Eating, shopping, playing, watching my favourite and the most popular football team in the world in action. What more can I ask for?
Trip (airfare + hotel): $600
My cherished match tickets!
Sigh...if only they're real
The Peak was still reasonably cool, at 1,817.6 feet above sea level. At Madame Tussauds, took pictures with Andy Lau, David Beckham, Leslie Cheung, among others. But oh no!!! My idol's wax figure was nowhere to be found. I checked with the staff, and was told it has been sent for maintenance! How unlucky can I get??!! I was closed to tears...sigh. Jiahui was very consoling.
We then went to take some pictures from the viewing gallery. I've always think, and still do, that Hong Kong has the best night scenery ever. Not that I've seen a lot of night sceneries. Have been to Las Vegas, reputed to be one of the best too. Nah, Hong Kong's is way notches better!
Breathtaking night scene from Victoria Peak
Was really tired after that. Had wanted to drop by Lan Kwai Fong, the heart of the nightlife in Hong Kong. But really too tired to do so. Queue for ages to board the tram back down to Central, no express Q this time.
On Star Ferry to the rescheduled Big Buddha trip
At Sunny Bay station waiting for the Disneyland Resort Line train
The Disneyland Resort Line train. Isn't it kawaii!!!
Even the railing has a Mickey Mouse design!
We are finally here...the Happiest Place on Earth! Ü
Fountain at entrance of Disneyland
It was hot, hot, HOT!!! Must be at least 35 degrees, I think. My hat and shades did little to shield the scorching sun bearing down on us. But we had great fun all the same.
The Sleeping Beauty Castle
We took a ride on the Space Mountain and yelled ourselves hoarse! Also had fun on the Winnie the Pooh ride, Merry-go-round, Pirates of the Carribean's river cruise. Saw the Disney parade down Main Street, USA. Took lots and lots of photos, AND spend a MISSLE here. Think I spend all my budget for my entire HK trip at Disneyland alone Ü
Parade down Main Street, USA
The Space Mountain 
Winnie the Pooh ride 
I've always love Merry-Go-Rounds!
We just can't help it! Jiahui and me went crazy whenever we stepped into one of the numeous gift shops. You just simply forget yourself! There and then, I decided I like Mickey Mouse better than Hello Kitty! :p *chuckled*. Fickle-minded yeah. Or an excuse for me to spend more on my "favourite" cartoon character now...kekeke.
My Disneyland's loot!
The good, and bad thing about shopping at Disneyland is that the service is just splendid. Whatever you buy, whether it's a small or big package, the gift shop can send it to a deposit counter located at the entrance, so you don't have to lug your purchases all over the place. Only need to pick it up when you leave the theme park. So that means, we have our hands free and thus are tempted to keep buying and buying ;p.
These are all for myself! Oooaahhh!
Bought this really nice Mickey T-shirt for Mum. She loved it!
We took a ride on the Space Mountain again in the evening, seeing the Q has thinned a little. I thought I would not be so scared this time round, since I know what to expect. But I was too overconfident. As the roller-coaster zoomed round and round at super high speed in a stars- and planets-filled galaxy, I simply yelled myself crazy! It was fun!!
Pluto and Goofy!
Daisy!
Minnie and Mickey!
The Cinderella Carousel by night. Isn't it beautiful!
We spend 10 happy hours at Disneyland, and at 9pm, scores of fireworks were let off over the Castle! It was breathtakingly beautiful! Seeing fireworks always bring tears to my eyes. It's as if something so beautiful just filled you up with warm and energy, yet you know it's going to be short-lived. The multi-coloured bursts of stars and dazzling trails of lights over the fairytale castle just overwhelmed me. At that moment, it seems as if there's nowhere I wana be at the moment, as if nothing can make me happier. I am exactly where I want to be, with my close pal, enjoying the happinest moment ever. Sigh... these are memories that no photos can do justice to. So we held on to our cameras and just relish in the spectacular display.
Imagine colourful starbursts over this fairytale castle!
