Hong Kong Travel: Super Tuition Teachers

One thing I find amusing in Hong Kong were these big banners or expensive advertisement, which were in front of big buildings,

or busses.

At first, I thought it was a pop group or some sort of new uprising superstars but when I studied the advertisement, they were all tuition teachers! It seemed that tuition teachers were packaged like superstars or idols in Hong Kong!

Even the newspaper advertisement was designed, staring a tuition teacher that looked like a celebrity!

The advertisement in TV was also quite amusing! Tuition teachers seemed like superheroes that save the day, helping students scoring As! So, superman or batman, try to beat that!

What happen to the usual celebrity or superstars that I have seen on tv? Are they not as famous as these teachers? Never know that teacher could be packaged like an idol or celebrity.. hmmm…

Hong Kong Travel: How Expensive Was The Food?

Hong Kong is famous of its food. Just try to walk into any food stall or shop and you will definitely agree with me! If you visit the right place, some food would bring tears to you (yeah it was that good); however when the bill came, it would usually bring tears to your wallet too (yeah, they were pretty expensive!).

The thing with Hong Kong is the living standard is so high that a cleaner’s salary is around HK$8000+ (which is around RM3600++). This meant that every Hong Kong folks I met was far richer than me. I was the poorest of them all! Gee, imagine being the lowest earning guy in this society! Maybe I should be the one cleaning the cleaner’s place, or the person who opened door for the hotel doorman, or even the guy who polished the beggar’s shoe while asking for tips from him!

So, how expensive was the food over there?

Wanton Noodle – HK$36 (around RM17)

I took this noodle at an ordinary eatery called “Yun Kei”.

Look at the Wanton’s size, as big as golf ball!

The noodle was tender and nice! Although the price was still bearable for me, it made me imagine the price for those famous foods.

Yinyong Beverage – HK$18 (around RM9)

Accompanying my wanton Noodle was Yinyong.

This beverage is made from a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong Style milk tea. It had a rich silky taste, but I suggested you finish it before the bill come.

So as you could see, a normal food plus 10% tax would be around RM36 in Hong Kong whereas in Penang if we were charged RM5 at a coffee shop, we would be scolding the cook, or probably his mother, his family or whoever related to him or her.

By the way, the roasted goose and pork rice was good too, again around HK$36.

Anyway, I also tried the famous mango desert at Hui Lao Shan (许留山).

It was priced at HK$32, so no matter what I need to show that it taste good, right?

Actually it did!

Well, I too tried the stinky tofu but forgot to put the chili sauce, so it was tasteless for me.

Felt like biting into a normal fried tofu. Oh ya, the strange thing was it smelled bad, really bad until you had the first bite, then the smell seemed disappeared. I think it might be too smelly until my nose or taste bud shut down, masking off the stinky smell.

A lesson learnt was that after eating stinky tofu, remember to cover your mouth when asking for direction, and if you were asking for the toilet, remember to let them know that you had stinky tofu, else they would think you have accidentally sh*t or pee into your pants.

Still, Hong Kong food is really too expensive for me. Can you imagine the price of the food in restaurant? Nah, better don’t imagine, you might faint…

Hong Kong Travel: As Bad Lucks Followed...

In my previous entry, I mentioned bad lucks following me to Hong Kong. Well, it’s time to elaborate that:

1^st Bad Luck: Heat

On the day I touched down in Hong Kong, heat wave started. The weather was so hot that Hong Kong Observatory issued a “very hot weather warning” the next day.

I with Malaysian-Design-Heatproof-body could not withstand the 35ºC. I was forced to change into a singlet but still sweating heavily.

I really didn’t understand some people who still managed to wear coat and tie in this kind of condition, either Hong Kong was full of crazy people or the people had blocked pores that preventing them from sweating! Gee, I was at the wrong place and wrong time! In addition, I packed a lot of long sleeves clothing and jackets, thinking the weather would be 28ºC!

2^nd Bad Luck: Lost

Getting too used to the transit in Malaysia where usually there is only 1 or 2 entry points, I actually printed a portion of the Google map to guide me to my hotel. I thought it should be quite straight forward – from A21 airport bus drop zone, Tsim Sha Tsui Station marked with green box to Ramada Inn marked with yellow box.

When my bus approached that area, I was surprised to see so many entry points for Tsim Sha Tsui Station ( ‘ж’ symbol marked with Green Box). I was immediately lost!

