Saturday, March 30, 2013

Hong Kong Day 4 - Sightseeing & Shopping

There has been so many things going on recently - Longer cca practice times for SYF, block tests to study for (actually just studying in general), and my phone crashed so I spent a few days wallowing in self pity over the death of my young Galaxy SII. I'm still sore over it but thankfully SIV is coming out soon so I'm gonna invest in a SIII since the price of it is bound to drop :)

I've finally got the time to continue on my Hong Kong travelogue thanks to the Good Friday holiday (which reminds me, Good Friday to you readers!) so here's Day 4 of our trip!

Before I go on, if you're interested in my past entries on the Hong Kong trip, do click on these links below!

Hong Kong Day 1 - Shen Zhen
Hong Kong Day 2 - Disneyland Part 1/2
Hong Kong Day 3 - Ocean Park

We started off the first half of the day with a mini sightseeing trip kindly sponsored by our hotel, L'Hotel Nina! I'm not exactly too much of a "sightseeing person"; I mean I like nature and picturesque sceneries, but I don't exactly see the purpose in embarking on a tour to tire ourselves out further by trekking through sightseeing spots. Maybe when I get older I'd learn to appreciate such stuff (coz my folks do) but for now - It's still tour = shopping, eating, and more shopping :)

Started off our day with a hearty dim sum breakfast!

From here onward I'm kinda unsure of the names of the places that we visited, so you might wanna Google these places yourself (if you're interested) to know more about them! I'm really bad with names, especially Chinese ones, so for shots which I'm unsure of the name of the place/thing, I will not caption them. Forgive me!!!

First stop was to see the statue of the Golden Flower. The weather's extremely chilly that day with cold wind  blowing all day long!!!

Thought that this letter box looks cute compared to the ones in Singapore!

Our second stop was at Repulse Bay, whereby we were brought to a nearby temple after viewing the beach.

Here my mom is posing in front of an extremely clean landscape of sand!!! There was not a single piece of litter in sight. Amazed!

Entrance to the temple! The headboard reads: "Entrance to thousand year life"

Really gorgeous statue of 观音 (Goddess of Mercy)

The statue's size relative to my mom's!

The longevity bridge that leads to the shore of the beach.

Can you see the view behind us!!!

By the time we reached the temple it was around late morning, so the sun has already peeked out but there was still cold wind blowing. That explains why we still have to wear our scarves even though it looks sunny here.

Daddy and Mommy :)

Here's our OOTD x2! Notice how we're wearing apparels in opposite colours. Therefore we switched scarves! It was really by coincidence!



The Chinese characters read: "Goddess of Luck" (Left) and "Goddess of Happiness" (Right)

Apart from the statues, DID ANYONE NOTICE THE PAIR OF SKULLS?!?!?

 After the visit of the temple we head down for a ride in sampan boats to view the floating restaurant, Jumbo.   

Us on the boat! 

The people who maneuver the boats do not have houses of their own, for they do not have the Hong Kong citizenship. Basically their whole ancestral line has traveled down to HK only to be declined of citizenship, so they can't have anything to their name in the country. These poor souls can only then live in boats, and by boarding their sampan boats we're actually helping them in their income :)

Little trinkets that are being sold on board.

The guide mentioned that the Jumbo in Singapore is not the "real" one, the authentic Jumbo is this one, based in Hong Kong!

Another view of the floating restaurant

Here we see a classic example of the boats that the citizenship-less people live in; they have all the basic features of the house on board, living room (with television), kitchen with mini stoves, but I'm not sure about latrines. Even if they have it I don't think I'm supposed to know!

Some even have pets! I saw a cat lazing around and basking itself in the sun on one of these boats!

In contrast to the sampan boats...... The waters serve as a parking spot for the yachts that the rich people own. There are so many of them all lined up in rows!

In Hong Kong, where land is scarce and therefore expensive, you're considered well-off if you're able to live in a condominium, like the ones snapped in the background!

CHECK OUT THE ROWS OF YACHTS *bulging eyes*

Our last stop for the sightseeing journey would be at Sky 100, Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper!

Tadah!

Taken in the elevator

Welcomed with an adorable photo spot!

The only thing that I found interesting there...........

Here is my poor attempt at trying to piece together the pictures of Old Hong Kong to present - I had a hard time snapping the entire thing since it was presented to us in a roundabout way!

Apparently the observation deck was supposed to enable us to have a 360 view of the city....

And Victoria Harbour.

Honestly speaking by that time I was literally bored to tears coz we're just viewing buildings, buildings AND more buildings. There is really nothing to be fascinated about!!!!!!!!

After our whole sightseeing trip (Here comes the real fun), we head on down to Fa Yuen Street (Sneaker Street) again, coz I was determined to get my Dr Martens there!

This time round we took a cab straight down so we won't get lost again like the day before. 

And we arrive! Here is just a random picture of a mini bus, and to further push the usefulness of this picture you can see the Hong Kong school fashion on the right. 

Basically the entire Sneaker Street is filled with stores selling, well, sneakers. They have all the big brands there - Nike, Adidas, Converse, New Balance... You name it, they have it! What's more is that the variety of choices there is HUGE. A single pair of shoes can come in a myriad of colours, and the best thing about the street is that if you can't find your desired design/colour/size, just pop down to the next store, they're bound to have it :)

Aha! Dr Martens spotted!

Whole range of classic DMs there!

Oh and another thing about Sneaker Street, although it is a "street", the stuff that are on sale are all authentic goods. No need to be worried of getting duped into buying fake stuff if you're not into them!

I got the Dr Martens 1460 in Cherry Red for SGD 162. Had my eye on it for quite some time! Also, I got in six eye coz I'm short, and the eight eye one doesn't look as appealing on me. 

Though initially I have a little trouble breaking into it, and my feet still feel sore after wearing it now, but I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's such a perfect pair of boots that goes well with anything! 

Did you guys know that H&M originated from Hong Kong??? The entire store was humongous and filled with clothing which were really relatively cheaper, but it's all winter wear there that didn't serve much use for the Singapore weather :'(

Shopped our way into the streets of Mong Kok, for more shopping!!!

Guess who's a happy girl!!! 

Plunged into Ladies' Market, where all the bargaining starts. It's a good place to snatch up souvenirs for your relatives and friends here! 

The whole of Ladies' Market is somewhat like Petaling Street of KL, selling imitations of branded goods. The only difference was that it was much more compact and literally filled with people. You have to bargain here!!! Prices can be slashed to at least half of their original one!

Collapsed into a nearby MacDonald's after continuous hours of shopping for dessert - Here's something special! It's a double sundae with nutty topping!!!! Literally the best of both worlds all in one cup :)

Ending off with the priority seat sign found in the MTR. How adorable! I'd be more inclined to give up my seat this way!