Shanghai: Thursday

I suck at bargaining. I really do.

I went over to this market place. One of the big places for fakes. It's literally right at the subway station Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. It's like a maze of small shops selling everything from clothing to jewelry to bags. You name it and they probably sell it.

I was approached by individuals asking if I wanted to see their watches or bags. I said no or ignored them and continued walking. I eventually wandered around and came across one place that seemed to have some decent looking bags. I went in. I looked. And I came away with 3 bags: one was a D&G bag and the other 2 were Prada. Of course, they were fakes. When I mentioned watches to the sales girl she led me through the maze of hallways to another shop that sold scarves and watches. I came away with a Rolex (for my brother) and a pink LV watch that will be a gift for a friend's fiancee.

Something interesting to note when I was in the bag shop. After I initially bought the D&G bag, the sales girl wanted to show me some better stuff. So she opens up one of the shelves to reveal a small stockroom. It barely had room for 2 people but she told me to go in there with her and closed the door. Inside, there were some better looking Coach, LV, Prada and a few other designer label bags. She showed me 2 Prada bags that looked nice. I tried to haggle a bit. I got her down to 560RMB for the 2 Prada bags. The D&G I bought in the shop I paid 175RMB for.

Oh! And how much did I pay for the watches? Too much. I paid 1000RMB for the 2. Abe said I'm allowed at least one such mistake when it comes to bargaining. I guess I just don't have the stomach for it.

It's getting late, but I'll take some pics of the goods and post them later. In the meantime, I think I am done with the shopping for now. At least here in Shanghai. :p

Shanghai, Wednesday Pt.2

Okay, so after I had my fill of the tower, it was already a little after 5PM and I figure I'd head back.

The subway ride back was a bit of an experience. I hit rush hour. I managed to make my way onto the train. It was pretty packed. People basically push and shove their way on and off the subway cars. It's like an every man (or woman) for himself mentality here. I really don't know if I can deal with this on a long term basis. But, when in Rome...

After I got back to my friend's place, I uploaded the shots I took. Eventually, my friend got back from work. He decided to take me down to the Bund to check out the sights and sounds of Shanghai in the evening.

Near People's Square



The night shots I took with the P5000 as I really didn't not feel like lugging around the D80. I suppose that did limit my control of some of the shots, but since the camera has some manual control, it wasn't too bad. I did try out the night landscape setting on the camera. Not sure how hight the ISO was, but the pics came out better than if I left it on Auto. A bit grainy though. :p

View across from the Bund


View of the Bund

Unfortunately, they had decided to turn off a lot of the lights early last night for some reason. The Pearl Tower should have been lit up more than what you see in the picture. In any case, after that we headed over to this bar/lounge that my friend frequents. It's not a pick-up joint. It's more for folks (mostly foreigners) to relax and have a drink. It's more mature. Anyway, we had a drink and shot the shit. We then grabbed a cab back (the subway closes down early here).

Today, I think I will head over to this "flea market" for knockoffs. I'm not sure if I will find something I like, but maybe I will find something to bring back to friends. I guess we'll have to see what they have. Wish me luck, because I really don't know how good I am at haggling. :p

Shanghai: Wednesday Pt. 1

So, after getting to bed late last night I kinda slept until about 9:30 or so. I still felt tired, but that might have been because I slept too much. My friend had already gone off to work so I figure I'd just take my time during the morning and then head out in the afternoon. I figure I'd hit the Oriental Pearl Tower.

For 135RMB you can visit all the observation decks including the one at 350 meters up. That's pretty high up.

From the main observation deck (about 263 meters):

The Bund


He and a couple other guys were actually outside doing some sort of maintenance.
They canme back in through this access hole in the ceiling of the observation deck.

The building in front is the Jin Mei building. It's one of the tallest. Behind it under construction is going to be the tallest building. According to my friend, there was nothing there 2 years ago. The rate of construction of this thing is a bit scary.




Okay, it's about 1:30AM and I am pooped. I think I wrote enough here to satisfy some of you for now. ;-) I'll post part 2 tomorrow in the morning, whenever I get up. :-)

Hong Kong/Shanghai: Tuesday

Well, I set the alarm on my mobile for 5AM. Damn! That's early. :p We packed up whatever was left that needed to be packed. We went down to check out. Luckily a taxi just pulled up in front of the hotel. Traffic was a breeze to the airport. My flight was a Cathay Pacific codeshare with Dragonair so I had to check in with Dragonair instead.

