happy birthday O_o

originally wanted to delete this whole draft post when i had applied for urgent leave and they wanted me to go back to work in the afternoon. but since they later allowed (wtf it's my entitlement isn't it?!) me to take the whole day, i shall be nice for once.

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16/09/2010 - thursday

finally finished blogging my hongkong trip in 3 posts and 100+ photos. lols. and 2 days after returning, we had a bbq session to celebrate Hel's birthday. it was held at this ns-men bungalow chalet at changi. i kinda like the place. each bungalow was by itself and our spot was near the end and quite secluded. we could see the sea right at the back but unfortunately it was separated by a fence which had locked doors. -_-

there was a big open-concept kitchen with the dining table nearby and the bbq area just outside. living room was also pretty big and nicely furnished. i like the toilets too. big and spacious and very hotel-like. the 2 rooms upstairs were normal though. no photos since we were busy setting up 'camp'. lols.

was quite excited about the food. all that otah, stingray, yellowtails, sotongs, corn, and sweet potatos lying around. and also the chicken wings and satay, though i didn't really bother about those. they also brought along tons of potato chips and snacks. omigosh tempting! =\

i love the bbq sotongs in mushroom or black pepper sauce. nice! and while the rest were happily eating, we organizers had to start preparing for the surprise. after they finished, we blindfolded Hel and led her to a dark corner some distance away, where we had prepared the lightsticks, candles and sparklers. :)

so nice right?! i prefer the one with just lightsticks though. so lomantic. *hint hint* haha! kinda wasted doing for boss, but...oh wells.

went back to the house to continue our games. at first when we were planning, they seemed pretty boliao, but ended up i had alot of fun laughing at them play. lol. the eating one was disgusting though. we gave each group a pomelo and a pineapple and fastest group to finish them wins. the guys were like biting the fruit off the skin directly without cutting. tsk. finished up with a cookie cake from famous amos. very yummy! lalala. slept around 230am and had to wake up at 630am the next morning. damn shag. T_T

21/09/10 - tuesday

we had actually planned to do a sandcastle cake for Hel during the bbq, but since the beach was horrendously far, we had to turn to sticking the candles and sparklers into the grass in the form of a cake instead. but apparently she found out what we had planned and 'insisted' on having her sandcastle cake.

ST was super involved in this 'surprise', though i'm not sure why they call it a surprise when Hel knows about it. hmmm. anyway, ST was super super into making this 'cake' for Hel. he spent monday preparing the bulk of the cake while calling us every now and then to make sure we had all the cake decorations ready. i don't think even SSD would be this enthusiastic. tsk tsk.

even Hel was so excited that she drove us to the beach at 5pm. hmmm. the best part about this thingy would probably be the dinner. totally 赚到! lols.

even the honeydew juice is nicer than outside one.

prawn in salted egg sauce. nicee.

er...veggies!

fried yam and scallop

fried rice

tofu with seafood stuffing

fried baby squid

and now for the main course(s). the crabs!

i only tried the sauce for the chilli crab. not very nice imho. i prefer the black pepper. nobody to peel for me so i had to do it myself. but very yummy! the crabs were very fresh too.

and finished off with yam paste and honeydew sago dessert.

there was also a free double chocolate birthday cake for her.

at first i thought i could bring family here for my birthday dinner, but when the bill for 6 of us came up to $500+, i kinda changed my mind. :P

then Hel went off herself while we headed down to the beach to prepare the 'surprise' cake. after almost an hour of messing around, we ended up with a four-tier foam flower cake spray-painted and decorated with flowers, glow-in-the-dark stars, light sticks, candles, and sparklers.

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hmmmm. honestly this whole thing is a waste of time. let's do the maths: 8 hours for bbq + 6 hours for their timeoff + 5 hours for this stupid cake = 19 whole hours wasted so far for her birthday. and since the actual day is tomorrow, i bet we're gonna waste a couple more hours for the flowers and stuff. and they can't even spare me 9 hours off (including the 4.5 hours they owe me). what is this man?! >_<

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HK day 4, 5 & 6

my trip started to go downhill from this point.

day 4 - shopping

we originally planned to go shopping, but our plans were disrupted by the day-long drizzle. nua-ed in the room till afternoon before heading out to causeway bay. according to my travel companion, it had several shopping centres.

we tried taking the ferry across the island this time instead of the mtr. apparently it's a must-try for tourists. nothing special actually. =\

guess what i spotted?!

lols. and the popular pier scene in so many of the dramas.

lalala. causeway bay was pretty disappointing, as there were only a few far east plaza kind of stores and the stuff weren't exactly cheap. i mean, if i wanted $20-$30 clothes, i could have gotten them here. furthermore, their fashion sense is kinda weird. lol.

went back to tsim tsa tsui area. surprisingly there were cheaper and 'normal-looking' clothes to buy.

along the way, we tried yam-flavored "蛋仔饼". so nice and cute. we also came across this roadside push cart selling curry fishballs, sotong and hotdog, and got a bowl to try. nice!!

when the drizzle finally paused, we made our way to the famous 女人街. it's actually just a long row of pasar malam stalls, selling the usual repetitive pasar malam items. but the fun part here is, you can bargain! lols. the lowest i got was half price. lalala~

halfway through, the rain started again. we briefly walked the rest and headed back. sobs. i had wanted to go to the also-famous 庙街. :(

dinner was fish fillet baked rice. pretty nice, but service at the cafe was horrible.

buys for today:

day 5 - macau

caught the ferry to macau early in the morning. round tickets cost 303 HKD (~$54). mad expensive lah! and the hour-long ride gave me a headache and made me nauseous. zzZz.

we had no idea how to go on from the pier, but luckily a promoter from one of the casinos informed us that there was a free shuttle bus to that casino. so we hopped on board towards city of dreams casino.

it's supposed to be a mermaid, which appears at regular intervals and swims around on the screen. hmmm. went into the casino to have a look around. it was big, spacious and not a lot of people. and also had this very unpleasant smell. tsk.

tried their 1-for-1 buffet lunch. totally not worth the price: 185 HKD (~$33). it had soooo little variety of food and even lesser for me. i mainly ate the salad nia. tsk tsk.

when we finished and went outside, we realized it was raining heavily. but since there was a free shuttle bus to taipa (city area), we went ahead anyway. imagine people's park with all the shops closed and you'll have an idea of their city area. hais.

managed to find this very famous bakery: koi kei. (apparently it's the best in macau.) the small store was jam packed with people. after squeezing around for almost an hour, we both came out with a huge bag of stuff each. although some of their bestsellers seem a little pricier, majority of their products are affordable and yummy.

carrying the heavy bag of stuff, we went to visit the most luxurious 6-star hotel in macau: the venetian.

hmmm. i don't really see how this is considered the best hotel in macau, but in just one afternoon alone, we saw 3 couples taking their wedding shots here. hmmmm. *shrugs*

and caught the ferry back again. along the way, it started to rain heavily again, so we had to cancel our plans for the symphony of lights. sadded. =(

day 6 - back to singapore

took the airport express back to the airport (another 70 HKD (~$12) gone) and it's bye bye hongkong. shall have to save up and plan for another trip there, since i didn't have enough yet. sighhx.

a super zi-lian one to finish this trip:

:P

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/heavenlypuppiez/Blog%20Photos/HK%20trip%202010/12092010460.jpg

HK day 3

it's such a nice feeling to walk through kowloon park in the morning. there's flamingos to see, fresh air to breathe in, so many sights and sounds. kinda brightens up my day. haha.

day 3 - ocean park

took a direct bus to ocean park.

sidetrack a bit: to be honest, i quite prefer their public transport (aka MTR), despite all the locations being in traditional chinese. i like it because it's so FAST. i can go from one island to another in 15 mins flat. back here, i could probably go from woodlands to sembawang and still be in the northern part of this tiny island after 10-15 mins. tsk tsk.

anyway, ocean park was just as exciting as disneyland. *sarcasm* i guess i really expected way too much. hmmm. and it cost 215 HKD (~$38) each lor!

so, it's divided into 2 parts, the first being the exhibitions part and the other across the hill being the rides part. we went straight to the cable car, opting to start from the rides first.

yes it freaked me out. tsk. the rides were pretty limited; i think we only went on 2 of them, since my travel companion didn't like rollercoasters and stuff. hmmm. first ride was this water ride thingy. we sat in this log-shaped boat, went on a short cruise along a 'river' and came splashing down the slope. first bad news - too steep. second bad news - no belts! they only had 2 poles at the sides for you to hold, so if your hands are too slippery or you happen to let go, you'll go flying off. tsk. i don't think it would pass the safety regulations in singapore. and third bad news - we went on it twice. -_-

next ride was the pirate ship. my first and last time on one. it wasn't very big, but so so scary! my legs were practically shaking after the ride. hope nobody noticed. tsk.

there was this aviary too, but it was closed. so all we saw were flamingos.

hmm. the rest were mainly aquatic exhibitions.

we also went for the 'apparently-very-famous' performance. it had one sealion and 4 dolphin performers. hmmm. very boring, if compared to goldcoast seaworld, and a total waste of time. probably would entertain the little kids though. not much photos since phone battery was dying.

took the cable car ride back to the other side. we went to visit the giant pandas. they only had 3 enclosures and only one panda was out. the asian animals section had another panda enclosure with no pandas in it. they also have red pandas too. and an otter enclosure outside. hmmm. really horrible if compared to beijing zoo, but since this is ocean park and not a zoo, i guess i shouldn't be too harsh on my comments. oh wells.

goldfish exhibition anyone? -_-

left after this since it closed at 5pm. went for spaghetti dinner.

the sauce was nice and creamy, but it had clams, though i was in a bad mood and didn't care much. i would actually have preferred to try their local food and stuff, not international food like spaghetti. tsk. the hot lemon tea was nice though. :)

buys for today:

phew! one more HK post to go!

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