hong kong (street food and char chan tengs around the city) (part 2)

4.44pm


ok i got sidetracked for the past couple of blogs. blame it on Big Bang and YG family concert! hahahaha..so we're back on track with my hong kong trip part two. 

i have quite a few photos that i want to share with you guys. ok here's what i'll do, i'll pick the best out of the lot and i'll talk about it, ok! bear with me! 

in the above pictures as you can see, it was our breakfast, the next day after we arrived into hong kong. the "char chan teng" (it means coffee shop or tea restaurant, there's tons in hong kong!) was called uncle 4! yup, you read right. i have no idea what that meant but the food was pretty decent and affordable too. we ordered the "polo bao" (also known as pineapple bun (but there's no pineapple inside) which is sweet on its own or you can whack some butter inside, would taste just as great!), hong kong's famous milk tea, honey poured over french toast, giant sausage etc. omg just by looking at these pictures now makes me want to eat it!! ai carumba! it was a good breakfast i must say.

oh i did mention in my previous previous blog (part one) that we stayed at the ramada hotel in tsim sha tsui which is on chatham road south, well  fyi this "char chan teng" is just a couple of doors away from our hotel.

this "char chan teng" sham tseng chan kee is also right next door to our hotel. you cant miss it! you can see freshly roasted goose/duck hanging by the window (as per the picture) and its all roasted to perfection! let me tell you, its worth every bite! you wont be disappointed. so succulent! crispy skin! tender meat. and if you want to lets say doggie bag it, you can do so or if you want to bring it back home (if you're flying off that day), they will wrap it up nicely for you too! (no, not the noodles, silly, but the roasted goose or whatever you want to take away!). they also have roasted duck, roasted pork etc for more choices,

if you're not a goose eater. 

oh you know just before my trip i emailed a restaurant that was famous for its roasted goose and long story short, i told them to either email me that my booking went thru or to sms me. upon arrival, i checked my phone for any messages, there was none. so i thought - ok, my booking wasnt confirmed, darned it - and thats how we ended up eating at this char chan teng. (fyi when i came back from my trip, i checked my email ( in the junk folder), lo and behold, the restaurant did reply back and they did hold my reservation for half hour before letting it go to other people (as that place was always packed, so i read online). oh no wonder! my ipad cant receive junk/spam mails! hahahaha 

those noodles that you see is actually cold noodles served with some preserved veggies, peanuts, chinese parsley and spicy minced pork. just as yummy! thats how a typical char chan teng looks like, where the "see tau poh" (meaning lady boss) will sit behind the counter/cash register, what else, to collect money! 

by the way, a few simple basic words for you to use should you choose to use (hong kongers generally can speak a trickle of english so you'll get by without much difficulty) are like - um koi sai OR dor che (which means thank you very much or thank you), chou sun (good morning), lei ho (how do you do). just so you know, there's alot of foreigners in hong kong kinda like a melting pot. very cosmopolitan, just like singapore. in fact, singapore and hong kong are almost similar except for the weather. they have 4 seasons (lucky them) but lots of bad air pollution which causes the bad haze/smog (unlucky them) thats coming from certain parts china because of the factories as well as even from within hong kong itself. (ie Hong Kong has the world’s highest traffic density as well as coal burning power plants, which contribute an estimated 50% to the total level of pollution). other than that, its a great city hahahahaha 

"lui yan kai" also known as ladies market/street market in mong kok. unfortunately, not all the stalls were opened when we were there. usually opens around 4pm till midnite. 

temple street over in kowloon. nearest mtr is jordan. sadly also this street market wasnt entirely opened. all these flea markets usually opens in the evening till late. but we were there around lunch time therefore not many stalls were opened. oh well. no biggie. 