Not really meaning to ditch the folks (their flight is at around 11AM versus my 8AM flight), so I bade them adieu and bon voyage as I proceeded to go through security. Security and customs was a breeze. I found a Travelex where I exchanged most of my HK$ for Yuan. I gotta have cab fare for when I get there. I found the gate but there wasn't much in the way of seats close to the gate, so I just found a spot on the floor and sat. Time to board came around. Seat 41G. An aisle seat. some days I just don't feel like being trapped in a window seat. Just behind my row was a huge tour group. Not exactly sure if they're all from Hong Kong, although it seems that most of them spoke Cantonese. Amusing moment: While waiting for the washroom, someone didn't lock the door but when he was done ended up locking himself in. He struggled for a bit there before he managed to get out.

The flight was overall rather uneventful. I listened to my iPod for a while. They served us breakfast. We had a choice of some western fare or noodles. I opted for the noodles. There was some turbulence along the way but it wasn't too bad. The flight was pretty quick lasting just under 2 hours. I just wished the cab ride went as quickly!

After clearing customs (no problems), and retrieving my bag, I figure the best way to get to where I was going was the cab it. I really did not want to lug my baggage on the Maglev and the subway system. I found the taxi stand no problem. With the address my friend FAX'd me the other day, the taxi driver knew where I wanted to go. It was relatively smooth sailing until we hit some traffic at some point. It was stop and go primarily because there was a traffic light at this part of the road. I thinka bout about 30-45 minutes we reached our destination. The taxi ride cost just 170RMB. After I got out and another fare got into the cab, I showed the suited and name-tagged guy at the door my friend's address. He acknowledged the address, offered to carry my bag and led me to the building. There, another suited man showed me a note and an envelope with my name on it. I guess he left his key for me. After some smiling and nodding, I took the key and my bag and made my way to his apartment.

After thinking the apartment was 603 and not 608, I managed to find myself inside his place. It's a small 2 bedroom apartment. I guess it's the right size for a bachelor. His fridge reeks of bachlordom too! ;-) 2 cans of coffee, a bottle of pepsi, a bottle of Absolut. There were some leftover KFC spicy wings, which I eventually nuked and ate. He had some McD's fries sitting in the microwave as well. there was an assortment of instant noodle packs. Hmm.. I suspect he eats out a lot. But then again, I think it's relatively cheap to eat out here anyway.

In any case, I feel like a shower, but the cleaning lady is here. I'll wait until she's gone. I think my friend is suppose to be back around 6:30PM. We have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe over some food and drink.

Hong Kong: Monday, Last Day

Well, it's the last day here in Hong Kong. We didn't do anything too strenuous today. We kind of slept in a bit and only headed out a little after 10AM. We headed out to Sham Shui Po. It's not a huge area. I guess there's a few interesting features of the area. There's an open-air flea market. Along one street there's a whole bunch of stores selling clothing at wholesale prices. We stopped by the Dragon Centre which is yet another multi-level mall. Dad decided to have a therapeutic massage at this place that charged $84HK for 30 minutes. He said he felt good after that. Then we decided to have some food at the food court there.

Afterwards, we made our way back to Mong Kok by way of Yau Ma Tei. Walked around Nathan Road a little bit. Bought a funky mango drink. Went back to the hotel to relax. after watching a movie in the room, I decided to get my bag ready. I did buy a few tops and a few bags, but I was still able to close up my bag with some slack.

Thoughts about Hong Kong? I think the nine days spent here was a bit too long for me. Hong Kong in general is not a very big place. I think we managed to see the major sites. I don't know how many shopping malls we hit. I'm sure there are many bargains still to be found, but I did not really come here to shop. What I did find interesting was seeing how people lived here. It's interesting to see that there is a campaign going on now to make people more aware of the environment and what they can do to become more green. Another observation I made is that people are HUGE football (aka soccer) fans here. It's very easy to find football jerseys here. On the hotel cable there's a channel that's all soccer it seems.

