Well...

First off, updates on some upcoming movies on http://sqmdb.blogspot.com/. Check out trailers for Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix, Transformers, Spidey 3, The Simpsons Movie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more.

Well, I manage to buy some time left for blog before I go radio silence until I return to S'pore. So without further ado. I summarise the events from Shanghai till now.

05/01/07 update - Turns out I didn't have the energy to finish this on time. So i'm doing it now. No photos as yet. They take a longer time. For now a day to day recap. (recap based on my photos)

Recap Shanghai. (30/09/07-03/10/07)
Well, Shanghai the best trip for me. In short, the first day I landed in the evening, met up with friend for dinner. Next day whole day F1, the next 2 days, tour Shanghai city area. Then back to school.

06/10/2006 Mid Autumn in HK
Immediately when I got back, it was into the Mid Autumn Fest mood. The parks here was decorated with huge lanterns. Quite a huge thing over here. Lanterns and mooncakes were selling everywhere. However mooncake varieties don't go as crazy as tht in S'pore.

07/10/2006 Cosplay & Fire Dragon
Stumbled upon my Uni on this weekend and found it was full of Cosply ppl. For a moment I thought I was in manga land. Tht evening we went down to Tin Hau mtr station nearby to catch the fire dragon, a tradition HKers have been doing for mid autumn fest. If you've seen dragon dance b4, this one's better. The dragon's made up lighted joss sticks. Photo fest here. My camera tried its best.

14/10/2006 Lam Kwai Fong
Kinda like my 2nd time here. This time round they're having this samba fest thingy. Whole place was like a carnival. Seriously, I'm gonna say this a few times, but really, HKers know how to enjoy themselves.

15/10/2006 Peak Hike
Joined my hall to hike to the Peak, or Victoria Peak. I was like one of the 2 guys there. So much about being active in hall and the hall's participation in this. Anyway, hiking is one aspect many ppl don't notice about HK. In fact, HK is full of hiking trails which rewards you with breath taking scenary.

21/10/2006 - 22/10/2006 Astro Wild Camp
Joined the one and only astro activity in HK. It was a outdoor camp over night at a campsite. We had to set up our own tents, cook our food and caught the Orionids that night. Lovely, just lovely. Not much light pollution, and the campsite had no lights. Just had to share the campsite with some wild cows though.

26/10/2006 Dinner with Joe
Had dinner with one of the buddies in CityU. Brought me to a wonton noodle stall in Wan Chai. Come to think of it, it's actually not bad. Will mention more in my food blog.

27/10/2006 Ocean Park Halloween
They call it Halloween Bash. The park was packed with crowds, but the haunted houses were really good and so were the whole atmosphere and the ghosts and ghouls. Really had a good scare and a good time tht night. Worth a visit definitely.

28/10/2006 Dessert Durian
The fateful day I met my durian dessert. It was love at first sight. Tried to bring her back but it was fate that we must part. More in the food blog.

29/10/2006 Lam Kwai Fong Halloween
Went down to Lam Kwai Fong to check out how was halloween. Ppl really dress for the occassion and everyone enjoyed themselves. Don't really need to drink or smoke to enjoy Lam Kwai Fong it turns out.

01/11/2006 Temple Street
Took a stroll down temple street myself to check out wat's there or if anything's change since I came last year. Checked out some stuff I wanted to buy but in the end, I got no space to bring back. Another time I shall return.

03/11/2006 City U Banquet
It's like a Dinner and Dance, but a slightly less formal outdoor dinner for the entire Uni. Exchange students had it for free. 11 course (if i remember correctly) dinner with a few performances and games. It's that time where you just wanna take photos with everyone. Memorable night.

04/11/2006 Fanling & Tai Po Market
Explored the New Territories today. Went to the wishing tree. Quite easy to find. Then went to Tai Po and found a place with gd "Wo Tie" and "Tau Huey". A must go if you like those.

05/11/2006 Tseun Wan
Today's Tseun Wan, almost the edge of the west of HK. Short trip. Had no time to go Yuen Long, turns out didn't go at all in the end. But went last yr lah, unless you're on a heritage trail, it's a place to drop by.

