Hong Kong Squeezed-In Trip Day 2 - Guest Blogged by 浪迹天涯小狗

Dunch leave me here!!~~

So after all the concert excitement last nite and the cannot-sleep-bcos-got-report-to-submit the nite b4, Mistress slept in till 9am today. While on holiday overseas, that is.


View from the hotel window


HK version of HDB flats


Very very small apartments.

Went for brunch at some tea cafe down the streets of the hotel.


Tram


牛肉公仔面 or something. Plain, simple but nice.

Took a cab to Chung Wan to take a bus up Stanley Market.


Havoline advertisements in HK


A very tall building


Financial District of HK


Ferry Harbour


Central Pier


As HK is made up of a number of small islands, commuters have the option to take a ferry across instead of the MTR or the causeways.




The very tall building






Their minibuses have speed displays.

Somehow, we boarded the wrong bus. Should be the full-fledged bus no. 6 and not the minibus no. 6 which took us to Ocean Park instead of Stanley Market.


Ocean Park

Ocean Park is the next item on the schedule, but we had to visit Stanley Market 1st or the timings for the Peak wouldnt be right. So we boarded another cab.


Stanley Market

Looks kinda like Chatuchak without the hot sun and dark alleys or the new/old market of Siem Reap without the dimly-lit shops.


A very cute black sheep tie.


The shops on the inside.

We went to the rocky sea facing side for a stroll.








Nice Tree. Very European feel.









We chanced upon a nautical museum while walking past the place and its free for the time being, so we went in to have a look. Interesting stuff they have there.


Display at the shop.



Took another bus ride back Ocean Park. It was a very bumpy ride, sitting on the 1st seat of the upper deck, when the bus driver swerves around the bends and turns of the mountain. Its like Initial D-ing on bus.








Repulse Bay?

Ocean Park, as the name sounds, should be a huge underwater world like place that's full of fishes and water animals. <-- Mistress's perception all along.


Panda Enclosure


What's with pandas and corns??




"What's in it?"


*turns*


*rolls*


"Hello? Anyone home?"


"Heeellloooooooo"


The other panda enjoying his lunch.


No one's home. This is mine.


"Hey~~ What's that sticking out of the tube?"


*knock knock*


*steps*


"Hello?"


*push push*


"HEY!!!"


Why are pandas in Ocean Park?

But truth is, Ocean Park is a theme park. That means rides. Ekks.

Mistress is not into rides.


This thing looks like the one we have in Sentosa. The boring turning thing.

Mistress took the Old Mine Train to go with the majority. But as innocent as the name sounds, its such a big con-ster. There's 3 drops which almost threw Mistress out of the seat for the last one. Luckily I was safely in Mistress's bag and did not go on the ride. Phew!


Seal. Looks fake.

We went to the Jellyfish Enclosure, the Shark Aquarium and the Atoll Reef.




Jelly fish




Baby sharks. Ekks.






Looks gross




Seahorse


Flamingoes


Lonely swan

We took another cab up The Peak, and went for a stroll along the super dark and quiet and eerie and everything trail which is supposed to bring us to the viewing point. Scary. We walked like halfway b4 giving up when there's roughly 2km to go. Freaking far.

Had dinner at Bubba Gump, where everyone is raving about it. Its expensive, but the food is good and the view is rather nice. We watched the Symphony of Lights there.




Mistress's uber funky drink with lights that dims out the Symphony of Lights.


Baby Dixie ribs. Nice but huge portion.

After dinner, we went to the top of the building to get some shots of the HK nightlights.




EA Sports shop

The day is not over yet, we're proceeding to Lan Kwai Fong next. So we took the tram/train to descend from the Peak to Chung Wan, roamed around for a while, before meeting up with 友人's HK fren for tea at 翠华餐厅. The inital plan was to go chionging and as much as Mistress doesnt like, she was kinda forced to go, but luckily she was saved by one of the gang who fell sick. Phew Phew~


Mistress's favorite building




Some war memorial


Looks very 2D


Mandarin Hotel


Standard Chartered. Must have something to do with Feng Shui.


Lan Kwai Fong


Nite Life of HK. But mostly expats here.

Took a bus back Sheung Wan and had light supper before crashing on bed.

Hong Kong Squeezed-In Trip Day 3

Hong Kong Squeezed-In Trip Day 1 - Guest Blogged by 浪迹天涯小狗

"Ahem Ahem"
Addressing the crowd at Hung Hom.

