We've only just begun...

Jaivyn turns 1

Monday, June 30 9:23 PM

This chipmunk turns 1 year old TODAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIVYN!

See you soon in 2 months and a couple of days!

Love,

Gina yee yee

Hong Kong 2008

Thursday, June 26 9:02 PM

I'm back!! And it's time to recount and document my entire holiday!

It was hugely fantastic, utterly exciting in some other ways and mostly enjoyable. Most importantly in any holiday, the company plays a big role.

In this regard, I think I have the bestest travel partner. :)

Day 1 - 22 June 08 (Sunday)

Woke up at 5am, bathed, changed, packed the last minute remnants of baggage and it was time! Dear drove down to my house to pick me first. For once, I didn't have to pull myself out of bed that early in the morning.

We drove all the way to his house and parked the car, and hopped onto his Dad's car.
It was pouring that morning so Uncle very kindly offered to drive us to the Airport. =)

Checked in at the Express Lane cos we already did our Internet Check-in. Saved us a lot of time. Met my Daddy this time and we went for breakfast at Imperial Palace.

Went into the boarding gate shortly at around 8 (our flight is 8.30am).

We flew Cathay Pacific this time since Boyfriend says that is the national carrier, and thus should be quite prestigious there.

Now, don't get me started on how our flight was delayed for 1 whole hour before taking off.

Anyway, breakfast wasn't too bad. Since I had congee earlier at Imperial, I took their omelette. Nice.
I'm a sucker for eggs (as long as it doesn't come with watery yolks), so that's an easy way to please me. Heh

The journey took 3 hours and 20 minutes, slight turbulence. Caught 'Horton hears a Who' and a little bit of 'Charlie Bartlett'. We reached as soon as I was gonna take a nap. Haha

Upon touching down at HKIA (Hong Kong International Airport)

Just had to snap while waiting for the internal subway in the Airport. I am actually quite impressed with the HKIA

We were received by the tour agent (William!) shortly and ushered towards the hotel transfer, a mini coach that will bring us to our hotel. We're staying at Regal Kowloon by the way.

Olympian City 1

The lengendary red taxi I see on TVB!

I tell you, for someone like me who's watched more TVB dramas than Channel 8 ones, going to HK is a bit like Alice in Wonderland for me.

Everything seems so Hollywood, come to life.

Haha

Still on the way...

It's approximately 20-minute journey from Airport to Tsim Sha Tsui where our Hotel is.

Got to our Hotel and parked our stuff there, went out soon after, equipped with camera, passports, wallet, handphone and most importantly, our trusty MAP.

By the time we finally combed the streets, it was already 4 plus 5pm. We went to Kimberly street where I saw the biggest Agnes B boutique. :)

At the end of the day, I bought 2 dresses. Dinner was somewhere along Nathan Road at a small restaurant called Double Star.

Dinner took f.o.r.e.v.e.r to serve. Only in HK, I'm not complaining cos we got a window seat and I was so engrossed staring out the window.

Soon, Dear and I were counting the cars that drove passed. I tell you, either HK is an extremely rich country or cars are comparatively cheaper!

The cars that drove past below were Mercedez Benz... Lexus.. BM.. Merz.. BM... BM.. Lexus..Lexus... And occasionally when we saw a Nissan, it's the Fairlady (the one they used in Tokyo drift) and usually parked outside Mandarin hotel while people snapped photos and gawked at it. Yah, that one.

Boyfriend joked that a Nissan March or even the Sylphy will be put to shame on the roads of HK. I couldn't agree more.

Told you, the time they took to prepare this dish is record breakingly l o n g.

By nightfall, we walked to near the Harbour, where we caught some of Hong Kong's skyline. It's not very clear in the next few shots, but trust me. It was beautiful.

Day 2 - 23 June 08 (Monday)

Woke up around 8am, and we headed off to have Tim Sum for breakfast. Yuummm. The restaurant is tucked away at Penisular Centre, a place called Tack Hsin Restaurant (I think).

Serves great tim sum, that's for sure. And you know what's the best thing. The entire breakfast (trust me, we're not tiny eaters) costs us a grand total of.....................................

11 SGD! No kidding.

The corridor down the restaurant.

We went there for breakfast 2 straight days in a row. Hee

While waiting for the tim sum to arrive.

After breakfast, we headed out and at one of the building at Chatham Road South, we saw this.

Typhoon signal 1. Hmmm, I got a little bit excited. What does it mean??

Anyway, we checked with the hotel staff at the end of the day whose answer to our question was: "It's okay, it's very normal."

Oh well.

Back to Chatham Road South, we slowly made our way to Times Square and the central shopping district.

