Hong Kong & South Korea Trip - Hong Kong Part

Hi hi!!! I'm back!! I just arrived last Saturday afternoon after 2 weeks holiday in Hong Kong and South Korea. How was it? It was AWESOME!!!

My holiday started 1 day late though, due to typhoon in Hong Kong -_- I kinda had the feeling it was going to be cancelled as my flight was supposed to arrive on the day of the typhoon at 3PM. And that typhoon was predicted to hit in the afternoon. So yeah.

Because of that, I only had 3 nights and 2.5 days in Hong Kong. Disneyland had to be cut out -.- but my friends who've been there assure me that I didn't miss a thing as the one in Japan was way way way way wayyyy bigger and better. So that comforted me a bit hahaha... xD

When in Hong Kong we visited the harbour, Fa Yuen market, Ladies market, Ngongping Village, Tai O fishing village and Temple St market. We sacrificed Disneyland so we could visit those 2 villages. I thought, only 2 days in HK, if I went to Disneyland, I wouldn't be able to see much of Hong Kong at all! So far, everyone I talked to said I made a wise decision *wide grin*

Those places except Temple St market made quite an impression on me. Fa Yuen market was good for us who don't like to bargain, the price there can only be haggled a bit. This market has clothes, souvenirs, fresh fruit and food stalls too. I bought some stinky tofu, pig insides, fish balls and some other skewers.

Ladies market however, is no good for my heart. I was so scared every time I named my price! My heartbeat raced each time we bargained. So, no, not good for my heart lol

The price there, unfortunately, needs to be haggled. For example, I bought this big bunny keyring that Asian girls put on their purse nowadays, the fluffy one, in that market. The stallkeeper said 120HKD. That's 20AUD!! So I said no. She then gave me the calculator and told me to name my price. I hesitated for a loooooooonnnnnngggggg time before saying 60. Then she said, no, 100. I kept saying no, and she kept dropping it until 60HKD @__@ At the end of it, I was dumbfounded. I was speechless and still felt cheated even though I got it at the price I named.

In another stall, I wanted a fridge magnet. The seller said it was 55AUD. And again asked me to name a price. I didn't know what to bargain it for, then my friend said $35 for 2. The seller got personal and yelled, "I said $55 for 1 and you ask $35 for 2???". Then we ran away from that stall. But later on, we actually bought the same thing 2 for $40 :/ you get what I mean?

However, they do have good range of stuffs to sell. Souvenirs, tshirts, umbrellas, even bed linens. But yeah, you have to haggle.

Ngongping Village was a good place to spend time in. Aside from the lady at the ticket booth who was very rude even when unprovoked, my day in Ngongping was very enjoyable. The view from the cable car was amazing. It was worth the money I paid for the ride. The temple and monastery were great too. Just keep in mind there are a lot of stairs to climb. And wisdom path was PREEEEEETTTTYYYYYY! it wasn't 10 minutes walk per the sign said, more like 15 minutes. But it was very pretty! Nothing there apart from the wooden sticks, but go there for the view. We almost got lost on the way back, so keep an eye on the signage.

We pretty much ate all our way in Tai O 😂 we had giant squid, grilled dried squid, tofu hua, and I can't remember what else. It's like traditional market street, the dry one though. But we arrived late arvo, so I'm not sure if it's like that in the morning too.

Temple St market was so so. More cheap Chinese products there I think. I didn't buy anything there, but from memory the price was very reasonable compared to ladies market. Maybe you can haggle a bit, but not that much. However, I think the stuffs here are old stocks. They were looking pretty dusty.

We took 4:40 AM bus to the airport the next day. We arrived at the airport even before they turned on all the lights :l

Overall, Hong Kong was quite enjoyable. It was hot though, we arrived at the end of October and it was still hot and humid. My leggings was wet with sweat so quickly @_@ food was good, even though not as cheap I was hoping it to be. AND, I was very surprised to find that only a number of people can speak English! Even just to ask for directions, once I spoke English, most of them just waved their hand and left. I tried with the youngsters too, and they didn't even know the place when I showed them the instructions from Google Map! They had to google it themselves using Chinese and then Ohhhhh it's that one.... -__-

I Miss English!

I miss English!! I'm currently in New Zealand doing a 9 day tour of north and south islands with my whole family. The tour is Chinese tour. And yep I miss English so much.

Everyone in the tour speaks Mandarin, Shanghainese and Cantonese. Only the youngsters can speak English. Even the tour guide sucks in English. I mean suck, really suck. He speaks really little English.

So, I constantly have to think during the tour. Listening to people takes effort, talking requires even more effort. Hotel staffs are my favorite people to speak to as it's a breeze and requires 0 effort. I never realized how good I am with English now. Of course I'm not 100% fluent, I don't think I will ever be, but the effort I need to put in to communicate in English is almost nothing now.

My dad said, if it's like this everyday, my Mandarin would improve a lot. Yeah definitely. This tour guide speaks on the coach non-stop just like a broken radio and he repeats things every day and more than once a day too! Let say he talks about something on the first day which I don't even bother to listen, and then I notice it without understanding 100%, and then completely understand what he says about it, and then I'm now complaining to my dad because this tour guide keeps saying the same thing over and over!

So yeah. We'll see what happens at the end of the tour. We'll leave him tomorrow, but there would be other guide for the south island. Hope he can speak decent English! *fingers crossed*

PS: apparently that tour guide has been in NZ for 17 years!! Why???!!! @___@

Things I Did in Bangkok

Eat papaya salad, ticked.
Eat as much of street food as possible ticked.
Had Thai massage, ticked!
Visited Grand Palace and Wat Pho, ticked!
Being scammed by tuktuk driver, ticked!
Ride in a tuktuk, well obviously from previous point, ticked! 3 hours ride was definitely enough of tuktuk ride to last me for a very long time.
Try BTS and MRT, ticked!
Being scammed by taxi driver, ticked!
Ride on a tourist and local boat, ticked!
Watch ladyboy show, ticked!
Watch guiness book of record, Siam Niramit performance, ticked!
Visit the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, ticked!
Shop till you drop in Pratunam, ticked!
Shop at the biggest weekend market in Southeast Asia, Chatujak, ticked!
Try all fruits and juice Bangkok can offer, ticked!
Eat pad Thai, pad see euw, ticked!
Try fried chicken, ticked!
Oyster omelette, ticked!
Banana pancake, I had 2! Lol

Visit floating market, nope.
Visit wat arun, thanks to damn tuktuk driver, nope -_-""
Eat tom ga kai, nooo :( the places I went to didn't have it :( same with mango with sticky rice :(

Oh well, but I think I did quite a proudable job for 5 days trip :p