Said goodbye to G at the Central station and took a train to Tsim Tsa Tsui. I saw a really hot chick and instantly thought of the friends back home. So I asked her and her friend if I could take a photo of them. I told them the reason too; my male-hormone driven friends back in Malaysia would appreciate some cun chicks’ photos. They laughingly agreed. I don’t think the photo captures what I felt was beautiful about her though. Her almond-shaped eyes really sparkled (natural sparkle, not the contact lenses crap you get these days) and just a general feeling of cheerfulness and innocence.
We chatted for a while and I found out that the other girl was her sister. Same eyes definitely. They were both Hongkies studying in Perth and were on their way to Mongkok for some shopping. We talked about her Malaysian housemates and how they would occasionally do a pot luck and she would get to taste some Malaysian food. And how she loved roti telur which she would buy frozen from the supermarket to be pan-fried. I was like, adoi… but never mind, she would definitely go to Malaysia one day. She also told me that a can of Coca-Cola in Hong Kong costs HKG$6. That, my friends is roughly RM3. Malaysian Coke lovers, be glad.
We said goodbye at the Tsim Tsa Tsui station. I wanted to go to Mody Road at Tsim Tsa Tsui East and ended up getting lost for 30 minutes. There were quite a few construction works being carried out from Tsim Tsa Tsui to Tsim Tsa Tsui East, road signs telling you to follow this path and ended up leading to another path, stuff like that.
Sounds like KL eh? Only on a smaller scale.
Also when I changed my clothes earlier I forgot to take out my map. But it was not that bad; the redeeming part was when I accidentally located Tsim Tsa Tsui promenade, something like Singapore’s Esplanade but bigger (duh). It was late afternoon, around 1700 and there were joggers, families and such taking an evening stroll.
Then lo and behold, I found Mody Road! I also found John! Actually he found me. Was very surprised but in a good way. So we went to his hotel; Grand Stanford Intercontinental which was just beside Mody Road on Salisbury Road and had coffee at the lounge.
John, wahey!
We talked a lot, then met up with two Filipino friends working in Hong Kong. We had dinner at the hotel, thanks to John who decided to belanja. We took some photos but I realised that no one really knows how to operate my Sony digital cam, except for a selected few. The waitress who took a group photo certainly didn’t even after 3 tries. So most of the photos came out blurry. Sien x100.
We chatted some more then the girls had to leave. John and I decided to take a walk at the Tsim Tsa Tsui promenade. At the hotel entrance we saw this baby…
Would you like a Lamborghini with that?
Apparently it costs a cool US$5 million. I can’t help but wonder, how could they bear to spend so much money on a car and where can I meet these people?!?
John and I walked across an overhead bridge to get to the promenade – there were lights all around us! It seemed that every building was partaking in the Christmas spirit. A light feast and a most beautiful one at that.
The Tsim Tsa Tsui Promenade
It was around 2220 and a bit windy. The view of Hong Kong Island just right across was so grand and glorious and entrancing. So to our left was the sea view and to our right was again the gigantic displays of Santa and his reindeer.
We walked a bit more then decided to sit down on the pavement and just chill. Of course there were quite a few looks our way but my philosophy has always been: I am a tourist, I don’ fuck care. We talked quite a bit there, then walked back to his hotel and had coffee at the lounge again, chatted some more again. He gave me some chocolates… hehe I am a very happy camper.
View from the Tsim Tsa Tsui Promenade
Left at around 0115, decided to take a taxi since the MTR was closed and I didn’t feel like walking back. My young taxi driver could hardly speak English and I could hardly speak Cantonese, so it was quite fun (and funny) telling him that I wanted to go to 7-11 before returning to my hotel. Finally he understood, ‘chat sap yat‘. He was quite surprised that I was traveling alone. I told him that my friends said Hong Kong is pretty much a safe place, and like everywhere you just have to be careful. He agreed and said that it was pretty daring of me to go to a foreign place all by myself.
Stopped at a 7-11 in Yau Ma Tei – by the way the entire Hong Kong is littered with 7-11 – and bought two 1.5 litres of mineral water for HKG$23.20. Definitely much cheaper than the HKG$35 for 500ml I saw at the Flower Market. A couple of turns later we reached the Yau Ma Tei public park where I had to cross the road to get to the hotel. Would be pretty silly if he made another huge round to end up at the hotel door, seeing that there were still quite a few people walking around, mostly tourists I would guess. My taxi fare came up to HKG$30 (it was after midnight). The taxi driver told me to take care of myself and be careful since I was alone. He refused to accept a tip.
Where are all the rude taxi drivers I have heard and read so much about?
Not really complaining, but it is a well-known fact that Hong Kong people are not the friendliest lot around. But according to Jaime much later, SARS (the disease not the return to China) hit them quite bad and everyone’s income was so affected, they decided to be nicer to other people.
The hotel locks its main glass doors after 12 midnight as a safety measure, which I was quite happy about. I had to produce my key to show them that I was staying there. Showered then tidied up my stuff a bit, wrote my entry for the day and now watching the Oprah Winfrey show with the cast of Bridget Jones 2.
It is now 0315. Time to sleep.
Read more:
Day 1 : To Hong Kong
Day 2.1 : In Search of Tin Hau
Day 2.2 : The Octopus Strikes Back
Day 2.3 : Flower Crazy
Day 2.4 : Central; A Different World
Day 2.5 : Night Time, Light Time
Day 3.1 : The Buddha Beckons
Day 3.2 : To The Peak and Back
Day 3.3 : This Girl Needs a Beer
Day 4 : Leaving Hong Kong
Some thoughts on Hong Kong
enuff talk, where’s the picture? of those sparkling eyes sisters ?
click on the related links god… they are all photos
Cool pics girl, glad you had a good time 🙂
That’s a good idea to take photo with strangers… I should do that often…