Hong Kong Trip - Day 15

We headed to Macau to meet up with our grandpa and uncle. We were all ready to go until my brother forgot his passport (!) so we had to wait on him. I also didn't feel that well that morning either.

Our grandpa was furious when we got there late. Soon later we also met up with our unliked Uncle Fong. The guy who's over on the Asian front, sucking up all our grandpa's money on his useless business that has yet to complete a single project since he started in the last 5+ years. Useless dick.

ANYWAYS. Macau! I've never been to Las Vegas, but I can imagine it would be something like this. However, Macau did still feel somewhat less sophisticated, even though some of their newer buildings were grand and wonderfully built.

We had dim sum at one of the restaurants in one of the casino hotels. EIGHT was the name. The entrance was dark and mysterious... you were lead through this dark corridor surrounded the sound of falling water... and the floor glowed fishies. Into the actual eating area, it was very gold and black. Very nice. The food was good too.

The washroom had automated everything. Ah, it was nice to be back to civilization.

After the nice refresher, we hunted for a 7-seater taxi van to fit all of us in. When we finally got our hands on one, we went to buy some flowers and then headed to visit the graves of my grandpa's father's wives.

They were located all over Macau, so we trekked to two different locations. We had some difficulty at the second one. The second one was located at one of those insane mountain graves, where they are a billion of others on this super steep mountain. We had to call some other relatives to get the coords, and even then, we weren't sure. The cleaning trio followed us to where ever we went and cleaned up the grave as soon as we finally pin-pointed it. There were also a lot of dogs, a side note.

After that, we decided to visit the famous Venetian and wow was it big. My grandpa and bro went on their separate ways after we arrived. According to my parents who've been to the Las Vegas one before, it was about the same. The built the Italy setting right inside the hotel and made stores into them. Then there were these people dressed in white who would stand there and not move and then suddenly move and freak people out. My mom snuck in a slot machine (worth $20HKD!) when we got to the casino portion of the visit. She just randomly pressed buttons and soon enough, the money was already all gone.

Next, we got busy and did some serious souvenir shopping. My goal here was to buy Macau's famous pasteries for my friend! And myself if there's anything good. After we got that over with, we headed down the food street to pick up some grub. We had some trouble figuring out what to eat exactly, so we ended up eating what that particular restaurant was known for and moving onto the next restaurant after that.

There was nothing else left to do after that, so we made our way back to HK by taking one of the hotel's personal buses, equipped with tv and changing neon coloured lights.

Hong Kong Trip - Day 14

Monday ...And we're back in HK!

Me and my brother agreed to dedicate the first day we return from TW to pure shopping.

In the morning, we decided to have lunch with our parents since the stores open late in HK anyways. We ended up in Times Square just because there were the biggest selection of food concentrated in those floors of the building. When we got there, we called up Auntie Irene for some suggestions but she was in the area so she joined us instead. We headed up the floors of restaurants of Times Square and somehow ended up picking Tony Roma's. The place was quiet and was run by Filipinos. We had their lunch specials and chatted until 3ish. It was then, my brother and I decided to set off to do our much needed shopping and burn up all our cash!

First stop was to our beloved building - Oriental 188. This time, it was well into the afternoon so everything was open. We sped through the first floor and doodled down prices. He picked up a few games and things on the way. We reached the third floor... which is now my holy grounds. We made an unexpected turn and encountered the greatest figurine store. We decided to leave that place for last and went on looking first. We found a particular store that overflowed with limited edition goodness and it was then I spotted my longed limited edition Star Ocean PSP! It was the only store in the whole building that sold it! My bro, who was looking around for the best deal for his limited edition Monster Hunter Portable 2G PSP set, also got it there to try and get a deal out of it. Their awesome Monster Hunter geek shirts also caught our eye, so we nabbed some of those too. I left with Kotobukiya's Kureha, a figma of Haruhi (it was either a figma or the heat-sensitive Haruhi bunny suit... not fond of being a perv so no thanks on the latter), and a Gainax puchi set. My brother got some FF play arts sets, One Piece sets, and a rare MGS figure. I totally regret not getting more! I only saw one other store with the Haruhi Pinky: st, so I bargained less a few HKD and nabbed that as well.

