HK Trip - Day 4 (15 July 2009)

The last day of our trip happened to be on my birthday 15 July 2009. Hmmm...turned a year older in HK!..

The flight home was at 2.45pm so we didn't plan anything for the day except packing up and just get ready to the airport. We checked out from the hotel around 10am and took 2 cabs to the airport. Aiza, Fas & their luggage in one cab (the most number of luggage!) and another cab had me, gee and hanum as well as our stuff. The journey to the airport took around 45 minutes and the fare was $240 (fuyyyooo...mahalnye). During the journey, Fas called me from their cab asking me what was our cab fare meter like...laju macam ayaq la, takut tak cukup duit! Don't worry la, already in my budget. We reached the airport at 11am but the airline check in counter will only be opened at 11.45am so we just wait at the bench in front of the counter. Ada yang gi toilet ada yang pening pi beli panadol kat farmasi, me dok sebelah kevin costner. Sambil sambil tu dok tengok this one groupie for one Japanese artist dok berkumpul kat belakang we all. What was the name of the artist???...nama dia ada M and ada K but can not recall mehhh..was it Mai Kuraki? Tapi one thing kan, the boys in that groupie sume cam nerd or geek jer. It must have something to do with computer gaming stuff kot or probably anime. When that artist came, the groupie lifted up their banner and cheering up. Yang bestnyer, that event looked tersusun, mula2 diorang teriak nama minah ni pastu minah ni pi dok in the middle of the groupie for photo session. Takde sekalipun, susunan groupie tu tersenget ke or ada yang buat havoc nak peluk2 ke. Bila dah abis bergambar baru le the press and the fan tu berkerumun for interview and sign autograph. Confirm! geek!.

Back to our story, once the airline crew came in, the 5 of us just barged to that lady and checked our things in. Maklumla nak masuk duty free cepat2 ni. After getting our boarding passed, we entered the departure hall and checked out the duty free shops. I found a nice elegant Gucci sunglasses, bought some perfume miniatures (CK for hubby and EL for me) and J'adore EDP also for me. On the way to the boarding gate, Fas & I dropped by at Coach boutique. They were having sale for summer for some selected items up to 50%...hmmm...Well!got each of us a slingbag...same design but different color. Can be coach slingbag buddy one!

We finally boarded the plane at 2.15pm , and thank god it was a bigger plane with individual inflight entertainment. Tried watching Duplicity but half way felt so tired and not in the mood to watch it anymore. Shut it off and took a nap. Nampak Aiza tekun menengok movie tu, cam professor kat dalam conference. Nasib baik movie tu tak interactive kalau tak, confirm mesti ada Q & A session.

Arrived at the airport just before 6. After taking our luggage, stopped by to buy some chocolate for our kids and colleagues before heading back home.

Harry Potter - My Review

I've been a fan of Harry Potter since the first movie...only the movie! no thanks to the book collection. The latest installment of HP is The Half Blood Prince which was released on July 15th 2009 (my birthday!) so went to watch it on the 16th with Aiza. It was an emotional movie and to me it was also a fill in the blank movie for the next installment i.e. Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2 (2010 & 2011).

In the last scene of the previous movie Order of Phoenix, everybody in the magic world has already awakened by the resurrection of Lord Voldermort and finally proving that Harry wasn't lied about it when he told them that the Dark Lord killed Cedric in the Goblets of Fire. So in this new movie, the scene started with the Death Eaters creating a mayhem in the muggle world pulak la.

HP has grown up a bit (got after shave effect some more!), but still a bit ketot compared to Ron, Hermoine & Ginny. Ron has been working up and tone up a lot I guessed, got some muscles already. Hermoine has grown to a very beautiful girl with great body..really suit up the Burberry style! Malfoy was very tall and lanky with black suit in almost all the scene...looked great as a villain especially his face expression. Fred & George has graduated from Hogwarts and they opened up a magic stuff shop. Fred the shorter one is more handsome than George eventhough they look alike....can't believe the twin with temenggung jugah hair in the earlier movies looked so different now. Ginny was...hmmm...still look like Ginny lorrr...

This movie has very minimal actions and spell & charms. As I said, it was an emotional one where the main characters developed more romantic feeling towards each other. We can also feel/see the jealousy between Hermoine & Ron, self conflict (Malfoy), betrayal (Snape), loyalty (the 3 bestfriends) and sadness (Dumbledore's death). It is a must see movie, however it is no longer suitable for under age kids.

