Day 3, Wednesday (The pace slows down)

Two days of shopping and hustling with the HK crowd can really take the wind outta you. Both of us were kinda tired but a trip to the temple might ease and slow the pace down. Today was a super hot day. Sweated non-stop.

Our first stop was Wong Tai Sin temple. Before that, I left my hall earlier to hop on down the Coffee Bean to catch up on the net. Guess nothing much has happened. Or that things back home are just going on smoothly. Met my roommate in the morning, and I arranged with him to go up to Shenzhen over the weekend with his friends. This came just in time when I needed to go Shenzhen. Anyway, Gaik Chin couldn’t go yet cos her visa wasn’t done, so it’s also good that I went first and check it out.

Back to the main topic, Wong Tai Sin temple is just like those temples you see in Singapore. Kinda reminded me like the one Bugis. I was kinda reluctant to pray as I didn’t know which god was which, but said my prayers at the main altar. The pics would fill the rest of what I wanna say. It was a hot day, and Gaik Chin wasn’t feeling so gd, so we took our time.

It was already mid-afternoon when we left Wong Tai Sin. We headed down to Diamond Hill and checked out Chi Lin Nunnery. It was one of those places where tourists rarely visit. The place was really tranquil and when you step in, a sense of peace was in the air. A very nice place to take gd photos. I couldn’t take the statues though as they weren’t allowed. But the whole place was a Buddhist temple with huge statues. We spent some time there and rested a while. I think at this point, it was a good time to come here, away from all the rushing pace and overcrowded places in the downtown Kowloon. To take a deep breath and admire a side of HK that most people tend to oversee.

After that, we took a bus outside the nunnery back to her Uni. In between all this, we exchanged what happened the night before. About her adventure back home last night, her conversation with her roommate and of her buddy. For me, it can’t be compared to that. I caught a movie, half of it though. Tested sleeping without the aircon, read up more on HK. Then there was this encounter at lunch at Wong Tai Sin. We sat next to an old lady and she needed another glass of hot water. Gaik Chin offered to refill for her. Then she started talking to me. I couldn’t really make out what she said, but I caught the drift that she was saying how fortunate I am. When Gaik Chin came back, she told her some stuff as well, but she had to clarify things to the old lady. What a funny moment it was.

Back in HKUST, we took a short nap in her lounge before taking a walk by the seaside and exploring the sports facilities. By now, it was around 6.30pm. I had my dinner at the Uni’s canteen before leaving for my hall. Reaching Kowloon Tong, I walked around Festival Walk looking for a hair saloon but to no avail. I found the ice-skating ring at 60HK per entry. Should try it one day. Popped by Coffee Bean again to check it there’s new email, then went Taste to buy groceries. Bought bread, cereal, milk, soya milk(to try) and 2L of Pepsi twist for the late night sugar rush.

Soon, my room-mate will be getting his stuff and moving in. Guess tonight will be the night we’ll be finally sleeping in the same room. Never experience this before, so see how it goes.

Thinking back, I should have seen her home yesterday. Had I done that, things would have been different. Guess I gotta always be on my toes.

On a side note, this morning I dreamt about Rag and our float. Guess I’m starting to miss people already.

Day 4 (The Heat Is On)

Another hot day today. Wore the wrong shirt out. Should have gone for t-shirt, shorts and sandals instead of a polo and jeans. Oh well, I thought I was going downtown to IKEA today and get my pillow, but then took a change of plans when I was already good to go. So the IKEA plan was postponed. I went for a haircut instead then met up with Gaik Chin and checked out Kowloon Walled City Park. I asked around where to cut hair and most people just me anywhere will do. So I called up my buddy to ask. First she apologized for not returning my msg as her handphone was dead, and then her friend couldn’t help much either. Anyway, so I told her I’ll be going Shenzhen on Sat. Then I asked about the haircut. She referred me to a place just next to the restaurant we had lunch the other day. It was quite an old shop. So I tried. Communicating wasn’t much of a problem. With a few hand gestures and speaking a bit of Chinese, I got my msg across. They first washed my hair, then cut, rinse n gel. After all that, as I was paying the cashier, who was an old man, I tried talking to him and asking what’s what in Cantonese. He was quite helpful, and his Chinese wasn’t that bad. He assured me that in a month’s time I should get the hang of the language.

At the Walled City Park, there’s a bit of history in it, from the British to the Japs and till now. Much of the place has been reconstructed, except the main building which they have preserved. The place is quite peaceful, very much like a conservation park. A lot of elderly hang out there. It just took us about an hour or so and off we went to Diamond Hill’s Plaza Hollywood. Just a short trip from Lok Fu, Diamond Hill was where we stopped the last time we went to Chi Lin Nunnery. We shopped around for a while till Angie came and met up with us. It wasn’t until I went to the main atrium that I realized that came here before. We went to a Jap restaurant which was much westernized. Went for baked rice in the end. The food was not bad, and came in large servings as usual. As for lunch, I just had a small bun while waiting for Gaik Chin at Lok Fu Station. Before that, breakfast was 2 slices of bread and soya bean milk. Somehow, the bread here was more filling that back home. We walked a bit more before heading home. Saw Gaik Chin to the bus stop and waited till the bus came.

Back at Festival Walk, I went to find the shop Angie suggested where I could get a pillow. It was closed by the time I got there. Most shops here close at 10pm, at least the departmental ones. Guess one more night of sleeping with a towel.

After today, I realize I should spend some time trying all the weird food in the supermarket. There’s like Vanilla Coke Light, Mango ice-cream sticks, honey dew flavour ice cream, the different brands of instant noodles and snacks. There’s also Milo here, but they cost like abalone. Ok, I exaggerated a lot, but I’ll still buy it, then again, drink it like it’s a luxuary.

That’s all for today. Still gotta work hard to get around. Looking forward to the trip to Shenzhen. There was this funny thing someone once mentioned to me here. ‘It’s faster to go to Macau than to Shenzhen.’ Then another person told me this, ‘You might be robbed in Shenzhen, but you might get killed in Macau.’ ‘So in Hong Kong, you’ll only get picked-pocketed.’