these photos were taken as we were wandering around the city. oh yes, now i remember this was over at causeway bay. i wanted to take some pictures of street snacks. so there you go. the ever popular street food. yummy. i like the small round egg waffles. they've got different flavors to choose from. free smells just like if you were walking by famous amos cookie stand! you can smell all this different aromas wafting from a distance. almost everything is freshly/cooked/boiled and most of these street food/snacks as you can see, are skewered so that its easy for you to hold and eat as you walk. hong kong is very fast paced therefore its pretty common to eat on the go. fyi no i didnt find any "chow tofu" (smelly fermented tofu) or "smelt" any. however, i did try it once several years ago when i was in hong kong. i have no words but i have sound - bleeaah.. honestly, its either you like it or hate it and guess which one i chose. but hey, if you do try it, let me know your opinion! one man's junk is another man's treasure! 

ok ok i think thats about it. im beat. got to go and prep my dinner. to be continued, folks!

ttfn

5.51pm

YG family 2014 galaxy tour : power in singapore (part two)

3.37pm

ok so here we are going to the final part of my so called mini adventure. just to refresh your memory, i didnt attend this concert of a lifetime. i was hoping to get a free pass into the rehearsal but i guess luck just wasnt on my side. but i even feel more sorrier for those of you who live very away and YG family isnt scheduled to perform in your country. some fans, those die hard ones, would have to spend a bomb just to fly in/out, book a hotel room, buy the concert tickets (which isnt cheap at all!) and maybe grab some merchandise for memory sake. just too bad innit, guys. well look on the bright side, there's always youtube.com to quench your "thirst", as you already know by now, that beggers cant always be choosers.

right, back to my story. so saturday morning came, it was the day of concert (one that i wasnt attending *brawling eyes out*) and i'd already pre planned with my husband (the night before), to go and have early breakfast with him and then go to the kallang leisure mall (the mall where the so called booth/table/stall selling YG merchandise will be set up). so far everything went according to my plan. we both got up early around 7ish, hubby fed and walked the dog, whilst i got ready and then we headed out to the mall nearby to have our breakfast. bless him, my darling husband, for being supportive and not kicking up a big fuss about my crazyness. im only getting my cray-on!! hehe

so anyways, after having a good solid american breakfast at swensens, i hopped on the train and headed to kalland leisure mall, which was just next to the singapore indoor stadium, so it was pretty convenient and plus the mrt (subway) was underground. perfect huh. when i got to the mall around 10.20am, there was a small crowd of teens already gathered there, all sitting on the floor, waiting patiently for 11am to come round. meanwhile, shoppers strolled by watching us and some even stopping by to ask what we were doing sitting there. just before 11am, the staff was ready to open "shop" and everyone got up and things started rolling. as far as i can see, it was probably a good day for all; be it the fans, the samsung staff,the event organizers and the YG folks too!

there see this is what i meant. fans were sitting in an orderly fashion and waiting patiently for the staff to set up their stuff and get organized. thank god though, there was air cond!

after i'd purchased my merchandise (which was a tshirt), i came out and took this picture. by that time, the queue was already snaking outside of the mall. 

at the beginning, while waiting for the booth/stall to open, these laminated price list (see above photos) of all the merchandise (that was going to be sold for the 2 day concert) as well as a form (where all these items were mentioned) was being passed around. all we'd have to do is to tick the item/s we wanted to buy. so that when we get to our turn at the counter, all we have to do is to pass the staff that form that we'd ticked the item/s we wanted and they will get the item/s for us and we pay up. easy peasy right! see i told you they were organized!

i went round taking photos of all the merchandise on display. so what was mentioned in the laminated price listing, were of all of these items above. 

and this is the standee that was just outside the mall entrance, showing people the merchandise sold for the concert. so after i'd bought my tshirt, i decided to go and have a snoop around the stadium itself to see what was going on. i was thinking hey, who knows what can happen! so off i went in search of yet another silly thing to do. what can i say, since im already there, i might as well milk it to the max!