Side view of Times Square

Front view

The crowd at Times Square

Dear bought lotsa LeSportSac for his colleagues at Times Square (very cheap). I wanted to go to Longchamp, but it was closed! Argggh!

Thankfully, there was a Kate Spade boutique and I got myself a lovely bag! Happy! =) Can't remember what else I bought.

Us in front of Times Square

And me, all by myself in front of Lane Crawford. I think we used to have that in Sg.

How about bringing it back?

Tsim Sha Tsui station.

This is confusing to us inititally because there was Tsim Sha Tsui station and East Tsim Sha Tsui station.

After tonnes of walking, we decided to take a breather at the nearest fast food restaurant which is by no surprise, Macdonald's.

Dear ordered a milk tea of some sort with pearls. Granted.

He got me a Pear with Honey Iced Tea. It's a pity we don't have it here, it's delicious. Or maybe I was too thirsty. Haha

Noticed anything different about this cup?

Yah? That there is no straw...?

And you wonder why I'm sipping my Iced Tea without a straw.

Has Gina gone environmentally conscious all of a sudden?

No.......

But because it was.........don't laugh.

NO STRAW DAY!

Hahah, Every second and fourth Monday of the month, they don't serve straws!

By the way, the picture of the sign below was taken on the last day (Wednesday) at another outlet, that explains why there are straws inside. On Monday, there were none!

On the Monday itself, the container was empty. When Dear told me about his discovery, I laughed myself silly and noticed no one had straws, except for those like him who took tea with pearls.

HAHA

After Times Square, we travelled to Wan Chai and Central.

There we saw, the Immigration Department. Someone felt a sense of homecoming, so must snap!

And the Immigration Tower.

Haha, please. The Revenue Tower was there too (home coming for me), but I din't take any. It was close to knock-off time and the building entrance was so packed.

This is like the Government Agencies district cos I saw ICAC! You see, so TVB! I imagine Wang Xi acting there.

Bustling streets of HK

After that, it was IFC Mall at Central.

We were too shagged to shop by then, so we grabbed some HK titbits and made our way back.. to Tsim Sha Tsui.

-pants-

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant (forgot the name) and we ordered the must-have. Baby Pigeon.

Everyone's been raving bout how great it tastes and all. To be honest, I felt slightly disgusted eating it. Although everyone says it's just like chicken, only better.

But the baby pigeon was so tiny in my hands. I couldn't bear to tear it apart. Silly as it sounds, boyfriend eventually got the cue and started peeling the meat for me.

I even turned the plate such that its head didn't have to face me. Made an exception for the camera though.

3rd Day - 24 June 2008 (Tuesday)

We went Mong Kok.

Ladies Market is here. It is a bit like BKK's Chatuchak market. You know what's the funny thing. I really don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Immediately after I bought 1 bag, the customs officers conducted a raid on stalls selling fake LVs, Rolex and stuff like that. WTH! It was a mess. The officers perpetrated the stalls.

Again, I had my Hollywood moment cos in tian sun yeye, the father was working as this kind of officer. Same uniform. Haha, so cute.

But I still managed to grab the things I wanted and headed down to the next street which sells ALL sporting goods. Boyfriend almost went delirous with joy.

Using the Tsuen Wan line. Goodness, there are so many different lines!

We went Sham Shui Po too.

And then to Jordan.

I secretly wished our train stations had cool names like these cool. Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui, Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok etc..

There is even a Lai Chi Kok.

Really!!

Somewhere, we saw this familiar sign again.

Typhoon Signal 3 is hoisted. I wonder if it means we have to take cover now?

Sure, take cover cos we are thirsty for dessert!

This is another must-have in HK. Xu Liu Shan or Hui Lau Shan.

Their mango is their specialty. Once again, I'm a huge mango fan. (Both the apparel line and the fruit!) Haha

After the boss helped us snap this picture, boyfriend took the chance to ask him if the typhoon alert 3 is okay. He says he didn't even know it was raised, but commented it's very mild.
The highest (like most serious) is Level 10. This is used in a hurricane.

When it reaches Force 8, all transport will be suspended, kids do not have to attend school.

Wow, a bit like out PSI index. EXCEPT we have never ever hit the 300 which rendered unsafe for school. NEVER.

After dessert, we headed to New World Centre. Sogo is in there.
Bought Longchamp for Mum here! She loves it by the way.

The Penisular. Heard one night at this hotel is SUPER EX!

New World Centre at night.

Dinner on the third night was at Delifrance. We went to Outback Steakhouse inititally but the smell of the bread at DeliF below drew us in.
Photo taken from inside the restaurant. At this time (approx 8pm), the winds were very strong outside.

Reached back hotel. Legs were aching like mad. Bags were piling and stacking high.

