I’m tired. Really tired. I haven’t been sleeping well for weeks, and most of the time I’ll fall asleep after hours of staying awake due to the fatigue.

Four months back, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and both my parents moved up to Penang temporarily.

My life, has been going through some major turbulence since then and at this moment, it hasn’t gone any better.  It started off with studying for exams for my first semester into my degree and the cancer bomb dropped. Then my mum moved almost everything from Ipoh up to Penang, causing my tiny apartment to be congested with things everywhere. I don’t mind having family staying with me after living alone for almost 3 years. But, when the mother gets so anal about everything in the house, it just pisses me off. Honestly, and I really do wish that somehow I have my own place to live, because I really lost my stand in this house. She has to control when I should sweep the floor, when I should hang the clothes, when this when that how this how that.

The things I place, stuffs that I have and things that I do are all scrutinized to the bone, I have no say left in the house.  Whatever that is in the house that belongs to me, is deemed either a trash, or badly placed. Whatever I do, I’m always the bad apple. An innocent handwash dispenser by the sink that I placed, and she had to throw it. And she continues to say, now that I’m living here you have to compromise. Compromise? More like authoritarian!

Sure I know, I’m not as capable as my brothers who are earning a living and having their own houses and all I do is spend your money for my studies and monthly allowances. Afterall I’m still a student, but no the mother does not see me that way. She complains that I never help support the family, she complains that the house is always a mess, she complains that I never do anything in the house.

HOW CAN I DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU’RE ALWAYS NAGGING AND YELLING AT ME? AND YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS AND TONE ISN’T ANYTHING SOPHISTICATED EITHER?

My mother constantly rants about the fees for my studies, and with my brothers, she never ever nagged a single bit. But with me, she’ll always put the guilt on me for spending money. It gets me thinking, why am I studying so hard anyway. She never sees me as a model child, and I know I’m not a good suck up like my brothers. I’ll say whatever’s on my mind and never candy coat anything.

She has her own system of working in the house, I have mine too. And she expects me to follow everything she says and do even when I’m busy with something else at the moment. If I disobey, she calls me names and says that I’m nothing but worthless and lazy. Once she moved in into the house, she changed everything around the house, and when I want to put my fair share of things into the house, she says that it’s useless, wasting space, and either puts it into one corner or into the trash can. Everything is according to her way, her style, and I get yelled for placing my things on the counter, table, anywhere.

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOUR MOTHER IS SAYING HURTFUL THINGS TO YOU?

Many times we argued and I really wanted to run away, because I cannot stand living with a control freak in the house. It’s not just her house, it’s mine too. She went on to say that it’s her and my father’s money who paid for the house so I have no part in it.

And people continue to think I’m the immature childish daughter who always wants what she wants. It’s always I who is at fault.

About a month ago, major renovation began in my house and it was a total mess. Things were disassembled, dust was everywhere and everything had to be packed up and stored into any empty plausible space. While I was striving my way through the mess in my house, my mum told me to go back Ipoh instead with my two cats because THERE ISN’T ENOUGH SPACE FOR THREE PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE. I don’t even have a share of ideas for the renovation of the house, not even my room because she says the room does not belong to me, it’s only borrowed to me.

I’m fine with leaving, but the way she said it was as if she was chasing me out of the house. Fine I left, and stayed alone in Ipoh for three weeks, and within those three weeks, she would call me everyday to run errands for her and such, and I had no complains.

And yet when I was running low on cash, she said that I was a big spender and continued to say mean things to me, and most of the money I spent was for my dogs, groceries and things that she ordered me to buy.

I felt really hurt because after all things that I’ve done, all she can say are the bad things. And she’ ll sing praises and focus on are my brothers who is expecting a baby and the other getting married, so attention is on both of them and me? I’m just the useless money spender at home.

HEAR THAT I’M JUST A USELESS MONEY SPENDER NOT LIKE ANY OF YOU WHO’S IN TAIWAN AND KL EARNING MONEYYYYYYYYYYYY.

I don’t know, nobody tries to understand my feelings. That’s why I’ve always been a loner, and I’m always the last in line for things.  I feel like I always have to fight for attention in the house, I cannot touch the television even if I want to because they told me they’ll be on the television all day so the only time I can watch is late night after they go to bed. I cannot cook a complete dinner because the kitchen is heralded by my mum. I cannot place things in my room because she says no, I cannot this I cannot that.

And when my brother arrives, I have to drive my car out and park outside for them to park at my parking spot. So my car is not a car?

I’m really glad to have Hugo in my life, sure he has been a klutz but he has been someone that I run to whenever my family gangs up on me. If I may dare to say this, I’m sure my family backstabs me at times. Many times my mum has asked Hugo to do ridiculous stuffs, just because he’s my boyfriend doesn’t mean he’s your servant.

Case in point, I was kayaking with my gang on a Saturday morning so logically I don’t entertain my phone while I’m kayaking so when I finally finished, which was during lunch time, I checked my phone to have a gazilion miss calls from my mum. I called back and the first thing was I got yelled loudly asking where the hell was I and why didn’t I pick up the phone. I calmly told her that a person does not bring a thousand dollar piece of gadget while rowing across the sea and she demanded I bring her to a durian orchard in Balik Pulau at that moment, when I was soaking in salty water with burning skin. Of course, I would have to shower and have lunch first after a tiring morning, and she DEMANDED NOW. Honestly, everyone was going wtf and I was rushing my friends to shower and go for a quick lunch before dashing off to bring my mum’s friends to the orchard. She thinks whatever she wants at the spur of the moment should be granted, in the expense of other people. Case in point, Hugo and I.

Since I was young, I envy at how my brothers are treated. They have more freedom, and they suck up to my mum, unlike me who always fights back and gets beaten all the time. Like when I was an hour late after school, and I let my mum waited for me, I went home with her screaming at me all the way in the car and beaten at home. But did I get angry when I waited for her to come fetch me after waiting for 2 hours? I was sitting alone at the hut waiting till everyone was gone, leaving me alone. I didn’t even show any sign of anger and just casually asked why she was late, and she said she was with her friends.

