Livin' It Up @ Hong Kong & Shenzhen

 

I just got back from a holiday in Hong Kong and Shenzhen for a couple of days and I must say, it was really good to be back there. Well, first of all, my trip was supposed to be during end of November, but was brought forward so that I can meet up with May Lynn there when she "transits" for 5 days, from Korea before flying back to KL. I was also initially supposed to go alone, and was supposed to be a purely shopping trip, but then Mike, my colleague decides to tag along as well. It's a good thing too as he used to work in Hong Kong for 2 years back in 2002, so he knows where the best places to go are.

 

So what did we do in Hong Kong and Shenzhen? Well, for me...like intended, it was a shopping trip. For Mike, I think he just enjoys being back for the food and the city after such a long time. I also manage to catch up with old friends as well as meeting new ones.

 

Well, I won't be writing a whole report on everything, I will just sum it up with lots of pictures as they always seem to say more anyway...

 

THE CITY...

 

 

 

 

 

awesome skyline via the Star Ferry

 

 

THE FOOD...

 

Pork dumplings stuffed with celery and vegetables with noodles

Braised beef la mien

Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun

 

Click here for more food pictures...

 

 

THE COMPANY...

 

I met up with May Lynn, Penny, Su-Lin + her family, Melor, Michael and also Vicky. What's really interesting was because, I have never met Melor and Michael prior to this trip. I used to liaise with them only through phone and emails while working in my previous company. Melor was based in KL before, but strangely enough, we've never met at all and Michael is based in Singapore all the while. Now both of them are based in Hong Kong. We kept in touched through MSN and also Facebook all this while (don't you just love technology?) and finally met for the first time at Discovery Bay at a restaurant overlooking the sea!

 

 

Mike, Vicky, Michael, Melor & I @ Discovery Bay

 

Mike, May Lynn, Penny & I @ La Qube, Lan Kwai Fong 

 

 

Click here for more pictures...

 

 

 

SHENZHEN...

 

Mike, May Lynn, Penny and I went for a day trip to Shenzhen for shopping. It's about a 45 minutes ride by train to Lo Wu station, which is the border town between Hong Kong and China. We managed to get on-the-spot visa which entitles you for a 5-day pass into China. We expected a long wait for our visa, but to our surprise, it took us less than 10 minutes! Maybe because it's a weekday that we went. The visa costs HKD150 (approx RM75) in case you want to know.

 

After the border, we took the subway to Laojie station. So what's good in Shenzhen? Well...shopping of course. It's the land of the knock-offs, land of the pirates...anything you want to call it. These places sell Grade-A fakes and you can't tell the difference really. Just to illustrate what I mean - I saw this pair of limited edition Nike Footscapes Woven which cost around HKG1900 (approx RM950) at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, and by comparison...I got the same thing (just of a different color) at HKD290 (approx RM145). Cheap isn't it?

 

On the bad side, Shenzhen is also known for its snatch theft. My friends and I actually witnessed a guy snatching a girls mobile phone while she was about to board the train! Then, we saw some ruckus amongst a group of people and some policemen! Talk about a dangerous place to be in....but I would still recommend anyone to go there for a day trip....just to shop...but nothing more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yatttaa!! - Hiro Nakamura wannabe..

 

Click here for more photos of Shenzhen...

 

 

AND THE SO CALL HAPPENING BITS...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, I would say it was a memorable and awesome trip. And mission accomplished (for me...didn't I say it was a shopping trip??) ...I got 3 pairs of limited edition shoes - 1 from Hong Kong, and the other 2 from Shenzhen, Tees from Esprit and Bossini ranging from HKD39 to HKD79 per piece, Polo Tees from HKD 20 per piece, an Armani Exchange bracelet and souvenirs. It was all good...but tiring as well....but would I do it again?....HELL YES!