i guess i'll have to keep up with this blog

it's already been a year since my last blog post. i confess i'm no blogger... and i'm not committed to blogging, and it divulges too much of my personal life and whereabouts! i think i should quit this thing... let me think it through first.

any suggestions what i should write about, considering i'm in HK now... and there ain't much time for play since i have to study at the same time.

So much has happened, yet little has been documented

The past 1.5 months had passed so fast, and my last blog update was in Nov 30! Judging from the emptiness in my blog, it probably seem as if nothing has happened, or maybe I've been real busy at work and with assignment deadlines; or, maybe nothing interesting worth blogging about.

From a different and positive perspective, you could assume that there were too many interesting events (, one after another), leaving me very little to rest, much less to blog. hehehe... I think in the coming days, I promise to fill you in some of my hiking trip(s), a day at Ocean Park, X'mas countdown, X'mas dinner, a day in Macau, New Year's countdown, my struggles with completing my assignments (:P), an evening at MBS MBA induction programme, 2days/1night Outward Bound experience... and more!

Serve your own Tau-Fu Fa!

I met up with some new friends from Singapore - some are working herein HK (short/long term), some on Holiday... and here we are sharing our bucket of freshly made "tau-fu-fa"! Delicious~

(as you can tell from the picture)...good presentation is all it takes. it's really good! but then again, I've tasted better ones!... there's this shop that sells only beancurd, tau-fu-fa, grilled tau-fu... the shop's at Causeway Bay near the wet market. I kind forgot the name of the road tho'. There's also another famous at Lamma Island where an old granny sells tau-fu-fa. I've not tried it myself, but eagerly waiting for that chance!

new haircut! :)

finally, since October 16, 2008... I finally got my haircut last evening (24/11/2008). Well.. it ain't that long to wait, but my hair was! In KL, I was used to RM35-45 haircut at MVM/1U until I realized I could get the same haircut in 10 minutes at RM15 (quickcut). Last evening, I got my haircut at HK$58 (approx. RM27) and that's the cheapest I could find in my neighbourhood. (You'd think it's expensive... but you should ask how much's their rent.)

Why are there still so many ppl?

Just left Ken's place for home. Tired and not as drunk as I thought
I'll be but definitely tired! :-p so as I step into the train, I
wonder what are these ppl doing on the train?? Heading home
obviously... Just like me. Those tired faces, some still blushing red
and yawning away... Some still be yacking in the phone. And I busy
writing this... Evidently I'm not drunk!!

Rosary Church at Tsim Sha Tsui

This Sunday, my friend & family and I decided to visit another English
speaking church so we arrived at Rosary Church on Chatham Road at TST.
Small church, looks ok... When we came into the church... We realized
there are so many Africans in HK!

Thankfully... We did not feel so out of place but there are a lot!
From where I'm standing (we weren't late but on time, and there were
no place to sit), 20% are Africans....!

New mall - MegaBox!

A trip to MegaBox may seem a little distant, especially if I have to travel from work (Wanchai) and make 2 interchanges before 9 stops/stations more before reaching Kowloon Bay. It's incredibly distant (via MTR) but once you're there and a glance out of the mall over the harbour, it's not so far away from CBD after all!

Kowloon Bay is a commercial district, filled with corporate offices and factories. Since June 2007, MegaBox opened its doors, people near or far would visit this mall. It's not too far away from Telford Mall ("tak fook" in canto) - one of the IKEA stores is located in this mall. Megabox ain't convenient to visit since we have to take a shuttle bus from Kowloon Bay MTR Station (attached to Telford Plaza) and the ride is free. You can opt to walk, but you'll be all sweaty and tired by the time you reach the mall...

I'll definitely visit this mall again once I get my apartment! :-D

Cool Video!

Thanks Joseph for passing me this URL (via MSN); and I thought it was some virus... :P

Check it out!

1st ever Halloween!

Halloween in HK is crazy... but in a fun and happy way... hehehe... I think it'd be quite fun if we also celebrate Halloween like here. Many people dress up just to make their presence felt at Lan Kwai Fong. So, what we also did was to follow the crowd walking towards Lan Kwai Fong from Central MTR Station. Boy, was it packed! The crowd/traffic was controlled by the police and what used to be a bi-way became a 1-way.



Look! Bruce Lee & Silverman were there too!




I hope next year, we'd have time to prepare and come dressed up for Halloween... :P As for this year, our costumes were...

ATM ate my SC card!

Sh*t! That stupid ATM retained my SC card after 4 invalid attempt to key-in my PIN!

My temp room... so HK!

I'm temporarily staying at my relative's place... so I cannot complain how small the room is... :P I can't possibly take all the photos, but I think this is sufficient to describe the living conditions :P (and I've got 2 more luggage in another room)... hahaha... Can't wait to move to my own place!

October 18, 2008 !!!

