My holiday diary....

[Ask For More]

Ok, I posted this before but I think my suggested thread title deterred some from entering. So here's a nice family friendly one to attract all the punters back!

Hope I don't bore you guys! Here's the first installment...bear in mind this was written two weeks ago...

Part 1

For those who don' know i'm not in Hong Kong.....I left London on Saturday , spent one night in Malaysia on Sunday, and arrived in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon.

Anyways, I was working full time last week as none of
you know, since the regular waiter at my restaurant
took the week off to go on holiday with his boyfriend
(I'll let you draw your own conclusions). That's why I
haven't been here at all recently.

So full time work was somewhat of a bitch, getting up at
10 every morning to go to work, and getting home
around 12.30 every night, with only a couple of hours
off in the afternoon. Therefore hardly any free time
to meet people. I spent most of the time completely
knackered.....the plus point is that there were plenty of nubile female customers that week....hubba hubba!

So on Saturday, I get to the airport only to
encounter the mother of all Queues at check in. Easily
stretching across half the airport, I followed it all
the way to the back with no end in sight before
finally managing to edge in. While some cheeky bitch
tried to jump in front of me, I struck up a
conversation with this Indian guy from a pretty famous Uni in England. Apparntly he was a second year dentist, and out
of about 90 people on the course, at least 80 of them
are Indian. That must be really disconcerting for the
remaining minority!

Meanwhile I'm panicking completely, afriad that I
won't make my flight. I find out that the airline have booked two flights withing 40mins of each other, which is why there's such a big queue.

The flight is less than the usual 12 hours, and I get
the screen on the back of the seat with the usual
movies and games. The joypad is broken on my
controller, meaning I can't take out my agression on
Super Punch Out, but I do watch a couple of movies,
including one called Double Take which is a good
laugh.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport is impressive as
usual, but the long wait for my baggage is not so
impressive. This reminds me that Malaysia is a country
of total inefficiency. Until they can get rid of the
apathy of their people, they'll be going places.
Unfortunately that doesn't look like happening in the
near future.

So I meet up with my girlfriend, her bro, and a mate that
i'm staying with for the night. I'm off to Hong Kong
the next day, so there's not much scope for doing much
you would think, but in one night, we manage dinner,
movie, karaoke, bar, and finally, supper. Not bad eh?
Also considering my flight is at 9.30 the next
morning! Watched Final Fantasy.....the plot's a bit
wank but the animation is stunning. Definitely worth
watching.

We manage a couple of hours of sleep before going to
the airport. Traffic is hell, and it takes much longer
than usual to get onto the highway to the Airport. My
friend responds by averaging around 180km/h to get us
there in time. I felt like I was flying.
We make it to the airport with an hour to spare before
the flight takes off.

So on Monday afternoon we arrive in Hong Kong. My
baggage is already out when I pass through
immigration, once again reminding me of malaysian
inefficiency. All in all it takes me twenty minutes
from the plane to come out. Damn!

That evening I go shopping with my girlfriend in the
absolutely massive shopping mall next to my brothers
place. This shopping mall easily eclipses any of the
shopping malls in England. Seven floors, a decent size
ice-skating rink and 11 screen cinema, a subway
station and a bus station are all encompassed in this
goliath. Oh yeh, and shops and restaurants!
I manage to spend about 70 quid on cd's and clothes.
Diesel is having a half price sale, and I pick up some
well nice trousers for about 30 quid. Not bad!

That night I only manage around five and half hours
sleep. Looks like I'm still on English time.....
The next day(yesterday) I go shopping again with
my girlfriend in Mong Kok. For those of you who don't know,
it's got loads of sports shops, an extremely large
street market, a computer centre and lots of pirate
stuff if you know where to look. I'm talking LOADS. PC games, Playstation games, porn, the Full Monty! Unfortuntaly all the
places I used to go have been shut down, meaning that
I don't know where to look. Oh dear. Watch Swordfish
in the evening. I highly recommend it to anyone who
hasn't seen it. The plot and acting's not bad, and
Halle Berry spends most of the film in highly arousing
outfits. Not to mention one brilliant scene where you
get to see her personalities. OH....MY......GOD. She
is so fine....*sigh*
I get completely soaked on the two minute walk back to
my brother's place. It's typhoon season now in Hong
Kong so I have to take umbrella out wherever I go.