Honestly, I don’t know, I love my mum but I hate my mum at the same time too. I hate her for being so bias, I hate her for being so irrational, I hate her for being so stubborn, I hate her for being so anal about everything. Just relax la, your children are all grown up now, let loose and chill will you?

I am so tired of being told that I’m just a useless daughter who depends on her parents for everything, I know I’m a burden but do you even care about how I feel when you utter those things? Always nagging about paying for my studies, my allowance, whatever I do in the house. I dream of owning my own house, earning my own income every night, and I can’t wait to break free.

Just because you always stay at home watching television and I’m always going out, and you called me names.

I’ve been living alone for 3 years so I’ve accustomed myself to a new life here, I have a life! But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about home!

I’m not the little girl that should be locked up at home anymore, I like to venture out see things and explore. Just like when I was in KL for 3 months last year, I never wanted to stay at my brother’s place for two reasons, first I was not close with him  and second, he wanted me to stay with him because he would charge me rental payment to cover his expenses. Not that I’m grateful for the 3 months, I’m just not liking that whatever I do I needed my family to shield me.

Seriously for now, I’m just gearing up to get my degree, start earning and carving my life and busting out!

And if I have my mum going gaga over my future new house, I will definitely handle her with ‘care’.

♥ Wendy

Finally I have time to continue writing about my trip, these past few days has been tremendously busy with so many things to do plus the hot humid weather in Ipoh isn’t helping either.

Anyhow, back to my Hong Kong trip story, day 4 is probably the grandest and most expensive therefore the budget for the day was pretty high. We started the day off by skipping breakfast with a quick cuppa of Milo each before dashing to Sheung Wan to board the ferry to Macau.

From Mong Kok, we followed the Tsuen Wan line till we reached  Central stop before interchanging to the Island Line and got off at Sheung Wan. From the Sheung Wan MTR exit, keep a look out for signs directing you to the Ferry Terminal and there shouldn’t be any problem as there are ample signs around therefore the chances of getting lost is very minimal.

By following the signs, you will somehow end up in Shun Tak Center whereby it’s a shopping mall plus ferry terminal. You will have to go up till the 3rd floor where the ticket offices are located and there are several ferries to choose from and we chose TurboJet. We even got the tickets cheaper too, if you were to buy from the TurboJet ticket counter it would cost 134 HKD each but there is a nearby agent stall that sells the tickets for 130 HKD each. So we got a cheaper deal by 8 bucks.

The inside of the TurboJet ferry is very comfortable, even more so than my Cathay Pacific flight. The seats were comfortable and spacious, and prior to boarding the ferry you will have to submit your tickets to the counter where they will allocate your seats with stickers.

Once on board, there is a menu of food and beverages to choose from and the prices is even more ridiculous than AirAsia’s but we skipped breakfast plus we did not “tapau” anything during our journey to the ferry terminal, we ended buying a 20 HKD ham and cheese sandwich on board. It wasn’t anything spectacular like Subway’s or Delifrance’s, think 4 slices of Gardenia with a slice of ham and cheese and voila, that will cost you 20 HKD.

We were both exhausted with all the extensive travelling to the ferry terminal so when it was time to board all we can think of is dozing off during the journey which in the end neither of us did. The journey from Hong Kong to Macau takes approximately 50 minutes and I must say, I am very pleased with TurboJet’s  service because it wasn’t bumpy unlike my return to Hong Kong via CotaiJet where I had some slight motion sickness. Or maybe I was just tired but it was definitely bumpy!

Although it was a Monday, many people were going to Macau for a getaway so upon reaching Macau, the one hour spent going to Macau was topped up with another hour of queueing for the Immigration counter. There was just so many people!

We consulted Stanley, the boss from our hostel in Mong Kok about how to navigate around Macau.  Since it’s a one day trip, best is to hire a tourguide to save time. Don’t worry, as you exit the Immigration hall to the exit of the Macau Ferry Terminal, there are  tour agency counters around and even tourguides bombarding you with tour packages.

We got Sunny Lau, from Goldfield Travel Services Limited and he was a good tourguide with his in depth explanation of Macau. It costs 250 HKD per person, and I do think it was a pretty expensive tourguide but his skills made up for the price. Did I mention we traveled around in a Toyota Estima?

We started of our tour by visiting the Fisherman’s Wharf which is just beside the ferry terminal and it was blahhhhh nothing special to see. The sky was cloudy and hazy plus the “attractions” there were close to dead. Next!

We drove around the city for a bit looking at the infrastructure of Macau. This is a police station, I think. Almost everywhere you turn, there’s always a casino. We drove around for about 20 minutes before heading to lunch, Sunny recommended us to try out some famous local Portuguese dishes like the Curry Crab and the Macau Styled Chicken.

The signs in Macau is either in Chinese or Portuguese, so yea I was pretty lost there unlike Hong Kong where they have English plastered on their signs.

Our lunch was at Praia Grande, and upon entering the restaurant it looked pretty classy and quaint but it was probably still early at it was only 12pm and there’s only a man having his lunch in the restaurant.

The prices of the dishes would make your eyes pop a little but we were thinking, for the past three days we’ve been under budget for meals so why not splurge a little for this meal? And by splurge a little we ended up splurging a lot.

We had garlic and sweet bread as appetizers, and it tasted really good. The garlic is sweet and fragrant with no hint of garlicky stench that would scare off vampires.

While we were digging into our appetizers, two out of the three guys working at the restaurant picked up their guitars and began singing for the restaurant guests. They even sang Besame Mucho and a Teresa Teng song, plus a Malay song too which I have never heard of.  Oh yea, there were two Japanese ladies entering the restaurant while they were singing and these two guys switched to singing some Japanese folk song upon their request. Kudos man.

