Hong Kong Sightseeing (part 1)

Our way of visiting HK may not suit you, coz I am of those type that don't know how to appreciate the museum, the zoo, gardens, temple, etc. Basically, all those that 'normal' tourists would go, we missed them.

I didn't go to the Ocean Park and the famous Disney Land. I don't like to squeeze with the crowds. I will only do that if I bring my children - suffer for them is okay. :)

Okay, what did we do in Hong Kong then? It was mainly an eating trip! Apart from eating, we went to a few places, for some reasons...

Ngong Ping 360 (昂坪360)
This is the latest attraction in Hong Kong, even newer than the Disney Land. It is opened early this year. To get there, we first took the MTR to Tung Chung station, and from there, we took the Ngong Ping Skyrail and started the journey.

I forgot to take the photo of the Skyrail. Anyway, due to the foggy condition (or hazy??!), the view wasn't good. We couldn't see far away, though the view is supposed to be attractive. It is a 20-25 minutes cable car jouney, allows visitors to glide across Tung Chung Bay and up to the Lantau Island, towards the Ngong Ping Plateau.


In the past, the only ways to go up the Lantau Island (大屿山) is by walking, or by bus - going through the snaky uphill road. It could take very long to reach up, and one may get motion sickness easily. With the Skyrail, it became a pleasant trip. But the cost was, ahem! expensive! We paid HKD 88 per person, that is without the tickets to two other attractions: Walking with Buddha (与佛同行) and Monkey's Tale Theatre (灵猴影院). I'm not that interested in those things lah!

At the end of the Skyrail, there is the Ngong Ping Village (昂坪市集), adjacent to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue in Lantau.


In the village, the first thing came to us was the Ngong Ping Tea House, like the ancient China tea house. We only took a few photos here and there, then left. Not really interested in those commercial stuff. :P


The Peak (山顶)
Watching HK movies, The Peak is always mentioned, a place couples like to go for dating, a place tourists like to go for night views... The Peak is indeed the top 3 night scenaries of the world (well, at least according to my siste - I don't have any reference!).

To get there, depends on what you'd like to do along the way. We took a different way to go there and another way to get back. We alighted at Central station (中环), had some food around there, then walked across the government buildings and the financial district, passed by the St. John church and the Court of Final Appeal (终审法院).


Along the way, my sister pointed me to this building:

She said the HK people believes in Fengshui, and this building is in the shape of a chopping knife - to go against its business rival! I wonder if it works?

Anyway, we then turned right into the Garden Road, a few minutes later we were at the Peak Tram station already. HKD33 per person. The track is 1.4km long with a gradient of between 4 to 27 degress, rising from 28m to 396m above sea level.


Look, this is the night view from atop.

Don't really know how to appreciate this, coz it was just so hazy on top there. To me, it is just another city view... a much more beautiful city than some. That's it. :P Sorry HK, no offend!

Avenue of Stars
It is at the southest tip of the Tsim Sha Tsui area. To get there, take the MTR, exit at Tsim Sha Tsui exit F, take the subway/pedestrian tunnel to the East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR Station Exit, then follow the signs. One thing good about HK is that, they have very good signboards everywhere!

At the Avenue of Stars, there are plaques, handprints of stars, sculptures, including a two-metre-tall statue of Bruce Lee.


If you can, try to arrive before 8pm, as there is a Symphony of Lights at 8pm daily, which brightens the HK skyline and can be seen very clearly and attractively from the Avenue of Stars overlooking the HongKong Island.

Hong Kong Trip

My God! After I've finished writing about my last HK trip, then only I know how much I have to post! I have to warn you, there are 11 posts in total, and I have to schedule a few days to post them.

I went to HK early April, 5D4N, with my sister. Just the two of us. Our goal was to eat, eat, and eat. Not so much of sightseeing, but we still covered quite a few key things. We didn't go to the Disney Land and Ocean Park, but we went to Macau for a one-day tour, also focusing on food. :P

I will start my 'report' with sightseeing/places first.

