| Powered by TagBoard Message Board |
Saturday, May 26, 2007
hahaa its been almost a week since i came back from HK, guess its time for an update.
Had a helluva time there. i love travelling. i love feeling like im living in this alternate universe; an ephemeral escapism from reality. Just emmersing myself in a whole 'nother culture, meeting different people, and feeling like im entitled to live it up to my heart's content, one new experience after another crammed within those few days.
Alot of HK reminded me of Singapore. The tall buildings. The cosmolitan cities. The traffic. The MTR.(but hk's way cooler, with their signboard of blinking lights, which signals the next station that's arriving!hahah very useful for tourists who cant remember the chinese names.) The shopping centres in Mongkok which were reminscent of far east and bugis street. But the pace of life is much more hectic. People just push you along if you don't go with the flow. The crowd at Tsim Sha Tsui station everyday after work is comparable to the masses at Orchard station on Christmas or New year's.
Best part of hk's gotta be the food. omg. all that yummy dimsum! Met up with huiting who was on her exchange there. She brought me to this superbb restaurant (name slips my mind. ive gotta ask her again!). Really really good dimsum for quite a reasonable price!:) On the last day alone, shums and i had xiaolongbaos for lunch, and more dimsum for dinner! The restaurants are good of course, but the street vendors and small cafes along roadsides have pretty decent food as well!especially the food stalls along the streets of mongkok!:)Sinfully greasy chicken kebabs and really cheap tacopachi balls!Wonton noodles and beef balls! oh man, i sound like some makansutra book. omgg and we found Krispy kremes!In HK!hahahaa. Instead of buying hk delicacies like egg tarts and chinese desserts, shums and i lugged back one box of a dozen each back home. we wouldve bought more, but tigerairways terms and conditions stated no perishables, so we were afraid they'd disallow food to be brought back. You can imagine the amused glances we received from the Caucasians at Hk airport.
The shopping's madness too. hahaa i think we spent most of the time eating and shopping. There's not much sight-seeing really. We got to see the Symphony of Lights, and we visited the Avenue of Stars. But most of the time, yeah, shopping and eating. hehh. We went to Causeway bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, Admiralty, Central, Stanley Market (which was mainly to sight-see rather than to shop actually. its a quaint tourist-y place and prices are exhorbitant!). Oh and of course, Chai Wan. The very last MTR stop, which was the nearest stop to our place of residence.
We stayed in this huge mansion on a mountain in Tai Tam, courtesy of shums' dad's friend. Accomodation free of charge:). The view from the house is gorgeous, overlooking a clear lake and a backdrop of mountains. hahaa shums and i were full of good intentions to do some running, to increase our red blood cells in the high altitude!Brought along my trainers, but our nocturnal lifestyles prevented us from waking up early enough to exercise. heh.
Getting there on my own on the first day from Macau airport was CRAZY. omg. i almost died having to carry my luggage everywhere. In one day, i managed to take all modes of transport in hk. Singapore--(Plane)-->Macau airport--(bus)-->Ferry terminal--(ferry)-->HK island--(MTR)-->Chai Wan station--(Cab)--> Tai Tam. that was quite an experience.
Travelling with shums was the best!hahaa.We've the same love for anything vintage or rocker chic, so we always choose similar things while shopping:) Our shared love for bargain hunting led us to spend way too much time in the streets of Mongkok and H&M! We're both nocturnal beings and we always end up reaching home at close to 2am everyday, sleeping at 430am and waking up at 12pm the next day. haha oh and we both dislike chinese desserts and im ashamed to admit that i didnt try a single one during my entire stay in hk.heh. Oh yeah, shums has a really good sense of direction!she can remember street names really well somehow, which is very useful for a noob like me hahaa. i love how we can have serious introspective conversations at one moment, and then laugh like madcows over the retarded things we say and do in the next. Love ya loads,foodie with the food face!hahahaa :)
On a seperate note, ive decided to backpack Europe next summer! jonk suggested this june, but that's way too soon after hk:( The lucky guy. Plenty of time to save up if i wait till next year i guess. hahaa bit early to be thinking about holidaying next year when this year;s hols aren't up yet, but im dam excited la.hahaa. shums will be in paris by then :(:(, but then i can visit her when i go over next year:) tony will be studying in europe too! All the architecture..the food..hahaa ok shall not get too carried away. shums i want hk pics soon! Some pics for now, will upload the rest soon!