07/11/2006 Level flooding
Kinda funny when it happened. Won't talk much since I mentioned it liao. A few days later an apology note was put up.

12/11/2006 Castle Peak Hospital
It's their woodbridge. And they had an open house, so drop by since I had nothing better to do. The hospital was better and look better than my hall lah. Anyway, the open house was like to educate the public about issues concerning mental patients and to inform them of what available for them.

15/11/2006 HK Space Museum
It's free on Weds, so went down to see. It's a quick astro revision for me really. I mean, I had to memorise all that at one point, so seriously, nothing special for me. Oh went to see the Imax, but I think S'pore still better.

16/11/2006 Bio Lab Embryo
Had to dice up a 9 day old chicken embryo today. Must have been the most inhuman thing I did in the field of life science. But for the sake of science, do what you must.

17/11/2006 Snake Guts
Tried the snake meat soup today. You could see live snakes at the stall outside. Suppose to have erm benefits for you. Only thing I know is that it gives a nice warm feeling after eating it. Good when the weather gets cold.

Spent the next few days bumming around settling the Korea Trip, taking photos of the sch n ppl cos it was going to be the last lesson and all.

25/11/2006 Sai Kung
Went to Saikung to try the seafood. It's really what you see in those HK tourist ads. Pick you seafood and they'll cook it for you. Delicious but ex. Eat once will do. The whole town was quite laid back also. Nice place to relax. GC says it's a couple's place, esp the pier and jetty. Have to agree on that.

26/11/2006 Central and Sheung Wan
Went to Yung Kee to try the famous duck meat. Then walked to Sheung Wan and explore the sights there. Most attractions were for antiques & collectors, so we kinda skipped them. Then we took the tram bus. Super cheap lah, 2HKD only.

27/11/2006 Jap Sushi Buffet
Imagine all the salmon u can eat for a flat rate. This is it. Not really cheap, not ex either for a jap buffet. Just wack. Hiding somewhere in Kowloon City, only accessible by bus. Regular customers will know this place. Not found on maps.

28/11/2006 - 03/12/2006 Korea
5 day tour of Korea. Mainly in Seoul and the eastern coast. When to ski, which I didn't cos i was sick, then went spa n hot spring. Really nice place to go again. A gd time would be autumn, not late autumn which I went in. Seoul was 0 deg.

08/12/2006 Hike to Ham Tin
The hike was tiring, but just enough to reward you with a super nice beach. This is like the eastern edge of HK. By now, I've almost travelled all 4 corners of HK. The pace to explore HK also picks up from here on.

09/12/2006 Timsum at Maxim & Shek O
Had morning timsum with the old folks. Then off to another beach, Shek O. Another corner of HK. Quite a nice beach to go to. What more can u say about them, HK has it all.

10/12/2006 Wetland Park
Wetland Park is like our Sungei Buloh, but more artificial lah. And it packs the crowds as well. Guess HKers really care about their environment. Another place to educate the public on conservation and appreciate the wildlife that visits HK.

11/12/2006 Hotpot at UST
Had our own hotpot. Bought our own food and had our slow dinner. Wanted to do a BBQ a week later but found out we ran outta of time and had to scrap it.

12/12/2006 Flower Market
Met up with a friend for timsum and then went to the flower market. The whole street solds all types of flowers and plants. And they were super cheap lah. Chase gals here with flowers won't burn a hole in ur pocket as compared to S'pore.

13/12/2006 Celebrity at Mongkok
Got caught in the rain today at Mongkok. Kinda a first that it happened, to be in Mongkok when it rains, heavily. Everything stops. But after that we caught a celebrity doing a scene in the middle of the street. It gathered a huge crowd, had no idea who it was until a few days later.

14/12/2006 The View from Hall 7
The rain cleared the pollution somewhat and I had a nice shot of the view from my hall rooftop. Rarely you get to see HK so clear.

