Hong Kong ~~ Pearl of the Orient~~!!

Hey, its been a while since i blogged... to be exact... its the same period when i was away in HK...
It was such an enjoyable trip... Summer HK is kinda different from Winter HK i guess.... the weather speaks for itself and the items that are on sale there are a great disparity... Vivian, Karen and Me purposely planned the trip to coincide with their Tourism promotion and Summer Sale... Guess we din regret...

DAY ONE

Took a damn early cab to Hougang to pick up Vivian to go to the airport together... her bf tagged along too... having stayed over the prev night... Karen arrived much later with her mum... den we went for breakfast... They say i am auntie-killer.... think its turning out to be true... Karen's mum and I click quite well... When its time to leave, we happily trooped in and off we go... our first foray together and my long-awaited 2nd trip to HK... a place which i considered potentially my second home.

Reached HK at 11 plus am and we set off to check in at our hotel. The first comedy struck when the driver mixed up and send us to the wrong hotel... How Bizzare!!! But nonetheless, we settled in at our cosy little room at Dorsett Seaview... It was actually pathetic and a total disappointment when the 3 of us opened the door and see how small the room is... sigh sigh sigh... But we wasted no time is settling down and trooped out to the streets for our first local lunch... and SHOPPING starts!!! Around our hotel area and familiarizing ourselves. Our Hotel is in between Jordan and Yau Ma Tei, along the famous Nathan Road ("Shopping Paradise of HK"). We covered most of the area without really exploring the inner streets... where at every turn and corner... there is bound to be something exciting... how cool... compared to the Sad Singapore Story. Worst thing happened, our camera spoiled... luckily i manage to catch hold of Justin and dude!! He was damn nice to lend us his camera... totally grateful man!!! At night, we were off to Mongkok and Ladies' Street. Such a terrible place... made me bought a really nice bag but i had to sign for it due to the lack of cash... and i knew that was coming... once i signed, it wun stop... blasted!! Tired and Weary, we trooped back to our hotel... with lots of bag but not welcoming the idea of the pathetic bedroom...

DAY TWO

It was the city tour that brought us up early at 6. Dressed and ready to go... forgetting the previous day's weariness... we made our way to TIM SUM breakfast... (who could have missed that when coming to HK) Then it was Victoria Peak that we are going first. As usual, the scenary is breathtaking... no matter how many times u seen it. Took plenty of pictures there... and we are off to Repulse Bay - the most beautiful beach in HK. The temples and different Gods' statues. The tallest Guanyin Statue in HK, a pity that i forget to pray... cos they say Goddess of Mercy can hear us if we pray there... but i prayed to the 4-faced Buddha (the one where Chan Ho Nam prayed to in Young and Dangerous) and walked the Bridge of Longevity and got a set of lucky number (2245) and asked Karen's mum to buy 4D for me... Aberdeen is next, a visit to the people who stayed on water and finally a cantonese lunch at Tsim Sha Tsui before we took MTR over to HK Island, Causeway Bay (Home of Chan Ho Nam... haha..) but limited time forbade us to go to Central, Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong. We din even manage to go up to Peninsula Hotel... sigh sigh sigh... den we went to Mongkok, Fa Yuen St for more shopping... and got lost... oh well... but nonetheless... we found each other and made our way back... concluding our day.

DAY THREE

We woke up early again on the third day with big plans... We are gonna visit the Big Buddha... I brought along the famous pendant that i bought on the prev day to pray to the Big Buddha... The scenary held us dumbstruck... even Vivian who initially din wanna go, found it reluctant to leave after that... The amazing thing is that we were in the midst of clouds most of the time...due to changes in weather... which is pretty amazing.. cos it was sunny one moment... but rainy the very next... good thing is that we manage to take our photos... thou missing out on some of the scenary is disappointing but the trip was never regretted even though it took us 2 hours to get up to the mountain. After that, Kowloon Tong was next... there was a plan to visit Kung Tung for all the sports brand factory outlet... but it was foiled by the Espirit mega sale that we came across at Tung Chung... haii... dunno whether its good or bad oso... but will make a mental note to go there (Kung Tung) the next time. At night, we made our way to Avenue of Stars (Xing Guang Da Dao) where all the famous celebs will have their handprints fortified on the streets... and of course the Symphony of Lights. the most exciting was the pickpocket incident where someone was nabbed for pickpocketing... the worst thing was that the pickpocket was probably targetting me next as he was standing next to me, but upon shouts... the plain clothes policemen suddenly pop out from nowhere to nab him... catching me by a terrible surprise... almost caused me to fall into the sea... After that fateful incident... we went to temple street to pick up some cheap stuff... I bought a few ornaments which i like very much... its really cool.. guess i will put it in hall next time. That ended our eventful day.

DAY FOUR

We woke up the latest today... 10am.. den of course our last min shopping... ard Tsim Sha Tsui area... We had congee and you tiao for breakfast... typical HK style... kinda cool... the funny thing about this trip is that we tasted a lot of local food.... not because we wanted to.. but rather that we are suffering from a severe lack of cash... the last day is always the saddest... it wasnt long before evening approaches and we have to go home...

Made our way to the airport.. and took the plane home... with Vivian and Karen feeling sad and already planning our next trip there... with much enthusiasm of course. It was sad to see the plane leave the City of Lights as it slowly turn into a small dot which drifted away further and further... With the plane flying above the clouds... all the stars were shining brighter than ever seen before... Being a stars and constellations lover, i swear that it was the most stars and constellations that i seen in my life tonight... The amazing thing is that the stars are so bright that it shines down upon the clouds that is floating below the plane and causing reflections... There u see little brights dots of yellow and silver... Lo and Behold... its such a rarity... pity the camera cannot take the rare view... but i was staring at it for as long as I could... before i drifted off into dreamland...

(this is a highly summarised version, i am too tired to type out the details... really looking forward to seeing the photos... and i think its time to invest in a digital camera to call my own...)

PS. its really not easy to go shopping with Vivian and Karen... though i think i am a damn good shopper and BF-to-be for any shoppaholic... but the fact that they wanna visit every single shop and go to every place that is nice and interesting makes it kinda impossible... which probably explains why i visited a great deal less of places this time... but the total exploration of Tsim Sha Tsui and the visit of Big Buddha more than made up for it... not forgetting the pickpocket drama as well... but it was totally fun as well... There could be something that can cap the icing on the cake... i will be looking out for 2245... ;)