So that's the first installment of my holiday diary.
I'm off for breakfast now, will follow up with more later

 

[Ask For More]

Part 2

Where did I leave off? I think it was my second day on Hong Kong or thereabouts? Well, I'll just ramble on for a bit trying to remember what I did. Lemme see, on the third day had a bit of a crisis, my glasses fell to the floor and the lens smashed, since most floors here are hardwood. Since I didn't bring my spares, I've had to wear contact lenses all day for the past four days, which is a right bitch for me because I have this problem with contacts which means that I normally can't wear them for that long. Had to go to optician's and get an eye test and sort out new glasses. The cost is half of what it would cost in England. *sigh*

The weather here is ridiculous. It's been raining pretty constantly, so the temperature ain't that high, but the biggest problem is the humidity; which just stifles you completely. Even though it's only around 26 degrees C at the moment, I'm sweating like a rapist as soon as I step out of the door. Apparently a typoon is fast approaching, so that'll probably cool things down a little although I'm not counting on it.

So onto more adventures! I went around a bit and managed to find a good deal on a Game Boy Advance, which I then purchased quite happily. For around 90 english pounds, I got the console, one game and a plastic case to go with it! Not bad eh? And I though it was pretty cheap in England at 90 just for the console....
More perusal led me to discover some new fangled MD (that's Mini Disc to those of you who don't know) technology. The new releases by Sony have a special LP feature, which basically means that if you record with these MD players you can fit about four times the normal about of music onto one MD. And to further lay on my surprise the player only costs around 100-120 pounds! Unfortunately(?) for me I've just received the gift of a nice little MD player with no recording function from my sister-in-law....which rules out me getting the nice new technology for myself. Grrrr...

Managed to finally get a nice dinner of Roast Pigeon the other day. For those who don't know, Roast Pigeon is somewhat of a delicacy in HK and it's one of my favourite foods to boot! So I've been scoffing it like crazy while I can....the meat is a lot tastier than chicken or duck.

I'm thinking that perhaps the greatest thing about Hong Kong is the subway system. After having the bloody London Underground for my whole life, the trains here are like space shuttles in comparison. For those who don't know, the trains are big silver beasts, with huge carriages, and air conditioning! There are spaces marked out on the platform where the doors will open, and the map in the train actually lights up indicating which stop you're at and which direction the train is heading in. It even tells you which side to exit the train from! And the trains are NEVER late or delayed. It's gonna be such a bitch to go back to London transport after this....

I've discovered two pretty big street markets here as well, one in Mong Kok and one in Prince Edward(no the place is called Prince Edward, before all you smartasses start cracking jokes). They sell all kinds of stuff, alarm clocks, sunglasses, vcd's, mobile phone accesories, clothes; all cut price. I even purchased some pirate gameboy games for like 3 pounds each. Also bought some nice clothes as well, from market and from high street establishments; it's sale season in HK and the reductions are getting pretty ridiculous now.....some nearly 80%, and good quality clothes too!

Browsing around some games shops I see that Final Fantasy X has just come out on the PS2; I resist instant temptation to purchase one! The swanky animation of the female main character reminds me of one of my favourite babes, Jaymee Ong. Unfortunately the picture limits stop me from attaching pics for you to have a look at!

Finally discover some establishments that distribute pirated games and stuff. Actually all the old places I went to before are pretty much unchanged, although they are not open as much because the police and cracking down pretty stringently. Nevertheless I managed to get some PC games and a couple of Playstation games too. See some pirate DVD's of the latest movies, including Kiss of the Dragon(new Jet Li!), but the quality sucks since they've been videotaped in a movie theatre. Doh.

Watched one of the latest chinese movies out, and it's fucking hilarious! I'll see if I can pick up a vcd to lend to you guys when I get back.

The girls are pretty nice here too, definitely an improvement from when I last came here. I've seen a lot of leng lui (pretty girls, for those who don't know cantonese) in the shopping mall near my house, as well as in some of the rich areas that I visited.

Went to a friend's place for a sort of party the other day, a small group of around 15 of us went and we have a good laugh around dinner and playing footie on the Playstation. Afterwards, a few of us head to a place called Lan Kwai Fong for a spot of drinking. It's a very upmarket place, the average charge for a bottle of beer is about 4 pounds, and cocktails average about 4-7pounds, but the drinks are much stronger than England. I drink one cocktail and I start to feel a bit drowy straight away. But the places are really swanky, and the crowd is a much higher class than your usual HK people, which basically means no triads! So I don't mind staying there for a bit. More leng lui to look at, but my gf was there as well so I keep my eyes from wandering.

