Jim's all fried up.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008
BACK FROM THE HONGKONG

From Left to Right : Yap, Ji Zhak, White Bird and Super Pioneer

4 monkeys (okay, except for a white bird and a gecko) embarked themselves on a journey based on the rash decision of one of them. Together through the tough times spurs a new journey. White bird and super pioneer were to cover 5 days 4 nights in the mystical Hong Kong while reinforcements were deployed to a day later. Yap and Ji Zhak were among them.

Upon arrival on 30th July, we checked into their hotels; Mexan harbour. Comparatively, it was a lot bigger than any HongKong hotels, especially those in

Kowloon, and its a lot cheaper. Perhaps the only problem was the accessibility, which took about 1/2 - 40 minutes just to reach the city area. Nevertheless, we were treated to a nice sight of containers outside our hotels, making it the weirdest scenery in my list of accommodations. We went to Kwai Fong for a late lunch of 4pm. I had a dumpling noodles which was reasonable at $4(came with a drink as well).

We later went over to Tsim Sha Tsui via MTR. We each

bought ourselves an Octopus card to use. Dont ask me why the name octopus, because it looked like an ordinary card, but acts like a Easy-link. Later, we both walked down Parklane Boulevard, an

Orchard Road look-alike that stretches for miles. Dropping by Miramar Shopping Centre, we chanced upon the heavenly Uniqlo. Uniqlo, a japanese brand that is popular for its jean, has never make its mark in Singapore. We practically bought the whole shop down. I bought a pair of jeans on the spot that costed $60, but was considerably cheap.

We later made our way down Temple Street, the land of the night stalls. It looked

pretty much like a pasar malam back in Singapore, but with endless roads and corners of stalls selling almost anything; from counterfeit watches to counterfeit tees to counterfeit laserpointer. There were fans, paintings, XXX stuff and even household goods. Zh outdid himself by spending lots of things; there was a few tees, a craft set, watch, a pair of cheap jeans and others. I didnt really shop at all, other than some pretty cool Christian tees for the peeps back in church.

Came back at around 12am, only having to have dinner at 11.00pm. Surprisingly, public transport work late in the night. So do the eateries around the MTR; it seemed that the Hongkongers dont sleep at all.

Day 2 started at around 9am. Yong teng and yap were supposed to land at 2pm, so we had plenty of time to roam about before they joined us. We started with breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. It was a trip back to the 1970s with old

red leather chairs with wooden boards as backrests, sausage, egg and beehoon beef never tasted that great before. We had an intention of clearing some of the temples in HongKong, grasping the culture and tradition of the place. Starting at Wong Tai Sin Temple, we were greeted with a big mall beside the temple. I guess it must be a HongKong pastime to walk in malls, as there are plenty of

it everywhere in HongKong.
Wong Tai Sin Temple was rested in between residential area. Catering to the buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, the temple had 3-4 altars, each holding a particular god of the religion. Devotees would carry their joss-sticks offering thanks to these gods. It also had a garden for devotees to relax in. With an artificial garden and water sprinkler for the flowers in the garden, the temple is certainly making a lot of money from the donations poured in. Before leaving the temple, I was able to witness a mysterious practice which worshippers practice, which is unique only in Hong Kong. Using a open container of chopsticks to tell your fortune is a common practice in HongKong. The devotee will form a question in his/her mind, and slowly shake the container until the 1st chopstick sticks out and land on the floor. He/she can verify whether if this is what the Gods are really speaking by throwing 2 stones in midair. If there is a stone resting on its curved surface, while the other is resting on the flat surface, then the facts on the chopstick is true. If however, they fall on the same sides, the devotee would have to repeat the process until she gets it right.

After Wong Tai Sin, We went to Lok Fu to spot another temple. Unlike the Wong Tai

Sin temple, the next temple did not have many visitors. In fact, it was empty other than the attendant cleaning the space. But in this temple, culture and history sprung out alive with many ancient weapons, statues on walls and calligraphy, some dating

back to the 18th century. It was a sight for history buffs, not so much so for poor zh, who was complaining about the weather and the fatigue. The Walled city was pretty much the same as well. Built in the early century, the British colonial rule demanded to tear down the place.