I actually watched it for the second time last week with Fas...hehe...just to see Ginny kissed Harry again!

HK Trip Day 3 - 14 July 2009

The day started with a ferry ride to Hong Kong island. From the pier we took a bus to Victoria Peak. I guessed it has been like more than 10 years since the last time i took a town service bus. I would say our rapidkl is much much better bus. The bus here is like... if I'm not mistaken years ago there was a MetroBus in Klang Valley, that's the kind of bus condition that i can compare with.

The Victoria Peak is the highest place in HK where we can see the whole city from its viewpoint. The entrance fee is $48 (RM24). From the entrance we have to take a tram to the peak, it is the same as our Bukit Bendera in Penang but I guessed the railway is slightly steeper....or was it the same? Hmmm...I think it's a bit higher than BB la....I don't know. From the tram exit, we had to take ...6-7 escalators (can't really remember exactly) to reach the peak. Before going up, we went to Madame Tussaud to pose with Michelle Yeoh and Michael Jackson statues. We didn't go to the gallery as it was quite expensive $300+ per person just to see wax people! So long OBAMA!..Yeoh & Jacko...that'll do!


When we finally reached the peak, the view was spectacular...it was beautiful however it was really REALLY hot up there. We stayed there for awhile, took photos and enjoying the view under the sun then we moved downstairs where there were a number of outlets selling souvenirs and other merchandise. After some quick shopping & snack, we went back to the tram to go down. From there, we took a cab to Stanley Market.

I thought it was like 10 minutes drive, it turned out to be longer than that. I think more than 20 minutes baru sampai to the market. Stanley Market is almost similar to Ladies Market in Mongkok but i would say it is more...comfortable and civilized(???) as the target market is more towards tourists. However, the price is slightly higher than Mongkok, Aiza said Stanley Market is similar to Rantau Panjang in Kelantan, in what sense I don't know as I never been to Rantau Panjang..Kelantan also never jejak kaki one. The difference or I would say the attraction is the art gallery. If you loved paintings or artworks, you can get them here. Though I didn't really look at the price, I don't think they are that expensive but they are really nice piece of work!

From Stanley Market, we took an intercity bus back to TST. It was an hour long ride. We finally reached TST around 4pm. The bus dropped us somewhere near the space museum and since most of us had to answer nature calls so we just barged into the nearest hotel i.e Sh*r*t*n Hotel. We met Fas' other half, Hasrul & Raj overthere. After everybody was ready, we walked to Harbour City but before that pegi dulu H&M. Since I don't have anything to cari in H&M, I went to Gucci & LV's boutiques with Fas. Gucci was having sale,hmmmm...let's see how much?. Interested in one big brown bag, asked that old emotionless customer rep lady to get it for me. She took it then handed it over to me and when asked about the price..she said got 50% discount so the price now is $199,999! Wow! very cheap one maaa...can buy myself another Latio sport with that money maaa!!! Thank you very much kirim salam!

I was exhausted by the time we headed to HC and so was everybody else. Rested for awhile in HC before taking the ferry cruise at Pier 3. Took the cruise at 7.45pm and watched the symphony light show. I guessed everybody was too tired to enjoy the show. Just waiting for the cruise to be over. We finally reached Pier 3 around 9ish and hailed a cab to the hotel. Back at the hotel, after everybody had freshened up we called Shalimar Restaurant to deliver our dinner. We ordered beriyani, naan and fish curry (AGAIN!). They delivered the food within 30 minutes and apalagi...hantam sajalah!

HK Trip Day 2 - 13 July 2009 (Hong Kong Disneyland)

The second day was all dedicated for Disneyland. Woke up at 6.30, some of us yang solat already tertinggal subuh because subuh here is very early like 5.18am...tula ,tak nak tanya aku!

Got out around 9ish, bought Disney's tickets at the hotel. The fee is $310 equivalent to RM140. To ease of the journey to our $$$..hehehe..we took train. We walked like 3 minutes to the nearest MTR station, Jordan Station and we bought tickets to Lai King Station where we transfered to another train going to Sunny Bay. From Sunny Bay we took the Disneyland train to the last stop which is? DISNEYLAND la...The Disneyland train was quite nice, it has windows with the shape of Mickey trademarks, the seat was comfy in the shape of U and each corner has disney characters statues.