One thing about Hong Kong is that money just disappears really easily....I'll go out with 50 pounds and it'll be gone easily by the end of the day. Food is pretty pricey here, but there's so much cool stuff that I just keep splashing out because it's so cheap compared to England. Have to travel everywhere as well, which isn't that expensive, but because I'm buying stuff for my gf and paying for nearly every meal, so it's making a bit of a dent. She's gone today, so hopefully i can cut down and save a bit of dosh!

Tomorrow I'm going to try and extend my stay. It might be the last time I come to this side of the world for a while so I want to make the most of it.

Well, thus bring an end to another gargantum edition. I hope I haven't bored you guys to death, but well, imagine if I had to write this in seperate emails?

 

[Ask For More]

I just wrote another gargantum edition to my buddies but realised that i forgot to put it on my clipboard so I could post it! Doh! I'm getting someone to send it back to me, but I don't know when it will arrive...

 

[Siren]

Good Idea the separate thread but.......

 

[Ask For More]

It is meant to be long and informative you stoopid american! Bit like a mini travel guide, or an attempt to make people understand the nuances of a foreign country.....

 

[Siren]

Well, us stupood americans aint gonna wade thru your account

 

[Ask For More]

you could just read it a leetle bit at a time ya know....

You're calling me verbose? Compared to some of the other people here I'm like a 4th grader.....


Dumbass

 

[Never]

No, talking about you and your friends playing with the Playstation and going out for drinks isn't teaching us about foreign nuances.. it's self indulgence.
This is the web equivalent to showing us a slide show of your trip.

 

[Tabby432]

I liked it... the dumbass stupid American that I am.

 

[Ask For More]

No, talking about you and your friends playing with the Playstation and going out for drinks isn't teaching us about foreign nuances.. it's self indulgence.
This is the web equivalent to showing us a slide show of your trip.

Umm....well it is a holiday diary...

If you don't want to read it then don't. I'm not forcing anyone to read it.....

 

[Never]

I never said I didn't like it, I was simply pointing out that it is not a travel guide nor an attemt to teach us about a foreign country - it's a personal narrative.

 

[Ask For More]

Umm...well I was just saying that to wind up Sirren actually

Sorry to have got the wrong end of the stick!

 

[Siren]

Hahaha point goes to Never

 

[Never]

Ahh, why didn't you say so?
If you were just harassing Siren it's alright then.

 

[Siren]

hahah Neverkins

 

[Ask For More]

I knew you'd approve Never

 

[Ask For More]

Part 3

Well, I'm off to Malaysia tomorrow for two weeks, so that mean's no posting here because I won't have private access to a computer. Now y'all don't cry your eyes out or anything

My last few days have been pretty uneventful actually. Did more shopping unsurprisingly; on Thursday I met up with my cousin and we went exploring in Mong Kok again. The funny thing about the place is that there's loads of malls hidden away which you can discover entirely by accident; the entrance is just an almost unnoticeable set of stairs, but when you go up there's suddenly three floors with loads of shops in it! We found a couple of cool places; one with loads of accessories and cutesy stuff, chinese people really love cute stuff, and the other had a lot of toys and clothes. I actually saw a still boxed Optimus Prime (Transformers anyone?) for around 90 pounds. Makes me wish I'd held onto my Transformers collection when I was kid!

I've decided that pretty much everything in Hong Kong is negotiable. For example, if you go to the big street markets, it's not uncommon for them to charge people different prices depending on who they are. Like if I asked for the price of a T-shirt in chinese, they would say something like HK$40, but if I asked in English they might say something like HK$60-70. I've done my fair share of haggling here, and managed to get some pretty decent discounts.

Actually I'm going to miss this place. It's been a long time since I've been able to hang out with my older brother properly, and with me getting a job when I go back to england it could be a long time before I see him again

Went to a market in a place called Tai Po today to buy some food for my family in malaysia. It's near the village where I'm originally from, and generations of my ancestors have been born there, although my family no longer lives there. I went to a specialist food store that sells loads of dried stuff; mushrooms, scallops(very expensive!), abalone, bird's nest, sea cucumber to name a few. There's all sorts of odd stuff that I don't recognize there, and most of it is pretty expensive. A kilo of dried scallops is around HK$450(HK$7.5 to US$1 I think)! And I was buying around 3 kilos as well. In true Hong Kong tradition the guy gave us a nice discount as well cos we bought so much stuff.

Well, that's pretty much it for Hong Kong. The next update will probably be in a week or so from Malaysia. Play nicely now!