Travel to the Corners of the World

Before the trip

11:16 AM
0 comments

Whenever I go to Changi Airport, I always envy those people who are carrying a luggage. It seems that all of them are going on a holiday, enjoying themselves. The excitment shown on their face waiting for their flights to their "paradise" makes you really want to go on a holiday!! And thus, I start to build on this force of power and passion and decided to plan a trip not with my families but with my friends.

I don't want to go to Malaysia because it is very common and somewhat a familiar place and I had been there many times. I don't want to go to Thailand, Vietnam or other ASEAN countries because it doesn't look safe right now and if I were to plan my 1st ever free and easy overseas trip to a place where I am not so familiar with their language, culture and place, it will gonna be a very stressful trip. Yes, we can go on a tour guided tour but I would prefer free and easy because you can go to the place that you like at your own pace and time. Thus, I decided on Hong Kong as Hong Kong is similiar to Singapore where their transport is easily accessible and the place is safer and thus all the itinerary is easier to plan.

Initially, our plan was to go on a 6days Hong Kong trip. But due to some reasons, we changed our trip to a 9days getaway and we started to think which destinations should we go as we can't possibly stay in Hong Kong for 9days. The closest city to Hong Kong is Shen Zhen and Qi Jun suggested Zhu Hai which is a 3hr drive away from Shen Zhen. Thus we decided on these destinations. Macau was included in one of the destinations because we chose to fly on Tiger Airways which fly us from Singapore to Macau. So it will be wasted if we didn't visit Macau.

So the plan was to fly from Singapore to Macau, take a ferry to Hong Kong and stay there for 3 nights before proceeding to Shen Zhen which we will be staying for 2nights. After that, we will proceed to Zhu Hai for 2 nights and toned at Macau for 1 night.

We have decided to hire a tour guide in Shen Zhen as we are not really familiar with that place and the crime rate there is rather scary. So for safety reason, it is better to hire a tour guide.

Regarding accommodation for Hong Kong, we stayed in a hostel as it is much cheaper compared to a hotel. After searching through the online review, we found out that this Dragon Hostel at Mongkok has a lot of good reviews and thus we decided on it. As for the accommodation in Shen Zhen and Zhu Hai, we stayed in a Hotel as it is really cheap. For Macau, we didn't stay in a hotel as we will be catching our flight back to Singapore the next morning, so why not don't waste time on sleeping and spend more time on exploring Macau?

As times get nearer, everything like our accommodation, our transport started to be in place and we were ready for the trip on the 11th of March. So are you ready for this trip?

Here are some of the price list if you guys wish to know:

Accomodation in Hong Kong and Zhu Hai- around $25/pax/night
Tour guide fee in Shen Zhen(including transport, meals and accomodation)- $105/pax for 2 days
Transport from Shen Zhen to Zhu Hai(25 seater car)- $340/car
Return Air Tickets(include everything)- $320

Here are the group of people who were on this trip

Cheers~
*.*"

Ricky Peh

Day 1-Hong Kong 11th of March 2009

4:51 AM
0 comments

Changi Airport-->Macau Airport-->Ferry to Hong Kong-->Cab to Sincere House-->Train to Causeway Bay-->Happy Vally Racecourse

We have to check-in our luggage at around 430am and so we have decided to meet at Changi Airport Terminal 2 around 230am to chit chat and have some supper.

I planned to sleep at 7pm and wake up at 1am but I somehow can't fall asleep. I even tried to watch the television to make myself tired so that I could fall asleep but I just couldn't. Thus I gave up and just watched the television all the way till midnight and went to take a bath before double checking on my luggage. Maybe I was just wayyyyyyyy too excited!!

I met up with Kian Aik and Fiona and her father drove us to the airport to meet the rest at Mcdonald.

