Hong Kong continued...

(Photos have now been added to this post and the previous post. Click on photos to see the larger versions.)

Day 2 - Saturday - 20 August 2005:

It continued to be a grey, rainy day unfortunately. R. and I were woken up when the house maid unlocked our door around 10.30 am (as we hadn't hung the all-important "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door when we arrived back at the hotel seven hours earlier). The maid hurriedly backed out with a "mou yi xi" when I groggily exclaimed in alarm, "What the F***?" Given our completely exhausted and slightly ill states, we both fell back asleep only to wake up around 2 pm, a little frustrated because it still hadn't stopped raining, and more importantly, we hadn't gone on holiday just to sleep.

After showering, we decided to attempt to do some damage to our hitherto untouched wallets (S., our guide and generous friend, had paid for all our food the day before) and go to Mong Kok, where we ended up shopping for close to four hours at Langham Place (a 12-storey shopping mall) while hoping the rain would stop. We ate at their version of a food court where the Hong Kong cafe didn't have any English translation, prompting me to put my head on the table and begin whimpering in agony while my more well-versed-in-Mandarin friend did the arduous task of ordering our lunch.

Later on, frustrated at not having taken any photos of Hong Kong just yet, I decided on a new theme - indoor photos of Hong Kong - where I got some cute photos of store names and other assorted goods.

Right: Any Guts To Come? Er... no. I'll stay outside.

I also managed to pick up some pimpstress (oh, I love that word) wear at Extravaganza (a streetwear shop) and a copy of Gilmore Girls - Seasons 1 to 3 (the legitimate China version) for T. at Sino Plaza.

Left: Isn't this the quirkiest and cutest cock ever? I desperately wanted to bring it home. Unfortunately, sanity prevailed and I returned home cock-less.

This was followed by dinner at Wang Jia Sha, a great Shanghainese restaurant in the vicinity, where S., demonstrating the serious business of eating Hong Kong style, ordered three appetizers and four main courses for three people. Needless to say, there was a lot of food left over. After dropping off our haul at the hotel, the rain stopped, much to our delight and we decided to check out the famous Temple Street night market. Sad to say, because of the deluge earlier, the entire street was deserted. The Ladies Market was slightly better, but none of the stalls there tempted us.

Day 2 was concluded with drinks at Aqua, a gorgeous designer bar similar to Singapore's New Asia Bar, with a former colleague, Y. and her boyfriend, P. who turned out to be a delightfully interesting person. I could definitely see why they were still together after three years.





Aqua Bar (Bar to the left, lounging area to the right)




From the bar, I had a fantastic view of Hong Kong Island. However, because there was still a lot of water droplets on the windows, I wasn't able to get a good clear shot. Pity, as I love taking night shots of cities. I returned to my hotel an hour later and collapsed into bed.

It later turned out R. had left me a note asking me to wake her up at 9 am, but because I had been too polite a room-mate to turn the lights on when I got back, I missed it completely. As a result, we woke up at 11 am. Again. But that's another post.