After our successful battle in 188, we headed to Causeway Bay to visit the small stores we visited the last time (and others we didn't have time for). I was totally sold on the giant Keroro head cushion even though I knew it would take up so much damn space in my luggage.

I started to get tired from all the walking, so it was safe to say we were done for this trip. We headed to my brother's place to rest (and I checked up on local - Canadian - prices on some electronics). I watched him try and stuff all our loot into his empty luggage bags (which wasn't so empty after all the stuffing).

Amy soon gives me a call after she was done work so we can meet up. We decided to go to Festival Walk and ate at EXP (EXPERIENCE POINTS) by the food court and ice rink. We each had one of their special fruity mix drinks and shared some interesting meals she recommended. After some good food, we did a stroll around the mall. I visited LOG-ON again to grab some more souvenirs. Before the mall closed, I tried out the Haagen Dazs store and their Bailey's Ice Cream with customized kiwi toppings and marshmallows! It was exciting! But actually too sweet for me... Now I can say I tried the Haagen Dazs' ice cream chain tho! X3

While enjoying my ice cream, we walked to Amy's place which was a few blocks away from the mall. We walked up this crazy narrow hill, and this rather not so popular university and made it. I didn't want to raid the actual inside of her apartment, so we toured around the building. She had an amazing view of Hong Kong (perfect for those fireworks!) and other facilities like an outdoor swimming pool and whatnot.

It was a shame it was already so late as most of the lights outside were already turned off. She had work the next day so I let her go before midnight rolled around, also so I could catch the metro back as well. Taxi would be rather frightening for me.

Taiwan - 5 Day Trip

Ok, honestly, I didn't have a clue where we were and at what time. The names were all in Chinese (wasn't very English friendly you see) but our general direction was south end to the north end.

DAY 1
We had to wake up hellishly early to meet up with the rest of our tour group. Did the meeting at the airport at 7:30am, however, the flight wasn't until 9:30pm. The plane ride was a short 1 1/2 hour trip. I watched Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on our way there. XD We landed in Kaohsiung and wooow it was getting kinda hot! We all hopped into this cheesy, orange frilly draped windowed bus that screamed nammer. However, not a nammer in sight, mind you.

In Taiwan, instead of cars, you see MAD SCOOTERS. Scooters are EVERYWHERE. They're SO everywhere, it's actually kind of annoying to walk around with them.

Our first tour spot was a temple (go figure :D) beside a University (direct translation is: Country stand middle mountain university), which the bus driver did a U turn inside and came out. So this temple... made us walk up these super steep, slippery steps (in which all the old geezers either had trouble going up or were too scared to even try - incase they break neck) that zig-zagged back and forth. And for some reason, we were by the water but there was no WIND and no CLOUDS so it was HOT. When we reached the top, we all bought water (good money). Ok so this temple was actually a battle fort when it was under Dutch rule... there just so happens to be a mini temple beside it. And a modern cafe.

Oh yeah, there was this taxi advertising this URL when we were heading back to the bus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibo5544.

Next we had our first Hakka meal mid afternoon and witnessed the biggest, most longest melons ever... outside of their restaurant. They also tried to sell us peanuts. Some people bought it.

Next stop was a temple-ish place. There were these two towers, one entrance had the mouth of a dragon and the other was the mouth of a tiger. The story was you had to walk in through the dragon's mouth and walk out of the tiger's mouth for good luck. Me and my mom took our pictures at our respective animals. ;) The area was actually under heavy renovation so the water surrounding it was extremely dried out (much like a desert). Since there was time, we also visited another temple-ish place a bit farther with the same idea, plus a few goddesses and what not.

