Dec 13: Singapore Day 1

As promised, I'll start with the train journey...

So we boarded the train at KL, making our way to the premium sector. From what I was told, you could either sit upright all night in a standard chair, or camp out in the communal bunks... or pay more for the luxury of staying in your own private (double bunk) cabin - Uncle organised for us to have the last option! So... here you go: a view of some of the bunks, and the ensuite toilet. A summary: toilets on a moving train is much the same as one on a plane. Just with a few more bumps...

So I slept for much of the journey: snapped a few pics in and around KL at night, then slept for a LONG while. Next thing I knew... we had stopped at Jahore Baru Station: the 'border town' and last stop in Malaysia. Arrival there was at 0550, with a Malay Immigration officer walking up and down along the train, checking passports and collecting departure cards.
After a short wait, we crossed over the bridge connecting to Singapore, sliding into Woodlands Station shortly at 0620. Alighting into an early morning fog, and a VERY COLD atmosphere (my lenses all immediately fogged up: glasses, camera, and camera viewfinder too!), we (briskly) heading into the terminal, crossing Immigration and Customs - needed to keep reminding myself that we were "International Rail Travellers".

Heading out of the other end of the terminal, we came out... into MUGGINESS! They say so much about the humidity in Singapore... and it's no joke: walking out of the air-conditioned terminal, a solid blast of humidity hit me - much like a sauna, but not as toxically hot. A short taxi to Woodlands Interchange (with quite a number of motorbikes on the road at 6.30am), then caught the MRT on the NS line to Somerset. Feels just like another subway train, just like the MTR in HK =)

Coming out of station, we didn't know where to go! Crawling up to street level, we walked out to Orchard Road... and then we were stuck. Uncle knew that it should be somewhere nearby... but we didn't have a map. Asking a passerby who kindly pointed us down the other end of Orchard St, we managed to find the right place 15 minutes later: The Holiday Inn, Parkview. The management was very efficient: we were able to check in with the rooms already waiting for us within 30 minutes of arrival. So: went up, dumped our luggage, then refreshed and relaxed for an hour - recovering from the rigours of the aforementioned train ride.
At 9.15, we left the hotel to look for a decent breakfast (anything better than the cold rice or noodles and that bun...) - and spent the next hour eating Indian food in a Halal eatery just outside: 4 mugs of Teh Tarik alongside a Roti John (savoury mini-pizza with weird sauces), Roti Canai, and a banana patik (think pancake/crepe).

Time for the day to begin! First stop: Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. We caught a direct train to Harbourside, then followed the signs through the plaza up to the Sentsa Express Monorail.

Next stop: Universal Studios, Singapore. Simply: think of it a cross of Disneyland with Movie World. I won't go too much into this: needless to say, my brother and I spent the next 7 hours on most of the roller coasters, choosing to come back and have a second go at a few of them.

'twas about 6pm when we finally got bored enough to head out of USS. Candylicious was the first place we saw: situated right outside the USS entrance/exit, it was wall-to-wall and floor-to-roof full of chocolate and other snacks: Hersheys especially.

Next stop was a place to sit down and relax, so we got a hot coffee and chocolate from "Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf": let's just say our feet were VERY tired. So after sitting around for a good half hour, I insisted that we head up to the Imbian Lookout, to get a short trip up and around the top of Sentosa Island. It's a pity that I only have 2 days in Singapore, as Sentosa PlayPass is something worthwhile to look into: apart from USS, Sentosa does offer a number of other activities such as a Luge route, a Sky Tower, Bushwalk, amongst other things. However... since it was 7pm, there was no time to play.

After thoroughly enjoying myself, we took the monorail from Stop 3: Imbian Station, and headed over to the far end of the network, getting a few snaps of the views at Sentosa Beach Station, remaining on the car until it took us back to VivoCity.

My brother and I quickly met up with Uncle and Auntie (who enjoyed a 7-hour session free of two young adults), we took a taxi to Thompson St (at the Novena Gardens district) for dinner. Cheekily, I used my iPad and the 'ieat Hawker' app to help point the cabbie to the right place: Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice. Two plates of veggies, MSG soup, 3 bowls of chicken rice, full and a very-flavoured steamed Hainan chicken filled up us 4, for less than S$50 (A$35). End of my first day in Singapore: we experimented and took a bus back to Orchard St, and back to the hotel.

