We had a half day city tour today which was included in our tour package. The tour bus came to our hotel to pick us up at 7.45am and we headed off for breakfast. We had to use the cross harbour tunnel to get to hong kong island and the tour guide was explaining to us about how the government has been making profits since the opening of this tunnel. We made a slight detour at some open square with a statue commemorating the handover of hong kong back to China. However it was raining quite heavily and we were still in a sleepy state, so we did not go down the bus to take photos. We then went to a dim sum restaurant for breakfast and the food was served immediately once we reached. There was carrot cake, char siew bao, har gao, chee cheong fun, ham shiu kok, century egg porridge etc. We ate to our heart’s content.
After breakfast, we went to the victoria peak to have a bird’s eye view of the city. The tour bus stopped at the midpoint as this was the best place to take photos. However, the weather was foggy and we couldn’t really see a clear view of all the tall buildings, but the bank of china and HSBC buildings were still the most prominent. Next, we went to repluse bay which is like the beverly hills of the USA. Many of the rich and famous of hong kong own property around repluse bay because it has a magnificent sea view and it is built on high ground. We also went to a temple and the tour guide told us to touch a prosperity god statue so as to get richer this year. There were also other statues like the three goats for prosperity in business and another for conceiving many kids.
Around noon, we went to Aberdeen which is a fishing village and houses the famous jumbo seafood floating restaurant. However, it is pointless to dine there because the food is not that great after the famous chef has migrated to Canada. We could take an optional junk ride out to sea to understand more about the way of living of the people who live in the fishing village. In a few years time, there are rumours that the government may reclaim the piece of land to make way for new developments and the livelihood of the fishermen would be at stake. We also went to hong kong jeweler where they showed us about their specially designed jewelery which incorporates the element of feng shui. The tour also brought us to a traditional chinese medicine shop and there was a doctor in-house. He was very professional and could diagnose my illness just by reading my pulse and taking a look at my tongue. Lunch was at a teochew restaurant which served a 10 course meal.
In the afternoon, we took an open-top bus ride through kowloon, passing by tsim sha tsui, mongkok. It was very windy on the upper deck and quite cold. The bus dropped us at mongkok where we did some shopping at the shopping centres nearby. There are H&M outlets in hong kong which cannot be found in Singapore. I think the price of the clothes is quite reasonable, thus there were many people in the shop and queuing up to pay at the counters. Hopefully this Swedish brand can be brought into Singapore, offering consumers another option for reasonably-priced fashion wear. We then went back to the cafe near our hotel for dinner.
Faites la fête avec tout votre corps, avec tout votre être. Et tant pis si vous y laissez quelques plumes. Ça repousse !
