This is the most eventful day of the trip... we went to many attractions, did many fun stuffs, and took many many many photos!
We woke up around 8am... then went to the nearby shop to have GuiLin BeeHoon （桂林米粉）. It's a very interesting dish. They give you a bowl of cooked beehoon and some slices of beef, and then you collect the bowl, go to the nearby counter where you can add in chilli flakes, different kinds of diced vegetables as according to your preference. And then, you complete the dish by pouring a big ladle of soup over it! The 桂林米粉 was piping hot and is perfect for the chilly weather. Hee... for Xiuyue and I, it was especially delicious because it's the first time we taste spicy food since our arrival in Macau. Haha...
We checked out of the hotel and then met with our tour guide, Xiao Qin （小秦）. Then we drove to YangShuo （阳朔）. The ride took us about an hour.
Our 1st stop in 阳朔 was 世外桃源(which loosely translates into "Blossoms Fields that are out of the world", and is a term used by Chinese to refer to PARADISE). The first thing we did was to take a boat ride again. We cruised down the river where we saw many hills and mountains in the background, fisherman and villages that are by the shore of the river... As I looked at all that is before me, I felt serenity and peace enfold me and I was awed at the wonders of nature presented before my eyes as I just praised the Creator of all things for I see some of the wondrous works of His hand. The scenery is really really beautiful.
We cruised through a little cave and then emerged on the other side to find ourselves in the midst of a group of minority group people. They have long hair, both male and female, and are very tanned. The guide informed us that this group lives deep in the mountains and the guys are called Black Prince Charming （黑马王子） and the gals are Black Pearls（黑珍珠）.
After the cruise, we disembarked and I felt as if I had travelled back in time into ancient China. The buildings are so beautifully constructed to look ancient and 整个山庄散发着古色古香的气息. We passed the main entrance and drank a sweet rice wine （过寨酒）as is the custom there. Here, we danced with the Miao tribe（苗族） younsters, well, actually, it wasn't exactly a dance, we were just holding hands and turning rouch and round in circles. Then we participated in catching the embroidered ball（绣球）. It is said that if a child catches it, the child will grow up strong and healthy; if a single catches it, then he/she will find his/her partner soon; if a married person catches it, he/she will enjoy a blissful marriage till end. So Xiuyue, QiaoQiao and I got ready to catch. We missed the first one and guess what? I caught the second one!!! Yeah!!! Haha... and for the rest of the journey, everyone was teasing me about me finding my 阿牛哥 (or rather, my other half) soon!
Then we ventured to another part of the place. And it's 渊明山庄. It's actually a model of the residence of the famous poet, 陶渊明. He is a intelligent man who was made an official in his youth. But he decided to give it all up to retire (at a very young age) to live in the rural areas, plants his own vegetables, manage his little farm and create more poems. It's a quiet and serene place... I wouldn't mind retiring in a place such as this! Ha... Oh, something funny happened here. We were in this room where this guy is able to make a poem out of your name. We simply looked and showed no intention of buying...then he came up to us and started a conversation. And then he said, "The scenery here is nice. Come, take photo!" QiaoQiao, Xiuyue and I thought, "This guy is so nice. He wants to take a photo for the three of us!" Then we saw him stand at a spot, and he waved to us, "Come! IT's a good spot here. Which two of you will be taking the photo with me?" We almost fainted. We had misunderstood his intention! We three had a good laugh after that.
After the visit to 世外桃源, we continued our drive to YanhShuo. When we arrived, our stomaches were really growling. So Xiao Qin directed us to this restaurant, Big Sister Peng （彭大姐）. And he said that the YangShuo specialty, Fish cooked in beer （啤酒鱼）, is well-prepared by the chef there. So, we had another feast! In all honesty, the fish is really so so so good... Hee... QiaoQiao said she would like to learn how to make the dish. Xiuyue and I volunteered to be her guinea pigs. Then, Uncle called for the bill. When the elderly lady came to Uncle with the bill, Uncle actually asked her, "So are you Big Sister Peng?" The lady was taken aback and she said she isn't. Haha... We had a good laugh... Uncle's really cute. Ha...
After lunch, we checked into our hotel（阳朔漓江酒店）and deposited our luggage. Kelly was really enjoying herself running from one room to the other (our 3 rooms were just next to one another).
Then we made our way to yet another boat cruise. This time, we were cruising down Li River （漓江）. It was another cruise that left me marvelling at the might of God, that by His Word all these mountains before my eyes are formed! There was nothing on this cruise except exceedingly marvellous scenary of tall green mountains and deep blue waters. The boat first brought us to this spot where we can view a series of hills...and the very sight before us is also found on the back of the 20yuan dollar note. Wow... Xiuyue and I took many photos and I also purchased the photo that the professional photographer, who was attached to our boat, took for me. Hee... And the rest of the cruise, it was just admiring the nature before our eyes. The reflections of the green hills in the blue waters... the fishermen and their fishing herons... This, it's really beyonds words, 此景此境非笔墨能够形容!
Dinner time! Xiao Qi brought us to a streetside stall for steamboat! And the soup base was Duck and Gingko Nuts（白果老鸭）! Yummy yummy!
Then it was back to hotel, where after resting for a while... we went out again! We went to West Street （西街）where the nightlife's supposed to be really exciting. Haha... We didn't go pubbing. But I did go shopping. I bought a hand-painted t-shirt for Magdelene. And I was so attracted by the hand-painted canvas shoes that I couldn't resist but bought a pair for myself (at only 75RMB)! That was after much consideration because both Xiuyue and I had not much cash on us by now... Xiuyue bought a cute little hand-painted phone pouch too. We walked and walked and finally decided on getting ourselves a foot massage. So, QiaoQiao, Xiuyue and myself stepped into one shop and got ourselves our foot massage! QiaoQiao had the Frangrance Foot Bath, Xiuyue had the Tribal Medicine Foot Bath and I took the Milk Crystals Foot Bath. We were placed in the same room. The shoulder massage was relaxing, the foot bath was soothing and the massage was comforting to our tired legs!
After this, we walked back to the hotel and then... it's past 12mn! Pay day! We went to the ATM and we finally had cash-on-hand! Say bye to budget shopping! Hee...
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
hk/macau/china trip... 10 dec 07 (day6)
Woke up around 7.30am to have our morning showers and then breakfast, as we had to take a 2-hour drive from ZhuHai to GuangZhou（广州）International Airport for our flight to GuiLin （桂林）.
We left at about 9.30am and along the way, Kelly, in her sweet cute voice, serenade us with songs like 外婆的澎湖湾、刘三姐山歌, etc... Then we stopped by a small hotel and had lunch, before continuing our way to the airport.
We stepped into the airport at 12.55pm, ran up to the second level to locate our check-in counter. We were directed all over the place and by the time we found our check-in counter, the counter had closed! Later, I also found out that for our flight at 1.30pm, we were supposed to have checked-in by 12.45pm. Thus, we would have missed the flight even if we didn't sprint about...
Uncle and Ah-Yi tried to remedy the situation and finally secured seats for the 4.30pm flight to GuiLin. We had wanted to pay for the air tickets but Ah-Yi said that it was that fault that we missed the flight and so refused to let us pay...
We finally got onto the plane to GuiLin... Yeah! And QiaoQiao, Xiuyue and I did exactly the same thing throughout the flight... WE SLEPT! Haha...
