After a lot of consideration, I have ordered a tall desk and good lamp from AliBaba. I ordered some cheaper stuff like air blower, parts case, oil caps, etc from AliExpress.
I wanted to go to a watchmaker shop to buy the necessary quality tools and oils today, aaaaaand... It's Chinese New Years. They'll be closed for like a week
Been watching a LOT of videos from the watch repair tutorials channel, and I have learned a lot, but when I am ready to get started I think I will go with watchfix's lessons. He tends to get to the point more quickly and clearly.
Once the tools arrive I'll start ripping apart this ST36 (Unitas 6497 clone) and put it together. Also going to order an ETA 2824 clone and a Seiko NH35 to get some more varied experience. Watchfix also has a class on chronographs once I am confident I can handle that.
From there I'll see where I want to go.. I am thinking of going straight to the BHI course, and in that case I will need to buy a lathe. After a year of study and training, I guess it'll be time to head to the UK to get certified, and go from there. Before that, I may look into subsidized training from a brand like Swatch, LVMH, Richemont or Rolex (Richemont has a school in Hong Kong). But I am worried they would only be interested in taking in young students to get the most years from them. That's just my assumption though; I don't know how it works IRL.