i came across a big crowd gathered just outside of the stadium (at one of the entrances and they were the vip ticket holders that was going to attend the rehearsal party at 2pm. they had to be there early to get tagged or something. as i proceeded up the stairs ( see the 2 photos above) i saw 2 giant banners on display which was YG family concert 2014 and the other, the main sponsor samsung. as i was taking these photos, i could hear a guy talking using a microphone (probably an MC or guest DJ or something). as you can also see in the photo that there were loud speakers all around the area. 

alas when i made it up the stairs, there was an MC who was just starting a Q&A session. he was briefing the crowd about the Q&A. basically what he said was - if the audience answered correctly, they would get free passes for the rehearsal! omg! omg! you know what, i was standing there for 3 sessions, in the hot humid afternoon sun! (each round probably lasted about 20 minutes each at different intervals) but sadly i didnt score any free passes. sigh. oh well, just my luck i guess. on the brightside however, i did get a couple of small freebies. but before getting them, i had to listen to 3 short tutorials sponsored by samsung, i guess to create awareness of their products/gadgets in the market. 

thats the big booth where the Q&A was being held as well as the tutorials i was telling you guys about. (pictured above)

my freebies which consists of 3 badges - bigbang, top and daesung (both autographed) and a temporary psy tattoo. the card in the background was for the tutorial lesson. (after each was completed, a staff would stamp it to indicate that i've already done the "lesson"). apart from these badges, i also got to take a photo ( yes also for free) at the YG family concert backdrop (pictured below).

after i'd taken my photo, i was told that i would have to wait for an hour to get it. just before i got my photo taken, there was another staff who asked me if i would like to send a message to the yg family and they will record it using some kind of samsung "watch" ( well it kinda looked like a watch to me). wow! a recorded voice message to YG family..how awesome is that! nevertheless, the girl proceeded to record my very short message. sorry i cant divulge what it was lol  but i wonder whether they would really pass all these recorded messages by fans, to the yg folks. guess we will never know.

ok i've come to the end of my 2 day mini adventure. fyi - i waited for just about an hour and thankfully my photo was ready, i collected it and went home. time to call it a day. was it all worth it? i think so, yes. it could've been way better if i just won myself a free rehearsal pass. but its not meant to be i guess. i just know i tried my best so thats all that matters, isnt it. 

this is the tshirt that i bought which cost me S$60 bucks!

still think im boners? go ahead. i dont mind. least i can say i had some fun doing all of this crazy shit on my own although it would have been great if i had an accomplice. *shrugs* oh well c'est la vie!

ttfn

5.44pm

YG family 2014 galaxy tour : power in singapore (part one)

2.48pm

hey guys! i wont be blogging about hong kong today. sorry! today i want to share with you what had happened over these past 2 days. you wouldnt believe it. even as im typing now, im thinking back of the things i did..oh boy, you'd think i was one crazy lady. but hey, you only live once right?!

ok my story goes like this. on friday (12th september) just before noon, i was just simply googling  flight schedules of all flights from incheon to singapore. if i remember correctly, i saw Gdragon posted either on twitter or instagram that the was on his way to singapore and i noticed the time he posted it. i did abit of mental calculation and i suspected that he (and the rest of the gang from YG family ie Big Bang, 2ne1, psy etc) would be probably arriving around late noon. long story short, i was spot on. there was a flight landing into singapore (from incheon) at around 2.15pm. 

at the same time i was also chatting with my friend on whatsapp telling her about it. and you know i was actually thinking very seriously about whizzing over to the airport to try and catch a glimpse of my favourite group. you wonder why im doing this crazy shit and you must also be assuming that i was going for this concert. sadly no. i cant afford the ticket and i dont really wanna waste anymore money. (as we just got back from hong kong!)

