Hong Kong Hotels
|
  | |  |
a day for meeting people
Entry 3 of 5 | show all | print this entry |
our second day went splendidly well. though we were not able to visit all the places in our itinerary, we were quite happy with how things panned out.
though we slept late, we were up and about at 730am, and was out the door at 820, ten minutes earlier than scheduled. we were quite psyched for the secrets of pearl shopping talk at hari's bar in the holiday inn golden mile. but before we went there, we need to have breakfast first.
we settled for a cafe de coral near our hostel, and we were glad we did. the meals were filling and priced just right. seems like we're finally getting some luck in getting pretty good and affordable food here.
so after gobbling our food down, we set off for tsim sha tsui via the mtr. i really have to say that hong kong's transportation system is simply to die for. i fell in love with the place when i studied this system. it's very, very, very efficient.
anyway, we got off at tsim sha tsui, walked down nathan road to mody road, and entered the holiday inn. we really thought we had missed the class, but thankfully, it didn't start on time. we were actually the first participants to arrive, which gave us some "headstart" on the lesson. the talk was conducted by mr. alex chan.
by the end of the talk, we knew how to distinguish between a fake pearl and a real one. upon closer inspection, we can also tell if pearls were "grown" in sea water or freshwater. the class even came with a practical application portion that tested the concepts that we were taught.
happy that we can finally shop for pearls with ease, we semi-skipped along tsim sha tsui, and chanced upon a tiny street with stalls selling trinkets. the vendor, a pretty friendly guy with such excellent command of the english language, got us sold on getting some trinkets for our friends. since chinese new year is just around the corner, we got them animal symbols that will bring them good luck for the new year.
since breakfast was pretty filling, we skipped lunch in tsim sha tsui, then took the train back to central. we crossed to the ifc mall, then walked to the bus terminus, so we can ride the bus to stanley. while looking at our bus options, we chatted up two filipinas who now work in hong kong. with their guidance, we were able to semi-figure out the fare scheme and the bus routes.
the ride up to stanley made me a bit dizzy because of the turns. the ride took about forty minutes. we got off at stanley market, where ayeen found a suitcase the she eventually bought for her singapore trip.
the bus ride must have done something to our stomachs, too, because we felt the urge to eat just a few minutes after we got off the bus. we decided to go for usual chinese fare at stanley restaurant. i settled for a bowl of wanton noodle soup, which was satisfying enough.
next up was the hong kong maritime museum, which is housed at the ground level of the murray house. the museum is only 18 months old, and is a private enterprise. it was built through the cooperation of the shipping community at stanley, with the help of various sponsors.
the guided tour, which is held at 230pm on tuesdays, is hosted by a hilarious chap who seems to know a lot about the history of sailing. the museum's ancient gallery houses models of chinese junks as well as some paintings of old hong kong harbour and some of the vessels that graced its waters. the modern gallery, on the other hand, will be very popular for children, as it is riddled with interactive maritime games. of course, informative pieces are also infused in the gallery.
the tour took about an hour and a half, and afterwards, we explored stanley market for a bit, then decided to go back to the hostel and rest our aching feet. we were actually supposed to visit repulse bay and victoria peak, but decided against it.
so, even though on paper, it may look like we didn't do much today, i would beg to differ. we met a few interesting people along the way, and that makes a world of difference.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by djong, from Hong Kong or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
