Trip to Hong Kong- Day 4

My final (half) day in Hong Kong was a manic one. I got up really early in the morning as I planned to meet dimsuminthecity in town, and I needed to allow time for expressing (milk, that is), grab a quick breakfast, check-out, leave my luggage at the airport and catch the Airport Express to Hong Kong.

Phew.

Photos of the Regal Airport Hotel

On board the Airport Express

Taken during the train journey (the window panes were tinted)

I had a great time catching up with my friends, and it was wonderful seeing little J. He's such a cute little boy! It was nice to chat after such a long time; we only get to meet up once a year (at the most).

After that, I did the craziest thing ever. I got off at Tsing Yi station on the Airport Express return journey, and made my way back to Citygate! Sigh, I'm such a sucker. My destination? The Coach outlet! I spent the looongest time there, pondering first over which bag to buy, and then after that, in which colour. Groan.

I made my choice, queued to pay, and when I checked the merchandise, I found some tiny defects so I asked the sales staff to get me another bag. The next one had the same defect, and the next one as well! By this time I was getting really nervous as I had to rush back to the airport to catch my flight home. And so I changed my mind about buying and left the shop in a huff! I bet the sales staff really hated me! :p But hey, if something costs THAT much, surely I would expect it to be perfect?!? Hmmph.

And so, my money was safe.. for a while more.

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 3

As soon as the conference ended the next day, we pretty much zoomed off to check out the famous Citygate shopping outlet; where branded goods are apparently available at huge discounts.

Now I'm not a big fan of branded goods; I just can't bring myself to spend THAT much $$ on bags/shoes/whatever. I do like this particular Burberry bag, but it costs RM2k+ and I think my money could be put to much better use. Like paying my mortgage. Or saving up for my kids' education. Hmmm.

Anyway, I did manage to buy some stuff at some of the shops. A pair of Crocs; and some other bits and pieces, so that was good. I did spend a lot of time at the Coach outlet, agonising over the thought of whether to actually buy something.

'Should I buy?' Yes, just buy- give myself a treat for working so hard!

'No, I don't need it! Don't go over to the Dark Side!'

And this went on and on and on. Until it was closing time. And so, my money was safe... Or so I thought.

Watch out for the next few posts! ;)

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 2

The conference was held over the next 2 days, and it was a pretty good experience getting to know people in the other companies within the Group. I joined the Corporate Planning sessions; it was a small group and I pretty much already knew everyone there, so I settled in quite comfortably.

I found the buffet lunch really yummy- although the selection was not that extensive, there were interesting dishes like 'Lamb with Coconut' and 'Chicken with Strawberry Gravy', which were really quite nice. I had some mussels too- and they were delicious! Now I've had a lot of mussels in my time, but I reckon those were probably the best I've ever tasted. Amazingly fresh and sweet. Yummy!

Dinner was hosted by the conference organisers, and we went to this apparently famous place named Yue Kee, to try their roast goose. The food that night was just so-so, although there were lots of 'good stuff' like abalone, dried scallops, fresh scallops, etc. There was waaay too much food though, and it was such a pity to see so much of it go to waste.

Geese tongues in the bottom right corner.. ewww

One thing I saw for myself that night- the Japanese can REALLY drink! By the end of the night, most of them were practically just standing around and downing alcohol like there was no tomorrow. Haha.

Trip to Hong Kong- Day 1

I had the opportunity to attend a regional conference in Hong Kong recently. It was a short trip, and I didn't have the luxury of extending my stay, so I had to try and squeeze in as many things as I could in the little time that I had there.

The few of us travelling together caught an early flight to Hong Kong, and by the time we cleared the long line at Immigration, and checked in at the hotel (which was only right next to the airport, mind you) it was already past 2 pm!

After settling down a little bit, we caught a taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui. Our destination (or rather, my destination; everyone else just decided to tag along)- the Hong Kong Museum of History! I really do have this thing for museums. It was a bit hard moving in a group; I really wanted to maximise my time at the museum, but by the time we got everyone together and reached there, it was already 4:30 pm! Sigh.

We even stopped to have a late lunch... I would have been quite happy to grab a bun and eat it on the go, but the others wanted to stop, and so we did. And how was lunch? Dreadful. A total waste of time. The broth tasted like peanut butter was added in, and the noodles were nothing to shout about. I had something like this before at Crystal Jade in KL and made the mistake of ordering this again. Cheh.

The Hong Kong Museum of History is really quite amazing. It features galleries that 'tell the Hong Kong story' in innovative and interesting ways. I read all the reviews and tips on TripAdvisor (luckily I did that), and skimmed through the earlier galleries because the later ones were more interesting. We only had 1.5 hours anyway, so we had to make do.

Towers of buns..

They even have replicas of boats and a tram, so the experience felt really authentic! I would highly recommend this museum to anyone visiting Hong Kong.

After the museum closed, we walked around the Tsim Sha Tsui for a bit, before settling down to have a quick dinner at a 'char chan teng'. I had a baked rice dish, which was pretty similar to what we can get here at Kim Gary. Overall, just a so-so dining experience.

Updates on our little girl

It has been ages since I last blogged about our little girl's progress. She is 9.5 months now so I have loads of catching up to do!

As at mid-June (about the 8-mth mark):

• Noticed her first tooth emerging
• Oh, and she could clap her hands too! So fun.
• She could crawl (sort of); and she does it on her knees (NOT like an army crawl, if you know what I mean)
• She used to get into this cat-like position; like a cat stretching. All four limbs are straight and the body is off the ground. (Now that she already can crawl, the opportunities to get photos of her doing this are virtually nil! :p)
• She could revert to a sitting position from a crawling position.
• She regularly tried to pull herself up to a standing position.

She started crawling well at 9 months, and could finally stand up by herself at the end of June. And now, as I write this, she is already 'cruising' all over the house!

Looks like girls really do achieve physical development milestones faster than boys! Haha.