Woah.. I get to travel AGAIN!! Whee~~

Mistress was psychoed to go Hong Kong bcos 1)she listed it on the side of this blog; 2)she has 3 days of leave left & just got her bonus; 3 and most importantly)she couldn't to see some Jay Chou fella in Singapore bcos the tix were all grabbed up by the OCBC priority booking devils..

Oh well, so long as I get to travel, who cares who the heck is Jay Chou. Jay who??

Mistress din really sleep the whole night, unless you consider half an hr of winks. Definitely not due to anxiety but bcos she was rushing some reports to submit. Orhh bi, who ask u to go on leave during ur peak reporting period.

The flight was at 6.50am. Mistress only left the house at 5.15am, after messing around here and there. The cab to airport costs $36 and that was b4 they raised to the current horrendous and complicated fare system.

Was among the last to check in, and Mistress definitely does not like RUNNING to the gate like she did once during a KL-SG flight after walking half the terminal to find that its the wrong side with 10 minutes left. Directionally-challenged human. Haiz.

Mistress kinda like travelling alone. 1) No waiting around, own time own target. 2) Freedom to roam around anywhere, stop for as long as she likes 3) Do whatever she wants. AHHAHA.

And budget airlines are good. Cos they wun wake you up from ur slumber to forcefeed you. Heheh. Never mind the cramped seats and not very comfortable sleeping positions + no entertainment. With books (BOOKS NOT MAGAZINES), DS, iPod, thats enuff.

We touched down Hong Kong International Airport at 10.20am, on schedule, amidst a very foggy sky which made us feel that we're still hovering around preparing for landing till we felt the wheels hit the tarmac. Along the sides of the runway, is the sea. Woahh..


Shuttle bus from the plane.

Our plane did not stop at the gates. Instead a shuttle bus was used for ferrying passengers to the main lobby. Either HKIA really is a busy airport, or there is some class discrimination (we were on Jetstar). Anyway, it is an interesting experience.


Plane from the bus.


The crowd at Immigration.

After queing to get stamped for like half an hr and collecting the check-in baggages, this directionally challenged fella went round the 2 terminals looking for the bus stop to take a bus to Tung Chung for some factory outlet shopping. Wah shopping straight after touchdown..


Xmas tree in HK


Bus interchange/stops at HKIA.


Inside the bus

The mistress then met up with the 友人, who travelled a day earlier. We walked around the air-con wet market of HK before settling for lunch at some seafood restaurant/cafe place. Had some beef hor fun and fried rice. Seriously the portions are HUGE for one person.


Chinese restaurant where we had our lunch.

We walked back to the factory outlet building where we started our shopping. With Mistress's baggage in tow.


The buildings look very 2D here.

Actually, nothing much. Mistress only managed to get 2 tops from Esprit while the 友人 had a good harvest.

So we rushed to Kwun Tong at 4, for some warehouse sales look around. As it is more of an industrial estates, the warehouse sales are mainly located in buildings where the corridors look eeriely from some ghost films with dim lightings. Only Nike looks more decent, but still, nothing to buy.


Yes Yes we know..




This is how close the buildings are.

Had dinner at APM, veggie curry and chicken curry with prata before rushing back to the hotel, dumping our things, and rushing to Hung Hom for the concert.


View from my seat. Lousy seats, back of the stage and so high up.


Zoomed as always. The stage and markings.


That's Jay's feathers peeping out.


*Drools*


Digital Zoomed


Singing 听妈妈的话


Video recording of Jacky Cheung singing 听妈妈的话


Jay & piano. Must have at his concerts.




南拳妈妈


Jay & huge heels. He's at the other side of the stage btw.




*waves*


Jay challenging the band drummer on drums.

He's so freaking talented. One moment on piano, on drums, on gu zhen, playing nanchuku etc etc.


The crowd after the concert. Scary.


Hung Hom

So we went to Tsim Sha Tsui to send a fren back and had desserts on the way. 许留山 mango juice. Too sweet and thick.



Took a cab from Tsim Sha Tsui all the way back to Sheung Wan. Costs us roughly SGD 20. Not that bad.

Hong Kong Squeezed-In Trip Day 2

哪裡來的草?

來到了我的辦公室..

Pretty Smart

打電動

想問﹐有沒有人針對提款機使用率與使用性格做了調查?