The first dish arrived, which is the Macau Styled Chicken and it costs 90 Patacas. In Macau, the currency is Patacas but they still do accept HKD, although the rate of the Patacas is slightly lower than HKD. Avoiding the reality of the price, it actually tasted damn good! It has a rich aroma of spices and the chicken is very tender, like the meat would peel off from the bones kinda tender. Very highly recommended dish that goes well with rice.

Next up is the meanest badass crab, the Curry Crab which costs 286 Patacas. It tasted like creamy curry crab rich with tumeric, another great dish to go with rice. Plus, if you have a close look at the gravy, those are shredded crabmeat and the dish is abundant with it. Hugo even went to the extend of gentleman-ism by finishing the two pinchers and left me with the unmeaty crab torso and legs.

After finishing our meal, we were required to sign their guestbook and I saw writing’s from people from Korea, Thailand, Wales, New Zealand and all parts of the world, so I guess this restaurant is a pretty established one. For more info, you can log on to their website for their recognitions.

Funny thing is, tourist might think that these guys working here are born and bred Portuguese but I went to ask them, and they replied with a “No, we’re actually Phillipino’s.” And they even said, ” You’re from Malaysia, very near to us,  so we’re neighbours.”

The total of our lunch was at 467.50 Patacas, and the water was the most overpriced thing we paid. Our “plain water” was in the form of a 1.5 L bottle of mineral water, and it costs 35 Patacas which is RM 17.50 for a bottle of mineral water. The reason it is that expensive is, the bottle of water is imported from Portugal!

After lunch, it was to the Ruins of St.Paul’s. I’ve seen movies and pictures of this place but to actually visit it, it was pretty nice. I totally loved the architecture of Macau, so delicate with all the patterns and lines.

The weather in Macau is similar to Hong Kong’s, except that Macau is a tad warmer probably because it’s a smaller island but it was still good, until we climbed higher to the forts where I started sweating profusely.

Going further into the Ruins of St.Paul’s, you will reach a mini museum of artifacts dating from the 17th century.  There were paintings, crosses, holy cup and also statues.

Our next stop is the Macau Maritime Museum and the A-Ma temple which is just beside. We started off by visiting the Maritime Museum and it costs 10 Patacas per entry.

The museum is divided into 4 sections, Maritime Ethnology, Maritime History, Maritime Technology and Aquarium. In the museum you will see a lot of tools and techniques used by fishermen and sailors, plus the history of Macau with the Portuguese settlements explained in great detail.

We went to the A-Ma temple next, which to me is nothing special because it looks like any old Chinese Temple but the history behind it is pretty special. The name Macau is thought to be derived from the temple. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied “A-Ma-Gao” (Bay of A-Ma). The Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau.

The second last stop of our whirlwind Macau tour was the Macau Sky Tower. Soaring 338 meters into the heaven with 61 storeies , it is the 8th tallest tower in the world. But our very own KL tower is still taller. The cost for entering the tower is 85 Patacas but our tourguide Sunny also sells tickets and he charged us 70 Patacas for the Sky Tower tickets.

We went up to the observation deck at the 60th floor to have a look of the city. The view from the tower is amazing, it’s 360 degrees of Macau but too bad the weather was bad, therefore pictures are mostly blurry and low in contrast.

Up at the 61st floor is the bungee, skywalk area where for about 1488 Patacas, you can have a death defying bungee jump from the highest tower bungee jump in the world. Other packages are available and you shall be warned that they are not cheap!

While up in the tower, best is to wear a jacket as the wind is very chilly and you can also observe those who are waiting for their turns to defy gravity. Seriously, seeing someone jump down was scary.

Our last stop (finally!) of the day was The Venetian, another casino, shopping mall, hotel rolled into one. It was hugeeee and it was pretyyyy! There’s also gondola rides there, but the price was pretty expensive. Being all worn out and tired, I was just randomly walking around without peering into any shops as the prices of the things there are overrated.

For a 360 panoramic view of The Venetian, click here. Courtesy of Hugo.

Somehow I feel Hugo looks so 70’s here, with the bootleg pants and the striped collar T-shirt. The reason we made Venetian our last stop was because of two things: Portuguese Egg Tarts and Shuttle Bus.

Sunny told us that, the Koi Kee Portuguese Egg Tarts is a popular snack among Macau-ians (is it even correct?) and we decided to give it a try at 7 Patacas per piece. We bought five, ate one on the spot and brought back the other four for supper and tomorrow’s breakfast.

Another thing in the Venetian is the free shuttle bus ride to the Macau Ferry Terminal. There are two ferry terminals in Macau and since we are at the other side of the island from where we started, it is advised to board from the nearer ferry terminal. So we can skip paying for taxi or public bus with a free shuttle bus ride.

One bad thing about boarding from this terminal is, there’s only one ferry service available which is the CotaiJet. Another bad thing is, the price of tickets returning to Hong Kong is much more expensive than going to Macau. Return tickets are standardized at 176 HKD.

While waiting for our ride, there was time to spare plus free wifi so I took out my useless E71 which had been dormant for the past 4 days because I had no international roaming to check some mails and Facebook. Macau has been a great place to visit although the price to pay was a little heart wrenching but it’ll be years to come before I return to Macau so it’s alright.

Installed for day 5 is just random places around Hong Kong, more to places we’ve decided on last minute. Plus, camera enthusiasts would love the place we visited.

♥ Wendy

While I was listening to Madonna’s Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.. (click to enlarge!)

Set on the itinerary for the third day, was to venture across to Hong Kong Island. We planned to have a close up look and probably go into some of the skyscrapers such as the IFC, Bank of China Tower and The Peak. So it’s a pretty extensive coverage for us, and trust me I walked till my feet literally cried for help because I ended up with blisters at the end of the day.

We started our journey at 8.30 am  with breakfast of bread and Milo in our room before heading out for the Mong Kok MTR station nearby our hostel.

We chose to stay in Mong Kok because it’s a hotspot for shopping and dining, plus it’s more economical compared to staying in Hong Kong Island. Tsim Tsa Tsui is not a bad place to stay too, also a very popular area but for Mong Kok,  traveling is made easy with a two minute walk to the nearest MTR station. For those who are going to Hong Kong , it’s better to book your room in advance prior to arrival instead of walk-in to avoid traffic and unavailability and there is no hassle as sites such as HotelsCombined would offer information about places to stay according to areas, so you can book your room in advance way before your trip like how we did.