Then there was this wonderful temple:

The next stop was at yet another historical location. Zeelandia was the name. Which means we were in Tainan. The timing was so good, we had a giant swarm of kids on a field trip there as well. They had a number of displays of real weapons behind glass which was cool.

The first day's hotel was decent of course. For the entire Taiwan trip, I shared a room with my brother so we each got our own bed! Oh, there was a phone by the toilet (for those who like to cook phone congee). After settling down, we visited the nearby 7-11 and also visited the riverside walk. It was insanely windy outside, so we decided to retreat early. They had anime on at least three channels at a time AND they had an MTV channel. We mainly watched the MTV channel though. :D

DAY 2
Weather was a bit poopy and cloudy. We continued on our bus traveling fun, passing by signs which said that violators will be clamped down if you're a peddler. Our first stop was a temple (woohoo). However, it was not your average temple. This temple was ginormous. The detailing of not only the sculptures, but the decorations (basically everything) was so intricate and detailed. It was awe-inspiring more than anything.

Next stop was the Taiwanese aboriginals (who would've thunk it?). A side note, they had this cute feather coming out of their headpiece~ They tried to sell us that expensive mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) and royal jelly.

Because of the crappy weather, the peacock farm didn't release any of their birds out that day. However, there was one particular peacock who decided to show off a few things or two and I was able to take some good shots of him. Then I took a lot of pictures of chickens. Cuz that was the rest they had at their farm.

After some more driving, we arrive back into the city and we get to experience our very first Taiwanese night market!!! I tried out this strange lemon and aloe vera drink mixed in with grass jelly, white (coconut?) jelly/tofu, and black cored white fuzzy seed stuff! That sounds great doesn't it! :B

The night market was as we imagined but MORE. More food, more shops, more sales - it's just BIGGER and starts so much earlier in the day... AND it happens EVERY. DAY. And the worse thing was, they didn't give us enough time to shop and look and everything! We soon had to leave to get to our hotel. :/

K so the second night's hotel was crappier as expected. There were even less tv channels (no mtv!), that already tells you enough. We took a walk around the area and bumped into this random guy selling designer bags on the street. Fishy you'd think, but the designer bags were LOCAL designer bags and the dude marked them down like mad. So there was nothing to lose (except a bit of pocket change ;)) so me and my mom dug a bit and found something nice (for me~). The guy basically just pulled them out of this giant bag and just threw them all on the floor (covered in cardboard, cough, but still). On the way back, we also got some 7-11 oden (!) munchies.

DAY 3
We visited this "DIY" recreational farm which were famous for their rather insane (20 some odd different) collection of TOMATOES. Now, I love tomatoes... but when they tried to make it into a vege drink (20+ types into one), it was really kinda ick. They also sold little cacti plants, and other types of fruit.

Next stop was Neiwan's street market. We first had the traditional Hakka food once again which featured this cartoony lady with bun hair, who's actually featured everywhere on this street (trademark of some sort perhaps...). After food, we walked halfway across the bridge that lead to (I think) a temple on the other side. We also tried out this ice cream made from real fresh milk - which actually didn't taste that great... but everyone bought it anyways, just because of the hype. There was also this traditional restaurant that had the theatre built-in to watch while you eat.

We get to a mini night market. This time they gave us way too much time, too early in the day, but too close to dinner. There was nothing good at this night market, so we ended up wandering in the area. Due to our awesome wandering skills, we find ourselves at FE21 Mega Mall on Ximen Street, for our a/c leeching pleasure.

188 "Just For Fun" Hot Pot. THE BEST HOT POT RESTAURANT EVER. It's all you can eat, you get your own hot pot pot, pick your own soup base, all you can drink pop AND Mcdonalds chicken mcnuggets! What more could you ask for?? The place was great... the name was questionable though.

