De one with Hong Kong 2008 (Part II)

13th - 20th Dec 2008

Here's the sequence to Part 1. Feast your eyes!



De one with Shopping Wonderland

Besides the food and Disneyland, Hongkong's an unquestionable shopping wonderland. Just along the streets of our hotel lies various shops such as Agnes B, Bally, Burberry, HMV..shops you actually find only in city (that's if in Singapore).

Then Central itself houses endless major shopping centres. It's really more than meets the eye to have the entire week spent on nothing execpt endless shopping. So much I believe Mohan's sick of it.. or the least I thought.

Actually, the shops are repetitive. The usual suspects.. nothing much but just that there's alot of shopping malls. The entire island's like a living Vivocity, combined with Suntec, Forum and the streets are no different to Orchard Road painted with traces of Chinatown.

In our window shopping trip at Central, Mohan found this! Two of the Big 4s! Looks silly but hell, it was privileging to take photos with my possible future working partners.. oops, did I just say that?

Speaking of shopping, what's shopping without buying anything right? Won't deny I spent quite a sum buying two bags, belt, B.Sherman's cufflings & jacket, a black Tee from Zara, shoes from Diesel and presents or sovenirs for my cousins. Think I contribute a fair bit to the consumer index for Agnes B (I think we've patronised every Agnes B in Tsim Sha Tsui lor... until Mohan would turn hysterically-loathful and pull out his hair whenever I mentioned Agnes B). Price wise? Erm, let's not reveal la.. what's most important is there's something for everybody.

Been to and done Ladies' Street, nothing much though. Wonder what's the fascination over there. Haha.

~Shopping at HK: Recommended only for the loaded/spendthrift shopaholics~

De one with HarbourFront

Everybody says you've gotta try the Star Ferry, else it'd be like you've not been to Hongkong. I disagree. Though the fare's cheap (say $0.20?) I didn't try because.. I think it's a waste of time? Speaking of experience? Think I can feel it all just by standing along Harbour front.
This waterbay provides the crowd of tourist in the day and lovers at night with a splendid view of the tall skyscrapers of Hong Kong island. Not forgetting the magnificant cityview which seems to come alive with dazzling lights, especially for the Christmas season.


The waterside bay stretches to the Avenue of Stars. It's actually a path which is scattered with celebrities' handprints. Erm, I just thought how glamourous it is to take photos with the shootee's hand placed on the moulds which contains the soil and dirt coming from the soles of countless passers-by. Oh dear...

What I found worth taking photos was this (above)... the Golden-Oscar statute or something.. haha.. Don't know why this landmark carries with it an unexplainable special aura of glory. Marvellous.
Anyway, there was a Starbucks by the seaside... tried to find a spot there to enjoy the seaview, while drinking nice coffee.. turns out it was over-occupied with customers. Damn. End up we took our drinks out until we met "Mr Softee", an ice-cream selling caravan which plays melodious chime-music as though it came from a musicbox. And I thought "oh how wonderful it would be. Savouring Mr softee by the waterbay scene, glamoured with celebrities' handprinted street."

The Hong Kong Music Theatre can also be found near the Harbour front. It was here when I took photos on the last morning where I lost Mohan.

Didn't know what else to do after walking around and looking for him for 30 minutes, I suddenly recalled D's suggestion. Didn't take me very long to walk towards the huge HarbourFront shopping Centre, located "PageOne" in the Saturbday crowd and crashed into Starbucks located in the compounds of Hong Kong Music Theatre and this was I did...

Mohan found me about 45 mins later. And yes, I was guilty. At the same time, I had discovered my maturity (on how I handled the situation).. and a coffee drinking-reading habit I was picking up since that day onwards.

~Harbourfront : Seductive~

De one with Madam Tussauds

I didn't go up to the Peak to watch the scenary. It's a pity I know but we had no idea what the "Sky Terrace" was about during our purchase of tickets. I didn't mind spending HKD20 for it but I was aware of my travelling companion's budget constraints (plus he had already been up there before) and decided to keep mum.

