Last day...

In less than 12 hours, I will be flying off from HK to Japan! Can't wait...have been counting down the days for so long that I somehow feel a little surreal that the day has come.

I had a fabulous time in HK and absolutely love it! Got to meet up with an old school friend of mine here whom I have not met in 7 years.

Time really fly past in a blink of a second.

I'll probably not have internet access while I'm in Japan so this wil be my last post for a while till I come back!

Scenery

After going to the Wong Tai Sin Temple, we headed to a place that supposedly has some pretty amazing scenery. So we found ourselves trotting to look for the "Chi Lin Nunnery". I have to say that it is quite majestic looking. Very pretty.

It was connected by a bridge to a garden called the "Nan Lian Garden". The scenery is spectacular as you can see. Imagine walking through the garden with soft music flowing in the bakground adding to the atmosphere. You really feel like you are in another place. Definitely a place to come to. We spent quite a bit of time there as well as many photo clickings!

Duk Ling Ride

My sis heard about a free boat ride on the "Duk Ling' from central to Tsim Tsa Tsui and we decided to take it for the experience. You need to register with your passport at any one of the Visitors Centre as it is exclusive to visitors. The boat only operates every Thursday and Saturday.

On the day itself, we were a little worried as it started to rain lightly. The boat ride was not cancelled and we had a one hour boat ride. Imagine cool wind breezing past you while you engage your vision with the sights of both HK island and Kowloon and the numerous skyscrapers! Fantastic!

Add the experience of being in an ancient times boat and that makes it even better!

This was the boat that wewe were on and the other picture is where we were standing and having the wind breeze past us.

This is one of the views that we were looking at. Looks all romantic with the mist and all doesn't it? Not sure if it was the morning mist or air pollution. :P

The Peak.

I remembered going to the Peak 10 years ago when I was first here but couldn't recall much! Thus, I made it a point to go there again this time.

The view is simply fabulous and the air....cold and crisp! My sis and I had sooo much fun up there and was laughing our heads off a few times....it was truly a great experience.

There are a few lookout spots and we only went to two of them. Picture taking wasn't the easiest as our hair was blown into disarray constantly by the wind.

I also managed to find the best exchange rate counter so far in HK which is here at the Peak. Haha...

As I have not sat on the mini bus (小巴）before, my sis and I decided to take it to get to where we wanted to go. Honestly, we went around in circles looking for it as it wasn't with where the rest of the buses were. The first pic is where all the buses are, there is a double decker bus that goes to "The Peak" but if you suffer from motion sickness, not the best one to be taking. I was suffering from a headache when I took it to come back down from "The Peak". Had to discover this the hard way! :(

You see the little gap next to the trees on the right? That is where you have to go to take the mini bus.

Honestly! We were going around in circles looking for the bus stand. So for anyone taking the mini bus, it is actually at the "International Finance Centre (IFC)".

The mini bus is actually cheaper than the double decker bus but for those who have the Octopus card , The tram is the cheapest from what I can tell from the price list in the picture below. You would also have a pretty cool view and unique ride.

And here comes some of the pics that I took of the fantastic view and the sun setting....

HSBC building

Talk about funky advertising! The HSBC building here lights up in red and white alternatively for the whole building which is their logo colour.

Lan Kwai Fong & Soho

Making a trip to Soho and Lan Kwai Fong is a MUST if you come to HK. If you don't know what those areas are, the signs on the street will tell you such as this one. Soho has a knife and fork icon next to it which means that it is a food area while Lan Kwai Fong has a beer mug and martini glass next to it which means the pub area. How cute!

I went to Soho first for dinner and there are really lots and lots of restaurants, however I couldn't take any pics as there were too many restaurant people coming up asking you to try their restaurant!

After dinner, I went to Lan Kwai Fong. This is where people come to chill after work and is THE place to be! During the weekends, as the bars and pubs are not that spacious, people just spill out onto the street which means that the entire street is jammed with people so that no cars can go through. It's a really cool place, I like it.

Octopus Card.

What is an Octopus card? Well, it is a card that works like an ATM card I guess! Most people in HK uses them as it is a card that you can top up with money! You can also elect one as your main card and everytime your money reaches zero, it will automatically top up for you via your credit card (This only applies if you live in HK as you need to link it to a HK credit card)!

And the most useful thing is that it can be used in a lot of places, MTR stations, trams, buses, restaurants, Watsons, KFC etc...

So practical as it saves a lot of time as you just placed it on the terminal and it will just beep which means that the money has been deducted and you have paid for your purchase! No waiting around while the person in front of you scrambles around his/her wallet taking out money and change.

How I wish that Australia can be as advanced!

However, for a tourist like me? I can only top up with cash at "Add Value Machines" in MTR stations like the one below! But I still love the convenience of it. You have to pay an initial deposit of HKD50 to use the card but when you return it, you get your deposit back (Apparently, if you return it within the first three months, you only get HKD43 back though!). So, it's still good! Especially for a tourist like me as it takes longer figuring out the foreign notes and coins.

Christmas in March?

Took a walk around Times Square last night after dinner and I noticed that the trees were lit up with lights and glitter balls! It is really pretty but it reminds me of Xmas decorations! Isn't Xmas in March a little too early?

