Sunday, November 30, 2008

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!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

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.)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

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!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

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....!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

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!

Friday, October 31, 2008

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!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

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!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

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... :)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

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

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



Thursday, October 9, 2008

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)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

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!)

Friday, October 3, 2008

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!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

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.

Marina Cove @ Sai Kung - "si beh wu lui"


My uncle's friend's friend stays at this place called Marina Cove @ Sai Kung. As you can tell from the photo, if you get a parking space for your boat, you must be damn rich! What can I say?? This dude's house is more than 2,000' (3-storey with parking space, rooftop space & private pontoon). My uncle and I got a little curious about how much these houses cost, and coincidentally, Midland & Centaline (property agencies) were nearby; and we checked them out. So, this house cost approx. HK$24mil, i.e. RM10mil!!!

Dessert @ Sai Kung - CHUN!!!



My uncle (Tommy) & aunt(Sandy) brought me to this amazing dessert place at Sai Kung! I don't think I know how to get there, and the only way in to that place is either by car, or taxi. However, I took a photo of the road name (Po Tung Road). They have cold dessert with durian, durian pancake! (I know we can even get better ones in M'sia) but this shop is a must try! Not too long ago, this shop started franchising all over HK, so you'll be able to find it in places like Mongkok. However, this shop at Sai Kung was the very first/originator.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Finally, I'm with 3

For the past 2 weeks, I've spent HK$400 on 3's prepaid card, and the call charges and SMS (local & international) is killing me! (e.g., 1 SMS to M'sia would cost me HK$4.5, approx. RM2) Also when I get an international call from M'sia, I don't know why HK$2.1 is deducted from my credits!!
Needless to say, subscribing to a postpaid account is inevitable. So the question is which provider, and what service plan to go for. Having invested enough time already on choosing a provider & a plan, I've decided to get iPhone3G with 3... :D and the iPhone only cost me HK$1,738 (approx. less than RM800).

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Priest ain't funny... :P

Another thing I realized, english-speaking priest(s) in HK aren't good with their jokes. Well, maybe there are better ones at different district, but this one in Tsing Yi, he told a joke, the crowd didn't realize it was a joke. So the priest had to say, "it's a joke, please laugh"; and so, the obedient crowd (filipino's) laughed. For a moment, I was wondering- "either the priest is not funny, or maybe the crowd didn't get the joke!". Well, I was there and I didn't think it was funny... (now this is funny!! lol)

Another 1st Time!

This Sunday morning was the 1st time I've ever attended an English Church Mass in Tsing Yi, HK - St Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church. Apparently, 99% of the church-goers are Filipinos; so I feel so out of place (, actually more out of place when I attend Church Masses conducted in Cantonese :P) There were only a handful of men- either male Filipinos, foreigners, and very few local HK-ers.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

digital ad on steps?


well, I've seen (sticker) advertisement on escalator steps, or even stairs. but this one, (well... maybe I haven't seen this before and thought it'd be interesting to share), of course it looks interesting! :P

TST in the afternoon...


I've got nothing better to do but walk around Harbour City (mall), alone :P. And there I saw this StarCruise ship parked by the pier... so I thought I might as well kill some time and take this picture using my e71. For 3.2MP and under broad daylight, this photo suck big time! If only I had some DSLR or something (but I don't own one), otherwise, I would have been busy taking photos of the scenery just like the others who brought their DSLR along with them while their gf's went shopping. hahahaa...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sardine-packed MTR cars!!!


It's approximately 7:30pm when everyone is heading home from Hong Kong MTR station. I didn't want to be packaged and delivered in that train (like sardines), so I decided to stand from this distance and take this photo. :P ...this reminded me of KL monorail. KL's far worse, considering KL monorail has 2 cars per journey, HK MTR has 8 bigger cars!!!

My 1st Time with Blue Girl


My 1st Time with Blue Girl. hahahaha... Kah Ken, Jin Min & I each bought this "lam mui" beer and we drank at TST. They kept saying that it's the cheapest beer - not because the beer is cheap (it's actually slightly more expensive than a Heineken), but how we didn't enjoy drinking it at the Avenue of Stars, TST :P

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Typhoon Signal No. 8!!!

