Blogging from Hong Kong.

Was initially rather excited about this trip. Summer exchange for 6 weeks sounds fun and with much to look forward to, especially when u are going to Hong Kong, the country that everyone's raving about. But somehow, there's simply no chemistry between me and this place.

Flight here was disastrous. It was my first solo flight and decided to go with CX, a rather reputable airline, instead of budget. Dearest spent a bomb on his air tickets because of my choice too. But boy, I was wrong! Checking in at the airport was horrifying with almost an hour's wait due to some mistakes made by travel agency. Everyone queuing was left stranded while they were rectifying the problem. I guess airlines places more emphasis on tour groups afterall since a group of China tourist were guided to 2 other counters specially opened for them while solo passengers like us were left waiting.  A "complaint" to the service proved fruitless without any eye contact by the way. Well, I guess it was lucky that we eventually got to check in without any delays or rushing for flights. But the worst had just began. Boarded the plane and went to my seat only to see a little girl sitting there. Turned out that a group of Chinese tourist was on board and they had happily assumed that they own the plane. Changing seats at will and shouting across like nobody's business and unfortunately, I was a victim. A check with an attendant and that tourist simply told me to go to the other seat which that person sitting on my seat was supposed to be. Lost and confused, I eventually broke down. I mean come on, it was my first solo flight, I am leaving my family and Singapore for 6 bloody weeks and I was chased out of my own seat?! The flight attendant did ask me if I wanted my seat back but who would want it back? I just wanted to get out of that section as fast as possible because I felt I was going to collapse soon. Well, I eventually got a seat and arrived in HK, but the episode did not end there. I was stuck at the immigration for some time because there was some problems with the system and couldn't read my visa.

After getting through and eventually meeting karyn, my friend who came for summer studies with me, at the airport, we made our way to the hostel and it was hell! Lugging a 20kg luggage with a 7kg backpack is no joke, esp when u are in freaking crowded hk. We took 1 hour to reach our school and were totally exhausted when we eventually arrived at the dorm. PS. I skipped a few things that happened like waiting at the wrong bus stops, unable to carry our luggage up the bus and my gastric acted up etc. When we ended the room, our jaw dropped. The mattress was 1 inch thick only btw. I bet Tekong have better beds than us. The only comforting part of our dorm was we had free aircon and new bedsheets and comforter. Dinner was cup noodles that they both of us brought from Singapore because the canteen was closing and the food was limited. A bad start isn't it?

Woke up the next day and went to Mongkok. It was a Sunday and yes, it was very crowded. Lunch at some random eatery that served wooden bucket chicken. Ok, I saw the sign boards and insisted on eating it because it looks not bad. Erm, not fantastic but still edible. The soup was good though. Walked aimlessly around and settled dinner at some random fast food restaurant in Shatin before trying to look for a supermarket to get our groceries but failed terribly. After my arrival here, I always look forward to night time because that would be the time I get to Skype my parents and dearest. Night fall also means that I am getting closer to going back home. Sounds sad isn't it?

Decided that walking aimlessly isn't a solution and decided to plan our itinerary for Monday. Headed to Tim Ho Wan for dim sum but I felt it was not fabulous even though it is a Michelin star restaurant. I still prefer the dim sum that dearest and I frequent in Geylang. Headed to Stanley market which reminded me of  淡水 in Taiwan, before heading to Causeway Bay for some sight seeing. It was 1 July, the day HK was returned to China in 1997, and there were protests and demonstration going on in Causeway Bay. It was interesting as me being a Singaporean would never get to see that back home. It was a peaceful one btw, everyone was just walking along the stretch of designated route. An eye-opener I would say. We eventually settled on macs for dinner. One thing I like about the macs here would be that they sell broccoli, my favourite veg. Oh btw, that dinner was the best I ever had for the 3 days I arrived in HK.

Orientation Day on Tuesday. They hosted a welcome dinner for us at some Super Star Seafood restaurant which was supposed to be quite good, but personally, I wouldn't patronize it again. Interestingly, the sit down dinners that we have back home and HK is different. I dunno how to put it, but I still prefer the food served back home or maybe it's just this restaurant.

Lessons on wed and thur, so nothing much to talk about. Met karyn and her bf on friday for lunch. In case u are wondering, she abandoned me for her bf on Thursday so I was alone on dorm for that night. I would say it was the best day because we had good food and fun for that day. Lunched at Chuen Ji at Sai Kung, supposingly a Michelin star restaurant and the 皮蛋瘦肉粥实在令人回味无穷！Would definitely bring my parents and dearest there when they come. Walked into some random eatery for dinner and their Char Siew was the best I had in HK so far, I still prefer uncle's char siew rice though .The price was quite steep, so would I come back for more? Maybe, it all depends if I can find a better 烧腊店 which I hope I will.

Gosh, this is super long post. If you are reading this now, thank you for your patience. Haha! Anyway, the stuff in HK is almost the same as Singapore. Somehow, the price of the food is more ex compared to Singapore, so I really dunno how this place became a tourist paradise. I definitely wouldn't shop till I drop here since I can get better discounted prices back home. Oh, before I forget, The 煲汤 in HK that I had so far were awesome, wished I had a whole pot of them.