Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here's to all the presents that I never received.
I remember one episode in Futurama:-

Fry: Christmas. You know? X-M-A-S.

Leela: Oh, you mean Xmas. You must be using an archaic pronunciation.

Like when you say "ask" instead of "aks".

Fry: Xmas, huh? [He sighs.] Y'know, this'll be my first Xmas away from home.

Leela: Hey, hey. Let me aks you something: Would it cheer you up if we went and cut down an Xmas tree?

Fry: Yeah! An old-fashioned Xmas tree!

The Xmas tree turns out to be palm trees as pine trees went extinct.

Nobody can predict how things would change in the future including Christmas traditions.

It has snowed in Vietnam and even in the Arab countries, maybe it might snow in Malaysia in the future?

HK Day 2 - Macau to Kowloon (5/10/2013) - Part 2/2

Part 1 of Day 2 - HERE

As we got out from the boat, the distance from the pier to the Immigration Centre or the Main Building of the Hong Kong Macau Pier in Kowloon, therefore, it is advisable to have wheels for your luggage so that it'll be easier to get them to the Immigration. After the Immigration Centre, we decided to walk all the way through and searched for Nathan Road which is one of the main stretch of road in Hong Kong.

Stayed at Just Hostel which was found through Booking.Com. The place is pretty nice and clean but quite small and only sufficient for two single beds with a small lane between these two beds. Just Hostel is not really a hostel in a sense, it's more like a hotel with several different small rooms. Not all of the rooms have windows though and I specifically chosen one with windows as the experience in a no window room in Singapore is pretty much very unsettling.

The Hotel is located on 11/F of the New Lucky House building, where the entrance to the building is very very near to Ezit B1 of the Jordan MTR Station which is one of the main selling point of this hotel in my opinion. In Booking.Com, many people were confused on how to get there, so hopefully the following series of pictures will help. Once exit from the Station, stand at the same spot and look up to find New Lucky House Entrance just right in front.

Exit B1 of the Jordan MTR Station

New Lucky House Entrance - Notice the Ample Exchange Signage

Go into the Entrance and find the last elevator in the left.

Go to Floor 11 and turn left. At the first corridor, turn right, immediately see a 

H sign where the hotel is and knock on the door.

After a short break in the room, decided to go to the Waterfront Promenade for some daytime Hong Kong city view. Actually wanted to go to the Space Museum First and then to the Avenue of Stars. Took the MTR and headed to Tsim Tsa Tsui Station which was nearest to the Promenade. Walked from the Station and somehow headed the wrong way and ended up at the Science Museum which was the opposite where we were heading. Admittedly lost in Hong Kong. It took some time before we found our way back to the Waterfront. (Later we found out from a friend studying in Hong Kong that you can take exit E directly to the Waterfront area).

Due to misdirection, ended up going for the Avenue of Stars and then to the Space Musuem. Avenue of Stars is long stretch of path where hundreds of palm prints of movie stars and singers are placed on the floor similar to those found on TCL Chinese Theater in the USA. How many of stars can you recognize from those taken below?

Hong Kong City

Nicholas Tse

Carina Lau Ka Ling

Sean Lau Ching Wan

Cecilia Chueng Pak Chi

Eric Tsang Chi Wai

Datuk Michelle Yeoh

Samuel Hui Koon Kit

Micheal Hui

Yu So Chow - Somewhat felt like heard the name somewhere before

Shek Kin - A pretty famous actor back in the 60s 70s era

This Statue is near the Space Musuem

The famous clock tower at the Waterfront

The next part of the trip, being the Space Museum was nothing to hu-hah about. In fact, it was pretty disappointing. But for a mere price of RM10, can't really expect too much of it. Sadly, I even slept through the Dome movie they were showing. Later that day, waited at the front of the promenade for the Hong Kong Light Show which was hailed as one of the must see in Hong Kong.

Stanley Ho Space Theater 

Also met with another university friend which I haven't seen for at least 5 years and had dinner and desserts with her. It was great seeing after so long and due to this, I can't even remmeber the place for dinner. All I could remember was that it was roasted stuff at one the cafes in Tsim Tsa Tsui. Roasted goose, chicken and BBQ Pork are recommended in Hong Kong and it was true to the words. Better than those in Malaysia.

Roasted Goose with Rice

BBQ Pork With Rice

Roasted Pork With Rice

Mango Based Dessert

Waternelon Hor Fun

Durian Chee Cheong Fun

Next:-
Hong Kong Dim Sum, History & Science Museum,
The Peak and Madame Taussads

Interesting Song and Singer

I accidentally watched an episode of  全能星战 which consisted of some famous stars such as Sun Nan, Wang Xiao Hu, Tao Zhe, in a reality show style battle of singing prowess. From all the contestants, I found Gong Linna 龚琳娜
to be the most interesting of all. Seems like the other singers have the common voice or singing style, but her's sounds more original and interesting. Among my favorites by this singer:- 

Tan Te - which is notoriously famous for it's difficulty.


Walking the Path of Life - Good Changes in rhythm  and original song at the late part of the song


Rippling Brook - Nice vocals


Fahai, You Don't Understand Love - Catchy Song with nice lyrics


Falling In Love with a Fool - Cute Song


Jing Ye Si - Melancholy Singing


She definitely reminds me of Faye Wong.

HK Day 2 - Macau to Kowloon (5/10/2013) - Part 1/2

(Continued from Day 1 - Macau )

Part 1 of 2

The next day after a hearty English breakfast at the hotel, there was still time for more sight-seeing. To avoid the crowd and the afternoon heat, it is decided to head to the Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral which is one of the main icon of Macau. Heading out along the way, we felt how the local Macanese lived and went about their daily lives. It felt somewhat quiet and not as glamour as it was usually portrayed in travel shows or in magazines. Tried asking the hotel receptionist for directions and the receptionist with a rude face told that it is around the Senado Square somewhere. That wasn't really helpful but no longer any mood to argue, the only way was to grope around near the area. It's only 5 minutes away anyway.

Right out of the hotel in a narrow street

Motorcycles parking

The Steep road down to the hotel

Further along the way

Nearly there

Senado Square Intersection

Senado Square or the Historical Centre of Macau is pretty small. It consists of a small square and several paths connecting to it. To find the Ruins, there are plenty of signboards around the Senado Square and therefore, it was a saving grace. As it was too early in the morning, not many shops are open and nothing much to see. It took less than 5 minutes before we arrived at the Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral.

Senado Square - Not sure what was the purpose of the pagoda

  

Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral

 

Another shot - Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral

The Main Gate of the Ruins - Nothing else behind the Gate

Closeup of the Gate

Looking down from the Gate

Famous almond cookies can be found right at the foot of the Stairs of the Ruins. An outlet of the famous Koi Kee. Went to buy two boxes of almond cookies and some peanut candies. In which after that, we went back to hotel and packed, getting ready to go to Hong Kong next. To arrive in Kowloon, the best place to take the ferry would be the Hong-Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal instead of the one in Taipa which is further.
Ferry to Hong Kong was pretty much uneventful as sleep gave in.

To be continued in the next post!
Things to come:- Star Prints, Roasted Rice, and Hong Kong Skyline

Part 2 - HERE

Yokoso! ようこそ!

YOKOSO - Welcome to Japan!

Got my tickets booked! It's time to start saving again.
Definitely looking forward to this next trip to Japan!

I've actually been to Japan once.
READ HERE

HK Day 1 - Macau (4/10/2013)

Day 1 Hong Kong - Macau (4/10/2013)

Arrived at the HKIA and without going for Customs, went to Transfer Area E5 where there are counters selling ferry tickets to Macau. For visitors like us, one way would be to either to put Macau at the start or at the end of the trip to save on the hotel room rental in Hong Kong. Took Cotaijet and it was a nice change of pace from the cramped AirAsia seats (But who can challenge the low fares? No choice but to endure it).

Pretty quiet in the waiting hall for the ferry to Macau

Journey lasted about 45 minutes and mostly slept through the journey though. Was tired from the flight. When we arrived in Macau-Taipa Ferry Terminal, the first thing was to get buses to the hotel. But the bus transportation system is horrible, bus tables are available but the station names are long and they're in Portuguese. If you're in the Macau bus, and were expecting English names for the station, think again. The English names are read in Portuguese. I didn't expected it and was lacking research in the bus factor. I advise anyone visiting Macau to thoroughly research on the bus routes. There are many buses that although are different number, in fact travel almost the same route.

Macau Bus Route Table (From http://rizalchristian.blogspot.com )

I thought it was only me but another friend which went to Macau earlier also mentioned that they got lost as well and ended up at the Macau Bus Station. Fortunately we were able to speak Cantonese and ask the bus driver uncles which bus to correctly take. Pretty confusing and frustrating. Even the locals have to look at the table to check where to stop. 

The first thing we looked for is the famous Prawn Roe Noodles. Strangely, it is not the prawn roe noodles that I thought it would be like in Malaysia. In Macau, it is in fact, wanton noodles with added prawn roe on top. It doesn't taste too bad though. Next was the milk pudding. The milk pudding was surprisingly amazing. Pretty smooth akin to tau foo fa.

Top: Curry Wanton Noodles (Soup tasted like Maggi Curry)

Bottom: Shrimp Roe Noodles & Soup

Milk Pudding with Red Bean Topping (Pretty Good)

The Venetian is the next stop. There isn't much to do around here besides shopping and gambling. However, the "sky" ceiling seems like a pretty nice idea. Quite realistic. Took some photos and went to the casino area which photos were not allowed. Won RM200 though from the spinning wheel. We ended up having McD for dinner as was really exhausted from getting lost in Macau with the bus system.

The Venetian from the outside

The Main Area the Venetian

A live performance of classical music done by this lovely string quartet

Cafes and more Shops (Not sure if the 2nd floor can be accessed though)

Shopping Area at the Venetian

This is not Venetian though, the nearby Galaxy Casino