Bangkok work trip - Day 4

It was the last day in BKK and I only had a few hours to pack up and leave the hotel. I checked out and left an appreciation gift for our event sales manager. His team was excellent and we were indeed very pleased with the service received.

I met my guide who took me to the airport and assisted with my heavy luggages. With more than 2 hours before the flight, I spent a good deal of time shopping for food and souvenirs for friends and souvenirs to make up for the time that I didn't have to shop in BKK. When it comes to shopping, I'm as good as any tourist.

Say hello to my new friend from Thailand!

Afterthoughts: I am still not a big fan of shopping and eating where Thailand is concerned but I know I'll be back for work very soon. To come for a holiday, it might take quite abit to convince me to come back again but I really appreciate the hospitality, generosity and helpfulness of the Thai people. On my first work trip, I was glad to know that I was able to push my comfort level to another degree. To see the event take place is really satisfying. On my first solo travel experience, I was pleased with myself that I am able to navigate places on my own and didn't get lost even though it was my first time there. I am sure I'll be able to travel to places on my own in the very near future.

Bangkok work trip - Day 3

16 Oct 09

I have omitted all details of the event as you can bet that it was nothing but tiring. Even on the dinner table, I was literally still working till the last guest leaves. What was even tiring was all the packing up after the event and then another round of final touches back at the hotel venue (till past 1am in the morning) for the event the next morning.

It was so hectic that I didn't realise I slipped into a deep sleep without setting my alarm. I was supposed to be up and running at the function at 7am to ensure things were all ready before the first guest arrived at 8.30am.

While all plans were made to ensure things were running, my body clock didn't work till my boss rang me up in the room at 8.30am. I woke up in a state of surprise and quickly get dressed and down at the event in 15 minutes. Luckily everything was prepared beforehand and I had some assistance from the local co-organisers. Everything was under control except me in my just-awake state.

I skipped breakfast and lunch totally except for a few macarons that I couldn't resist from the coffee break spread.

Again, I was mistakened as a Thai several times during the function that sometimes I felt that I was a little rude when people were trying to just say "Thank You" and I couldn't respond.

It was work after work with all the packing up and while I found an hour to freshen up in my room before heading down to prepare for the next function in the evening.

All was well after I returned to the hotel to pick up the delegation for dinner. We were stuck in the jam for quite awhile and the rain was heavy but we enjoyed the dinner nevertheless.

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I would have gone for some last minute shopping after the dinner if not for the rain.

But it saved me that little time I had to re-pack all 21kg of weight into my luggage and in bags that I could carry by myself before the flight the next morning.

Bangkok work trip - Day 2

15 Oct 09

The second day in Bangkok marked the 2-day work marathon that kept me constantly on my toes to make sure all potential slips and falls are avoided or minimised.

Waking up in the cityscape of BKK!




The morning was already packed with phone calls and work that I had to miss the buffet breakfast that I would have enjoyed during every of my holiday trip. But, obviously this was not one of them.

I was grateful that the hotel team was always happy to help and they were already quick in action without me having to lift the boxes like I had to back in the hotel in Singapore. They were done in an hour and all my transfers were arranged.

At 13h00, I met the hotel chauffeur and went off to Aubergine Restaurant at Sala Daeng. It was not a place that was easily accessible; even the locals have problems locating the restaurant. Even with the hotel chauffeur, he dropped me at the wrong point and I had a Thai postman to tell me that the entrance was at the other side of the restaurant. I met with the restauarant owner who was a middle-aged Thai lady and we had a 30-minute discussion before I head down to my next stop.

My next task was to collect 80 delicate chocolate eiffel towers from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School located near Dusit Thani Hotel. This was the confusion point as the driver dropped me off at the hotel and the school was actually located right next to the building. I waited for a good 15 to 20 minutes to receive the items and luckily I had 2 Thai persons to assist me. They called the driver for me and I waited for another 15 minutes for the driver to appear at the right place.

After that, it was constant work back at the media venue which lasted through the night.

Bangkok work trip - Day 1 - part 5

14 Oct 09

After grabbing a drink from Starbucks, I resumed work even though it was already near 7pm there. I was pleased with myself that my directional instincts worked perfectly and I found my way to the venue in no time. I met up with my contact at the venue who was a young Thai lady. She brought me around and the rooftop scenery and setting over there was electric under the night sky. Definitely a must-visit. She showed me the bar tender who showed off his acrobatic bottle-throwing skills. Then we discussed work over the bar. All those emails and phone calls finally made sense when you are there physically to see the place.