好比說提款時間與提款者的國籍之類的。應該會有很好的論文材料。

2分鐘與5到10分鐘的區別。第二次了﹐等20分鐘只為了按兩分鐘的提款。隊﹐雖然看似整齊﹐但沒有規律。一直有插隊的現象。早記得就該在學校按了。

打電動呢﹐是我第一次遭遇到如此現象時一位在隔壁隊的年輕小伙子所給的比喻。害我差點當場笑出來。

不是自名清高或什麼﹐只是本牛的小發現。

E65 to K770i

Ermm.. Arhh.. yahh..

Change again.

I was at Singtel trying to upgrade my dad's phone (he was still holding a Siemen's phone). And since my contract is up also, and since the E65 is giving me some ISP connection problems, auto restart problems, auto miss call problems..

In comes K770i.

Candy bar. 3.2mp camera. Radio. mp3. Bluetooth headset.

Only problem, the side buttons are very very hard to press. So the pictures very hard to take.

Hope its not a big problem.

Btw, I got W200i for my dad. Basic phone, with radio and mp3 features, which suits him. Cos its a supplementary plan, need to pay $100 for the phone.

Japanese from a Tourist's Point of View

I know, a long overdue roundup.. Been drowning in work since I came back.

Function-packed Phones!!
I would have brought one back if they did not require us to sign up a contract requiring Japanese citizenship. Yes, they dun sell phones only as common as Singapore. They're so nice!~ Not boring metallic colors like in SG.

Anyway, CDMA network for most of them, probably cant use for our SIM cards.

Japanese Guys
KAWAII!!!~~~~ Probably bcos they spend more time on dressing up, even out-of-bed hairs looks good on them~ *drools*

Japanese - The Language
For reasons other than I look like a one, Japanese will speak in their mother language to us. Actually its quite a loh soh language as you'll need to splutter out quite a few syllabus for a phase where English could do it in one. No I'm not against Japanese. It is a cultured language in my opinion.

And for people who understands English, Chinese, and slight Japanese, they can be a very good translator in Japan. People like me.. HAHA. Thus Singaporeans have a strong advantage in our language, that is, IF we don't give up on our mother language on account that it is so difficult (Its not, at least not for me).

Japanese - The People
They are so freaking polite! Salute to their customer service spirits! If I had to spend 5 min paying for my purchases, 4 min would be spent on their courtesy speeches, such as, "Thank you for visiting, only one item?". And funny part is, if you give them one credit card to swipe, they'll ask,"One card?", as if we'll charge our purchases into several different cards.

They are very orderly (or I just happen to live in a disorderly country?). Straight lines on escalators (again), and queues for the trains (again).

Dress code for office workers is power suits, even for ladies. And in black or dark colors, no fancy, striped patterns. So during peak hours in the day, the train would be very dark since most school uniforms are of the dark tone as well.

Safe Place
Japan is quite a safe place to roam around, even alone. Even though one is able to find homeless folks littered around the train stations, you will not feel any threat from anywhere.

Differences within Japan
If Tokyo is standing on one side of the lift, Osaka/Kyoto would be standing on the other side. Same goes for right-hand, left hand drive. Differences even WITHIN the country!

Expensive CDs
At least 3,000 Yen for one album. J-pop. Freaking ex! No wonder the Japanese imported CDs costs at least SGD 40.

No MEIJI Milk!
I being one who need milk to lubricate my gastro-intestinal system (either its really helping digestion or I'm just lactose-intolerant), couldnt find the Meiji Milks that I love. And I'm in the originating country of Meiji! Hrumpf.

Shrines
Too Many.....

Matsuri
I believe out of 365 days of a year, 300 days would be for some festivals being celebrate somewhere, in big cities or small towns, big scale or local shrine festivals. There's so many of them! And in the span of 16 days, we've witnessed 4 Matsuri!

Food
Expensive. SGD 10 per meal on average. Salty and oily are common descriptions we had for the food we ate, other than sushi, sashimis. Relatively big servings, which contributed to my weight gain (together with all the junk we've been eating).

Currency
A lot of coins. Bring a coin pouch, it would be more useful than a wallet.

Dark Skies
The sky turns dark pretty early. At around 5, the sun has already fully set, leaving behind a dark city.

Railway Stamps

We collected a few of these. Very nice artwork and interesting to search around the stations like looking for treasures and even if we're at the location stated on the poster, we would still need to keep our eyes open to spot the poster and stamp from amongst the commuter crowd. I managed to spot most of the stamps that we had.

*To be updated with picture links*
Japan Pilgrimage in Detail
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 1
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 2
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 3
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 4
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 5
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 6
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 7
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 8
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 9
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 10
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 11
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 12
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 13
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 14
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 15
Japan Pilgrimage I Day 16