Day 1 in Hong Kong

After touching down at Chap Lek Kok airport,we made our way to the YMCA hotel (affectionately known as the Y),which was located just next to the renowned Pennisula Hotel.

After lunch at one of the Dim Sum restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui,we began exploring the area. And we saw quite a number of novel things.



We saw this old lady who was pushing a big cart full of cardboard. The next minute she crashed her cart into me while I was taking a picture for the rest at the bus stop because her view was obstructed and I ain’t that tall in the first place.

Since pornography is legal in Hong Kong, we can see vendors selling pornographic materials such as magazines and VCDs in the open, unlike the illegal vendors that hawk their wares behind backalleys in the red-light districts in Singapore



Mahjong centers are also a common sight. They are known as 麻雀娱乐公司 and the more high-end ones resemble the nightclubs in Singapore while the low-end ones look like game arcades. Seems like mahjong is a big thing in Hong Kongers’ lives just like how lottery is a craze in Singapore. Maybe there is indeed a certain trait in Chinese that makes them adore gambling.



Next stop was Kowloon Park, which is a haunt for both locals and foreigners alike.



There was a big countdown board that displayed the time left towards the Beijing 2008 Olympics.


A
symbol of the change in leadership since 97

The park is also quite a nature sanctuary.



We made it to Victoria Harbor at about 5pm. The skyline was not very distinctive since it was rather misty. However the prosperity of Hong Kong is still very evident through the silhouette of the numerous skyscrapers.

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We then met up with our Canadian counterparts at the YMCA hotel and proceeded on for dinner at Jimmy’s Kitchen, an award-winning restaurant that serves British cuisine.





UBC and NUS students interacting over dinner

I ended the day with Ying Hui, Amandae and Yingkit at Yau Ma Tei where we got our fortunes told.

It was quite a fun experience as the fortune teller rattled off predictions of our future simply through looking at our facial features, palms and date of birth. The fun came at a price of HK$100 (S$20).



--Hui Ping--