Upon arrival at GuiLin Airport, QiaoQiao's uncle （姑丈）came to fetch us at the airport. And he brought us to this posh restaurant named 小南国. The food's yummy but we had only 30minutes to gobble down our food and make our way to our next stop-两江四湖．
两江四湖 is so pretty. We took a little boat (that seats about 30 persons) and cruised down the rivers. We were greeted by many brightly-lgithed bridges... bridges made of stone, of wood, even of glass! I was simply wowed. At one point, our boat stopped in front of a tall metal wall. The guide told us that we were at a special crossing. The metal gate behind us will cross and water will flow down from the sides (we were sort of stuck within four walls) and fill the enclosure the boat is in. After about 10minutes, the water level would have risen to that of the wall before us and then we will continue our cruise down the other end of the wall. For that 10minutes, Xiuyue and I were just standing out on the deck and watching the whole process. It's so ingenius! Haha... It's so hard to describe that whole experience in words... but to me, I was just thinking, "Wow... like that also can ah?"
The 两江四湖 cruise was very enjoyable... we enjoyed lovely cool breeze, beautiful scenes and took loads of photos.
After the cruise, we went straight to our hotel. And it's a 4-star hotel! It's so comfy! And we didn't have to pay much for it! All thanks to Uncle and Ah-Yi! :)
Both Xiuyue and I ventured out to the nearby mall in a vain attempt to withdraw cash from the ATM (yah, we kind of spent quite a bit... and though we told ourselves we'll not do much shopping, we still couldn't resist the temptation). Then we saw warm brown chestnuts! Hee... bought ourselves some and munched it on our way back.
When we got back to the hotel, Ah-Yi offered us the takeaway that we packed from our dinner earlier on. So Xiuyue and I spent the night munching on chestnuts and yummy duck and chicken, while watching tv...
Then it was shower and snooze time... and that was about 1am! Haha...
We left at about 9.30am and along the way, Kelly, in her sweet cute voice, serenade us with songs like 外婆的澎湖湾、刘三姐山歌, etc... Then we stopped by a small hotel and had lunch, before continuing our way to the airport.
We stepped into the airport at 12.55pm, ran up to the second level to locate our check-in counter. We were directed all over the place and by the time we found our check-in counter, the counter had closed! Later, I also found out that for our flight at 1.30pm, we were supposed to have checked-in by 12.45pm. Thus, we would have missed the flight even if we didn't sprint about...
Uncle and Ah-Yi tried to remedy the situation and finally secured seats for the 4.30pm flight to GuiLin. We had wanted to pay for the air tickets but Ah-Yi said that it was that fault that we missed the flight and so refused to let us pay...
We finally got onto the plane to GuiLin... Yeah! And QiaoQiao, Xiuyue and I did exactly the same thing throughout the flight... WE SLEPT! Haha...
Upon arrival at GuiLin Airport, QiaoQiao's uncle （姑丈）came to fetch us at the airport. And he brought us to this posh restaurant named 小南国. The food's yummy but we had only 30minutes to gobble down our food and make our way to our next stop-两江四湖．
两江四湖 is so pretty. We took a little boat (that seats about 30 persons) and cruised down the rivers. We were greeted by many brightly-lgithed bridges... bridges made of stone, of wood, even of glass! I was simply wowed. At one point, our boat stopped in front of a tall metal wall. The guide told us that we were at a special crossing. The metal gate behind us will cross and water will flow down from the sides (we were sort of stuck within four walls) and fill the enclosure the boat is in. After about 10minutes, the water level would have risen to that of the wall before us and then we will continue our cruise down the other end of the wall. For that 10minutes, Xiuyue and I were just standing out on the deck and watching the whole process. It's so ingenius! Haha... It's so hard to describe that whole experience in words... but to me, I was just thinking, "Wow... like that also can ah?"
The 两江四湖 cruise was very enjoyable... we enjoyed lovely cool breeze, beautiful scenes and took loads of photos.
After the cruise, we went straight to our hotel. And it's a 4-star hotel! It's so comfy! And we didn't have to pay much for it! All thanks to Uncle and Ah-Yi! :)
Both Xiuyue and I ventured out to the nearby mall in a vain attempt to withdraw cash from the ATM (yah, we kind of spent quite a bit... and though we told ourselves we'll not do much shopping, we still couldn't resist the temptation). Then we saw warm brown chestnuts! Hee... bought ourselves some and munched it on our way back.
When we got back to the hotel, Ah-Yi offered us the takeaway that we packed from our dinner earlier on. So Xiuyue and I spent the night munching on chestnuts and yummy duck and chicken, while watching tv...
Then it was shower and snooze time... and that was about 1am! Haha...
hk/macau/china trip... 9 dec 07 (day5)
We woke up at about 9.30am and got ready for Macau! Hee... We were rather late and Ah-Yi was worried that we might miss the ferry. So the moment we reached the car park, we ran all the way to the pier! And I was shocked to see the ferry! It was so different from the luxurious ferries that we had taken! It was so packed and we were standing literally at the edge! Then Ah-Yi told us that we had to get nearer to the exit as it might take some time for us to clear the Macau immigration. So, we did. The moment the ferry berthed, the people were running (yes, they RAN!) to the immgration checkpoint. Xiuyue and I were taken aback but being trained Singaporeans, we quickly made our way into the queue too. The queue was so so so long! Then, about 5 minutes later, another ferry berthed! And the queue got even longer! I was so relieved that we got there earlier. It took us about 30minutes to clear the Macau immigration and then we were on our way!
We crossed the road using a overhead bridge and walked down this beautifully tiled road (Ah-Yi informed us that the tiles were all imported from Portugal when the Portugese were ruling Macau). And then, we were there! We were in the middle of a square where we were surrounded by beautifully coloured buildings! The buildings were unique because they are western in appearance but yet emit an Oriental flavour. It's just so beautiful.
We stopped to take photos (a lot of photos!) before going to a cafe （茶餐厅）to have Milk Custard （炖奶）and Pork Cutlet Bun （猪扒包）. Yum yum... and then we continued our little journey!
We walked all the way to St Paul's Ruins and was awed by it. Quite a few people told me that if you go to Macau and did not go to St Paul's Ruins, you have NOT been to Macau. So, here I am! I have been to Macau! Ha... And if you do not know the background of St Paul's Ruins, then here's a brief on it. St Paul's Ruins was part of a church by the name of St Paul's Church (yup... what else could it have been?). One day, a fire broke out in the kitchen and burned up the whole church. The only structure left standing is the structure we now know as St Paul's Ruins.
We took lots of photos in front of St Paul's Ruins and then visited the Crypt, the Museum of Sacred Art, and the Macau Museum. I loved the Museum visit.. and one of the exhibits got me all captivated. It was an exhibit of Chinese currency used through the ages/dynasties! People in the Shang/Zhou （商周）dynasty used seashells and then the copper/silver coins used during the various dynasties. Wow...
After the museum visits, we made our way back to the Macau/ZhuHai immigration at GongBei （拱北）. But then, along the way, we were distracted by the many shops and heir merchandise. Hee...
We got some BBQ Pork Fillet （肉干）, peanut cookies, almond biscuits and loads more... We also got ourselves Milk Tea... And when we passed by a Roxy outlet... we stepped in! Except for Xiuyue, none of us purchased anything. I couldn't find anything my size... and I think the designs are just too young-ish for me. Haha... But well, Xiuyue got some shirts for her brother (such a sweet sister, isn't she?) and a bag for herself. And she got them at 40% discount! Great deal!