Excitement is written on all of our faces

A new high-tech camera where you can actually take yourself taking picture

Thanks Robin and Duke for seeing us off

At 4am, its time for us to proceed to the Budget Terminal to check-in our luggages

Waiting for the 24/7 shuttle bus to the budget terminal

On the shuttle bus to budget terminal. Ye Sheng seems really really excited. Maybe this is the first time that he is on a shuttle bus... who knows?? =D

Tell me do they look like alike?

We are going to fly off at 0605am!! I hope that I am able to see stars when we are above the sky!

The departure gate

Taking a group photo before stepping into the departure gate. Bye Bye Singapore!

Inside the departure gate. There is a coffeeshop and a few other shops including duty free shop and gift shops

The boarding gates

A wonderful jump to mark my excitement

All cat walking towards the gate

Whee. Finally we reached our gate

The time now is 545am. Flying off in 20mins time!

Get a glimpse of our aeroplane

The views of outside when we are inside the aeroplane

The aeroplane running on the runway. It was abit interesting during take off because if I didn't hear wrongly, the captain actually announced that there is something wrong with one of the engines and thus, he will have to switch off the air condition during take off so as to give the engine more trust to lift...

Finally, the aeroplane take off and I survived!!

The view was very nice and you could actually see the moon shines so brightly and with the great bird eye view of the lited Singapore(looks like a birthday cake with alot of candles). I was seated on the left side of the aeroplane and on the right side of the plane, you could actually see the sun rising. But i'm abit disappointed that I can't see any stars, maybe its because the moon was too bright

Cool. I was actually risking everyone's life by taking photos during take off as I am not allowed to do so. So what we are still alive. Those 2 guys beside me always ask me switch off my camera cause they scaredy cat

After take off. I was very tired and took a nap. When I woke up, it was day light and you could actually see the great horizon

Feeling hungry, I actually ordered a cup noodle and a packet of drink which cost me S$7 in total!! 4 dollar for the cup noodle and 3 dollar for the drink. OK. Some of you may say that i'm stupid to buy cup noodle and drink that is made from gold but hey, i'm on a holiday. Why save right? The real thing over here is ENJOY!

Not long after, we are going to reach Macau

A glimpse of Macau

A hazy Macau

Alighting from the aeroplane. We survived once again. The weather here was cooling which is similiar to the weather in Genting

After we cleared from the custom, we hired 2 mini bus from the airport which will bring us to the Macau Ferry Terminal for our ferry to Hong Kong. The transport cost each of us around S$5

Smiling in the mini bus

Those are some of the Casinos in Macau

I'm smiling too

We reached the Macau Ferry Terminal on time to catch the 11am ferry to Hong Kong. The ferry ride to Hong Kong took about 1hr and cost each of us around S$28. But I have to pay extra S$4 for my huge luggage. Morale of the story: Never ever bring a huge luggage

On the ferry to Hong Kong. The chair was quite comfortable but I couldn't fell asleep as i'm having a slight sea sick which make me want to puke slightly but in the end I didn't puke because I only feel sea sick slightly which make me want to puke slightly....... Ok what am I talking about...

Not long after 1hr, we could see Hong Kong with their tall and bundled building

Arriving in Hong Kong

We arrived at the Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal. After clearing the custom, we went to hail a cab to take us to our hostel which is located at Mong Kok

In the cab

Hong Kong HDB

After 15mins of ride, we reached our hostel building-Sincere House

Our bed

The toilet

The size of our room was quite small but it is considered not a bad hostel compared to the price we paid for. It is conveniently located near the MTR which is equivalent to Singapore MRT and a 2minutes walk away from the ladies market. Also, there are some shopping and shops around our hostel. The hostel also provide 2 computers for free internet access which is really great

The back alley of the Sincere House building. One thing that I don't like about Hong Kong is that alot of their building are rundown without any renovation or repainting

The street outside Sincere House. After checking in our hostel, we are hungry and went to search for food

