Spinning: Nouvelle Vague - Confusion
As always, I'm late with my travelogue. And this time there is no 'story' behind the attractions - if you can so call them. If you haven't ever been to Hong Kong, the fundamental premise is that it's a lot like Singapore in terms of its urban jungle concept, and its niche tourist attractions of shopping and eating. There are a lot of similarities - it's probably pointed out in your Social Studies/History/Geography textbooks- but during my time there I felt there were a few key points where HK really differed from Singapore.
Both countries' housing layouts may at first seem like it's immensely similar, i.e, the build upwards, not sideways concept. But frankly, HK's estates are a LOT squishier.
Yup. In the words of my friend, who once did a show-and-tell/presentation on Hong Kong (yes, it was long long ago), you could practically reach out and touch your neighbour's window. And, in my opinion, you could probably say something like, "Hello Auntie Cheung! I see you! Do you see me too?"
The vibe, too, is very different. This is very difficult to explain in words, and even pictures, but overall HK gives me a very 'messy' vibe, in a positive way. It is very ... nonclinical, despite its urban backdrop. Maybe the same picture above can paint a vague idea of what I'm trying to explain here.
Of course, the weather is to die for. Any weather (except subzero, Antarctica-type temperatures) is better than a tropical humid one, anyway. It's hot, and what's worse, the air is overly damp. But I de-digress. When I was there, it was the transition period between Winter and Spring, so there were dry winds and a rather warm temperature prevailed. Basically, like outdoor air-conditioning. I say it's to die for, because the winds made me ecstatic. This was best reflected in Lamma Island, which, by the way, is one of my favourite pit-stops. The only regrettable issue: No Lammas on Lamma Island. :(
Lamma was windy. Oh yes it was. And windy makes us happy. Oh yes it does... so much so I wanted to 'da pao' some wind back to Singapore.
OK, so Lamma was nice, and it wasn't just because of the wind. It was also a nice break away from the noise and grit of the main island. Serene, and very much more slow-paced. Like a retiree's dream home. Actually, most of the island's inhabitant's ARE retirees, accompanied by their dogs who have FREE REIN over the whole place. They run all over like they own it. And worry not; they behave well.
Sadly, we were one of the few people who actually took on the nature trail. See, we practically owned the whole road.
Plus, Lamma had its resident 'Tau Hway' Auntie and Uncle. Masters of the trade I tell you:
And I can attest to the fact that it's really clean. Because I didn't have any stomach problems after that. Nor did Amande, Elke, Pam or Zhu.
Well, okay, so it does look somewhat ordinary. But it tasted otherwise! It's actually made with the usual sweet syrup, and the twist in the recipe is that it's served with a dash of ginger (mixed into the syrup of course) and some gingko nuts, I believe.
Back to the main island though. Stanley ranked near the top of my favourite places in HK. It's one of those quaint little towns, almost like an enclave because it's quite far away from the crowded Mongkok. Just think Holland V, only much bigger. So anyway, we were so pleased with it, we left our marks behind:
I hope you didn't take me seriously. Because we would've just drawn stick figures. With random speech bubbles sprouting all over. We're incapable of graffiti. Nope, not even amateurish ones. So there we were, acting like crazed monkeys on the loose, flitting from shop to shop and bargaining with them in our smattering of tourist's Cantonese. We butchered the language, actually.
Talking about shopping, we er, did a lot of that. For the first time in my travelling history, I actually used up 98% of my funds in HK. I was left with a meagre 5 Sing Dollars (That's 50 HKD for you) by the time I touched down. Yes, we shopped in the HK International Airport as well. So anyway, Pam sneakily caught a shot of us sorting out all our goodies in the hotel room. Yep, this was the most annoying part. Having to pack and pack and pack after a long day out in the streets.
Not much photos of us shopping, and this would make perfect sense as well, since we were all busy bargaining and sifting through the good and bad stuff. Half the time, it was also so crowded that no one dared to whip out their digi-cams for fear of pickpockets.
We also went to The Peak one night, or Victoria Peak to be more specific. It was a pretty foggy night, though, so we couldn't really see much. It was clear enough to have a vague idea of what HK's skyline looked like, though.
And on the last night of our stay in HK, we went on the 'longest cable car ride' - or so they claim. Whatever it was, I quite enjoyed it because it was pretty high up (and you all know how I love the feeling of being far away from certain things, just like in the Kuantan Caves!). And safe. And cooling. And the best thing was? I was stuck a thousand feet in the air with a bunch of crazed friends. We laughed and waved at people randomly.
Thereafter, we rushed down to the fabled Disneyland. But I will stop here for now, because this post is simply getting too long, and I know people don't like to read overtly long posts. We're all busy people, eh? So okay, I'm gonna split this into two posts. And the first part shall stop here.
Coming up soon will be Disneyland (which was the funniest yet most frustrating part of the trip), and random shots of us just having fun.
Labels: friends, hong kong, photolog, travel, vacation
2 comments
2 Comments:
so short! more, more!
HAhahah yes. More more more! It looked like alot of fun, and Elke's hair is amazingly fly-about-ly.
Singapore's weather is disgusting!!!!
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