Annual 'pilgrimage'

It's HK again - 9-12 Jan. Must think of what to do when i get there. I wouldn't have gone if not for SIA's fare promotion and Mike happens to be in HK then (it's really hard to catch him in HK, and just nice he's gg back to the States on the 12th)

This would be my 5th time in HK since 2003, seems like I've been there every year except 05 and 06. Trying to recap what I did in HK during my last few visits.

Dec 2002-Jan 2003 - first time in HK. This was like a JC grad trip. I was in HK for a whopping 9 days and was staying at FKC's place in Shatin. Had a taste of residential neighborhood life in HK. I remembered FKC's place was at the foot of a mountain and it was winter time, so it was fugging cold. We went to various places like Cheung Chau Island and Shenzhen. And i met up with JC classmate Gordon and went to Ocean Park with him - we took the rollercoaster at least 4 or 5 times just to get to sit at the front of the car. And soon after, I got back to Singapore and began by National Service.




Dec 2003 - Did a Taiwan-HK combined trip with FKC and Ivan Huang, and then met up with Mike in HK. FKC had already started uni at HKUST. I can't rem if FKC and Finn were together already or not, but I think i met her and Ah Shan at the HKUST hostel. We had many drinks and I was drinking for Ivan huang cos he was down with a fever after a massive diarrhoea from a spicy meal in Taipei. I rem running along the beach at HKUST yelling "I wasn't drunk!" and then crashing into a bush puking away. Went to Mike's house the following day and crashed for a large part of the day. Went to Stanley Beach with Mike, FKC and Ivan Huang and played soccer there with a bunch of kids beside the beach. I rem the kids were damn pissed cos we kept scoring goals against them.



Dec 2004 - Both Mike and FKC were in HK and I visited them days before my ORD. I couldn't rem if Mike and Ah Shan got together alr or not - probably not, if not Mike wouldn't have time to accompany me this time round. But FKC and Finn were already together for more than a year. FKC, Finn, Mike and myself did a 2D1N in Macau. We tried our luck at the casinoes and it was an eyeopener. We rem getting conned by a taxi driver who brought us to this restaurant called 海盜船. There was no one in there and we felt cheated! Golden Sands was ready by then but many parts of Macau were visibly still under development. Another memorable thing on this trip was the BBQ outing at Stanley Beach where we rented a kerosene lamp and sat by the chilly waters and BBQ the meats we bought from Wanchai i think. Other places i visited included the Big Buddha at Lantau Island. The cable car wasn't ready then so Mike and I took a very long bus ride from Tung Chung. I rem that was where we had a vegetarian meal and i took a free copy of the Guan Yin script that i later accidentally burnt it during the BBQ at Stanley Beach.



May 2007 - It was some 2.5 years later that I visited HK again. Was there with Joshua, Serene and Serene's friend and we caught Sammi Cheng live in concert at the HK Coliseum. It was my first and only concert experience in HK. The coliseum looks run-down but the acoustics were good. Sammi had a fantastic performance that I will always remember. Places we went..hmm..we ate at Yong Kee which was touted to be the best restaurant in HK but we were damn disgusted by their level of service. A waitress broke Josh's camera and they didn't offer immediate compensation. FKC and Finn both had started work for more than a year already, and we took the NgongPing cable car up to see the Big Buddha at Lantau Island. It was foggy like hell and we quickly left.


Jul 2008 - HK again after my internship at Merrill. This time I went with JX and met up with Evan who was doing a one-month exchange programme in HK. Everywhere in HK, there were Beijing Olympic decorations. The weather was gloomy in the months leading up to Lehman collapse. In the financial district, i could feel an ominous atmosphere everywhere and that was perhaps just the beginning of what's worse to come. Just like any of the previous trip, I went up the Peak but this time round decided to go visit the Madame Tussauds Museum at the Peak Galleria. Had quite a lot of fun photowhoring with JX. It was also one of the first times I didn't take a single picture on the trip at all, cos my camera was spoilt. So JX did all the phototaking, and for the first time I have so many pictures of myself enjoying the holiday! Met up with FKC and Finn again of course. FKC seemed to have grown rounder than ever. JX and I went to check out more food places on our own this time round. Hing Kee claypot rice and Yau Ma Tei!!! I will be back for more next week! We also did a trip with Evan to Macau and visited the newly-opened (ok not that new by then) Venetian. We had excellent Portuguese Macau food too! JX and I went to Ocean Park and was caught in bad weather and also crowds of Mainland tourists - Yucks! That was also where i received a phonecall from my boss telling me I got a job offer with Merrill! Kept me happy the whole time!


I don't think i really have had the ultimate tourist experience in HK yet despite going to HK several times. But FKC always discourages me from doin' all the touristy stuffs cos they are either expensive or boring. I have no particular interest in HK Disneyland though. Other things i would like to do though is to visit Wong Tai Sin temple, have seafood at Saikung, check out drinking areas at Knutsford terrace, chiong the factory outlets at Southern Horizons, have BBQ again at Stanley Beach! Again, the purpose of this coming trip is mainly to meet up with Mike since it's not easy to catch him in HK. And now that there's a new member in the EXk club - Mike's got a new gf for close to a year already, it would be sort of a different travel experience again, especially in the absence of FKC and Finn, both are in Shanghai for work.

Let's see how the trip goes. It will be the last of my many holidays in Dec/Jan before I get super busy at work again. Let's hope i getta check out new things in HK this time round.

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