updates part 4
Posted on: Monday, December 08, 2008
Posted at: 12/08/2008 02:11:00 PM
06/12/08: Day in Shen Zhen
went to shen zhen on the third day.. took MTR from hung hom wif the rest of the tour grp to Lo Wu.. quite convenient la, now that hk is part of china.. can easily take train up and the arrival procedure takes less than 10min.. lesser if ur a frequent traveller / diplomatic passport holder or a local.
MTR station at Hung Hom
Reached Lo Wu.. sign pointing to shen zhen (abit blur, tink my phone got astig sia =P )
anyway, took the bus ride and went on a freaking few hr of weird rides arnd town where they try to trick us to buy their overpriced merchandised.. went to a jade cultural museum thing and then a Traditional Chinese Medicine centre which was opened by the chinese govt. overpriced.. went on for a lunch at a local restaurant.. the setting is a little different from what i haf had in HK, but the food was great, still nth too special, all eat b4 in singapore alr..
the highlight of the day was the trip to "Window of the World", where they had miniatures of all the different iconic buildings in the word. here are some pics (took alot of them.. all on facebook, ask me on msn or something if u wanna see):
Window of the World
some roman building..
nice waterfountain :)
can almost see a rainbow :)
jesus :O
dutch windmills
leaning tower
mermaid :)
sydney!
some european styled buildings.
japan!
Taj Mahal
Thailand
Singapore Merlion!
Eiffel Tower
went back to Lo Wu Shopping Mall after that.. alot of counterfeit bags and stuff there.. but nt interested.. ate dinner at a restaurant there.. posh and cheap and gd service :)
went back to Kowloon and shopped arnd mongkok till tsim sha tsui on foot.. dumped my parents and walked alone.. kinda fun la.. mingling wif the crowd and all.
Xmas Lights at Parklane Shopping Centre HK
lots of sports cars parked around granville area in tsim sha tsui.. perhaps they went to pub / club.. but the clubs/ pubs there qutie ex.. 200+ sia.. and looked kinda sleazy to me..
07/12/08 - prepare to fly back to singapore and some last min shopping/walking.
continued my exploration alone in the morning aft breakfast.
Jade market in the morning. bought some jade accessories for my family. quite cheap too.. haggled till abt 18hkd.. which is arnd 3-4sgd.. :)
prayed here.. famous temple in HK.
local soya bean.. quite thick and less sugar.. overall, good!
walked around alittle more with the soyabean in hand into their morning market and continued mingling in the crowd (helps to be chinese in a chinese country) :) their markets are vibrant unlike ours, confined to shops, theirs operate via pushcarts and the prices are quite cheap too.. bought 2x 2009 mini calendar (HK pub hols).
and then went back to hotel to check out... back to singapore!
this is my first far awy trip.. awy frm South East Asian country! and apart from some little problems here and there, it was a great experience bah.. to learn new things and look at the difference in culture. :) next stop, taiwan 2009! anyone?
Labels: hong kong
updates part 3
Posted on:
Posted at: 12/08/2008 12:54:00 PM
05/12/08: Full Day in HK Part 2
moved on to see some jewellery stuff.. which i felt was quite lame.. then they tried to sell us some overpriced "lucky" pendant from 1k+ hkd.. (later shen zhen wud quote 400 hkd and jade market had a 280hkd one.. LOL)..
on to the nxt exciting part which was the sampan boat ride.. altho singapore has a similar ride at the singapore river, i feel tis is more enriching.. seeing pubs and clubs at singapore river aint anything special bah.. but this.. is a new experience. i will let the pics do the talking :)
the sampan approaching
aboard the boat
concentrating boat operator.
contrast between the beautiful yachts and the sampans..
jumbo restaurant.. the once-famous eating place on water. (oso where stephen chow filmed his Shi shen movie n yrs ago..)
water..
boat and amazing how they make their living on the water..
more boats
house on water
more boats 2 !
anyway, the fishing village might disappear soon le.. wif the rapid growth of the city area, it might not be there next yr this time, so do take some time to go down for a spin in the sampan if u do drop by..
now for a lighter side of life, went to tsim sha tsui and saw this
they realli lack parking places sia..
aniway, ate at a posh restaurant for lunch.. the food is nt bad, and the atmosphere is reminiscent of pariss seafood restaurant in singapore (grand eh?)..
walked arnd tsim sha tsui abit.. b4 heading to ladies street via MTR (their MRT) to mongkok.
single trip ticket.. looks like our old transit link card.
their route map.. with actual flashing sign O.o
walked arnd ladies street which didnt haf much stuff... all the cheap shirts r also cheap in quality.. but bought a belt for 20hkd.. works up to abt 4 bucks sgd.. nt bad la.. jus a normal cloth belt wif a diesel buckle. walked abit more b4 heading back to hotel for a short nap..
woke up at 6pm and went to temple street night market.. quite cool sia, the place.. its like a pasar malam environment, jus tat its everyday. sells everything and anything. bought jeans at a chain jeans store there (real shop! not pasar malam) it even has a
website! quite cheap la.. the cheapest pair is 100 for 2 jeans.. mind you, its in hkd.. works out to 50 for each.. and tats 10sgd! i bought one pair which was 100 ea.. so tats 20sgd.. but in all still pretty affordable :)
went walking arnd abit more in the shopping centres arnd mongkok / yau ma tei area, b4 heading back..
hotel :)
Labels: hong kong
updates part 2
Posted on:
Posted at: 12/08/2008 11:36:00 AM
05/12/08: Full Day in HK
went out early morning for dimsum at a local teahouse with the tour grp. all the xiao long baos, siew mai,shui jing baos, char siew baos etc.. nt bad la.. tho nt as good as expected.. some of the singapore ones actually taste better (the chefs oso come from hk de mah.) but i guess its the atmosphere and ambience bah.. something u wud normally only see in a hk drama.. now playing in front of you.. thats where the kick is.. :)
moved on to hk convention centre where they had this golden flower that china presented to hk when hk rejoined china.
some pics:
HK convention centre.. looks like a tortoise doesnt it? the guide said that the designer has a swallow in mind.. omgish.. doesnt look like at all rite?
the golden flower thingy.. plated gold oni... :S
view from the convention centre..
We then moved off to stubbs road for a bird's eye view of the city area.. quite nice, i mus say..
the sign shows where all the major buildings are.
a view showing all three of the tallest building in hk. the one wif a pointy top (3rd tallest in hk), the black one wif 2 pointy tops (far left, 2nd tallest in hk) and the one tat looks like a highlighter (left side white) which is the tallest in hk..
We then set off to Repulse Bay Beach, Qian Shui Wan. The scenery is quite beautiful, really fine sand.. and its NATURAL! gosh! like a natural vers of siloso beach!
some pics:
Repulse Bay Beach
some shots of the scenery there
theres also this Qian Shui Men (roughly translates to thousand yr gate) there, which is basically a tourist attraction with lots of taoism inspired artifacts like buddha figures and deity structures.
the gate
pics :)
Labels: hong kong