We came to this small eatery shop which sell wonton noodles and meat balls

Inside the shop and deciding on what to order

I ordered a wonton noodle but I would not visit a 2nd time as the noodle was real sucky. The noodle floury taste was too strong which makes your toungue dry and it doesn't taste really nice

After having the bad lunch, we proceed to Mong Kok MTR for a train ride to Causeway Bay- the orchard road of Hong Kong

Mong Kok Station MTR entrance

On the escalator

The train approaching

Inside the train. It looks similiar to Singapore MRT

We are in Causeway Bay. The place has alot of shopping mall but the price over there are quite expensive, so it is not really a good place to find bargain items

Island Beverly, a shop that sells alot of woman accessories and clothes. Not a place for guys. As we are in a big group, we decided to split up and meet back at the same location at a later time

More look at causeway Bay

We came across this unique signboard

I would like to recommend this really nice food. It is a shop that sells french fries

I ordered a speciality sauce french fries which cost S$5 and the taste was way too delicious and the spicy taste goes really well with the coooling weather. Can someone bring this food in to Singapore??

We also went for some dessert at this shop called Lucky Dessert

And I ordered a soup dessert with grapefruit and sago which cost around s$5.20. Wow! It has a very balance sweet taste with very fresh mangoes!!

Taking pictures in the shop

Notice that even in Causeway Bay, the shopping mall above is usually for residential

We settled our dinner at this eatery

Looking at the menu

Chee Hiang, Kian Aik and I shared on this 3 dishes- Tofu, fish and pork. I like the tofu especially as it is smooth with a very fragrant taste. The fish was also not bad because it came with a special sauce made from corn which smells nice and I personally am a corn lover, so it goes well with my tastebud

Food on the table. After dinner, some of them decided not to go Happy Valley Racecourse as they are more interested in shopping. Thus they proceeded to Temple Street Night Market while Kian Aik and I proceeded to the Racecourse for some horse racing

Posing with fake horse

After a 15mins walk, we reached the Happy Valley Racecourse. We bought a S$4 ticket and went in

The background of the racecourse was quite spectacular

Initially, we wanted to go to the grandstand but we bought ticket on the wrong side and thus, we are at the side. But after the 5th race, we could actually go to most part of the racecourse

Horse racing in action. Chiong ar!! After watching the race, Kian Aik and I decided to try our luck

Inside the betting cabinet, there are TV screen for you to analyse your bet just like Singapore Singapore Pools. As we are newbie to this, we were quite lost as to how do we bet. Lucky for us, there is a very helpful service staff teaching us how to bet

One of our betting slip where Kian Aik and I bet HK$20 each. The minimum bet for each game is HK$10. We actually choose our horse base on the odds. If the payout of the odds for that particular horse is lower means they will have a higher chance of winnning, we bet on that horse

There are alot of different type of betting where the easiest one is the Win and the Place betting. For the Win betting, if the horse that you bet on came out 1st, you will win. For the Place betting, if the horse that you bet on came out 1st, 2nd or 3rd, you will win. Thus Kian Aik and I bet on Place betting

After the 5th Race, we went to the grandstand. Yup there are Mcdonalds over there and alot of ang mo drinking beer

The race track

Me at the grandstand area

The grandstand

The horses. Number 3 is one the horse that I bet on not base on odds but on my lucky number but it didn't win. Shit you

Shining grandstand

The big screen

The winning horse on a horse walk

People mowing the grass after each race

This pictures double confirmed that Horse Racing is part and parcel of Hong Kong peoples life. See that everyone enthusiastically stick their eyes onto the screen. In the end, I bet on 3 races but only won 1 races which give quite a low odds which in total, I lost around S$10. But it was a great experience though. By that time, it was already 1045pm and so, we decided to go back to our hostel

While on our way to the MTR station, we walk past time square which looks really nice. There is a big TV screen and you can see Gillian!! Her comeback after 1 year

We reached our hostel and have a hot bath before falling into deep sleep. It was a good Day 1

Cheers

*.*"

Ricky Peh