Couple seeing the world without flying seek boat ride out of Hong Kong. Anywhere east or south will do
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French travellers Margaux Dewitte and Julien Espaze have spent the past few months experiencing Hong Kong life from a boat called Goom Guda, a Korean phrase for dreaming. It’s an apt name.
The young couple have been living their dream since October 2016, when they left their jobs in pharmaceutical research to hitchhike around the globe in a slow, green and ethical way – meaning no planes.
But with the boat undergoing engine repairs after hitting bad weather – violent storms and three-metre waves – the couple are now looking for a ride out of Hong Kong or Macau (on a yacht, boat, or cargo ship) to a destination east (Japan, South Korea, America) or south (the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia).
“We are now looking forward to sail/travel by sea again, to open a new chapter in our adventure. We are not looking for paid positions, as we are pretty new on the sea … We just want to leave with a friendly crew, on any kind of ship, to any destination. We are fully insured, non-smokers, and pretty good cooks,” they wrote in a recent post on a Hong Kong community platform.
It’s a humid August day in the Aberdeen typhoon shelter on the southern shore of Hong Kong Island, and Espaze is dwarfed by boats bobbing about around him as he steers a rubber dinghy from the pier to their temporary home on the Goom Guda. The boat’s cabin is sparse, a couple of fans battling the heat, the couples’ backpacks dominating the room and laptops spread out on a table.
“Do you want a cup of tea and a biscuit?” Espaze asks – a normal gesture in an otherwise unusual setting.