came back from hongkong last wednesday but couldn't find any time to blog. finally found some time to blog today in school after mock quiz. had a super fun time shopping, sight-seeing and playing in hongkong.



went to hongkong 2 weeks ago with mummy, daddy, popo, samyee and gabriel, who decided at the last minute that he was going to come along. i'm so glad that he came along, he made the trip so much more interesting. can you imagine me travelling with a whole bunch of adults? i don't think i would have even been able to go to ocean park.



DAY 1

we arrived at hongkong at around 8.30 at night cos the flight was delayed for about 30 minutes. when we arrived in hongkong it was drizzling at lantau island, where the airport is located at, together with Ngong Ping village, the gigantic buddha and Disneyland resort, which we decided was a little too childish for us to visit. we passed by this bridge called Tsing Yi bridge that was super beautiful when all lit up on the way to the hotel, City Garden Hotel, which was located at Fortress Hill, on Hong Kong island. we reached the hotel at about 9.30 , and after we put our stuff down in the rooms, we went down to some 茶餐厅 like place that sells mainly porridge. i think the name of that little cafe is very interesting, it's called 知粥常乐, doesn't really make much sense in chinese, but when you read it in cantonese it starts to make a bit of sense. we went back to the hotel after dinner and i started exploring the tv channels that were available in the hotel. there were mostly news channels like bbc, bloomberg and cna, and there was discovery channel and axn too, i think most of the channel available can be found on cable tv in singapore. of course there are cantonese channels like atv and tvb since it's hongkong right? there are some chinese channels like cctv, cetv and ettv, but there's nothing much there. then at about 1 plus in the morning i found out that they were showing 转角遇到爱, but in cantonese. it was kinda weird at first but then it got better. not only that, after a few days i realised that they were showing a lot more stuff in cantonese, like spiderman 2 and the chronicles of narnia: the lion the witch and the wardrobe too.



DAY 2

we woke up at about 7 and took the mtr to kowloon, and we had breakfast at a restaurant somewhere along nathan road, hongkong's equivalent of orchard road. we were actually not planning to go to the restaurant to eat, but we ended up at the wrong place, so we just settled for that place, even though it was kinda expensive. the food was nice though, and the 小笼包 was quite well done, the skin didn't break very easily. the other kinds of dimsum were nice too. after breakfast we walked around mongkok area and went to mac after that to have some coffee. after that we went to 女人街, or Ladies' Market, which opens at noon i think. i bought some souvenirs and some clothes there too, but i think samyee and gabriel bought more than all of us did combined together(i.e. me, mummy, daddy and popo). they bought all kinds of stuff from clothes to belts and bags.

then we went to krispy kreme to eat donuts and drink some coffee, and so happened along the road we were at, there were a lot of stalls selling smelly tofu. i remember the first time i knew how smelly tofu smelt like was in taiwan last year, at 士林夜市, and i actually thought it was just sewage. Speaking of sewage, i think the drainage system in hongkong isn't that good, even laura thinks so. like the recent floodings in hongkong, i mean all the roads filled with water, especially the one leading to the airport on lantau island. laura said that when she got back to hongkong she saw people swimming around. thanks be to god that we managed to get out of hongkong before the whatever black typhoon came, cos i heard that hongkong island was quite badly affected, and we might not have been able to get out of hongkong if we left later.

after we left krispy kreme(i must say the cuppachino and chokko fudge are quite nice, but i don't really like the strawberry jam in one of the donuts, i can't remember what it's called), we went to 庙街, or Temple Street, to continue shopping, and i bought more presents. i had a fun time bargaining with this auntie there. at first she quoted me HK$40 for some present that didn't seem worth that price, or more like i was unwilling to pay so much, then i insisted on HK$30, but she refused. after a few times of bargaining i decided i was not going to buy the thing cos unless i got the price i wanted, and i turned around and walked away, before she relented and called me back.

we went to this 茶餐厅, 大排挡 or whatever you call it, to eat wanton noodles(i ate beef noodles). the wantons there are BIG like nobody's business, and they even have whole prawns in them. compare those with the kind that you find in singapore! the beef was very tender also, just that there were some tendons that i couldn't bite through. the soup was nice too. you can't find this kind of wanton noodles in singapore. actually there is a lot of nice food in hongkong that you can't find in singapore, and vice versa. that's what nice about different countries, the different food that's unique to different countries.

after that we went back to the hotel to put down all our stuff before samyee, popo, mummy and daddy went shopping again, this time in the area around our hotel, while gabriel was sleeping in the room and i was watching 超级星光大道2 in the hotel room. so happened they were showing the pk episode, and i actually feel that it's a pity 梁文音 got kicked out cos her singing is actually quite good, better than a few of the others who remained, just that she met a stronger opponent.

