The view from our hotel room
The busy streets of HK and the artificial soccer pitch opposite us
And so we awoke at 8+
(not considered too late right?
since we slept at 12+ close to 1am)
7 hours of uninterrupted rest
=)
And proceed to search for breakfast
While moving around our hotel area on the 1st day
(which is near the Prince Edward MTR station)
We already recce some good places to eat for the 2nd day
Above are some of the sights of morning HK
So we just pop into a local breakfast cafe
And the breakfast was great
(judging from the pictures)
There was crisp HK noodles which tasted.....very crispy?
Smooth porridge with abalone
(abalone you got it! dont know if it was the real deal though)
Local authentic milk tea
Sandwiches and some friendly service
:)
Well, the 菠萝包 was DA BOMB!
Tasted very sweet and the bread was freshly baked
Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside
Totally the icing on the cake for snacks on the way to the train station!
On the way to Ngong Ping 360
The famous 45 degrees incline cable car
Which was at Tung Chung station
For the trip to Lantau Island aka 大屿山
Where the Giant Buddha was
Well, major tourist attraction = long queue
Took around half an hour or 45 mins to get to our turn to ride the cable car
Oh well, we took the Crystal Cabin
Meaning the cable car has the see-through crystal glass at the bottom of the cabin
Horrifying shit!
The view was excellent to say the least
But the ride felt like a roller coaster
The cable car had mini pit-stops which helped to propel it forward
And the incline was really out of this world
You look everywhere also see that it was a
loooooong way down.....
Especially when you look down.......
There was also a hiking trail up the mountain
Where we spotted some bravehearts attempting the feat
Oh well
In the end, we just took in the greenery and mountains and sea and everything
Very pleasant and relaxing
Just like what a holiday should be
:)
And tada, we finally see the epic humongous bronze Buddha statue in the distance
Meaning we have finally arrived on top of the mountain
=)
Sights of the over-commercialized place
But 1 thing to take note
The moment we stepped out from the cable car
We felt.......zen-tish(?)
As in the air was really fresh
And there was this inner calming feeling that swept over us
Like totally no burden on our shoulders and such
Plus the 1st thing we saw were 2 cute cows there by the walkway
HAHA!
And of cuz the naughty guys trying to be funny with the Buddha
LOL!
It was like a afternoon tea-house place
With primary white themed brick walls and tile rooftops
Bling-bling Buddha tees
And the pathway lined with colourful lotus en route to the Giant Buddha statue
The sun was scorching
There was no clouds
We were wearing jeans
All adds up to a formula for disaster
Just check us out
Looking at the 240+ or 260+ steps up to the Giant Buddha
It was like a 10 HDB-storeys climb up there
=(
Feeling zen-tish one moment....
And not so zen-tish the next
The DSLR and the bagpack are necessities
But sometimes it would feel good to be hands-free
=(
Well, Army-trained
We made it up in record breaking time
5 mins or slightly......more?
(ignore the painful expression on my face please!)
Cannot lose to those uncles/aunties who were like walking up leisurely
With umbrellas and water bottles and large Aviator-sized sunglasses
Check out the triumphant Jon!
No joke there
It was worth it!
Once again
Sights on top
The view was........excellent again to say the least
The air feel really really fresh!
And everything felt really good
The mountains looked really great
The sea and the distant objects were much clearer due
to lesser haze
And all adds up to nice landscape photos!
=)
On the way down
A horrifying look at the stairs once again
=/
Cant roll down as we would snowballed everyone in the way
So we scraped the idea in the end
10-storeys somemore, no joke
And dont you think temples or those religious Chinese places
always never fail to have such pine-shaped or cone-shaped coniferous trees?
Oh ya, we went in
(me and Ding Feng, Jon didnt due to religious issues)
Needed an entry ticket to exchange for ice-cream and drinks!
LOL!
Good stuff
Tour the insides of the Buddha
Nothing much except to level up your personal zen level
HAHA!
And so we just admired the whole structure of the Giant Buddha from 360 degrees
Before making our way down
Making our way to Po Lin Monastery aka 宝莲禅寺
A temple whereby we just offered our prayers
(or rather I was the only one......)
Making our way to the Wisdom Path
And before we made our way there
Took a refreshing icy-cold facial wash
The waters were really cooling
2 words: Damn shiok!
Plants and animals along the way en route to the Wisdom Path
The butterflies, beetles, scarecrow, and the cute dog there
There was an intersection there
One was the crazy hellish road to the Phoenix peak
(you can see the mountain there
heard it takes 3 hrs to complete)
If next time backpack then try
The other was leading to the Wisdom Path
So of cuz we did the wiser choice
To attain enlightenment
;)
The pillars of stone or rock were carvings in ancient Chinese words
Or rather 繁体字 as we commonly know them as
Well.....they were too chim to understand
Even for my *ahem* well command of the Chinese language
Only understand something like what "Dont be afraid to dream" or something
LOL!