We left Disneyland after picking up our purhases from the deposit counter at the entrance. Ahh...it was easy to buy and send package after package. But when we collected them all...it was...bulky and heavy!!! And we didn't even realise we had bought so much stuff! Well, Jiahui bought quite a bit already, but I think mine were just overwhelming. I must have contributed about S$1k to the maintenance of Disneyland, I think ;p *pull ears*
Again, we went back to Mongkok to have a late dinner, and back to hotel thoroughly tired out, but very very happy!
We saw this model of a MTR train at the Hong Kong MTR station. This is one of the designs for their future trains. Totemo kawaii desu ne!! Why can't we have trains like that? It would make the journey to work a much happier experience! :)
Day 3: 22 July 07, Sun
Early morning, we made the trip to Lantau island to visit the Big Buddha. Jiahui and myself had been there before in Oct 2004. But she readily made the trip there with me again! That's why I liked travelling with her, always so accomodating and so easy-going! Ü
The Tian Tan Buddha - the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha
She had earlier decided to climb the 268 steps to the Tian Tan Buddha with me. But the previous day of 10-hr roaming at Disneyland had been really trying. So she decided to wait for me at the base instead. I started the climb myself. After about one-third up, I was already sweating profusely under the hot morning sun. I persevered on and managed to reach the top after about 10 minutes. I took some photos, even though it's my 4th visit there. Bought some religious artifacts for family and friends for good blessings.
The 268 steps to the Tian Tan Buddha
Saw this funny colourful stick insect at the base of the Buddha statue
It was thankfully windy, though not so much like at The Peak, where it's really cooling. After praying to the Buddha's Relic located at the top floor of the Tian Tan Buddha Statue, I made my way down again. Met up with Jiahui, and we took a light lunch of vegetarian at the cafeteria. It was really good.
Feeling 安心 that I've made my prayers, we caught a bus back to Tung Chung MTR for our return back to Kowloon..and to begin our day of shopping! Alas, we wondered into the shopping centre next to the Tung Chung MTR station to use the restrooms, and found that the shopping centre is actually a cluster of outlet stores!!! Nike, Adidas, Levi's, K-Swiss, you name it, they have it. Needless to say, I went totally crazy, and snapped up 2 Nike bags, 1 pair of Adidas shoes and 2 Nike shirts in record time. My package was quite heavy already. And we were only on the first floor. Jiahui reminded me that we hadn't really started our planned shopping spree. Reluctantly, we left without exploring the rest of the other floors.
My lovelyAdidas summer shoes
I got these Nike bags at a great bargain!
Lovely 3/4s from Esprit
I have always loved Esprit's stylish baby Tees
Ah, this is an indulgence, cos I have soooo many cardigans and windbreakers already.
We hop into a dessert shop in the middle of our shopping. We do that every now and then to cool down and have some nice, cool sweetness. Hong Kongers are crazy for desserts, especially mango-themed desserts. There is a popular dessert shop just 2 minutes away from our hotel, called 石磨坊. Its specialty is a mango ice cone, quite similar to our iced kacang, but laden only with mango fruits. There are other unique mango creations such as black glutinous rice roll with mango, mango with special noodles, etc. We had mango desserts almost every day, until I ended up with a bad sore throat on the last day of our trip. I didn't know mangoes were "heaty" :(
Mangoes Galore at 石磨坊
Black glutinous rice roll with mango
石磨坊's other mango specialties
After that, we went to 女人街 where I managed to exercise much restraint and refrained from buying junky stuff. Bought 6 sets of pyjamas for my auntie (she liked them so much when I bought them for her during my last trip).
I'm going to keep the Hello Kitty one for myself ;p
Managed to get this ladies cut Argentina national jersey (pirated one thou). I had tried in vain to find them in Singapore 
Love these!
Jiahui asked "why do you need all these stuff for?"
I replied with a pout "I'm going back to school next year. I will need stationery!"
Rolling her eyes, she left me to my own devices...hahaha.
Ahh.. expectedly, I had already decided then that I still like Hello Kitty better! Whahahahah!!
We shopped leisurely after that, stopping by a CD shop where I managed to find a collection of TVB serial songs (with one song sang by my favourite actor, Bosco Wong!) Ü
After 女人街, we went back to hotel tired out. It was the only day where we had our dinner on time *chuckled*.
