LADIES MARKET OF HONG KONG

After Avenue of the Stars, we went to find our way to the first famous night market in Hong Kong. We thought we had arrived at the market when we entered a stretch of road that was closed to traffic. There were already a lot of people walking with varieties of activities going on. But that was not the actual market yet.

live street concert

they were filming something

street acrobatic show

One word to describe the place: HAPPENING. Other than people who were trying to sell their products or services by shouting through the microphones or loud hailers, there were also street performers, acrobatic shows and at one spot, they were shooting a film, or a commercial. Being the curious ones, we simply joined the crowd.

We knew we were at the exact spot when we saw rows and rows of stalls displaying all sorts of things. If you are familiar with Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, you will get similar experience here except there were more things to be bought and seen.

I wonder why it is called Ladies Market. The stall operators were both men and women, but they were mostly women when I was there. The goods were also for both sexes and everybody could come to this place, not just for ladies.

In order to get the lowest price for whatever items that you want to get, you should put your bargaining skills at test here. No matter how small the things were, like key-chains, fridge magnets and t-shirts, we still had to bargain. It was something difficult as we did not really know how low the price could get, or what would be the margin price for the items on sale. If you offer a price too low, the sellers will call you "CRAZY" and it seemed once you have agreed on a price but you simply walk away, they will shout (or curse) at you in anger. I guess this is how business transaction is carried out in this kind of place. I had similar experience when I was in Beijing last year.

cheap labour: translation, please?

By then, we had some ideas what we could buy from the night markets in Hong Kong. At the same time, there were other night markets that we would visit before going back to Malaysia.

waiting for the train

And that wraps up our first day spent in Hong Kong. And there would be more exciting trips to other parts of the country for four more days to come.

T O   B E   C O N T I N U E D . . .

BOOK REVIEW - JODI PICOULT'S "PERFECT MATCH"

SYNOPSIS: Nina was a prosecutor and she dealt with children who were abused. Once, her own son, Nathaniel, had to be sent to a psychiatrist when he had difficulties communicating and in the end they discovered that the kid was molested by a priest, Father Glen, from the church during a  Sunday school. Being a very protective mother, Nina took the law into her own hands and he shot the priest to death when he was about to be prosecuted as she believed that the court wouldn't do her son justice. To make matter worse, after the DNA test result was out, Father Glen was not the one who molested Nathaniel in the first place. This means Nina had murdered someone who was innocent and things got really complicated and hence the courtroom drama continued. I will not disclose the ending of the story but it is a bit illogical to me as the criminal was not convicted but there is an unexpected twist in the end that I think was brilliant.

This should be my seventh Picoult's novel and I am never tired reading her work. Now I have to pick another novel and hopefully I will be able to finish at least two more books before the school reopens.

AVENUE OF THE STARS, HONG KONG

29th November, 1st day ~ After checking-in at the hotel and asking for directions from the staff at the front desk, we started our exploration of the city and the first destination was Avenue of the Stars. It was like only 5:00 p.m. but it got dark really fast in winter.

The stretch of avenue is situated somewhere near Tsim Tsa Shui, and overlooking the facade of the buildings on Hong Kong Island. People come here basically for two reasons: The first one is to admire the beautifully and brightly lit skyscrapers at night (if they go there at night, that is). However, when we were there, it was windy, rainy and foggy. As a consequence, the view was not as spectacular as it should be when the sky is clear.

By 8:00 o'clock we saw a lot of people crowding the spot where we could find the big statue and Shafiq was telling that the Symphony of Lights show was about to start. So we waited for a while and again to our disappointment, we could not witness the breathtaking show of lights and laser as it was too foggy. The show should be dramatic in a way, with the movements of multicoloured lights and laser beams on the tall buildings would be synchronized with the music to tell a story to the audience. I guess we have to come here again some other time just to see the show.

