I got back from a 4 day trip in Hong Kong not too long ago. Didn't manage to do much shopping as compared to the last time I went there as I did lotsa sight seeing this time. I think the highlight of my trip was the trip to Lantau island. Took an MTR from central to Tung Chung station which was located in Lantau island. Next, it was a long ride up the mountains and after more than an hour bus ride (which costs $4), I arrived at the Po Lin Monastery which houses the famous big buddha. It was majestic and awesome. I had to climb another 250 steps to get really close to the buddha. It was sucha beautiful sight and the scenery of the surrounding mountains was fantastic. As we were short of time, we did not get to spend an entire day touring the island. I would have loved to see the dolphins and Tai-O fishing village. To my amusement, I saw a van that says: Mobile library. Cool. Another temple I visited was wang da xian, a famous and popular temple for the HKers. It is said to be very effective and accurate. Went to draw a lot and usually in Sg, we have a book that tells us the interpretation of our lot so I expected to find books which would interpret the lot that I drew. However, to my shock, the interpretation of the lot is made by the entire row of fortune tellers. I have never ever seen so many shops of fortune tellers. Anyway, I went to this shop, paid $5 for an interpretation. For every type of interpretation, it is $5. Interesting way of making money.
The other places I went to were Repulse Bay which houses the rich. Heard that Aaron Kwok and Jacky Cheung had houses there. Repulse Bay has very good fengshui so you can see lotsa houses built on high hills / mountains as the rich believe that if they have mountains at the back of their house, they would be rich. The scenery is beautiful with the mountains and sea. Best of all, the beach was so clean and beautiful! There was also an area where the statues of the god of fortune, ma zu and many other deities were.
Next, I went to Aberdeen fishing village where I took a bum boat ride to see the life of people in this floating village. There is also the famous floating Jumbo seafood restaurant which resembles a temple on the outside. It is beautiful. I am sure it costs a bomb to eat there. There are many yachts in that area.
After this, I went to the Mid-levels of Victoria Peak where the scenery was breath taking. I could see the victoria harbour and the buildings. There was this bullet shaped building which was said to have negative effect on the fengshui of the hong kong island. Ever since it was built, the stock market dipped as the bullet shaped building seems to slice the peak into half when you view the building from the kowloon side. Hence, the economy of the HK island started to decline. The hongkongers believe alot in fengshui.
Of course, the night trip to victoria peak was great as the scenery at night was beautiful and it was cold. Had to take a furnicular tram ride and it was rather uncomfortable as it was a steep climb. What was interesting was the buildings all seem to slant as it climbs up. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time at the peak coz the dumb ass tour guide hurried us.
On the way back to our hotel, the park hotel located at cameron road, the bus had to cross the tunnel called the cross harbour tunnel which is built for typhoon purposes. During those days when there was typhoon, people working in the HK island could not take a ferry back to the kowloon side to get home so they were often stuck in their office. Some men even took the chance to visit the red light district as they had a valid reason not to be home. So, the tunnel was built to let these people get home and the tour guide calls it the no excuse tunnel. Sounds warped though.
One fateful afternoon during the trip, the tour guide brought us to some sucky restaurant to have lunch. As we were about to take the escalator to the basement to the restaurant, my friend pulled me and alerted me to a nearby filming session. And.... lo and behold! Ronald Cheng (Zheng Zhong Ji) was acting in some show, confronting a person at a bar. We tried to snap a few shots but didnt turn out well as his face was covered by the guy beside him. Obviously our shots kinda affected their acting so some security guard told us to stop taking pics. Damn! To think that just before my trip, I joked to my friend, saying that I will abandon her if I see any HK actors. hehe.
Moving on, I gota tell u how lousy the tour guide was. His company is holiday world tours and he was a slimey person! He didnt seem to know his stuff well so not enough info was provided about the country and all he did was make stupid jokes. He also said he was single and how hard it is to find a gf in HK as girls want 3 Cs - car, cash, condo. Even if he has the 3Cs, his receding hairline and corniness would put many girls off. When ppl asked him questions, he didnt seem sure. He didnt even tell us that we could go to lantau island by mtr which would be really fast and instead he said it is better to go with the tour group which costs 70 over bucks. I spent less than 40 bucks to sightsee there. Shrewd slime ball! He still had the cheeks to tell us that we have to pay 10 bucks for his services rendered. I rather fry the dollar notes with my lunch.