I finally understand why HK is a shopping paradise. At 12.15AM on a Monday morning, the streets are still abuzzed with shoppers and kids are still hogging the cinemas and KTVs. We found a Ebase store with sale of up to 70%! How could we resist it?
This was a complete rip-off! Guess how much I paid for this?
Unbelieveable deals!Day 4: 23 Jul 07, Mon
This is the day our trip is for!!! We were going to Macau to watch the friendly between Manchester United and the Shenzhen Xiangxue FC! Since the match was at 8pm, we decided to make the trip to Macau after lunch. It was shopping again at Mongkok after a nice breakfast of dim sum. Actually we only went to one store - Maple, where, ah...I managed to get myself a members card for having spend a certain amount. *roll eyes*.
Maple is their version of This Fashion, but more fashionable, and cheaper!We had to exchange more HK currency today. After lunch, we took the MTR to Sheung Wan to catch the HK-Macau ferry.
The turbojet ferry
The turbojet counter had reasonably long Qs. Several people decked in the colours of the Manchester United jersey were among them. I had my jersey in my bag to change. We had earlier decided to make a trip to one of the casinos before the match, and I had no wish to wear my jersey there. No, the reputation of a Manchester United fan is at stake! No way am I going to be seen at the jackpots in Utd's colours!
Jiahui took this photo for me, and then I realised I should have taken it with my jersey on, so...
I slipped on my jersey and took another photo! Call me bimbo. I called it passion and loyalty! ;p
However, expectedly, we didn't manage to get early tickets back to HK. The earliest ferry with available seats after the match was at 1.15AM!!! We had no choice but to get that. And we only managed to board the 3.05PM ferry to Macau. So there was no time to go to the Casinos. We took lunch at the ferry terminal and board the turbojet after that. It was a luxurious, comfortable ferry that, as its name implies, travel at a really fast speed. The trip to Macau took one hour.
Macau's Fisherman's Wharf
I changed into my Utd jersey immediately once we reached the ferry terminal :p We took a walk to the newly built Macau Fisherman's Wharf. Many of the shops were not even open yet. We past by several casinos along the way. Las Vegas's Sands was just opposite, and it's beautiful.
Sands Casino
The bridge that links Macau's 3 islands
We thought this was a temple. But when we saw it during nightime again, its colourful display of lights told us it's a casino!
This arena was built to resemble Rome's famous Colosseum
Another of Macau's beautiful architecture
Isn't this beautiful? Very strong European flavour
Can't resist showing off my much sought-after tickets again *chuckled*
We took some photos and went for tea at a little cafe. On entering the cafe, I immediately spotted 3 guys in Utd shirts. They looked up at me as we entered and there was a momentarily feel of solidarity :). I tried the famed Portugese tart and their specialty coffee - iced lemon coffee. It was really good. Jiahui had normal iced coffee and a sausage roll. It was a nice lazy afternoon.
The famous Portugese tart. Ah, I took a bite before remembering to take a photo ;p
Iced lemon coffee. Nice!
Saw this in a shop selling Portugese souvenirs. Macau was once a Portugese colony. I was telling Jiahui, Ronaldo must have felt very at ease here...kekeke.
We tried to catch a cab to the Macau Stadium after that. Again, we were thwarted by Chinese tourists. Unabashedly hijacking our cab right in front of our face. And there were hardly any cabs there! After waiting for about 20 minutes, saw another cab turning into our path, and again, another group of Chinese tourists ran, yes, they practically ran ahead of us and hopped into the cab like it was the most natural thing to do!! I was furious!! I went to the security guard at the entrance and asked if there's anywhere else where we could flag down a cab. He suggested that we could try the casino's limousine.
Fisherman's Wharf is located right next to the Babylon Casino. I stomped off towards the limousine counter and found that it only costed S$12 to book the limousine. Jiahui and me were so relieved, and we hopped into the Benz for a cool, comfortable and luxurious drive across the Bridge to Taipa where the stadium is.
Posters at the Macau Stadium
So terribly excited at this point
Fans mostly in red were already mingling outside the stadium when we arrived. However, they don't seem to be in a hurry to enter the stadium and take their seats. Jiahui and me took a few photos and a quick walk round the stadium, which is really small and "lok-cok", before finding our entrance. The stadium seats only 15,000. Ahhh, no wonder the tics were sold out so soon
We went to the souvenir stand and I bought a program of the match. Was asking the lady whether they had any more Utd's Asia Tour T-shirts on sale, when suddenly, a Caucasian appeared beside her, and she told me to ask him. Turned out, he was the manager for Utd's Asia Tour!! Ooooaahhh!!