The Thai lady was nice and she offered dinner or lunch the next day which I politely refused as I knew just what I had on my plate for the next day. What was funny was that almost all her colleagues have heard of my name - from my constant calls and emails - and they all thought I was a mature, bespectacled long haired lady. Well, I turned out to be just a young little girl and they thought I was Thai too.

It was nearly 9pm when I left the place and I decided to make a return to Siam station since I didn't have the luxury of the time earlier, I made another few tours in the malls but still didn't manage to get anything. I carried on walking in the street markets but I figured my inability to speak Thai won't get me anywhere to get a good bargain. I tried to figure what the locals were saying but I gave up eventually.

I ended up with a packed dinner from Auntie Annies and a 200 baht top from a kind-looking Thai auntie. I visited a handicraft shop before heading to the train station.

The night in BKK was consumed in total darkness except for the minimal light from the passing cars and traffic lights.

Bangkok work trip - Day 1 - part 4

14 Oct 09

I took quite awhile to unpack my luggage, make some phone calls for work and then I met my hotel event sales manager again to inspect the function venues. Knowing that I was completely clueless about navigating my way through the other venues, I quickly asked him if he could help me with the transfers as I would need to transport some cartons and banners from place to place. He agreed readily and it took quite a load off my mind.

Thereafter, I made my way out on the streets with some simple but clear instructions from the concierge, I found my way to the nearest BTS train station - Nong Chongsi station. I didn't want to take a cab since I barely speak Thai. I was glad to see that the stations are well indicated in English too. My first stop was to National Stadium to check on my venue for a media event the next day.

One remark I had about my first time walking in the streets of Bangkok was that it has a distinctive Thai scent everywhere.

Little did I realise that I had simply followed the crowd out and alighted one station earlier. I found myself in the midst of huge shopping malls so I decided ask around. One Thai led me to another Thai who tried to explain to me patiently in Thai - the only English word I could make out of is that she asked me to take a taxi.

After figuring out by myself, I finally realised I was one station away but I decided to do a quick tour around the mall since I was already there. oops.

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Bangkok work trip - Day 1 - part 3

14 Oct 09

The 45-minute journey to the hotel was not that long afterall thanks to the guide's continuous explaination of the roads and buildings and the Thai conversations between him and the driver. He also pointed out that there was a road closure due to some Thai royalty making their way in the city. It was a massive road closure, in my opinion, as it seemed like they closed the whole of an expressway just to make the road safe for the royalty. The roads there were mainly raised roads that twirled above the height of the buildings with many huge advertising billboards up in the air to catch the attention of the Thai drivers (because they are written in Thai). On the road, I noticed that there were several gates/stops to make manual road tax payment - when I spotted my guide passing some Thai Baht to the driver. This was indeed visible everywhere - including Hong Kong.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I was greeted by everyone standing at the hotel entrance and was quickly escorted to the reception. Even though I didn't understand a word of Thai, I could make out that they were alerting my event sales manager that I have arrived at the reception. Very shortly, I spotted the familiar face and we briefly spoke about work.

Thereafter, I entered my room on the 25th floor. I was delighted to see the huge glass window, the plush bed and the luxe bathroom. The hotel also offered a complimentary mango nicely plated with a knife. I was beginning to like this hotel already.

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Bangkok work trip - Day 1 - part 2

14 Oct 09

Part of the reason of the non-excitement on setting off for this trip was also because I was not particularly fascinated by Bangkok itself. I never contemplated of visiting the city for my holiday as I was not a big fan of Thai food nor the night markets that my friends and sisters have been raving about.

On the plane, I was seated at the aisle with an Indian uncle next to me. They were rather pleasant neighbours with very little toilet visits which would have troubled me during the flight except for the fact that they had problems switching on the TV and the repeated fiddling with the remote did get on my nerves for a bit. Otherwise, the inflight experience was a pleasant one - at least I get a decent meal - though I feel Cathay has a better offering in terms of the food and ice cream. The only difference is that they do provide hot towel for the passengers to freshen up before the take-off. And the best part, after my experience on UA, is the inflight entertainment. I caught "My Sister's Keeper" though the flight was too short to finish watching the entire story.