Coming up next:
Hong Kong Sightseeing part 1
Hong Kong Sightseeing part 2
Hong Kong Food part 1
Hong Kong Food part 2
Hong Kong Food part 3
Hong Kong Food part 4
Hong Kong Food part 5
Macau Food part 1
Macau Food part 2
Summary of Hong Kong Trip
Hong Kong/Macau Sightseeing Tips

Win Prizes with Bid4Prizes

Many months ago, when I first heard of 'The lowest bid wins' from ASTRO, I didn't understand it at all. I kept thinking, if I want to bid, of course I bid the 'lowest' as in 'zero'!

Now, I stumbled uppon this unique site, bid4prizes, with the same bidding concept of 'Lowest bid wins'.

Alright, if you are as clueless as I was, here is the explanation how it works:

To win a prize, you must have the lowest unique bid at the end of the game. The lowest unique bid for any prize starts at one penny, but if more than one person bids a penny, then that penny is no longer the lowest unique bid, and 2 cents is. If more than one person bids 2 cents then 3 cents is the next lowest unique bid. And so on and so on.

Currently at the site, the prizes available for bidding are very interesting, and have very good variety. For example, Wii, $500 CASH!!!, Sony VAIO, Apple iPhone, Philips DH Plasma TV, BMW 3 seris car, any many more!

Unfortunately I don't have a UK cell phone, coz the bids are placed by cell phone sms only, and they accept only UK cell phone numbers. As much as I wanted to participate/play, I couldn't do that! :(

If I can play, I would like to bid for the car, or the cash. :P

Win $70 plus prizes by guessing AhBoon's Traffic

AhBoon is now giving out USD70 for whoever can guess his site's traffic most accurately for the month of April. Well, actually USD70 is to be paid if you can get the ACTUAL number of page views. If no one can get the actual number, USD40 will be given to the one with the closest guess.

AhBoon is a friend of mine, and I feel very much to support him, so irregardless of my busy schedule lately (hence very little update) I still want to participate. :P

His site is actually very popular, but seriously I sometimes find it rather embarrassing to visit his site, coz got a little of humsup thingy. :P But they are not that revealing lah, so is still not 'sam kap' yet. ;)

He actually asked us for opinion on his best post and worst post, I find it hard to tell which is worst, but I particularly liked his post on the Hiroshima war pics (very controversial with lots of comments), and the one video about no seat belt.

I always think he has done a very good job in his blog. From what he has posted, I can tell he has done a lot of research/homework before he is able to write those stuff. I do hope he can maintain his good quality.

Now, come to guessing his April traffic...
His first 7-day total pages loaded was 49,854
Second 7-day total pages loaded was 35,861
Third 7-day total pages loaded was 65,857

I did a simple projection, if nothing is changed, he should have 202,096 (4 weeks projection) or 216,531 (30 days projection) pages.

But I also think there must be a lot of people like to do last minute guessing, so am predicting more visits in the final few days. So, would like to top up another 2 days to it.

My guess of total page load is: 230,966 pages. That's my guess from this blog. If I have time, I might do another guess in my other blog.

Bra Codes

AND, just a thought for all the women out there........

MENtal illness, MENstrual cramps, MENtal breakdown, MENopause............

Ever notice how all of women's problems start with men?.........And

When we have real trouble it's HISterectomy!!!!

How Jeremy Clarkson Destroys Perodua Kelisa

Witness how Jaremy Clarkson Destroys Perodua Kelisa. I don't know him and his programs, watched this for the first time only. Well, seriously I am not that fond of this type of program. I imagined, what if this Kelisa has feelings? It was anxiously to serve its new owner, right after 'birth', and what it faced was torture to death... Okay, okay, it is all personified, all my imaginations... Now, watch the video yourself.

Managing Blogs

I wonder how Shopping Mum manages her blogs. She has SIX blogs! They are:
Shopping Mum, My Filling Station, My Mothering Corner, Shoppingmum's Home Office, All about Beauty, My Kids and Family

I have only 3 blogs (ahem! 'only'), and I am already suffering, trying to juggle my time and resource (info/data) for each of them. I don't want to keep blogs with low ranking, and unfortunately I still struggle with this blog and the other one. The PPP opportunities are mostly qualified for Suzette only. I really sallute Shopping Mum for being so capable! Wonder if there is any secret, apart from being a SAHM (or WAHM now?)... :P

Cook Egg With Mobile Phones

We have heard about mobile phone's wave is bad for health, but the manufacturers claim it is safe.