Once done shopping, we took a bus to the Macau immigration where we took a very very very very very long time to clear the immigration! The crowd was really scary, it's like thrice the crowd you find at the Malaysian/Singapore immigration during long weekends! It's scary... We took an hour or so just to clear it! And when we finally got out, we saw Qiao Qiao and Ah-Yi munching on the BBQ beef fillet they bought earlier on. Hee...
We got to the 地下商场, and made a beeline to the mobile phone section. And there, we spent almost 2 hours! Haha... Xiuyue checking out all the mobile phone, Qiao Qiao having seen Xiuyue's enthusiam also became interested in the mobile phones, and Ah-Yi checked out the digital cameras. Wow... Xiuyue finally bought 2 touchscreen mobile phones at S$150+ each, Qiao Qiao fancied the same phone but they ran out of stock, Ah-Yi got herself a cool digital camera at 2000RMB... And I got myself a 1GB memory stick (for fear that Kat's 2GB memory stick would not be enough for me to take all the photos I would be taking). Hee... harvest!
Then we shopped around... the fashion is not exactly as interesting as Hong Kong but it's also quite nice. Xiuyue got herself a neat little sweater and Qiao Qiao got herself a few tops.
Then we ended the day with Thai dinner! Haha... Interesting little incident happened. We wanted to order pineapple rice and so asked for huang-li-fan （黄梨饭）and the waitress told us that they don't have that item on the menu. We were puzzled. Then a thought flashed across my mind and I asked for bo-luo-fan （菠萝饭）and they have that! In Singapore, pineapple is 黄梨, but in Hong Kong (and now we know, ZhuHai) pineapple is known as 菠萝. Haha... so interesting, right? Just 3 hours of flight apart and the terms of the things we know of are so different. :)
Oh, we had to sleep early becausewe have a flight to catch the next day!
We crossed the road using a overhead bridge and walked down this beautifully tiled road (Ah-Yi informed us that the tiles were all imported from Portugal when the Portugese were ruling Macau). And then, we were there! We were in the middle of a square where we were surrounded by beautifully coloured buildings! The buildings were unique because they are western in appearance but yet emit an Oriental flavour. It's just so beautiful.
We stopped to take photos (a lot of photos!) before going to a cafe （茶餐厅）to have Milk Custard （炖奶）and Pork Cutlet Bun （猪扒包）. Yum yum... and then we continued our little journey!
We walked all the way to St Paul's Ruins and was awed by it. Quite a few people told me that if you go to Macau and did not go to St Paul's Ruins, you have NOT been to Macau. So, here I am! I have been to Macau! Ha... And if you do not know the background of St Paul's Ruins, then here's a brief on it. St Paul's Ruins was part of a church by the name of St Paul's Church (yup... what else could it have been?). One day, a fire broke out in the kitchen and burned up the whole church. The only structure left standing is the structure we now know as St Paul's Ruins.
We took lots of photos in front of St Paul's Ruins and then visited the Crypt, the Museum of Sacred Art, and the Macau Museum. I loved the Museum visit.. and one of the exhibits got me all captivated. It was an exhibit of Chinese currency used through the ages/dynasties! People in the Shang/Zhou （商周）dynasty used seashells and then the copper/silver coins used during the various dynasties. Wow...
After the museum visits, we made our way back to the Macau/ZhuHai immigration at GongBei （拱北）. But then, along the way, we were distracted by the many shops and heir merchandise. Hee...
We got some BBQ Pork Fillet （肉干）, peanut cookies, almond biscuits and loads more... We also got ourselves Milk Tea... And when we passed by a Roxy outlet... we stepped in! Except for Xiuyue, none of us purchased anything. I couldn't find anything my size... and I think the designs are just too young-ish for me. Haha... But well, Xiuyue got some shirts for her brother (such a sweet sister, isn't she?) and a bag for herself. And she got them at 40% discount! Great deal!
Once done shopping, we took a bus to the Macau immigration where we took a very very very very very long time to clear the immigration! The crowd was really scary, it's like thrice the crowd you find at the Malaysian/Singapore immigration during long weekends! It's scary... We took an hour or so just to clear it! And when we finally got out, we saw Qiao Qiao and Ah-Yi munching on the BBQ beef fillet they bought earlier on. Hee...
We got to the 地下商场, and made a beeline to the mobile phone section. And there, we spent almost 2 hours! Haha... Xiuyue checking out all the mobile phone, Qiao Qiao having seen Xiuyue's enthusiam also became interested in the mobile phones, and Ah-Yi checked out the digital cameras. Wow... Xiuyue finally bought 2 touchscreen mobile phones at S$150+ each, Qiao Qiao fancied the same phone but they ran out of stock, Ah-Yi got herself a cool digital camera at 2000RMB... And I got myself a 1GB memory stick (for fear that Kat's 2GB memory stick would not be enough for me to take all the photos I would be taking). Hee... harvest!
Then we shopped around... the fashion is not exactly as interesting as Hong Kong but it's also quite nice. Xiuyue got herself a neat little sweater and Qiao Qiao got herself a few tops.
Then we ended the day with Thai dinner! Haha... Interesting little incident happened. We wanted to order pineapple rice and so asked for huang-li-fan （黄梨饭）and the waitress told us that they don't have that item on the menu. We were puzzled. Then a thought flashed across my mind and I asked for bo-luo-fan （菠萝饭）and they have that! In Singapore, pineapple is 黄梨, but in Hong Kong (and now we know, ZhuHai) pineapple is known as 菠萝. Haha... so interesting, right? Just 3 hours of flight apart and the terms of the things we know of are so different. :)
Oh, we had to sleep early becausewe have a flight to catch the next day!
HK/Macau/China Trip... 8 Dec 07 (day4)
We woke up REALLY early (at 6.30am! considering that we only slept about 2.30am...yawnz...) in order to make it in time for our 8.40am ferry from Hong Kong Sheung Wan's（上环）港澳码头 (the same ferry pier where we arrived from Macau 2 days ago) to ZhuHai珠海.
We took our nice nice shower and then made our way to the ferry pier... Hee... and wow... The ferry (by the name of HaiZhu海珠, which literally means Pearl of the Sea) is really big and nice! It's bigger and more comfy than the ferry we took two days ago! Guess what we did the moment we got into our seats? No prizes for making the right guess! WE SLEPT!
After 70minutes, our ferry arrived at ZhuHai! We cleared the immigration rather quickly and was really looking out for Wei Qiao. When I finally spotted her, I ran up and hugged her! It's been quite a while since I last saw her and was I glad to see her again. Then after quite a long hug, I released my "grip" and Wei Qiao introduced us to her parents, Uncle David and Ah-Yi阿姨 (as we addressed her for the rest of the trip) and also to her cute little 3-year-old sister, Kelly 韦凯玉! She's so adorable! Aiyoh... reminds me of SzeHuei, my cousin.
Then, we loaded our things up to Uncle's Honda Odyssey and we were off to have morning tea （饮茶）... It's a Hong Kong/ Macau/ ZhuHai culture to have morning tea on weekends... either with their families or friends. It's a time when they have dim sum （点心）and chat and catch up with one another's lives. It was a good 饮茶session as we got to know the family better.
We left the chinese restaurant with satisfied stomachs and Uncle brought us on a drive （游车河）to show us parts of ZhuHai. And it is so modern, and the apartments are really lovely.