It wasn't so bad.. I knew for certain I had to go for Madam Tussauds. Wax museum and exhibition were "not to be missed". I recall how thrilled and surprised (maybe not as much as I will be at Disneyland) I will be whenever I visited the ones at Sentosa, Gold Coast Australia and another at Thailand.

Good thing - Mohan helped me take photos with some famous people...

.. turned royalty..

... Bad thing - my camera went dead by the time we reached the sports stars and female singers' section. Poor thing right?

After I got back, I heard and read that there was actually a Jay Chou at MT (HK) since Oct 2006. Think they removed it and replaced it with famous pianist Lang Lang. Awww...

~Madam Tussaud : Never felt more like a Superstar~

De one with Everything Else But the Green

Apart from experiencing the bustling shopping malls, magical land of Disney, the peaceful and respectful Buddha and temples, drooling feast of dim sum, we went for a breezy sightseeing at the greens of Hong Kong.

Located in the heart of the Central city of Hong Kong stands a conservatory which occupies an area of Hong Kong Park - a hot spot for graduates and newly-wed couples for photo-shoots.There's also a park near out area. Think it's Kowloon Park. Funny we never spot anyone doing Taichi like what we see on Hong Kong dramas. Perhaps it's because we went there in the evening. Taichi's like a morning event!

~Hong Kong Greenaries : Luxiously relaxing~

De one with One Night Only

There isn't much nightlife on our itinery except walking aimlessly along Nathan Road. We didn't hit Lan Kwai Foong because we only decided to club on the last night. This decision was abolished when we figured it was imperative that we wake up early the next morning for check-out by noon.

Of course, anything good we didn't do was always saved with alternatives. No clubbing but drinking at Knusford Street was adequately sufficient.

Mohan looked mind-drifted as he drank his Corona. I, on the other hand, was venturing something I hardly had - Tequila Sunset. Could have ordered a Waterfall or Red Wine.. but my likes for Tequila consumed all other choices.

It was sweet. Nice. Bet Moh's corona must have been bitter.

Hong Kong's definitely not a place for night eateries (unlike Taiwan's Night market. In fact, I was warned by Rebecca and Yiwei beforehand). Been to temple street. Nothing but fortune-tellers and pushcarts like those you expect in the old Bugis Village/Chinatown. Well, good bargains for antiques-buyers though. I bought this pair of ear-studs. Nothing that I known of whether it's sold in Singapore but heck, it's only S$2. It's actually the normal plastic ear sticks with diamonds stuck on the edge. Which I thought was special and cheap. Why not.

~Night life : Reasonably chilly~

De one with Goodbye, Hong Kong

They say, "Parting is such sweet sorrows.." certainly wasn't in our case when we left HK. As much as I remember, it was a FREAKIN MAD RUSH! Completed our dinner at

and succumbed to the departure hall 15 minutes before gate closure. Turns out the customs checks took longer than expected. We nearly missed out flight. Oh good gracious. Turn out the flight departed 15 minutes later. And by the time we touched down at Singapore, the disembarkment was delayed by almost an hour. Sigh.

~Parting : Don't take it for granted everything's the same as Singapore~

De one with Last words from the Blogger Who Went HK

8 days was reasonably well spent but perhaps abit too long for this shopping heaven. Nonetheless, Disneyland took away all my years' worries and implanted every cells in my heart with happiness. There was alot of fun, I managed to untangle some thoughts and made some discoveries.

I'd like to thank my daddy who sponsored a major part of my spendings (yes, I got him liquor in case you guys are wondering did I). Next is my travelling companion cum personal photographer, Mohan who had to tolerate my erratic maddness, road-loss (largely because I was dependent on him for directors), shopping all day. Last of all, those who missed me while I'm away.