Dec 11: Malaysia Day 2

Day 2, and what a way to start the day: being awoken by my brother's iPhone alarm at 7. Well... instead than going back to sleep, I flicked on my iPad and had a quick catch up with my friends back home... those who were bored enough and be online at 10am Sydney time, that is. Just kidding... you know I love you guys :P

'Twas 9am when I finally rolled out of bed (took a bit of a nap too during this time =P). I was too sleepy and lazy to shower the night before, so I shuffled over to the bathroom... to find that there was two shower heads to choose from: your ordinary hand-held one, or one of those ceiling-mounted square ones! 20mins later I emerged from a steamy bathroom, freshly cleaned and ready to tackle another day of tropical mugginess.

Now at the Concorde, guests are given the choice to gorge themselves at the complimentary breakfast buffet until 10.30 everyday. On Sundays, however, this privilege is extended until 11am. And what else can I say... it was simply AMAZING! Crossaints and pastries, freshly cooked-to-order pancakes and waffles, omelettes and other eggy goodness! With everything being Halal as well, I didn't have to worry about the food... especially the Asian options that were on offer as well: 'char siu bao' and devon slices (with chicken, of course), noodles and congee, etc. One cup of coffee, two glasses of pink guava juice, scrambled eggs and chicken sausages, chocolate crossiants, spring rolls and a cup of peppermint tea later, I was fully stuffed and ready to face another day. Can't believe that this is only the 4th morning since leaving Sydney... Wow! *burps quietly*

Now, Auntie and Uncle had left a little earlier to get things done, and arranged to meet us later. So at 11, there we were at the hotel lobby, ready to have some more fun! We met up with Ajiit (the taxi driver from last night), who introduced us to his brother Ravi. With Ravi as our guide, we spent the next 3 hours in a taxi around Petrajaya: a bridge, the Petrajaya International Conference Centre (affectionately known to locals as 'the Mushroom', or PICC on maps), the exterior of the Prime Minister's Office building, and the big Putra Mosque nearby.

We were all still full from brekkie, so we headed Lakeside and sat down and got drinks. Aunt and Uncle got Teh tariks, whilst me and my brother tried the 3 Layer Tea. Well... anything sweet will do me, and this was no exception: palm sugar, milk and strong sweet tea all mixed together! At RM2.50 a cup, it was a fraction more pricey... but that's the price you pay for eating at a touristy zone, as Ravi pointed out.

He's a decent bloke, stopping the taxi frequently to kick me out =P What I mean to say: whenever we stopped at a decent place to take a snapshot, he'd let me know in advance and quickly find a decent place to stop the taxi, so I didn't need to walk too far. The 3 hours went by quickly, and it was 2pm when we got back to a crowded KL. First, he drove and stopped by the Royal Palace and explained that a change in the Ruling Families is taking place, and why the usual guards weren't apparent. Afterwards, he drove straight into Chinatown central... and everywhere was crowded: he explained that Sundays is the day off for the labourers (whilst we nudged out way forwards in heavy pedestrian traffic), and so they came out and congregated.
When we finally left Ravi's taxi, the first thing that hit us was the muggy heat: 'twas about 27 degrees that day. Second thing that hit me was the huge sign of Petaling Street: Malaysia's Chinatown - reminds me of Stanley Markets in HK, or one of those in the Kowloon region (I'm not as familiar there), or Paddy's Markets back in Sydney. There were soooo many stalls, and even more people. T-shirts, jeans, jewelry... almost anything could be found there!

The rest of the day was designated Walkabout Day: and we simply kept on walking. First stop: snacks at the food court in Central Market. Here, Uncle introduced me to Kaya Toast, an experience I would later enjoy in Singapore. Instead, I went for an ice-cream toast with a Grass Jelly Drink. Next was the many markets downstairs, ranging from arts and crafts, to edible delights such as dried satay fish (a delicacy we brought back as a gift for some of our relatives).
From there, we took a train (yes, a proper train and not a monorail) to KLCC, and angled our way back to a supermarket we saw on the basement of Suria Mall. Oh, and for a referent standard, a 500ml bottle of Coke only costs RM2.29...

At this point, Uncle and Auntie suggested that my brother and I split off, and go exploring for a little before joining the pre-booked Petronas Tower tour: so we spent the next hour wandering before heading over to the tour-start point. Now travelling up that Tower is worth the RM50 spent to have a good view of the KL skyline. Though there's not much to be said of staring at the surrounding buildings, the feeling you get, standing at the 41st floor Skybridge, and then the 86th floor displays... comes close to being indescribable! Now if you haven't seen Entrapment (the movie), then you might not understand... Go watch it now, starring Sean Connery...