As you can see from the MTR system map, (which you can click to enlarge) Hong Kong’s MTR system covers pretty much every area in Hong Kong therefore covering Hong Kong isn’t a problem except for time constraints. And there are machines in the MTR station to reload and check your Octopus card, also computers with free internet access for 15 minutes! Yea, you can use the computers for free but there’s a 15 minute countdown once you begin.

Anyhow, our journey started from Mong Kok (red) where we traveled all the way to Admiralty, then interchanged to the Island Line (dark blue) and got off at Central.

In Central, there are several landmarks like the Standard Chartered Building, HSBC Main Building, City Hall, Bank of China Tower and the Two International Finance Centre (IFC).

The MTR station at Central is just a close proximity to the City Hall, therefore we crossed an overhead bridge into the City Hall for another breakfast at Maxim’s. Again, no pictures were taken because both of us were so hungry plus the food was just so-so, not very cheap either.

From the we walked quite an extend till the IFC or the International Finance Tower and we took a quick stroll in the building before moving on. There was nothing in there, mostly high end retail shops so it was just window shopping for me.

We walked and walked and walked until somehow we ended up nearby the Central Mid Levels Escalator, from Central to Conduit Road. It allows people to travel quickly between these two places, compared with travelling by the winding roads up the mountain. The escalators is pretty long and it can get pretty steep too, you shall be warned.

As you go throughout the escalators, you will see popular destination exit signs for Hollywood Road, SoHo and Lan Kwai Fong. At the roads near the escalators, there are entrances and exits on each road it passes, often on both sides of the road.

We walked around under the hot sun, where we exited at Hollywood Road famous for antiques, and as we walk my eyes beamed at the sight of people carrying H&M plastic bags! I knew, H&M must be somewhere near. Excited much, as I adore H&M stuffs plus they’re not available in Malaysia we followed the crowd and in a matter of 5 minutes, we were in Queens Road and there were tons of people within the proximity of H&M.

The store is huge, four stories to be exact. The basement is catered to guy’s, the ground and first floor is for the ladies and the second floo is for children. Hugo was obviously out of place there, so he left me alone in the store and went out to look around plus looking for his missing camera eyepiece.

The array of items in the store was impressive, although it was considerably cheaper than the prices in Malaysia, I didn’t really find anything I really liked. However, since my Body Shop blusher was finishing, I swatched two H&M blushers and adored both of their subtle shimmerness, and it’s only 49.90 HKD each equivalent to RM 25 each! I was initially going to choose one, but it was such a hard decision as I kept swatching both back and forth so in the end I took both, went to Hugo and gave him the Puss In Boot eyes.

Obviously from the picture above, the big googly eyes obviously worked. And I’m pretty sure he’s proud of me that I wasn’t my shopaholic-self in Hong Kong. I even chose a shirt for him, which suited him pretty well imho. After H&M we continued to randomly walk around till we reached a tram station, so we decided why not travel around by tram?

It costs 2 HKD per trip (standardized) plus it’s a great way to see Hong Kong. From Central, we somehow landed in Causeway Bay and we went into Sogo hunting for lunch. Since it was a Sunday, it was way way way crowded and somehow there were tons of Indonesians flooding the streets, all the way from the City Hall to the entrance of Sogo.

This is Mochi Cream, not Dream. (my typo error) It’s basically those Mochi you can find from those snack shops, made out of glutinous rice flour infused with variant flavours from Chocolate, Green Tea, Fruity flavours like Peach,  Blueberry, Orange, even Coffee and Rum.

We bought Green Tea and Chocolate Banana for 13 HKD and 16 HKD respectively. 29 HKD for two mochi’s isn’t exactly economical snack but why not give it a try. It’s stored from the chiller and each mochi is individually packed in a paper bag. Taste wise, mine was the Green Tea and it did not made me squirm although the green tea powder was a tad bitter. The flavour was intense and the cream in the center balanced out the intensity of the green tea powder. Hugo’s Chocolate Banana, you gotta ask him because he didn’t share it with me plus his mochi was squished flat because he only ate it after 3 hours. It was carried in my bag all along with my essential things inside, so go figure.

So that was dessert, but before that we had lunch. We scouted around for food and we ended at this Japanese stall that serves Japanese street food. I tried the Takoyaki Soba, priced at 24 HKD and it was just average. I had better back in Malaysia but I was so hungry from all the walking so anything goes at this point.

Hugo’s Okonomiyaki Soba priced at 26 HKD tasted slightly better than mine, although our soba noodles are the same. His pancake had much more stuffs other than flour, compared to my tako’s which was all flour, little potato and octopus. Plus he had vegetables in his noodles compared to mine.

View from an overhead bridge.  We were there for about 8 minutes and in that span of time, I saw 8 Porsche Cayman’s of all colours. Funny thing, there’s no Toyota Vios or Honda City’s in sight, but I did saw our very own Malaysian Perodua Kelisa, Myvi and Kenari lookalikes in the form of Daihatsu’s.

After Sogo, from Causeway Bay we traveled to Wan Chai North mainly for the HKCEC of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. We had to walk like 30 minutes from crossing roads to traffic lights to overhead bridges before reaching. After walking for 2 days in a row, my feet were about to give in on this third day. Every night I would soak my feet in warm water just to sooth it.

Upon reaching, I saw people setting up banners and stage props for an event which is probably a patriotic themed event because I saw the words “?? ” (I can read basic chinese ) but we just went aside to sit because my feet aches so badly and I took off my shoes the instant I sat down. The sky was again hazy and it was getting pretty warm too, thus making me feeling really lethargic. I took out my Green Tea mochi to savour by the sea side, and we rested for a good 15 minutes before continuing to the Bank of China Tower. It was not a brisk walk as it may look near to the HKCEC but trust me, it took us another 30 minutes.

Visitors can go up to the 43rd floor of the Bank of China Tower for free from Mondays to Saturdays, and since we were there on a Sunday boohoo to us. However we did go up the tower on our last day in Hong Kong.

After being denied of access to the Bank of China Tower, we walked everywhere in search of the bus to The Peak. For those who wishes to go up the Peak, there are 2 ways of doing so. You can either: take the 15c bus which is probably 9.80 HKD (if my memory serves me well) or you can take the tram at Garden Road, near St. John’s Cathedral. The tram tickets are priced at 22 HKD for single and 33 HKD for return, all tickets are sold at Garden Road Peak Tram Lower Terminus or appointed travel agents.

We took the bus as we were nearby a bus terminus (why isn’t it called terminal but terminus) plus taking the bus there are more sights to see although the winding road up did made me dizzy after a whole day of traveling.

Posing for a test shot with Hong Kong Island as the background, as you can see the view isn’t that great with all the hazy blurness. The wind was great though, being up high on the hill it was very refreshing. The best was taking a seat, taking off your shoes and enjoy the view although the view at this time sorta sucks. My feet was crying in joy, I felt it!

We bought tickets for the Sky Terrace at the Peak at 10 HKD per person. Since it was still bright, we decided to enter the Sky Terrace at night for some night view particularly for the daily Symphony of Lights. We had probably the cheapest dinner there at Burger King, because the food at the  restaurants and cafes are ridiculously priced! There’s one restaurant  which is the Kyo Hachi Restaurant where their Ikura Sushi costs 92 HKD per plate, that’s like RM 46 for two pieces of Ikura Sushi. There goes my wish of dining with a view, the price is seriously ludicrous so we scraped the idea. So not worth it.

Too bad I didn’t record a video, but when we entered the Sky Terrace the crowd was massive as the Symphony of Lights has just begun. Across the sea, you could see flashes of lights at the Avenue of Stars and the wind was strong and chilly. Again, I had to put on my jacket as I was shivering from the cold wind.

By the time this photo was taken, it was about 9.30 pm at night so we have been out for more than 12 hours.

Hugo sneezed once and he sheepishly donned on the surgical mask just to “blend in with the crowd”. We waited about 30 minutes for the tram as many people were queing to go down The Peak. We paid 33 HKD using our Octopus cards and from the lower teminus at Garden Road, we took the bus all the way to the Star Ferry Pier at Wan Chai. Technically we were supposed to board off at the next stop in Central, but when we reached the Central stop there were no signs around so we didn’t jump off but after 5 seconds the bus started moving, we were like “oh crap we missed the stop” and we went all the way to Wan Chai. Hence we took the ferry costing 7 HKD.

The ferry was less crowded, and it was a nice way to end the day with a quiet relaxing ferry ride back home. It even drizzled during the ride, but that was the only downpour I encountered in Hong Kong. I went home, had a well deserved warm shower and a hot cuppa, all rest and relaxed to doze off. Tired man I tell you.

The plan for next day is even more extensive than Day 3, as we would be heading to Macau! Plus it’s probably the day we spent the most. Exceeding four figures.

♥ Wendy

Continuing from where I left off from Day 1, where it’s just about exploring Mong Kok and Tsim Tsa Tsui, the second day starts off with travelling all the way to Tung Chung primarily for Lantau Island via Ngong Ping 360.

I was so tired from the previous day that I literally dragged myself out of bed to get ready, thankfully the morning weather in Hong Kong is very refreshing so travelling was much better, the cooling breeze really woke me up. I was also glad I brought an extra pair of shoes for travelling because my Malindi Crocs are dying on me. The soles are totally gone, and somehow wearing it for too long makes my feet ache. I love my Puma’s better now, screw you Crocs hehehe.

We had a simple healthy breakfast down Nathan street, just fish congee with some yau char kway. A bowl of simple fish congee isn’t cheap though, it costs 16 HKD per bowl and the yau char kway costs 4 HKD each. But that’s Hong Kong, the price might be higher but the portion is bigger too so you’re getting what your money’s worth.

Getting to Tung Chung isn’t hard at all, just consult the MTR system map and you’ll be fine as it’s all over the MTR stations with tourist attractions highlighted on it too. So if you’re clueless as to where to go, the tourist attraction feature would definitely be a good recommendation. From Mong Kok which is in the Tsuen Wan line which is in red, go all the way to Lai King and then interchange to the Tung Chung line which is in orange, go all the way till the Tung Chung stop and voila you’re there. Morning’s are usually busy in MTR stations so travel at your own discretion.

Once you’re in Tung Chung, there are several signs around directing you to the Ngong Ping 360 cable cars, or the Citygate Outlets Mall. I will talk about Citygate Outlets Mall in a bit, so from the Tung Chung stop, just follow the signs and you will eventually reach Ngong Ping 360.

Since I was there during the Labor holidays, the crowd there was ridiculous. Well the packages for the cable car rides varies, we took the Ngong Ping Cable Car Experience package which costs 142 HKD per person, whereby we would go on the normal cable car once and the Crystal Cabin once. During the purchase of the tickets, you are required to decide whether to ride up using the standard cable car or crystal cabin.

We took an hour to get to the ticket counter, and another 30 minutes or so to get to the boarding gates of the cable cars. Seriously, if I wasn’t on a holiday mood  I’d be really stressed and frustrated but since it’s a holiday let’s all just relax, have fun and be merry.

I’ve been on quite some cable cars so this one is just blehhhh but it’s definitely better than Langkawi’s because it’s bigger and much more comfortable. The weather might be cooling but it’s so damn cloudy and hazy, very bad for photography. Evidence will be shown in upcoming photos, plus the windows of the cable cars are dirty too. And as we got higher it gets hotter too as it is nearing noon.

Because of the H1N1 outbreak in Hong Kong, the cable car authorities made it a point to clean and wipe the cable car every time a group exits their ride. Several sterilizing liquid and sprays are used, so you’re guaranteed a clean ride.