For a while, I was walking in circles, carrying a printed google map with blurry street names. Wrestling and rejecting lots of street people who was offering nice accommodation with cheap price, I managed to arrive my hotel 2 hours later under super hot condition. By then I thought I could finally have a nice bath and go for nice meal, but I was wrong!

3^rd Bad Luck: Hotel Problem

“Sir, we could not find your reservation or any payment made in our computer. Let’s us do some manual checking for you and get back to you shortly” I almost fainted after hearing these words from the front desk. I panicked and began to wonder whether I was scammed into paying a fake agent for my accommodation.

After telling the staff that I would be back after 2 hours, I left the hotel and went to a nearby park to draft for plan B.

It was not an easy task because hotels in Hong Kong were super expensive, in average a small room would cost HK$600++ (≈ RM290) unless you dare to try your luck with those offering cheap accommodation by the street.

Under enormous heat, not having a meal since I left Penang and body sweating badly, I tried to scout for nearby hotels with reasonable pricing. It proved to be difficult as many hotels were fully booked mainly by tourists from Indonesia and Philippines who took the opportunities of their public holidays to visit Penang.

2 hours later, I was glad that everything was settled and I managed to check into a small room.

Oh well, lesson learnt.

• Need to do a final checking on the weather before packing for that country
• Do not use the transit station as a landmark on the map because there might be multiple entries into that station.
• Remember to print out the confirmation code after booking the hotel, or I might be sleeping on the street next time.

A bad start for my trip in Hong Kong? Stay tune!

Hong Kong Travel: From Penang to Hong Kong

It’s an unplanned trip, so last minute that I was:

• Working in the office 15 hours before the flight (3pm);
• Researching the internet on Hong Kong 12 hours before the flight (6pm):
• Gave up preparing information about Hong Kong and bought a Frommer's Hong Kong guide book 9 hours before the flight (9pm); and
• Only manage to finish packing 4 hours before the flight (2am).

I finally could have a few hours of sleep when I took the 6am flight from Penang International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport, although I was forced to sit other that my assigned seat because of an ignorant semi-bold and fat Penangite who landed his big bulky butt in my assigned seat, telling me in Hokkien “Air Asia can sit anywhere u like”.

I planned to tell him “If so, can I sit on your face?” but before I opened my mouth, the passengers behind told me that there was vacant seat there; so I just took the seat and tried to grab some sleep.

Arriving Hong Kong, I was greeted with the most complicated airport terminal – there were so many stairs, so many elevators and so many directions to go. So, no choice, I need to deploy one of my survival strategy,” Monkey See Monkey Do”, I followed where most passengers went (except the ones that went to the toilet), and found my way to the immigration area. I didn’t know whether it was me or the officer was having a bad day or he didn’t know English at all but when I greeted him with “Good Morning”, he responded with an odd expression, as if I was going to kill his family. Maybe it was because I was from Malaysia which was famous for H1N1 virus that he thought my existence would kill him.

After getting green light from the custom officer, I went to pick up my backpack and finally exited into the public area. My guide book recommended me to get an Octopus card for convenient purpose, so without hesitation, I went to counter to get one.

Before I flew to Hong Kong, I was advised to speak English instead of Cantonese or Mandarin unless my Cantonese was as good as the local. The reason was that most Hong Kong folks disliked or looked down on Chinese from China (or they called them “Mainlanders”). Speaking inappropriate Cantonese or mandarin would sort of associate Chinese ethnic folks with mainlanders; and it would certainly deny those travelers to some assistances or services. Wonder why so? Watch the video below:

Despite being a crown colony of the United Kingdom for more than a century, I found it amusing when the guy at the counter tried to explain the usage of Octopus Card in English. It reminded me of a guy in South Park Animation, the City Wok Restaurant Owner and yeah, he sounded like him:

Well, it seemed I was ready to meet Hong Kong by then; I boarded bus A21 and headed downtown with my HK$67 (HK$100 minus bus fare) preloaded Octopus Card.

Little did I know, my bad luck followed me to Hong Kong. Stay tune for the next entry.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Well, it’s time to do a checklist before leaving the country. Where am I heading? A country that Chinese or Cantonese folks thought that it smell nice. Here’s my chance to see if they were right or wrong.