DAY 3

we woke up a bit later cos Stanley Market doesn't open that early. i was expecting more shopping at Stanley Market but the truth is, i only bought a cup of ice cream from Haagen Daaz. the chocolate ice cream was very rich and a little bitter, but still nice though. mummy and samyee bought 4 bags in total, and popo bought some clothes. both me and gabriel thought that place was plain boring. after that we went to the seaside to take photos. the seaside there is beautiful, how nice would it be to live there. but i realised that most of the people living there are foreign expatriates, maybe cos they are the only ones that can afford houses in such places. maybe cos it's halfway up a hill, the temperature there was a little lower than the rest of hongkong.

after that we went to central to look for 15c to take to the peak tram station, but we got lost in central(now i hate central)and we finally ended up walking to the peak tram station cos we ended up at garden road, where the tram station is, after wandering around in central for almost an hour.

we bought the peak tram+madame tussauds combo and went up to the peak by tram. it's super fun to take a tram up and down the hill, especially since it was going up at an almost 45 degree angle. it's quite steep, but the surprising thing is that there are actually people living around that area where we passed by on the tram. the thing about hongkong is, the pollution there is very bad, and when you take photos of central from the top of the peak, you can't really see much cos everything is covered in smog.

we got to the peak and had lunch there, before we went to madame tussauds. had a whole lot of fun taking photos with wax figures of people like angelina jolie, brad pitt, eddie murphy, gandhi, bush and clinton, the beatles and even elvis presley. all of us had fun there except popo, who refused to take photos with dead people.

after we got down from the peak, we took a ferry over to tsim sha tsui(which is much cheaper than taking the mtr over), and we had dinner at this japanese fastfood restaurant. the way they take orders and serve food is very interesting. they issue you a number after you order and pay at the counter, and when they call your number you just go to another counter to collect your food. the beef noodles there are very nice too.

after that we went to victoria harbour to watch the symphony of lights, which was not as exciting as i had expected it to be. i expected to see the whole sky light up with a whole lot of different coloured laser beams, but in the end all we saw was green laser and white powerful spotlights lighting up the sky. in my opinion, the lighting on the buildings at central was more interesting.

after that we walked to the mtr station at tsim sha tsui to take the mtr back. along the way we passed by nathan road again and the cultural centre where recitals, performances and all kinds of stuff are at. we went to isetan and we tried to look for some brand of hair accessories that stephanie jiejie had told popo about, but couldn't find anything. we got back to the hotel at 10+

DAY 4

we woke up early in the morning and went to central(AGAIN)to go to the ferry terminal. we took an hour long ferry ride to macau, and personally i feel that the ferry was much more comfortable than the plane ride. BUDGET AIR SUCKS.

we got to macau at about 10.45, and we took a bus to a place that i think is called senado square or something like that. then we found a money changer that offered 5.6 for exchange of singapore dollar, which was much higher than any of the rates offered in hongkong. the lowest rate we saw was something like 4 point something. we had to change money cos we shopped so much until we didn't have enough money. then we made our way through the old streets filled with portuguese flavour to st paul's ruins.

not to forget, we went to a dessert shop and had steamed milk and steamed egg desserts and also portuguese egg tarts. the steamed milk was ok for me, but samyee and gabriel didn't like it. i think it's cos i'm used to drinking milk and i quite like drinking milk. the steamed egg, on the other hand, tasted like egg tarts without the pastry. the portuguese egg tarts were quite nice, just that they're a little expensive.

the ruins were spectacular. i had only seen them in pictures and shows before going to macau, but when you see it for yourself, it's beautiful. although it's just a wall, it's cool how people in the past could build such buildings and make such intricate sculptures. we went to the museum behind the ruins to hide from the rain and also to take a look. there were some catholic related objects and portraits on display there.

the rain, although heavy, stopped after a while and we walked back down through those old streets. gabriel and i chatted with this auntie at a drinks stall where we bought drinks in cantonese. the conversation was something like this(entirely in cantonese, something considered quite good for us already):

gabriel: 好热啊！
auntie: 不会啦，你们才刚刚开始。。。
me: 什么刚刚开始？我们刚刚从上面下来啊！
all of us: (laughs)

the streets that we walked through had a lot of stalls selling barbequed meat. it's something like singapore's bak kwa, just that it's a bit thicker, and they even have wild boar meat! we bought a bit of wild boar meat. gabriel asked me if they sell the meat in slices, cos he wanted to just buy one slice. so i told him to go down the whole street and try all the barbequed meat, or rather pretend to try. we bought a lot of biscuits and snacks back from macau too.

