I have to report my trip to Hong Kong now in case I forget. Here goes....

17 Dec:
It is the day of departure. I am so excited. I slpet till as late as possible before packing everything into my travelling bag. It almost burst and most importantly, it had no wheels! While waiting for Shi Hong and Tat Chin to arrive at my house in a taxi, I was frantically trying to find things and trying to cool myself down. It was a hot day, or was it because I was too accustomed the weather in Genting. My mind then wandered to the prospect of experiencing cold weather once again in Hong Kong. The taxi finally came and we met Ee Ling, Vanessa and Gwen at the airport. Well apparently Ee Ling brought her boyfriend along and I almost thought it was her brother. May was in the airport to see her friend off as well, so she came to see me off too. It was a refreshing feeling entering the departure halls. It has been a long time since I took a plane. It was also the first time that I felt fully responsible for myself. This time, I had to take care of myself, pay for my own things and make decisions myself. I love that feeling!

The Valuair plane was small and cramped in 4 directions. Thank God it was only a 4 hour journey.The backward sensation of the plane taking off was hmm... exciting? I was sitting next to the window and beside Shi Hong. The view out was fantastic. A bird's eye view of everything. I even saw the memories-abound OBS. The plane flew to above the clouds and everything I saw then was just white fluffy puffy clouds. Here I am, at the top of the world. The feeling is beyond description really. Tat Chin, Shi Hong and I played daidee almost throughout the journey. Boon Wee had to sit with someone else since the seats were in 3s. We arrived at the Hong Kong airport at 7 plus and Gwen lost her luggage. That's the worst start to a holiday isn't it? It appears that she has the same bag as someone else, and that someone took her bag by mistake, despite a big sticker pasted on one of the bags to prevent a mixed-up. We went to report the loss and took a taxi to the hotel. Hong Kong's roads and infrastructure was almost like that of Singapore's. I had to try to communicate with the driver about places of shopping and interests. Now I know how useful cantonese is. We were attended to by a pretty lady at the hotel and after some problems, we finally managed to make our way to the rooms and have some respite.

The rooms were small. There were 2 small beds and one sofa. I think the most luxurious thing in the room is the tv. A while later, we went opposite the the hotel to have dinner. It was an extremely oily dinner of beef kway teow. I gobbled it up anyway. Feeling refreshed, we proceeded to explore the area around the hotel. There were many shops and eateries. I was also pleasantly surprised by HK's nightlife. It was almost midnight and the streets were still bustling with people. Sleeping time was equally interesting. I slept on the same bed as Boon Wee the first night and I had first hand experience of thunderous snores from Shi Hong.

18 Dec:
It was a terrible morning. My cold got worse and I am in constant need of tissues. My nose hurts from abrasion due to constant rubbing. We woke early and went to Mongkok, I think. Not sure about the name but it is a shopping district. Lunch was an expensive meal of Indonesian fried rice for me. Mongkok didn't interest us guys a slightest bit. Everything there was expensive and it was full of shops for women. The girls had a great time no doubt. There was this event where we left the girls for slightly more than half an hour, only to find them still at the same shop and table. It's amazing I tell you. I almost knelt down and bow to them. the routine for the day was leaving the girls for a time frame and meeting them again elsewhere. I don't know what the girls did in the meantime, but we guys were exploring and finally resting at the staircase and a bench. It was boring until the evening where we travelled to Temple Street. This is where the fun begins. It was more than the local pasa malam. Stores covered with canvas sheets lined the roads which were brimming with people. Behind these stalls were more stalls(made of concrete). I bought my first items in this place. Clothes, ornaments, accessories, vcds etc. However, the stalls sold roughly the same things over and again. The novelty ran out even before we reached the halfway line. By that time, it was late and we turned back to look for the girls.

It was a Saturday night, meaning it was soccer time when we went back to our rooms. We bathed, played cards, told lame jokes, watched tv and ate in the room. That's all we did for the 5 days there. That night, Shi Hong slept beside me. But even before he reached the bed, I was asleep. I was the first to shower, first to sleep and last to wake the next morning.

19 Dec:
We went to Tsim Tsha Tsui in the morning and had MacDonald's for lunch. This area has lots of huge advertisements and signboards sticking out above the roads. It's like what I see in the HK movies. Mac was packed with people and very cramped, as everywhere else in HK. After that, we bade farewell to the girls again and went to the Goldfish market to kill time. the place was not as interesting as it sounds. It is just a street with a string of pet shops. The smell irritated my nose and we moved out of that place quickly and walked down to Women's Street.

I was always under the impression that Women's Street only sold things for women. I was wrong. It was almost the exact replica of Temple Street, only that perhaps some shops sold more things. Approaching the end of the street, a foul smell lingered in the air. I though it was another of those pet shops. The others thought it was some garbage. There was no pet shops in sight, nor were there any garbage truck and dump. There was only a few street hawkers, restaurants and shops. Now we knew what it was. Smelly toufu! Oh my, how we ran from the area. It was stinking. The worst I have smelt for any food. I wonder what will happen if I ate one and went to the dentist. In the evening, we travelled by MTR to the fishing village. We were supposed to have seafood for dinner. It was in a remote place. We had to walk a considerable distance to get to that place. The layout was interesting. Customers were supposed to pick their dishes from an aquarium of live seafood before being seated at the restaurant opposite the shop. It was the first time I saw live squid, abalone and others which I did not recognise. The girls backed out last minute as they wanted to save money. So the 4 of us feasted and each of us spent more than HK$200. It was a rich variety of expensive food, but the quality isn't there. Not for me. We watched soccer till very late that night. I didn't sleep well too as Mr Shi Hong has a habit of stealing my blanket.