Finally I'm getting married! There are too many photos to be uploaded here, so I've posted them all onto Facebook!

Ahhh... finally the torment of wedding preparation is over. I need not worry anymore about preparation and focus ahead... :)

Flying back to KL (from HK) - nice Cloud View

Finally, I'm flying back to KL! It's such a nice view from above...

Finally, my China Visa.. actually, I just want my passport back :P

My present job would requires me to travel to mainland China (tho' not so often). So I had to get a China Visa. I submitted an application on Oct-2 but only collect on Oct-8. When I went to the Consulate General of PR of China yesterday to collect my Visa, there were 50+ people in queue. Since Oct-7 was a public holiday in HK, it's not uncommon that the following day will be jam-packed. So I went again this morning (Oct-9), which is really quite an experience!!!

I waited for 2.5 hours just to collect my Visa! Firstly, we have to queue up (before 10am) along the walkway before even getting into the building. When I entered, we have to go thru tight airport-like security- metal detectors, x-ray machines, etc. And when I managed to get up to the 7th floor, it's another 50+ queue...

'why the queue' you may ask.
The staff says "system down"?!?
- but how does that affect collection??

The actual fact is.... there's only 1 counter serving visa collection (but why??? I think I know why, but don't think I should post it here... hehehehe)

Finally, my HKID!

This morning, I went to pick up my HKID! And it took less than 5 minutes to go in, sit for no longer than 1 minute and leave. :P Apparently, pickup is efficient. Unlike the so-called standard procedure back in my homeland where the g-staff would sit on it, until they are done chit-chatting with their colleagues before they decide whether you have waited long enough. :P (Or, maybe I'm wrong about that. :P)

No Internet access at Home

Sigh... I've to suffer with no Internet access at home for the past days. The only Internet access I can get is either, I make a trip to the nearest cafe (like Pacific Coffee or Starbucks) for free Internet access. Or... I could use my iPhone and use 3G for checking emails and chatting on MSN (, and it ain't fun!)

Pasar Singaporean Flavour?

Do not ever bother trying M'sian/S'porean food in HK! Coz, they SUCK big time! Tonight, I went to this restaurant called "Pasar", and had the most expensive and digusting laksa one can ever try in HK (and they claim they imported fresh spices from S'pore :P). Erm, I hope that Wendi Teo (founder) is not reading this. Hahaha.... truly, if only they had tried laksa in KL. :P

This freaking bowl of utterly digusting laksa cost me HK$68 (approx. RM30)!! It's edible but the soup is so diluted.... *ewww*.... To the right, you can see the menu, it says:

"Grilled Sambal Stringray ....... HK$168" (approx. RM76)
"Fried Black Pepper Prawn ....... HK$198" (approx. RM89)

WTF?!? Fyi, I saw the pic of the dishes, and it's probably the same size as what we get in KL, at most RM20 for that grilled stringray if you eat at some hawker stalls. :P

Oh, and I overheard the restaurant manager complaining about the shop's rental is approx. HK$390K/month for 1,500sqft place. No wonder these dishes are way over-priced!

food in HK

For the past 2 weeks and 6 days, my diet survived on nothing better than "siew mei" (roast meat), be it roast duck, roast goose, roast pork, barbequed pork, steamed chicken, and a whole variety of good HK food! Obviously, you'll struggle in HK if you can't read chinese (like me), and ordering food is a problem! So, I could only order the regular stuff like...

"Char Kai Fahn" (barbequed pork + chicken rice)
"Char Ngor Fahn" (barbequed pork + roast goose rice)
"Char Ngap Fahn" (barbequed pork + roast duck rice)
"Char Siew Yoke Fahn" (barbequed pork + roast pork rice)
"Kai Fahn" (chicken rice), etc. in HK, you don't get much roast chicken tho'. Usually steamed.
"Yum mat yeh"? (What do you want to drink?)...being an illiterate Chinese, I could only order "tung lai cha" (chilled milk tea) or "hor lok" (coke). It's like our usual "teh tarik" in KL, but only better! I don't know how to explain, it just is!

HK, National Day - October 1, 2008

Later in the evening, we moved towards (in between of) HK Island & Kowloon side to watch the fireworks on the boat. We were among some 50 over boats/ferries who were there to watch a 30-minute long firework display...

Another 1st Time - Boat Trip

This is my another 1st time experience in my life... :P I uncle brought me along for a boat trip with his friends at Sai Kung. Btw, the brown junk boat ain't the one we went on. I thought I'd simply take a photo of a junk boat rented by some angmo's who parked just behind our boat.

It ain't cheap maintaining a boat in HK. For example, if you have a speedboat and you need a parking space, you need to pay at least HK$2,000/month (depending on the size of your boat), which you probably use it for less than 4 times a month. :P If you have a 40-50' boat, it can cost you HK$20,000 or more!!?? Oh... if you wonder how your HK$2,000/month boat parking space would look like... check out the photos below.