Total Recall

HK trip

Pueng and her gang went for a shopping trip last year and she told me a lot of great bargains they managed. So I asked her to count me in if she arranges for the next visit. We indeed got a very value package, THB 10,700 @ for tickets, 4-night hotel room in Wan Chai district, and transportation thru&fro the airport. There were 13 people in the group; Pueng +her mom and brother, Kae + her primary school friend & her friend's mother, May & Aey the couple, Earng + her Uncle & Aunt, the travel agent guy who's also Erng's buddy (that's one of the reasons why we got such a good price for this trip). I'd thought about visiting Disneyland but no one else was interested.

Day 1, we reached the hotel about 4pm, nothing much to do except from going for dinner and walked to Ikea.

(pictures of Billboard along the walk to Ikea)
The gang really bought a lot there and enjoyed every shopping pitstop. I got a few cardboard boxes from Ikea for my class material storage and then got 2 pieces of cake from Sogo's underground. If there's a vote for the most superbly outstanding food in Hong Kong, I won't cast my vote for dim sum nor char siew nor any Chinese food. The best food in Hong Kong is definitely desserts! I bought 2 pieces plus one chocolate cheesecake stick and Erng later bought another 2 pieces. Then we all went back to have the dessert feast at Erng's room, Absolutely sinful!

Day 2, Outdoor excursion to Lin Po temple, Lan Tao island.

I got misled into paying HKS23 before getting up the stairs while that amount was actually for a snack set after we came back down. Nice spot on the summit though.

Later on I discovered that the travel agent guy himself was going to Disneyland the next day, so I declared I'd follow him. Subsequently we got Jin and her Mom to go with us too.

Day 3, Disney Land
everything in this train spell Disney!
Left the hotel early without taking breakfast, looking forward to getting to Disneyland. We alighted the normal MTR at Sunny bay station then took the Disney train for another 10 minutes.



I thought we could find something nice and unique to eat there, what a silly idea! The ticket counter wouldn't open until 9am and non-reserved tickets had to wait til 10am to enter the main gate. It was raining cats and dogs in the morning too.

Unable to get the ride on the orbitron, I had to settle with Pooh's house!! Eyore's tail

Not many fun rides available and all 4 lands are pretty compact now. I liked the parade and Mickey's Philhar-magic 3d show the most.


We left Disneyland about 4pm and went to Tsim Sa Tsui for chinese dessert recommended by Christine.
Everyone loved it. The travel agent showed us to a nearby roast restaurant, it was much better than the place we went on day1, but I still didn't really like the fatty Char Siew or Goose.

Later in the night we went to The Peak. The tram ride was exciting as its track was on such a steeping slope.

Day 4, the guide claimed that HK local coffee shops serve this yummy french toast for breakfast, so we made a plan to come down early to try it. Walked under the morning rain to the nearby coffee shop just to find out it's not served there. Pissed, I wanted to go back to the hotel to catch the rest of the gang but manners forced me to hang on to accompany the guy eating his breakfast. I decided to follow my gang to Repulse Bay to visit the shrine of Kuan Yim goddess. The gastric pain kicked in soon after, I didn't get this for quite long and it kind of ruined my day. It rained as usual, and the guide guy misguided us on the way back that took about 20 minutes of uphill walking. And later on when guided us toward Maxim palace at City hall for lunch he led us the wrong way once again, well.. not that it's his responsibility to take care of us since we only bought Free & easy package, so I can't really judge him as a tour guide.

I lost count of how many times I ticked off on that day, despite many praises I heard about Maxim, I'm totally unimpressed. It's not worthy paying 100 HKS for such food when I can get similar one at half the price in Bangkok or Chinatown in Singapore. After lunch I was so determined to go shopping to at least get something out of this 'shopping' trip, at that time I was still empty handed except for the micky ear studs I got as souvenir from Disneyland. Shopped around in IFC at HK station, crossed over to Central station and took the train back to Causeway bay, zero succession rate.

Finally I impulsively bought 3 not-so-cheap items from a shop called Staccato in World trade center, I don't know the brand but the shoes and bags there have nice design and the staff was extremely appreciable. The next hilight was that I lost my phone, sometime between 2-5pm somewhere between central station and time square. I spent the last hour on the street tracking back all the shops I visited, really difficult when I don't speak local language.

I did get a feeling that all these unpleasant incidents are the omens telling me the day was winding into an even worse one, and not to do what I had planned for. I brushed off the hint and continued to struggle over a few even more hurdles to carry on with my plan. And now I know I should listen to them.