We then proceeded to QiaoQiao's (hee... thought it's a really cute pet name and began calling her that for the rest of the trip. Hee...) home. Woah! It is really big... The term for it is 楼中楼, loosely translated into meaning a building within a building. And were we impressed! Xiuyue and I were shown to our guestrooms on the first level. Yes, we had a guestroom each, and a Queen-sized bed too! Cool surprise... and really great! We finally will have room to roll around on our beds (especially after our 2 nights in the Cosmic guest room where our beds do not allow us to roll around at all... haa...)!!! We dropped our stuffs and little Kelly excitedly came and showed us the rest of the house. Nice...
When Kelly got down to her afternoon nap, Ah-Yi brought us to MeiXi Torii aka MeiXi Stone Archways （梅溪牌坊）where the brochure claimed "Give me two hours, I'll return you two hundred years of ZhuHai history". And I really do think the two hours is well-spent!
The place is so rich in history that I just can't get enough!
梅溪牌坊 occupies an area of 126,000 square metres (yes, it's big) and the attraction includes the former residence of Mr Chen Fang （陈芳）who is the 1st Chinese consul to Hawaii during the later part of the Qing Dynasty (and Chen Fang also married the cousin of the Hawaiian ruler), and the torri or stone archways that were presented to Chen Fang by GuangXu Emperor.
What really caught my attention was the architecture of the residence... the many halls (living areas for different members of the family), the interesting fusion of East and West architecture (at the back of Chen Fang's hall is a ballroom where he met with his guests and the ballroom is just so European and the tiles and bricks were imported from Hawaii!)... Just so many! And one of the exhibits blew my mind off. It's this whole collection of models of Stone Archways across China! The different styles, the different looks, the different materials used in the southern and the northern parts of China. The various styles that informs the public of one's contributions and rank... I was so soaked in it... and I took loads of photos and I told Xiuyue that I'm going to show my students all these photos and just let them see the richness of chinese culture...
After spending a few hours at 梅溪牌坊,we returned home and had an afternoon tea of bread and chinese tea.
Shortly after, Uncle drove us to a little village in the countryside where we watched men fishing... and then selling the fishes to the restaurant just beside the fishing area! Hee... We had fish, chicken, beef, vegetables (oh.. the vegetables are so fresh! So green, so crisp, so sweet! And it's freshly plucked from the patch of vegetable farm just behind the restaurant!) and the list goes on...
Stomach's really elated! So much yummy food in one day! Then Ah-Yi brought us to the shopping mall where Xiuyue was excitedly looking for the S$100+ touchscreen mobile phone that her friends told her about. She returned empty-handed but Ah-Yi promised to being her to the Underground Mall （地下商场）the next day... where she could get great deals.
Then we got back home and watched the Golden Horse Awards Ceremony（金马奖颁奖礼）till rather late at night. Then we snoozed...
We took our nice nice shower and then made our way to the ferry pier... Hee... and wow... The ferry (by the name of HaiZhu海珠, which literally means Pearl of the Sea) is really big and nice! It's bigger and more comfy than the ferry we took two days ago! Guess what we did the moment we got into our seats? No prizes for making the right guess! WE SLEPT!
After 70minutes, our ferry arrived at ZhuHai! We cleared the immigration rather quickly and was really looking out for Wei Qiao. When I finally spotted her, I ran up and hugged her! It's been quite a while since I last saw her and was I glad to see her again. Then after quite a long hug, I released my "grip" and Wei Qiao introduced us to her parents, Uncle David and Ah-Yi阿姨 (as we addressed her for the rest of the trip) and also to her cute little 3-year-old sister, Kelly 韦凯玉! She's so adorable! Aiyoh... reminds me of SzeHuei, my cousin.
Then, we loaded our things up to Uncle's Honda Odyssey and we were off to have morning tea （饮茶）... It's a Hong Kong/ Macau/ ZhuHai culture to have morning tea on weekends... either with their families or friends. It's a time when they have dim sum （点心）and chat and catch up with one another's lives. It was a good 饮茶session as we got to know the family better.
We left the chinese restaurant with satisfied stomachs and Uncle brought us on a drive （游车河）to show us parts of ZhuHai. And it is so modern, and the apartments are really lovely.
We then proceeded to QiaoQiao's (hee... thought it's a really cute pet name and began calling her that for the rest of the trip. Hee...) home. Woah! It is really big... The term for it is 楼中楼, loosely translated into meaning a building within a building. And were we impressed! Xiuyue and I were shown to our guestrooms on the first level. Yes, we had a guestroom each, and a Queen-sized bed too! Cool surprise... and really great! We finally will have room to roll around on our beds (especially after our 2 nights in the Cosmic guest room where our beds do not allow us to roll around at all... haa...)!!! We dropped our stuffs and little Kelly excitedly came and showed us the rest of the house. Nice...
When Kelly got down to her afternoon nap, Ah-Yi brought us to MeiXi Torii aka MeiXi Stone Archways （梅溪牌坊）where the brochure claimed "Give me two hours, I'll return you two hundred years of ZhuHai history". And I really do think the two hours is well-spent!
The place is so rich in history that I just can't get enough!
梅溪牌坊 occupies an area of 126,000 square metres (yes, it's big) and the attraction includes the former residence of Mr Chen Fang （陈芳）who is the 1st Chinese consul to Hawaii during the later part of the Qing Dynasty (and Chen Fang also married the cousin of the Hawaiian ruler), and the torri or stone archways that were presented to Chen Fang by GuangXu Emperor.
What really caught my attention was the architecture of the residence... the many halls (living areas for different members of the family), the interesting fusion of East and West architecture (at the back of Chen Fang's hall is a ballroom where he met with his guests and the ballroom is just so European and the tiles and bricks were imported from Hawaii!)... Just so many! And one of the exhibits blew my mind off. It's this whole collection of models of Stone Archways across China! The different styles, the different looks, the different materials used in the southern and the northern parts of China. The various styles that informs the public of one's contributions and rank... I was so soaked in it... and I took loads of photos and I told Xiuyue that I'm going to show my students all these photos and just let them see the richness of chinese culture...
After spending a few hours at 梅溪牌坊,we returned home and had an afternoon tea of bread and chinese tea.
Shortly after, Uncle drove us to a little village in the countryside where we watched men fishing... and then selling the fishes to the restaurant just beside the fishing area! Hee... We had fish, chicken, beef, vegetables (oh.. the vegetables are so fresh! So green, so crisp, so sweet! And it's freshly plucked from the patch of vegetable farm just behind the restaurant!) and the list goes on...
Stomach's really elated! So much yummy food in one day! Then Ah-Yi brought us to the shopping mall where Xiuyue was excitedly looking for the S$100+ touchscreen mobile phone that her friends told her about. She returned empty-handed but Ah-Yi promised to being her to the Underground Mall （地下商场）the next day... where she could get great deals.
Then we got back home and watched the Golden Horse Awards Ceremony（金马奖颁奖礼）till rather late at night. Then we snoozed...
Monday, December 17, 2007
hk/macau/china trip... 7 dec 07 (day3)
We woke up early to get an early start.
I stepped into the bathroom, and was all ready to bathe when I turned the tap and find that no water is flowing out! Got dressed quickly, and was going to go to the reception area when I met a neighbour (he's 2 rooms down the passageway) and he told me that the staff had told him that a water pipe had broke in another room and they are trying to fix it now. In the meantime, there will be no water supply. I didn't know whether I should laugh (at the hilarious-ity of the whole matter) or cry (because I couldn't take my morning shower)...I was just so thankful that I had not soaped myself. Else, I wouldn't know to do... Anyway, Xiuyue and I decided that we'll forego our morning shower and go ahead with our day's programme.