My criteria of picking this country are:

1. It is a direct flight from Penang because I don’t like taking many connecting flights in an uncomfortable budget plane;
2. There is no need of any visa, so entering this country should be no problem for me;
3. I usually will relax myself watching dramas from this country, so there is a sense of familiarity; and
4. I know no one from this country, a perfect place to clear up my mind.

Let me do my checklist:

Travel Back Pack – the heaviest thing that I would be walking around with. Just in case, it got lost, I would lost my everything!!! I pray that the airport staff will not let this happen.

Changing the currency - RM1K could be exchanged to $2190! Not bad! Or is it not a good deal? Nah, it does not matter, as long as this is real money, then it should be okay. Hope that Queensbay money changer staff is honest enough.

Credit Cards – I don’t know which credit card is popular in that country, so let me bring all of them, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. This should cover all possibilities.

Universal Travel plug – This plug should be able to enter any hole around the world… oops I mean power socket. No worry for not able to charge my handphone, so I am still reachable by cell.

Disposable Underwear – I don’t want to wear the same underwear everyday although there is a suggested way that could make it lasts for 4 days per underwear (1^st day wearing it normal way, 2^nd day switch the front part to the back, 3^rd day flip it inside out, and 4^th day switch the front part to the back again!). So, to maintain my personal hygiene, just dispose it and use a new one everyday. A pack of 5 perfect for my 5-day trip!

Passport – My key to this country, luckily my face don’t change much.

My flight ticket / itinerary - If you still not able to guess where am I going. Time for me to show you my breakaway spot.

Well, I guess I have covered everything! 2 more days left!

Please don’t expect me to blog about it because I am not going to bring my laptop. I guess when I am back, I will be the same old me again! But if you don’t hear from me after next Thursday, I might either be lost or dead. Don’t miss me, ya? It’s probably a good thing being dead….

The Rain...

Woke up early for a volleyball session this morning, I really need sports to clear my mind up. Judging from the attendance, I guessed I was not alone, there were people affected by this changes too! I might be the stronger one instead. But again, I should be, I should be the one cheering but I really can’t. The most amusing part was everything started with a ‘why’ and ended with a ‘why’ also, really defied all logics.

Half way through the game it rained heavily. Usually I would just scold the weather but today I didn’t, I purposely stayed longer in the rain. It was like the sky was telling me “Wake up, man! Wake up!”

For the first time I enjoyed the rain, thanking it for assisting me shedding some tears and trying to wash away the pain. For the first time, I didn’t feel cold at all as I knew I deserve this big splash of endless water on me. I sat by the roadside, hoping for more until an uncle looked out from his window and got scared, fearing that I was some kind of thief lurking around, posing to strike at his property. I left the place immediately….

Last night, I came face to face with the cause. I really didn’t know what to do. I panicked and checked myself into the office washroom to clear my mind. Then I related the whole incident to a close friend. I guess this was the time that I was thankful for having a shoulder to cry on, a female shoulder. (Damn, I really sound like a pussy, right?) Anyway, thanks a lot, I really need the comfort and emotion outburst! It made me feel better after that, until I dare to face the problem… for a while.

Now, I’m planning to accept my fate, going towards comfort than wishing for something else. Don’t want to aim for excitement that all the time ended with pain. Maybe I shall bring some good news next year. Just wait and see…

Tonight, I shall get myself drunk. There is a BBQ with booze going on and I shall make use on that to clear up my mind.

Anyway, on Monday, I shall brave myself to come face to face with the cause. Maybe by then I shall be more prepared, maybe by then I shall be stronger. Still, looking towards my big break 6 days later, praying it come sooner.

Feeling Down...

I’m down….really down. The feeling is pretty awful. I feel like what to hide somewhere and escape to a place where no one knows me, escape from the reality of life. Every night I wonder how I could face tomorrow, how could I put on a brave and happy face accepting the challenges ahead. I have lost my appetite, I have lost my sleep, I guess I have lost myself.

Now I’m looking towards next week holiday for recovery, just somewhere I could find a peace of mind, somewhere no one knows me, somewhere secretive.

I never know I am weak in accepting changes, I thought I would be the happy one, but the pain is unbearable, it hurts till the heart, I guess I am human after all.

If only I think less, if only I am stupid a bit, if only I am not aware of what is happening around then I guess the impact is not that huge. If only… I am who I thought I should be… happier.