Any regrets? Ohh... first being, I should have brought a large suitcase so I could have bought more stuff! Second, we should have spent more days at Disneyland. And I made up my mind. If I ever proposed, it'd have to happen at Disneyland. Haha.

~Hong Kong in a word? Fantastic!~

De one with 2009

Happy New Year!

Transition into new year 2009 was an unexpected blast of fun! After a day's of stock take and work until 6+pm, the impromptu meeting with Zhen Ze, Guang Hui and Xue Yun and the two frame of 4 hours spent with them before and after 01.01.2009 were simply fun!

Believe it or not, I never meet them for dinner. Instead, dinner was a box of nachos which I muched nosily during "Spirit", a corny movie. After that, we went to the arcade, bought Heineken (my perferred beer) which happens to be my first beverage of 2009. Hehe

There was no countdown since everybody was just anticipating the commencement of the fireworks display (Man.. the fireworks, I love it.) at Marina Bay. That done, we continued our drinking at a grass patch in the compounds of Marina Square with chips and a couple of "dai di". What an interesting way fo spending new year. Hehe

All the fun came troubles of having walking from Cityhall all the way to Clemenceau Road, all of us perspiring and smelling "beer" until we managed to get cabs home. Too many people, too little cabs. Sigh. Think the cabs ain't efficient after all. Least talk of service quality.

Nonetheless, I had alot of fun. Better than spending it alone at home. Life's opening and I'm thankful guys! Happy New Year and cheers for a better year ahead!

De one with Hong Kong 2008 (Part I)

13th - 20th Dec 2008Sincere apologies to my supportive readers for the arrival of this long-awaited blog. You see I couldn't help being lazy nowadays after a long 8-days holiday - something to calm all that's happened during the year.

Without further ado, comeon hopping into my memory in this never-done-before mega-blog of collective blogs.

Ready? Fasten your spectacles, have your finger hot on the "down button"/scroll cursor and let's go . - ~ ^ ' `*


De one with Hong Kong Here I Come!

Left house flustered, got into a cab and travelled to pick my travel buddy, Mohan, at his house. That accomplished, I complained to him about how my aunt and cousin keep annoyingly blubbered about how I'll be late and missing the plane. It's so irritating to have people "making noise" when you're in the rush hour.

Our touchdown, the first gag I told Mohan was about how those people lined outside the arrival gallery, were my "fans" waiting for my arrival. Lol. Ok, not funny. The both of us faced alittle "nick of time" situation as we considered between purchasing the "3 day pass"/"Octopus card" for our transit purposes. Pity we'd only realised the outweighing benefits (which consist of trip to and frown on the airport express plus 3 days of unlimited travel on the MTR) of the "3 day pass" while onboard the airport express. Whereas constant deduction for every trip we make if using the "Octopus card" (something just like our EZ-link).

Making our way to Kimberley, the two of us (I didn't have breakfast/lunch) ventured for food at this restaurant laid across the street opposite our hotel. I have to admit we looked helpless when it comes to their ordering procedures with limited experience and language barrier. Thank goodness, we managed with my Mandarin and their knowledge of English. After a S$15+ dinner, we headed along our area (Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui). I was desperate for cologne and got the latest "Gucci" for man at SaSa (which was located within every 10 metres around the vincinity - very successful compared to Singapore's).

De one with "Seh Mey"?

I believe everyone couldn't be more familiar with the fact that dim sum was a "must-try" in HK. These people have frequent dim sum sessions, like how we have tea/coffee on daily basis! Out of our 8 days, 4 days we had dim sum for lunch. Let's see, we went to one (which I forgot the name) along Nathan Road, Jordan; Maxim at Cityhall; Ming's Court (posh environment) and the one at our hotel. Shiu Mai and Hakkao were the "indispensibles", the rest we tried different stuff at the varying restaurants. There was this glutinuous riceball with mango stuffing. It's nirvana after bitting into it. Ho sei wor!

