She is now back in Hong Kong, job searching while going through over 80,000 photos she has taken while on the road.
“There are beautiful places all around the world—while I may have forgotten these places quickly, the experiences I shared with people I met were a different story. At the end of the day, it’s not about the place, it’s about who you are with.”
Journalist: Tea Leaf
Translator: Pita Chips
Photos: Provided by Interviewee
I was gone for three years during my most recent travels, and missed several monumental social events while I was abroad. Sometimes I do regret that. While traveling, I tried my best to illustrate the essence of Hong Kong to folks from other countries, explaining to them what “one country, two systems” means. For a very long time, people only associated Hong Kong with kung fu. However, since last June, many people in the world now know of Hong Kong without any additional explanation. I wonder if this form of association is ultimately a good thing.
In 2012, I decided to embark on a solo trip, trying to experience a nomadic lifestyle. I decided to hitchhike. For me, traveling isn’t a cool or trendy thing to do—it is a process of self-discovery, for us to experience both our and other people’s lives.
It’s Not About the Place, It’s About Who You Are With
Before I came in contact with Africa, I had my biggest culture shock in Latin America. They have a very expressive culture, with strong family values and bonds. When I was in Colombia, I sprained my ankle and stayed there for two weeks. My couchsurfing host took care of me, and became my Colombian brother. RIght before I left, he gifted me a necklace with a Madonna and Child pendant to bless the rest of my trip. I was incredibly moved.
Sculpture in Medellin, Colombia.
An artist collected 27,398 knives from different neighbourhoods in Medellin to create this sculpture as a token of reconciliation and to commemorate people who have lost their lives to conflicts, drug trade[*1], violence, and victims who have been forcibly disappeared.
Later on, I no longer hitchhiked just for the sake of saving money; rather, I hitchhiked in order to find out how plausible it was in different places. It became a bit like conducting social experiments, observing the differences among countries. Sometimes I couldn’t stay for long in certain place—all I could visit were tourist hotspots and famous locales. There are beautiful places all around the world. While I may have forgotten these places quickly, the experiences I shared with people I met were a different story. At the end of the day, it’s not about the place, it’s about who you are with.
Kosovo is a place that left a strong impression on me. The Kosovo government is currently led by Albanians. At the time, I arrived at Mitrovica, a city in the north, close to the border to Serbia. There was a newly built bridge; on one side of the bridge was a Serbian settlement, while on the other side was an Albanian one. I was residing on the Serbian side. My host’s home was barely furnished; there was not even any running water. He told me that the government had cut off the water supply to the Serbian side, and they only received water once a week. While news like this might not be particularly striking if I had learned it from the news or through other people, it hit me hard in that moment because I was experiencing the tension myself. I still can’t tell you who was right and who was wrong amidst Kosovo’s complicated history, but on this specific thing, I can say that I disagree with the government’s actions.
The bridge, Mitrovica in Kosovo
Iran is another place where I have strong memories of. Iranians were incredibly helpful and generous. Even when I couldn’t hitch a ride with them because we were not going in the same direction, they would often try to gift me something. Once someone tried to give me a watermelon. I remember several Iranians asking me the same question, “do you think we are terrorists?” They are very curious about how others perceive them. This may be one reason why they are so hospitable. they want to convey to the world that Iranians are friendly, and they truly are very genuine.
African culture is very different. They have a YOLO attitude. Instead of worrying about the future, they would only start thinking of a solution when things happen. At the beginning of the pandemic, Hong Kong ran out of masks, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer at record speed. This reminded me of the time I spent in Zimbabwe. It was 2018 and the country was experiencing its second crisis. A Zimbabwean jokingly told me, “this is okay—it is nowhere as crazy as ten years ago. Ten years ago, people were panic-buying Coca-Cola even when it cost 10USD a can!” I don’t know whether Africans are more optimistic by nature, such that they could joke about these unpleasant past events.
Optimistic Africans
After 12 June [*2] in Hong Kong, I hitchhiked to Armenia. I met two women on one of my rides. One of them immigrated to the US as a teenager and had not returned to Armenia since. When we met, it was the first time she revisited the place. She said she felt hopeful about her home country because of the success of the 2018 Velvet Revolution. That motivated her return trip. They shared with me strategies to maintain long-term peaceful resistance. However, I think due to key differences in our respective political systems, their resistance model won’t be applicable in Hong Kong. No matter how corrupt the Armenian government is, it is still based on an electoral democracy, which is a fundamental difference.
Freedom and the Lack Thereof
I think most Hongkongers know what communism truly means. In Uzbekistan, I hitchhiked into a village famous for its ceramics and visited a ceramic museum there. There was an old man casually sitting on the ground inside the museum, about to paint a basin that he was holding. His daughter-in-law introduced him to me in English, explaining that he was one of the hand-paint ceramic masters in Uzbekistan. The artistry has been passed down from one generation to another, and he was of the 6th generation. Even though he was a master, he was not arrogant at all. On the contrary, he was happy to chat with me. I asked him through his daughter-in-law the main differences he observed painting ceramics now versus during the Soviet era. He said at the time everything was industrialized. Everyone gathered at the same place from 9 to 5, following strict protocol and regulations. I asked him if he still enjoyed producing ceramics and whether he preferred the old times or now. He said he preferred now; he only worked when he felt called to. What he was making now was art, while the objects he created before were mechanical.
Ceramic master in Uzbekistan
Speaking of freedom, what struck me a lot was the nomadic culture in Mongolia. I don’t know how to describe that kind of freedom. Mongolia, with 3 million people, has one of the lowest population density in the world. Half of its population is in Ulaanbaatar, while the rest resides in small towns or villages. Many Mongolians retain their nomadic lifestyle. I have seen them pack up their yurts on a pick-up truck and move to a different location. I was in awe of their true freedom.
Mongolian nomads
A Returned Sojourner: A Trip Without any Advanced Notice
Hong Kong is a special place. There are mountains and waters here, and the city is very close to nature—it only takes half an hour to go on a hike or visit the beach. I have yet to find another place like this. There are things I love here, as well as things I dislike. For example, we always consider ourselves cosmopolitan, but whenever we see a South Asian or a white person on the street, we would never truly consider them as Hongkongers. Even though that person may be a 3rd- or 4th-generation immigrant to Hong Kong, most Hongkongers still won’t consider them local. When I visited Melbourne, Vancouver, New York, and London, the people there would ironically see me as a local. I think that is a true litmus test to determine whether a place is truly multicultural and cosmopolitan.
I don’t have any plans to travel again for the time being. Anything that involves planning usually doesn’t work out for me, so I have decided to stop planning. I have friends who devised a plan for everything since they were children—what to study, what to major in, what profession to enter, when to marry and have a family, etc. They followed their plans to a T and somehow managed to execute them. I am in awe of them, but I don’t think everyone can plan their lives this way. I had wanted to look for work now that I am back, but then the pandemic happened. It doesn’t really matter. As long as I get to stay in Hong Kong through the best of times and the worst of times!
“I am Onehungrycoconut, I am a HKer.”
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To see more of her travel photography, visit her Instagram
[*1] Pablo Escobar, one of the most infamous drug lords in history, is from Medellin. At one point he was so wealthy and powerful that he had his own army.
[*2] On 12 June, 2019, the Hong Kong government attempted to speed up the passage of the anti-extradition bill in the Legislative Council, despite public outcry. A large group of peaceful protesters surrounded the Legislative Council on that day, recreating a scene that was reminiscent of the Occupy Central movement. Not only did the police dispersed the crowd with teargas, they also violently arrested many. This day marked the beginning of the Anti-Extradition Movement.