My Hong Kong Trip Day 1

Hello, I'm back from my overseas trip. Just in case you are wondering, I went to Hong Kong for holiday, that's why I didn't join you guys for the expedition. But well, I also had my own "expedition" there. And you guys must be curious about what I was doing there, so I'm going to blog it down for you guys!! =D

Day 1 / 4 June 2008 / Wednesday

My parents and I left at 8 am and took a taxi to the airport. Our flight was 11 am, but my parents want to get there early, and perhaps too early. Anyway, we reached Changi Airport T3 at around 9am, checked in, and lingered around the airport.

Me and my parents

At 10.30am, I was waiting outside the boarding gate and Dennis SMS-ed me and asked whether I had recovered and reminded me of the BOTC session. I had totally forgotten about that session, but thanks to the great facilities of Changi Airport, I managed to find a computer with internet access, and e-mailed Saul to inform him that I wasn't coming. Hopefully I can make up for that session another time. By the way, my cough has not gone yet. Still coughing, but bearable.

After I was done with the e-mail, I went back and it was 10.58 am. Just nice to go in the gate. Then we had security checks. My 2 water bottles were thrown away and a nailclipper confiscated. I was aware that I can't bring perfume and liquid stuff in the plane, but I didn't know/realize that water was also counted. Ah, never mind.

Finally, I'm on board into the plane! It's a 3 hour flight to Hong Kong. Spent 1+ hour playing with my Nintendo DS, another 45 minutes eating and watching an episode of "Supernatural", and more playing again. The view from the top was picturesque; buildings looked as if they were lego toys, and they were all over the place. Well, I can't remember the last time I got into a plane, so I was definitely excited. As the plane touched down, I could see the beautiful hill afar. The ground was wet from the rain, and I can't wait to get out.

After we got our luggage, we proceed to look for our travel agent. We found a spot which has the travel agency's logo, and we waited and a guy from the agency approached us. We were told to wait a while as the bus is still on the way. So the bus came, and fetched us to our hotel - Dorsett Seaview Hotel. We checked in to the hotel, and got our room at room 2. Pretty convinient. The room is very small, so small that if we have to move, we would have to crawl here and there.

Our bedroom

After we put down our stuff and rest for a while, we went out for dinner with my cousin. My mum know her for quite a long time and she had been living in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. She is married with a son about my age. The time was 5pm when we set off to find the nearest MRT (known as MTR there) which is Yau Ma Tei. It was about 5 minutes walk from the hotel to the station. We had dinner at a shopping centre directly above Mong Kok station, which is 1 stop away.

MTR Map. There will be flashing dots to indicate which station you are currently in.

My cousin & the restaurant we were in.

"Dan dan min" and some other dishes.

This dinner cost about HK$400+, which is around S$80+. It's quite cheap, considering we ordered some more dim sum and dessert (red bean waffles).

My parents picked up the bill in which my cousin protested. Well anyway, we went to walk around the streets in Mong Kok for a while before returning back to our hotel. We had an early night as we would be having a half-day tour the next day. We could hardly sleep as my cough woke my parents up even though I took the medicine. I drank hot water and applied medical oil and tried to get some sleep.

Streets of Mong Kok area

We met with our grandma and our relatives at a restaurant in Mong Kok. They were actually supposed to travel with us, but in the end we decided to travel on our own. At around 9pm, we went back to Yau Ma Tei, but we couldn't find the exit when we entered the station. (It was the opposite side, but we didn't realize it). We entered other exits and lost our way. We didn't have a map with us, so we tried to walk around and looking at the street names, but to no avail. Finally, we took a taxi back to the hotel. It was very near, but we were unfamiliar with the place. We walked for around 30 minutes before finally taking a cab back.

-Posted by Meng Soon-