Thursday, July 17, 2008

It was only six plus, but why was I starting to feel the strain?

Look at it this way, after so few hours of sleep, a squeezy flight, and shopping with baggage in the earlier part of the day and checking into the hotel so late, there was bound to be weariness, no doubt!

Also, when you're at some place new, your brain works harder to look and discover! If you're in your old town, casually browsing a familiar mall, you seriously wouldn't put in so much concentration in shopping. When your brain works too hard you kill cells and lose calories!!!

But the fatigue cannot be an excuse to take any rest! And so we took a quick shower and went right out; I was dizzy with excitement!


We stopped by Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and bought two small cakes from this sweet little bakery called Maxim (美心) for a quick snack – this is something like BreadTalk in HK. You can find one in almost all the MTR stations!


A coffee and peanut cake (HKD6.00)

I felt abit wrong then, cos we’ve been eating all the wrong food like Japanese, cakes and bakes which aren’t authentic Cantonese stuff!!! But frankly, we didn't come across all the HK delights as easily as we thought!!! This is strange but true! And all the shops are just too exciting for me to WANT to purposely go find food. That’s probably one of the top reasons ZQ was shaking his head about. So I say, you cannot go traveling with me, to those shopping destinations. I typically don’t shop much in SG (except for my recent craze with bags) so when I was at HK, woah, it’s like setting a prisoner set free. I don’t even know how to describe myself; imagine a tall lady with horribly messy hair, tired face running around with a pink calculator on her left hand and hyperventilating every 5-10 minutes.


Granville Road! Heard so much about this place and was told that it was not to be missed, if you want cheap and pretty clothes! I was overwhelmed when all the small and funky shops greeted me! I now know why Atlas was the least impressed when we brought her to Far East about 3 or 4 years back (remember then, Far East was still flourishing), you can NEVER compare Far East with Granville. It could also be that July's the sale period, we saw many shops having sale, sale and more sale!!! We grabbed some uber cheap clothes and beamed non stop!


While shopping, a lovely eggy fragrance led us to this little stall selling what they call “鸡蛋仔” (HKD11.00), the process of making it is like how the bakeries in SG make those waffles.


So fragrant!! Come in flavors like sesame, yam and more! There was a long queue! A very fragrant snack!

Argyle Centre (旺角中心) was another of my favourite! No pictures cos it was so packed and crampy!!! Some salesgirl in Far East tells you that a particular piece of clothing is a special import from Korea or Japan? Tells you that it’s high quality material, hence the ticket price of S$49.90 or S$59.90 or beyond? Check out Argyle Centre!!! You see the same shit at like below S$20.00 and ridiculous cheap prices!!!! We were already hungry hence just casually browsed. There were like about 5 levels and countless small shops packed with all the bargains! I went CRAZY and faint seeing all the stuff, but ZQ was hungry and I think I was too, but I knew if ZQ didn’t show his face I would forsake dinner, seriously!!! Okay I was being selfish but I could not help it!!! I swore I would go back there again (maybe on Day 3). I left feeling disgruntled! I was like a child showing tantrums!!!


女人街was filled with random stuff, we were told not to buy things there because hawkers quote ridiculously high prices. We walked through the whole stretch, getting amused by all sorts of things they sell. Clothes, bags, shoes, watches, toys, ornaments, everything! IT was like a mega pasar malam!!! Hawkers were desperate to sell too, they’d follow you if you show any bit of interest and keep asking you to buy from them, while slashing the prices (now I know why they have such a high price, so it appears they're giving a lot of discounts when they slash the ridiculous figures).


A towel in the design of HK currency... kaoz, bathe also think about money? Very cute though =)

Dinner was at freaking 10pm at this fancy place we stumbled across, called “Ying Long” (silver dragon, literally) Restaurant, which I gladly named one of our fave dining places during this trip. Here's what we ordered: fried udon noodles, gong zai noodles (can’t remember is it gong zai or cher zai) with pork cutlet, iced milk tea and iced red bean milk drink – this one's simply out of the world! The food servings were awfully big! We paid HKD85.00 in total, that’s like about S$14.90 for huge two person servings complete with drinks! We were totally pleased!