We note that some Hongkongers practice washing their utensils at the table before use. Which explains why at the very first restuarant we went, a glass bowl and a pot of hot water were served. Puzzled and uaccustomed, I asked the waiteress how we were supposed to go about washing the cup. She poured the hot water into our cups and left. The amusing thing was, the glass bowl was gone even before we emptied our water into it. Damn. I had to ask gain for the glass bowl. Abit paiseh looking dumb la.

I read from Mohan's lonely planet book that the some Chinese are particular over sanitization. Which explains why some resturants serve two pairs of chopsticks. One for serving and the other for self-feeding. It usually comes in two colors too! Mohan and I agrued over this at Ming's Court. I spent my attention observing what people around us were doing! Mohan can't help being amused by my being a "conformist". I thought, it was education! tsk tsk.

The normal Hongkong food limits down to Wanton noodles, Pork chop, Beef and more pig's organs. Well, there are a couple of japanese, korean, Western and even Indian cruisines. Mohan doesn't eat Jap. Western food included our lazy visits to Mc for breakfast, Delifrance.

One night, I was dripping from my nose and this was an amazing discovery. An "East meets West" dish (it's actually Hong Kong mee baked with cheese and ham). Never ever seen in Singapore before!!

Mohan wanted to try this famous dessert. I never knew how prominent it was until I heard it from my colleagues when they asked. Ring a bell? It's called "Tsu Liu Xiang" - the brand name of the shops which sells mango and other fresh fruits-laid on ice desserts. Hmmm.. Most of the time, we were just bloated by the time we ate that.

~Hong Kong food : Tantalising ~

De one with Encounter with Buddha
Come our 3rd morning, we woke up early and took about an hour to get to Lantau so as to pay a visit to the Giant Buddha. While transferring from one MTR to another, I dropped my wallet by accident. Thank goodness, these passengers were super selfless and helpful. This young-looking guy immediately picked up my wallet and rushed to me to return just before I approached the door. Hongkongers = Morale citizens. Or Buddha knew I was coming? *shrugs*

The MTR was fast. Nothing as fun when co mpared to this minibus (No.23) which embarked on a bumpy, road-winding ride to bring us up to the mountain on which Buddha sits.

It was chilly despite the sun's glaring down. There's this circular, three-staged parlor with flags on the tri-circled circumference. I believe and obeserved people actually stand in the middle and make wishes while facing in the direction of the Buddha. Me? I like what I told Mohan, "Buddha only grants wishes to good people. For the average people (who have yet to accomplish whole-hearted goodness), well..Buddha can only grant forgiveness and wisdom to remind us to be good." Not a convictious offense. Just a mere personal opinion on MY personal blog. *"V"hand-sign* We..or I prayed at the temple, something I take it as a fun experience. People were dropping coins into the donation box even before they pray. I did the reversed. Just don't understand why drop your wishing coin even before you make your wish? Hehe.


The chrysanthemum, catus and lotuses at the temple grounds were enchantingly beautiful! Couldn't resist sharing these here!
Then, we climbed what? 90 steps? before we met the magnificant Buddha which sits on a three-level platform, with six erm...fairies (3 on each sides) offering different gifts to the Enlighted one. Me? I'm considered the 7th gift! (as below) I was filled with profused enthusiasm so I climbed the steps in a hast. Mohan keep reiterating "You're supposed to think of the Buddha as you climb the steps. Not climbing faster than other people". Bet Clara would have thought likewise. I simply was too excited whenever it comes to climbing stairs. Of course, the army bunk building was a method of different thing. Hehe.

~Lantau Buddha: Spirit-and-Mind purifing~

De one with Disneyland HK!

If anywhere were to be located "Wonderland on Earth, there's no better place than Disneyland!! Endless delights and joy fills your heart from the moment you set foot onto this "dream come true" compound!

I droved a jeep..

Flashed my smile for the camera from day...

to night...

with "erupting geyser" too!