We decided to visit Tai Tam Reservoir and Nature Reserve （大潭自然公园）on Hong Kong Island. We got onto a MTR to Shau Kei Wan (loosely translated to Basket Bay) to get a bus to the nature park. Once again, we got a little lost but received assistance from helpful MTR staff at the MTR control station.
When we got out of the station, we were once again hungry and thus decided to pop into a tea-restaurant （茶餐厅）to have porridge for breakfast. Haha... the moment we stepped in and sat down, some of the other customers were looking at us. It took us a moment to realise that apart from us, the rest are above 60! We felt out of place but still went ahead with Peanut Cuttlefish Porridge in there!
After breakfast, we took a walk down to the bus stop as directed by the helpful MTR staff and waited for bus 14. After quite a long wait, the bus came and we hopped on.
Upon alighting at the bus stop, we admired the view that greeted us... hills that surrounds the reservoir. Lovely! And once again, we got a little lost searching for the trail when Xiuyue finally (after about 45min) got us on it! We met an elderly couple walking on the trail and after exchanging a few words, found out that they come to the nature park and take their nature walk every weekend! Wow... we were impressed!
The walk through Tai Tam Nature Park was nice... Greens and blues greeted us along the way... Xiuyue and I took some corny shots of ourselves (three cheers for the 10-second timer function in digital cameras!) as we made our way through the park. Some parks were rather challenging as it was at steep incline... but at the end of it, it was every bit worth it!
It was cool in the nature park, but because of the physical exertion, we were also emitting heat. That resulted in us putting on our sweater and windbreaker (when we were in the shade and walking downhill) and taking them off (when we were near the top and walking uphill) and that process repeated quite a few times. Along the way, we even saw guys who run up the hills... we were simply going, "Wow... "
We started our nature walk at 12noon and we reached the ParkView (posh apartments built at mid-hill) at 3pm! End of nature walk! Yeah! Great walk! We walked a little more to get to the main road where we could get onto a public bus. On the way, we passed a really really expensive-looking mansion... and the address of the mansion is Number 1, Repulse Bay （浅水湾）. We also saw a few luxurious cars parked in there... and the whole place just shouts "Extremely Rich!"
We got to the bus stop, took Bus 5 to Causeway Bay （铜锣湾）where we had a late lunch of porridge (yes, porridge again. We just love porridge!) before taking the MTR to Central （中环）.
We then walked to take the Peak Tram. And then, another saga unfolded! We didn't have loads of cash with us, and thinking that the Peak is a tourist attraction, they should accept VISA for payment. But the staff told us that they do nto accept VISA payment for anything less than HKD300. I almost flipped. We walked to the Citibank Building to attempt to withdraw cash but couldn't find the right ATM. Was piping mad when I told Xiuyue to empty all our coins and notes and make up that HKD88 for both our tickets. We managed to have just enough.
We took the tram up to the Peak and I marvelled at the view. It's really pretty. The lights, the buildings... I loved the view. We saw a Girodano Junior outlet there and saw a lovely pink stripped knitted top and I just knew I want to get that for Kat. Wanted to get one for myself too but they didn't have another piece! Sigh...
We took one more look of Hong Kong Island from the Peak before taking the tram down to earth! Ha...
Then from Central, we took a MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and walked to the Harbour to enjoy the Hong Kong Island buildings and the lights that greets us from across the waters. It was chilly as the sea breeze blew on us... It was a wonderful feeling, walking down the Avenue of Stars, looking at Hong Kong Island across the waters, eating warm popcorn...
After our Harbour stop, we got back to our guest house, put down my shopping bags and then made our way to Ladies Street （女人街）. By the time we reached, they were closing for the night... again!!! Urgghhh!!! So, we set our mind on having the yummy snacks on sticks （一串烧）for dinner-cum-supper. We couldn't find it initially and were really disappointed when we saw this huge crowd... and we knew we found it!!! This time, we got more sticks (5 sticks!) of snacks and happily chomped on it.
By now, we were really beat... so we took the MTR from Mong Kok back to Tsim Sha Tsui (thank God for Tourist MTR day pass!) and finally took our shower in our guest room!
And guess what? It was 2.30am before we finally got to lie our heads on our pillows!
I stepped into the bathroom, and was all ready to bathe when I turned the tap and find that no water is flowing out! Got dressed quickly, and was going to go to the reception area when I met a neighbour (he's 2 rooms down the passageway) and he told me that the staff had told him that a water pipe had broke in another room and they are trying to fix it now. In the meantime, there will be no water supply. I didn't know whether I should laugh (at the hilarious-ity of the whole matter) or cry (because I couldn't take my morning shower)...I was just so thankful that I had not soaped myself. Else, I wouldn't know to do... Anyway, Xiuyue and I decided that we'll forego our morning shower and go ahead with our day's programme.
We decided to visit Tai Tam Reservoir and Nature Reserve （大潭自然公园）on Hong Kong Island. We got onto a MTR to Shau Kei Wan (loosely translated to Basket Bay) to get a bus to the nature park. Once again, we got a little lost but received assistance from helpful MTR staff at the MTR control station.
When we got out of the station, we were once again hungry and thus decided to pop into a tea-restaurant （茶餐厅）to have porridge for breakfast. Haha... the moment we stepped in and sat down, some of the other customers were looking at us. It took us a moment to realise that apart from us, the rest are above 60! We felt out of place but still went ahead with Peanut Cuttlefish Porridge in there!
After breakfast, we took a walk down to the bus stop as directed by the helpful MTR staff and waited for bus 14. After quite a long wait, the bus came and we hopped on.
Upon alighting at the bus stop, we admired the view that greeted us... hills that surrounds the reservoir. Lovely! And once again, we got a little lost searching for the trail when Xiuyue finally (after about 45min) got us on it! We met an elderly couple walking on the trail and after exchanging a few words, found out that they come to the nature park and take their nature walk every weekend! Wow... we were impressed!
The walk through Tai Tam Nature Park was nice... Greens and blues greeted us along the way... Xiuyue and I took some corny shots of ourselves (three cheers for the 10-second timer function in digital cameras!) as we made our way through the park. Some parks were rather challenging as it was at steep incline... but at the end of it, it was every bit worth it!
It was cool in the nature park, but because of the physical exertion, we were also emitting heat. That resulted in us putting on our sweater and windbreaker (when we were in the shade and walking downhill) and taking them off (when we were near the top and walking uphill) and that process repeated quite a few times. Along the way, we even saw guys who run up the hills... we were simply going, "Wow... "
We started our nature walk at 12noon and we reached the ParkView (posh apartments built at mid-hill) at 3pm! End of nature walk! Yeah! Great walk! We walked a little more to get to the main road where we could get onto a public bus. On the way, we passed a really really expensive-looking mansion... and the address of the mansion is Number 1, Repulse Bay （浅水湾）. We also saw a few luxurious cars parked in there... and the whole place just shouts "Extremely Rich!"
We got to the bus stop, took Bus 5 to Causeway Bay （铜锣湾）where we had a late lunch of porridge (yes, porridge again. We just love porridge!) before taking the MTR to Central （中环）.
We then walked to take the Peak Tram. And then, another saga unfolded! We didn't have loads of cash with us, and thinking that the Peak is a tourist attraction, they should accept VISA for payment. But the staff told us that they do nto accept VISA payment for anything less than HKD300. I almost flipped. We walked to the Citibank Building to attempt to withdraw cash but couldn't find the right ATM. Was piping mad when I told Xiuyue to empty all our coins and notes and make up that HKD88 for both our tickets. We managed to have just enough.
We took the tram up to the Peak and I marvelled at the view. It's really pretty. The lights, the buildings... I loved the view. We saw a Girodano Junior outlet there and saw a lovely pink stripped knitted top and I just knew I want to get that for Kat. Wanted to get one for myself too but they didn't have another piece! Sigh...
We took one more look of Hong Kong Island from the Peak before taking the tram down to earth! Ha...
Then from Central, we took a MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and walked to the Harbour to enjoy the Hong Kong Island buildings and the lights that greets us from across the waters. It was chilly as the sea breeze blew on us... It was a wonderful feeling, walking down the Avenue of Stars, looking at Hong Kong Island across the waters, eating warm popcorn...
After our Harbour stop, we got back to our guest house, put down my shopping bags and then made our way to Ladies Street （女人街）. By the time we reached, they were closing for the night... again!!! Urgghhh!!! So, we set our mind on having the yummy snacks on sticks （一串烧）for dinner-cum-supper. We couldn't find it initially and were really disappointed when we saw this huge crowd... and we knew we found it!!! This time, we got more sticks (5 sticks!) of snacks and happily chomped on it.
By now, we were really beat... so we took the MTR from Mong Kok back to Tsim Sha Tsui (thank God for Tourist MTR day pass!) and finally took our shower in our guest room!
And guess what? It was 2.30am before we finally got to lie our heads on our pillows!
hk/macau/china trip... 6 Dec 07 (day2)
We woke up late today! Haha... bed was too comfortable and we kind of slept late this morning, so...
anyway, we woke up at about 9.30am and started getting ready for the hotel shuttle bus to the Ferry Pier at 10am. We were ready by 11am!
Once at the Pier, we quickly got our ferry tickets (11.45am ferry) and we were on our way from Macau to Hong Kong Sheung Wan (上环）'s HK-Macau Ferry Pier （港澳码头）! The ride took about an hour and we caught up on our sleep! Hee...
Upon arrival in Sheung Wan, we decided to purchase our ferry tickets to ZhuHai（珠海） in advance. And after that, we hunted for the MTR station so that we could take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui（尖沙嘴）. But we got quite lost...and finally, we approached a security guard for directions. He was so so so helpful and directed us to the MTR. He even apologised that he couldn't bring us to the MTR station personally!
We took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and finally located our guest house! The building is located just next to the MTR exit! That's convenient. We finally saw Cosmic Guest House. It was an apartment which the owner partitioned into several rooms and let them out as guest rooms. I was shocked to see the guest house, so was Xiuyue. But we consoled ourselves that it was a deal at S$24/pax/night. When the staff brought us to our rooms, we almost jumped out of our skins! The room was in a mess and they were still doing some kind of repair in the room. I told the staff that I'm definitely not staying in that room, she assured us that the room will be ready for us in 1hour. And I told her point-blank that we were going to put our things down and leave for our destinations. And that we were not going to waste an hour sitting there. She then brought us to another room and told us we could have that room. Just as we were getting ready to leave, she came... again! And she told us that the room we were occupying costs more and that we can't have the room. She will give us the previous room and that she will move our luggage from this room to the other room. We decided to just let it be.
We stepped out and decided to venture to New Territories （新界） and visit the Ping Shan （屏山） Heritage Walk. So, we took the MTR to Mei Foo （美浮）, purchased a West Rail day pass (unlimited rides on West Rail and the LRT in New Territories), and took the West Rail to Yuen Long（元朗）. Then from there, took a LRT (haha... didn't expect HK LRT to be the way it is) to Ping Shan. We arrived at the Heritage Walk at 5.30pm, only to realise that the Heritage Walk closes at 5pm daily! Urghh!!! Almost fainted. Then Xiuyue and I decided to just take the LRT randomly and enjoy the sights of New Territories.
We took 751P to Tin Yat（天逸）, then another LRT to somewhere where we then transferred to a MTR to Tuen Mun（屯门） where we finally took another LRT to Tuen Mun Ferry Pier.
We observed that at every LRT station, there is a little shopping mall. Some are as "big" as Gek Poh Shopping Centre, while some are almost as comprehensive as Jurong Point. Wow... New Territories residents shop a lot, don't they? Hee...
As I was so busy looking at the LRT maps at the stations and taking photos of them, we got quite a few helpful MTR/LRT staff coming to us, offering their assistance. Hee... It was also through one of these staff that we discovered that the various MTR Rail Lines (West Rail, HK Rail, etc), LRT and the bus companies have just been merged on 2 Dec 07. It was also through one of them that we found out there's a ferry pier at Tuen Mun where we could see a little of the beach. We headed for it!
We were rather disappointed to see that the "beach" was just sort of a seaside walk and it really not all that impressive. But there's a shopping mall there and we decided to snack a little! Got some snacks and we also got ourselves new Nalgene bottles at S$12 each!
We journeyed back to Yuen Long to take the MTR...and found that there's a Espirit factory outlet in the shopping mall there! Xiuyue got her brother two shirts. So sweet of her, right?
Satisfied, we headed back to Mong Kok（旺角）. I wanted to go check out the Espirit factory outlet and Ladies' Street（女人街）, where one can get real good bargains. I got myself two nice shirts at Espirit and for Ladies' Street... But by the time we arrived, the shops were closing!!! But then, we managed to get ourselves some cute towels of Buzz Lightyear, Disney Princesses, Winnie the Pooh and Lilo & Stitch. Hee... And we bargained with the stall owner and finally got them at HKD20/piece. Hee...
We ventured a little more and came upon a stall selling sticks of sausages, meat balls, marinated meats, etc...（一串烧） We couldn't resist the aroma and got ourselves two sticks. It was so yummy!!! The sauce that the owner added to the food was so savoury! Yum Yum!
Satisfied and full, we then proceeded back to the guest house on foot. It was a long long walk... I didn't realise Nathan Road was so long! We walked from MongKok MTR (where Ladies Street is) all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR (where our guest house is). It was a long and rather tiring walk... nonetheless, it was also breezy and cool and so, we still had a nice cool walk...
By the time we got back to our room, the room had been tidied up and our backpacks have been moved here. So, it wasn't so bad after all. We took a quick shower and by the time we hit the sack, it was 3.30am!
anyway, we woke up at about 9.30am and started getting ready for the hotel shuttle bus to the Ferry Pier at 10am. We were ready by 11am!
Once at the Pier, we quickly got our ferry tickets (11.45am ferry) and we were on our way from Macau to Hong Kong Sheung Wan (上环）'s HK-Macau Ferry Pier （港澳码头）! The ride took about an hour and we caught up on our sleep! Hee...
Upon arrival in Sheung Wan, we decided to purchase our ferry tickets to ZhuHai（珠海） in advance. And after that, we hunted for the MTR station so that we could take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui（尖沙嘴）. But we got quite lost...and finally, we approached a security guard for directions. He was so so so helpful and directed us to the MTR. He even apologised that he couldn't bring us to the MTR station personally!
We took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui and finally located our guest house! The building is located just next to the MTR exit! That's convenient. We finally saw Cosmic Guest House. It was an apartment which the owner partitioned into several rooms and let them out as guest rooms. I was shocked to see the guest house, so was Xiuyue. But we consoled ourselves that it was a deal at S$24/pax/night. When the staff brought us to our rooms, we almost jumped out of our skins! The room was in a mess and they were still doing some kind of repair in the room. I told the staff that I'm definitely not staying in that room, she assured us that the room will be ready for us in 1hour. And I told her point-blank that we were going to put our things down and leave for our destinations. And that we were not going to waste an hour sitting there. She then brought us to another room and told us we could have that room. Just as we were getting ready to leave, she came... again! And she told us that the room we were occupying costs more and that we can't have the room. She will give us the previous room and that she will move our luggage from this room to the other room. We decided to just let it be.
We stepped out and decided to venture to New Territories （新界） and visit the Ping Shan （屏山） Heritage Walk. So, we took the MTR to Mei Foo （美浮）, purchased a West Rail day pass (unlimited rides on West Rail and the LRT in New Territories), and took the West Rail to Yuen Long（元朗）. Then from there, took a LRT (haha... didn't expect HK LRT to be the way it is) to Ping Shan. We arrived at the Heritage Walk at 5.30pm, only to realise that the Heritage Walk closes at 5pm daily! Urghh!!! Almost fainted. Then Xiuyue and I decided to just take the LRT randomly and enjoy the sights of New Territories.
We took 751P to Tin Yat（天逸）, then another LRT to somewhere where we then transferred to a MTR to Tuen Mun（屯门） where we finally took another LRT to Tuen Mun Ferry Pier.
We observed that at every LRT station, there is a little shopping mall. Some are as "big" as Gek Poh Shopping Centre, while some are almost as comprehensive as Jurong Point. Wow... New Territories residents shop a lot, don't they? Hee...
As I was so busy looking at the LRT maps at the stations and taking photos of them, we got quite a few helpful MTR/LRT staff coming to us, offering their assistance. Hee... It was also through one of these staff that we discovered that the various MTR Rail Lines (West Rail, HK Rail, etc), LRT and the bus companies have just been merged on 2 Dec 07. It was also through one of them that we found out there's a ferry pier at Tuen Mun where we could see a little of the beach. We headed for it!
We were rather disappointed to see that the "beach" was just sort of a seaside walk and it really not all that impressive. But there's a shopping mall there and we decided to snack a little! Got some snacks and we also got ourselves new Nalgene bottles at S$12 each!
We journeyed back to Yuen Long to take the MTR...and found that there's a Espirit factory outlet in the shopping mall there! Xiuyue got her brother two shirts. So sweet of her, right?
Satisfied, we headed back to Mong Kok（旺角）. I wanted to go check out the Espirit factory outlet and Ladies' Street（女人街）, where one can get real good bargains. I got myself two nice shirts at Espirit and for Ladies' Street... But by the time we arrived, the shops were closing!!! But then, we managed to get ourselves some cute towels of Buzz Lightyear, Disney Princesses, Winnie the Pooh and Lilo & Stitch. Hee... And we bargained with the stall owner and finally got them at HKD20/piece. Hee...
We ventured a little more and came upon a stall selling sticks of sausages, meat balls, marinated meats, etc...（一串烧） We couldn't resist the aroma and got ourselves two sticks. It was so yummy!!! The sauce that the owner added to the food was so savoury! Yum Yum!
Satisfied and full, we then proceeded back to the guest house on foot. It was a long long walk... I didn't realise Nathan Road was so long! We walked from MongKok MTR (where Ladies Street is) all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR (where our guest house is). It was a long and rather tiring walk... nonetheless, it was also breezy and cool and so, we still had a nice cool walk...
By the time we got back to our room, the room had been tidied up and our backpacks have been moved here. So, it wasn't so bad after all. We took a quick shower and by the time we hit the sack, it was 3.30am!
HK/Macau/China Trip... 5 Dec 07 (day1)
We're flying to Macau today!
Kat was really sweet to come to the airport to send me off. And she rushed over right after the church staff devotion on Wednesday mornings. :))
Xiuyue and I checked in our stuffs and sat in the departure hall to wait for Kat (we bought BK burgers for lunch and we were waiting for her to come and then tuck in). Kat came and we started our makan! Hee... I also gave Kat a brief orientation of the Budget Terminal. Hee...
Shortly after our meal, we have to get in and clear the customs and get ready to board our plane... And when we got to our boarding gate, we realised that the plane had not arrived! Haha... So Xiuyue and I walked around the duty-free shops and were disappointed to find that the range of products for sale are really not much. The plane finally arrived but it would still take quite a while for the passengers to disembark and to refuel and all that stuffs. So Xiuyue andI ventured out and finally found some computers where we could surf the net and kill some time.
Ahhh... after a 30-minute wait, we finally got onto the place! And Macau, here we come!
We finally touched down at Macau after 3hours 30minutes. The moment we stepped out of the plane, we looked at each other and said , "Cold!" It was about 13C that night and we were really cold. :)
We got our luggage and lumbered out of the airport and after some difficulty, found the public bus-stop! We waited and waited... and after quite a while, bus MT1 came! Ha... the next hurdle... where do we alight? Xiuyue approached an elderly lady sitting near us and asked her where we were supposed to alight in order to get to our hotel (our landmark is actually the Macau Jockey Club). The lady was so so so warm and friendly and even pressed the bell for us to alight! Hee...
When we stepped into our room, we couldn't believe our eyes! It was really a luxurious room! Gosh! And we got it for only USD17!!! We were simply so happy...we couldn't believe what we saw!
We put our stuffs down and then decided to venture out to get some food. We thought we better do so as our stomaches were really protesting. We walked and we walked and then saw this little cafe... the prices were rather reasonable and so we stepped in. Xiuyue ordered a Seafood Rice and I ordered a Salmon Fried Rice. When our orders came, we were shocked by the serving. It was enormous! It was a big heap of rice! But well, we enjoyed the food and ate the very last grain of rice. The taste is really unique and unlike anything we've eaten in Singapore.
After eating, we were energised and thus decided to make our way to The Venetian (the newest and the largest integrated resort in Taipa, Macau). We walked, got lost a few times but we ultimately made it there!
We were so impressed by the architecture... it is so intricate and so beautiful and so lovely. The place just oozes romance! There is a mini lake with outdoor gondolas! We were so captivated by the place that we took photo after photo with the buildings... And The Venetian is so big... we didn't get to even walk a complete round around it! However, we couldn't find our way into the shopping mall, so we thought the mall was closed for the night. It was only a few days later , in our conversation with Uncle David, that we realised that the mall operates round the clock... Haha... we didn't get to walk to the main entrance to get into the mall!
By the time we satisfied our photo-taking craving, we had missed our last bus... and so we took a nice cool walk back to the hotel... And by the time we laid on our beds, it was 3am!
Kat was really sweet to come to the airport to send me off. And she rushed over right after the church staff devotion on Wednesday mornings. :))
Xiuyue and I checked in our stuffs and sat in the departure hall to wait for Kat (we bought BK burgers for lunch and we were waiting for her to come and then tuck in). Kat came and we started our makan! Hee... I also gave Kat a brief orientation of the Budget Terminal. Hee...
Shortly after our meal, we have to get in and clear the customs and get ready to board our plane... And when we got to our boarding gate, we realised that the plane had not arrived! Haha... So Xiuyue and I walked around the duty-free shops and were disappointed to find that the range of products for sale are really not much. The plane finally arrived but it would still take quite a while for the passengers to disembark and to refuel and all that stuffs. So Xiuyue andI ventured out and finally found some computers where we could surf the net and kill some time.
Ahhh... after a 30-minute wait, we finally got onto the place! And Macau, here we come!