right so back to my grandmother story. anywho, my friend told me to just go to the airport since i wasnt going for the concert. then i decided to check with my hubby if i could go (he must think that im crazy!) and he said, surprisingly, to just go! woo hoo! i got dressed in record time. then i sat down and thought for a while, whether i should really go or not. fickle minded as i was, i changed my clothes 3 times not because i was vain or anything but because i thought i didnt want to go to the airport. so back and forth for a about 15-20 minutes. from going to not going to going. hahahaha think im nuts now dontcha!

so around 12.35pm i decided to just go and be a busybody and hopefully something good will come out of it! who knows right! mind you i've never ever done this kind of thing before in my entire life especially at my age! i rushed to the airport and there were some people gathered at the arrival gates. just so you know, vips/celebs etc can exit by another secret entrance which is called the CIP area. that was in another building altogether (and it was like about 1km away i think). 

whilst waiting for time to pass, i chatted with a couple of girls standing beside me and one of them told me that there was another entrance (ok at that time, i didnt know that there was another entrance/exit for vips, so that they avoid the huge crowd, if any), and maybe these guys would exit by that way. bla bla bla...we waited patiently. then announcement was made that the plane landed. passengers started to trickle out bit by bit but where the heck were these guys? (by that time another set of fans who were nearby us had disappeared and the girl standing beside me told me that they had probably gone off to the CIP area). we still decided to hang on and wait a bit longer. and then a kind soul on his way out, saw the banners (some other fans who were also waiting with us had brought banners and put it up). he walked up to one of the fan and asked him what was the banner about. the boy told the man about it and the man (bless him) told us (as we were all gathered around them by then) that he was on the same flight as YG family members and he also saw them being whisked away in another direction. aaargghh!

you can imagine what happened next. boy quickly thanked the man and the group of us started sprinting out of the terminal and we ran all the way to the CIP area. i mentioned earlier that it was about a km away and phew what a workout i tell ya! by the time we got there i was sweating like a pig! plus it was hot and humid out! ugh. 

thank god we all arrived in the nick of time when i spotted some cars already at the exit gate. we quickly ran and took our places along the roadside. and thankfully there werent alot of fans there too otherwise it will definately be so chaotic! i saw a couple of white mpvs and a couple of black mercedez benz that had slightly tinted windows. when the gates opened, one by one these cars drove out and luckily for us, there was a traffic light and it was red. hehehe

i somehow managed to run forward and at the first mercedez benz, i started waving. at first i didnt know who was inside these cars and once i was more focused (all of this happened in a couple of seconds) and i saw" ooh daesung, ooh taeyang!" wave quick wave! and daesung waved back at me i swear! i was chuffed. i also saw minzy from 2ne1 alone in one of the cars. i managed to catch a glimpse of YG @ yang hyun-suk (i think he was perhaps wearing a greenish polo tshirt or a shirt, not quite sure!) who was in the front seat. later i was told gdragon and top were in the same car as YG as they were both sitting in the backseat. i did tell you these cars were all slightly tinted and depends from where i was standing, certain angles i couldnt really make out the people inside these cars because of the sun. 

after the first batch of cars drove away,  2nd batch of cars pulled up to the gates. this time i heard it was park bom and dara and probably other YG family members from epik high, winners and psy..so in total there were 2-3 rounds of cars driving away. 

all in all i had a crazy afternoon chasing my kpop "dream". now some of you would probably think im bonkers but i dont care. im gonna do what makes me happy. and it was fun too plus it was an experience nobody can take away from me. would i do it again? probably, we'll see. 

i only managed to take these couple of shots outside the CIP area, whilst waiting for the "gang" to come out in their cars. as you can see, not that many fans loitering around.

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

channel news asia did a short report on YG Family in singapore during their one hour news report on friday night (12th september) and thats how i quickly took some shots (1,2,&3).

and lastly these 4 photos (as above) which was also taken at the press conference at resorts world sentosa, doesnt belong to me (got it off the internet). i only wanted to share with you guys. well hope you like it. 

thats it then. in my next blog i will put more pictures up of what i did the following day, which was on the 13th of september. (saturday, concert day!) so stay tuned for part deux, ze finale!


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4.02pm

hong kong (part 1)

12.32pm

hey its been a while since my last blog isnt it? well my husband and i decided to take a short break and instead of heading to kuala lumpur (our hometown), we thought this time we'd take a trip to hong kong and it was definately a good decision. the last i was in hong kong was about 6-7 years ago. therefore it certainly has been a while. 

we spent 5 days 4 nights there which was just nice. i didnt over plan things and we had a pretty relaxing trip. the only thing was that the weather was super hot and there were tons of people from china (PRC) everywhere! open eye close eye, you see them all around. and omg even at disneyland hong kong too! it seems to me that of late, these mainland china folks have alot more spending power, like a sudden BOOM in their spending. even when you go abroad, you'll see them buying stuff at those high end branded boutiques! anyways, none of my business on how they spend their money. im just saying that hong kong was filled with them. 

usually before any trip (especially if my husband is going along), i would sit and plan out the things to do, see and eat whilst we are there, so that we dont just go blindly. thankfully, we both dont really fancy going on tours unless worst case scenario the city that we're heading to is too big and too much to see, then we'd take a day trip. its too much of a hassle going on tours, rushing here and there from one place to another. taking the subway/underground tube/train is easy if you do your homework before you leave. so at least that will give you a rough idea once you get there. this is one tip from me. 

hong kong airport is huge and spread out. i think its better than KLIA. well, when you do go to these airports, you tell me what you think ok but until then this is my opinion. anyways, we flew by  CX (cathay pacific) since we've never flew with them, so we decided to try them out. our journey wasnt too bad. cabin crew was okay, nothing exceptional. food was ok, nothing to shout about.  

as you can see from this picture, it was my breakfast on board the flight to hong kong. the only put off was that the hash brown was soggy coz of condensation or water vapor due to the heating of the food. 

now this was my dinner upon returning to singapore. they had run out of their other choice (sorry i forgot what it was) so i had no choice but to have pasta. the pasta was dry and al dente (which means slightly firm texture and not soft). the green peas were a bit dry too. apart from that, i rate my meals 4.5/10. 

this is our aircraft, which i quickly managed to take just after we landed into hong kong and it was a boeing 777. 

inside the cabin of the boeing 777. flight was three quarter full.

inside the cabin of the airbus 330. it was an almost full flight. 

i took this picture before we departed back to singapore. as i mentioned earlier, its a pretty big airport. lots of shopping and eateries around, just like changi airport. these are the few airports in the world that i really like (oh lets not forget incheon airport too in seoul).

the outside of hong kong international airport. this was before we went to check in for our return trip.

the stewardesses of cathay pacific(boeing 777 and airbus 330) doing their duty. 

these are shots that i took (using my ipad) before landing into hong kong international airport. such a beautiful morning it was. clear blue skies (and super hot!) very picturesque dont you agree?

there's 3 different types of colored taxis around hong kong. they've got the red, green and light blue taxis. but i only saw the green and red taxis only. the green taxis services areas of new territories.

and these regular red taxis services all around the city/urban areas. and the light blue ones operates for lantau island only.

our hotel which was ramada at tsim sha tsui, kowloon. location of the hotel was perfect which was just about under 10 minutes walk to the mtr (subway) of tsim sha tsui and tons of eateries, malls and shops dotted all around the area. i am happy to say that we were upgraded to the executive room which i think was probably bigger than the normal standard rooms. (the last time i was in hong kong i stayed at the excelsior hotel over at causeway bay). our room was big enough and it was clean and tidy although the bathroom was a tad bit small but for us asian size, we managed well hahaha so for those of you who like the convenience/amenities and everything nearby to you, this is one of the better places to crash for a couple of days. 

well thats about it for my blog for today. in my upcoming blogs on hong kong its about food that my husband and i tried as well as places that we went to. until next time, take care, god bless and stay safe!

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1.35pm