However, based on the recover of some archaeological finds of old ruins, the place was converted to a tourist spot. Once again, there werent many people, but the beauty and the tranquility of it all was overwhelming, until zh wanted to eat something and get out of the place.

Being lost souls on the street, we wanted to find a place with good

food, particularly dim sum. Heaven heard our cries and send a woman rolling her trolley cart down the alley. When she saw a pair of lost fools clinging onto their maps for directions, she offered to show us the best dim sum around the area. It was a good thing we had dimsum at 3pm as the price of it would be very cheap. We had a good deal of eating the favourites, such as Chee cheong fun, Siew mai, long pao, charsiew pao, century egg porridge, beehoon etc etc. We ate so much till we wanted to puke, and when the bill came, it was only... $12. omg. eating dim sum in singapore with the portions we had would have cost us about $30 per person. We paid left than that total amount for a table of 2.

Having being filled to the brink, we left the eating area of Kowloon and headed back

to Lok Fu MTR. It was back to Tsim Sha Tsui to troll down the museum displays. We bypassed Harbourcity and were greeted with expensive labels along the street. Harbourcity was a shopping centre not even Vivocity can beat. It was THE biggest shopping centre I have ever seen, ranging with brands not heard of ever in Singapore. Upon exiting, we took some snapshots of Louis Vuitton shop. Pretty sophisticated and elegant are the words to describe it. The view at the bay was fantastic. Being able to see all the skyscrapers of HongKong Island, it certainly destroys the conception of urbanisation not being pretty. Architectural marvels are bountiful in HongKong. And my eyes were filled with many sights.

We visited the Cultural centre, space centre and Museum of the art. Pretty boring place to be in. The avenue of stars was a different thing though. With many

handprints on cemented path of famous actors in the movie industries, like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Andy Lau etc, tourist are attracted to this place to take cheesy shots of their hands in this prints and other filming statues. I have plenty of these stupid poses. We witnessed the nightlight performance of the building in.. disappointment. It was a pretty dull show and for the Singaporean who have seen plenty of skyscrapers and NDP show. It did not meet to our expectation, not one bit.

An interesting thing to note about Hongkong would be THEIR LACK OF TOILET FACILITIES. Can you imagine when you're at high tide and you cant find a single toilet anywhere at all? Not even in the 5 star hotel facing the sea(im particularly mentioning Sheraton hotel. DONT YOU EVER GO THERE AGAIN), nor the shopping centre that has all your favourite goods. If there is any place that deserves recommendation for being a life-saviour, that would be the 24hours McDonalds. It was the most urgent and yet satisfying pee I ever had for a long time. We spent the rest of the night in Ladies Market, another hot spot for Pasar Malam goods. Comparing with Temple Street, Ladies market had more variety of goods and it was

where i bought my ali ba ba bag, and contemplating in other stuff for people. There were plenty of bags, fake wallets and belts, cheap socks, toys and others. Drained out from all the shopping, we managed to leave the place at 11pm, only being able to have dinner at 11.30pm. At midnight, we finally met YongTeng and Yap. ole!

3rd day was a little more exciting. We were off to the magical land of HongKong Island. Being advised to stay over there right from the beginning, I started to regret my decision to stay on the mainland. HongKong Island was a modernised Hong kong, with towering glass buildings and new edge technology everywhere, like the electric trains, cleaner parks and bigger brands. YongTeng and Yap went on their seperate ways from us, so as to look for their swedish brand, H & M. Their ulterior motive would be to look for HongKong Girls.

I dunno about you, but according to Zh and YT, they are claiming that hongkong girls are generally prettier than Singaporean girls. I dun really see any difference. I mean, a chinese girl is a chinese girl, regardless of where she is staying in. I guess the only reason why these hongkong girls appeal to boys would be their better sense of dressing, most of it coming out of their own pockets. It is quite a common sight to see them dressed in Chanel sweaters and carrying Gucci bags. I guess its a common statement Hongkongers like to make, that they are rich enough to buy their clothes but still sitting on trains on the way back home. Another observation I would make would be their use of make-up. Unlike most Singaporean girls(though it is a rising trend), Hongkong girls would apply their make-up anywhere, and somehow this dolling up would drive the boys crazy. Ok, i must admit, i notice a few eye candies as well. May God forgive me such that i do not have to pluck my eyes out.

