Monday, July 14, 2008

Woke up at 3+ and his Dad drove us to the airport at 4+! Very sweet of him though I felt really really bad that he had to wake at such an unearthy hour. I also had the greatest fear the night before that we would wake up at 7:30am and look at each other in misery and emptiness (our flight's 6:40am). Talkabout pre flight blues.

Airport!


A jolly pic of the half-asleep and half-excited us.

Didn't have any luggage to check-in cos we decided to become camels! Thought it'd be more convenient this way (pros and cons actually, your back suffers).


Foot massage at this Osim station. I felt it would have been more appropriate when we returned from our trip cos it is by then the feet would ache!

Spent a couple of minutes at the Internet station in front of the Osim thing to check our mail, blog, and facebook for the last time!

We then shared a bagel at Subway at 6:00am m(they open then)! Knowing that everything we wanted to have on Jetstar would be charged for! ($3 for regular cup noodles, haha).

Throughout our hanging around in the airport, we also had lots of water and toileting before we boarded the plane!

Watched sunrise in the plane. ZQ was sleeping like nobody's business but it wasn't comfy enough for me to snooze... Nothing special about the flight except that it was like a marketplace... budget air, what you expect??


3 hours plus later, the 3/4 asleep him and bone-aching me touched down at HK International Airport! Look at the people at the airport... I already sian half.


After having our chop chops, I was greeted with...




Krispy Creme Donuts!

Just open one in Singapore, will ya?


An interesting array of flavors to choose from!


Buy 5 get 1 free!


My lovely cinnamon one!!! Yummmmmmmms!!! And so my first bite upon reaching HK was this donut. So fragrant, soft and just the right sweetness and spice!!! HKD12.00 - a great way to start the HK Trip! I asked ZQ to take a bite but he rejected me! (Why?) The last time he brought some back from Auz he said they weren't as good as he expected, but its true, some selections are way too sweet! Nevertheless, I still love them!!! ZQ ordered an iced tea from there though =P Also I asked for an extra paper bag, to add on to my collection, obviously! The bag is so cute, white with green dots. I already know that long before your time la, just that never had a chance to keep the bag!!!

We bought the Octopus cards - something important to have in order to get around HK!


Took a cab (HKD34.00) to Tung Chung Cable Car Station. Wanted to check out the giant Buddha on Lantau Island! That's a pict of our suave cab uncle. Lol. He drives faster and more dangerously than in Initial D.


We reached Tung Chung and proceeded to queue like everyone else! The round trip cable car package cost us HKD176.00, but it was worth it cos the view from the cable car is simply fabulous! The ones at Sentosa really cannot compare to this one man I tell you.

And so what did we see from the cable car?


Thick thick forest, slight mist, the waters beneath, and even, 'spring water'!!! I don't know if it's called spring water, but it's those pure, gorgeous water flowing from dunno where. See this pict? Look at the water! It's basically those 'reach nirvana' kind of scenery.

Also, there is a long long long long long path from the foot of the 'mountains' leading all the way uphill. Have you any fucking idea how long the mf road is??????? OMG!!! And I heard people actually WALK step by step painfully, to show their sincerity in meeting the Buddha... and we saw this old man (we believe its an old man, saw a little man holding this walking stick thing and his shirt was drenched in sweat!!! Devoted lor!!!!!!)


Random shots from the cable car... at some points it was much higher than these!


so like, 'at peace' lor.


The Buddha, from afar!!! I was already excited!!!


We reached the island and browsed around! Walked around the so called 'village', but most shops are 'tourist traps'. There's a neat Starbucks too, looks abit pirated right? Lol.


See the Buddha? Lol.


The Buddha is huge!!! Finally, I saw the real thing!!! Very peaceful to look at!!!


Auspicious shot which I insisted on! Been there, done that!!!

Headed back to the cable car station and walked to Citygate Outlet, the talked-about shopping mall with all the factory outlets! Nike, Adidas, Nautica, Body Shop, Crabtree... everything! Can you imagine walking into a mall and every shop is a factory outlet? I've heard alot about the sports stuff like Adidas or Nike being super value for money there but when we went, we saw nothing fantastic. Instead, check out the Giordana, Body Shop, Mirabell (famous shoe brands) or Esprit outlets. For me, I didn't buy anything at Esprit like everyone else would, cos I'm just not such a fan of Esprit.

You can lunch at Food Republic there like I did, we had Japanese food. Yeah so wrong right? Jap food in HK? But that was the only thing that appealed to us in that food court and we were already hungry! All our meal timings were haywire throughout our 4 days in HK. Their Sashimi handroll was PERFECT. Speaking of Jap food we noticed alot of Jap restaurants throughout Kowloon and they are usually packed. Hongkies love Jap food I bet (other than their mango desserts)!


From this Jap restaurant at the corner of Food Republic! Green tea and the loved handroll that came with the udon set!


Doesn't look powerful but I tell ya, it ROCKS!!!


One of our udons.


The chicken chop to go with the udon!!! Super delicious with the teriyaki like sauce and light, crisp skin!!!! OMG, I'm reminising every moment of eating that.




The Beijing Olympic dolls will haunt you! They're everywhere! Saw these at the mart in Citygate Outlet.


At Tung Chung station.

We then took a train with the intention of heading to check in at our hotel, YMCA (Yau Ma Tei), but I suggested to stop by Lai Chi Kok (recommnedations that there's a hopelessly cheap mall there with ridiculously low wholesale prices for clothes, shoes, bags and accessories), in an attempt to be more efficient in my shopping. Prices are indeed cheap! But I didn't get any clothes... there were just too many and after awhile, the mind goes into a turmoil!!! I only bought 2 belts and 3 pouches at very low prices!

We continued by venturing to level 7 of this same building (it's called Sunny City), where we saw Nike and Adidas outlet stores but again, nothing fantastic and some of the stuff even look fake... omgsh. I would say that Lai Chi Kok was QUITE disappointing, contrary to what I heard from Yin! But at least, been there, done that!

Finally, we took the MTR to YMT and walked to our hotel! I was mortified to know that it was close to 5pm!! We were supposed to check in at 2pm! No regrets though cos more time was saved since Lai Chi Kok was on the way to the hotel too. The initial plan was Tung Chung --> Lantau Island --> Citygate Outlet --> Hotel --> Lai Chi Kok cos of the timing to check in (2pm). But who gives a hoot when you're too engrossed in shopping? LOL!


Near Sunny City in Lai Chi Kok, lok kok right? Maybe they should call it, Lai Chi Lok Kok. Haha Just kidding! I love it, too much modern Singapore makes seeing these buildings refreshing!


Our hotel! A part of the room, it was evening, so the setting was truly emo, in my context! The picture doesn't show but it is really quite spacious!!

Apparently, our room was given up or something!! Hence when we checked in at 5pm, we were given another room. What greeted us was a big and nice room with a bathtub attached!!! I was beaming with joy!!! They upgraded us!!!

We took a quick shower and left at about 6+, and wasted no time in heading to [not sex ok!!! to be continued...]