Monday, December 21, 2009
The party's over. And I'm back from HK. 2 of the most major personal events which are not related to academia in the year is over.
I have to finally admit that i am 21. No more pointing at others and laughing at them, calling them old cos they have turned twety-one. its my turn now. Oh well.... we all have to grow up. No more kiddy clothes (i guess i will have to throw away my 101 dalmatians t-shirt) and i will attempt to be less kiddy.
With all the effort put in by everyone, coupled with 6 months of planning and brainstorming, i hope the party turned out well. To me, i loved the cozyiness of the function room, the decorations and stuff. I know that the venue is small (puny in fact) and i have tried to maximize the space. My prayers have been answered and the weather was contrary to the forecasted weather of thunderstorms. Many did not turn up due to various reasons which may or may not be a good thing due to space constraints. Still, i wished some of them were there to share this day with me.
I apologise for not being able to entertain everyone, i apologise if i have not been a good host, i apologise if any of you felt bored, i apologise if the venue was too "ulu". I apologise for not thanking each and everyone of you personally post-party.
I thank all of you for attending the party and for making my day such a memorable one. I thank all who helped out tremendously. Daddy, mummy, rachel, rongtai, shirin, darren (my bro), eugene (my cousin) and everyone else i may have forgotten. Your help made me feel very very very loved. I thank all for the thoughts put in in choosing the presents and i love them so very much. Thank you!
Few hours post-party, I flew off to HK with rachel. It is some sort of a coming-to-age trip. 5 days of excitment, scares, fun, pain etc. Since facebook is being such an arse and is causing so much problems in photo-uploading, i shall try to recap my whole trip here. Seriously, going thru all my past holiday photos brings back lots of memory and this time, i have taken 700+ pics in a short span of 5 days in bid to refresh our memories in years to come.
Day 1.
The very first bad experience was being "bullied" by this group of __XXXXX__ men in business suits. They were constantly pushing me and eventually, bypassed us in the queue and some of their friends happily bypassed us too. Then, my luggage went "missing". After waiting so long at the luggage belt, there was no sign of my suitcase. Note to everyone: It is not a good idea to have a black suitcase as everyone else has something that looks like yours. It will be a moment of great anxiety when you don't see your luggage. Not a very nice experience =X Thankfully, i finally found my lugguage and afterwhich everything went on smoothly. After taking a bus to our hotel and checking-in (thank god for early check-in), we proceeded to Stanley Market and Victoria Peak albeit getting a little lost. But i thought getting lost was kind of fun. Haha. The only downside was the aching feet at the end of the day. I almost couldn't feel my toes. And i believe rachel feels the same too. Oh, we visited Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum at The Peak and took photos with our very dear LKY. Hahaha. Exciting. We went back to the hotel, off-loaded our purchases from Stanley Market and headed to Ladies Market, re-emerging with new purchases and hokes in our pockets.
Day 2.
Woke up after a sleepless night of tossing and turning. Its not because we are too excited, its simply because the bed was just too hard. So we found out that each other was not asleep at around 2am or so and started planning the itinerary for the next day and chatting about stuff with the lights off. Like a sleep-over that we never had. Gossip is fun =P
Woke up zombie-fied and had breakfast at the hotel. Food was okay but the head-waitress seemed to be really impatient cos we were at the table for more than 1 hr (realised that we woke up too early and there were no place to go). Proceeded to Ngong Ping Village via the uber-cool cable-car which has vents near your butt such that its often blasted with cold air. Afterwhich, we shopped a bit at the Tung Chong outlet stores before heading to Disneyland to be little kids all over again. Took some rides, cam-whored a little and it started raining at around 6pm when the fireworks is at 8pm. The rain got so heavy that we decided to go back to the hotel and have some warm food. A bit of a waste but it was okay since both of us have seen the fireworks before. So back we went and stopped by a "Cha Chan Teng" near the hotel for good food. As with all the meals we have in Cha Chan Teng later on in the trip, we were so full that we felt we could roll out of the shop.
Day 3
Day 3 was supposed to be a less "taxing" day. Had yummy porridge for breakfast and headed to Jade Market. Then we decided to be intellectual and visit HK's museums (cos admission is free on wed =P). Went to the HK Museum of History and the HK Science Museum. The History Museum is super fun. Its brings you back to the different periods in history and you will feel that you belong. The Science Museum was okay. Too many kids. And i actually think our Science museum is better. After which, we went to Tsim Sha Tsui to catch the Symphony of Lights at the Avenue of Stars. The Avenue of Stars is this long stretch of walkway by the river that have handprints of some stars. The weather was freezing but i really like the view from the riverside. HK's nightview is fantabulous. Dinner before watching the Symphony of Lights was at this cafe with super rude staff. I was too pissed to even take a photo of the shop name. Super salty noodles as well. After enduring the cold to watch the lights display, we headed to Temple Street. I love Temple Street, possibly cos of the good news i obtained from there. LOL. Met 2 Singaporeans (i think) who were overly-friendly but fate did not allow us to meet again. Maybe i will chance upon that SMU fella in Singapore someday. I couldn't sleep the entire night of day 3 cos of the "news" from Temple Street.
Day 4
What a scary day it was. The day started off with us not being able to find a place to have breakfast. We eventually ended up having our cheapest meal of the whole trip at this food kiosk located at the top of an office building. It was freezing and we could see those smoke thingy when we talk. We then proceeded to Ocean Park. Rach's friend advised us to take the thrill rides first before going to visit the attractions so as to avoid the crowd.
Yes, i am aware that rach can't take rides that are too extreme. Nothing thats too fast, too high, too dizzy-causing. I thought this ride - Space Wheel - was mild, based on my previous experiences in thrill rides. So i asked rach if she's game to come along this ride with me. I was wrong. Very very wrong. Space Wheel was more extreme than i ever expected.
Even i was clinging onto the bars for my dear life. Once the ride started gaining speed, i knew something will happen. Its way too un-mild for someone with motion-sickness. It was just 1 min or even less but it seemed like ages.
Immediately after the ride, rach was visibly unwell. Dang, my prayers during the damn ride didn't work. So i called the number stated outside the first aid post for help. They $&$%& couldn't understand me. I was like so kan chiong already and they passed me on from a person to another. I don't believe my English is that bad. Anyway, by the time i returned from looking for a plastic bag, the first aid person has arrived (quite efficient) and rach rested in the first aid cabin.. But they had no medicine for motion sickness =X
After some time, we decided to cab back to the hotel. Back in the hotel, she was still unwell. Slept a while, got worse, then got better and chould chat a bit, then got worse again, then got better later in the evening. Thank goodness. I played games and watched Slumdog millionaire on my ipod touch while rach was asleep. When rach was better, we watched some korean and HK dramas in the room.
My bad, sorry rach. Stupid suggestion of mine.
Day 5
Last day of the trip. Rach was still a little unwell that day but much better. We had Dim Sum at a restaurant then did our last min shopping. Clothes, shoes, 老婆饼and stuff. Went back hotel to pack, went out for lunch-ner, more last min shopping, back to the hotel and then cab to the airport. 11.45pm - Home Sweet Home.
That marks the end of the trip. A trip filled with various emotions. To me, it was an interesting trip. We really went alot of places and did quite alot of stuff. One of the reasons why i love independent travelling is flexibility. I love that sense of freedom.
posted by: DesiRee @ 9:23 PM
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