The weather was really REALLY hot there, hmmm...no wonder most of Chinese here using umbrella and mind you the umbrella has all the beautiful kerawang(embroidery) and sequine, you know...just like our baju kurung..hehehe. The park opens at 10am, and if i were to go there again with my kids i think i'll be going in the late afternoon like 3-4 pm because in the morning there are a lot of people and we have to queue like 10 minutes to pass the ticket machines. There were also security check because no food allowed in the park, but from what i observed they quite lenient to non Chinese tourists. The security actually opened my big bag and there it was a big pringle and some chocolate but he's like okay...welcome to Disneyland!!!

Masuk aje, terus le bergambar. Posing here and there. Then masuk kedai at the Main Street, by the time masuk Park ..everybody dah letih dengan panasnyer lagi. The first park that we entered was adventureland where we watched the lion king show. The songs in the musical show was performed mostly by the african (probably african american) and the dancers mostly, i think based on their look are hawaiian. Handsome2 belake and body mengancam...hehehe. Nevertheless there are some Chinese elements embedded in the show.

Then after that we went to Fantasyland where we watched the Mickey Mouse 3D show and take a boat ride in the Smallworld. Actually all the souvenir shops in the theme park sells the same merchandise like key chain, bracelet, tshirt, watch, stationery etc but we ended up going into each and every stores in the park that selling the same merchandise! How lunatic was that? I bought myself nothing from the store but bought hubby and naim disneyland tshirts. Got maryam and sarah a bracelet, ring & earring set and tshirt. Also some other souvenirs for close family.

Once in a while,there was a parade in the street where all the disney characters like mr incredible family, stitch, mickey, donald, toy story characters etc waving at us. The last park was tomorrowland but by then everybody has already very tired and muka already cam tempoyak.

We took train back to the hotel at 5pm. Back at the hotel, solat and had tea. Around 7pm took a cab to Chungkin Mansion which was like 5 minutes from our hotel. Chungkin Mansion is a building where there are many Muslim halal restaurants can be found. As Fas's dearly beloved recommended one, we just went straight to it which is located on the ground floor. The name is Shalimar Restaurant. It is a quite small and cosy air conditioned restaurant. It served all kinds of beriyani, roti and other northern indian cuisine. We ordered 2 chicken beriyani, 1 chicken tandoori, 2 naan bread and fish curry. OMG!!! It was the best beriyani ever! and the fish curry was excellent! I thought Insaf Beriyani back home was nice and being me who didn't really enjoy Indian/Pakistani cuisine, well it was worth it!Yum!Yum! While we were finishing up the food, a familiar face suddenly appeared outside the windows...sebok je dearly beloved Fas ni! hehehe...

After makan valued at a good $190, took a stroll at Parklane Boulevard, bought a handbag for myself and a purse for souvenir. We finally rest for the day at 11pm at the hotel.

HK Trip Day 1 - 12 July 2009

The flight that morning was at 9:15am, already checked all of us in prior that night via MAS online check in, printed boarding passes. Hubby sent me to airport at 6:45am, reached KLIA 7.20am. Went straight to check in baggage, Gee was already there, then a few minutes later Hanum, Aiza and Fas was the last to arrive. Boarding the gate 8.45am, alahai kapal terbang kecik & lama la...Everybody were so excited & full of energy. Reached HK airport 1.10pm, took airport express to Kowloon Station, the fee was $310 for 5 people. The airport train was quite nice. From Kowloon Station we took a cab to the Novotel Hotel in Nathan Road....5 people in one cab plus 5 luggages...hmmm...imagine!,but the cab is quite big macam cab malaysia zaman dulu2 yang volvo or mercedes tu.

Sampai hotel, check in...thank god they responded to my request to have connecting rooms. Our room was a corner lot, quite nice with modern design but a bit sempit for 3 people (me, aiza & fas)...hanum & gee shared another room. First thing first makan, masing2 had a maggi in a cup each & tea before going to Harbour City around 4pm. Took a cab from the hotel, got a nice cab driver who can speak a little and understandable english. He actually snapped our photo in the cab masa berhenti kat simpang, siap bas kat belakang tu honking sebab tak jalan2 lagi dok sibuk amik gambar we all..

Sampai Harbour City, ronda ronda all the boutiques. Harbour City is like Gardens Midvalley where designer products are available, some brands are not available back home. Seems that most of the boutiques are having sale, singgah nine west, got myself a pair of circa joan & david shoes 40% off. aiza bought a 50% off anne klein bag, nice color. Then masuk fcuk, ralph lauren, mulberry...not worth buying. Masuk one kedai dunno the name, tak jumpa kat msia...berkenan a pair of sunglasses...cantik GILER!!!...brand? Tom Ford....price? $3900!!!...mahainyer! tapi cantiknyer!!!oh well, byebye!