Tried to pack some stuff into our luggage first, to little avail.

You wanna know how far we walked?

This is the pair of shoe I wore there.

I lost the heel. On the first night! Hahahaha

I don't know how. I was slightly irritated at first, cos I liked this pair so much. But after 5 seconds, I laughed myself silly.

So on the 2nd day, I bought this pair of Skechers! It's so cute right? It's like Crocs but less bulky. It even comes with 2 of the whatyoucallthat on it.

Plus, I'm pretty sure this pair will break as easily! Good to last me for 2 more days of hardcore walking!

Thinking of how to pack my Kate Spade into the luggage.

And then, I realised there is also Longchamp!

And I bought this Ralph Lauren Bag too! Slightly cheaper than in Sg.

98SGD.

Hotel room. Looks like the typhoon came in. Haha

And so it was. At 10.35pm that night, the news everywhere (radio, TV) broadcasted that the typhoon Signal 8 is now hoisted. It is the same Typhoon FengShen that killed 800 in Phillippines when the ship sank.

The trees outside the hotel were swaying like mad.

Kids do not have to go to school, exams were cancelled. MTR service was suspended.

We got a little worried now, cos we were going back soon. What if flights got cancelled?

4th Day - 25 June 2008 (Wednesday)

Woke up and the skies was pitched black. One entrance to the hotel was sealed, tourists were kept in. A random few ang mohs braved the rain to get some Starbucks nearby but they returned horribly drenched.

There was no food in the hotel, the restaurants were closed, because the staff could not make their way to work in the typhoon.

Hunger got the better of us, so I suggested we take a cab to New World Centre to grab some chow.

When we reached there, we saw this that confirmed that the Force 8 was still up.

All the shops were closed, same thing. People could not get to work to open their shops. Luckily, we have trusty Mac. Ordered 2 meals and an extra sausage mcmuffin.

Check this out. The 2 breakfast meals only costs SGD 5 buckaroos!

This lady was practically blown away as she tried to open her brolly.

You can't really tell but it was pouring!

We dashed across cos we needed to get to the underpass, and when we were out, the wind was so strong, my eyes couldn't open at all.

It was that strong!

More Typhoon Number 8 Signals. Every mall and hotel has one.

This is a more detailed cyclone plotting map when the typhoon was at Signal 3.

They even indicate the arrow to represent the direction where the Typhoon is blowing.

While on the cab from New World Centre back to Hotel after Mac breakfast, you could see from inside that the potted plants were all overturned.

Our hotel transfer was late in bringing us to the Airport on Wednesday, nonetheless we still reached on time!

It was sad, cos life returns to normalcy. But in a way, we were happy cos it was very tiring, albeit only 4 days.

See, he is happy to be going back.

(This is because he does not know what lies ahead....)

At the Boarding Gate, waiting for CX 711. Departure time was 1615 hours, so need to be at the gatehold room by 1550 hours.

We waited.

Flight was delayed till 1530 hours due to the bad weather and raging typhoon, we were given meal coupons to make use of during the 1 hour delay, but we didn't cos we thought it'd be soon.

So we waited somemore.

And took some photos!

Then the announcement came, CX711 was delayed again till 1830 hours.

Our original ETA (estimated time of arrival) was 8.45pm. At this rate, I don't know if I can get to work the next day.

This time, we went straight to redeem some food using the meal coupons since it was close to dinner time, and we were getting hungry.

Since they were gonna serve dinner onboard (provided flight is not cancelled), we only took some Millie's cookies and hot chocolate!

And at 1830 hours, when we all expected it to be delayed by the 3rd hour, it announced that we could board the plane. Phew.

Dinner was disappointing, luckily I had good movie to make up for it. Caught Penelope.

Touched down in Singapore close to 11pm, reached home, bathed, distributed gifts. Glad everyone loved them.

Things in HK were really expensive, so didn't get a lot. As you can see, most of the stuff I got are the branded stuff, which were only comparably cheaper in Sg. Even dresses I got from 50% sale costs around SGD 50.

Oh, and Clara, there are no boots in HK this season, sorry!

My total loot came up to 1 Kate Spade, 1 Ralph Lauren bag, 1 Agnes B Voyage, 4 Nike tops (2 for Jacq), 2 working dresses, 1 Longchamp (for Mummy), 2 Skechers shoes (1 for Jacq), 1 Nike Portugal Jersey (for Al), 1 Umbro England Jersey (for Daddy), some cookies and souvenirs from HK Disneyland for colleagues.. Hmm, have I missed out on anything?

That's all for Hong Kong 2008. Some people may think the weather killed my holiday but I think it only added more memories for us. :)

XoXo
Gina and Robin signing off!