Appeared as special guest in Toy Story 3...

Met Princesses who waved and blew kisses (at me? *blushed*) when their Princes are nowhere to be seen....

Ate candy-foss, calm my nerves abit... as I watched the spectacular "Let It Snow" Parade...

Apart from the above, rides such as Space-mountain (thrilling roller coaster in the galaxy of stars), Tarzan river boat (I read it was a World famous), It's a Small World (see below) were not to be missed.

Well, I wished we came earlier, I spent quite awhile at the merchandise, browsing for sovenirs. And guess what!? I was successful in "kidnapping" the chipmunks when they were "patronising" the merchandise store. Had the cashier girl as my accomplice. Brilliant! Hehehe.

However, spending too long in the cold weather conjured running nose. Thanks to me not heeling Mohan's advice to put on something that'd keep me warm. Oh saint. Nonetheless, the dazzling fireworks displayed at eight (after waiting doing nothing for 1 hour) momentarily suppressed my flu. Made a clip but couldn't upload. So I attached the link to a youtube clip in courtesy of mutatedsilian. What you'll find in there is exactly the same magical display I've witnessed! (don't wait further, click on the picture below to get redirected!)

I heard it'd be even more stunning at other Disneylands. But, I guess this one at Disneyland HK was good enough for me. Everybody exclaimed "wow" during the finale (well, it seems the exclaimation was thoughout the video). It certainly melt our hearts!

~Disneyland HK: Elixir of Youth!~

Well well, that's all for Part 1. Stay tune for more in Part 2 coming soon!!

De one with Right Things

Heart-warming day

As much as I was rather disappointed that I wasted my time shopping for a jacket (Really detest shopping without getting anything), optimism reminded me of how equally glad I was because I did all the right things this evening.

More specifically, there were three things I'd love to share, that I did which couldn't have derived more contentment!

First and foremost, I am so proud of myself for saving the money which could have ended up buying a jacket. Think, it's wiser to get one from HK Disneyland? Hehe.. oh, that will have to be after "Chip & Dale kidnap" operation. *ssshhhh! >)

Next and more importantly, I went home early and bought my ah ma her favourite "Nyg Tau Hu" for dinner. I had healthy subway, love the vegetables man... healthy healthy!

Two and a half days more to HK. Looks like my Aeroworld unable to wrap up. At least I'm glad I completed 89% of the ground work required, earlier than I expected. Cheese!

De one with K-elebration

Ok-day

Second day at Changi Airfreight Centre. Although I never really like the idea of lunching alone, independence took precedence as I needed to shortened my lunch time to allow more time for audit.

And just as I planned to skip lunch, the gastric juice were rioting in my stomach as they didn't get their food in the morning. And I went jogging in the morning. Oops. Guess what I had for lunch, Nasi Briyani. Only completed half of the the plate (my usual appetite). Nevertheless, I guess it was as sinful lah.

Dinner wasn't that good. Went for K cum buffet for celebration of Rebecca's birthday. The buffet was really limited. Only some thrifty sushi, bee hoon, I don't know..what else I saw.. vegetable.. I tell you, it's like 1/10 of the standard at Sakura (and personally, I deemed Sakura to be lower than average place for buffet).

Sang a few songs, mostly Jay Chou, Gary Chow. Guess nobody enjoyed hearing to my voice. Haha. It's abit high-pitched today. Well.. grateful my manager was encouraging me on to sing, else, I'd be too shy and lazy to take the mic.

Efi had a great voice. Think it's a pity she never sign up to be a Singapore Idol contestant. Alice was all about English songs. Tan Sing entertained us with his unique taste for music. Hui min was sang "Blah blah Blacksheep" Omg. The rest were ok. We ended the session with "最長的電影". It was hilarious because the chorus "gimme 2 minutes more" describes exactly how we feel about having the chance to sing this last song despite our time slot was over.

Oh well, good day, great evening. What more can I ask for.