| Tuesday, September 30, 2008 |
| just keep swimming. just keep swimming... |
| Sunday, September 14, 2008 |
Hello Hong Kong! First time to hk. first time going around on our own. was kinda excited, as it was also the first time that i'm going somewhere with a sole mission... to shop! also the first time on afternoon flight out. lovely clear blue skies... and no airplane wing at the window seat this time!! hurhur! so now i can almost conclude, that all the wing seats get allocated to the travel agencies. and people who book their own tickets get lovely views! in my mind at first, HK didn't really appeal to me. i imagined it to be all dirty, messy with heavily polluted air, rude people.. but i'm glad to say that i'm wrong. HK was pretty good actually! really clean (except for the night streetmarkets where standards are almost the same as those at joo chiat) malls, streets, trains!  i remember cabbing to the hotel from the airport on the first night..and felt as though all the buildings were closing in on us! Their buildings (ridiculously tall some of them) seem to be everywhere, and there isnt even breathing spaces allocated in between. it's all tightly packed together. people were walking along the sidewalks so fast as though they were rushing to somewhere, even at 8pm, and there were neon signboards everywhere! here's some super tall residential buildings to prove my point.  headed out to mong kok to shop on our first night after we landed. LOADS of oversized sunnies to buy. cheap cheap.  the train stations in HK all have different color themes, so yeah, we pretty much started taking pictures of every single train station that we went to. super touristy i know. I've heard so much about HK being mai dong xi chi dong xi (eating and shopping) and i'm sure they have no problems at all when it comes to food. but shopping.... hmmmm... (imagines shops choked full with free-sized clothes) which was half true, as all the small shops only carried free sized clothes. but the malls.... were faaab. Landmark Centre, IFC... rows and rows of boutiques. one after another, and each getting bigger and bigger.  standalone boutiques on the streetfront. nicely designed. lovely stuff.  and the size of the malls there kinda make vivocity look / feel (or maybe it's just me being overwhelmed) like jurong point.  and of course, when you're travelling with my mom, we have to visit some of the touristy sites as well. so we popped by the wong tai sin temple, nan lian garden, took the star ferry....  i told you their buildings are everywhere.        took the tram up to the peak in the evening. stayed to catch the sunset and also the night view..(no pictures to show, all lousy. boo) kinda amazed at how steep the tram was going. the view was almost like a backdrop...   the avenue of stars at night.  i've never wanted a good camera / tripod / camera manual guide book so badly! i was determined to get at least a passable night shot along the avenue of stars. and after 33 tries along the entire avenue, i got one! it was sooo annoying, taking photos with the night mode function... taking pictures in normal mode, at night, with flash, results in..  pui.so beside shopping and going around like a tourist, HK is all about FOOD. they have great restaurants! me love the one at the Western Market, and the very everyday dim sum restaurant near the hotel along nathan. morning wake up, dim sum, go shopping, lunch dim sum, back to shopping/sight-seeing, dinner? more dim sum. hurhur! i think i have more photographs of food than scenery! everyday dimsum breakfast..    and my must have new love! - custard steamed buns! i had them everywhere. and none tasted the same but they were all gooood.  choked full with warm delish custard!   my mom and i are such fans, we bought 18 home. in a box, to steam and cook when we're back in Singapore!in our quest for food, we went to The Peninsula, for my custard mooncakes where i learnt that they were all sold out and i had to make an order in advance for them! boo. and there we were thinking that we could get em fresh.  The Western Market place i was talking about... and the food!    dined at the peak, with bad service but a lovely sunset.mum finally understanding why i love my huge ass shades.     restaurant by the avenue of stars... super nice setting...   great food at roadside stalls! finally found noodle soup! Krispy Kreme!! Bye Singapore doughnuts, doughnut factory, J-co whatever. nothing willl taste as good as the original glazed from KK.  and the best of all.....**cues drumroll....**Dessert from this place! Hui Lau Shan!  okay, i know the half empty cups don't look good at all. But that's what we buy back to the hotel to drink every night while we were there. every single night. heh.yummy! mango's the best. it's their trademark!    they even have a shop at the airport so you can get your last serving before you leave for home! which is what we did. I have no idea why such a great shop couldn't survive in our food loving Singapore. apparently we had two branches here but they both closed down... maybe it was the location...hmmm... but i know for sure that food and shopping surely makes me a happy happy girl.  even though we 3 had to squeeze on a king size bed every night! and that HK has made me realise how much i love food photography! |