The ride took about 20 minutes or so, which provided ample time for you to enjoy the view around. In my case, the view is good but would be better if it’s less dusty. The cooling wind blowing into the ventilation pocket of the cable car was awesome, very nice and refreshing.

Overlook of HKIA, couldn’t get a proper shot because of the hazyness and also the dirty windows.

Just when you thought that the crowd is only at the bottom, wait till you go up. Once you reach the top of the cable car station, you will enter into a Chinese cultural village which is called the Ngong Ping village that consists of souvenir shops, cafes, and restaurants. There’s even Starbucks too, but for 41 HKD for an ice blended drink, I’d prefer to keep my money in my pocket.

The main attraction of Lantau Island is the Giant Bronze Buddha, and we have to climb 268 freakin’ steps to get to the Buddha. Seriously, 268 steps is fine but under the hot noon sun, it can make you stress to digress.

So I whipped out my umbrella, and while Hugo was snapping around I also had to carry his damn tripod. And while he basks under the hot sun, I shared my umbrella with him like some sort of assistant holding the umbrella shading him, sigh the things I do.

Don’t get me wrong, the cooling breeze has always been there but when you’re up this high, the sun’s heat definitely kills the cooling breeze, especially when you are walking 268 steps up and all around.

Another typical touristy picture. I’m quite happy to visit Lantau Island actually, I’ve seen this place enough in movies and series but to be here is quite an experience. Although I didn’t enjoy the crowd accompanying me here, I’ve never been a fan of crowds, the sea of people gives me a whiplash.

This is the best place to sit ever, it’s at the top of the steps and further up the platform after another series of stairs. The stone floor was ice cold and I even bought myself a 12 HKD bottle of 500ml Minute Maid to enjoy the moment. Syokness.

But as usual, whenever we stop to rest Hugo would always do all sorts of camera setting changes, hence the porter comes into the picture.

This was before we adjourned down the 268 steps, this set of stairs is reserved for special purposes, probably feng shui ? Funny thing to see that both of us were standing on top and people were doing there prayers and kao tows, as if they’re praying to us.

We walked all the way back to the Ngong Ping village near the cable car station and looked at the shops around, we eventually decided on Euro Go Go, a Western Italian fast food restaurant and mainly  because I’m so enticed with their Hawaiian Pizza.

The food there is pretty reasonable, the Hawaiian Pizza costs 60 HKD and it’s really good! The ham is very sweet and the cheese was plentiful, plus the crust was slight crunchy especially on the burnt edges. And I love any food that has pineapple in it, fried rice, curry, pizza you name it. I’d definitely go there for food again. Plus at the time I was there, it was so crowded till we had to sit by a teeny tiny table by the door, so we’re not the only one who enjoys the food.

Hugo ordered his all time favourite Carbonara and it did not disappoint. It costs 38 HKD and the pasta in Euro Go Go is served in an aluminium packet and it is indeed hot, as in smoking hot. Like just out of the pan kinda hot. Too bad no pictures were taken because the hungry fish decided to chow in before doing his blogger prayers.

After lunch, we went for a show at the Monkey’s Tale Theater in the Ngong Ping Village. Seriously, I thought what’s the hoo-haa about the show and to my dismay it was just an animated cartoon of 3 stupid monkeys who gets electrocuted whenever they want to obtain a peach from a monkey god statue. Seriously, a wasted of 36 HKD per person so be warned do not watch it, go buy yourself another pasta from Euro Go Go better.

By the time we decided to head home it was already late noon, and most of the crowds have already left the top therefore waiting for the cable car down was just a moment. We decided to go on the Crystal Cabin on our way down as the queue to ride it up was freakin’ long therefore we diminished the idea.

The Crystal Cabin got it’s name is because, as you can see from the picture of me sitting on the deck of the cable car it is made out of clear glass therefore you can see what’s below you.

Once we reached the ground, this is where I will talk about Citygate Outlets Mall as I mentioned earlier. For those who love shopping and discounts, please head to Citygate Outlets Mall. The mall is damn big so there’s no way you will miss it. As the name implies, it’s all factory outlets where by you can find brands like Nike, Adidas, The Body Shop, Sony, Laura Ashley, Puma, Samsonite selling their products at ridiculously reduced prices. I even got myself a Puma watch originally priced at 640 HKD but discounted to 480 HKD. I’ve actually been surveying about this particular watch in Malaysian stores and it’s all standardized at RM 368, so to get it at RM 240 in Hong Kong is definitely a good bargain.

We went back to our hostel to freshen up and rest before heading out for dinner. Our plan for the night was to go to the Avenue of Stars, since we were there too early before nightfall. We were walking around Nathan Road and then somehow we ended up at Pak Hoi Street and we saw an array of stalls around, better known as Dai Pai Dongs.

Without any idea of what to eat, we just sat at the nearest stall and ordered whatever the boss recommended to us with consulting about the price of course.

Since the portion served to other customers were quite huge, we limited our dishes to two and chose fish and vegetable, the stalls were just like any normal hawker stalls in Malaysia, just that the Chinese Tea served is free.

This one tasted normal, although the broccoli was very chunky for my liking, it isn’t bite size. Using corn starch in vegetable dishes isn’t my liking either, this dish costs 38 HKD. Just for vegetables.

The boss recommended this Lai Mao fish, and within the first bite I started squirming. The meat texture is like of sardine but with a certain muddy scent to it. Hence the name Lai Mao, which means Muddy Cat in Cantonese. Not my type of fish either, but I was too hungry to complain so anything warm and filling for dinner goes. This plate of fish was 48 HKD and grand amount for our dinner was 89 HKD. Not cheap at all for stir fry, two dishes only can.

After dinner, we took the MTR from Mong Kok to Tsim Tsa Tsui and boy was it windy in Tsim Tsa Tsui. Immediately once I stepped out from the MTR station, I put on my jacket because the wind was so strong and cold! Plus the Avenue of Stars was very crowded too, since it’s a Saturday night.