That night was the best luxury hotel @ Lakeshore, Taiwan. They had fancy building names like Windsor Castle and Leith Castle. We each had our own Queen-sized beds, movable tv, own kitchen built with hot water boiler, giant closet, and giant bathroom. Of course, we used the place to our full advantage. Me and my mom headed down to the health club and enjoyed dry/wet sauna-ing, turbo jet jacuzzi's and massage chairs. That was the life.

DAY 4
We bid the wonderful hotel goodbye and made our way to the day's first destination. Freedom... something gate. At the front were towering entrances that lead you to an open concrete area. On the two sides were temples of some sort. On the other side was a giant shrine to Dr. Sun Yat Sen. To get there, you had to traverse under the deadly rays of the sun... which was quite painful actually. On the two sides, there were people rehearsing their singing, and on the other, they were rehearsing their dancing (huh?).

When you make it to the other side and climb up the stairs to the actual shrine, you can head down to the ground floor to visit the built-in museum.

Next step was Taipei 101. The famous building with 101 levels. Basically we visited Taipei 101 up to floor 4 and headed straight out again. My mom had been dying to visit the bookstore, as you know, Taiwan is known for their cheap and plentiful collection of books. We walked right past New York New York and went straight to the 4-level Eslite bookstore. Unfortunately for me, they didn't have any Japanese comics I was interested in. However, the building was nicely made. It was roomy, and the escalators were customer friendly (as in the in-out flow was nicely organized).After the short visit, it was already time for us to return to the meeting point.

Taipei 101 has a visitor counter that tells you how many people are in the building at the time. The most ever was 24481 and when we were there, there were about 4000.

After the hefty book shopping, we headed to food. This time, we were brought to this restaurant called Din Tai Fung which was famous for their steamed food. The place was insanely packed and even us tour people had to wait outside under the blazing heat for a quite a while for a seat. And when we did get seats, we were forced to sit separately to accommodate all of us. All in all, it was pretty good but I feel the food we have back home is just as good, if not better. The waitresses knew Japanese here (on top of Taiwanese).

It wasn't particularly filling but this tour has never failed to fill us, knowing that we knew there will be chances later. After food, we had some time so we walked a bit and bought ourselves some good old bubble tea, which we actually had to wait a bit to get due to the lineups. Next the tour brought us to a teahouse (Royal Teahouse) where we were introduced with the different types of teas they had, were famous, for and what Taiwan themselves were famous for. We ended up getting green tea powder which tastes rather interesting with a common Chinese kid's boost vitamin drink "Yut lick doh" (roughly translates to one strength more).

After washing our hands in dried tea leaves, our next stop was the National Palace Museum (NPM). After researching museums and doing a final project on museums last semester, going to a well established one was rather exciting. The entrance was made of glass and was an automatic slide open door. The lobby was big and welcoming. Really roomy for multiple tours and groups, which was what it was filled with. As a visitor, you get an audio headset which was totally what our museum project had as well! If you were in a group, you all had your own exclusive audio tour in your own radio frequency where you are your own tour guide. If you weren't part of a giant group, they were audio tours where you'd use a similar headset but you got to punch codes into the gadget of the exhibit you wish to know more about.

Ok so the actual museum wasn't that exciting, as everything was just presented you in facts and behind the glass. The closest thing to interactive was their "touch the drawing to have it projected in a cartoon on screen in front of you!" However, as for eye candy, the museum was packed full of it. Intricate sculptures, equipment - basically everything of Taiwan history. Each era was divided in their sections and you got to go to each area to put a stamp on your map to show that you've been there. The place was jam packed in three levels, and they were presented in English, Chinese and Japanese. Unfortunately the museum did not allow photography, so I was unable to take any pictures of the place. Except in the beginning when I didn't know I wasn't allowed to <_<. The main thing I remember of it was their famous jade lettuce which apparently holds great significance. To the point that my mom had to buy something related to the jade lettuce in the gift shop.

Speaking of the gift shop, the jade lettuce merchandise was cheesy and lame. They made the jade lettuce and the little "bug" in the cabbage cartoon characters, so it ended up hard for my mom to buy the jade lettuce as a normal jade lettuce. Oh and their gift shop was HUGE.