Zh and I, however, were on our ways to the fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experience

theme park; Ocean Park. The journey was long and gruelling. On the train, across the strait, boarding a bus, through a tunnel, up a hill and down it and finally, the final destination, the side entrance of Ocean Park. It was a good thing we didnt take the main entrance. The park is split up into two parts with a cable care extension connecting the both of them. Our side was the most exciting part, with theme park rides and animal shows, so we were rather fortunate. It was pretty crowded on a friday, with people jamming the walkways. We attempted the "tallest escalator" ride to the top. The view was breath-taking. New HongKong looked ever-ready for the next exciting thing coming up its way. However, before we could savvy the scenery, zh spotted a menacing dark cloud over the horizon. One thing good about being at the top was that you could see when a dangerous cloud is heading your direction. We sped off to the nearest shelter and waited for the rain to stop. Precious time was trinkling down the drain as we watched the weather playing trick or treat on the people in the park. I finally had enough of the rain and decided to brave it. Storming

past the people with my umbrella and a rather reluctant zh, we found ourselves in a games booth before heaven brought in the final blow of downpour. It was my good o' ring a toss game, the game my dad would never let me play when I was young. I can see why he didnt want me to, since im not a games person myself. But hey, for $10, you can get a try at the games to win something really big, get a small toy for trying and wait out for the rain.

When the birds started singing again, we grabbed the opportunity and raced down to the biggest rollercoaster in the park.. THE DRAGON!! It was pretty okay, cos we were sitting in front, so we didnt have much of the g-force in us. I guess the cool part was being to look upside down as we were on the loops. THE ABYSS(aka free fall dropping

machine) was a lot more adrenaline-pumping. Zh was saying how it was shorter than the Genting highlands. But he said a completely different as the ride started to bring us higher. When we are nervous, both zh and I would work in different ways. I would keep rather quiet and would want to think through calmly. Zh, on the other hand, would want people to talk to him so as to distract himself from the nervousness. I must say, the two of us are a pretty bad combination when it comes to this. Nevertheless, when we were dropping for the next 4 seconds, I was screaming my lungs out..

"ORD LOH!!!!!!!!!!" (trying to put a happy thought in my mind, can?)

we had a little dolphin show, where the little critter performed tricks that amused the crowds. A cable car ride after that. And some more money wasting games that earned us little tokens. We ended Ocean park around 4pm. Shagged but still anticipating the 2nd half of the itinerary.

Part 2 started at 5pm. We met Yongteng and Yap at the Charter park before setting out to the Peak Tram station. Apparently, Yap and YT bought plenty of clothes from H & M, each carrying at least 3 items. When we reached the venue, we were shocked to see the number of people queuing up for the tram. It took a total of 45 minutes before finally having the chance

to go up this 2 carriage tram. Dating back in the 18th century, the railway was one of the oldest mode of transport used in HongKong. Although it was irritating to wait with the crowd and intense heat, the wait was well worth the experience. As the tram climbed up the slope, you can literally feel your feet go off the ground. That is because the tram was going up the slope at a ridiculous angle of 40 degrees. That's about 4 times the angle for an average vehicle. I could have nearly flew against gravity as the tram crawled up the hill. Upon arrival, the view was stunning. Stretching all the way to the New territories, you could practically see the whole of HongKong in one glance.

Thank God for the good visibility, cause the sight was simply marveling. We took plenty of shots at the cliffs before proceeding on to the Peak Tower. Shaped in a bowl manner, the Peak Tower was certainly one of the weirdest shape building I have ever seen. It started getting darker as we stood at the top of Peak Tower. There were plenty of visitors busy snapping pictures of buildings as they switched on their night lights individually. The whole street was lit up and Hong Kong was filled with blinking shiny dots.