My mobile is charging again...but at a cost!

Managed to figure out that it wasn't a problem with my mobile but the charger somehow managed to fry up and stop working! Thus, I had to purchase another mobile charger. Thank goodness I am in Hong Kong at the moment where buying a charger is cheaper than in Sydney! I can now resume my photo taking again!
:)

Studs and Baby Tees!

I Love wearing T-shirts and baby Tees! Especially in sydney where people tend to be more casual dressed than asian places. However, I have no idea why but 95% of all Tees which I find in HK will have some studs on them which means for a person like me = you can't put them in the washing machine, have to hand wash!

:(

Hmm...this is making things a little difficult! I can't really buy many Baby Tees.

To show an example, here is a T shirt with the studs that I was talking about!

Why aren't you charging!

Today, I tried charging my mobile and it just wouldn't charge! It was totally fine a few days ago but today it decided to protest! :`(

Now I can't take many pictures as I don't want my mobile battery to run out!

巴刹。。market...

While walking back to my sis's place, I happenned to cross a street which had bright red lantern lights in the distance. Curiosity got the best of me and I wandered in to check it out! It happened to be one of those wet market to buy fresh food. The one shop that caught my eye was this meat shop which sells fishballs! There was one tray which sells fishballs in different colours! This is the first time that I see something like this. However, taking a photo of the multi coloured fishballs would be too obvious and I had to settle with taking the banner instead! :(

Lasting impressions...

Wow..I'm impressed! I went into one of those lingerie shops and this is how their fitting rooms look like. 3 sided mirrors with a side table placed in there and flowers in a vase! On one side are instructions on what is the correct way of wearing a bra and on the other side is a button that you can press when you need help. Once again...Wow!

Shops...

I have always been a fan of charcoal, charcoal tablets are really effective when you have a stomach ache or ate something wrong, they are also really great in eliminating smells from the fridge or shoes. Imagine my surprise when I was walking around in Wan Chai and I noticed a "Charcoal Shop'. A walk through and they sell everything with charcoal, even pillows. I was quite intrigued by the mahjong set made of charcoal, it was really unique! However, I wasn't too sure about those little charcoal deco on a string and charcoal figurines which promises to eliminate radiation waves from your computer and mobile phones. Hmm....scientifically that just does not make sense.

There were also plenty of small shops around Wan Chai and this was one shop that has really nice deco, hence my camera is taken out for a snap!

More interesting observations..

Walked into one of those shops like Watsons in KL that sells beauty stuff and I saw this. It's perfume and these are actually testers....The whole design and usage of colours is just really beautiful.

With 2007 being the year of the pig, you can find pigs everywhere...clothes, toys, keychains etc... Like in this shop, pigs of all sizes and I have to say, they sure look pretty cute!

What else did I happen to see? Why, it's a Charlie Brown cafe in Mongkok!

I love trams for some reason and there are none in Sydney but I love the ones in Melbourne and I see them here in Hong Kong too...for HKD2 per trip, very economical..although I think during peak hour, the experience is probably not as enjoyable.

My journey continues...

I'm onto my 7th day here and my adventure continues with some pretty interesting observations..

Went to Genki sushi for dinner and noticed that instead of the waitstaff bringing your tea to you and you have to keep asking them to refill. They have the green tea powder and hot water tap right in front of you so that it is self service! Brilliant, now everyone can adjust their green tea to their liking. I placed too much green tea powder into my cup in my excitement and my green tea was quite strong but it was great!

While shopping around, I inadvertently got myself in the shopping district on a Friday night peak hour time when everyone is out to shop and catch up with friends after work and to relax for the weekend. If you're a little people phobic, might be a good idea to not be out during those times.



I couldn't help but take pictures of this which blew my cover that I was a tourist here..haha..

Fashion...Food...Fabulous (Part 3)

For those who love skincare... Hong Kong is simply a haven... Everything that you are looking for..brands from Europe, Australia, Korea and Japan. L'oreal even have their own store here...others include DHC, L'occitane, Kiehls, Laneige and even FANCL. To a person like me who can't even find this in Sydney...woowee....!!!

You also have your usual SASA, although there are others shops that sell them at cheaper prices..do not just buy from SASA straight before checking out other shops.

Wanna know what I bought? check out my beauty blog!

:)

My apologies for some of the pics, as this is not my pc, I am quite limited in terms of software.

Fashion...Food...Fabulous (Part 2)

Next comes Fashion..... I was just walking around and what did I see? A Snoopy shop.....Snoopy is my all time favourite cartoon character! I just had to go in....

And what else did I find here? Giordano has a whole level specifically for ladies, check out the decor, absolutely amazing! Sofas and chairs around the store for the men to sit around while their female friends shop around, they even have a huge dressing room with even more chairs and lush carpets for companions to sit while waiting for the ladies to dress and asks their opinions! As I had to take the picture discreetly, it doesn't show exactly how glam the dressing room is!

Did I also mention that a Giordano business shirt is more expensive than one from G2000 here? I simply could not believe it! This is Giordano that we are talking about...

Decide to get a haircut while you're here? Why..you can always pop over to the Esprit hair salon! The Huge pictures shows the hairstylist and which Esprit salon that you can find them. I decided not to go for a haircut there this time, maybe next time.