The tour itself isn't that long: spent 15 minutes at the skybridge, then 25 mins at the top... but I reckon it was worth it. Anyways, dinnertime was coming, and I was starting to feel rather peckish. Walked over to the Pavilion Centre, only to find food courts here in KL are HUGE!! Try taking the Westfield Bondi Food Court, jam in 20% more shops, and then double the length whilst keeping the same density of eateries... And you might be getting somewhere close. Tonight we queued up a little at Teppen-Yaki Express, where food (as expected) is cooked in front of your eyes. Coming at 7.30pm, we still needed to wait about 10mins whilst the staff waited to fit us 4 together. After getting seats and placing our order, we still needed to wait for reasons unknown... So I dug out my iPad and started typing away at this.

It's now 8pm, and the queue is massive, about 15 people outside the designated stall area, waiting patiently in single file... This place must be goooooood! Price-wise, it seems a touch more expensive, with meal sets starting at RM15 for meat, veggies, soup and rice. A fried rice by itself would set you back about RM9, with side (extra) orders of meat pricey at RM12. Overall though, it wasn't the best, but good value for the Aussie dollar. The thin sliced beef and beef rolls were fractionally overdone, the chicken breast too, and the veggies were old ><". All said and done, the thin sliced lamb was reasonable... so it's a worthwhile place to try, at least.

Well, as always, desserts needed to be had; and explore the rest of the foodcourt, we did. Given how much I just ate, I settled for a Passionfruit Red Tea from 'Little Taiwan' - think EasyWay (though I did notice a few couples nearby with Chatime as well.) Uncle picked a Hot soya drink with Yow Jar Gwai from HK style eatery... though that was VERY oily. Oh and before I forget... boiled lollies: I've attached a pic below where I (like every other tourist) stood around watching it being created!! =)

That was all the fun for another night, and returned to the Hotel by the Monorail. The only other thing worth mentioning, apart from the nightmarish traffic, was a street band: a group of youths dancing on the street corner at Jalan Bukit Bintang, with a few of them tapping away at metal trash cans like drums. Unfortunately, there was too big a crowd for me to capture a decent shot...but it's a good memory =)

Dec 10: Malaysia Day 1

Oops... I've become a bit complacent about posting this up... Hope everyone celebrated the New Year with a bit of flair! I enjoyed my first proper HK NYE Countdown with a few friends :)

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The day began midnight... Tapping away at the new iPad, connecting to Facebook, installing new Apps... and reading Clarissa's blog for things to do in Singapore. One good thing I took from that was to get the "ieat hawker" app: a portable food directory that sooooooo easy to use, and very convenient too given how "dai pai dong" (hawker stalls) are famous in Singapore. Crawled into bed at 1 and managed a respectable 4 hours of sleep before being shaken awake by my uncle at 5am, to catch a 6am CityFlyer A11 bus. Things were a bit chaotic, with last minute checks to make sure we got everything... Camera - check, ipad - check... Watch...oops. Oh well... Try to function these few days without a watch then!

After checking-in, the four of us (Uncle, Auntie and my brother) had brekkie at Popeye, a fried chicken eatery that served Halal food. A handful of hash-brownlets, two chicken sausages, one tub of tomato soup macaroni and a cup of HK milk tea later, I was well fed and ready to cross Immigration and Customs at HKIA. I briefly split off from the others to go walkabout and explore the shops around the Airside, and got a 'how-to' magazine for the iPad. It was almost 0810 before I started heading over towards the gate: 0845 was the scheduled departure time, and I thought I would be able to leisurely stroll across half the International terminal, and get there within 10mins. Well... The second part was right... I got there at 0820, with the other three were standing at the counter, waiting impatiently for me to get my butt over there.

Taxiing off to take-off took a while... but a four hour flight and a questionable meal later, we were landing at the second terminal at KLIA: Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It was aircon'ed comfort all the way, into the Aerorail shuttle train... until the train moved into sunlight: only then did we start experiencing the humidity and 30C weather. Anyways, traversed the main terminal, collected baggage, passed through I&C, and we hopped into a taxi to take us to Kuala Lumpur CBD. Turns out it's a little like Hong Kong: the big airport is about 40mins away from the CBD.

I'll have a tendency to jump over the boring stuff: so after a somewhat scenic ride, we checked into two rooms at the Hotel Concorde, KL. After a quick refresher, Uncle led the way walking to KLCC shopping mall/Suria Centre. Like any male in a shopping mall: its always confusing the first time, but becomes more familiar by day 2.