One thing made me really surprised was, three months back I went to Langkawi and I saw this family of four from some European country at the Geopark and when I was sitting alone waiting in the cold for Hugo to take photos, I met the family again! I never would’ve recognized if it was only the father and son, but when I saw the mother and the little daughter with the curly sandy blonde hair and big blue eyes, I was like whoa fate is definitely real.

I recognized them, but I didn’t say anything to them, who knows I might be wrong and the cold made me lose my senses.

I waited for almost 2 hours for that guy to photograph every building across, in the cold! Wish I could’ve got myself a hot cup of Starbucks, but wallet forbids.

Seeing the Hong Kong night view was very relaxing, the Avenue of Stars is like Penang’s Gurney Drive except that it has better view, better wind that doesn’t stink and a great person to share it with although the person would often abandon me for his camera and only consults me for test shots and the water bottle!

The symphony of lights was beautiful too, the lights of the major buildings across would flicker and dance, very nice to watch.

We went home as two very drained and tired beings, with blisters and strains. The cold wind made me a little feverish and I opted to get some fruit drinks from the nearby 7-Eleven. Day 2 was alright, we travelled quite extensively but the plan for day 3 is about twice the level of the first two days as we will cross the ocean, go up and beyond.

♥ Wendy

This is probably my first time writing about a trip so I’m gonna be as detailed as I can, so here goes nothing.

Around late last year or was it early this year, Hugo who’s an avid airplane ticket promotion stalker booked two Cathay Pacific tickets for two, and luckily it was right after my finals or so it was what I think it was. When I began my semester, there were no confirmed dates as to when is my semester break and I have been bugging for 4 months and still the reply was “there is no reply from USM” so nearing the end of my semester, I was constantly bugging my school’s office for the exact dates of my break, because firstly; my semester couldn’t be like 4 freaking months long and secondly, I didn’t want to cancel my trip to sit for papers!

So yea, I was hustling all my lecturers and the admin of the Mass Comm office and thankfully, my final paper is literally a week before my departure to Hong Kong! Honestly, receiving your final examination’s schedule a week prior to your first paper is a very mean thing that your school can do to you.

Major stress mampus gila babi @_@.

Anyhow, after finally knowing the exact dates for my papers, I was relieved that my Hong Kong trip had no need to be canceled and I sat for the papers doing the best that I could and I think I’ll do okay,  but my main focus was thinking of the well deserved holiday ahead. I don’t expect any fantastic results though, it’s my first semester afterall therefore I shall take this as a learning cove.

Back to Hong Kong, surprisingly I slept like a baby the night before departure, and I was very well packed for everything unlike somebody who packed like as if he’s migrating to Hong Kong. I even brought several surgical masks just in case, as the swine flu case is getting pretty serious in Hong Kong. Our departure time was 8.10 am, therefore we had to wake up even before the male chicken starts singing. We woke up at 5.30 am and had some light breakfast before heading to the airport. I even brought Mr.Shit with me!

The flight to Hong Kong was about 3 hours plus and it was a pleasant flight. I’ve always loved Cathay Pacific airlines, especially 10 years back when they gave me my very own kiddy meal, I still have the cartoon lunchbox that they served food in with all the Looney Tunes cartoons. Breakfast on the plane was either Fritata with Hash Brown and Breakfast Sausage or Fried Noodles with Chicken. The movie selections was great too, there’s Twilight (which I watched for the don’t know how many times already), Seven Pounds, Discovery, E!, and many more.

Upon reaching Hong Kong, we were given arrival and departure cards to be filled in and sign, presented upon arrival and depature.  We had to sign health declaration forms too, because of the swine flu outbreak.

One thing I find very good in HK is, we didn’t have to rely on a GPS machine to guide us around, heck there’s no free Garmin HK maps either, so we stuck to the traditional paper map and in HKIA plenty of tourist friendly maps were available.

From the arrival hall to the bus stand outside HKIA, it took us about 20 minutes even with the airport express trains because HKIA is so damn huge. Getting to our destination, Dragon Hostel in Mong Kok was quite a breeze. The public transportation in HK is very very very and I shall add another very just to emphasize how efficient their system is. The roads in HK are constantly busy, and you will see more taxis compared to private cars. We didn’t have to wait long for our bus, probably about 5 minutes and we were off to Mong Kok.

Even in the bus, there were announcements as to where the next stop is and how many more minutes before the next stop. More importantly, the busses are double deckers!

We arrived at Nathan Road, consulted our maps guiding us to Argylle Road where our hostel for the next 6 days, Dragon Hostel is located. It’s located directly opposite Tung Choi (Ladies) Street, a daily pasar malam that sells a lot of stuffs from clothes to gadgets. It’s basically like Penang’s Batu Ferringhi night market, with less pirated stuffs only.

Our stay in Dragon Hostel costs RM 145 per night for a double bed with a private bathroom, and the room just barely fits the furniture provided and our luggage had to be stowed under the bed otherwise there is no way to walk around, unless we step on the beds. That’s how BIG our room is. But the bed is really comfy, so much better than my own bed man.

The room might be small, but it’s fine for us because we just need an adequate space to sleep for the night. There’s also two cups provided and outside the hall of the room there’s a microwave, water dispenser, water boiler, coffee and tea packets and fridge for the usage of the guests. There’s also a phone in the room where local calls are free, so in my opinion staying here is not bad. Economically comfy and convenient. There’s also two computers with internet access in the office for guests to use, so there’s where I check my Facebook and chat for a brief while with friends while researching on places to visit.

Hugo actually made an itinerary for our trip which made our trip much more systematic and we can manage our time to cover several areas, and our first day was  to explore Mong Kok and Tsim Tsa Tsui. The roads in Mong Kok is busy during day and night, and by night I mean till late night like 12 am onwards. Buses and taxis are everywhere, and each bus and taxi stop is walking distance in between, so to catch a ride isn’t very hard.