Alright, now two journalists decided to test it by creating a simple microwave structure as shown below, with the phone in conversation mode:


After 65 min, the egg was cook! Imagine what will that do to you if you put two mobile phones in your pants' pockets and you talk with wireless earphones? What will that do to your... :P?


For more detail, read the source: Sharing Everything In Life, a very interesting blog.

How Much Is Your Blog Worth

My blog is worth $20,323.44.
How much is your blog worth?

I did this test at the above site, and this blog worth only 20k. My parently blog worths more, around 37k. And my third blog, which I don't spend much effort to maintain, worth 0.00!!! :P Really padam muka!

More Pleasant Travel Trip

Sorry for the long silence. I have been away for conference last week, and been traveling this week to USA. Well, this time we don't get to got to New York City already. We are in Houston again!

The last time I came here was 1.5 year ago, before I was pregnant second time. I didn't know MAS has changed the flight schedule, and I like it better this time. Since we depart from KL 3 hours earlier, we manage to catch the connecting flight from LA to Houston on the same day. Which means we don't have to spend a night in LA airport like before. With this new schedule, I departed from KL on Monday instead of Sunday! I like it this way, coz I don't have to travel on my personal non-working day! :)

And the total traveling time is also shortened as a result of that too! This time, from KL airport to Houston airport, only took us 24 hours. Last time was over 30! A more pleasant trip this time...

Europe

I have never been to any European countries. I am a frequent traveler myself, but mostly in this part of the region. The only country I've been to, outside this Asia Pacific region, is USA.

I have a few cousins studied in UK, and two of them are still there now. I mostly travel for business purpose. The company used to have a lot of meetings in UK, but since I joined they have moved everything to Houston. No doubt, I have the opportunities to travel there, but on the other hand, I also lose the opportunity to go to Europe (for free!). :P

Airport Security Game

Recently I came across this game, which was originally meant to be a joke about the hightened airport security, after the liquid ban policy last year. Try it and and see how much you can score? Warning: This game is quite addictive!!

Sydney, Australia

Few years ago, I went to Perth with hubby and we had a lot of fun there. Before going, friends warned about lacking activities etc. In fact, they were wrong. I came back with a very good photo album that attracted whoever reads it.

Well, most of my friends prefer Sydney more than Perth as it has more to offer apart from its great natural beauty. They like its seductive outdoor lifestyls, exciting events and its nature.

You can hire a car or join the local tours. There are events range from the local town craft fair right up to festivals that attract tens of thousands of people. There are hundreds of sports, arts and community events as well as exhibitions and festivals.

You can experience its nature with mountains clad in sub-tropical rainforest and islands rich in marine life. Lots of mountain hikes that rise through wildflower meadows to glacier-carved lakes.

In terms of accommodations, Hotels in Sydney are fabulous in terms of choices. From cheap budget motels, to international hotel chains, and also exclusive luxury boutique hotels!

Food and wine are also famous there, and it fits all budgets. You can also check on the aboriginal culture that is full of histories. For more detail, check on the Sydney tourism website.

Karachi, Pakistan Trip - Conclusion

Finally I have the time to write this.
I went to Karachi last week on business. It was my first trip to Pakistan, and it happened during our Chinese New Year. I was a bit reluctant to go, hearing too many security warnings, but I am glad I went.

These are the few things worth sharing:

Security
It is much better than what people told me. It really just looks like another Makati City in Manila. No doubt, armed officers (or guards??) can be seen everywhere, but it is to the similar level in Manila. Like Manila, we have to be scanned before entering any buildings. The only extra security measures I noticed, in comparison with Manila and Jakarta is, they also open and examine the bonnet when vehicles enter the premise.

In a country with frequent bomb scares, this kind of safety measure is appreciated, to help protecting our lives. But I have one question, not specific to Pakistan though: how do they know my luggage in the boot doesn't contain a bomb? They didn't scan my luggage in the boot.

Oh, I don't know whether there are curfews or not (as told by some), but we were out at night without any problems. I forgot to confirm with the locals about this.

Airport and Immigration Process
My office has very good relationship with the immigration officers and the airport. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an officer before immigration counter. We had express lane, bypassing queues/protocol/etc. I felt like a queen. :P

Similar process on return - upon arrival to the airport, I skipped all queues (or crowds), followed the officer bypassing everything, only waved my passport and went straight to the check-in counter. Best ever experience in any airports. :)

Drinks
Similar to India, I was advised to drink only branded bottled water. Do not take salad/salad-dressing, only eat cooked food.

Food
The food was fantastic. We had a great dinner on a roof-top restaurant called Bar-B-Q Tonight. The restaurant occupies the whole building, and the roof top is opened for seating. On a clear day, you can see the starry sky, as we did. It was breezy and very cozy.


It has an open kitchen at the ground level, which you can see how the food you ordered is being cooked. Very fun.


This is the lift that brought us to the roof-top. Very cute and old fashion. The lift's door is not sliding, but is to be opened outwards, err... well, like any doors. My pic is taken at the wrong angle, can't see clearly. There is this guy standing outside to help patrons open the lift door. Fun, isn't it?


They serve local and western food, but we only ordered the local flavors. Their naan is extremely tasty, very different from those in KL. Garlic is finely chopped in their garlic naan, which tastes just too good that it can be eaten on its own. Their chicken kebab is very different from ours. I hope I have two stomachs to eat them all. :P Sorry no photos, I was too hungry to take any. :P

Smoking Lifts
Yes, they are allowed to smoke in the lifts, otherwise why they have ashtray in the lift? This was taken in Marriott. I forgot to check out at Sheraton.


Beautiful Buses
Their public buses are very beautifully decorated. And their traffic is much better than ours.


People
All local people that we met are very nice and polite (except the Marriott Hotel staff I mentioned in previous post). My colleagues are so hospitable, offered to take us out for dinner and sightseeing. Unfortunately I left 2 days earlier than the others, they went to one's house and had great fun there! The drivers are very nice too. One very chatty guy have been to a lot of places including few cities in China and Malaysia. We thought he must be rich to do that, no? :P

Others
Not much greeneries in the city. I don't see many trees at the road sides, and what I saw was mainly dusts, rocks, paved and unpaved roads, constructions, etc. This is something that the city hall should improve, if they care of the quality of air for their people.

I didn't have the time for sightseeing. I've heard about great shopping for textile, which I will try next time. I heard that you can buy the textile and get the shop to taylor make for you. Of course, I will need my colleague's help to collect and send to me. I heard that the workmanship is very good, worth trying.

Yes, I have plans to re-visit the city, and I am not afraid any more. Just don't put me in Marriott Hotel will be fine. ;)

Bad Experience with Marriott Karachi

I copied this as it is from my other blog. The reason is, I want more people to read this, as it is something really worth sharing... I will write my conclusion in another post.
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Imagine this:
You made hotel reservation a month in advance. Midnight, upon arrival at a security heightened country, you found out that you have to share room with a complete stranger, and you have no other options but to accept it. Not only that, you have to sleep in the living hall on a made-shift bed, and yet expected to pay around RM700 ($200) for that.

This happened to me, in Marriott Hotel, Karachi. This is the most ridiculous thing that I’ve ever encountered in my travel life.

I arrived Marriott Karachi at 2:30am KL time. I was exhausted, desperately needed a shower and a good sleep. But upon arrival, I was told that the hotel was overbooked, and they have simply put me and another lady stranger in the same room, without seeking our agreement. Though this lady comes from the same country and same company as me, I do not know her at all! Furthermore, I need my privacy to express my breastmilk, and this has completely infringed my privacy rights!

The Full Story
During check in, we were not informed about the situation. They just made us sign the check-in form/agreement. Then, I got a glimpse of the room booking printout – someone shares the same room number as mine!