Then habis ronda setengah harbour city, got out and went to H&M across the street. Bought myself a tunic & a tshirt for sarah. Around 7+, took a cab & went to Mongkok. Mongkok is a place where we can get souvenir and good imitation branded products. It was a place that I really do not want to go sebab kat msia pun aku takkan pegi places like jln TAR or petaling street kalau tak perlu. But the stuff here is really cheap & really like real one. Stuff like branded watches, branded handbags like gucci, LV, coach...sebijik macam original. But you have to really2 bargain sampai dapat 1/4 of the price. Bought myself a bvlgari watch at $250...dalam RM100. Got some HK TShirts & cermin for souvenir. Got myself tiffany &co and chanel charmbracelets for $40 each. By halfway of the market, started feeling very tired...budak2 ni tak ghupe nak balik lagi ni...

We finally reached the end of the market around 10pm and headed back to the hotel. End of Day One.

Weekend Getaway - JB

Dah 2 minggu tak post sebarang cerita. Dua minggu lepas the last weekend of June, we packed up our things and go to JB. Sebenarnya dah plan lama untuk pergi ke wedding budak office husband. Already booked M-Suites resort for a nite, tak tau pun hotel apa elok ke tidak tapi sebab lokasinya di tepi laut which is betul betul facing danga bay and the only one kat area tu yang ada 2-3 bedroom apartment & kitchenette, so amik jer around RM400++. Lagipun ada spa...hehehe, booked jugak spa tu for an hour massage.
Bertolak agak pagi around 9ish. Sampai pasar borong sgor, jumpa a couple of other cars to convoy, ours dok depan sekali sebab ada the most reliable GPS..hehe. One of the friends siap bagi walkie talkie to facilitate the journey. After making a few stops at the r&r, we reached the rumah pengantin dalam pukul 1.30pm. Pengantin lum bersanding lagi, dalam kad kata bersanding jam 2.30pm. Kawasan tu cam previously high class punya area la kira kat jb, hilly area cam bukit tunku tapi sekarang ni too many construction so hilangla sikit ke'ekslusif'annye. Rumah pengantin tu single storey bungalow, kat parking tu dia setup the pelamin and then kat depan pelamin tu cam ada garden sikit dia dirikan 2 khemah. Another 2 khemah lagi dia setup kat rumah jiran dia, so we all gi la kat rumah jiran tu untuk menjamu selera.
Fulamak!!! best tu makanan dia. Ada nasi ayam and laksa johor. Nampak pun memang sodap,especially laksa johor tu. Sengaja amik banyak and makan laksa johor tu dengan tangan, traditional johorean style ....fuyyoo!!bestnyer!, kalau pengantin tu sedara, lama dah mintak bawak balik satu tupperware. Disebabkan banyak ngat makan laksa tu so makan sikit jer nasi ayam dia, sedap gak!.
Around 2.30 pengantin pun datang, lepas diorang bersanding and hubby & friends jumpa the pengantin, around 3.30, we all made a move. Sampai hotel tu around 4pm, rupanyer hotel tu formerly ming court. The view was nice. The hotel also nice. Booked 2 bedroom suite tapi actually 2.5 bedroom sebab ada satu bilik kecil for maid. Tapi sebab maid tak ikut, so bilik tu untuk naim tukar baju. Sampai2 jer, hmmm...asyik kena tanya bila nak pegi swimming. Around 5 hubby took the kids to pool and at 6pm me with the spa...hmmm...best!
After shower and getting the kids ready, went out around 7.30 to the nearest gerai kat Jln Sg Chat, beli ikan bakar, sotong bakar, murtabak & otak2....sedapnyer otak2 dia. Semua take away. Makan kat hotel, start with ikan bakar....fulamak bestnyer!, sotong bakar!...delicious & yummy & tasty. Budak2 as usual lah, apalagi kalu their fav nasi ayam. Mek yam, makan nasi ayam with soup. Pukul 9 sume tido, keletihan.
Esoknyer, breakfast kat hotel...hmmm...biasa jer la makanan dia. Around 10 budak2 gi pool lagi, kul 11 naik mandi & siap for journey home.