Overseas Trip

We had our breakfast in the hotel before proceeding to The Siam Society.  It is not usual kind of tourist attraction and even the cab driver could not find his way.  The place basically showcases the traditional spirit and belief systems of the Lanna people, wihin the context of a 19^th century northern Thai house.  It was not as impressive as the JTH but I guessed we could make do with it.

We went to the Platinum Mall this time round to shop.  It was huge and was occupied by many small shops selling similar items. I think after some time, you will get bored of the place.  I managed to buy two bermudas from one of the shops.  We grew tired of the place and were eager to find a place to sit and have lunch.  Eventually, we went back to the Central Mall and had pizzas.

After lunch, we had a walk within the mall before deciding to go back to the hotel for a 2-hour power nap.

We woke up and changed before going to the lobby area to wait for our tour agent to bring us to watch the Siam Niramit performance.  We had our dinner there before touring the area and watching the 80-minute performance.  The state-of-the-art technology employed really captivates and enthuses the audiences.  However, it would have been better if we were seated nearer the stage as the performers appeared like midgets to us.







As the usual practice, we got back to hotel and borrowed yet another DVD entitled “The blind side”. 

At noon, we did the necessary documentation and payment before we deposited our luggage with the hotel. After that, we had our brunch at Ying Xin. This time round, we ordered more than we could finish and it was really filling us up to the brim.

We left the place and went to Jian Sha Zu to buy lao po bing to bring home to Singapore. Following that, we went to Charlie Brown's Cafe for a cup of coffee. The place was quite well-decorated eve n though the food and beverages were obviously over-priced. Nonetheless, we had a good time there as we surfed the Internet and had a chat about our deployment next year.

By the time we left the cafe for Women's street, we were a bit running late. Jane and Xiujuan prowled the street for their desired buys and after that, we took double quick time to reach our hotel. From there, we took the hotel coach to the Hong Kong airport.

At the Hong Kong airport, we were having a hard time locating the departure terminal and it took us quite some while to do so. And we had our last shopping spree before it was time to check in for our flight back to Singapore. We were to have our dinner there but alas, we were shocked how shabby the facilities were in the terminal we were in. Eventually we had to make do with the dinner on the plane, which was quite delicious, given that we were already wane of food for about 10 hours by then.

Our plane safely reached Singapore and yes, it's home sweet home.

Another trip another day.

After our brunch, we shopped around those small shops located at Nathan Road before branching to the big shopping malls when we believed they were open.

We first went to Langham Place and the ladies immediately rushed to H & M. We then discussed and concluded that we were better off going on our separate ways and to meet later for lunch as they were into shopping for girlish things. I agreed and while they left for other shopping malls, I just hanged around the same mall and meet them after about three hours later.

All of us went back with something!

We then returned to our hotel after lunch and rested our tired selves for about two hours or so. Again the two ladies went out to explore while Sujuan and I rested slightly longer in our respective hotel rooms. We met up and went looking for the two ladies for dinner at a Shao La shop. The food was quite tasty and we ended up with a full stomach.

We reached Macau in about an hour and once there, that was this guy who cajoled us to hire him to chauffeur us around the island. I remembered vividly the tininess of the island and was initially against his proposal. However, our legs were really quite tired from walking and this time round, we were not as poor as my last trip. He took us on a ride round the island and some of the places I though I had not visited before. Other than that, I realised that if your legs could take you round the island, don't be taken for a ride (as the tour wasn't exactly cheap). Our last spot was at the famous Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral where we took the most number of photos. Honestly, Macau did not entice me previously; it did not this time round again. We waited for our chauffeur to return to fetch us and he was a little more than late. We were so afraid of being deserted.

We left Macau, took the ferry ride and off we went back to Hong Kong. As it was quite late, we decided to visit Victoria Habour and took a short walk along the Avenue of Stars before watching the “A Symphony of Light” performance over a cup of hot latte. Lovely coffee and average performance. We then walked aimlessly before deciding to pop in for some desserts at Tang Chao. Frankly, the dessert was only passable and tau hwey was also not that fantastic.

We went to the nearby H & M for quick look before leaving the place and returned to our hotel.

We then walked towards a queue, like any typical Singaporeans will, and realised that they were waiting for their turns to take photographs with both Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse (which was rare). Even though the queue was long, we decided to join in as well as we knew that if we were to miss this one, we probably had no chance in taking photos with them again. After a horrendous wait, it was finally our turn and we took around 8 photos with them? Then, we started touring the place. Some exhibits were nice, some not quite and most of the time, we were just clicking away. We also took a number of rides, including the thrill ride. It did not turn our stomach around, but it did left us in a bit of shock for a few seconds. The photo taken by the park showing us with different reactions was hilarious but as a sign of respect to the ladies, I decided against taking a snapshot of it. The other rides were less heart-pumping but nevertheless enjoyable. I especially like the “It's a Small World” ride which was the longest as I like the catchy tune following the ride. We had our lunch and from there, we know who's the big-eaters and who's not. We ate quickly at we were rushing to see the fake snow and the march off by the various characters. Luckily, we did not fail ourselves! And after that, we just took a good slow walk around the park and eventually took photos with both Piglet and Goofy. Then we went back to the parade square to see the Toys march-off, which in my opinion wasn't very impressive. After that, we continued to take photos and eventually landed ourselves in their photo shop and got ourselves a few hundred Hong Kong dollars poorer with their professionally-taken photos. And before we leave the dreamy land, we craned with necks high as we sat outside the castle, looking at the spectacular fireworks performance. And that's it.

We stopped at Mongkok and ate some local delicacies while drinking a rather cheap but large cup of Gong Cha. And while Xiujuan and Jane wanted to explore the place a little further, Sujuan and I decided that we had enough for a day and returned to the hotel first.