Upon asking, the receptionist then told us their problem of insufficient room. They have ‘kind enough’ to upgrade me and the other lady to an expensive presidential suite. They convinced us that it has two separate rooms.

We thought it was two bedroom suites. We finally agreed to say in the ‘two room’ suites. BTW, same thing happened to my boss too, has to share with another HK lady.

But then… when we opened the door, it was actually a 1-room suite. They put up a made-shift bed in the living room, in between the dining table and sofa; expect one of us to sleep there! And they dare called this as ‘2 separate rooms’!

I needed my privacy to express my breastmilk. The other lady was kind enough to give me that room. But I feel bad. My boss has to stay in her living room, coz we arrived later than the HK lady who took the (only) bedroom already.

We were very upset of this incident. After arriving in the Pakistan office this morning, we told the officers, and we were asked to change hotel and do not pay for the night we stayed. We did, with a lot of arguments at the lobby. It was just too dramatic just now, if you can imagine.

It is just not right in principal:

Dishonest
First, they were not honest with us. They should inform us the situation, instead of conned us into signing that form/agreement and used it against us. That receptionist brought us to our room. When we realized the real situation, he tried to sneak out. He thought he could just dump us into the room and his duty was over.

Room Rate
They expected us pay the full rate of Rs11,900 (RM700/$200) each, for sleeping in the living room. Only after we protested and refused that room, they then offered us half the price. But that wasn’t what we want. Even with that half price, none of us would like to stay with a stranger or in the living hall, especially on business trip and for me – who need privacy to express my breastmilk.

Gender Discrimination
This really pissed me off. There are 6 of us from my company, 4 females 2 males. The males arrived later than my boss and I. They got single (normal) room. We had to share. The HK lady arrived at least 3 hours before us, she had to share with one of us. Why it has to be females to share and the males have their own rooms?

Unprofessional Attitude
The staffs were rude. They kept defending that it was ‘2-separate-rooms’. Ya, one is living room. We told them that it was unacceptable, but they just don’t understand. The worst thing is, until the moment we cancelled our stay, they still thought we were being difficult, and they couldn’t understand why we were not happy with their ‘nice presidential suite’.

What Is Acceptable?
Well, if they have problem with availability, they should have called our office yesterday, and immediately arrange for us to move to another hotel. It is actually more professional that way! If they really want to try that so-called presidential suite, they should have checked with us instead of conning us and trying to dump us in that room. If it was agreed by our office, then we will accept it. Furthermore, our office would be able to advise them who can be put together and who cannot.

Next Steps
I am going to write to their HQ, and I’m also going to write to our procurement department to de-list them as our panel hotel. It is not cheap to stay in that living room, you know?

Now…
I am so happy that we have taken necessary steps, and I had some kind of pleasure – seeing their shocking faces when we cancelled our stays. Moving into Sheraton now is a good choice. This hotel is much newer, larger, with better facilities, and cheaper!

Added on 6 Mar
This incident in Marriott is only an isolated case, which should not be used to evaluate the country. Please do not generalize this experience to the general public. In fact, I enjoyed my trip very much, met a lot of nice and helpful people. Sheraton is also a very good hotel to stay in. I will write separately to share the fun with you all later.

Jakarta Trip - Conclusion

I was back from Jakarta on Wed night, 1 day shorter than planned.

To change my flight, I needed to get it validated in MAS office in the town, and got to pay USd25! I almost thought I couldn't make it, coz my office is 1.5 hour away from MAS office, and my meeting schedule was back-to-back. Luckily someone willing to help me to get it done. Whew!

There are a few things worth noting here.

US Dollar
It is so strange that, all Indonesians don't accept USD note that is folded. Unfortunately all my USD are folded. Luckily someone lend me some USD. Really don't know the reason why.

Chili

Look at this. It is my snack box. In our meeting, we can never get hungry, coz food and snack is always provided. But look carefully...


In this snack box, there is a raw green chili-padi. At first, I thought it was dropped into my box accidentally. No! It is to be eaten raw like that, together with the curry puff! :P

Flood
There was no signs of flood anywhere. The aftermath also not seen. But on Tuesday, after a whole morning's rain, flood started to build up. Luckily rain stopped in the afternoon. Whew!