A few things I saw that I thought were interesting: a little, elderly lady yakking away on a cell phone, bamboo scaffolding covering an entire building, people carrying around 2 cell phones for some reason. In any case, there's quite a few sights I saw that were interesting. Sometimes, it would just seem too awkward to take photos of them all.

Anyway, on to the next destination tomorrow morning...

Hong Kong: Sunday

Argyle St. as seen from Mong Kok Station

Today we went out to Tai Po (aka Tai Po Market on the train map). We have two cousins who live out there. I think Tai Po is out in the New Territories region of Hong Kong. This is north of Kowloon. It was about a 20 minute ride on the commuter train from Mong Kok station.

We met with the one cousin who owns and runs a gold jewelry store. My mom wanted to trade in the one bracelet I have for a new one. So I looked at what they had. After trying on a few, I settled on one I like. I think the value of the new one was slightly higher than the old one, so we ended up paying just $645HK (the difference) for the new one.

We then went over to this huge multi-level indoor market to grab a bite to eat. On the ground floor you had the meats and fish. On the next level you had dry goods and produce. On the upper level, you had a huge food court area. It was hard to find a table, but my cousin managed to find something in front of one eatery.



After we finished eating, we met up with my other cousin and her daughter who drove us out to where my mother's older sister (cousins' mother) was buried. It was in a slightly out of the way area. We had to sort of negotiate with the locals for a parking spot. Then it was a winding, weather-worn path down to the tomb (I guess that was the best way to describe it). It wasn't really a cemetery like the one where my grandfather is buried. This looked more to be an older burial place. There didn't seem to be too many tombs there. In any case, after brushing away fallen leaves and other debris, flowers were placed in from of the tomb. Respects were paid to the "landlord" (I'll need to read up on some of the burial traditions), incense sticks were lit and we paid our respects to my aunt. My cousin bought a lot of paper money and other items to burn for her mother. It took a while to burn it all. We had to make sure the flames were all out before we left.


Some plant with huge melons or fruit my Mom wanted me to take a picture of.

While we were waiting for all the symbolic paper gifts to burn my cousin made reservations for us to have dim sum at a country club she belongs to. So, after fire went out we made our way back. Along the way, Joanne (cousin's daughter) asked one of the old ladies tending the gardens nearby if she had any green vegetables to buy. I don't know what kind of greens they were, but she said she did and for $10HK she picked a bag full of greens. My cousin brought the greens with us to the restaurant and asked them to cook it for us. They turned out to be quite tasty. Gotta love fresh picked green vegetables.

I think by now my brother and I have eaten more than enough for today. After we made our way back to my one cousin's store, we said our goodbyes. Before heading back to the train station, we meandered through some of the market areas. After we got back to Mong Kok station, we took the long way back to the hotel and wandered through the Ladies' market again. Still the same wares. Nothing new. Got myself this frosty mango drink along the way... I think we're chillin' before heading back out again. I'm pretty pooped though. All that food and whatnot. :p

Hong Kong: Saturday

Today we got up relatively early to head out towards Hung Hom (by taxi this time) to meet up with family friends for dim sum. Along the way, I took a photo of an example of bamboo scaffolding. Bamboo is still the material of choice when it comes to scaffolding.





After dim sum, the older folks went off to do their thing while myself, bro and the older daughter of the family headed off on our own. We decided to check out the Times Square shopping mall on HK Island. The stores are pretty much the same as the other malls we've been to. This place, however, is on 8 levels. But, each level is relatively small, ergo the many levels. Space being such a valuable commodity, the only way to expand is upwards! When we had our fill of that, we hopped onto one of the trolleys (a still heavily used relic from the olden days) to make our way from east to west to where the series of moving walkways and escalators that led up and up the hillside. It all ended at Conduit Road. Really, there's not much once you get up there. So, we made our way back down. I was getting a bit tired, so we made our way to the IFC Mall and had a bit of a late lunch there.



Afterwards, we went to the Elements shopping center (yet another one!). It's a relatively new mall. It's rather nice as well. Something interesting we learned from Theresa (daughter of family). In Hong Kong, people tend to want to buy the latest and greatest. The outlets that we've seen carry end of season or end of run items. This would explain by there really isn't that huge of a draw to those outlet centers like the one we saw at Tung Chung station when we went to see the Buddha. Hmm. Also, it seems that people here are really into the big name brands like Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, etc. Almost every mall we've been to there were at least one of these high end shops on the premises.