I told him we were from Singapore and we wanted to get the T-shirts. He was really amazed and happy to hear that. Unfortunately they had sold out all the T-shirts! :( I was secretly hoping that he might extend some privileges to us since we came from so afar! Like maybe a chance to take photos with the team, or some autographs etc?? No such hope. Disappointed, we thanked him and left to take our seats.
The very small Macau Stadium
When we entered the stadium, it was so empty!! I expected a full stadium to be ready for cheering the team. Instead, the stadium was barely half-filled. Anyway, we were lucky, we were seated in the 2nd row somewhere behind Utd's dugout!!! That means I could practically see all the players, even if it's only their back view!
Utd's dugout
We saw some fans lining against the wall of the tunnel through which the players would be coming out from. We immediately joined them and managed to get a good position to peer into the tunnel. After about 15 minutes of waiting, a scream went up and we saw Utd's goalie, Van Der Sar walking out in his warm-up kit. I was sooo excited!!
Shortly after, more screams came and there, less than 4 metres away from me stood Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs, Eagles and a few others!! I nearly died from the excitement and exhilaration!! I mean, it's Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's current best footballer, standing just out of reach from me!!! What's the cost of this? It's PRICELESS!!!Too shocked to act, I tried to take some shots, but for some reason, my hands were shaking uncontrollably. After I fumbled with a few shots, the team walked out to the pitch for their warm-up. I only managed to take a blur shot of Ronaldo playing around with the ball and a super blur shot of Giggs closed up! How I cursed myself!!! ArgghhH!
Closed up (but blur) shot of Ronaldo (dribbling ball), Dong, Rooney (back view), Eagles and Giggs!
Was so very mad at myself with this very closed up but super blur shot of Giggs! :(
Rio coming out for warm-up. Utd's new signing, Nani is right behind him. Jiahui managed to take this much clearer shot.
The guys were fantastic during their warm-up. Ronaldo showed superb dribbling skills, and effortlessly did a few of his famous stepovers down half the pitch. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.
Ronaldo during warm-up
The guys during warm up
Rio going back to dressing room after warm-up
VDS after warm-up
After a while, the team went back to the dressing room to get changed for the game. This time round, the stupid security guys put some barricades that prevented fans from going near the tunnel. I could only stand as near as I could to take some shots when they came out again decked in their home jerseys.
Before the game started, Utd's reserve China signing, Dong Fang Zhou paraded round the pitch with the Premiership League Trophy. However, there were hardly any cheers, and Dong seemed rather dejected as he walked back to the dressing room. I was very disappointed with the Macau fans. They were not as passionate about the sports and the team as we do. If it had been in Singapore, the team would have walked out to the pitch for their warm-up to a full and cheering stadium. Here, even when the game kicked off at 8pm, there were still visibly empty seats around the stadium, with some fans streaming in as late as 8.20pm.
Dong parading the Premiership League Cup
It was pretty dull during the game too. No fan chants, like in UK. No drumrolls or catwhistles or yells, like in Singapore. Only a small group of fans from the HK Fan Club put up a nice but brief lion dance display, and only their feeble chants of "ka yau" could be heard intervally. Several times, they tried to do the wave, but it always died before even going a quarter round the stadium.
The starting line-up
Took this off the screen
Posing for pictures before kick-off
Hands shaking before kick-off
Even though we were sitting in the 2nd row, we had most of our view of the 1st half action blocked by Utd's dugout. Luckily, Jiahui brought a pair of binoculars, and I managed to squint through it and caught the action clearly. Also managed to see the players' expression very well. Whenever I caught Ronaldo's handsome face through the binos, I had to keep peering over it and made sure that he really was right in front of me, on the pitch! It was pure euphoria!
What's the price of this? It's PRICELESS!!!
Match in play
Rooney during play
I didn't manage to focus properly on the match itself, as I was totally lost in watching the players in action instead. After a while, I turned my attention to the dugout, and there, I saw Owen Hargreaves, Utd's new signing sitting on the bench, looking kinda bored. After a while, I realised Alan Smith was sitting beside him! For some reason, Smith kept turning back to look at the stands, but everytime he did so, I couldn't fumble fast enough to take his picture. So most of my photos were of their back views ;p
Hargreaves and Smith at Utd's dugout
Managed to catch this shot of Smith. Check out his new mohawk hairdo. So Beckham! Doesn't he look gorgeous! Ü
Utd's Mascot
During half-time, Hargreaves was playing around with the ball by himself. Most of the team got subsituted shortly after the 2nd half. After sitting for a while on the bench, Ronaldo, Rooney and a few others left and walked back to the dressing room. Perhaps it was too hot. It really is a burning furnace over there. That's the last we saw of Ronaldo and Rooney :(
Hargreaves playing around with ball during half-time
Ronny leaving for the dressing room. That's the last we saw of him :-(
Hargreaves chatting with VDS during 2nd half
Fletcher's corner kick during 2nd half
Utd won the match 6-0. In our opinion, the Chinese team put up a good fight. Utd's substitutes playing in the 2nd half didn't really play as well as they ought to. Perhaps the heat got to them. Jiahui kept commenting that they lacked creativity, that their attack was weak. Well...it's a friendly afterall, I told her. No point risking injury, and perhaps they just wana "pan chance" to their hosts. Ü
Final score
Match Stats
10 minutes before the final whistle, some fans started leaving the stadium. What's the point of queuing for hours for your tickets and coming to the match in Utd's colours if you are not going to be supporting them all the way?? We were so disappointed with their lack of support.
Anyway, there was a short trophy and medals presentation after the match. Ronaldo and Rooney didn't appear. Giggs got Man of the Match, as I expected. As there were not many fans left, we managed to squeeze our way to the wall next to the tunnel again. Climbing high on the barrier, we could get a good view when they walked through the tunnel. Some of the players were really friendly. Carrick, Giggs, Silvestre walked to the fans and signed autographs for them. The friendliest was Chris Eagles, who actually walked right up to the stands to mingle with the fans. Such humility.
The Trophy and Medals presentation
O'Shea leaving pitch after match
Fergie after match
Van Der Sar is another friendly player. He walked over to the fans on the other side of the tunnel and signed autographs for quite a long while. There was a barrier on our side of the tunnel, so we could only watch and drool while the fans on the other side had a field day with the players.
As Van Der Sar was walking away from the stands, past us to go back to the dressing room, on impulse, I yelled "Van Der Sar!" He looked our way and I waved happily at him. He gave a brief wave back and I almost died!! I kept asking Jiahui, "did you see him waving at me?? Did you? Did you?!! I was quite beside myself with excitement. Jiahui was very thrilled too. And she managed to catch him waving at us on video!! I kept asking her to play it for me, again and again. It's another PRICELESS moment!
Alan Smith left the pitch next. The ever cool Smith did wave occasionally to fans. Screams of "Alan!" from girl fans could be heard as he left the pitch. Before he disappeared into the tunnel, he took off his jersey and threw it to the waiting fans on the other side of the tunnel. He was the only one who did that. Ahhh...what wouldn't I give to be standing on the other side!
Silvestre was the last one to leave the pitch. After he left, we quickly leave the stadium. The Utd coach was just outside our exit. A group of fans were already waiting behind the barricades set up by the army of security deployed for this match. We couldn't go over to the other side, so could only watch as the remaining players board the coach. Fans lining alongside the coach were waving frantically. Ronaldo and the rest must have already been on the coach. Sighh!!
I actually climbed a pillar to try and get a good view. Ended up with the most spectacular bruises on my thigh...hahaha.
After the coach left the stadium, escorted by more than 5 patrols, we mingled around for a little while. Eyeing the numerous posters put up around the stadium, I approached one of the security guys, and asked in my sweetest manner (eeeks!), whether we could have the poster, as we came all the way from Singapore. And afterall they had no more use for the poster. It worked. The guy was very nice, told us to wait aside, while he went in and peeled off 2 posters for us. Hahaha.
My poster, program and tic stub
We managed to catch a cab to Sands Casino for a super late dinner after that. It was a blessing in disguise that we only manage to get the 1.15AM ferry tickets. By the time we reached Sands, it was already 11.45PM. We took a quick dinner there and decided there was no time for a game of jackpot afterall. We then walked slowly back to the ferry terminal. It was a good 20 minutes walk away.
At Sands Casino after match
Back at the ferry terminal, scores of fans in the red jersey were walking and mingling around. No doubt most of them, like us, only managed to get the later tickets. Again, the feel of solidarity was evident in the air as those of us in the Red Devils colours smiled and nodded at each other.
It was a tiring trip back to HK. By the time we reached our hotel, it was already 3AM.
Coincidentally, Liverpool was in HK too for the Barclays Asia Cup. We only found out their schedule after it was over. Or we could have gone to the HK airport to pick them up. Jiahui was very disappointed. They have an autograph session in Tsim Sha Tsui on Thur, 2 days after we would have left!! Bad timing...sigh. I felt sorry for Jiahui....being so near yet so far to her favourite team. I would have felt awful :(
Day 5: 24 Jul 07, Tue
Our last day in HK. We managed to wake up early despite having only a few hours of sleep. I woke up with a bad migraine and after a breakfast of 车仔面 (my favourite, and probably our 6th or 7th), headed back to our hotel for a short nap. We checked out after that, deposited our already bulging luggage with the hotel concierge, and went for some last minute shopping. We hit 花园街, famed for sporting equipment.
Jiahui bought 2 liverpool T-shirts, while I settled for 2 Utd's T-shirt: a red one with Number 7 and a black one with Number 10. Also bought a Utd towel, which Jiahui was trying to object vehemently, saying I had no use for it. But I insisted again, saying that I could use it for gym.
"When do you ever go gym?" She asked, rolling her eyes again.
Hahahaha.
My Utd collection
Saw this advert of Messi in one of the Adidas shop. Liverpool's ads were all over the place too!
We walked all the way from Mongkok to Prince Edward, and proceed to Allied Plaza, a Far East-style shopping complex where Chermaine brought me on our last HK trip. I could hardly believe it when the girls from 2 of the stores actually recognised me.
"You came here just last year right?", they said."Ahh...ya...bought quite a bit." I replied.
"Yeah, I rememebered you came with 3 other gals," they confirmed.
Needless to say, I patronised their stores well again. It was HK's summer sale at its best. When I came last Oct, the stores were mostly carrying cardigans or wollen clothes. Now it's all the sweet, lacy, spaghetti tops. Very me! *grin*.
Sweetness from Allied Plaza
We left Allied Plaza with our hands full again and made our way back to the hotel to try to squeeze our latest purchases into our luggage. Then it was on a cab and homeward bound!
Our cosy and comfy room at Stanford Hotel
A fulfilling trip indeed! 满载而归!We were told by a lady sitting behind the check-in desk to take a seat first as the aircraft is not ready for boarding. As we turned to leave, this other lady addressed us in a crisp and sharp and unnecessarily loud tone.
"Hey you, come over here! 1, 2, 3 (she pointed at my baggages). What do you think you are doing, bringing 3 bags up the aircraft?"
"You want me to check in this (I pointed to my hand carry bag). It's all 老婆饼. If it's crushed, who's going to pay for it?"
We gave her an arrogant look, ignored her while she followed us up the steps. At the entrance of the aircraft, she told the cabin captain, "captain, these 2 ladies here have checked in their small luggages. These (pointing to our hand luggages) are cleared for boarding. Thank you very much".
The cabin captain gave her an incredulous look which suggested that her manner and speech were totally unnecessary, nodded and smiled at us and we went to take our seats.
Well, if she had explained nicely, we would have been able to accept the unreasonable and ridiculous ruling. But she addressed us as if we were criminals trying to smuggle heroin up her plane. It was the lousiest service I've ever encountered from any airport staff from all the places I've travelled to.
ちょ、この 旅こ は とても たのしいました！ この 次 は いっしょに いきましょ！
1 mini bubbles:
Nice shots :) you are a good blogger. i can see it clearly.. i have seen many bloggers worldwide.. but yours stand out of crowd.. keep it up :)
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