I am back. And I am SO glad to be back. This trip was one of mixed emotions. There were really fun, happy times - when we went to Hong Kong over the first weekend and ate a lot and bought a lot, or evenjust having a good wasabi salmon pizza at pizza hut after work. And then I also probably experienced the worst moments of my career to date - all because of one CRAP person.

I have talked about it much to Ah C and my parents, so let me begin with the happy things for now!

Hong Kong

As we had to be in China for more than 15 days without a visa (supposed to have but the application was screwed up) so we had to get out and go to Hong Kong over the first weekend. Our AM (Nic) had never been to Hong Kong before, so me and Yun han (another A2 secondee) brought this old man around for the two days!

The bus ride from Dongguan to Hong Kong via Shenzhen took about 3hours and we were all pretty excited about it. To take a break from work, to eat better food, to do some good shopping.. cos Dongguan is really boring! Going through Shenzhen custom to HK is really like going from JB to Singapore, with the addition of watching people carrying weird stuff over (not pirated DVDs). A woman in the queue next to us was carrying a bag and red drops of liquid of what seems like blood was dripping from her bag. She didn't realise it until quite some time when everyone started staring at her... then she took out a big pack of some sort of bloody red meat and began wiping the exterior. And we sure were rather amazed she even bothered to go back the way she came from and began cleaning up the floor...

Anyways, on the bus to Hong Kong:
Then reaching Hong Kong... k, my face is big, and even bigger next to super-slim yunhan.... dun compare la!
We were thinking whether to get the Octopus card, the one-day pass or the single-trip ticket... and we decided to get the single-trip one cos unused octopuc credit is non-refundable and we won't be taking many train rides. So... here's Nic having his first go at a Hong Kong train ticketing machine.
We were rather hungry when we arrived, and tried scouting for some nice place to eat.. and we walked really long before we settled in this small noodle stall. The stall was small and simple, but the dumpling mee was super good! and the soya bean milk was thick and smooth... a fulfilling meal at S$4.

Cheers!

Then we headed off to do some shopping. It was great that Yunhan was there because she brought us to Fa Yuen street (same street as Sportswear street but further down) where we bought really nice and cheap things - flats, cardigans, bags... i have never shopped like that in Hong Kong before lah! And Nic bought ALOT of Hello Kitty stuff for his wife... so sweet leh!

After shopping, we went to check in at our hotel, Stanford Hotel in Mongkok... decent room la, but nv take photo. So small, nothing to see also.

Then, we went for some lu bian tan food near our hotel...

The tako pachi was nice... crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Our guinea pig AM took the first bite and realised that it was too hot, and began struggling with the tako pachi in his mouth. We learned the lesson from him and took really small bites at a go... hahahaha.

Then we set off to Central area cos we were bringing the old man to The Peak at night. Walked and walked... nothing much to see though. Tried some hot and steamy egg tart and went into Tsui Wah Cha Chan Teng for a break...

After the break, we began walking towards the Peak Tram station and took some photos along the way.. here's one.

The tram station was quite crowded... and there was a mad rush to get up the tram..

Up the peak to enjoy the cool breeze and awesome view, finally!

Cold cold...

Before we went back to our hotel for a night's rest, we had our last treat... Hui Lou Shan mango desserts:

Next morning, we went down to Chao Inn in One Peking Building, Tsim Sha Tsui for dim sum. This is the same place I went with Ah C the last time. Despite knowing that we were going to Sweet Dynasty to have dessert later and we initally planned not to order too much, we ended up with a table full of food.

Walked over to Avenue of Stars to allow our stomach to digest the food before we dig into our dessert..

Then off to Sweet Dynasty, where we had Hot dou hua, cold dou hua, sesame paste and red bean paste soup...

Nic is definitely so satisfied with his cold dou hua pudding.

We went back to Fa Yuen street to do more shopping whereby yunhan and me got more bags and shoes, and Nic got more Hello Kitty for his wife.

Ok, finally the trip was ending.. with our bags of shopping, we settled down at Pacific Coffee near our bus stop to rest our legs, which we desperately needed.

Dongguan, Guangdong province, China

Hai... Dongguan is so boring, I can only blog about the food we ate.

Chinese food

Korean food

Pizza hut, which was quite good! Love the Wasabi Mayonnaise Salmon pizza! Wanted to go back to try their soft shell crab pizza, but unforunately, we didn't have time.. and u will know why during my next post bah... hai...

Those were the happy times...