Monday, March 28, 2011

The big move

Vanessa and I after a predawn walk up the Peak (HK)

April 2010: Vanessa and I had been living together in Hong Kong for a while and things were going great. We both loved being outdoors, hiking, running and exploring new places, so we we got hooked on the idea of moving to somewhere we could enjoy all that stuff on a more regular basis and of moving away from the polluted, overcrowded and overpriced features of Hong Kong. We did a lot of internet research on affordable land and began to slowly narrow it down to somewhere in the southeastern USA - where Vanessa's American side of her family are from.

We found a couple of good potential lots in North Georgia and made the trip over to view a shortlist in June 2010. When we got to the lot we eventually bought it was completely overgrown and wild, but we could see the potential and beauty in the place that made us want to move over here even more.


Our first view of the land in June 2010


So we completed on the land in August and spent our last 6 months in Hong Kong sorting out various odds and ends - US immigration labyrinths for me (being a UK citizen), selling our Hong Kong apartment, organizing shipping our pared down belongings (The two of us and our two cats moved into a 320sqft apartment! - the motel room we are now in feels luxurious in comparison :) ), researching house designs and eco-friendly technology. Oh and learning to drive!


Panorama of our 320sqft apartment in Hong Kong

Sunday, March 27, 2011

First Post!

So I've finally gotten round to starting this blog. The main reason being my wife Vanessa just started hers about running and good food (you can read it here: http://gourmetrunner.blogspot.com/
To try and make this blog a bit more reader friendly and to give it a better context, I'll start from the beginning...