My Hongkong Diary [Aug 08]

*This was drafted on my Sony Ericsson M600I since the 1st day we set off to HK*

Day 1
We happily board our plane at the Singapore Airport and reach Hongkong safely. We alighted from the plane and took a mini bus, which looks like an MRT, and transferred to the Airport arrival hall. We collected our baggage, queue up to purchase the Octupus Card and took MTR to Kowloon station. From there, we took a cab to Dorsett hotel @ 大角咀 near Mongkok (旺角).

After checking into the hotel, we went makan @ a tea house cafe (茶餐厅) in 通菜街 @ Mongkok. Their egg noodles is really deliciously cooked and is of better standard than in Singapore. After dinner, we went jalan jalan @ 女人街.

Day 2
We had Dim Sum @ a tea house in Mongkok and spent about SGD$20+ for 9 dishes. After breakfast, we took MTR to Jin Zhong (金钟) followed by bus 629 to Ocean Park (海洋公园). We spent the whole day there and covered the whole park. We played so hard that we didn't even know that we were hungry and I almost vomited.

After we left the park and went back to Jin Zhong, we took the City Bus 15 to The Peak (山頂). We went to the top of the Gallery and looked over the beautiful night scenery of Hong Kong.

Thereafter, we proceeded for fine dining at Zen Chinese Cuisine. We had Roast Goose, Shark Fin Soup, Pork Ribs and Prawns with Walnuts and a glass of White Wine to go along with the nice dinner. After dinner, we went to Mdm Tussard and took lotsa funny pictures :p

We queued up and took a tram back to Central (中環). We took MTR back to 旺角 and took a cab back to the hotel. Good thing that typhoon hasn't arrive when we depart from the Peak, otherwise, we would have be stucked up there.

Day 3
Typhoon striked Hong Kong. The last time it happened was in 2003. How lucky it is for us to experience it! Majority of the people are not working and we were even advised to stay indoor.

Nevertheless, we went to Langham Place in Mongkok and watched a movie (Cyborg She). By 3pm, the typhoon signal went up to 8. We decided to return to the hotel and watched TV and fell asleep till 9pm. Before that, we had lunch at the hotel cafeteria. We decided to go out and check on the weather and gosh... the typhoon signal went up to 9 (Hurricane strikes when it reaches 10).

Left with no choice, we went to the street across our hotel for dinner. The place sucks! They served dirty and cold food with no service standard at all! The lousiest cafe I went in Hong Kong during my stay there. After dinner, we went to the 7-11 to buy some snacks, cup noodles and magazines. When we came out from the store, there were strong wind blowing and metal sheets were flying around.

For the whole day, most of the people in HK, including us, were constantly checking out the TV broadcast on the status of the typhoon. We felt anxiety and at the same time anticipating the typhoon. Instead of watching the news in Singapore about the typhoon in HK, we were actually there experiencing the typhoon itself. It was unnerving and yet so real. I could see people rushing from one place to another to take cover from the typhoon, metal sheets flying around dangerously and umbrellas being busted by the strong gust of wind. Everything seems to stop operating, including public buses, taxis, shopping malls, eateries house and restaurants.

Day 4
We woke up early in the morning and watched the TV for updates on the typhoon. HURRAY!!!! It's finally over. I was very happy. We quickly washed up and set off for shopping at Causeway Bay (銅鑼灣) -- hoping to meet the HK Stars there but failed :(

Causeway Bay is a place where you can find all the branded stuff - you named it, they have it. We tried to look for an authentic Dim Sum Restaurant over there but failed! In the end, we settled for Crab Porridge (水蟹粥).

After that, we went Tsim Sa Tsui (尖沙咀) to shop and had Japanese Food for lunch. They served exotic japanese food such as Geese Liver, Crab Roe, Prawn sashimi, etc. We also went Avenue of Stars (星光大道) and captured all the handprints of the celebrities we know like ANDY LAU!!! *hehehe*

Later in the evening, we meet up with Johnson's friends from Hong Kong. They brought us dinner @ a Thai-India Restaurant in Tsim Sa Tsui. After dinner, the friends brought us to Harbour City (中港城) to buy tickets to Macau. Thereafter, Johnson bought them drinks @ Hard Rock.

Day 5
We woke up very early and set off to Macau. Upon reaching Macau, we set off to the biggest casino to win $$. We also had our lunch at the foodcourt. I had spaghetti. We also took a cab to Macau Central. I noticed that despite the traffic lights were working, there are traffic police directing the traffic *Strange*

Unlike Hong Kong, they have designated areas for taxis to pick up passengers and it seems that everyone adheres to it strictly. Motorcyles seems like a common mode of transport as majority of the people there used it as a mode of transport. We bought Portugese Egg Tarts, had McDonald and tried the famous pork chop bun ! It's a must try dish in Macau. We also visited the Guan Di Temple and I chatted with the people from the temple. They thought that we were from Malaysia :)

After taking a walk around the town, we took a cab back to the harbour and took a ferry back to Koonlow harbour. After that, we took MTR back to Mongkok and went to 女人街 to do some shopping. Johnson, like a woman, did all the bargaining for me. :D We spent many hours there and bought pressies for everyone.

With all the stuff, we walked back to the hotel to put our stuff before proceeding for dinner at the nearby famous hotpot restaurant, 良记 for their 猪骨鍋. We also ordered bottles of beer to go along with the hotpot. *Yummy*

Day 6

We woke up around 10 plus and check out. Went yum cha agn at a shopping mall near our hotel. I observed that many people in HK doesn't seems to be working. I have went for breakfast twice on a weekday in HK and the restaurants are always packed with people of all ages! *Puzzle*

After breakfast, we took MTR to Wang Tai Sin (黃大仙). I asked for a qian about work and went to jie qian. Very accurate wor!

Thereafter, we took MTR to Jordan station and walked to Temple Streeet (庙街) and made our way to 天后 temple. Temple Street is kinda sleazy. Got many mahjong entertainment centre and AV shops.

We had desserts at a famous dessert shop before heading back to the hotel to collect our baggage. After collecting our baggage, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Kowloon Airport Express Station and head towards the HK Intl airport.

After checking in at the airport counter, we went to shop for mooncakes at Wing Wah (榮華). We bought the Snoppy Snow Skin mooncakes and traditional mooncakes as well as the 老婆饼.

Home Sweet Home... ... days resumed back to normal after that.