When I think of free Wi-Fi that comes with a hotel room, I imagine being able to access the Internet from inside the room. So when the young female receptionist on our first day of visit getting all excited to demonstrate how to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot using an Android device (that resembles a smartphone) provided by the hotel, the only thing that came into my mind was why go through all the trouble to connect to the Internet?
This morning I examined the hotel smartphone again. It looks like an ordinary phone, with a 3G connection. What if I am to bring this hotel phone out with me? That was when I discovered that this free Wi-Fi that comes with the room actually follows me whenever I go here in Hong Kong! Not only that, local call through this phone is free. Overseas call to seven countries including US, Singapore, and Malaysia is also free. Calling my room through the main line would have the call forwarded to this smartphone. Now, that’s pretty neat. The hotel does charge for high speed wireless Internet from within the room though. I think that is fair.
Today is Sunday. My sister has planned to meet some of her friends who also have kids. My wife and I then met with my parents and have lunch in Tsim Sha Tsui instead.
Tsim Sha Tsui is in Kowloon. There is a ferry service that connects my home district to Tsim Sha Tsui. The old pier was demolished with the new one built merely a couple of hundred meters to the right. If it was another country, whatever construction planned would have built around the old pier. But here in Hong Kong, where people are rich and land is scarce, relocating a pier by a stone throw is very much like playing the SimCity game – demolish and build it on the next block.
Tsim Sha Tsui has changed a little bit. There is a ex-marine police headquarter being repurposed as an upclass shopping area. Tourists love the shops. Kids love the Christmas decorations on the ground floor. There was a Christmas market in the backyard selling all sorts of food and drinks and more – from exotic cheese to champagne to handicrafts. I have spotted a turret on the high ground. Before I could check out its authenticity, we were shooed away by a young man wanting to take a selfie. In fact, so many people are into selfie these days. What happens to the good old days of asking someone to take a photograph for you? I love to be asked. There was a couple having their wedding photo professionally taken as well.
It was not the first time we dined in that Macau restaurant. My mother is a big fan of Macau food, probably because she was once brought up in Macau. Between the four of us, we have ordered curry beef, baked pork chop rice, two roasted young pigeons, and two pork chop buns. To wrap up our meal, we have Portuguese egg tarts and coffee. It was a delicious lunch with a real good price. Throughout our meal, I was eyeing on the Boston lobster noodle for two promotion selling at a special price of HK$198. That is like S$34 or US$26. I thought the price is really good.
Shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui – the area for the ‘common people’ like my wife and I – is fun. In fact, shopping in Hong Kong is more fun than in Singapore. The variety is mind-blowing. I have checked some of the pricing against the online outlets, the retail price is fair. Unlike in Singapore whereby the markup is horrible.
There was an Audi roadshow in the middle of a mall. I was captivated by R18 e-tron quattro. That was the only car that no one was allowed to get in.