Hmm.. hope I feel better after bursting this out. Hopefully it eases the pain a bit. Was feeling like something stuck on my throat and not able to get it out, until I force myself to vomit out everything inside.

Please don’t ask me what happen, do not feel like sharing it at the moment. 8 days left for me to be momentarily invisible.

Professional Words vs True Words

In this professional world, usually when we said something nicely, in our heart we usually meant other things instead. I had such experience when speaking face to face with a guy in the office from a different department a few days ago.

The people from that department love leeching on our departments work and then make it as their accomplishment. It usually ended that they were awarded the highest recognition in their department, the Department Recognition Award; whereas our department only manage to ‘eat lime’ (‘食桔’, Cantonese meaning of having nothing when the effort is all yours).

So, I met up with that guy and tried my best to convey the message to him professionally, “I know that it is really inconvenient for you, but it is better that we follow the formal process if you wish us to assist you in your task. You know our department is currently overwhelmed with important projects and if you route your request to our managers then he could assign the correct priority or attention and we could work on it accordingly. This is because later your request is far more important than us and we did not response on time.”

Actually what I meant was “What the hell! @!#$%^&*(&^%$ You personally asked us to work on this without our manager knowing and then you guys just sit there while we do your job! In the end, what we got? NOTHING! And you guys get all the awards and all the promotions! You think we were THAT STUPID again?!!! We will make sure our manager SCREW YOU!”

So, the guy agreed and emailed to my project manager; and of course got a slap in the face because usually they just threw everything to us and asked us to solve the issue without knowing what really went wrong.

My program manager said this to them (censored or modified some content to avoid leaking out some work sensitive stuffs):

When I thanked my program manager that time, I realized he actually meant something like this “When you went to see a doctor, the doctor surely would ask you what’s wrong!"

Yeah, he got a point. You were not expected to go to the clinic, striped yourself naked and asked the doctor to check what’s wrong with you!

Not-So-Eerie Events @ First World Hotel

Finally can take some days off to spend my time with my family at our usual gathering place, but still need to check my work at Starbucks. L

So which Starbucks is this? Yup, Genting Starbucks.

Talking about visiting this ghostly popular place at the period when Chinese consider inauspicious (Hungry Ghost Festival month), let me share some eerie real events talked among my friends regarding the hotel that I am currently staying, First World Hotel; but with some twists in the end.

Midnight Visitor

One of my friend, Alex (not real name) visited Genting. He checked himself into First World Hotel. I told him that some hotel rooms were haunted, so it sort of scared him when he checked into a room with the unlucky number ‘4’ on the 14^th floor. The first thing he did was surely check whether any dead body under the bed and to his relief he found nothing.

It was around 3am, Alex just came back from winning a lot in the casino. He remembered me saying that if he won a lot ‘something’ might follow him to his room. So, he went into his room and tried to force himself to sleep. Drip, drip, drip… The sound of the dripping from the water tap seemed becoming louder and louder. The dripping sound was from his washroom where the tap water could not be shut tight. He got up his bed and shut the washroom door. Everything became quiet… sooo quiet…. until…. “Knock, knock, knock!” Someone knocking on his door at around 3.30am! He tried to shut his eyes but the knocking became louder and louder.

He could not stand it anymore and went to peep through the door. He freeze for a few seconds, a long-haired girl wearing red dress was at his door! He shouted “I did not do any harm to you, don’t come to me! I’m a nice guy!”. The girl then answered back “Mister, since you are a nice guy, why not pity me. Just cheap cheap RM300 and I could spend the night with you. I don’t have any business lately, please pity me”.

It turned out that she was a prostitute!

The Knocking Above

Another friend of mine, Jasmine (not a real name too) also checked herself into First World. While sleeping in the middle of the night, she was rudely awakened by knocking on the ceiling. She switched on the light and examined the ceiling. She peeked through here half-opened eyes. There was nothing there! Once a while, she could hear faintly screaming of a girl. She was terrified, and thus she called the reception, describing the situation and requesting a room change. Moments later, the reception called back, saying “Miss, we have called the room above and requested them to keep it down. Sorry for the inconvenience caused”.

It turned out that some couple was having ‘enjoying’ moments upstairs!

Well, this teaches us that sometimes First World Hotel is not as scary as we have imagined, but sometimes, it is …..