Holiday Update Part 4

Here is the final thrilling conclusion to the holiday from here.

7th Jan

Today was spent walking all around Singapore, and I can tell you know, what everyone says is true. You can really see most of Singapore in one day. Paul and I walked from Little India, through Fort Canning, Clarke Quay and finally into Chinatown, all within one afternoon. We basically covered most of Singapore's city centre in that half afternoon. The buildings in Singapore are quite nice, not as high and impressive as Hong Kong, but nice all the same. The streets are so clean, its unnatural. There is so little rubbish and pavements are cleaner than my house patio. For dinner, we joined Joshua and Miss Qui again for Japanese food. The food was great, and I loved the sushi train.

8th Jan

Joshua sent Paul and I off from Singapore by joining us at the bus stop in Harbour City. We had one last breakfast at Food Republic, this massive food hall. I tried the Bak Ku Teh, pork rib soup. I was extremely disappointed. Since Bak Ku Teh literally translates to Rib Tea, I thought the soup base actually had tea in it. Instead it was just a normal pork rib soup like any other. After breakfast/lunch, we took a higher class coach from Singapore to Malaysia. The coach costed more than the normal ones but was worth it. The seats were much more comfortable and they informed us as to what was happening each time, especially getting through customs. It was so funny when the announcer said that he was the "cabin crew" for the bus. I never even knew a bus could have cabin crew. We got given a bottle of water and were also served lunch and tea or coffee. Since the bus was very empty, I took my shoes off and sprawled myself across two chairs. I then enjoyed the in-bus movie and the trip went by very quickly. There was even a lounge area in the bottom level of the bus where you could read magazines and newspapers. Should you ever take a bus from Singapore to Malaysia, definitely take the more expensive one. Upon arriving in Malaysia, we checked into a "better" hotel for one night. This was our only night in a hotel where there was actually a bath tub, indicating the size of the rooms we stayed in previously. The bed was so comfortable compared to everything else we had slept in previously. We met Felix for dinner and he took us to eat noodles and also DURIAN. My favourite durian that I hadn't gotten a chance to eat all trip. The expensive durian was delicious. The flavour was so strong, I couldn't believe it.

9th Jan

With our half day in Malaysia before flying to Macau, we thought we might try to go up the Twin Towers since our hotel was only 3 minutes walk away. However, even when we got there at about 9am, the queue for tickets was already so long, we couldn't wait since we had a flight to catch later. Hence we went window shopping around the Twin Tower shops since we couldn't even afford one sock from those designer shops. We then had a very long trip ahead of us. First we took a train to Central station from KLCC station. Next we took the LCCT bus to the airport. Next it was a plane from KL to Macau. From Macau airport we took a bus to Macau pier. Directly followed by a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong. Finally it was a train from Central to Tsim Sa Tui and a walk to our hotel. We were so tired by now after a whole day of travelling, only to find that our hotel room was a single bed room. They thought we were arriving at 4pm rather than 11pm so didn't hold our room. We slept on that single bed on opposite ends head to toe and tried not to turn around too much all night. Needless to say, I didn't have that good a sleep.

10th Jan

We took a trip to Lamma Island, one of Hong Kongs outlying islands. We had to take the ferry again, where I once again fell asleep immediately to avoid getting sea sick. I HATE boats, unless they are sailing slow on a lake that doesn't rock the boat. We trekked from one end of Lamma to the other, and rewarded ourselves for the trek by having lots and lots of seafood at one of Lamma's many famous sea side seafood restaurant. The seafood was so fresh and you could definitely taste it. At night back in Hong Kong, we walked along Goldfish street. There were so many fishes in so many shops, it was totally amazing. There were goldfish the size of my arm, truly unbelievable. We also we along Temple Street and Tung Choi Street. These are the two bigger street markets, known as "Men's Street" and "Ladie's Street" respectively. You can buy any assortment of goods, usually fake, on these two streets. I picked up a few items too, but lets keep this quiet between us. I don't want customs coming and knocking on my door for buying fake stuff.

11th Jan

Today was the day that I had been looking forward to, Disneyland. What kid doesn't want to go to Disneyland, and I'm just a kid at heart. However, I have to say that it was quite disappointing. All the stories I had heard from other people were true. The Disneyland was very small, there were hardly any rides and not much to do. It truly is aimed at little kids. It was still fun but not mind blowing fantastic fun like I expected. It was almost double the price of Ocean Park that we had gone to previously but that was actually a lot more fun. However, I can now tick Disneyland off my list of places to visit. We went back and had dinner with Charles and walked around the shops in Causeway Bay. We saw how cheap things were and told ourselves that we would come back and do more shopping tomorrow.

12th Jan

True to our words, Paul and I went back to Causeway Bay and did lots of shopping. I bought so much stuff that I was worried I would have to send some back since my luggage would be so heavy. After Causeway Bay, we went to Mong Kok and did more shopping. I met up with my friend Johnson for dinner in Mong Kok. He took us to this great restaurant where we got steak, sausages, pasta and a drink for about $9 AUD. You really have to know places to get good deals. Paul and I can never find restaurants since most of them are up in the higher levels of buildings and we aren't use to looking up. We just saw a scattering of a few restaurants at ground level, and usually those are the overpriced ones. There are so many good restaurants on the uppper levels of buildings but you have to look hard since there are so many signs that it is so confusing. After dinner, we walked some more in Mong Kok where I saw more potential things to buy.

13th Jan

Charles took us to the Big Buddha on Lamma Island. The Buddha is a huge 28 metre bronze statue sitting atop Lamma Mountain. We took the 5.7km cable car to it. The cable car ride was truly an experience. There we were suspended about 50 metres off the ground, going extremely quickly over the sea and the moutains. You can see all of Lamma Island and also the huge Buddha in the distance. It was a fantastic expereience. At the Buddha, we climbed the steps and got to the top for a close look. The statue was impressive. Then it was lunch at at traditionaly tea house before visiting the temples and the "Tranquil Spot", which had 36 huge pillars with ancient phrases. Since we were already on Lamma Island, we took a short bus ride to Tai O, a sea side village. The town is famous for the stilt houses on the water. The houses were so small and was like a tiny shed. I didn't know how people could live in that, I would be so uncomfortable, especially with all the mosquitoes that must hang around near the water. We saw, and smelt, the famous shrimp paste factory. Shrimp paste is this sauce that is made by fermenting shrimps. Finally it was off to somewhere far outside of the city to eat famous roast goose. The roast goose was so good. It tasted a lot better than roast duck and also costs a lot more.

14th Jan

We went and did some more shopping to get the last few items we wanted. After shopping, I met with my friend Alex and he took us around to Soho and Lan Kwai Fong. These places are were the expats and foreigners come to enjoy themselves. Lan Kwai Fong consists of lots of bars and clubs and Soho has lots of shops and restaurants. We also passed Central where there were so many designer brand shops, but not just little shops, huge buildings for one brand. For dinner, Alex couldn't join us but suggested we go try this Korean BBQ buffet. It was delicious, much better than the pathetic Korean BBQ buffets we have in Australia.

15th Jan

For our last day in Hong Kong, we visited the Harbour City shopping centre just a few minutes from our hotel. It is the largest shopping centre in Hong Kong, with over 700 shops and 2 million square feet area. We only managed to cover a very small section of it before we headed off for lunch. After lunch, we packed our bags and went to the airport, where we caught our plane home.

What a holiday it's been. It's been so much fun and tiring at the same time. I've done so many new things and seen so much more of the world. I hope I can go on another holiday soon and see more of this wonderful world.