Continuing from Day 3, quite drunk the night before, woke up about 10AM on Day 4. Washed up, cleaned up, my host brought me to this famous stall that sells "Som Tam" (the popular Thai Salad). We packed quite a bit of this and went again to Pip Uun house again. The day started with brunch, on top of the Som Tam that we bought, there were beef soup, Bah Kut Teh and some real spicy chicken. And again, we drank beer. We finished about 6 bottles of large Leo beer, then Pip Uun planned to bring me to a local waterfall, my wrong for not taking the name down, but the whole journey been something new to me.
In Thai, we can see a lot of pick-ups, so I had the chance to ride on one. 7 of us in a pick-up, along the way we drank and drank and drank. Beer is cheap like I mentioned in my few posts earlier. Reaching there about 3PM, we hang around, we brought food and beer, so it was sort of a picnic for me, I cannot even recall the last time I had picnic, perhaps it was back when I am still in my primary school days. It was fun!
On our journey back at about 6PM, we stopped at a hot-spring, bought eggs meant to be boiled in the hot spring, enjoy the landscape with beer, and I had never drink so much of beer in my life. My friends in Malaysia knowing me, recognize that I am not a beer-man but somehow in Thai, the beer tastes better, most of the beer I drank was quite mild and smooth.
Then came dinner time, we went to my host cousin's place, the guys cooked for us, we had great food and by now we probably had our 3rd dozens of beers. After the dinner, I took my last picture which was the image of the moon but the night was not over as yet. We changed and the plan was to bring me to a local disco.
We went to the one & only BM Disco in Maesai, nothing much to shout about, it is about the same kind of disco we can find in Hatyai or Chiang Mai, DJ dance numbers interval with performances.
It was one great night! We reached home about 3AM that night, fun!
OK, now day 5 coming up!
Before signing off, would like to share this masterpiece song with you all, you need to understand Mandarin & Hokkien to catch the creativeness of the song. Enjoy!
Continuing from my earlier 2 post, this trip to Doi Tung had been an eye opener for me in a lot of ways.
On the 2nd October 2009, I reached the Doi Tung point at around 8PM where my host came & picked me up to her house. The place that I stayed is very comfortable, cooling & peaceful. Dinner was prepared and since it had been a long long traveling day for me, I opted for a good rest instead of going anywhere.
Next morning, woke up at around 9AM, went to my host's sister house. Had my breakfast which is similar to our Malaysian laksa, just that it is spicier served with minced pork & pig's blood cubes. It is really yummy!
Then we went visiting around the village, I am really touch with the warm reception of these villagers. Each & every house we went, there were food & drinks. It is like a whole day long feasting session. And not to mention plenty of beers. Beers are dirt cheap. A dozen of big bottles of "Leo" beers cost me about 500baht.
Practically my second day, I eat, eat & eat... drink, drink & drink... in short, I am drunk.
My 3rd day in Doi Tung, this is somehow the most important day for the people here. Then only I realized that they actually considered mid-autumn as their new year celebration. There are plenty of new years in this part of Thailand actually. In October they celebrated the mid-autumn in a big way, then in November, they celebrate "Loy Kae Thong" which to welcome the winter, then the Thai too celebrate the common new year celebrated worldwide on every 31st December and somewhere in April they will celebrate Songkran.
I shall continue the 3rd day on a separate day, gotta take an early rest because I am heading to Hong Kong early tomorrow, my flight will be 7AM.
While I am away, the best medium to keep touch with me
I am just back from a very much needed holiday. Now back to reality, working life as usual and all geared up for this coming Friday, check it out here. And do allow me a little bit of time to do compilation of the pictures taken during my holiday.
I am still compiling all the pictures taken in Disneyland and Ngong Ping 360. Allow me some time and I will share with you guys my experience.
Today I will like to share with you some important tips when you travel around HK. One most important card you must have is the Octopus Card. Just go to any MTR station, enquire within and purchase the card for HKD150 with HKD100 pre-loaded in it. HKD50 as deposit which will then be refunded if the card is return. The card is a must when travelling with MTR, public buses & taxi. It also works like a prepaid card where most of the chain outlets like 7-11 allow you to deduct the credit when you are doing the purchasing.
The MTR line is very convenient and my advice is not to take taxi in HK. It's killing. Even Hongkie who works here adviced the same. Always go for MTR or mini-buses, tram or the double-deck. Taxi is a no-no.
Other tips you might want to keep in mind is when taking the automatic escalator, please keep right if you are not walking thru the escalator. People in Hong Kong walks like super fast, even on the escalator too, so be considerate and keep right always.
Unlike many other countries we go, the power plug point in HK is the same as Malaysia so multi-adaptor is not needed here.
When travelling out, and you feel like buying bottled water, my advice - always bring your own bottle from the hotel or the place you stay because bottled water here is blardy expensive. If you really thirsty and in need of some liquid, go for Coke Zero or Sprite Zero, it's Zero calories & fat all together, just like water and the best part of it, it is priced the same as bottled water. And do not shop for drinks in 7-11, always head for the nearest supermarkets as you will get a better bargain. Even for beers and other alcoholic drinks. 7-11 only caters for those midnight cowboys.
And sometimes I heard a lot of complaints from friends that travelled to HK about the price of food here. Well, there are also good place to dine at affordable price. Do not expect Malaysian mamak price here but if you are on a tight budget, stay away from restaurants inside the shopping malls or hotels. Two highly recommended local food chainstores from myself to all are Coral De Cafe (Tai Kar Lok in Cantonese) & Tsui Wah restaurants. The former got really attractive package meal offer (main + soup + drinks) and the latter is much like char chan teng. And these are Chinese fast food outlets they called it. And about the origin of Kimgary & Wong Kok - these are solely creation of Malaysian - lousy so called Hongkie food. You can find none here in HK. And oh ya, some restaurants here in Hong Kong do offer discount up to 20% after their off peak period, let say around 9PM, so do check out those leaflets & posters on the restaurant.
And another tips - to visit museums in Hong Kong - choose Wednesday - because Wednesday they do not charge entrance fees. This only applicable to museums run by the government.
Hope the above help to those who plan to visit Hong Kong soon.
Yes, I am back in Hong Kong again. My second time this year. For the coming 2 weeks I will be residing here at my sister's place. Thanks to AirAsia, I am able to make this holiday happened together with my family.
The trip was pre-planned 3 months earlier. This trip I am accompanied by my parents and my younger brother. We arrived at Hong Kong last night at about 8PM and had light dinner on board. AirAsia had since change their menu. We all had Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak combo meal, RM12 with drinks.
This is how it looks like in the menu. The Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak
This is the real set. Taste ain't bad though
Sis picked us up at the Terminal One Immigration Area, Hong Kong International Airport. She had the privilege to access to various part of the airport as her job is associated with the airport.
From the airport, we took shuttle bus S56 to my sis apartment at Tung Chung. We reached our destination in about 15 minutes. Freshen up and sis brought us for dinner at the Citygate Outlet. Great dinner. Saliva drooling pictures ahead.
And this is my sis in the picture below.
That's about it all peeps. A tiring day for me today, shall update on my activities today later. Stay tune!
I will be going to Hong Kong for a second time this year. I had just confirmed my air ticket, thanks to AirAsia. I guess the Hong Kong Tourism Organization should get me as their spokeperson :)
It is going to be a long weekend. Enjoy the long break, for those who are driving outstation, drive safe, happy holidays and I will be back ya. Thank God it's Friday, Thank Buddha it's Monday.
The beginning of a new week again. 2 months plus after the political tsunami that hit Malaysia, political condition in this country does not seem to improve in any way. Heck care to politics today. And my all time favorite football team won the EPL last night, a much deserved win and we will end this month smiling with the Doubles. Ferraris did well in Istanbul. It seems that the Reds are having hell of a week last week.
However, I am still not done yet with my Hong Kong trip. This post around I will write about 黃大仙祠 and The Snoopy World that I pimped during my recent trip there. Click to enlarge the the picture below for the panorama view of Hong Kong island. I still miss Hong Kong very much, very very much indeed.
In Hong Kong, this is one of the most important card that you cannot live without. It is even more important than your credit card. Remember to get this Octopus card at the nearest MTR station and it is just like a prepaid card where you can use in most convenience stores like 7-11s, etc, and not forgetting too, the public transport. This card is a MUST.
黃大仙祠 or in pinyin known as Wong Tai Sin Temple is the most famous shrines in Hong Kong. If you have not been there before, you most probably had a glimpse of this place before in some Hong Kong TVB dramas.
Getting there is pretty simple. Take the Kowloon line MTR and stop at the Wong Tai Sin station (obviously right?). Like any main MTR stations in HK, you normally walked through your way in some shopping mall greeted by a very helpful signages all over.
As soon as you step out from the station, it will be obvious that you are approaching the temple soon as along the way, you can see many stalls like the below selling joss sticks & prayer items. My advice is that, you can buy the joss sticks but not those burning papers because you end up not being able to bring it in.
This is the main entrance of the temple. Burning paper is strictly prohibited in the temple. First timers normally do not realize this until the guard warned. You will only be allowed to bring in joss sticks, those burning papers will be left in a special basket in front of the entrance.
You will be welcomed with a garden with pretty peaceful surroundings. You can see people busily praying and placing their joss sticks at the numerous shrines in the temple.
This is also the place Buddha devotees praying their Buddhist chants here. Everyday, the people of Hong Kong will flock this temple to wish for good health & prosperity. You can see mainly ladies will do the tradition of 求簽 (Kau Cim), a Chinese fortune telling methodology.
Neat & clean, it has clear signages to lead to various parts of the temple. Right behind the main altar, there is a garden where you donate minimum HKD$10 (if I am not mistaken) to enter. There is no ticket conductor or so, purely based on your sincerity.
In this garden, you can see traditional Chinese architecture resembling Pagodas. There is a pond which housed Japanese Kois, tortoises & lilies.
As you climb up, you will be greeted by a stream & a waterfall.
I managed to self-timer camwhored myself as I am traveling all by myself. Excuse this camwhore bitch ya :P
The view on top of this temple is simply amazing, with the not so hot weather, it is an enjoyable noon afterall.
Some large vending machines in the temple. Coke Diet is not that popular, in HK they have this Coke Zero.
After the 2 hours tour in Wong Tai Sin, from the Kowloon MTR line, I took the railway line to Sha Tin (沙田), direct translation 'Sands Field'. Like I mentioned before, in HK, you really do not need to own a car, the whole public transport system is so complete, car is not an essential criteria to get attached here :)
Upon reaching Sha Tin station, it is another shopping mall-cum-station called New Town Plaza. There is nothing much to talk about the shopping mall except that it houses IKEA furniture store (our Malaysian store is much larger though).
At the balcony of level 3 of this mall, that is where the Snoopy's World is. I thought it is a pay-to-enter kind of park, but it is absolutely complimentary. I am not a Snoopy fan though but cannot help myself to camwhore a bit in this park :P
Finally the last picture. My message on this picture to all my readers is that, "Traveling in HK is PEANUTS! You will never get lost"
