despite the truly exhausting night, we still forced ourselves to crawl out of bed early next morning and we were out of the hotel by 930 (a feat considering there are FOUR of us!) for the favourite dim sum breakfast.
not too tired to take pictures first thing in the morning though. hahawe walked out to the main street of Nathan Road in search of food. which wasn't hard because there are so many restaurants in just one part of the street!
the restaurant we found less than 100m from the first corner we turned!because fai had tuition in the morning, breakfast was just the three of us.
all for just S$5! the food wasn't great though, but who's complaining with those kind of prices!the plan for the day was to SHOP and because we didn't want to just stick to those usual shopping areas in Mongkok and Causeway Bay, at the advice of xinwei, we took the MTR over to Kwai Fong, where there were shopping centres that she described as "the tampines mall and ang moh kio hub of HK!". and i'm glad i took her advice because i got all my winter wear there at outrageously cheap prices! but more on that later.
the two shopping centres you see the moment you alight from the train. straight ahead is the posh looking Metroplaza while on the right is the "tampines mall-ish" Kwai Chung Plaza.we headed straight for Kwai Chung first, but most of the shops were still not opened yet, so we went back to Metroplaza. (the inside of kwai chung looks almost EXACTLY like far east plaza by the way.)back in Metroplaza, me and ber split up from wil so as to facilitate our shopping. the shops there sold surprisingly cheap stuff!
and look at what i saw!
麦兜store! i went a little crazy and bought quite abit of stuff there. HAHA.
a pretty little bakery selling scones and stuffi was on the lookout for cheap winter stuff for europe, but was about to give up (the coats there, though cheap in singapore's context, were still in the >S$60 range)when me and ber discovered this lovely white coat at Ebase! yes the very same ebase we have in singapore, except that they don't sell crappy ah lian clothes. and the best part? it looks like >S$100 but it actually costs S$30 HAHA. check out the coat in the next few pictures because ber couldn't wait and wore it on the same day!
we met up again after more than 2 hours and took pictures at the pretty stage decorations!
we soon went back to Kwai Chung and man, it's a haven of cheap buys! there were many many gorgeous coats but i had to limit myself to just one. it's not as though i need two coats for europe! but i haven't indulged in shoe-buying so that was fine!
BOOTS HEAVEN! i've always wanted a nice pair to keep so that i could wear them if i went to cold countries! and it was never worth my money to buy them in singapore because they cost like 70 bucks for a really ugly pair. I BOUGHT MY PRETTY AND COMFORTABLE PAIR AT S$30! HAHA.after all that excitement from shopping, it was almost 3pm and surprise surprise, we were all exhausted. (hey we slept less than 3 hours!)and so we went back to our hotel for a quick lunch of instant noodles (haha) and a short nap while waiting for fai to rejoin us at 4-ish.
the 2nd part of the day's plan was to go up The Peak! (this was after much deliberation of whether we should go pubbing/shopping/godknowswhatelse. our plans changed so much i couldn't even remember what was our original plan!)we were hoping we could reach there before the sun set at around 5.30pm but it was obvious we weren't going to make it in time even though we set off at 4 plus because it WAS DRIZZLING!
on the way to Central
since it was getting dark anyway, we took pictures along the scenic route to the Peak Tram Station.
i love me boots! there are SOOOOO comfortable!
it was a pleasant walk in the rain until we had to trek up steep slopes to get to the station and that's when i got more and more annoyed, partly also because i was getting warmer from all the climbing.the humongous crowd that greeted us didnt help my mood either. it was a 20 minute wait for the tram up the peak.
but well, it was all worth it when we reached the top! if i thought it was cold the previous time i went there in the morning, then it has got to be a whole 5 degrees colder this time round, considering that it just rained and it was nighttime. i almost thought i would see smoke coming out of my mouth when i talked!
the night view of HK is unparalleled, not sure about europe, but definitely in asia.the last time i came to The Peak, we passed by this gorgeous looking western restaurant that had a full view of the city, but because it looked intimidatingly expensive, we skipped it.
this time round, we wanted to have a lovely dinner and so checked the prices out, and were pleasantly surprised that each person only had to pay about S$20 for the food AND the view. take that lousy restaurants like cartel with expensive food and no view!
okay so we didnt manage to get a table right next to the full length windows overlooking the city, but we got one near it. it was still a wonderful experience with the great ambience and good food. we were all warm and toasty :)
after dinner we explored the area around the peak and it was once again back out into the cold. the whole place was so very christmas-y and it was like we were actually having a proper christmas in winter and all!we went back downhill at around 9pm and were back on the ground by 915.
the atas shopping district
well obviously the only shop we could afford to go in was A/X. they were having 60% sales and yeah, they were affordable in all relative sense, but we were still broke. so off we went3rd part of the day's plan: 满记甜品@Langham and Ladies Market!
I HAVE MISSED THE DESSERTS MUCH! i can't decide which is better - 许留山 or this! but 满记's mango glutinous rice balls are a clear winner!
we passed by the bakery with the adorable cakes! haha is this too cute or what!Langham has the prettiest christmas decorations!
the longest escalator that ran for like.. 200m.after a spot of shopping around the shops (which included H&M. surprisingly expensive eh!) we went out into the streets of Mongkok. AND THE HEAT HIT ME. it was SWELTERING. it was probably about 18 degrees out, but that was probably a 5 degree difference from the lovely mountain wind and it made me irritable all over again.
and that's why i only have one picture of our night at Mongkok. HAHA! alright it was probably more due to the fact that i was so hot i took off my coat and was too lazy and tired to take any more pictures.we had cup noodles for supper and then concussed. well they concussed while i watched CSI Sunday until i dozed off. heh.
(CSI Sunday, where literally the whole night they show episode after episode of different seasons of CSI until the day breaks. i fell asleep on CSI Miami, woke up at around 430 to CSI LV and when morning came around it was CSI NY)
TO BE CONTINUED!
Labels: travel log