We finally touched down at Macau after 3hours 30minutes. The moment we stepped out of the plane, we looked at each other and said , "Cold!" It was about 13C that night and we were really cold. :)
We got our luggage and lumbered out of the airport and after some difficulty, found the public bus-stop! We waited and waited... and after quite a while, bus MT1 came! Ha... the next hurdle... where do we alight? Xiuyue approached an elderly lady sitting near us and asked her where we were supposed to alight in order to get to our hotel (our landmark is actually the Macau Jockey Club). The lady was so so so warm and friendly and even pressed the bell for us to alight! Hee...
When we stepped into our room, we couldn't believe our eyes! It was really a luxurious room! Gosh! And we got it for only USD17!!! We were simply so happy...we couldn't believe what we saw!
We put our stuffs down and then decided to venture out to get some food. We thought we better do so as our stomaches were really protesting. We walked and we walked and then saw this little cafe... the prices were rather reasonable and so we stepped in. Xiuyue ordered a Seafood Rice and I ordered a Salmon Fried Rice. When our orders came, we were shocked by the serving. It was enormous! It was a big heap of rice! But well, we enjoyed the food and ate the very last grain of rice. The taste is really unique and unlike anything we've eaten in Singapore.
After eating, we were energised and thus decided to make our way to The Venetian (the newest and the largest integrated resort in Taipa, Macau). We walked, got lost a few times but we ultimately made it there!
We were so impressed by the architecture... it is so intricate and so beautiful and so lovely. The place just oozes romance! There is a mini lake with outdoor gondolas! We were so captivated by the place that we took photo after photo with the buildings... And The Venetian is so big... we didn't get to even walk a complete round around it! However, we couldn't find our way into the shopping mall, so we thought the mall was closed for the night. It was only a few days later , in our conversation with Uncle David, that we realised that the mall operates round the clock... Haha... we didn't get to walk to the main entrance to get into the mall!
By the time we satisfied our photo-taking craving, we had missed our last bus... and so we took a nice cool walk back to the hotel... And by the time we laid on our beds, it was 3am!
HK/Macau/China Trip... Preparation for Trip...
We finally decided to venture out of Vietnam and explore some other countries!
After viewing some photos of beautiful hills and greens Cindy (from CCAB OE Unit) showed us, Xiuyue and I decided to go and see them for ourselves! And it's not far... right in Hong Kong!
Also, we can make a stop at Macau and visit Wei Qiao, our ex-student! Haha... that was our plan initially. Then Wei Qiao called a week before the departure date and asked if we are keen to join her family for a vacation to GuiLin, China. Well, why not? Besides, she said her mummy could get the tickets at half-price! I've never been to China and so jumped at the chance. Xiuyue was sweet to agree to come along as well.
And Wei Qiao said that her parents would like to host us when we visit them in ZhuHai... gosh... isn't that great? I really thank God for his providence and the wonderful hospitality of her parents.
Now, that left us with... where do we spend the three days (5, 6 and 7 Dec 07) before Wei Qiao reaches home in ZhuHai on 8 Dec 07?
Hee... Xiuyue and I thus decided to continue on our quest of enjoying some nature in Hong Kong... Thus, our itinery goes:
(1) 5 Dec (Wed)- Arrive in Macau Airport at 6pm, check into a hotel for the night
(2) 6 Dec (Thu)- Ferry to HK, check into hotel, drop stuffs, explore New Territories
(3) 7 Dec (Fri)- Explore Hong Kong Trail in Hong Kong Island
(4) 8 Dec (Sat)- Ferry to ZhuHai and Uncle David (Wei Qiao's daddy) will take over!
Now, that leaves us with the task of booking hotels! Xiuyue and I got onto the internet and searched for cheap and good hotels. Hotels are so expensive in Macau, with the cheapest going at S$100! Gosh... that's too much. I then happened to chance upon the site macau.com, and after some cruising around, saw an ad that screams "Hotels rooms for as low as US17!" Grandview Hotel, located in Taipa, was offering hotel rooms at USD17.68/room/night! And the offer is only valid for 4, 5 and 6 Dec 07! Aren't we glad? We wasted no time, and quickly got ourselves a booking! And after more research, we realised that the hotel is easily accessible by public bus (MT1) from the airport! And the hotel provides shuttle bus service to the ferry pier! Isn't it great? We didn't have to spend a lot of money to get from airport to hotel and from hotel to ferry pier! It's just so amazing that I can only say it's God's providence for us.
Then comes the daunting task of booking a hotel in Hong Kong... we decided to check out hostels as they are relatively cheaper and we won't be spending more time in the rooms except to sleep (well, we were thinking... we will most probably be out all day in the hills and then shopping till late in the night...). Got hold of a guest house by the name of Cosmic Guest House and it's right in the centre of Nathan Road (Tsim Sha Tsui)! And it offers pretty reasonable rates of S$24/pax/night. So, we grabbed that too!
Gosh... so much for preparations. So excited about the trip!
After viewing some photos of beautiful hills and greens Cindy (from CCAB OE Unit) showed us, Xiuyue and I decided to go and see them for ourselves! And it's not far... right in Hong Kong!
Also, we can make a stop at Macau and visit Wei Qiao, our ex-student! Haha... that was our plan initially. Then Wei Qiao called a week before the departure date and asked if we are keen to join her family for a vacation to GuiLin, China. Well, why not? Besides, she said her mummy could get the tickets at half-price! I've never been to China and so jumped at the chance. Xiuyue was sweet to agree to come along as well.
And Wei Qiao said that her parents would like to host us when we visit them in ZhuHai... gosh... isn't that great? I really thank God for his providence and the wonderful hospitality of her parents.
Now, that left us with... where do we spend the three days (5, 6 and 7 Dec 07) before Wei Qiao reaches home in ZhuHai on 8 Dec 07?
Hee... Xiuyue and I thus decided to continue on our quest of enjoying some nature in Hong Kong... Thus, our itinery goes:
(1) 5 Dec (Wed)- Arrive in Macau Airport at 6pm, check into a hotel for the night
(2) 6 Dec (Thu)- Ferry to HK, check into hotel, drop stuffs, explore New Territories
(3) 7 Dec (Fri)- Explore Hong Kong Trail in Hong Kong Island
(4) 8 Dec (Sat)- Ferry to ZhuHai and Uncle David (Wei Qiao's daddy) will take over!
Now, that leaves us with the task of booking hotels! Xiuyue and I got onto the internet and searched for cheap and good hotels. Hotels are so expensive in Macau, with the cheapest going at S$100! Gosh... that's too much. I then happened to chance upon the site macau.com, and after some cruising around, saw an ad that screams "Hotels rooms for as low as US17!" Grandview Hotel, located in Taipa, was offering hotel rooms at USD17.68/room/night! And the offer is only valid for 4, 5 and 6 Dec 07! Aren't we glad? We wasted no time, and quickly got ourselves a booking! And after more research, we realised that the hotel is easily accessible by public bus (MT1) from the airport! And the hotel provides shuttle bus service to the ferry pier! Isn't it great? We didn't have to spend a lot of money to get from airport to hotel and from hotel to ferry pier! It's just so amazing that I can only say it's God's providence for us.
Then comes the daunting task of booking a hotel in Hong Kong... we decided to check out hostels as they are relatively cheaper and we won't be spending more time in the rooms except to sleep (well, we were thinking... we will most probably be out all day in the hills and then shopping till late in the night...). Got hold of a guest house by the name of Cosmic Guest House and it's right in the centre of Nathan Road (Tsim Sha Tsui)! And it offers pretty reasonable rates of S$24/pax/night. So, we grabbed that too!
Gosh... so much for preparations. So excited about the trip!
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