will i am's delayed diary

Fringe , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. On Friday night, we were at a lost where to go the next day. After much deliberation, we decided on the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens . A wholesome family activity is it not? LOL. Took the MTR to Lan Kwai Fong, an area full of pubs and clubs. Another salient feature of the place is its topography-- steep gradient! Hiked up to Upper Albert Road and saw no garden in sight. Asked a pinoy waitress: "Botanical gardens? Not here. Wan Chai. Oh wait. The place with the birds? Up there!" Goodness! We had to trudge up some more. Seeing us sweat in the cold morning, a taxi driver wound down the wound down his window and told us that there was an easier walk, but since we were already nearly there... might as well continue. I nearly fainted. Turns out that the garden is built on the northern slope of Victoria Peak is 100m above sea level. Being a Saturday, some pinoy maids had their day off and spent it with their friends ...

Shopping Street , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Note: A photo-intensive post. Please expect a slower loading period. But I'm sure you won't complain due to the increased number of cuties in this post. Shopping was next on our to-do list in Hong Kong. Munched on some toast from ToastBox ( the only place that serves Milo I suspect ) before hopping on the MTR. Exited at Tsim Tsa Tsui to go to Harbour City Mall . Quite a mistake, an atas place to shop, but at least it had free WIFI. For some reason, the whole mall was decked out in a chocolate theme. The main concourse had a giant chocolate fountain flanked with giant bars of chocolate, while at other places giant donuts and chocolate strawberries. Even the benches were replaced by chocolate eclairs and chocolate bunnies! Trying to escape the brand names, sis brought us to Cheong Sa Wan for more down-to-earth shopping. Unfortunately, it was another mistake. Wrong stop. Wandered around for more than an hour in the rain. Th...

Sit Down , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Coming back down from the Ruins of St. Paul's back to Senado Square was just as tiring as the first time round. Couldn't cover much distance without stopping and buying something. Quite a challenge to escape the lure of almond cookies. Next up was Lou Kau Mansion , a typical Chinese courtyard house that belonged to a big shot in 1889. It supposedly combined eastern and western architectural influences, but that kinda escaped me. Inside, it felt very cool and drafty... worse than outside. Entah-entah... Then we climbed up to Cathedral , an old church dating back to 1622. Very beautiful religious statues inside. Took another wrong turn back down to Senado Square, we ended at St. Augustine's Square . St. Augustine's Church had a very different feel to it. My first time seeing a scene of the crucifixion where a ladder a depicted on the cross. And at the back of the altar, one sees a statue of Jesus carrying His cross. Uncom...

Port-Tarts , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. With so many days in HK for us, we decided to shave one day off and go to Macau for a day trip. So early Thursday morning ( as early as it can get trying to drag everyone out of bed, especially the kid ) we took the MTR to Central to catch the TurboJet to the land of casinos. At Central, we walked and walked and walked trying to look for the HK-Macau Ferry Terminal. By the time we had found it, we had noticed that we had walked right up to Sheung Wan. :S. Kinda wasted an hour there. Luckily my brother bought me a coffee from Pret A Manger to perk me up. At the terminal, we ended up buying tickets from a reseller called Beng Seng. They were very aggressive and assured us that their prices were cheaper than TurboJet. Having no energy to verify that fact, we bought from them anyway. At least they were genuine tickets as we were able to board the 11:00am vessel. The TurboJet's ship was super huge. Built kinda like an airplane with stew...

Fountain in the City , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. We started the day by taking the MTR from Wan Chai to Sheung Wan. Had my first taste of the MTR and doing it during morning rush hour can be quite stressful. The trains were fast and frequent and commuters behaved like a stampede. Our destination was Lin Heung , an old place for the yum cha experience. Took us some time to navigate the streets. My brother was our organic GPS. And knowing how accurate GPSs are, we took the scenic route to the restaurant. Food was on the second floor. Upon arrival, a very bengis old waiter barked at us: "Find your own seats!" Every table was taken. We had to circle the tables looking for an opening. Felt like vultures waiting for an antelope to keel over. In the end, we tumpang at a table with an old man and two women. The 'legacy' waiters quickly dumped bowls and cups on our table and asked what tea we wanted. Sensing trouble if we hesitated, I blurted out "Ti...