Wow! Typhoon signal no. 8 on my 1st day at work! :p ... 1st time to get off work early due to bad weather conditions; got off at 1700 but work finishes at 1830.
(HK tropical cyclone warning signals)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I lost my Octopus card!!

I just had dinner with some friends at TST. After dinner, we decided to buy a can of beer and sit around the Avenue of Stars. I remember I still had my Octopus card. When we were leaving that place, we were walking to the taxi stand, I was probably fidgeting with my wallet and the Octopus card must have slipped out and dropped somewhere before we got on a taxi.

So, what's the damage? (1) the card had $50 deposit with at least $80 stored value... so it's all gone! (2) the card is also my access to the gated residential block where I'm staying, and I had to get a new card. thankfully, they didn't charge me for the lost card (3) so the old card is gone, I got a new one, which I paid another $50 deposit and $100 stored value.

Lesson learnt: you tell me...

Friday, September 19, 2008

Wanchai

I'll be starting work next Tue (9/23) at Wanchai. So, before I start work next week, I guess I'd have to get used to the bustling crowd during rush hour. And so I did...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Hongkies developed good leg muscles!

In HK, you can't do anything without walking... well, unless you're a handicapped which is a little off topic. What I meant was, you need to walk a lot in HK. I was talking to a friend earlier that, when I was working in KL, I travel an hour to work of which 10% of the time is spent on walking, which means 90% of the time while travelling to work, I'm usually in the car. However, in HK, 100% of the time is walking!! For example, you leave your house and you walk to the nearest MTR station, board a train to your destination. If you're lucky, you get a seat, otherwise, you'll have to stand throughout the train ride. And when you reach the MTR station, you start walking again to your office. Unless, you earn enough to own a car in HK!Therefore, hongkies developed good leg muscles!!
My uncle told me, "if you want to be a hongkie, you have to walk a lot!!!". I thought to myself, "I don't want to be one; I just want to work here" :-p

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Moonlight Resonance


I guess we get this HK drama series in KL (via Astro on Demand). When I'm here, they're showing the exact episode as in KL. I missed at least 4 episodes! I wonder how am I gonna find the repeats on the net and continue watching. hahaha... (this sunday is already the last episode ler~)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

wanting to apply for HKID card

as a HK resident, it seems that applying for a HKID card is inevitable. So I went to the Immigration Tower at Wanchai, hoping I could get my card done the same day. Apparently, that was just wishful thinking and there were more procedures than I thought. I had to fill up a form, and call a number (to their IVR system, and boy was I surprised that the system was so well-designed, just) to make an appointment, which the next available date is Sep-22! My gawd... I have to wait for 6 more days before getting my HKID card... Thankfully, the officers were resourceful and they gave me enough information (hopefully, and I will only know when I go back to the immigration office next monday).

Sunday, September 14, 2008

1st Mid-Autumn Fest in HK

Sumptious meal to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival 2008 in HK. My Yee Poh cooked so many dishes (if you look closely, there are at least 4 dishes served in 2 plates each :-p). There were only 8 of us having dinner and apparently, too much to eat :-p Oh, the guys in the picture are my uncles (L>R, Michael & Tommy).

Apparently, apartments in HK are so freaking small!


Spent the whole of 2nd day searching for apartments in HK. Apparently, they are all so freaking small! Haha! :-p If only I have a VP's package (hahahahaha), I would then be able to afford a much bigger place instead of these 650/695sqft units. So, there I was standing looking a little depressed- just to give you a picture of how small the living room is (I didn't even bother to upload the bedroom/kitchen photos)!

Hong Kong!

Landed at 1:08pm (as informed by the captain of the plane :-p) and man was it crowded inside the airport! I was the 50th behind the visitors queue and I thought it's gonna take an hour or two to clear. Thankfully, I came to HK under a work permit visa and I get to quit that line and join another line (HK Resident). So immigration clearance did not even take more than a minute! So here I am, Sep-13, 2008 1:08pm... finally here in HK under employment.