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Thursday, June 22, 2006

I'm back to reality, after 7 days of holiday in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

Day 1 Thu 15 June 2006: Singapore to Hong Kong

I met up with tl, hr and wc at T1 after lunch with sis, and we checked in at Row 4 for our JetstarAsia flight to Hong Kong, 3K695. I bought a worldcard for 10 bucks, which I used to call back home from Hong Kong. We boarded the flight at 3.15pm, and departed at 3.45pm. On the flight, tl and I talked to a Hong Kee businessman who was seated beside me for the whole duration of the flight, 3 hours 35 minutes.

On arrival, we took A21 bus from the airport to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR along Nathan Road, where we checked into Mirador Mansion. There were many 'Nazreen' here. The room was very small, just like that of a cruise cabin. Wc and I shared room 87 on level 8, while tl and hr shared room 32 on level 10. We had wanton noodles for dinner at a cafeteria along Ashley Street before heading for Harbour City, Old Clock Tower and Avenue of Stars where we overlooked the Victoria Harbour and skyscrapers.

Day 2 Fri 16 Jun 2006: Hong Kong

After MacDonald's breakfast at Admiralty (only around HKD18), we took bus no. 629 from the bus terminus to Ocean Park. We had a thrilling time riding on the roller coasters, corkscrews, and I was especially bewildered by the Turbo Drop - where only tl and I dared it. We were fastened to the seat and rose up to over 100m, and plunged all the way down after 10 seconds. We watched the dolphin show, walked through Atoll Reef before ending up at the Panda Conservatory which houses "An-An" and "Jia-Jia." Admission ticket costs HKD160. And yes, Ocean Park is promoting the preservation of sea creatures, but there was a food establishment in the park selling barbeque squids which smelt so tantalising and left me salivating.

We left the park in the afternoon, ending up in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wanchai for it's great architectural design. We returned to the hostel for rest, before setting out for "Symphony of Lights" show at Avenue of Stars at 8pm. It wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be. I grew bored and decided to leave. Tl and hr were late, and we met up at the Bruce Lee statue and headed for Temple Street for dinner and shopping. Here I bought an Imperial Seal for second sis. When the seller said "You are very nice," I knew I was cheated into accepting the price at HKD230.

Day 3 Sat 17 Jun 2006: Hong Kong

We crossed Victoria Harbour on Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central, where we hopped onto a dreadful tram ride to Shau kei Wan for over an hour. I thought it would be a short journey and good experience, but I grew tired and sick of the slow-moving tram with no aircon in the hot weather. At the final destination, we took bus no. 9 to Shek O. We winded through rolling hills overlooking beautiful seas before reaching this beach resort.

Victoria Peak was our next step after char siew noodles lunch at Shau Kei Wan. I didn't expect that we would have to partake in such a long queue to board the Peak Tram to get to the peak. We could see no sun but cloudy skies at the top. Tl, hr and I posed wierdly for the camera, all thanks to tl's idea.

At 8 plus, we left for shopping at Causeway Bay (Tong Luo Wan), before having late dinner at KFC at 10 plus.

Day 4 Sun 18 Jun 2006: Hong Kong

Bought return bus tickets to Guangzhou from China Travel Service opposite our hostel at HKD170 per person.

It's an enlightenment path to Big Buddha on Lantau Island. We took MTR to Tung Chung (transferred train at Lai King), before taking bus no. 24 to Po Lin Monastery. The Buddha is undoubtedly the world's largest seated Buddha, and we had to climb 260 steps to the top. The view of Lantau Island and surrounds at the top were awe-inspiring, and the weather's cooler here. The admission ticket (HKD23) included a vegetarian snack at the cafeteria. We were so full such that we resorted to playing "open numbers" to decide who shall eat up the pastries. In the end, I lost twice together with tl, wc lost once and hr freely escaped.

I wanted to visit Tai O fishing village, but the afternoon sun was making me extremely exhausted, and I decided to take bus no. 2 to Mui Wo pier and catch a ferry to Central at 2pm. We took MTR from Central to Kowloon side, where I returned to the hostel for rest while the others went for shopping at Mongkok, which turned out to be a basketball session instead.

We had dinner at Prince Edward's cafeteria adjacent to Concourse Hotel. The old cafeteria which I patronised in year 2000 has been changed to a new one. No more nice wanton noodles, but one that wasn't that tasty. I bought some shirts for mum and big sis and a friend at Espirit Mongkok at pretty low prices. Then we headed for Ladie's Street, on the way talking to bernard and ken who would be enlisting the next day.

Day 5 Mon 19 Jun 2006: Hong Kong to Guangzhou

We had dim sum for breakfast at Pioneer Centre, before walking across to board the bus to Guangzhou at China Travel Service office next to Concourse Hotel. The bus departed at 11.45am, and we reached Guangzhou China Hotel at only 4 plus. From there, we took a taxi to Haitao Hotel along Huangpu Xi (West) Lu (Road) for 30 yuan. The rooms (923 and 925 connecting) were much bigger than the hostel apparently for the same price at 25 bucks per night per person.

Dinner at a restaurant of the hotel was darn cheap at 20 over yuan per set of chicken cutlet. We walked to a mall where the shops were all selling furnitures, grew bored and located another shopping centre. The grocery was so cheap that I hope I can buy all home. In the end I only bought some local products of Foshan and Guangzhou. And a vitasoy which tasted awful.

We shopped at night markets below our hotel before returning to the room for a bath. Then we headed for a massage parlour about 20 minutes walk away. It only costs 60 yuan for an hour. At the end of it, my neck aches the most.

Day 6 Tue 20 Jun 2006: Guangzhou

We woke up pretty late at 11am, before taking taxi to Baiyun Mountain for 20 yuan. The cable car uphill was 25 yuan. We had a long trek to "Moxing Ling" or "Star Touching Summit." It started to have a downpour and we continued walking our way downhill, getting all drenched. In the taxi I was shivering, and back in the hotel I bathed immediately.

We rested and watch dvd before sleeping for 15 minutes and took a taxi to Beijing Lu (Peking Road) for shopping. I bought 2 sets of shirts at an unbelievable 78 yuan. Prior to that we had dinner at Argentina Cafe. I ate a plate of cod fish fried rice. Each person paid around 50 yuan.

Day 7 Wed 21 Jun 2006: Guangzhou to Hong Kong to Singapore

We slept till 9.30am before washing up and checked out of the room. We used up all our monies to buy chicken burgers at MacDonald's for breakfast at 12 yuan each and large cola at 5.50 yuan and medium sprite at 4.40 yuan. We boarded the bus at 10.45am for Hong Kong, reaching at 2.30pm at Concourse Hotel. We returned to Pioneer Centre for dim sum before heading to a shop selling wife's cake (lao po bing) at Mongkok. Tl shopped at Ladie's Street again, leaving hr, wc and I to wait for him.

We took MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, returned to hostel and collected back our baggage. Then we walked to Holiday Inn next to Mirador Mansion to take K3 to Kowloon Station. Here I checked in for my United Airlines flight (UA895), so I do not have to check-in again at the airport. We took the Airport Express to the airport, and on the train we posed some pictures (xi, nu, ai le). Whose idea again?

I waited for my friends to check-in for their JetstarAsia flight before clearing the immigration and I bade goodbye to them. My flight has been delayed for half an hour, touching down Singapore at 23.46. It's no wonder United Airlines is on the verge of bankruptcy. If I am a businessman, I would not fly United. But as a leisure traveller, I might.

That's the end of a nice holiday and work is commencing tomorrow. I hate this feeling. Really hate.

|Melvin Ng| 6:52 pm|