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this entry will be accounting the reasons why i havent been online and blogging for the past beautiful four days. if you wish to learn more, i would most welcome you to read on. but if you do not wish to, i would kindly advise you to skip this site and logon tomorrow or a few days later.

16 december 2005:
morning flight at 11.30 from singapore to hong kong by cathay pacific airways (cx 714). the journey was good with the accompaniment of haagen dazs ice cream with your meal on board. take off was wonderful as you peep through the window having a birds eye view of the singapore island and the sea. then up above the fluffy clouds enjoying the inflight entertainment services. the seat was a little small though. about three hours and forty minutes, we touched down hong kong international airport located on an offshore island of hong kong, lantau island.

the coach sent us back to our hotel located at tsim sha tsui, a place located on the kowloon island with the many shopping malls and where major tourists and even hong kongers shop. you can call it the shopping paradise in hk. after checking in, settled down for awhile in the hotel room, we went for the seafood dinner organised by the tour. well, ours was a free-and-easy tour but since we didnt have any activities to occupy our time that night, we joined the optional tour. the sumptous seafood dinner was at the "lei yu moon", hong kongs most famous place for seafood feast. lobster, abalone, prawns, fish and alot of the other seafood. had our fill and headed for the very popular clubbing place in central hk. its called the "lam kwan fong" where many flims and tv shows take place there. if you can recall a hk tv show, its a very steep sloppy place where many pubs and clubs are. bought the ben jerrys ice cream and it was fantastic. cost about five singapore dollars per cone of two scoops. and after that, we were brought up the victoria peak to have a view of the hong kongs skyline. MAGNIFCENT was the word to describe, the beautiful lightings, the so tall skyscrapers and the view was bonus to your eyes. i guess thats where your eyes get therapy. it really wow-ed us, the view for the third time. (was there more than 6 years ago) after that was at the ladys street located at mong kok. some pasar malam or flea market where you get the cheapest things, roadside snacks. we didnt miss out the true blue "xu liu shan". eating it in the 14 degree celsius temperature really freezes you. and that reminds me of the fakeness and the lousiness of the "xu liu shan" in spore. ate the smelly beancurd too! of course it didnt smell nice but tasted good. btw the smelly beancurd stalls are diminishing so it was quite difficult to find them. then back to hotel to rest till the next day.

17 december 2005:
woke up about 9am and went for breakfast at the usual place we went five years ago. congee and noodles plus the you tiao were delicious. went to shop for awhile at harbour city, one of hk's biggest mall with more than 700 shops. c!tysuper, its spelt that way, is the must go supermarket there. then met mums hk friend at one of the stations. went to eat after like 2 hours of walk at an eatery at mong kok. the food was special and definitely nice. shopped around and theres this street where all the sport shoes are. sis and i bought shoes so now i dont have to shop for my chinese new years shoe. heh. then after another less than three hours walk, had another feast at an exclusive restaurant in hk central as there is only one in hong kong. ate some dim sum, the totally transparent century egg and the must-eat goose. ohmygwad, i nearly fainted because i was still very full but continue eating knowing that chances of eating them in singapore is a never-to-come-by chance. oh yes, the restuarant is three-storey and you can take the lift up. its super nice and grand. its located right next to the clubbing and pubbing place, lam kwan fong i mentioned earlier.

back to the hotel, we rested for awhile and went out again. ate haagen dazs fondue at the hyatt hotel and i swear this is the one you cannot find it in singapore. it has the chocolate and strawberry sauces for you to dip the fruits, cakes, biscuits and small scoops of ice cream! ICE-CREAM to dip into the chocolate and strawberry sauces. its really nice and special and the price was pretty high. after that we went to avenue of stars and on the way we walked past the renowned grand hotel in hk, the peninsula. the grand-ness of the hotel and the history can been seen by the appearance of the hotel. plus the dangling stars decorations for christmas, it added some luxury ambience. walked through the subway to avenue of stars, theres sogo shopping centre, new world renaissance hotel and hotel intercontinental which are all located near the star ferry terminal and facing the sea and hong kong island. walked to avenue of stars and it was very crowded with tourists and locals. and you will definitely stop and lookd down onto the ground where you can see the handprints of famous hong kong international stars and the sculpture of bruce lee. the christmas decorations were so much nicer than singapore.

shopped at sogo and went back to hotel to rest for the next day. but in between we went to look for the saint honoure cake shop, the cake shop that used to be in singapore many years ago but was closed down. however we couldnt find it at the place the cake shop was located five years back when we were there. "xu liu shan" again. best dessert place.