The food court at Suria Mall was an interesting experience: halal food in KL is rampant, with the odd place being non-Halal. So a chicken and "char siu" chicken rice for me, and assortment of a chilli Penang Kway Teow and other dishes for everyone else meant that we became rather full over the next hour, and also glad to be out of the humid weather. After lunch, we went walkabout in the centre, and surprisingly I got a bit of shopping done: stopped at UniQlo (horribly corrupted Japanese-Romanisation of 'Unique') and bought 2 jackets that were 40% cheaper than RRP. Now the stuff in KL is usually more expensive than in HK, but we thought maybe the tropical climate make it almost impossible to sell jackets.

Now KLCC/Suria Mall is literally the shopping area of the Petronas Twin Towers... much like Centrepoint Westfield is for Centrepoint. Long story short: it costs RM50 to go up and have a look around, with all tickets for the day already sold out. So we bought tickets for the last session tomorrow, at 6pm. More on this tomorrow...

Judging by how short these paragraphs are, you can probably guess I was quite tired already; and so we kept on walking... but started walking to dinner! Firstly: the monorail. Now no offense to Uncle, but he insisted we go in THIS direction... turns out we walked further 'up' the line for the previous station, when we could have saved time and effort walking to closer Bukit Nanas station instead. Anyhows, we boarded a fully jam-packed train to Chow Kit, a region known for its Chinese (non-Halal) foods, and also a fruit market where Auntie and Uncle bought a kilo of Longans for snacking later at night. And... and... and we still kept walking. It was nearly 7pm before we got to the Seri Pacific Hotel, for a dinner at Kofuku.

Now what is Kofuku? A Japanese buffet where people queue up a fair bit for to get in, and you'd pretty much need to book a table... and still line up anyway. Turns out Uncle made a booked from HK before we left. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but there was a fair selection of sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki, mixed stuffed like soups, fried rices and noodles, salads, veggies and tempuras, etc. And the desserts... Oh, I'll probably go on and on about desserts this holidays.

To be honest: the desserts leave a bit to be desired. There was a GOOD range of tarts, cakes and fruits, but the sugary stuff wasn't quite sweet enough... Including the bean cakes :(

After dinner, we took a taxi home, asked the driver how long and how much it'd be to go exploring Putrajaya. Needless to say, we arranged for him to take us tomorrow for 3 hours for only RM100!

More tomorrow!

Dec 09: Hong Kong Day 2

Slept in quite a bit the morning... Popped awake briefly at 6.30 to perfect vision... Only to realize that I slept in my Rayban's last night...oops! Briefly played with the iPad until about 7, before conking out again... next thing I knew, it was 10am.

Here starts day 2: downstairs to Mai-Wong cafe again for breakfast: satay beef instant noodles. Brother had a Hainan chicken rice: given that it was already 11am already, so he was thinking more "brunch" than anything else.

Went shopping! Now BigCuz looked it up online last night, and suggested we head over to the Wilson Building in Causeway Bay to the camera and computer section up in Lv 10/11 to find a camera backpack for tomorrow's Malaysia/Singapore trip. Ended up getting a Lowenpro 250 for 690HKD... a heck of a lot cheaper than back home. By now, it was getting near 1pm...and time for the Friday prayers: met up with mum first to drop off the shopping, then off to the Oi Kwon Rd mosque in WanChai. Lunch afterwards was at the Islamic Canteen above the prayer halls...one of the best places in HK to have yumcha and not worrying about 'Does it have pork in that?'.

After lunch, went off to the phone store, to enquire about rates for prepaid Internet. Stupid iPad doesn't have all the apps that I'd like (i.e. no Whatsapp): hmmm... to get a SIM card for my N97 apps too? *Sigh...* I am wayyyy too technologically connected these days.

So 3 phone stores later, mum's reminded me that I still have the KL/SG trip tomorrow, and not to hurry up and get the SIMs as yet. Fair enough, given that I'm not in too much of a hurry to stay connected... Though it'd be nice to be able to contact the peeps back home.

Sogo... Building of EVERYTHING shoppable in Causeway Bay. Tonight we're going over to our cuz's for hotpot, so Mum's decided to get two small cheesecakes for dessert: going in, ducking down and around hordes of shoppers, we somehow manage to dive down to the B2 level foodstores. This month seems to be an exhibition for Hokkaido products, and there's everything: seafood, wasabi, beans of some form, etc... and also the cheesecakes. After trying a few flavours, Mum and my brother decided on getting just the original and the chocolate editions... and 'twas only $100 for 2 6-inch cakes. In my opinion, the chocco one is really good: fine rich chocolate without being overpowering.