When I arrived at the airport, I found that it was easier to navigate to the customs area as compared to HKG or SIN airport. At the immigration counter, they even made the passenger stand to take a picture at the counter. Thereafter, I waited for quite awhile to assemble my luggages and found my local guide carrying a big sign with my name at the exit area after a short search. He was very helpful and assisted with my luggages to the car. He was also very friendly and shared many stories during the ride to the hotel. He said that he was told that he was expecting a V.V.I.P (that explained why they prepared a coach) - I bet that he never thought that I was just a little girl in tee and jeans.

One thing I had noticed about Thai people is that when they laugh, they laugh out loud and heartily. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Bangkok work trip - Day 1 - part 1

14 Oct 09

If I have one word to sum up an overseas working trip, I would say "fatigue". Especially on a working trip where you spent every single minute worrying about the preparation and set up for three different events planned in three different venues and Bangkok isn't exactly the most convenient city where travelling is concerned - to get stuck in the jam is the last thing you would want a few hours before the event starts.

That, coupled by the fact that it was my first time to Thailand, it was my first overseas working trip and it was also my first time travelling alone. This sounds like an adventure already. I couldn't say that I was excited as I was overwhelmed by the work I had to do before catching the flight to feel exhilarated or fearful of the things I had to handle by myself in an unfamiliar country. I don't speak Thai, either so if I was to panick, I was sure that there were plenty of things to get worried about.

It was as if I was just taking a 2-hour ride away to another place for work. It didn't feel that foreign to me except for the fact that I was travelling with quite a heavy load - the main part I dislike about travelling for work is to travel with a load to carry.

Knowing that it's a business trip, I made sure I kept track of the time I had before the gate closed. I went window shopping in the transit but couldn't get anything much since I had a heavy luggage with me. I ended up spending time resting in the transit area. I had needed to catch some sleep wherever and whenever I had the time due to the late nights for the past weeks. I headed to the gate earlier to clear the airport formalities and waited for the time to board.

It was my maiden flight on SQ. This finally got me a little excited.

Hong Kong Again

The adrenaline rush from all those eating and shopping in HK didn't die down after the trip and it kept driving me to go back for a third time... soon.

I couldn't explain why I had the urge to go back this fast but it just felt good. Probably this trip was too short to satisfy all our craving to eat and shop. But we had certainly walked to our limit by being on the streets and on our foot all day long from 10am to 1am (we were awake from 8am to 3am).

We barely had time to sleep nor time to hunt for good food as all those walking and finding our way took too much time.

In short, there are simply too many things that I still wanted to do there:

More food -> pastries at Li Xiang Yuan Bing Ting, Mak's Noodle at Wellington street, Xing Ji restaurant at champagne tower, dim sum and more yummy desserts at Xu Liu Xiang

More things to try out -> catching the night scenery at the peak, taking the electric tram and mini-buses, clubbing at Lan Kwai Fong, walking on the longest travelator from mid-levels, staying at and visiting Disneyland

On top of all these, I wanted to brush up on my cantonese to communicate with the locals. Although HK is very much like Singapore, it has its own local flavour and character that you can't help but to feel that you are in HK!

Yes, I wanna go back to Hong Kong for the third time. Any time soon!

Final rush in HK

10 May 2009, 12.00pm

We were glad that we only had to depart at night but that means we had to check out at the hotel earlier and to leave our bags at the concierge. We spent the night before packing till 3am and was still doing our last-minute packing in the morning to make sure we have enough space in our hand-carry for more items - bearing in mind that we had our mums and aunties asking us to get boxes of wife biscuits back home.



I really couldn't bear to leave Hong Kong, this modern yet not so modern city, the streets bustling with people ranting and speaking in cantonese, the cha chum teng and my comfortable hotel bed with the large bedside window staring out at the roads and buildings. But we had to go. With less than 5 hours left for the day, we went out to the streets lugging our big hand-carry baggages. I made a point to find this wife biscuit shop recommended by my cousin. We got several boxes and continued our way down the shops for any last-minute shopping. Making sure we didn't forget to grab a bite at the famed dessert shop, Xu Liu Xiang; we had a delicious mango with glutinous ball dessert and some yummy spicy carrot cakes!