Also, listening to the tour guide drone on about each exhibit piece for an hour plus was extremely tedious. To divert our attention elsewhere, me and my brother played around with the radio frequencies on the headset and picked up neighbour tours speaking other languages.

Finally, after touring for about two hours in that museum, we headed off to another marketing scheme - Asian Feng Shui. They lectured briefly about placement of certain guard lions and then focused on the significance of Chinese names. They brought multiple examples of famous people who's fate was somehow intertwined with their names. So depending on the number of strokes there are in your name determines your future (last names don't count cuz it's predetermined). IIRC, lucky numbers were 4, 9, 13. And unlucky are 16 and 0 (if double digit, the 2nd number is a 0). So mine are 10 and 9. Good and bad apparently.

I was surprised no one stayed to buy their merch after their lecture. I would've expected at least one or two feng shui believers.

Night comes... and that's when the best stuff happens. NIGHT MARKET.
They drop us off at this super packed night market area where we bought a GIANT piece of fried CHICKEN MEAT (breast) for 50 gils Taiwanese money (divide that by 4 then by 7.5 to get CND)! The lines literally looped around and around for these giant slabs of cheap meat. Once again the tour guide people gave us way too little time to check out the place fully. They allocate the time spent in the wrong places! So our family ended up being the last one to get to the bus because we basically got stuck in the traffic of people. Traffic that should be going one way, have stupid people cutting in from the opposite end. I ended up getting really frustrated and ended up pushing some of the opposite traffic people into the middle stands.

After the unfortunate short visit, we made out way to the hotel. Not the greatest, nor the worst of the hotels. It had this really cool (and scary) balcony and for some strange reason, a partially tinted giant window looking into the washroom where you take a dump (aka. the toilet). WHY?

Ok so our night market days were not over yet, fortunately. There was another night market in the area so, of course, we headed there as soon as we dropped our stuff.

DAY 5
We were prompt to leave the hotel in the morning to catch the "march". So at this official military station, the guards stationed at their posts will change after standing there without moving (same ones in England) for an hour or so. And when they do, they put on a whole show. I filmed the whole thing (it's a whopping 20 minutes long!) and then there's lots of stupid, stupid people getting in the way of the camera, in the way of the soldiers, in the way of everything. The soldiers' movements were so precise and look so simple, yet not. It was truly interesting but weird how we'd have to follow them (in a giant crowd of people) to watch the whole performance.

After chasing them for the good 20 minutes, we headed to "The World of Pearl" (it's what they wrote on their sign!). So this marketing scheme was to try and sell us real pearls, depending on the type, you can eat, "cure" certain aliments, or wear them like you know pearls best. Nobody bought it. Unfortunately for them. Everyone walked straight out after they were done talking.

Then it was time for souvenirs and sweets time. We stopped at this bakery called "vigor kobo" famous for their baked goods. They also had testers for you try out. Not my cup of tea.

Ok food time. Our last food place was an insane looking building that looked like it came out of Zelda... for real. It had the feel of Rainforest Cafe, minus the annoying, random thunderstorms and animal noises. They used clay, metal, and lots of brown, nature colours. They also had decoration pieces which was also made by the designer of the restaurant, which looked like they were influenced by Native culture.

So the story. This crazy designer lady one day saw a floating wooden 5-edged plank with a coin in it and bam! She was inspired by that piece of floating wood and made this restaurant! True story! It's even called the 5-edged wooden plank restaurant. For serious! I am not the one crazy!

Either way, she's hella rich and famous now.

After that enjoyable meal, we headed to our last street market. Apparently this place was extremely popular, as they'd have a park and ride stationed at the bottom of the mountain. Now, about the ride part... the bus drivers were extremely aggressive going both up and down the steep mountain. There wasn't much road room to share two lanes (one going up, one going down) but there was a lot of traffic. So there was more food and cheap shopping galore, but we were running out of Taiwanese money, so we spent cautiously to finish it up. When going back down the mountain, I had to endure some nasty BO in the stuffy bus while the crazy bus driver drove down like a mad man.

There was also a special order for duck tongue, apparently Taiwan was famous for their fresh duck tongue that even included part of the esophagus. We got a few orders for ourselves and as gifts.

Everything must come to an end. We headed to the airport to finish up the tour by rearranging our goodies into our luggages. My dad, as usual, stressed out like mad trying to fit everything in. But that's another story.

While we waited for our plane back, my mom spotted an ad on the Hello Kitty decorated gate! Immediately, she had us follow her. Luckily our gate was only a few away from the Hello Kitty one. Besides the gate, they had a nursery room, which just gave a small taste of the Hello Kitty goodness that was to come. Pink and cute as hell.

At the gate, indeed, it was pink and cute as hell. Their gift shop was jam packed with Hello Kitty goods. There was also a play area... and did I mention pink benches with Hello Kitty's head on them?

On the plane ride back, I watched the Spice Girls documentary. lol.

In conclusion! I'm glad we went to Taiwan over Korea! I really like how Taiwan has the Japanese culture built into their own now. I never knew Taiwan has such close ties with Japan even now.

In HK, everyone has their hands full with shopping bags.

In Taiwan, everyone has their hands full with FOOD.

Hong Kong Trip - Day 8

We had dim sum planned with another chunk of my dad's side of the family for 11:30am but we get woken up at 9am by a call from our grandpa saying he's on his way. Wut. So we scrambled to get ready and had him come up to our room when he arrived. We spoke a bit before we taxi'd our way to Grand Century Place.

HK malls are funny. They have an insane number of escalators. Those escalators like to jump levels. Grand Century has a pair that goes straight to the 8th or so floor from the ground floor. There's another pair that skips the 4th floor. The one to the 4th just disappears.

11:30 rolls around, the planned meeting time, and we take our seats at the Chinese restaurant for dim sum on the double digit floor (12?). We sat for a bit before the rest of the relatives arrived. This time, in addition to my grandpa, Auntie Irene the 3rd, Auntie Maime and Auntie the 1st, we got to meet my grandpa's two sisters. They still had so much spirit! They smacked my grandpa around (literally, without much hesitation) just like your typical sibling relationship. Did I mention they look adorable? :D

After food, most of them had work and other arrangements so we disbanded. We stuck around the mall for a bit and basically window shopped. Our grandpa came all the way from Shenzhen just for the meal, so we decided to spend a bit more time with him. All the window shopping was soo insanely tempting for me, however! I held back! :{

We find a photo development store and my brother and my grandpa take a group shot together (for his omimai purposes =_=). We then get a call from the optometrist we glasses shopped at, informing us they were ready for pick up. I also get a call from Jenny telling me she was ready to hang out too!

We say our farewells (as we were heading to Taiwan the next day) and made our way back to Mongkok. We got our glasses picked up and adjusted. I then headed to another Mongkok exit via subway to meet up with Jenny. We first visited a shopping building (yes!) out yet another Mongkok exit and did some good ol' shopping. There was this insanely cute goth store that had their own little mascot line with garments which had attached animal-like features (ears, tail, etc) on them! I got a piece that featured their cute critter. I also got some super cheap play earrings - 3 for $10!

After satisfying shopping, we headed to Kowloon Tong Station's Festival Walk mall, originally to meet up with her sister for dinner but she ended up ditching us. We debated on what to eat, and ended up eating food court rice bowls of Yoshinoya (mainly because Jenny didn't want to spend too much...). After eating, we window shopped the area and I ended up buying a chicken leg screen cleaner at LOG-ON. As the stores were beginning to close on us, we sat and talked for the rest of the night.

The next day's Taiwan! Gogogogo!