Anyway, with cheesecakes in hand, we headed back to collect my backpack before heading our separate ways. My brother zoomed east to meet up with Auntie and her grandson Adam, whilst I headed home first to dump the new backpack, then collect my camera and my fleece jumper - for which I had been called a fool and told to wear because it was only 13degrees. Fair enough... it does get a tad nippy at times when the wind blows(which can be quite often in the hilly ranges), but is otherwise bearable with a t-shirt under a long-sleeve shirt.

Back on track: grabbed my gear, then dived down (like a mole) straight to the Fortress Hill MTR station, and was whisked across to Tai Koo...my childhood home and also where my cuz is now living. It's been 5 years since I've spent any decent time on Hong Kong Island, and my navigating skills are a tad rusty... Yes, you guessed it: I managed to get myself lost travelling to my cuz's place.

First was getting out of the station at the 'A' exit- not the closest, but still serviceable (even Adam told me off for not picking the C exit). Not to worry, crossed the main road and walked towards the C exit, and kept on going.

Second was walking in Kornhill Plaza: took the escalator up to the third floor, and wandered around aimlessly looking for the connecting skybridge that I remembered of old. My problem was that I didn't keep track of which direction was I was facing, so I took the wrong skybridge, crossed over the main road, and ended up back at the A exit. Oops... Walked around in a HUGE circle! So I admitted defeat, and started all over again.

This time I was wiser: took the escalator to the 4th floor, and finally started recognising the route. Yay! 10 mins later, I was indoor watching Adam finishing up his daily tutoring homework.
Dinner was for the 9 of us, sitting around a hot pot with lamb, beef, fish balls and squid balls, beef balls, assorted veggies, black and enoki mushrooms, chicken, and oysters.

Not much else to say, really. We left at 10 with young Adam in tow, who insisted on coming with and staying the night with us (at his grandmum's). Myself, I didn't get to bed until abut 1am: with final luggage checks and setting up (and continuing to learn more about) my iPad. Tonight's lesson involved the App Store, and downloaded a few apps in preparation for our journey: "ieat hawker" as recommended by Clarissa (www.eatmyshots.com)

Dec 08: Hong Kong Day 1

Well, how does one express the excitement of leaving home for holidays... or in this case, getting out from under parental supervision! We (my brother and I) made it to Sydney International Airport at 8pm after a trip through heavy rain approaching the Harbour Tunnel and dinner at "Time for Thai" at Kingsford. See my Facebook for the pix, but it's a reasonable place to nom.

Check-in had been done electronically the night before, but we needed to drop in our baggage too. Two boxes of mangoes destined for our relatives accompanied an oversized bag stuffed complete with minimal clothes and all the bits of shopping Mum wasn't able to pack during her departure last month. Now, we knew that Qantas has a 23kg limit per person, and we suspected that we were close to the limit... but...

Firstly, the check in lady was rather reluctant to accept our bag, and ended up checking with her supervisor regarding a >23 kg bag. Turns out there's a rule for US-bound baggage is restricted to 23kg max... And ours weighed in at 32kg, at the UPPER limit of baggage weights. Phew! Just made it!
Secondly... Our mangoes weighed in at 15kg for the two, bringing us to a total of 47kgs...oops! Luckily, the lady was generous and let it slide without saying anything, except to tell us to bring them over to the 'Oversized Baggage Counter' near the row A. The boxes were a tad fragile and unlikely to be treated nicely if they went down the chute with all the other standard baggage.

Anyways, there wasn't much further to do: farewell-to-Daddy and we entered the district of Immigration and Customs. This time, I stopped off at Customs to fill out a Form B263, registering my camera and laptop as Australian-bought items. I don't want to come home in January with a whole bunch of electronics and camera stuff, only to be asked to pay tax on my gear if I could't prove that they were already mine. The rest of Customs went by smoothly, and shortly we were outside Gate 31. This next half hour was an experience: we got here earlyish and grabbed a powerpoint, and observed as within 5 minutes, two more Asians and an American made their way over until all 5 powerpoints were in use. The next 20 minutes brought 4 more people wandering over, plugs in hand whilst futilely searching for an available powerpoint. In the meantime, my time was productively wasted chatting away on MSN, saying final farewells to my closest friends.