after that we decided to take a bus from macau to taipa, just to realise that there's actually nothing on that island except residential estates. somewhat like jurong area in singapore. we went back to macau by bus, and at first we wanted to go to the sands resort to take photos, but well, children under 18 not allowed, so we didn't go in the end. then we went to new yaohan to shop and take lunch, and the 公仔面 there is quite nice, it even comes with luncheon meat! i bought a mug for daddy's fathers' day gift, and he still doesn't know about it. he thinks i bought the present for a friend.

we went back to hongkong at around 4+, and we went back to the hotel to put down our stuff first. then we went out for dinner and went to a 烧腊店 for dinner. i tell you, once you try the roast pork there, you'll not want to eat any roast pork in singapore. the roast pork there is so nice! the skin's crispy but not oily, the meat is not fat but still chewy, it's very flavourful. the char siew, however, was not very nice. they have kang kong there too, but it was cooked in a different way. the tofu was ok. i was so hungry that day, or maybe it's just cos the food was too nice, i ate a lot of rice.

after dinner we went to 女人街 again to shop. i bought a bag and a pencil case for waitiem, who has decided to use it as a toiletries bag. we also bought more clothes for mama. samyee also managed to find some dvds for stephanie jiejie, Sorry I Love You, and something else, at a very cheap price. after shopping we went to a dessert stall to eat dessert. the 白果腐竹汤 was quite nice, just that there's a little too much barley. the mango sago looked nice, although i didn't really like the white stuff on top.

DAY 5

we woke up early(AGAIN) and went to Ocean Park. Our first stop there was the panda enclosure. the pandas were so cute, and so happened it was their feeding time when we got there, so we got to see them eat bamboo. SUPER CUTE! i even took a 30 sec lon video of one of the four pandas eating. i'll try to post it here.

then we went to see the corals and some of the sea creatures. after that we took lunch, before we went on the viking and some swing ride. i don't know why but gabriel didn't really seem to like the ride a lot. we also went to look at the sharks, but before that we went to see the dolphin and seal show. the dolphins are super cool! they can jump really high, and they can really listen to instructions. i wanna try holding on to the dolphin's fin and letting it pull me around the pool. the way the seals waddle out are super cute. they kinda like flop out, and they even have their own platform.

we left Ocean Park at around 4+, and by the time we got back to the hotel, samyee and popo, who were shopping at causeway bay, were back at the hotel too. we rested for a while before we went out for dinner at some restaurant opened by chinese nationals i think. the food was quite nice, and i ate a lot of rice too. actually we only got into that restaurant cos it was raining heavily and when we got under the shelter(we had umbrellas, but still...), we realised we were in front of the restaurant, so we just went in. we got a discount cos samyee paid with RMB and there's a 10% discount for payments made in RMB. so happened samyee carried 250RMB with her cos uncle ong told her that you can pay with RMB in some places in hongkong.

we went around shopping for a while around the area, and i think they bought some shrimps and some other stuff. then we went back to the hotel to pack our stuff, and when i turned on the tv to the tvb channel, i chanced upon this show called 法政先锋2, some forensics-related show, and i tell you, it's actually quite interesting, although i only watched 1 episode. i've been watching the show on the internet for the past week, and the show's really nice. even angie says so too, although i think she's only obsessing over 郑嘉颖, some hongkong actor.

once i saw this dance competition showing in hongkong, where celebrities compete, something like dancing with the stars in the US, i realised that some of them can really actually dance quite well. the shows in hongkong are quite nice, just that there are too little channels, unlike in taiwan, where there are like 70+ channels. but as compared to singapore, i think hongkong is still better. i mean the quality of the shows and everything.

DAY 6

we woke up early in the morning, went out to the same cafe that we went on the first night to have breakfast. i think in total we went to that cafe 3 times in 6 days, but that's not a bad thing since the food there's quite nice. after that we checked out and waited at the hotel lobby for the taxi to come to fetch us to the airport. it was raining quite heavily on the way to the airport, but when we got there the weather was good enough for our flight to be able to take off. we bought more stuff at the airport and i bought krispy kreme donuts and a pooh bear figurine with a super big head(the figurine's sitting on my tv now). we reached singapore at around 3+, and coufu came to fetch us(thanks coufu!).


this trip was, overall, quite fun and i really like hongkong now! i like shopping in hongkong, eating in hongkong and watching hongkong dramas. and i really think that speaking cantonese is not as hard as i thought it would be. i spoke more cantonese during this trip than i did at the CNY celebration thing held at HQ earlier this year, and i must say it was quite fun bargaining in cantonese.

i really wanna go back to hongkong again, but right now i'm looking forward to the taiwan trip at the end of the year. 5 more months...