Hong Kong trip 12-15 May 09

I'm back from Hong Kong! :D Got back at around midnight. It was really a lot of fun and i'm really glad i went :) It was my first trip overseas without my family and while i was afraid at first, it wasn't so bad at all. Haha.

12 May, Tuesday
I hardly slept the night before cos i went to sleep late, was too nervous/excited/scared to sleep and had to wake up at 4am to catch my flight. Really thankful that my dad sent me to the airport. I met up with SH and Mer and off we went! Jetstar was not much better than the Tiger airline that i took last time. Heh. Tried to sleep, but couldn't really cos it was so uncomfortable :( but while taking off, we managed to see a wonderful sunrise from the plane! Didn't manage to get a nice shot of it though. Oh well.

We arrived safely and took a bus to our hostel area where we met up with the rest - JT, RT, HJ and Karen. Our hostel was really small and cramped, but what to expect from a budget place? Heh. At least it was very clean, so that's good enough. After settling in, we went for lunch and then went to shop! Haha. Most of this trip was basically shopping and eating :P

We went around Mong Kok area where our hostel was. Went to Hua Yuen Jie, which is like a flea market and went by the goldfish market too. After that we had a vegetarian dinner with fake sashimi, fake pork belly and fake abalone. Haha! It was so weird! Especially the fake sea cucumber whcih looked so gross! But thankfully they didn't taste as bad as many mock meats i've tried. Later, Mer, Karen and i went back to the hostel to rest while the rest went to KTV. I would have liked to join them, but i was way too tired to do so :P

13 May, Wednesday
Today we went to Shenzhen! We didn't bring our cameras, so no photos from there. It was an interesting experience and my first time into China. Haha. We went for a dim sum lunch there, which was really cheap! And we spent ages bag shopping. Went to some shopping area later and walked around a whole lot. The rest had pedicures done after that while i opted for foot reflexology instead. That person cheated my money! It was supposed to last 45min, but he only did for half an hour and then went off. I didn't realise it till after he left and the rest commented that it was so fast. I didn't want to pay the full price, but gave in after arguing with the boss for a while. Too bad i can't really argue in Chinese. I don't really mind paying the extra dollar, but it's the lack of work ethic that annoys me the most.

Other interesting thing about the Shenzhen trip was seeing a cosplay cafe that was pretty lame, buying beef jerky, seeing the street where no vehicles are allowed (i forgot the name) and buying 50yuen worth of Chinese tea. :) The tea turned out to be a lot and in my hurry to buy it (cos the rest were waiting), i didn't notice that they had other flower teas too :( And i had to turn down the shopkeeper's invitation to sit down and drink tea. Haha.

14 May, Thursday
Today we went to City Square to shop, followed by a trip to Tsim Sha Tsui to see the avenue of stars. It's a really nice waterfront area. Very windy. We took a bunch of photos with the statues there and then headed to look for the star ferry to go across to Central. We were lucky enough to catch the laser show on the ferry, but i really didn't think it was a big deal :P

Next, we took a tram to the peak. The incline was so steep that it was a bit freaky. Haha. The peak was really cool. Literally. Haha! We didn't pay to go right to the top, but we had a good enough view from where we were. After much trouble looking for a nice place to have dinner, and sampling some weird flavoured ice cream, we headed down on a recklessly driven bus. Even though the road down was steep and winding, the bus driver drove quickly and made turns like nobody's business. I must say, it was a thrilling ride though. Haha!

Later, we went to Lan Kwai Fong area to see the nightlife. It didn't seem like much fun to me. Loud and smokey. And i was kind of disgusted. We had wanted to go chill in a bar or something, but seeing that place, we headed to Starbucks instead. Heh.

15 May, Friday
Sh and HJ left early in the morning while JT, Mer, Karen and i went to Ocean Park! It was quite fun, but we didn't really have much time to spend there. Oh, it was really hot that day too! And for some reason, there are many slopes that we have to walk up and down, so it was pretty tiring. Main things we did were to ride on the cable car, which was really cool and provided a great view, and the mine train, which made me realise that i'm totally not cut out for roller coasters :P Or bungee jumping.

We headed back early to pack up and get ready, then JT, Mer and i left for the airport. We were actually early, but somehow, we almost missed our plane. For goodness knows what reason, one has to take a train to the boarding area. We thought it was just like a normal airport where one can just walk to the gate. What a shock it was! We ended up having to run to the gate. It was so embarrassing to board the bus to go to the plane with all the other passengers already on it. Well, at least we weren't the last :P

After 4 hours of sleeping uncomfortably on the plane, we finally made it home. I was pretty surprised to see that my mum came to pick me too, cos she usually sleeps early, but it made me happy :)

Well, the trip really exhausted me! I really enjoyed going with my friends and somehow, this trip made me even more excited about Japan :D I hope that we can make it a yearly thing to go on trips together. After all, now that school has ended, i won't be seeing these girls as much anymore :(

I spent today resting up a bit, but there are a lot of things that i still need to do. When will i get the time, i wonder.

It's work again tomorrow for me.