Over the next 9 hours, my butt was cramped into an Economy class window seat whilst I tried meditating my way through a faster-than-normal flight. The pilot took advantage of a (turbulent) Central Australian jetstream and shaved the flight time to under 9 hours. Outside, little clusters of lights passed by below whilst a 3/4 moon hung above in the night sky, with a sprinkling of stars keeping her company.

Qantas food is miserable. Mum's warning was right: the gravy is thick, gloopy and full of MSG: I barely touched my dinner and breakfast, and their filtered coffee was functional but foul. Likewise, the choice of 'on demand' movies and audio weren't to my tastes: "Friends with Benefits" kept me company until 1.30am Sydney time, before intermittently napping and waking during the following hours. With my earplugs in, I tried skim reading through my PC magazines whilst my N97 mini softly blaring out my favorite tunes, but it neither kept me awake nor asleep as I faded in and out of consciousness. Finally, I dug out my camera to keep myself entertained...

Landing in Hong Kong was REALLY uneventful: the faster flight meant that we arrived HKG at 4.30am local, rather than 5am as we normally do. Walking towards Immigrations, my brother noticed 'new' (well, compared to 2009, it was) Recharging Stations... so we camped there for a half hour with his iPhone plugged in. (Given how he had been abusing the iPod function on that thing, I strongly suspected that he had nearly no power left.) So then after the usual administrative exercises of passing Immigration & collecting our overweight baggage and mangoes, we entered the Arrivals Hall, patiently exploring (to recharge our Octopus transport-and-other-use value-cards) using the free WiFi and waiting until 5.30am when the Airport eateries opened for business.

The next four hours went by with a few highlights: after camping for coffee at Delifrance (and my brother ate his first round of breakfast), we took the A11 Airbus service into Fortress Hill as directed by Mum and Uncle... albeit, the instructions were incomplete, and we got off one stop too early. So there we were, hauling 47kgs on luggage along a bumpy road, walking towards the next stop... before my brother spotted Mum and Uncle waiting confusedly by the bus stop, wondering why we didn't alight there. Anyhows, we ascended rapidly to Uncle's place, before heading back down to a little cafe for brekkie - now by brother's second course in HK. Afterwards, back to Uncle's for the Big Unpack: us delivery boys pulled out almost every bit of shopping whilst Mum allocated them into piles for gifting. An hour later, we were ready to play Santa: all piles and foodstuffs and mangoes sorted, and thus we left to Wan Chai - firstly to Mum's place to drop off everything, then to my other aunt, then another uncle's place to give the first two batches of goodies.

Now for us Muslims, eating 'halal' food is a mandate, and finding decent Hong Kong food that is Halal is few and far between. For us, the Islamic Canteen within the Oi Kwan Road Mosque is a familiar place for wedding banquets, Friday lunches, major celebratory dinners, etc. So it was no surprise that Mum had gathered the available relatives for a small lunch, and let everyone know that us kids had arrived. Photos for the various yum cha dimsims are below...feast your eyes!

After lunch, Auntie had offered to take us shopping. Despite my fatigue, I was willing to take part, knowing that I had to hunt for a decent backpack for my camera when travelling to KL and Singapore in a few days - that black bag of mine isn't really up to it. Anyhows, we walked through Espirit, G2000 and a few camera shops at Times Square, other parts of Causeway Bay, and also over at Tai Koo Shing. My brother seems to love shopping, getting two new pullovers at G2000 immediately. But we needed to head home: to meet up with Mum before going out to dinner hosted by my 4th-Uncle (on my Dad's side).

I'll probably be picking on my brother a fair bit in this blog. Lunch at the Canteen was his 3rd meal, with his 4th being at a dessert shop near Times Square. I haven't been to MeetFresh, but it's along those lines... things there cost less than HKD30 ($4) a bowl.

After a fair amount of walking and shopping, his 5th meal came at dinnertime over at Tsim Sha Tsui: a Beijing-cuisine banquet of I-can't-remember-how-many-courses-with-Peking-Duck at Hon King Lau. During dinner, I met for the first time the new babies: 16 month old (my cousin-nephew), and my cousin-niece (cuz Donald's daughter) who just turned one month old! We'll be seeing a lot more of then next week as we head over to Sha Tin for family functions at the end of the month... let's just say that Jayden's a little cheeky, was shy but warmed up to my bribe of gadgety entertainment of my N97 mini =P