Oh yes, did i mention about the hotel? Park hotel is kinda small. Room is small but comfortable enough, aircon is freaking cold that I woke up every night with mucus flowing outa my nose. My sinus problem acted up so badly that i didnt get a good nite sleep everynite. The hotel package was cheap, 197 bucks but there wasnt scenic view as it was under renovation. However, it is located at tsim sha sui so it was convenient for us to shop around though rather far from the mtr. On the first day, we got kinda lost and strangely, i just couldnt find the shopping area which I went to two yrs ago. It was hot and frustrating to look for the shopping belt. Anyway, thank goodness we managed to find the good eating places. Sweet Dynasty located at Canton road is a must try for its famous beancurd which melts in your mouth as u eat it. My friend was so impressed that she never got over it. The place also sells lotsa great desserts such as mango pudding etc. It is forever crowded but food is still of high quality.
We went to the famous roast goose shop (yung kee) at wellington street, located at central and very near lam kwai fong, to eat the roast goose. However, i was informed before the trip that it has stopped selling roast goose since the bird flu. It is a pity my friend didnt get to try it. It is so heavenly that I was disappointed i couldnt get to eat it again. I had intended to have it vacuum packed and flown it back to Sg. Then, there is the fantastic Maxims dim sum restaurant at Causeway bay. However, we went in the afternoon so its famous dim sum such as egg tart and many others were not available. Still, I was happy to eat what they had. We tried another dim sum place called Lok Yu teahouse at Stanley street in central and oh my, it was the super cheena, traditional teahouse. There, the waiters were dressed in long sleeved white blouses and black pants, resembling the ah-mahs in the 1960s. Instead of pushing the dim sum around in a trolley, they carried over their shoulders trays of dim sum. The worst thing was, if they were selling siew mai in this round, u have to wait for them to finish selling it before they sell the next stuff. It was a long and painful wait to get what we wanted. No wonder the customers never seemed to get outa the teahouse. However, u can see that they were happily reading their papers and eating the dim sum so this is the true HK morning breakfast tradition.
Moving on, I have to commend the MTR station. It is wide, clean, has lotsa shops within the paid zone areas so u can shop while waiting for the train, and of course it has lots of customer service centres (aka station control in Sg). Each MTR station is like outram or doby ghaut mrt as it is huge with different lines branching out. I suspect that Central is the biggest mtr station as it serves so many lines including the airport express line. Gota walk a darn long distance to go to a different platform and there are travelators for you to walk on so that tourists can pull their luggage easily along with them to take the airport express train. My friend n i kinda regretted not having put up at a hotel near the central mtr station so that we can go to the airport quickly. What has always impressed me in the mtr is not the awful silver colour of the interior but the electronic board that shows u clearly where the train is goin next. It has got an arrow pointing to the station that it is going to next and the stations which are the interchange to different lines are lit up so that you know where to alight to change to another line. Sg mrt trains should have this stuff coz it's cool.
We went to mongkok but got mysteriously lost again. I remember haunting the shops in that area coz the shopping was fantastic! but as we couldnt find my paradise, we gave up and shopped in a mall. I tried to hunt for the esprit warehouse that i went to last time but couldnt find it so i didnt get any stuff. Very disappointing coz i got lotsa esprit stuff the last time round. The times square at causeway bay was suprisingly more upmarket than the last time i went there. Saw lotsa new branded shops so this time round, i feel that my shopping trip was futile.
I headed for the mid levels escalator which stretches over many roads and it is amazing as it is like a travelator which is very steep so u have to hold onto the handrail or u may fall off when the gradient gets realli steep. I didnt get to walk thru the entire escalator as we wanted to drop off near the famous pubbing area, lam kwai fong. It turned out to be a total disappointment! It cant be compared to singapore's watering hole as it is a pretty small area. Nothing much to see except its steep roads. I just love the steep roads in HK. Give me a high when I run down the roads hehe.
On the whole, I have mixed feelings about this trip as I enjoyed the sightseeing part but not the shopping part as I didnt buy much for myself. I bought more for my family and friends. Sigh... In fact, i bought so much wife's biscuit and goodies from the airport that the cathay pacific air stewardess was amazed by the huge purchase and said i can open up a shop. And that reminds me, i will not take cathay pacific again coz of the food, the movies and the bumpy landing. SIA rocks as it has got great movies and games.
I hope that my next trip to HK would be more fulfilling and this time, i will make it a one week trip coz i wana go to lamma island, lantau island to finish off where i left, macau, new territories and do more shopping! Yeah...
posted by Bloody Blogger @ 6/24/2004 07:49:00 AM
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