A business trip to Hong Kong

Frankly, I have not been keen on going to anywhere other than Malaysia for holidays. Even Indonesia. My main concern is if the toilet is clean, and is the area clean.. and if I can eat there.

So anyhow, when I was told to go to Hong Kong on a business trip, I was thinking.. 'wookay.. let's see how I'll survive.. let that itself, be the interesting part of the trip'. And so I went with an open mind.

FIRST DAY
I went there with my Chinese colleague, MQ. We took the 1330hrs flight from Singapore and reached there about 5pm. The airport was huge, and the standard comparable to Changi Airport.


this is a walkway, just outside the airport, towards the taxi stand. We were to take the Urban Taxi.

And this is a bridge across the islands - they are, masyaAllah, quite a sight.


We stayed at Harbour Plaza Metropolis, in Kowloon. As soon as we checked in and put our bags, we headed to the Ladies Market at Tung Choi Street, in Tsimtsatsui area. A.K.A. to me as the Petaling Street in Hongkong, with much lesser counterfeit products.

I ended up buying a lot of stuff there, compared to MQ, who suggested it in the first place.

We walked around town a bit, while looking for the entrance to the train station that would take us back to Hung Hom where our hotel was.



See this disabled man, making a living.. I'm impressed.


The first night, we had dinner at McDonalds.. and I just had the Fillet.

SECOND DAY - THE PEAK
Today is when we're suppose to report to our HK office. Our HK colleagues said we could walk to the office from our hotel, but when we asked the front desk, he thought it would be 'difficult' for us. So we took a cab.

But after work, they explained to us how to walk, and we tried, since we were not rushing, and it turned out to be, quite an easy route.

MQ wanted to bring me to The Peak. She said I would love it there if I like to take photos. Took a ferry from Kowloon pier to Central. From there, we took bus no. 15 to The Peak. The bus was going up so fast, we decided that we'd definitely take the tram down later. Up there, it was very cooling, not so very cold.. and the view was spectacular.



THIRD DAY - DISNEYLAND
Today, we walked to the office in the morning. I like walking among the locals.
And then after work, our destination was Disneyland. It was very easy to get to. Just take the MTR to Sunny Bay - and there will be a train that takes you to Disneyland.




Since it was already a night, we didn't get much chance to take rides. Not like I want to so much anyway. It was Halloween month, so.. In most recorded public and rides & shows announcements, they spoke in English and Cantonese. So, it's ok for non-cantonese-speaking people like me.

But during one boat ride.. they had a boat where they'll speak in chinese, then another boat where the tour guide will speak in English. Of course I took the English one. Ok, I will not exaggerate and say that I may as well have taken the Chinese one.. but..you really have to pay attention, if you want to understand what the local guide was saying in English.. Throughout the whole ride, it was spoken without an punctuation marks and with a cantonese-like-pronounciation. :p

Other than that, there was the Halloween parade.. the announcement for the parade was in English/Cantonese.. then during the parade, the ghosts were 'shouting' some ghostly stuff in Cantonese throughout the whole parade :D It was cute I guess.

11pm, when the place closed, we took the train back to the hotel. We had walked SO MUCH the last three days.. that we skipped dinner that night, because we can't bear the thought of having to walk some more, to go to any restaurant at Tsimtsatsui.

FOURTH DAY - LAST MINUTE SHOPPING
Having walked and worked the last few days, this time we took our time to wake up and go down for breakfast. By the time we did go down for breakfast, it was 9plus. Checked out after breakfast and took the hotel shuttle to Tsimtsatsui, to go to Sogo. I couldn't believe myself.. I spent $2000 buying 4 wallets/purses for myself and 1 for my daughter. I'm not usually like that. Oh.. that would be in HKD. Converted to SGD.. it's about just below $400.

Right after that, we decided that we should leave the shopping area asap and go back to the hotel to go to the airport. We wanted to go on the cable car near the airport, but didn't have time.



At the airport, Popeyes was Halal certified.. i had my lunch there.. we took our time to look at some more stuff at the airport, then checked in. 4pm SIA flight from HK to SIN is the Airbus A380.



I think the flight to and fro was also enjoyable for me, because I just wanted to watch movies. On the way to HK, I got to watch My Sister's Keeper.. and then on the way back, I watched 500 Days of Summer.. which was quite good.

I think I wouldn't mind planning a holiday with my family to Hong Kong next time. I've expanded my horizon. Alhamdulillah :p