Hong Kong Trip - Day 6 & 7

Sundays are swarmed with housekeepers and maids alike as it is their only day off. It's actually rather frightening to be out on a Sunday. But anyway, started the day in Central looking for Yung Kee, a restaurant famous for their BBQ duck. We found the place but they didn't open until 11 so we walked around the area in the meanwhile and did some shopping. The BBQ duck wasn't as good as it claims to be but it wasn't bad either. The rest of the food there was overpriced due to their reputation but at least we can say that we've tried it. On a side note, they had two dragon statues inside that had eyes that kept glowing red... creepiest thing.

At noon we headed to our Auntie Mamie's workplace for our appointment with her for haircuts (as she is a professional hairstylist after all).. :D My bro went first as he had plans (watching a UFC match live on tv) and then I went. She touched up my roots and then replenished the rest of my hair with some more colour! Then snip snip snip... I didn't get a particularly different haircut, in comparison to what my brother, mom or dad got...

After my transformation, I headed out and called up Amy and met up with her at a Causeway exit. She said she had a K place her friends suggested her to go to... and as I expected, they suggested her to go to the expensive one on the corner of where my brother lived. Nonetheless, we were eager to try it anyways, considering the both of us haven't been to this one before. The place had a grand entranceway with high ceilings. The lobby was lead to the second floor by a grand stairway that curved upwards. When we got to our room, it was big enough for a 6+ people... not to mention, we had our own private washroom in our room too. Indeed it was expensive: the base rate was cheap, HOWEVER, you were forced to buy a box of processed peanut cookie-like snack from them for the base rate price on top. However it was all you can sing until 8, so we had quite a few hours. Their system was also very nifty too: for duet songs, you can chose whether you want to sing with one of the other artists. The Japanese selection was lacking ;b ... but hey, I've yet to find a good enough K place that supports a good J selection anyway... maybe except Japan itself but that's a completely different story <_<!

Time flew by quickly, and it hit 7, so we decided to go get some food. We traveled to SOHO where I was able to experience the longest escalator in the world (during its early years). We ended up deciding on having Italian at Fat Angelio's and had one of their combo meals for two where we were able to had a bit all courses. After the filling meal, we decided to walk Lang Kwai Fong and scout out the area. Apparently HK is really obedient on Sunday nights: everything's already closed by 11, and even Lang Kwai Fong is dead quiet by then.

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Monday. Shenzhen: Round 2 with the family and two of mom best friends from way back when (Banikie [pronounced Ban-kee] and Virpo [pronounced Ree-bow <_<]). We started the day with dim sum at probably the only few good food places in Shenzhen that isn't dirty and suspicious of poisoning. The dim sum restaurant was part of the train station building, so after food, we did some serious shopping. Me being obsessed with accessories, got myself a handful of fun stuff for insanely cheap prices. The two ladies sure know how to bargain... to the point that it's quite frightening. There was also some scarf and shoe buying action as well.

When it was about time, we walked to the massage parlor. Compared to the last one, this one was more run down, and was more professional as it strictly focused on massaging; no personal tvs or eating while we get strangled. However, Bankie (still don't know how to spell her name...) is a beauty consultant and is close to the workers there so she had all of us use her products. For this one, all us females got facials -while- we got massaged (which was the strangest thing XD;;) and even the guys got treated!

After the 3 hour pampering, it was time to feed the stomaches. Two of the employees there joined in on our dinner, as they were close friends with Banky. We made our way to Mixc mall in two taxis. On the way, I noticed just how much Shenzhen is trying to develop, seeing all the buildings being built and all the new modern looking ones as well. Quite a contrast to how Shenzhen used to be seen as... but anyway, Shenzhen's exit signs are on the floor. Side note.

It seems popular that malls have indoor ice rinks nowadays. Mixc had one. So we had some fusion Shanghainese food... the dishes were almost tapas sizes and they weren't all that great either. Not to mention, the food was expensive and they were going to charge us if we used their wet tissues (which were the only things they provided to begin with)... I recall the dessert being good though, whatever it was.