This trip was planned in early March before Arsenal confirmed coming to KL and even after the KL trip was confirmed, I decided to proceed with it. I guess I’ve caught the bug, having watched them in KL last year and at Ashburton Grove in May and since they’re in the region, why not? I ruled out going to Beijing because I didn’t want to apply for visa and besides, it’s scorching there this time of the year. Aud subsequently confirmed going too so I browsed the available guesthouses in the city. I finally received confirmation from Yiu Fai Guesthouse in mid-March and paid a deposit for one night to secure our booking.
Friday, 27 July 2012
I broke fast in the office today and left after 8.30 pm. Took the Komuter train to KL Sentral and performed prayers prior to boarding the coach to the airport. I dozed off on the way and only woke up when we reached the airport at 10.30 pm.
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Our flight took off on time at 0055 and I was later woken up by the stewardess who asked if I wanted to have my meal then or after 3 am. I told her I’d take the latter option and tried to sleep back. Alas, sleep escaped me no matter how hard I tried to catch it and I kept getting up.
True to her word, the travelling Muslims were served their meal just after 3 am. We were also given a goodie bag – containing some chocolate dates and a can of 7-Up.
We landed at 0430, 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. Ours was the only flight to arrive at that hour and yet it took ages for our bags to appear on the carousel. I referred to the airport plan and made my way to the prayer room at the departure level. It was already Suboh so yeah, I fasted slightly longer hours in Hong Kong. Fajar is at 0430 while Maghrib is at 1905.
I tried to catch some sleep after prayers. Both the Airport Express and the bus service start at 6 am and anyway, I wasn’t in a hurry. Even if I was dying to shop, the bus ride would take about an hour and I still would have to wait for the shops to open. I don’t know if it was my imagination but it felt like it got colder the longer I was there, so cold that my feet started to cramp. I dozed on and off and once when I opened my eyes, it looked like it was raining outside. But I could be hallucinating.
I finally got up at 0830 and freshened up. It was impossible to get any sleep anyway as the departure level got noisier as the morning progressed. I then went to buy the Octopus card before making my way to the bus terminal. A single ticket to the city costs HKD33 while a return ticket costs HKD55 so I bought a return ticket of course. I saw people boarding the bus A21 and hurried to join the queue.
It took us almost an hour to reach Tsim Sha Tsui. I was seated on the top deck and was dozing off, hence I missed the stop for the guesthouse. I got down at the next stop, got harassed by a foreign chap trying to lure me into staying somewhere and went to search for Golden Crown Court. The doorway to the Golden Crown Court is sandwiched between shops and it is in a block bounded by Citibank and StanChart bank. There are two lifts: one serves the even-numbered floors and the other serves the odd-numbered floors. Raymond, the chap who runs the guesthouse, told me my room would only be ready after 1230 so I left my bag and went for a walk around the area.
I had seen, on my previous trips to Hong Kong, small shops selling branded goods and as I’m not prejudiced towards second-hand goods, I went into a few to check the goods on offer. I was surprised to note that some of the shops carry brand new goods. They manage to offer these goods at slightly lower prices than at the boutiques, probably by sourcing them from Europe. I then discovered there are literally dozens of such stores in Hong Kong. What does that tell you? Consumerism is alive and kicking hard in Hong Kong.
I made my way to Harbour City at Canton Road and was surprised again to note the long queue outside Chanel. Why didn’t these shoppers just go to the small shops then instead of queuing up? Your guess is as good as mine. A lot of boutiques have Canton Road as their address: Hermès, Ferragamo, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Miu Miu, Burberry... and they are large stores, mind you. It surprised me yet again that in a place as crowded as Kowloon where space is a premium, there are spacious and numerous boutiques such as these.
I went into Harbour City and browsed around before making my way to China Hong Kong City. So many stores were having a sale and yet I returned to the guesthouse empty-handed. I checked in, had a shower, performed prayers and had a short nap. I got up at 6.30 pm and went in search for food. Iftar dinner was had at Cute Fei Vegetarian Restaurant at Haiphong Road.
I headed back to the guesthouse for prayers and waited for Aud to arrive. She arrived at 9.15 pm just as she predicted and shortly after, we left the room to have a look at the night life. There were still a lot of people about, returning home after work and dinner or just browsing around like us. We walked all the way to Chungking Mansions, home to dozens of guesthouses. The building is an OSHA nightmare and fire hazard alright. We turned back and stopped at a supermarket before returning to our room.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
I woke up a while after the alarm sounded and had only 15 minutes to have my pre-dawn meal. Oh no! Had a few slices of bread, too late to have any instant noodles unless I wanted to burn my tongue and throat.
I got up again after 9 and we left at 10 to collect our Arsenal tickets at Tom Lee Music store nearby. It was a simple process: you just swipe the credit card you used to purchase the tickets and the machine would churn out your tickets. The whole process took less than a minute.
We took the MTR to Tung Chung station where Citygate Outlets is. It’s near to the airport on Lantau Island and I remember passing it the day before. It was a long ride and we had to wait a bit at Lai King as the train service from Central was less frequent. We finally reached the centre at 11 am.
We spent just over two hours there. I came back empty-handed (I was beginning to worry then. Had I been losing my shopping touch?) and went back to my room while Aud stopped at Jordan for lunch.
We left for the stadium at 3 pm. We walked down to the Star Ferry Pier and boarded the ferry for Wan Chai. From Wan Chai Pier, we walked to the bus stop near Wan Chai MRT to catch bus 5B to the Hong Kong Stadium. There were notices of road diversions due to some procession and the traffic made us slightly worried. Finally the bus came and we hopped on.
We got caught in the procession at Causeway Road and the traffic came to a stop. Even the trams stopped moving and everything came to a halt, everything except for those in the procession. After a while, the bus moved again and inched on. I was starting to get worried but was comforted by the sight of fellow Gooners on the road. I wanted the bus to stop so I could get down and just continue the rest of the journey on foot.
Fortunately, the police waved us through again and we inched our way up Leighton Road before turning into Caroline Hill Road. Here, the bus inched again; this time, held back by the Gooners heading towards the stadium. You gotta admire the patience of the drivers in Hong Kong. No one blared their horns at all!
We finally reached the stadium and joined the crowd entering the stadium.
To be continued
Friday, 27 July 2012
I broke fast in the office today and left after 8.30 pm. Took the Komuter train to KL Sentral and performed prayers prior to boarding the coach to the airport. I dozed off on the way and only woke up when we reached the airport at 10.30 pm.
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Our flight took off on time at 0055 and I was later woken up by the stewardess who asked if I wanted to have my meal then or after 3 am. I told her I’d take the latter option and tried to sleep back. Alas, sleep escaped me no matter how hard I tried to catch it and I kept getting up.
True to her word, the travelling Muslims were served their meal just after 3 am. We were also given a goodie bag – containing some chocolate dates and a can of 7-Up.
We landed at 0430, 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. Ours was the only flight to arrive at that hour and yet it took ages for our bags to appear on the carousel. I referred to the airport plan and made my way to the prayer room at the departure level. It was already Suboh so yeah, I fasted slightly longer hours in Hong Kong. Fajar is at 0430 while Maghrib is at 1905.
I tried to catch some sleep after prayers. Both the Airport Express and the bus service start at 6 am and anyway, I wasn’t in a hurry. Even if I was dying to shop, the bus ride would take about an hour and I still would have to wait for the shops to open. I don’t know if it was my imagination but it felt like it got colder the longer I was there, so cold that my feet started to cramp. I dozed on and off and once when I opened my eyes, it looked like it was raining outside. But I could be hallucinating.
I finally got up at 0830 and freshened up. It was impossible to get any sleep anyway as the departure level got noisier as the morning progressed. I then went to buy the Octopus card before making my way to the bus terminal. A single ticket to the city costs HKD33 while a return ticket costs HKD55 so I bought a return ticket of course. I saw people boarding the bus A21 and hurried to join the queue.
It took us almost an hour to reach Tsim Sha Tsui. I was seated on the top deck and was dozing off, hence I missed the stop for the guesthouse. I got down at the next stop, got harassed by a foreign chap trying to lure me into staying somewhere and went to search for Golden Crown Court. The doorway to the Golden Crown Court is sandwiched between shops and it is in a block bounded by Citibank and StanChart bank. There are two lifts: one serves the even-numbered floors and the other serves the odd-numbered floors. Raymond, the chap who runs the guesthouse, told me my room would only be ready after 1230 so I left my bag and went for a walk around the area.
I had seen, on my previous trips to Hong Kong, small shops selling branded goods and as I’m not prejudiced towards second-hand goods, I went into a few to check the goods on offer. I was surprised to note that some of the shops carry brand new goods. They manage to offer these goods at slightly lower prices than at the boutiques, probably by sourcing them from Europe. I then discovered there are literally dozens of such stores in Hong Kong. What does that tell you? Consumerism is alive and kicking hard in Hong Kong.
I made my way to Harbour City at Canton Road and was surprised again to note the long queue outside Chanel. Why didn’t these shoppers just go to the small shops then instead of queuing up? Your guess is as good as mine. A lot of boutiques have Canton Road as their address: Hermès, Ferragamo, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Miu Miu, Burberry... and they are large stores, mind you. It surprised me yet again that in a place as crowded as Kowloon where space is a premium, there are spacious and numerous boutiques such as these.
I went into Harbour City and browsed around before making my way to China Hong Kong City. So many stores were having a sale and yet I returned to the guesthouse empty-handed. I checked in, had a shower, performed prayers and had a short nap. I got up at 6.30 pm and went in search for food. Iftar dinner was had at Cute Fei Vegetarian Restaurant at Haiphong Road.
I headed back to the guesthouse for prayers and waited for Aud to arrive. She arrived at 9.15 pm just as she predicted and shortly after, we left the room to have a look at the night life. There were still a lot of people about, returning home after work and dinner or just browsing around like us. We walked all the way to Chungking Mansions, home to dozens of guesthouses. The building is an OSHA nightmare and fire hazard alright. We turned back and stopped at a supermarket before returning to our room.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
I woke up a while after the alarm sounded and had only 15 minutes to have my pre-dawn meal. Oh no! Had a few slices of bread, too late to have any instant noodles unless I wanted to burn my tongue and throat.
I got up again after 9 and we left at 10 to collect our Arsenal tickets at Tom Lee Music store nearby. It was a simple process: you just swipe the credit card you used to purchase the tickets and the machine would churn out your tickets. The whole process took less than a minute.
We took the MTR to Tung Chung station where Citygate Outlets is. It’s near to the airport on Lantau Island and I remember passing it the day before. It was a long ride and we had to wait a bit at Lai King as the train service from Central was less frequent. We finally reached the centre at 11 am.
We spent just over two hours there. I came back empty-handed (I was beginning to worry then. Had I been losing my shopping touch?) and went back to my room while Aud stopped at Jordan for lunch.
We left for the stadium at 3 pm. We walked down to the Star Ferry Pier and boarded the ferry for Wan Chai. From Wan Chai Pier, we walked to the bus stop near Wan Chai MRT to catch bus 5B to the Hong Kong Stadium. There were notices of road diversions due to some procession and the traffic made us slightly worried. Finally the bus came and we hopped on.
We got caught in the procession at Causeway Road and the traffic came to a stop. Even the trams stopped moving and everything came to a halt, everything except for those in the procession. After a while, the bus moved again and inched on. I was starting to get worried but was comforted by the sight of fellow Gooners on the road. I wanted the bus to stop so I could get down and just continue the rest of the journey on foot.
Fortunately, the police waved us through again and we inched our way up Leighton Road before turning into Caroline Hill Road. Here, the bus inched again; this time, held back by the Gooners heading towards the stadium. You gotta admire the patience of the drivers in Hong Kong. No one blared their horns at all!
We finally reached the stadium and joined the crowd entering the stadium.
To be continued
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