18 december 2005:
morning breakfast at a nearby eatery. had noodles then my sister and i parted our parents and went to the hong kong disneyland all on our own. took the train ride from tsim sha tsui to central and walked all the way via the underpass from central to hong kong station. then took the train from hong kong station to sunny bay and transferred over to the disneyland express to hk disneyland. the disneyland express was impressive with the fairytale interior and exterior. the seats were cushioned and special, the displays of disney characters and the windows and handles with the shape of the mickey mouse head. really impressive.

the huge fountain was welcoming, bag checked and bought admission tickets. the whole place was welcoming and we queued for photo taking. initially was with donald and daisy but donald went off due to the parade they will be having later. so we took photos with daisy, waited for the parade to start and the characters spoke cantonese and the song was in cantonese too. after it ended, we went into the souvenir shops to look around and shop for stuff. proceeded to the adventureland where all the tribal and jungle characters are like tarzan. then to fantasyland where all the princesses and princes are. queued and took photos with minnie mouse and chipmunks. it was a long queue and i hate the mainlanders because they always cut-queue and squeeze in your way. what the hell man. shopped and walked around, and to tomorrowland where characters like toy story are. very nice disneyland but much much smaller than the one in tokyo. overall it was nice. bought orange juices, egg tart, pizza and a char siew puff from the disneyland bakery. then we walked through the disney main castle and back to main street, u.s.a to buy more stuff. claimed and paid for our photos taken with the disney characters at the photo shop then took the round-disney ride that takes you from main street to adventureland then to fantasyland and to tomorrowland then back to main street. then hurried back to hotel with bags and bags of disney items. before i forget, something really cute in the disneyland express announcement. it was something like that.

on our way there:
"welcome to the fantasy of disneyland...... we hope you will have a magical time at hong kong disneyland!"

on our way back:
"thank you for visiting hong kong disneyland.... we are now returning back to the futuristic hong kong island"

really funny and everyone on the disneyland express smiled after the announcement was made. had dinner at another restaurant also located at canton road, opposite harbour city.

19 december 2005:
didnt go out for breakfast because my parents already went to buy some cakes from cake shop and they found my saint honoure cake shop! egg tarts! indulged into my egg tarts and we went to walk around. met my mums friend again and went to find the wife biscuits. experienced the local market scene and its very different from singapore. shopped a little and went "xu liu shan" again! hahaha, i really love the desserts there. mangoes, honeydew, watermelon and the muah chee. super duper nice. back to hotel, checked out at 3pm and went to buy more egg tarts because we finished the box my parents bought yesterday. then back to hotel and was picked up by the coach at 4.30pm. headed to some other hotels before going to the airport. reached the airport, went to check in at the airline counter. had a light dinner at the famous maxim (chinese its called "mei xin") restaurant. goose again but i love it alot. then shopped at the duty free shops and my sis bought stuff from the disneyland shop. i bought a tee and we rushed like hell.

boarded the plane (cathay pacific airways cx 715) and was seated in the third row. the plane took off gracefully to the sky and looked out of the window bidding farewell to hong kong. watched the cartoon which was very funny and the food was not bad. its a pity they didnt provide haagen dazs ice cream, but got replaced with a mini walls magnum ice cream. slept till ten plus minutes before touchdown and the plane made a round in the singapore sky. touched down steadily at 11.36pm. the flight was good with a more spacious seat and leg space.

bought some liquor from the duty free store, took our luggages from the conveyor belt and queued for cab. and home sweet home.

the time in hong kong after five years was fantastic. some of the things there changed and the christmas decorations there was superb. even the buildings were lit with christmas lightings and decorations, some even with santa claus moving, snowman and reindeer. everywheres singing the christmas carols and that brought up the mood of christmas. the things there are not very cheap but its still worth to pay for if you cant find it in singapore. so all in all, this trip is definitely a memorable and wonderful one.

2005 holidays conclusion:
march - april : japan (disneyland tokyo)
september : kuala lumpur, malaysia
december: hong kong (disneyland hk)

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