As you walk around Mong Kok, you will see a myriad of shops ranging from goldsmiths to boutiques to electronic to banks and as you walk further you will start seeing the same shops again. Like Sasa, almost every corner there’s a Sasa, and I was like “am I at the previous road that I just passed?” Being dubbed the shopping district, you will see a lot of people in Mong Kok thronging almost every shops and there’s the sale banner being plastered everywhere. It’s like a never ending sea of people everywhere you go, especially when you’re crossing the traffic light.

When the cross light turns green, it’s as if it’s Left4Dead all over again. It’s like turn green to alert the horde, everyone just pushes and walk in every direction.

I even spotted some funky car plates in Hong Kong, like this Raptor. There were more but I kinda forgot what they were.

For lunch, we decided to try the Hong Kong version of McDonalds and I was very dissappointed. Firstly, there was no pork burger unlike the last time I was in HK, there was pork burger. Secondly, I ordered this Grilled Chicken Burger which is not on our Malaysian McDonald’s menu and it tasted horrible! Even Hugo’s McCrispy Chicken Burger which is McChicken by the way tasted horrible, the chicken patty was so hard and dry. The total for lunch was about 35 HKD, RM 17.50 per person.

After walking around Mong Kok for about 2 hours, we adjourned via MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui. Primarily for the Avenue of Stars. We decided to get ourselves an Octopus card each (equivalent to our Malaysian Touch N’ Go) to ease our travelling as the MTR stations are mostly jam packed with action from every direction. The deposit of an Octopus Card is 50 HKD each and we paid 150 HKD each to add more value to the card, prepaid travelling. The Octopus card is fully refundable when you are done with it, so no worries about losing out.

Navigating the map of the MTR isn’t that bad, it’s very extensive but when you arrive at your designated stop, there will be several signs leading you to the exit of your destination so just keep an eye for the signs and you’ll be fine. Worse comes to worse, consult the tourist map given!

So far, throughout the 6 days we were never lost in Hong Kong, so the maps provided is proven sufficient! Screw you GPS!

The weather in Hong Kong has been really good, only at certain times it can get quite hot but at most times, it was just fairly sunny with cooling breeze. Upon arriving Tsim Tsa Tsui, which is about 10 minutes via MTR from Mong Kok we took some pictures of the skyscrappers around. Hugo said it’s very Manhattan like, with all the designs of the buildings being reflective glasses and modern sleek lines.

When travelling at night, it’s advisable for those who have low tolerance for cold and strong winds to bring a jacket (like me!), because the temperature can get quite low at this time of the year, not as cold as winter but it’ll definitely make you shiver from the inside.

I called myself a porter throughout this trip, because Hugo had to bring his tripod around and he would make me carry it! And he only carries his camera gear in his backpack. Otherwise for me, I carry our water bottles, our passports, tissue paper, pens and all sorts of essential things that we need throughout the trip. Even the things we bought during shopping is stuffed in my bag.

This is one of the many stars at the Avenue of Stars, it was nothing much la, for me at least. I enjoyed the hazy view and the cool wind more. We were supposed to stay here till 8pm for the daily Symphony of Lights but we were getting low in battery so we decided to come back the following night.

Spot the Nikon Bazooka! The weather was good but the hazy view was very bad for photography, and it never rained throughout my 6 days in Hong Kong. Except for a light drizzle on the second day, so it could get quite dusty around Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Island at the back. This is a candid shot by the way.

Very Chinese-y (Chi-Nee-Zee) Boat at the back!

I’ll just do a little bit of the typical tourist pose la, don’t know how many people queued to pose with the bronze statues at the Avenue of Stars.

We head back to Mong Kok for dinner and for our first dinner in Hong Kong, we were spoilt for choices because there was so many diners everywhere. You can never go hungry in Mong Kok I tell you. We walked for about an hour before deciding on this noodle house because it’s quite packed therefore we gave it a try. The place is called Lok Yuen Noodle House and it’s located on FaYuen Street. They claim to be the Beef Ball King. Heh!

I ordered the Beef Brisket Noodle which is at 25 HKD per bowl and it tasted like bleh. The beef wasn’t tender, a little chewy and I requested for fish meat noodle instead of the normal egg noodle. The soup was alright albeit a bit too salty and the fish meat noodle was just about 3 mouthfuls. They replenish the fish meat noodles with beansprouts that looks like noodles. Hailing from Taugeland a.k.a Ipoh where the tauge is short, stubby and chubby,  compared to the beansprout in Hong Kong, the tauge in Hong Kong is surprisingly long! It’s thin and as long as a toothpick. Hugo and I thought, wow there’s two types of noodles but to found out that it was beansprouts it was quite surprising, more like potong stim because the tauge tasted bland and soggy!

Hugo ordered their specialty, the Lok Yuen noodle and it too tasted like bleh. There were fish balls, beef balls, prawn and fish roll and black pepper balls. Hugo bit half of the black pepper beef ball and had me finish the other half because it was just all pepper and no beef. It tasted like any other fish ball noodle at the cost of 38 HKD.

I find food in Hong Kong very pricey compared back home, but one thing’s for sure is the portion is definitely bigger!

After dinner, we spent about an hour walking around Ladies Street to look around, and the variety of things there is pretty staggering! From toys, clothes, shoes, accessories, sexy kinky lingerie, copy watches and bags, it’s a nice market to walk but beware during weekends, do not alert the horde. Oh yea, about 50 metres away from the hostel there’s a 7-Eleven, and at the entrance of the hostel gates there are food stalls, newspaper stands, convenient stores.

Hong Kong is taking the swine flu case very seriously, most elevator buttons is plastered with a clear plastic sheet and it is sanitized every hour. Even on the flight, passengers are sprayed with sterilizing sprays prior to landing. So for people who are going to Hong Kong, take care of your hygiene and health. Make sure you have your antibiotics and vitamin C ready. You wouldn’t wanna be quarantined upon arrival and departure right.

That’s all for day 1 in Hong Kong and I know it’s a freaking long post, it took me more than 3 hours to write this so please mind my grandmother stories yea. Next up is day 2 in Hong Kong and it starts high up in the sky!

♥ Wendy