I remember when I was a student studying in Melbourne, I tried to save as much money as I could to help my parents pay for my study. Hence, I never had a chance to go on holidays. Throughout my two years of study, I would go to uni from Monday to Thursday and work from Friday to Monday afternoon. I never enjoyed social life such as clubbing etc. Well, it wasn't exactly THAT boring.. I would meet my friends once a while during the weekend after work (mind you my work started at 5.30 in the morning!).
Anyways, after I graduated, I started working full-time hence I have saved enough money to spoil myself a little bit. On July 2011 I decided to book tickets to Hong Kong with a friend. Initially, my destination was ONLY Hong Kong, and as I was discussing with my friend that Hong Kong is so close to China, why don't we visit China as well. In case nobody has already been made aware of, China is HUGE and we need to agree on only one city per visit (besides, we planned to apply for only single entry visa to China). We narrowed the options down to between Beijing or Shanghai and my friend chose Shanghai due to its rapid economic growth. As we were only planning to use
Airasia as our carrier, that means all flights are connected through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
I was being silly by trying to check the flying cost to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur and thanks to my silliness, I was lucky to get A$5 return flights (not including taxes)! I was just telling my friend how the fortune fairy never magically appeared whenever I try to book tickets in my entire life! That's when we added SIngapore as our third holiday destination within 2 weeks. Now, Singapore is very close to Indonesia (where I was born and where all my family is). In addition, all the stop-over are in KL and KL is merely 50 minutes away (via plane) from Indonesia. So why don't I go home and visit my family??? That's when I decided that I would spend a week with my parents. So I just planned out my 3 weeks holiday and booked freaking
10 flights (return)!
I was kind of looking forward towards the holiday, however..... Before we get into it and I am not sure whether I want to get into it, just giving the most important tip to everyone who is planning to travel with a friend or friends, your TRAVEL BUDDY/BUDDIES is/are very important!!!!!! If you think that both of you do not share the same purpose during the entire trip, please just go on your own!! Don't say that I haven't warned you! You've heard the saying that there's always first time towards anything we decide to do in our life and we can only take it as experience when it comes and learn from it.
Anyways, first destination....
HONG KONG!!!!
Hong Kong is definitely congested with humans!!! Everywhere you look, there are only tall buildings!! No normal houses sighted at all! Well, at least not in the city or anywhere near the city. There are no suburbs (literally). However, I must say that varying from the immigration system in the airport to public transport system, everything is extremely organized and efficient in Hong Kong. Public transports are reliable and efficient throughout my visit and I was quite impressed. Hong Kong was well known as "THE shopping heaven" as everything is cheap-ER (including branded merchandises).
I must say that it's true when I comes to the branded merchandises but not the normal stuffs. If you are not careful, you'll end up spending a lot of money! They also sell counterfeit products in the "ladies market" but if you ask me, the quality is not as good as those in China, not that I own any counterfeit products on my own and I am not a spender on branded products either. The natives could be rude sometimes but don't blame them as if I were to live there, I would probably be frustrated and rude too!
As the surroundings are very fast-paced and the economic growth is still booming, I guess the natives are working really hard! I spotted some small vendors who operate 24-hour and the owners are mostly grannies :(
It was almost close to Christmas' eve when we arrived Hong Kong and we reached in the evening. After a quick shower, I met up with a friend who happened to be in Hong Kong for a holiday as well and we decided to meet for dinner. Here is a snapshot on Hong Kong city night view of buildings. They have light shows everywhere in the city. Very colorful indeed (but what a waste of electricity Lol)
Christmas in Hong Kong is warmly celebration in the city. More than in Melbourne according to me. You won't see any shops open in Melbourne on Christmas day because everyone would rather spend some quality time with their family; whereas in Hong Kong, although the majority of the population is not Christian, however Christmas has become a widely celebrated festive where the city is fully decorated and people look forward to a perfect excuse to get together and get drunk.
Hong Kong has 3 territories which are equally crowded and well visited, first is Hong Kong island where I stayed and where all local food including street foods are found. Hence if you want a taste of the local food, Hong Kong island is where they could be found. Look for Nathan Rd and just walk around and I am sure you will find something to eat and shop! Oh, go to Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kok (they are sort of 'suburb'), not quite...as I mentioned, Hong Kong has no suburbs. They are districts! Another tips, commute all the time with the MRT (train). They are easy and efficient and as Hong Kong is a small island, you will visit everywhere within a week or less using the train service!. Second territory, Kowloon. Kowloon is where all the business districts are located. If you crave for European, American/British foods (which by the way you don't have the reason to because you are in Asia country), Kowloon is where you can find those restaurants. Kowloon gave me a sense of 'working' environment surrounded by skyscrapers.
If you are looking for fine dining experience, you can also find them here. I didn't visit one because I prefer local/street foods like this one.
This restaurant is located near 6 Arthur St, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Errr...given that I am recommending people to visit, I actually didn't manage to visit this place and it is ALWAYS this packed every single night!!! 6 Arthur St, Kowloon is where the hotel I stayed is located (Bridal Tea House). I am not going to provide a link for the hotel because I don't recommend people to stay there. The receptionists were not friendly and the rooms are too tiny, I mean REALLY tiny!! People have warned me before I decided to visit Hong Kong that everything in Hong Kong is TINY, especially the apartments and budget hotel rooms! So don't be stingy like me when you decide to visit Hong Kong. Well, in my case, I only want to crash after a long day of walk, hence I don't need massive room with crystal soap bowls etc and I don't need bubble bath either. See my point?
Moving on, the third territory is called new territory. They are still developing this new area, I think?
I decided to visit a Buddhist temple there and I asked my friend who kindly accompanied me on how to go. Apparently, we need to take the cable car! How exciting!
I am easily impressed with scenery (hinting on whoever is planning to propose me in the future, here is an idea! Hahahaha!!! Daydreaming!!!
Look at the beautiful greenery!!! *Gasping Everytime I look at it, the memory comes back...Nostalgic.
The Buddha statue is where I wanted to go and no, the cable car doesn't take you there exactly. I need to walk.
Me climbing up my way to the top.. Combined with roughly 4 degree celcius temperature, hmmm.. You could only imagine.
By the way, the cable car service is called
Ngong Ping 360. Click on the link to find out more :)
P.S: Do not go on holiday seasons because the queue is massive and you have to queue for hours, no joke!
If you would like to visit bars, Low Kwai Fong (LKF) is where all the popular bars are located and mind you, the ONLY bars are located in the entire Hong Kong. This district is like the hang-out place for everybody at night and this district is extremely TINY that one would ask how could it accommodate the entire HK population during Christmas' eve. As I mentioned, the Hong Kong police is again, very efficient in managing human congestion in Hong Kong. If you are the socialite kind of people and would like to shop until you drop, visit Harbour City instead, this is where the branded stores are located where there is massive queue outside a PRADA shop where there was no sale stickers sighted anywhere outside the shop windows.
That pretty much summarizes my 3-day Hong Kong trip. Moving on to
SHANGHAI, China.
Although China has the population of more than one billion people, as the entire continent is too big, everything is widely spread all over the place, hence in comparison with Hong Kong, I personally feel that China is not as congested. The city itself is HUGE and as the natives don't speak as much english as Hongkies do, you might find it a bit challenging to get around. In my case, since I know Mandarin, it is easier. Now I thank my parents for sending me to learn mandarin through private tutoring program since I was young but due to lack of interest, I quit almost towards the end of high school, Hence, my mandarin read and write are not perfect. I do speak decent Mandarin and Chinese easily thinks that I am Chinese. Bear in mind I DO look Chinese as I have Chinese heritage. That is also a good excuse for me to visit China for the first time, to trace back my roots since I don't know much about my background. As in, all I know is that my great grandparents are from China and my grandparents moved to Indonesia and my parents were born in Indonesia. Other than that, I know nothing else.
Shanghai is as modern as any other northern part of Asia such as Korea and Japan. Hence don't be surprise if all advance cities now look fairly similar.
People won't know that you are in Shanghai until they see this...The trademark
Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower
In Shanghai, they also have the sightseeing bus which takes you pretty much every landmark in the city. You can hop on on one location and hop off on the other as long as you know where the bus route is and you hold a valid ticket which could be use within 24 hours of purchase only for RMB30 pp.
If you are on a short trip like me, this bus is definitely a must try!
This street also has renowned British buildings alongside.
Popular Yu Yuan Garden with oriental architecture. There are markets inside this Yu Yuan Garden that sell souvenirs and oriental clothings.
In many Chinese movies, I saw this thing and always wonder how it tastes like. Don't try it if you don't fancy sweets as the amount of sugar in this snack is unbelievable. Basically it is fruits with sugar coating,
I joined a one-day tour to this iconic village in a suburb one and a half away from Shanghai called "Zhou Zhuang" village that was built on a lake. This village has existed for a very long time (Ok, the tour guide told us how long but I fell asleep in the bus because I had to wake up at 6 am and I only had 3 hours of sleep). These days, the village has become tourists attraction and there are only small family-run-business in this village and no one actually lives here.. or maybe there is, again, I was daydreaming when the tour guide shared her story. No, I was busy snapping photos. Here they are. This village is also a former residential place for Sun Yat Sen.
'Water taxi' for tourists.
This village is a very soothing place (if you set aside tourists walking around snapping photos). :)
The entire one-day tour only costs RMB88 pp. There are other attractive locations but if you only have one day to spend in Shanghai, this place is highly recommended by locals.
The nightlife in Shanghai is well packed in club 88 but other than this club, during weekdays, everywhere else is empty. I don't fancy the bars and clubs in Shanghai because smoking is permitted inside and I am not a fan of having to smell like sweat+smoke+alcohol (from others) if you know what I mean. Ewwww...
It's quite a shame that I couldn't stay longer in Shanghai as there are many things to explore. Oh well, it's not to bad for a first-timer like me :) I spent another night back in Hong Kong before flying to Singapore. P.S: Public transport (especially train is as reliable as Hong Kong and just as efficient too). Hence don't worry about commuting around with the train. I still reckon Sydney has the worst train system by far consider Australia is a developed country. Melbourne is much better but the train's reliability is yet to be improved.
Moving on to my last destination for this holiday ending the year of 2011 by spending my last few days of 2011 in Singapore.
To be frank, I don't fancy humid weather that makes you sweat a lot..like A LOT!! I grew up in a country that doesn't has four seasons, hence I prefer cold and dry weather. Singapore gave me incredible experience and since I have a friend who lives there, that's even better! However, I couldn't stand the humidity and the fact that taking shower 3 times a day is not enough, I don't know how should I even describe it anymore. Singapore is surrounded by ocean hence during it's peak 'summer', the humidity could eventually hit the roof and makes everyone goes insane. In comparison to Melbourne during summer that could hit up to 42 degree celcius, at least the humidity is still not as high as a 35 degree celcius in Singapore which can definitely make anyone loses some weight in addition to the amount of walking one would experience.
The train system in Singapore is again, equally as reliable as those in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Hence I guess the government encourages it's residents to take public transport instead.
Marina Bay, new district where the popular casino is located.
Approaching the evening where the New Year's firework will be displayed across the bay.
and....... the countdown began followed by the fireworks.
Happy New Year 2012!!!!! *Katy Perry's 'fireworks' song was played as expected.
Spending new year in Singapore was a nightmare for me, well I have experienced it once and I reckon it's enough and not to be repeated. There were not enough taxis and buses to accommodate that many people! With train stopped operating after 2 am. We had difficulties going back to the hotel. We called the taxi service company as many as 4 times to no avail. In the end, we walked home. Many intoxicated people slept on the side of the road, throwing up, giving up for calling taxis etc. We reached the hotel by 5.30 am!! The overall situation was chaotic.
Moving on to tourists attractions, sentosa is a popular destination. If you only plan for a walk-about, it only costs SG$3 for the entry and you can take your time to look around. There are many bars alongside Siloso beach where you can chill.
I am surprised I still managed a fake smile when I was already steamingly hot and sweating!!!!
Next, I went to Universal Studios Singapore. It is a movie-based theme park and as the name projects itself, the movie themes are derived only from movies produced by the Universal Studios, such as Madagaskar, Shrek, Transformers, Battleship: Galactica and who can forget Jurassic Park and the list goes on.
This theme park has been operating for approximately 2 years now and entry fee is SGD74 pp. This place is perfect for family, couple and a bunch of friends look for stress-release options where you can scream your lungs out.
Kung Fu Panda Character.
Trying to portray a Cleopatra and failed miserably.
P.S: This ride with mummies' theme is full of surprises, must ride! However, anyone with weak heart is not encouraged to ride. They provide lockers for bags etc. Just so you know what kind of surprise is waiting in front of you and makes your spine chilled while queuing.
This Transformers' themed ride is extremely cool and everyone IS ENCOURAGED to ride. Then again, people with weak hearts are not encouraged to ride. This is a 4-D ride which gives you such a surreal and amazing experience that will definitely suck your entire imagination into the movie. Yes, it is a ride with Transformers movie experience while riding it. Remember, it is 4-D! Prepare yourself for the most advance 4-D ride EVER!!! We queued for a good one hour or more but it was worth the queue. By far my most favorite ride of all time that wowed me to the maximum level! The technology involved in it just amazes me till date!
Next, Shrek-themed 4-D movie experience. It was a short clip no more than 20-30 minutes if I am not mistaken. It was less impressive than the Transformer's ride, however I enjoyed it just as much.
This Battlestar Galactica-themed ride: Cylon vs Human is by far the fastest roller-coster ride I have ever experienced in my life with the speed of 90km/hr. As you could see, there are two distinctive colors on the ride. Basically, there are two rides run at the same time parallel with each other. The blue one has 5 inversions whereas the red one has no inversions. However, the red one looks less secure as there is only one belt strap to hold you tight on your seat whereas the blue one has secure straps on your shoulders. Many people claim that the blue one is more exciting. I only tried the red one as I was being a coward and afraid I would puke if I rode the blue one. I know but whatever! Either one will make you scream your lungs out until you run out of voice!
There was a Hollywood parade going on at the time of my visit, lucky me! Usually Universal Studios SIngapore closes by 6 pm, however that day, it opened until 9 pm.
First theme, Madagaskar!
Shrek
Jurassic Park
The Mummy : Scorpion King.
I left Singapore the following day and went home to visit my family. After all the walkings for two weeks, I pampered myself with spa treatments and sleeps to rejuvenate. Overall, I had a wonderful holiday although I tried to squeeze in as many countries as possible and short visit in each. Hencewhy it is absolutely discouraged for anyone who plans to travel on such a short period of time. Do not be greedy like me!
Time to go to sleep, by the time I finished this post, it is 2:46 AM AEST!
Note: All photos were taken with Panasonic Lumix GF2. It took awesome photos with very little editing required! (:
