东方之珠

Finally had a well deserved overseas vacation almost 2 years after my previous one.

Spent 4 nights at the Oriental Pearl. The tour around the province was entirely by foot/MTR. Check out the places visited:


Both SG and HK are prosperous, crowded and densely populated cities. But the 4 nights stay there does give me some indications of some distinct differences btwn these 2 of the 4 "Little Dragons of Asia".

MTR system: Much more sophisticated than wat SG has. Many more confusing lines and interchanges. But the train frequencies definitely trash SG. Most of the time we dun need to wait for more than 3 mins for a train to arrive.

People: Ok...i believe the generally very loud/ rude people I've met are not the Hong Kongers

Air: I tink the air quality there is terrible...somehow i started coughing the moment i reach there...for the entire trip...once i'm back in SG, my cough stopped....

Food and fashion: generally i find the things there expensive, one plate of noodles typically cost around HK20 = SGD4...for fashion wise, people there are generally more trendy and people there seems to have better complexion than Singaporeans...I also dun see many fat/obese people around...



Night view: No fight...HK trash SG flat.



Weather: Less warm than SG at this point of time...but the rainy days were really a turn off...hindering our itenaries, especially to the sight seeing areas. The visit to Lantau Island was a flop too....cos of the rain. Cable car was wobbling badly...due to the strong winds...ended up getting giddy spells after that..





DIsneyLand

It's a place women and kids love to go....well, i don't hate going to that place...the rides and stuff were honestly generally meant for kids...but it does bring me back to my childhood days when i loved to watch Donald Duck, Chip & Dale cartoons. Luckily it wasn't raining when we were there.


Check out my poor drawing (you know..art is always a killer subject of mine)...Maybe u could figure out that I was drawing Minnie Mouse...but this Minnie mouse seemed to be having a bad runny nose, with badly swollen nose, and it looks exceptionally giddy...i added in the 'giddy' spells to depict the effect...lol..






The train service to Disneyland

Also visited places like:

庙街: I like this place actually...the night market does sell quite alot of things, and reminds me of SG's pasar malam.. somehow i feel that the place is very "authentic" HK street. people there give me good impression that they are warm and kind. nice food varieties with really huge portions....wasted quite alot...caught by surprise....

铜锣湾，东涌: reali shopping places, dun find anything special.

孙中山博物馆: No fight compared to the one I've been to in Taipei. The one in Taipei is simply much more better....But nonetheless, i still stayed around 3 hours there...

蓝桂芳: entire street with different kinds of pubs. Was initially trying to scout for one with canto/chinese live band performances in which we can patronize on the last night, but was dissapointed. In the end we end up going to their "Red Box" KTV. The song varieties there are much less compared to SG, but the cost is much cheaper...they open until 6am and u can sing for 6 hrs jus for the price of HK63 per head = SGD12. their sound system is also far better than SG, at least i dun get to hear deafening screams from the adjacent rooms. they got pretty good sound proofing facilities.

深水埗: Most dissapointing visit. Simply becos it closes so early at 7pm....so got no chance to visit this famous spot for wholesale of clothings... By the time we reached there at 8pm, it's a dead street..

黄大仙: Nothing special about the place. perhaps was too turned off by the rain when we were there. stayed less than 1 hr there...simply just pray and go that kind :s

In summary: HK is simply a place meant for 买东西,吃东西. It doesn't have many nice scenery places..and i can now fully comprehend why women shoppers love to visit this place so much juz to spend 2-3 days 血拼... the shopping centres are always congested, it was an eye opener when i went to SOGO to buy Wife biscuits....To make up for the loss time due to the non-stop rain, we ended up shopping and shopping and shopping.... i lost count of the number of clothings i've bought. bought shoes, jeans and many more.... burnt a big hole in my pocket...i tried to comfort myself by the fact that i oni did something similar 2 years ago when i went Taipei...

Spent a total of around $2000 over 4 nights, inclusive of air ticket, accommodation, transport, food, shopping!!!

The hotel we stayed at is good....cheap, clean, quiet, cosy, good location (2 mins walk from MTR)...even though the room is very small. Staff is friendly and helpful, even though the staff whom i asked for recommendations of nice pubs did not give a satisfactory answer... Will go back there again probably, if i were to go to HK again :)

Check out this hotel.


Typical DIM SUM breakfast...was quite pleased with the restaurant and food until i see a baby cockroach running around.....

Never knew that HK has a bank with such vulgar initials.....

Something good about HK too: it's a good place for me to practice my broken cantonese....lol...even though most of them can speak 普通话　 and English.....that's the point, got practice, then can improve :) no point always keeping to own comfort zone all the time.


Good to end with a song dedicated to Hong Kong and its heritage: