Category: Travel Blog

Everyday I wonder if I have enough materials throughout the day to write and as my day goes by, the title of the chapter changes. Take today as an example, the title has gone from nothing to “Dog” to “Football” and finally to “Accident” after witnessing one just about an hour ago.

By the way, I have forgotten one tiny incident before yesterday’s day end. As we walked out of the park (see chapter eight), we saw many wishes – written onto the tags that were given upon entrance – hang onto the trees. I stopped and read one, it said: I wish my mother won’t hit me anymore. Now, ponder upon this.

My family’s dog has a very persistence way of getting attention, especially while I was reading a very enjoyable book. First, he would walk to and fro right in front of me hoping to get my attention. Then, he would “accidentally” step onto me and quite honestly, with his sharp claws, it could be mildly painful. After that, he would rub his head onto my legs and climb onto me. If I don’t give in, he would start to lick my toes and imagine a cold winter day, it is not a nice feeling. Not to forget to mention as a yet-to-be-converted-dog-lover, this whole notion is not at all adorable. If I start to walk away (at times, he may just want the sofa seat that I am currently sitting), he would grab my leg and stop me from going away. If I choose to sit down, he would repeat the same thing till I give in. This time round, gave in I did not! I saw him going away thinking that I have won. But no, he was looking for his one-legged duck (one of his toys – see chapter 6) and placed it right in between my legs. With his jaws so close to probably one of the most important parts of my body, I gave in … sigh … and played with him and stroked him. The entire history repeated itself again. My family’s dog has such a high stamina. If only I have spent such a great deal of time getting physical with my own wife … oh well.

Met one of my really old friend AY for a drink at a hotel that is just 2 minutes away from my apartment (remember the 5 minutes walking radius? see chapter 2). It was supposed to be a “double-date” – my wife and I and his wife and him. But his wife was sick so there was only the three of us. Let me introduce my old friend AY. He was a legend in my primary and secondary school (being the top student all the time) and we have only formally met when we met at Oxford University, UK when he was 3 years of my senior. He has been my inspiration throughout my years and we met up with each other from time to time. This time we met up, our topic was mainly on his recent Tokyo trip (in which my wife now is so excited wanting to go), his bungee jump and other adventures (in which my wife now is so inspired to do those crazy things before we age), and the computer game Football Manager (in which both my wife and AY shared the same passion on the in’s and out’s of football). I challenged them to play the game and looking forward to beating them so as to show that in depth knowledge in football does not necessary make a great manager. We shall see!

Just when Cynthia and I was about to cross the little road back to my apartment, we witnessed an accident between a taxi and a bus. The scary thing was that the taxi has lost control of the car and crashed onto the pedestian walkway. Had the taxi not hit a tree, it would have crashed its way into the Lexus showroom (again, the 5 minutes walking radius). We walked towards the accident site and I was ready to dial 999 if there was a need to (and I wouldn’t make the same mistake when I was in Singapore dialing 911 after seeing a motorcyclist went down). No one was hurt and I have made a mental inspection of the condition of the taxi and amazingly, Cynthia remembered the bus number. After a half an hour discussion with my mother, we have tried our best in reconstructing the accident.

Just ahead of the accident site was a junction with traffic light. The bus (according to my mother with the knowledge of the bus number as remembered by Cynthia) came from the slip road and the taxi, hence, must come from the main road. After role playing both as the taxi and bus driver, we have strong belief that the taxi must have gone through a red light while the bus was approaching the traffic at a high speed. Just when the taxi on the fast lane shot pass the traffic light, the bus could not have stopped in time and started honking at the taxi. The taxi might have slowed down due to the warning issued by the bus while the bus negotiated the bend at high speed and hit the taxi directly at its back at the fast lane. After the taxi was hit once, it has lost control and spinned to its right. The taxi then hit by the bus again (the right passenger’s door was damaged as well as its back). This time, the taxi spinned to the left and hit the tree.

A female pedestian was really closed to the taxi when it hit the tree. Imagine how shocked she was.

I shall begin this chapter with music and end it with music. I miss my guitar, I miss my songs, and I miss my primitive home studio. This morning, I dreamt of writing the structure of a song (one of my few ways of writing songs) – a simple two chords for the first bar, one chord for the first second half bar, and two chords for the remaining second bar. I could have written it down right here right now but with no guitar to verify the correctness of such a chord progression, I would not wish to embarass myself in the future just in case I have become a big star. In my dream, I was going through the song structure with my band’s guitarist Jason and was showing him how the strumming with distortion was going to be and how the song would transit to a fast pace riff and ended with a clean strum with Jason’s electric guitar using an effect that turned the sound into piano sound. The dream was so vivid that I still remember what the song was like. I so miss my guitar back home in Singapore.

Walked into a supermarket in Hong Kong and I could not believe my eyes to see that a bottle of red wine costs S$8.50. Well, it surely won’t taste that good but it is an alternative for daily consumption. Why the wine in Singapore is so expensive?

Met up with my favourite uncle and his family for dinner. He knows the waiters and waitresses and supervisors so well that I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire dinning experience. The staffs love him so much that he is conned as The Chairman. This dinning episode reminded me of how dramatic and animated Hong Kong people are. Drama is in our blood, part of our culture.

Walked to one of the park in Central (Central Business District) and the park was turned into a place to celebrate Christmas (digression: why do Hong Kong people love to take photo so much) – beautiful decorations together with a live band. A live band! I was so delighted to see a live band playing in the park. The bassist – a Japanese – was cool. The way he played the bass was amazing. The leader of the band, I presume, played his guitar well. He sang and played saxophone too. The drummer and the rhythm guitarist was pretty good. But the female vocalist and keyboardist was a disappointment. I was so surprised to see that they were playing with the song scores right in front of them. My band contemplated such an option as my songs’ chord progression is quite unique (read: hard to memorise) and of course I still hope to fully engage the audience instead of peeping onto the scores from time to time. I have a feel that this band is from Singapore as they have made a few hard-to-miss references.

Now, add to that “missing” list – I miss my band.

Let’s go through the numbers. Entrance fee to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (official name) during peak days is HKD 395 (S$85). Total damage for 4 persons one day in Disneyland including food and gifts rounds to be in excess of HKD 3,000 (S$650).

Having been to Euro Disney and the one in US (California?), I have to agree with my mother that Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is the smallest of all. Nevertheless, if you are in Asia and don’t feel like paying a lot to fly, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is your next best bet.

You will see some photos I have taken when I am back in Singapore. Meanwhile, here are our highlights. Having stayed in Disneyland for 12 hours, we still have not covered all the rides and theme parks – probably we were taking our time. A big improvement I have seen is something called FastPass. You walk up to a small machine next to the ride you wish to join and punch in with your entrance pass. The machine will then allocate what time you should come back and when arrived at the allocated timeslot (1 hour) and zoom, you jump the queue. No time wasted while waiting.

Not to turn this chapter into an entire book, I am only going to name three memorable highlights. The rest you can explore by yourselves once you come to Disneyland.

The indoor rollercoaster was fun. It was pitch dark and only after the ride was started had I worried for my mother behind. In my own words: Mum, it is Disney, the ride can’t be that excited. We have printed the photo evidencing (a) how intense my wife Cynthia was (eyes wide open), (b) how scared my sister Lora and my mother were (eyes wide shut), and (c) how excited I was (mouth wide open with a big smile).

The 3D cinema was breathtaking. With the 3D spectacles, the image was so 3D and it could as well be the best 3D effect I have seen in my life so far. The technology has gone so far that during the show, we could feel the wind blowing to us from various directions, the water sprinkled onto us, and believe it or not, the smell of the surrounding changed as the show went. The last bit was cheeze but was a good effort. Donald Duck was supposed to shoot out of the screen (with the help of the 3D spectacle) and into the wall behind us (and yes, you see a duck’s butt sticking out wingling from the physical wall).

The firework at 9pm over the sleeping beauty’s castle was beautiful. The entire 10-15 firework was synchronised very nicely with the music. It could as well be a work of art. Even the locals agreed that the firework at Disneyland was better than the famous Chinese New Year firework. I agree with them.

My favourite Disney character may not be a tourist attraction as yet (errr … Stitch) but I do enjoy the visit.

Having a holiday back in your birth-town is not exactly the same as having a holiday in some exotic places. Your primary activity is to spend time with your family and do that I should.

My routine falls under three board categories: eat, read, and getting harassed by my family’s dog. I have not stopped eating, from the moment I open my eyes till I sleep. There are so much food in the house and I just keep on eating and eating and eating even though I am not hungry. As I typed, I have just finished my “Christmas dinner” (enough fried food that I would have been horrified back in Singapore as I do my vocal exercise daily) waiting for my “Christmas cake” while sipping red wine.

It is such a pleasure reading Jeffery Archer’s A Prisoner’s Diary. I kept giggling during my reading that my family keeps looking at me curiously. Explaining that I am indeed reading a prisoner’s diary doesn’t help at all.

My dog harasses me. Yes, you are hearing me. While I am reading my book, he kept on bugging me to play with him. From scratching my feets to hopping onto my leg to get my attention. He loves to get me to play with him a one-leg-duck toy (God helps the duck, it lost one leg already for obvious reason). We end up once again tearing the plastic duck apart – his teeth against my hand. What a dog! And when I wish to play with him, he is just not in the mood. Oh well …

Not sure if I have deserted God or God has deserted me or a bit of both, my appointment with JC seems to have become a yearly event. Woke up early in the morning and braved the coldness, Cynthia and I have made our way to the Catholic Cathedral – a route that I have taken since I was a kid as I have spent both my primary and secondary education at the school right next to the Cathedral.

I believe that the grandeur of a church is important in the faith building of her followers. This Cathedral is no doubt the most grand of all the churches in the region. The choir is magnificant too. With a choir size of more than fourty people, each hymne was sung beautifully (despite the unfortunate fact that the organ player kept making obvious mistakes). Personally I found it hard to follow the hymnes as they were conducted so differently. I found it more enjoyable to listen to the choir sang.

My family keeps a white dog. Beautiful he is but I think I am less of a dog man. Yet to explore if I am a cat person instead. This dog demands attention all the time. He sleeps after I do and wakes up before I do. Every time when we leave home is always a constant struggle with us and our dog as he becomes very upset to be left behind.

After escorting my wife Cynthia to the California Fitness (yet within the 5 minutes walking radius), it was my free time. So I ventured into the shopping malls 298, 198, and 188 (see previous blogs) and check out more in-depth the local scene.

The shop space in Hong Kong is tiny but you will be surprised how many goods they can hold. For instance, back in Singapore, I always find it hard to buy Japanese music. Here in Hong Kong, I am greeted with shops that sold nothing but Japanese music. The selection is so “Japanese” that I can’t even make out who the artists are (in pure Japanese and not some alphabets). As for the computer games, I reckon these shops have more selection than Challengers in Singapore. How could that be? Simple, they don’t waste precious space to display more than one item of the same sort. Smart, huh?

The variety offered by the Hong Kong retail shops or any other shops for that matter is amazing. Is it because the consumers in Hong Kong are so different from Singapore? I wanted to develop a theory of how Singaporeans are moulded due to Government’s intervention to our lives but the cigarette smoke from the malls gave me a bad headache. (As my theory goes, because Singaporeans are so “alike”, Singaporeans less appreciate the varieties one may offer.)

As I walked back to the California Fitness to pick up Cynthia, I have come across people carolling on the street. The outfits that some of the girls wear on the street was so darn adorable. All for the spirit of Christmas I guess.

We all know that MRT (mass rapid transit) in Singapore is the same as MTR (mass transit railway) in Hong Kong. I wonder if anyone realises that the word “Travelator” is used in Singapore and the same thing is called “Moving Walkway” in Hong Kong. If you think that Singapore is a “fine” city, think again. In Hong Kong, you will be fined more than S$300 for littering and double that amount if you are caught not obeying the traffic light. And my sister Lora corrected that I should use “ID” instead of “IC” for Identity card.

Hong Kong’s Octopus Card came before Singapore’s Ezlink Card. It still amazes me how widely used is Octopus Card – from fast food restaurants to retail shops. Every time I visit Hong Kong, I observe what is new and what are the trends. This time round, I observe that they are taking Octopus Card one step further – to change the routine paths that commuters take. There are stations at some strategic locations that if you tap your Octopus Card at the machine, you will recieve a HKD 2 off your next MTR trip within the same day. These stations are not at all near to the MTR stations but you will be surprised how many Hong Kong people do not mind walking the extra mile to get an extra discount. It all adds up I guess.

Near to where I live are three famous computer shopping centers. They have names too and are easy to remember – 188, 198, 298. Many years ago there were full of privated computer software. Then they evolved into shops selling adult movies and other privated stuffs. This time round, my sister recommended me to visit 188 as I was hunting for a game (of original version) that was sold out in Singapore. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with a much cleaner environment – not the cigarette part but the privacy part. I have found a shop that is full of original games. I really could not believe my eyes.

I need you to visualise with me here. Think about where you would go if you wish to visit some nicely decorated cafes to chill out with your friends. Think about where you would go for some really good Dim Sum and if Dim Sum is not what’s in your mind, think about all the local delights. Or perhaps some decent Japanese food like Genki Sushi. Think about where you would go if you wish to shop for some top grade imported bathroom accessories. And where you would go if you wish to buy electronic gadgets and computers, music and games.

Now imagine where you would go if you wish to visit showrooms of some of the world’s most prestigious car brands. Just to name a few: Lexus, Lamborghini, Maserati. Or the famous but not as prestigious ones – Saab, Alpha Romeo, and other Japanese brands. Imagine where you would go if you wish to buy a Yacht and wish to take a look at a real life version of a Jet Ski.

I am not done with you yet! Imagine how many music shops you need to visit in order to see a good guitar collection of Gibson, Warwick, and Taylors – just to name a few. Now I am not talking about just 10 or 20 Gibson guitars on display but more than a hundred of them. Some of them are so rare that make your heart skips a beat.

Throw in a nice hotel and a few posh nightclubs – some are members only. All of the above, my friends, are just within a 5 mins walking radius of where I live. It is hard to imagine when you are in Singapore but in Hong Kong, it is right in front of your eyes.

If you have not been a good boy and now desperate to buy some Christmas gifts for your overseas friends and relatives, what should you do? I have three words for you: duty free shops. The cost of air fare (about S$250) taking me from Singapore to Hong Kong seems so inexpensive compares to how much I have spent in the airport (close to three times the cost of air fare).

One of the most delightful discovery when I was inside a bookstore hunting for a good book to read – it has been a ritual every time I fly – was a signed copy of Jeffrey Archer’s A Prison Diary: From Hell to Heaven. It was hidden on the top shelf and I could not believe it when I first took it down. It is hardcopy and yes, it has Jeffrey Archer’s elegant signature. I have read many of his classics like Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter, Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less – just to name a few. Archer is (or was) a politician and is (or was) one of the Lords of the Commons in UK. He was sentenced for four years for committing perjury and he claimed that the trial was unfair. This particular hardcopy has 3 books in one.

As I walked up to the cashier, I chatted with the Executive (as stated in the name tag) and inquired how the bookstore managed to get Archer to sign the book. According to him, Archer stopped by Singapore and he was signing the books away as part of the promotion. He told me that Archer was very arrogant before he was jailed and now he is a changed man. Insightful it is.