The second reason people came here is most probably to pay tribute to the artists who have contributed to the development of  Hong Kong's film and music industry. There were statues and the most prominent one would be of Jackie Chan. On the ground, there were palm prints of famous figures and we could find the palm prints of Jackie Chan. (Who didn't love Jackie Chan?)

Despite the drizzling rain, there were still a lot of tourists hanging out at this area. Similar to them, we were busy with our cameras, trying to capture the best spots possible.

We had to make our move and we then tried to find our way to our first night market which Hong Kong is renowned for.

FAREWELL GATHERING FOR PUAN AMIRAH

Even though we are now in the middle of the school holiday, we still had a gathering for Puan Amirah Abdul Rahman, one of the school's lab assistants who had to be transferred to a newly-opened school. She had been here for about one year but it was a directive from the department so we had no other choice.

It was an informal event in a way. There were short speeches, followed by prize-giving session and lastly, eating the food specially prepared for the occasion.

Although she is only here for a short while, her contribution to the school is always appreciated. We hope that Puan Amirah will like her new life at her new working place.

HONG KONG 101: HK FOR BEGINNERS

When Shafiq and I decided to go to Hong Kong on our own, we had to do a lot of research on the internet for facts and tips that might assist us during our travel. While everything is still fresh in my mind, I am now writing a comprehensive guide for people planning to go there in the future.

GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT: Before going, you better get at least some of your facts right. With internet, that would be something very easy to do. Other than websites that could feed us with endless information, there were also blogs written by people who frequently travel and travel guides like TripAdvisor which helped us a lot. As we had decided to visit Hong Kong, Shenzen and Macao, we had to focus on these three locations. There were just too many interesting places to visit so we had to plan our itinerary well. Nevertheless, there were always last minute changes done (because of unforeseen circumstances like the time and weather). We always discussed and made the decision before going to bed every night for the plan the next day.

GETTING AIR TICKETS: This was one thing that we did the earliest. If you think of going with AirAsia, do not hesitate to check the price offered by other airlines like MAS because you might get lucky to get a better deal. There is a popular belief that the earlier you get the ticket, the cheaper it will be.

the happy travelers

ACCOMMODATION: Bear in mind, the cost of living in Hong Kong is quite high so be ready to pay more for your accommodation. We did our booking through AGODA and we chose the hotel after reading the reviews posted by other visitors in the AGODA website or you can find a lot of that from TripAdvisor. From what we had read, you could stay in a hotel near the city centre at a reasonable price but then the room would be quite small and space will be limited for praying, storing our luggage or preparing our own food. Some even mentioned that the bathroom was smelly. Considering these facts, we decided to stay at a place a bit away from the busy city but with a better living condition, and we didn't mind a bit the long travel all over the place. And I really think we had made the right decision. (There will be a special entry for the hotel where we stayed later).

food stock for five days

FOOD: For Muslim travelers, you might have some problems finding halal food in this part of the world. However, if you google for restaurants selling halal food in Hong Kong, you could get a long list of them. However, we were not willing to spend so much on food so we brought almost everything from home such as instant noodles and rice, canned tuna, margarine and jam for sandwiches, variety of prepacked dishes that you could eat by putting the packets in hot water, bread and even bottled mineral water. We could almost open a supermarket selling halal food there. And not to worry, unlike Australia or New Zealand, Hong Kong does not impose strict regulations for food brought into the country, and THANK GOD FOR THAT.

CURRENCY: Based on experience, it would be best to get your Hong Kong dollar from Malaysia. You could find moneychangers over there no doubt but then, you would get less amount of HK dollar to spend. As of today, after checking from XE Universal Converter, for every RM100 you change, you will get about HK$254.80. 

ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT: People here speak English so life was easy for us. With English, will travel. We went straight to the tourist information counter (and met with this very sweet young girl *wink wink*) and she provided us with everything we wanted to know. She even suggested that we take the bus instead of the train to the hotel as it would  be cheaper than the train and  was hassle free. We had to get the OCTOPUS CARD for tourists, a debit card, that costs HK$150 that could be used for all public transportation such as the bus, train, tram and light train (something like your Touch-n-Go card here) and it would be cheaper than paying with cash. There are other places where you could use your Octopus card but I only used it once at a 7-Eleven store. You could add in the value of the card at any MTR station, kiosk or even at any 7-Eleven outlets. Before you leave Hong Kong, make sure you return the card as you would get your $50 deposit and the unused amount of money (but $9 will be deducted for service charge).

MTR map provided by the hotel

GETTING AROUND HK: If you are familiar with the LRT system in Malaysia or you have the experience of using the subway in other parts of the world, the same concept is applied here. Just study the map, and the trains will take you to all over Hong Kong. At the interchange stations, there are other mode of transportation like the buses and light trains. At the stations, there are a lot of sign boards that will guide you to your destination but make sure you get the right exit. The last resort is to ask for directions from people you meet. They are very friendly and will not hesitate to help. And make sure, you have a pair of strong feet to walk and to stand in the train for long hours. I was shocked at first to see so many people in the MTR stations at almost any time of the day. Where did all these people come from?

 

I also bought a guide book for tourists as it made me feel more secured. (READ: old school) People now have more sophisticated gadgets definitely but the book did help a lot.

That's about it, some important things that you need to know about Hong Kong if you plan to go there, especially if you are not going with any tourist agency. In fact, Hong Kong is a place that you can survive easily on your own. Welcome to Hong Kong!

*I hope people from the HK Tourism Board will read this and invite me to go there again. Ha ha ha...

RELATED LINKS

Avenue of the Stars

Ladies Market

Harbour Plaza Resort City Hotel

Hong Kong Disneyland [PART 1] [PART 2] [PART 3] [PART 4]

K11 ART MALL

Temple Street Market

Hong Kong Island

A Short Trip to Shenzen, China

A Short Trip to Macau

MOVIE REVIEW: "LIFE OF PI"

"I was weeping because Richard Parker had left me so unceremoniously"

Piscing Patel

If you are thinking of watching a GOOD movie, that is different from others, and you would always think about it long after you have left the cinema, this is the ONE movie you must watch.

It is a story of a boy, Piscing Patel - nicknamed Pi, who was born in a family that owned a zoo in Pondicherry in India. One day, the father decided to migrate to Toronto so the whole family had to travel on a ship. Unfortunately, the ship capsized in a horrible storm, and in the end the only surviving beings were Pi and a Bengal tiger named Peter Parker, something that was beyond one's imagination.

So it was either you kill or be killed. This is the story of survival at sea, how Pi had to make sure he had to stay alive floating on the sea and at the same time, not to be eaten by the starving tiger. He eventually managed to train the tiger and he considered Peter Parker to be his friend.

It was a sad ending though as when they were finally washed ashore, Peter Parker went straight into the jungle without even turning back to say goodbye. After all that he had done for the tiger, feeding him water and fish he caught from the sea, the tiger simply left him and this was really heartbroken. And this was one message that we can relate to our real life. Sad, isn't it?

I watched this movie when I was in KL  with Mr. Shafiq Suhaimi, waiting for the flight to Hong Kong the next morning. It was a wise decision to choose this movie while walking around Suria KLCC. I will have to find the book after this.

FINALLY ARRIVING HOME SAFELY AFTER BEING AWAY FOR 5 DAYS

at the gate before boarding the plane home

I arrived home after a 5-day trip of walking and running all around Hong Kong, Shenzen and Macao. This time I was very lucky enough to have a travelling companion, an ex-student, Mr. Shafiq Suhaimi, for our semi backpacking trip. So after months of planning and researching on the internet for the itinerary as well as other related matters and communicating via SMS, FB and e-mail, we survived the five days travel on our own.

the view from the plane

There will definitely be endless entries of my trip there so for those who want to find out of the five exciting days I have experienced, do come visit the blog soon. But for now, I still have to unpack my luggage back. Don't we all hate doing that once we arrive home from a holiday trip? *SIGH*