Travel: Hong Kong (Day 4 - 8)
Thought it's time I should really follow up my long overdue post on the second half of my trip to Hong Kong.
Day 4 was a little different - we were no longer staying over at Wen's friend's house nor was Wen joining us for the trip. And Day 4 was a day of lots of walking. Since we came all the way to Hong Kong, of course we couldn't miss the infamous Wong Tai Sin temple. We were joined by Wen's American friend whom we took the chance to explain the Chinese culture and Buddhism.
Lesson learnt, never be too sure of a location unless you've actually been there before! The Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian garden were really an eye opener to how the Chinese Classical Garden looks and it was just magnificent. There was a small temple and of course, I took the chance to pray. And, it's funny to see how when we were younger, we dreaded going to the temples but now, we took every opportunity to pray for good health. And instead, the older ones were the ones who weren't exactly interested..
We went on with recommendations and visited this Matcha dessert (Japanese) place - VIA Tokyo and Bingsu dessert (Korean) place, recommended by our American friend.
The day ended with us checking into our next hotel - Marriott Courtyard. We had dinner there and were served by really genial staffs there (partially because my dad's acquaintance with them). By the end of dinner, it was 7pm - The night was still too young for any sleep, of course, we had to carry on with activities in this city which proclaims the night never sleeps! We left our dad in the room and sneaked out to MongKok and basically lingered around the streets. We went around for street food and actually got chased away by one of the stores because we daringly ordered only one bowl for the 3 of us. LOL but it was alright because, had we not been chased, we wouldn't finally get to have some herbal jelly!!!!! which I absolutely absolutely love. And there's me, pouring (excessive) honey over the jelly for Guan to get the best photograph.
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Day 5:
--- Shen Zhen, China ---
A trip to ShenZhen, just for some Hai Di Lao (hotpot).
And, I was mind-blown by their services! For eating at their place, you're entitled to free manicure sessions which I took the chance of to get rid of my previous ugly peeling purple manicures, for some really pretty silver glitter gel nails.
We were really lucky for deciding to have dinner at 4pm because, by the time we finished at 6pm, the queue was insane. There was even a level just for the people queuing. Drinks and board games were served as they queued. And even at the toilet, there were people serving you tissues after you wash your hands and there was a ton of free combs and hair clips.
Being a gluttonous family, we couldn't just end there - boba teas had to follow - and we walked along the night food streets for more food.
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Day 6: Back in Hong Kong
Finally got to try some of Hong Kong's infamous instant noodles for breakfast (which always seems so delicious on TV shows)
--- Cheung Chau ---
A comforting night of talks with the friends Guan had made while studying in Australia; a night of learning how he had lived 2 years of his life without us.
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Day 7
The last day ended with us spending all our money on eating and a ton of H&M apparels. And as they say, do not spend your last day thinking you have to use up every single penny on you, they mean it. We were caught by a sudden delay in our flight and had to camp at the airport for a good 2 hours, without any dollars on us.
This trip hadn't been the most smooth one (overpriced air ticket for Guan, facing a crisis of not having enough seats in the plane for us, getting chased out of stores, carrying too little cash to HK, delayed flight) but it surely has been the most fulfilling and enriching one. It isn't the first or second time I've been to HK but this trip was so different from the rest, maybe, partially because I got to kind of, travel on my own? And at the same time, realising, how lucky I am for a family like this - parents who have faith in us travelling on our own, a brother who's willing to pay over $700 for us because we realised we were below the age limit to travel on our own only after purchasing the tickets. It's a pity that Fang didn't get to join us, but the fact that we got to spend some siblings time together, and catch up one another's life while we lived in HK, Australia and Singapore respectively, warms me and make all else worth for these chances.
A night like then, of sitting in a Starbucks and gossip over Starbucks' Christmas drinks, I long for a night like that to happen again. It's funny how we always think that we spend a lot of our time facing our family, since afterall, we all live under the same roof, and get irritated by one another's presence, but then again, with the load from school and work and our own social life, have we really spend a lot of time together?
Till a night like then, where we do nothing, worry nothing and laugh over one another's life... x