Quite cuiz lah!
And hey, the ultimate qns was....
YJ: "So you got attain enlightenment?"
DF: "Dont understand how to attain"
*shrugs shoulders*
Haha! Typical ans from him
And featuring the 3 National Geographic Channel most promising youth outdoors photographers for 2010.....
HAHA!
It's easy to get non-DSLR fans interested
Great pictures made ANYONE happy
And sure me and Jon like to share with others nice photos!
:)
Some group pics before we made our way down
Like the 1st one the most
The 2nd one was supposed to be the Dragonball 超级赛亚人 transformation
Well, epic fail!
Jon said the 3rd one looked like a boyband photo
LOL!
Boybands all ended up disbanded right?
HAHA! Oops!
=D
Last shot before we made our way back - " 佛 "
Made our way to Central then back to Causeway Bay
Knock-off peak period
It's more crazy in HK than in Singapore I feel
Singapore still got ppl say "Excuse Me"
HK is like just nudge then you will be through
No ppl is supposed to feel roughed up or what
Well, the 1st sight that greeted us when we alight
at Causeway Bay
was the Fifa World Cup 2010 countdown
And a cute stall that was called Monster Popcorn
With some fancy popcorns in there
A whole variety of colours and flavours to choose from
Another nice shop was the Nike Football Concept shop
"If it's is the yellow they fear, they will never see this coming...."
*****
With this kinda tagline
Plus the ownage cool black-coloured jersey
Brazil sure has a good chance of winning their
6th World Cup this year
Well, they say the shirt makes the man right?
=p
And ya, there was mad crazy sale at the Sogo over there
Heard Jon and Ding Feng said there used to be
Sogo in Singapore too!
Cool!
Ah!
Whats a long day without the dessert!
Famous 杨枝甘露 and the one w/o the pamelo
Singapore dessert shops can all close down pleaaaaaaaasseeee~!
LOL!
Really totally OMGWTFBBQ pawnz local 杨枝甘露
Still got grass jelly and somemore cheaper than SG one
WAH!
After that
We made our way to Ladies Street aka 女人街
The famous night market back in Mong Kok
Just one station away from our hotel place
女人街 was in the middle of the Electronics and Sports Goods streets
And we came up at the Electronics side first
Well, the 1st electronics shop we went into we found this phenomenon!
" Metal Man vs. Iron Man "
And Metal Man came up tops becuz of the more pricier tag
LOL!
Wonder what will be the actual movie in it sia?
Cheap tees and stuff
(we found better bargains on the last day though)
There was this shop selling such phrases
One totally off-the-charts phrase went like this:
" You are my love my angle. Dont treat me like a potato "
Like totally BOOMZ man!
Off-the-charts seriously!!!
Dont understand it totally
The other one was:
" You strong like rambo, look like hero
But your brain just like potato "
Another BOOMZ moment!
HAHA!
Infatuation with potatoes man!
Supper for Day 2
Well, it was a tiring day once again
Too much walking in HK everyday
I think we clocked like 20km or more just on walking everyday
From the train stations to the tourist attractions to the night markets
And too little water
We always bring along two or three 1.5L water bottles in our backpack
Plus two small 500ml water bottles for convenient drinking
Army-trained like what I mentioned
We all know the importance of not having enough water
Everyday go back hotel cook water and bring them along!
So that we stay strong and healthy and not so exhausted to finish the touring
Talking and bargaining with the aunties along the night market
was fun too!
Seeing how Ding Feng banter in Canto was great!
They always call us " Leng Zai " aka " Handsome Boys "
in Canto
Then they try to not lower the price and stuff
LOL!
But quite friendly the majority of them
A very fun atmosphere there!
I like!
:)
End of Day 2 while on the way back
We shopped till 11+pm?
And saw a Malboro-zhnged Mitsubishi Evo on the way back
Quite nice!
And of cuz a giant poster of Kisstiano Ronaldo at the
Sports Goods street
But the time we finished 女人街 the Sports Goods street was already winding up
So pity we gave it a miss till the next day
And oh ya
Forgot to mention
The world is SO SO SMALL!
We saw a fellow Singaporean, or XMS student there
Our fellow cohort and batch one
Caught Pei Ling in the middle of the bustling 女人街
Pleasant surprise to see someone you know out in the streets of a foreign country
Got fate la
I cycling in Hougang she jaywalked over also can meet
As the Chinese saying goes ..... " 有缘千里来相逢 "
=)
The buy of the day!
Me is Kisstiano Ronaldo!
LOL!
CR9 rocks to the core!
Sorry but no La Liga for me except individual players preference
And the crazy commentary of endless breath of " GOOOOOOOAAAAAL!!! "
香港之旅 Day 2
Completed
=)
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