So very cheena, but I love it!


'Smartly' dressed but obviously no one cares!


Fail to read Chinese and be prepared to feel @_@. I was too tired to use my brain and figure out some Chinese words!!!! OMG, luckily I had ZQ with me (reading comics helps!!!).


Pictures on menus ARE important!!!


The drinks and the fried udon!


The noodles, with sze chuan veg on top!


The cutlet and a small buttered bun!!! Nice right???


The drinks again, this shot is specifically to show you the red bean drink, its FILLED with red bean at the bottom!!! Just the right sweetness and consistency!! Drink the soya-like milk drink and chew on the red beans!!! IT was HEAVENS!!!!

For your info, they actually have a website!!!

www.nganlung.com. Look so ol' skool, but going high tech!


We hit the streets again and browsed all the random shops, I simply can't remember ALL the shops!


Random.


Pretty lightings.


Some of them have queer names too (like ‘In & Out’, wth), which left quite an impression. We, okay mostly me, bought some random stuff like fancy oil blotters (I don't really use oil blotters anymore but I had to get those Kose ones I don’t find in SG!), some medicated oil and pills for Kathy’s Dad, tea for ZQ's friend and some limited edition snacks (Banana little Kit Kat, anyone???). slowly, our hands were filled!


Look, we're in HK!

Suddenly ZQ’s tummy wasn't too good, and we had to find the toilet, fast! We decided to Chiong to the overrated 许留山, since we would want to try the dessert there anyway!


I stared at the too-pretty menu (I would've preferred an ugly and ol' skool one), and when ZQ was done we ordered a standard mango dessert 杨枝金 something 布丁(HKD32.00), I think its like yang zhi gan lu.. It is of course more rich and tasty than the regular ones you'll find in Singapore, but it is not, I repeat, totally orgasmic! That's why I said it's overrated. The joint is too nicely renovated too, I had imagined it to be run down and old fashioned! Bah!


After that, we continued exploring the streets till all the shops started to close, but as researched, food stalls were still buzzing with life; people were having supper and behaving like as if they had no work or school the following day. Their energy is just admirable.

We reached the hotel at 12am +, dead beat! Strangely, despite my fatigue I still could not sleep till very late, but ZQ knocked out as usual.

I didn't want my precious day one (everyday is precious, as a matter of fact!) to end this early, but time sure flies when you’re having fun.

Foot-Notes- Majority of the food in HK is so salty, it numbs your tongue.
- Toilets are hard to find. Sometimes those in malls are strictly for tenants only.
- Size 39/40 shoes feel like size 37 in those street shops, I didn’t manage to get any fitting shoes!
- Favourite pricing for their clothes are HKD49.90, HKD59.90, HKD89.90 and 2 for HKD100.00, etc!
- Salesgirls' fave greeting line (in cantonese) is “欢迎光临，随便选”, 'Fun Yeng Gwong Lum, Choi Bin Gan'.
- Most street shops don't accept card payment for purchases under HKD100.00.
- Some things are so cheap you don't even feel the need to bargain.
- No trying is permitted for clothes in most shops.
- Most cafes and restaurants serve you tea faster than you can say "Excuse me".
- There are many shops like Sasa selling cheap cosmetics and body care products, one popular one is 'Bonjour'.
- 许留山 outlets are scarily EVERYWHERE.
- You can find many food stalls open even beyond midnight.
- People hang out so late, its like as if they don't have work/school the next day.
- Every 6/10 youngsters or working adult you pass by carries at LEAST a Gucci.
- Alot of youngsters smoke.
- Alot of people carry this Agnes B black shoulder bag! I'm gonna go find out what model that is.
- News stands have so many varieties of magazines on sale, including AV mags and GAY MAGAZINES! Also, not to be missed are the famous HK tabloids.
- Shops close at about 11pm.
- Guardian stores are known as “Mannings” in Hong Kong.
- Drivers are rather aggressive and reckless on the roads.

Stay tuned for more entries on our trip!