Traffic
I thought the traffic was about the same like KL downtown. But when I was on their so-called 'Highway', I know KL is much better. They highway at any time, is just like our Jalan Kuching at peak hour. Cars can only travel 60km/h at most. Highway only means no traffic lights.

Shopping
Lots of shopping malls, and lots of them are high-end like our KLCC. And there are also a lot of poor people selling stuff on the road, risking their lifes in between traffics (like Manila). It really shows the gap of rich & poor is so huge.

Well, in fact, this is not my first trip. But my last trip was just too short and in much hurry that I didn't have the chance to observe and see the city. I will still need to go there again. I'm just not sure whether I should stay in Crowne Plaza again, given my bad experience this time. Maybe I should go back to Mulia Hotel then...

Challenges of Advertising

Recently I've attended a Brand & Communication Workshop in KL. Learnt quite a lot about advertising and promotions.

Advertising is becoming more and more challenging. And of course, as a result, advertisers are getting more and more creative.

One of the very interesting advertising activity (or so called consumer-engaging-activity) that I've heard was from New Zealand Tourism.

As we all know, blog is a phenomenon getting more and more popular nowadays. Some famous bloggers has great influences on consumers/visitors. NZ Tourism wanted to get more China tourists. They engaged with a famour China blogger.

They invited this blogger to visit NZ for free, from air ticket to accommodations, all expenses paid.

What the blogger needed to do was just to blog about the trip. This was exactly what that blogger love doing.

Immediately, after he posted the detail about his trip, a lot of Chinese admired the place and number of visitors increased significantly!

Now, blog advertising is going into another new dimension... Envy that blogger. :P

My Dream Place

Since childhood, I've been dreaming to go to these 3 places: New Zealand, Egypt, and Rome.

I managed to visit New Zealand 2 years ago. The trip wasn't satisfactory, coz the trip wasn't the way that I wanted it to be. I won't consider my first dream fulfilled. I will definitely want to revisit the place in the future.

Egypt is really influenced by a comic I've read long time ago - The Nil's Daughter. It is an antient city with a lot of mystery. I know the weather can be unbearably hot, but I will still want to go. The only concern I have is the terrorist activities. I hope the things I want to see won't be destroyed before my visit!

As for Rome, again influenced by comics too. But then, I admire the place for its ancient ruins and historic background. Last year, there were discussions of having our business team meeting in Rome, and I was excited for a while. Of course, due to cost and budget issue, we didn't make it. Hope we can make it some other time!

Jakarta Trip - Finally

Ya, I'm in Jakarta now. Yesterday was sunny, I was happy, thing was much better than expected, things all looked normal.

This morning, just as I was leaving the hotel, my colleague called. It was flooded. Yes, it was raining in the morning, and immediately there are pockets of areas flooded.

Everywhere jammed.

But luckily the rain stopped in the afternoon. Anyway, I am cutting my trip shorter by a day. Will be going home sooner. Whew! I hope I can catch my flight on time!

Originally though I'd have to spend the Valentine's alone here. Now, with the latest development, I can at least be at home by midnight. Better than alone here, though I might be eating instant noodle for tomorrow's dinner. :)

Upcoming Trips

Looks like yesterday was my last day in the office until mid March!

From Monday onwards, I will be either traveling, away for meeting in downtown KL, or on leave/holiday!

My boss just called this morning, telling me that I need to go to US for another global team meeting. I really hope that it doesn't clash with my sister's wedding. This would be too unfair for me, if I am penalised for not able to attend.

Anyway, talking about US trip, it reminds me of my last NYC trip. I've just stumbled upon this New York real estate site that also offers short term New York furnished housing for those who do not want to stay in hotel (aka corporate housing).

They also have a very good NYC Neighborhood guide that travelers may find interesting and useful.

Had I found this site earlier, I wouldn't have spent so much time and effort trying to plan our last NYC trip!

Sponsor Post commissioned by Serr.biz