We went to the local CD shop and took a last look at Esprit and H & M to make sure we didn't miss out anything. It was only back in the streets with the small retail shops that I bagged another top from the same shop at Causeway Bay ( I even got their member's card). We thought we were really done with our shopping until we spotted a cosmetics shop near our hotel. LANEIGE!

When we had just got into the swing of the eating-and-shopping, we had to leave.

Even at the airport, we were so engrossed in our shopping that we almost missed our flight. I would say that we would have missed it if not for the airport check-in staff who noticed us running towards the gates. Gosh, we ran past 25 gates (one-by-one) to get our plane. It was definitely a nerve-wrecking exit from the shopping paradise.

The phrase "shop till you drop" definitely applies to us.

Night in Central

9 May 2009, 8.00pm

Taking the train back to Central, we found our way to IFC mall which we had thought to be a good place for bargains. Well, it turned out to be like another Times Square or Harbour City where we could hardly find anything.

To pamper ourselves after those days of walking, we took a cab down to Lan Kwai Fong - this time, with a not so nice cabbie uncle. Lan Kwai Fong is known for its bars and clubbing scene. Unfortunately or not, we were terribly exhuasted and couldn't afford the energy to club. We ended up walking past the bars, down the streets and back to Central station. All those walking was a remarkable feat itself. We missed the night life at Lan Kwai Fong, the night scene in So Ho and the long travalator from Mid-Levels. All these account for another reason to go back to HK.

Being our last night in HK, we stood by our "never say die" motto. We returned to the streets and settled for a sumpotuous Mapo Tofu dinner at one of the cha chum teng. Hard to believe but these eating places only close at midnight.





P.S. : Back at our hotel, we were always buying HK magazines at the 7-11 that we were even qualified to purchase a cute puppy or kitten mug after completing a sticker card. Do as the Hong Kongers do, we say!

Bargain hunting at Causeway Bay

9 May 2009, 3.00pm

We thought after two days of getting-lost and finding-our-way would get us smarter with the streets but we were wrong. We studied our bible and decided to return to Central station to take the train to Causeway Bay. Instead of walking to Central, we ended up walking uphill to we-don't-know-where. It was quite a secluded park where we encountered a strange looking white-haired lady in black sitting on a bench and staring at us. It took us quite some time to realise we were walking the wrong way. All those time and energy to back track to the peak station got us so tired that we hopped on a cab finally.

Luckily, it was not as hard to communicate with the driver as it would have for us to find our way. It was also not very expensive to take a cab there. In a matter of 15 minutes, we were arriving at Times Square and began our next shopping mission.

Time Square was like the Harbour City, huge but mainly expensive brands. After some quick browse at Juicy Coulture and Fossil, we decided it was just not the place for us. Except for the fact that we made use of the washroom and had a delicious Ben & Jerry ice cream cone there, there was nothing I could mention about our trip there.



Besides having a good grasp of Cantonese, you should also have a photographic memory not only to remember the directions but also to remember the shops that caught our eye while we were making our way to another mall. We spotted Uniqlo, Sasa and Laneige. The Singaporean in us acted up and we began to check out the stores, or rather the prices. It appeared that they were not very much different, except for a few items.

We wanted to do as the locals do by taking the electric trams but we could not figure where and how to go about it. We eventually gave up the idea and continue our bargain hunting on the streets. We returned with shopping bags of new clothes and facial masks.

The Peak and the wax museum

9 May 2009, 12.00pm



If anything could help save time for this trip, it would be the ability to speak and understand Cantonese.  Probably, not to speak but it would certainly have helped to understand the locals. This would have otherwise saved us the time lining up in the wrong queue! The staff also made us pose for a picture against the peak tram background. Of course, we didn't realise they were just trying to sell us more souvenirs. We couldn't be more like tourists, could we? But indeed, we were so I gave in to temptations.

We got on the tram which was moving against gravity and shook us with each backward jerk it made. The scenery was not particularly breathtaking but the child-like amusement ride reminded me that I was on an excursion.



When we reached the station, we found ourselves in the middle of a shopping mall. I spotted a Disneyland minature and made a mental note to return.

We were at Madam Tassauds for a gathering with the rich and famous. We were greeted by Bruce Lee and Cecilia Cheung at the entrance. Immediately, the staff stopped us to pose for a photograph beside we-don't-know-who-at-that-point-in-time (he turned out to be Mr Obama which we found out later while browsing at the photos the staff had taken of us in the museum - we were still mystified that we had a photo with Obama until we remembered the mystery man in tuxedo at the beginning).



It still baffled me how my friend could get so startled when we passed by dozens of "reporters" snapping photos of us. Then we met Jay Chou, the Brad Pitt-Angelina couple, Aaron Kwok, some other famous faces and politicians including Mr LKY from our homeland. We spent time figuring who were the personalities and tried to imitate their expressions and postures. It was an interesting tour as we made silly poses beside the figurines. Our pictures could attest to the crazy side of us that our closest friends would not know. This was one tourist attraction that I could say I pretty much enjoyed myself. One thing that I had missed: the chiller tour inside the museum which needed at least 4 persons to start the tour - my friend swore that she would not do it so I guess there will be another time, yeah? Any takers?



To make up for the Disneyland trip that I couldn't go, I went on a hunt for 6 Mickey themed signs in the mall to exchange for a Mickey gift. I only managed to find 5 of the signs and so we gave up and went shopping for souvenirs in the shops and took some photos against the peak skyline. Time was never on our side as we had to made our exit and took the tram back to the station.

Breakfast at Wellington's Street

9 May 2009, 10.00am

Our food hunting in HK was practically a treasure hunt. We were searching road by road, street by street to get to Wellington's Street at Central. We found the street but didn't find the place - Mak's Noodle. Instead, it got us noticing several signs to Lan Kwai Fong, the longest escalator and to the peak tram station. We also spotted this Pottinger Street with very steep but small stone steps leading up. It caught our attention when we saw a wedding couple taking photographs there but having the very thought of climbing up the steep steps made us rerouted and continue our hunt down Wellington's street. We didn't manage to find the noodle place and succumbed to any cha chum teng that looked equally good (packed with customers at that hour). We went in to this Fei Cui or Tai Wah restaurant (we discovered later that this was the same restaurant near our hotel) for shrimp and spinach dumpling noodles. The shrimps were fresh and succulent but having 4 huge dumplings in a bowl were too much for my stomach.



Our heavy breakfast and exhuastion must have taken a toll on us as we walked blindly along the road signs to the peak tram station, forgetting that we had set to go there in the evening to catch the night scenery from the peak.  It took at least another 15 to 20-minute walk up and down the government house making several turns before we saw "Peak Tram Station".  The best thing was, we could bypass the directions (I could say that this was clearly not our fault but the misplacement of the signboard) until we asked for directions from the local policeman.

the food and street market

8 May 2009, 10.00pm

It was meant to be "eating, shopping, eating, shopping". For us, it became a "walking and getting lost" trip but I guessed that was also the interesting and fun bit of it.

Yes, and so we had our fair share of shopping in HK but we ourselves too wondered where did the eating part go? I was guilty of foregoing lunch or dinner where possible to gain time, leaving my poor buddy deprived of her food indulgences. There, my third reason to go back to HK.

We had planned our full programme to be in Lantau this day but we couldn't help but to think that we have not spent enough. And so, we made our way to Mongkok again to "rediscover" the Ladies Market, hoping to find some good bargains by getting there earlier than the night before. If anything was to be blamed, put the blame on the already well-stocked Bugis street in Singapore where we could find similar items at the same or if not, better prices. So, we ended up walking back empty-handed the second night after a dinner at a cha chum teng along the Ladies Market: gong zai mian with Ham, salad and hot lemon tea.



P.S. : Being our second night in Mongkok, we thought we had figured out the way back already but we found ourselves in Yuen Long along the way. How the hell did we get there? It was not even somewhere on our map.

Spender splendour

8 May 2009, 2.00pm

This was not the place I thought I would get my buys from, but never say never, for I ended up with several shopping bags from Citygate. Well, brands and outlet shopping never caught my fancy until I spotted Esprit amongst Adidas, Nike, Timberland, Club 21, Levi's, Giordano. The prices weren't exactly attractive but affordable enough to make you think twice. And think twice, I did as I almost settled with one jacket less until the salesperson convinced me to get another item to enjoy bigger savings. I say, with bigger savings come bigger spending.



After some more touring and shopping with my travel companion, we headed to Disneyland station. You heard it right, Disneyland station and not Disneyland Park. It was right in a way that we didn't make it to Disneyland as we were really racing against time. It was already past 7pm when we arrived at Disney.



It was worth the trip to outside of the park despite the rush as we get to take the Disney train and see the musical fountain playing my favourite tune from Little Mermaid. As we made our way out, there were also fireworks lighting up the night sky. It made me wonder how beautiful it would be to view the fireworks inside the park against the castles. Another reason to go back there.



 

Exploring Lantau in a cabin

8 May 2009, 11.30am

As we arrived in Tung Chung, we immediately caught sight of the Citygate shopping outlets. This was the very shopping mall that was featured in a programme introducing affordable shopping for good brands. We made a mental note before crossing over to the cable car station.



Since we had made it this far, we didn't hesitate to try out the crystal cabin which has a crystal clear bottom in the cabin which allows you to view the scenery right under your feet. We were in the cabin with a Thai or maybe Filippino family and a HK couple. I seriously questioned the thrill of a crystal cabin ride when they don't allow you to stand in the cabin. Maybe we should have tested the limit?  It was not as exciting as we had thought but cable car rides weren't meant to be any thrilling anyway. It was slow and probably a good choice for the elderly. All of us were getting bored and started taking pictures in the cabin. The Filippino family was an amusing bunch who kept narrating and video-taping themselves during the ride.



After the 20 to 30-minute ride, we spotted the Buddha statue on the peak of the island. Having walked and expecting to walk longer over the several hours, we decided to give up the walk up to the Buddha status to save energy and time. We did a quick tour in the village and had a nice mango ice and mango dumpling at Honeymoon Desserts.



Very soon, we headed back to Tung Chung on the cable car. This time, with a very quiet Caucasian couple and a caucasian man. I also started taking pictures in the cabin, just hoping time would pass a little faster in the cable car.

On the streets and in the trains

8 May 2009, 10.00am

I really wished we could get up earlier to catch the little time we had in HK. Our first mission in the morning was to hunt for this recommended food outlet known as the Xing Ji Chan Ting at Kimberly Road. We went searching high and low and ended up searching aimlessly at Kimberly Street (Jin Ba Li Jie) instead of Kimberly Road (Jin Ba Li Dao). By the time we realised we were in the wrong street, we went to and fro looking for Xiang Bin Da Sha or Champagne Tower as it was called. We did finally find the restaurant but failed to realise it is not opened until 12 noon. All those finding of food places earned us another precious advice: note the opening hours!

We gave up finally and had a quick (well not so quick if you are comparing us to the fellow Hong Kongers) breakfast: bo luo bao, butter and milk toasts plus milk tea! All those bread made quick a heavy breakfast that needless to say, we skipped our lunch altogether (that was not totally the reason, it was because we didn't really have time to eat!).





         

Our rat race in Hong Kong was a real challenge as we took so much time walking and travelling on the trains. To make it to Ngong Ping at Lantau Island, we had to take a train to Central and take a 10-min walk to Hong Kong station (it is connected internally with travelators). At Hong Kong station, we had to hunt for the connecting train to Tung Chung. I lost track of the time taken to get to Ngong Ping. It was certainly not a short one. Even in the train, we met many other tourists who were on the way to Ngong Ping to Disneyland. This beats having a strange local uncle sitting next to me and ranting loudly on the phone which caught everyone's attention. And it was not really uncommon to see people yelling from what we had observed in the streets the night before.

The stars and the harbour

7 May 2009, 6.00pm




From Harbour City, we walked to the Victoria Harbour via the clock tower at the pier.




It was cool, if not cold along the harbour; like what I had experienced the first time I was in Macau and Hong Kong. From the harbour, you could see the skycrapers across the other side of the island, the Hong Kong Island. It was not as fascinating as watching the local ferries or the ancient-time ships floating past with their red sails.

The stretch along the harbour was a long walk and the sky had turned darker by the time we reached the Avenue of Stars.




Frankly, I do feel like a typical tourist taking photos of the "must-see" landmarks, just to leave a "I've been here" stamp. To me, there was nothing really wowed about the scenery nor the spectacular that people have been telling me about.


Not forgetting that there are dozens of vendors parking by the harbour for you to take photos against the harbour for HKD 10. In all, I wasn't impressed by the handprints on the floor nor the laser lighting across the nightsky.