15/12/2006 Overnight @ Library, Dinner @ Causeway Bay
The exams are upon me, but ok lah. Study enough to S/U. Tried overnight at the library, which was opened 24hours. Quite productive lah. Even I don't do this in S'pore. Maybe I'll do so when I'm back mugging for the next exams. Exams were ok, at least I know I can pass. Then it's off for dinner at Causeway Bay. Tried like 9 types of tea.

16/12/2006 Sunrise at Peak, Saikung
We tried to grab late night supper but to no avail. Then we headed to the Peak to watch sunrise but also that didn't work out. It was too cloudy. Well, just one of those bad days. All of us took time out to catch on sleep.

17/12/2006 Gundam Exhibition
It was kinda my free day today, as in the others had stuff and so we didn't meet up. So I took the time to go to the gundam exhibition. Really cool. These ppl are hardcore man. Wished I had that type of passion, but my hands are already full.

18/12/2006 Dinner @ Causeway Bay
Finally went to the restaurant @ Causeway Bay we've been eyeing for a while. It's so crowded that this was our 3rd try going. 1st time we didn't book and went, and had to wait for like an hour, so we left. 2nd time round we called too late and the time they had for us was like almost 9pm. So finally 3rd time round, we stepped into the restaurant for the first time. The food spoke for itself. After dinner, we walked to Times Square, just in time to catch some celebrities. And they were the big ones. Guess my checklist in HK is almost complete.

19/12/2006 Viet Restaurant
Met up with my Dad's friends who had come over for business. Asked my Dad to bring some warm clothing n money through them. They're quite friendly, and we went to this Viet restaurant in Jordan. The food was actually not bad, and reminded me of S'pore food, and how close I am to tasting it in a few weeks time. Met up with Chingman later after that, walked a bit of Mongkok and met another celebrity. This time I think it was a Korean celeb, but dunno who it was. Tried to take a shot, but really no mood to shoot today.

20/12/2006 Happy Valley
Went to watch horse racing today. It was a weekday night race. Really fun and exciting. Now I know why so many ppl can get addicted to the game. But we played small for the fun of it only lah.

21/12/2006 Macau
Spent the day in Macau. It's like a suburban compared to HK. The sides of the road are all landscaped and the casinos were glittering with gold glass panels. Really can see it's richer than HK. Went to the usual places, it's a really small place. Grabbed the boat back, but had to settle with the more ex one.

22/12/2006 Serenade Tim Sum
The next few days was bring my friends around HK. Today, went to Serenade Restaurant. The best tim sum with a splendid view. Standard has maintained since I came here last year. At night, we went to the Jap rest buffet for one last time.

24/12/2006 Diamond Hill Tim Sum, Countdown @ Central LKF
Went Diamond Hill for Tim Sum around noon. As we had like 9 ppl, we ordered like crazy. The dishes and trays could mimic the HK skyline. For dinner, went to IFC to grab a bite b4 heading to LKF. It was packed like hell. In fact, it was like the whole HK had squeezed into Tsim Sha Shui and Central. In chinese they called it 'people mountain people sea'. I realise now where this phrase came from. And so we counted down in LKF, in the heart of it all. The crowd was nice and added to the whole atmosphere, but it was a tad too many ppl.

25/12/2006 Shenzhen
I couldn't have imagined this, but I spent Christmas Day in Shenzhen. Oh well, the place is really messy, and it sums it up. If S'pore has a JB next door, HK has a Shenzhen. And so begins my China trip. I'll write more on that in another entry.

26/12/2006 - 30/12/2006 Eastern China
Started off from Shenzhen, to Hangzhou, then went to Wuzhen, a 'water village', then 2 days in Shanghai, took a sleeper train to Nanjing, then it's back to Shenzhen for a nice massage.

31/12/2006 The Mad Rush Home
Took a train back to HK. Took about 2 hours to pack my stuff n check out my hostel. Then it's off to Central to check in my stuff. The crowds were starting to come in for the New Year's Eve party but I took a gamble to grab my durian pancake n donuts. Only one went through customs in the end. The flight back was nice, especially having Haagan Daz ice cream for dessert. Landed some where around midnight and then it was the slow ride back home.

That's about a quick summary of the last days in HK. Pics will come soon.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE