My Hong Kong Trip Day 2

Day 2 / 5 June 2008 / Thursday

I woke up at around 5.30 am (my parents woke up earlier), and the sky has already turned bright. We watched TV for a while taking our time to dress up for the half-day tour later. We were supposed to gather at the hotel lobby at 7am. We got ready and being bored, I took some pictures of the buildings nearby.

The buildings and me lazing around :P

At 7.30am, we board the bus. Our tour guide was a guy called Albert. He makes jokes now and then. He said that some Hong Kong guides have a terrible command of Mandarin (also known as PutongHua there). He cited that one guide wanted to say to an elderly couple that they can go and bathe. But his pronounciation was wrong and it became "go and die" instead. And he told us that if we are to go to China via Hong Kong, we still have to go through custom in order to go to China. It's because China still want to watch over HK and have "one country, two systems" concept. HK is also famous for its horse-betting. In fact, the government collects 17% tax from it. Needless to say, the government will continue to support it. The horse races will start at September and stop at June. The horses need to rest, if not they can't perform its best.

We first arrived at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai. It is the place where Hong Kong officially returned to China in 1997. It's nearby the sea, and a lot of buildings can be seen across. We were just in time to see the daily flag-raising ceremony along with the national anthem. We enjoyed the morning air, looking around and taking pictures.

Our tour guide

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre & buildings across the sea

We then proceed to have breakfast at around 8.30am. We had dim sum for breakfast. As you know, Hong Kong is quite famous for the delicious dim sum.

The restaurant and the delicious dim sum

Next, we proceed to Shui Wan to view the buildings on the hills. It is well-known for its good fengshui as the scenery looks like a dragon (I can't seem to figure the dragon though). Jackie Chan lives here by the way. Then, they proceed to the temple nearby to touch the "chai shen". I didn't go in, but went around the area to take some pictures of the scenery. It was around 10.30am when we boarded the bus again to go further up the hill to take photos and sight seeing.

Buildings on the hill & group photo

Beautiful scenery from the top

Next stop, boat ride! Also known as Sampan ride. There are a lot of boat houses around here, as well as private boats.

Entrance to the Sampan ride & private boats

After the Sampan ride, we proceed to a jewellery shop. We were ushered into a room, where a lady introduced the process of making jewellery. She claimed that the shop is the only jewellery shop in Hong Kong to produce feng shui jewellery, and they hired feng shui practioners to help design the shape. They look nice, but not worth to buy. However my mum bought 2 of them, which cost HK$4300, around S$800+. Even if they don't feel heartache, I also feel for them. Then, we entered a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) shop, where they specialize in selling uncommon chinese herbs, as well as a free checkup by the sinseh. It was around 2pm when we finished the tour, and had lunch at a restaurant near our hotel. We walked back to our hotel and we walked to Yau Ma Tei station to check which exit to alight. (We got lost yesterday as we couldn't find the right exit).

Jewellery shop, TCM shop and lunch.

Since we are at the station already, we took the train to Sham Shui Po where we meet up with another relative and we went to her house. She's about 60+ years old, and her husband 80+ years old. My grandma and gang were there too. It was around 4 pm when we were there, and they went out for dinner at 5.30pm. I went back to the hotel instead as I was quite tired already. And so I stayed at the hotel and watched TV. Hong Kong TV shows have quite nice serial dramas and entertainment shows.

-Posted by Meng Soon-