After the harbour spectacular, we spent another good 20 minutes figuring our way to the nearest MTR. By then, we were already so tired that we made a stop at our hotel to rest our feet before heading to the Ladies Market on foot. It was already a quarter past 11pm when we reached there and the stalls were preparing to close. Instead of getting bargains, we met a rude auntie who refused to cut prices and said that we were in the way of her closing the stall. And so, we ended up leaving the place empty handed. Speaking of getting lost in HK, we couldn't be more lost than walking in the wrong direction all the time in Mongkok when there was only one road leading back to Jordan.

After getting some Ribena and magazine at the 7-11 near the hotel, we were back in the room near 1am. I was still wide awake till 3am.

Let the shopping begins!

7 May 2009, 3.00pm

Our bible for this trip is a map that I brought with scribblings of the eating and shopping places that we must visit.

Our first shopping stop: Harbour City

We took the train to Tsim Sha Tsui and we slowly found our way there, with the help of a Caucasian who offered help. Instead of getting our buys from Harbour City, we got our stuff from one stop earlier - H & M @ Central. I heard so much about H & M from my sister who told me it's a must-go place to shop, or at least to help her get some stuff there. So we went, and I quickly succumbed to my shopping impulses, just to help me get into the momentum of shopping: once you start, you can't stop.



My buys from H & M

Our first brunch @ cha chum teng

7 May 2009, 10.20am

Arriving at the HK airport, we were separated from the rest of the passengers very soon as most were transiting and we were busy snapping away once we touched ground. It took us some time to eventually find the customs but the wait in the queue was so long that a Taiwanese passenger got frustrated and started yelling at the airport staff. Thanks to him, we got redirected to a shorter queue. We managed to get out in time to meet our HK guide for the transfer to hotel.

After some time waiting for the rest to assemble, we were finally on the way to our hotel - crossing from Lantau to Kowloon.

As we got to the lobby, the sense of familiarity from my last stay at the hotel settled in. Instead of a cute guide, we had a good-looking hotel receptionist. It wasn't that bad at all. Being an hour earlier than the check-in time, we went out for a quick brunch cum our very first finding-our-way and getting-lost episode. After some searching and back-tracking, with the aid of a fruit-seller auntie, we managed to find the place. The hunt also got us walking through a local marketplace... selling mangos, durians and odd-looking veggies.

First eating place: Li Xiang Yuan Bing Ting @ Recalmation Street

Comments: Obviously, people only speak cantonese here but the staff are pretty helpful over here. There are set lunches from HKD 24 comprising of Gong Zai Mian with Wu Xiang Rou Ding, fish fillet with egg, toasts and milk tea. All that gives 4/5 for me.

Plus, I spotted some good-looking pastries on our way out but didn't manage to go back for it - a must-try for me the next time I visit HK.






Our room in Eaton Hotel - 0727

Off we go to Hong Kong!

7 May 2009, 4.00am

Finally, I made it to Hong Kong.

A one-night stay in HK 4 years ago had always left me with a craving to go back to explore and complete what I couldn't in that 2 days 1 night. It was a long wait but I made it any way.

It was a first for me to fly and travel with a buddy. Both of us being rather new to travelling, I was pretty sure that this was going to be a trip with slips and bumps. In other words, it was going to be an interesting trip.

To maximise to the best of our 4 days 3 nights, we decided to take the earliest flight out. We woke up near 2.30am (which means a mere 4-hour sleep, or do you call that a nap?) and left for the airport around 4am.

Upon reaching the airline counter, we were told to register our particulars with the local immigration before we even proceeded for check-in. All those redirections led us lining up for the wrong flight. And little did we know that we were on a flight to Chicago transiting at Hong Kong. Can we stay in the plane, please?

It was not as bad as we thought to set off this early but we were left idling in the new terminal as most shops were closed, or rather not opened at that hour. So we parked ourselves at the internet kiosks before we headed in for the security checks.

Flying off on UA 896.

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It was my first time travelling on UA and I was quite curious what it would be like travelling on UA.

Comments: Leg room and seats are pretty standard. Multi-national staff - all looking rather mature. Plus point: HK papers is provided. Minus point: limited in-flight entertainment, food is served cold, service is pretty much free and easy too.

The verdict: I would pretty much like to be pampered on CX for the same price.



Our breakfast on UA: muffin, croissant and fruit slices