We took a good one hour to get down to the foot of the hill. With the long jam at the tram, we were only left with a bus alternative, which took equally long curving down

the hill. By the time we found the restaurant, we wolfed down the food, preparing for the last stretch of the journey before calling it a night. And that was to roam around Mongkok once again. We arrived at Mongkok station at about 10pm. Fortunately, Yap was not as interested as the both of us with Ladies Market, so we pushed on to Fang Yuen St. Fang Yuen was also known for its sports goods. This was the place which sells merchandise never seen

before in Singapore. They were plenty of Nike, Adidas and Puma to get a shoe fanatic crazy. Besides shoes, these shops were also selling cheaper football jerseys; at least $20 cheaper than in Singapore. We walked till we dropped... then finally reaching back to the hotel at about 12 midnight. That night, we made a new acquaintance. His name is Uncle Toby. Being the hotel staff, he was very friendly to us and met all of our demands when we bombarded him with all of our wants and where to find them. Sigh.. Singapore should have more of Uncle Toby around.

Day 4 was a dedication to the shoppers in our group. Mainly, the 4 of us. We went on the ultimate shopping expedition. Leaving the place at 10.30am and reaching Tsim

Sha Tsui MTR at about 11am, I decided to bring YT and Yap back to UniQlo. They had the potential to buy the whole shop. And I was right. After spending 2 hours in just that shop, YongTeng pulled off with 2 pairs of jeans, Yap had 3 pairs with a tee, Zh had a tee and a pair of jeans, and I, a pair of skinny jeans. I have to admit, the skinny jeans was at a super value price of $72.

$72!!! FOR A RAW SELVAGE JEAN OF SUCH QUALITY. It was crazy for me not to buy such a pair of jeans. If Topman was selling their average jeans at $103, then surely Uniqlo jeans was more worth the money.

After Uniqlo, we went to Esprit outlet where we bought presents for the church gals. We headed to Mongkok once again. Somehow, Mongkok seems to be the centre of all the shopping. We visited Langdam Place, the reputable shopping centre of great heights. With a total of 15 levels of pure shopping, you got to admit even Suntec

cannot face the challenge of Langdam Place. The greater amazement was that we covered every single level in an hour. It was tiring, having to skim though the clothes at super duper fast speed. After Langdam place, we went off to individual shopping mall under the directions of Uncle Toby last night. YT and Yap were on a mission. They were desperate to find cheap berms in HongKong. However, after roaming about all of the 4 shopping malls, we were unable to find anything close to their description of berms. We were however, able to find YT football figurines and bought ourselves a graphic tee. We ended the day earlier than most other days, with a plate of charsiew and roasted goose rice for dinner, and a mango shake for dessert.

Being the last day of our HongKong Trip, I did not want to end it with shopping, so

after our negotiation with the group, I finally had the chance to see some of the things I wanted to do in HongKong. We started from Prince Edward MTR, walked down the road till we came across Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. Think of it as a mega Serangoon North selling only birds. There were rows of shophouses selling birds of different species, from parrots to mynah to songbirds. We came across the feed for the birds as well; locusts, crickets and mealworms, all in the nutritious diet of the bird. At that time, the birds were feeling heat wave that was happening in HongKong... we saw a few uncles cooling off

their prized possessions by sprinkling water onto their feathers. Further down along the road, we came across Flower Market. Flowers sold here were at a insane price of

$5 for a bunch. There was a whole lot of assortments, from roses to water lilies to bonsai and aloe vera to mini sunflower and plastic fruits. The sights and colours were simply overwhelming for an artist looking for some free photoshots! We ended my mini-tour around Prince Edward at GoldFish Market, and yes, u guess it, they were all rearing aquatic life over there. It was quite interesting to see the fish and

the tortoises in the tanks, but as I slowly watch the vast quantity of caged animals, I started wondering how cruel the whole system is. I wondered why even though WWF set up their office in Hongkong, and yet not doing anything about the endangered

species in certain tanks and the damage of coral reef. It certainly hurts me to see man destroying Earth for their own profits.

We tried a little shopping at Allied plaza, hoping to find YT and Yap's berm. YT eventually bought a berm over there less than $30, even though it was a little tight at the bottom for him. And to end the 5 days 4 nights with a little goodies to bring back home, we were transported back to the same old airport, getting ready to fly back to Singapore.

The trip has been fun. It was certainly "the last ditch attempt to go overseas" just before uni starts. I didnt regret going for this trip. It was definitely fun!

Now back to the mugging.... ( =_______= )|||