20 Dec:
We had to postpone our trip to Ocean Park since we woke up late. We had Dim Sum for lunch at a restaurant opposite our hotel. It was extremely cheap compared to what I usually eat and we ate as if it was a buffet. Poor Shi Hong had to be content with eating the non-oily food and pouring pots of tea down his throat. We went to the Dragon Shopping Centre in the evening. We had KFC for dinner while the girls went to shop. We switched duties as soon as we finished dinner. I hold the honour of finding a shop where the 7 of us spent nearly 2 hours there. It sold accessories with engravings as well as cartoon protraits. It was also the place where our only 5 star joke took place. Apparently, a security guard saw Shi Hong and I behaving like idiots, trying to protect our buttocks from each other. Haha! We were the last shoppers to leave the building and it was really late. But it was a good evening's work as all of us went back pleased. We slept as soon as we were ready, to prepare for the next day. There wasn't soccer anyway. But Shi Hong and I told lame jokes again in the dark, keeping Tat Chin and Boon Wee awake as well. A 4 star joke came out as well. Unfortunately, Shi Hong fell asleep before me and I was forced to hear and feel his snores. Even the bed sheet put in between us to prevent molestations did not help. I was being tortured!

21 Dec:
My birthday! I remember my last birthday spent overseas was when I was in Pri6. It was also the day we went to Ocean Park. We had to take the MTR and shuttle bus. It was a hilly place beside the sea. No wonder the name. Already, I felt like vomitting because of the heavy and somewhat 'not nice' breakfast opposite the hotel. The first ride made it worse. It was like a ferris wheel, just that it rotated very much faster and I had to face all directions. Difficult to describe. We also took the roller coaster with 3 loops, a vertical fall ride, swinging ship, observation tower and some stall games. The roller coaster was the most fun and I sat right in front for the second ride. It was the first time I took the vertical drop. I was rather nervous as I buckled the belt. It ascended quickly and I enjoyed the view at the top. Almost the whole park was visible as well as the glorious South China Sea. Then, it dropped suddenly. My heart stopped beating for a moment and my hands instictively tightened itself around the handle. This feeling lasted only for 1 second. After that, it was peanuts. It's just enjoying the view as it descended. We spent quite alot of money on the stall games. There was a basketball game, a 3-can game, a hooking game, and a ball-in-hole game. I got 2 prizes for the basketball game. I got in the first 3 but missed the last 3. What a pity~! Shi Hong gave one of the prizes to a baby. Nice of him.

It was a long queue for the Cable Car. What disgusts me is that how some kids like to cut queue. We stopped them from passing us and isolated one boy as a lesson. Cruel? No. It's education. The cable car ride was good. But not as good as the Malaysian one. This one has a sea view though. Hmm.. there was this clown who was so afraid he grabbed the pole so tight that sweat came out of the palms. No names mentioned. *wink* We took photos near the exit. It was night and it was colourfully litted. There was this cute fake tree at one side of the place. It's mouth was opened. One of us unknowingly put his hand into the tree's mouth while another attempted to put his head in to see what's in there. After that, we found out that it was a dustbin. Now that's a 5 star joke! Hahaha!

We went back to the Dim Sum restaurant to have steamboat. It was a nice and fun dinner, with some jokes here and there about the food. The waitresses there must be shocked at the amount of food we eat. Typically Singaporean. That night, we guys tried very hard not to sleep. We played cards and had tv as entertainment. Unfortunately, we succumbed to tiredness and we slept after some more jokes. As usual, Shi Hong snored and stole my blanket. It's difficult not to sleep still when that happens. I am officially 18. Happy birthday to myself!

22 Dec:
Our last day in HK. We guys returned to Dragon Shopping Centre to get the HK snacks we missed out on the other day. The girls preferred to sleep. It was finally a day of shopping for guys only. What a blessing! Haha. Just kidding. We returned to the hotel with bags and went for our last dim sum meal with the girls. I suppose the people there are able to recognise us by now. It was a meal of gourging down the food because no one seems interested to eat some of the dishes. I feel like a glutton sometimes. We took a shuttle bus to the airport and had to spend 3 hours there waiting for the flight. We took turns to explore the place the guard the luggage. It was just exploring and shopping inside the departure halls as well. Finally, at 7:30, we boarded the plane. The journey was more rough than the one 6 days earlier. Shi Hong and I made friends with a Chinese girl beside us and even played cards with her. Tat Chin and Boon Wee also made friends with the girl beside them. It all started with filling in an arrival form for them. We reached S'pore at 11:40pm. Home Sweet Home.

Thoughts:
It was an unforgettable experience in HK. I like seeing the world. I like seeing different things. I like experiencing different things. It was a brand new life for me. I will always remember the little things that happened during the trip. The jokes we told amongst ourselves, the long time Mr Tat takes to shower, the disposable paper underwear jokes, the writings on the bathroom mirror, the molestations, the blanket and pillow war, the snores, the knocking on the walls, cutesi, waiting for the girls, looking at the maps, seating at the end of the MTR, sharing of mp3, looking at magazine stands etc. Thank you Shi Hong, Tat Chin, Boon Wee, Ee Ling, Vanessa and Gwen for the trip.