Anyway... By now it was getting late in the day. I think we were going to go out for dinner. So Theresa came back with us. Mom convinced her to go out to dinner with us. We found some place on Nathan Rd. for supper. It wasn't bad. So far it's been hard to find any really bad food here.

So now, I am pooped. My feet are weary from about 6 hrs of walking. I think all the walking is compensating (I hope!) for the all the food! :-p

Hong Kong: Friday

The day started off a bit slow. I'm still pretty wiped from all the walking that we've done. So this morning, my brother and Mom went out for a walk. Bro brought back some oranges, one of which I had. Later on, we decided to take the commuter train to the area of Hung Hom. From what I quickly read in Wikipedia, it's originally designated as a residential area. There is some shopping. There's plenty of restaurants. I think the main draw would the the department store built in the shape of a cruise ship.



We found the Whampoa Gourmet Place. There were a number of establishments there but not all of them were open just yet (it's not quite 11:30AM when we got there). There was one place that was open and that's where we went for some food. The restaurant we ended up at seemed to specialize in some Sichuan dishes. We settled on a sampling of noodles in 4 different broths, a dish of greens and mushrooms, a beef dish, and some more of those Shanghai dumplings. It was quite a bit of food for less than $300HK.

After we ate we walked around a bit. My Mom wanted to find some shopping mall that was supposed to be pretty big. After we quickly strolled around the Metropolis mall next to the train station we grabbed a taxi to head over to Tsim Sha Tsui East. There were some shopping arcades and whatnot, but nothing close to what my Mom recalled. Since there were a number of office towers there, there were plenty of restaurants and many types of eateries in the area. I think by this point it was nearing 2PM. We decided to catch the subway back to the hotel and chill.

Tsim Sha Tsui East

When we got back we stopped by the optician to pick up some glasses we ordered 2 days ago. I got 2 new pairs of glasses for a total of $900HK. Compare that to over $500 a PAIR back home! They're not bad. They look kinda trendy.

Anyway, after chilling for a little while (Mom and bro went to walk around the area again), we went out for some dinner. Dad yammered with the doorman downstairs who recommended a place on Nathan Road in Yau Ma Tei. So we walked. We managed to find the place. It was on the 3rd floor. (Something to make note of. In places like HK and Japan where space is at a premium, it's not unusual to find restaurants on upper floors.) This place seems rather nice. Mom ordered some dishes: a clay pot dish with taro and chicken, another clay pot dish with dumplings, an appetizer dish with various meats, a dish with these ribs and some sort of sweet, fried round thing, and half a crispy chicken. Individual cups of green tea was served after dinner. All of this for about $420HK.

After that relatively big dinner, we went out walking around the Ladies' Market looking at some knock-offs and stuff. My brother found a couple of silk blouses to give as gifts. My mom found little slippers for my sister's kids. Me, I found some tempura nori snacks at a Japanese snack shop along the way. :D

Tomorrow will be interesting. We'll be meeting with the family we know here for some dim sum. Mom will be heading off to do some shopping with the mom of that family. My brother and I will go along with the older daughter to check out what is considered the Rodeo Drive of Honk Kong. Uh oh! ;-)

Hong Kong: Thursday (later)

We took the subway out to Hong Kong Island and got off at Central station. We spent a little bit of time strolling through the mall at the IFC. Nothing spectacular there really. After that, we made out way to the small park where there is a cenotaph dedicated to those who died during World War II and some even between 1914-1918. I should look up the history of Hong Kong during that period.



We then went to find the way to the tram that would take us up to Victoria's Peak. We eventually found this walkway/bridge network that brought us to the Peak Tramway. For $48HK, we got a round trip ticket and access to the rooftop terrace. It's quite the view from up there. I also discovered that Dad was afraid of heights. He avoided getting too close to the side.



We strolled around the area before taking the tram back down. Then we made our way to the pier to catch the ferry back. The boat ride cost just $1.70HK for a 9 minute trip back to Tsim Sha Tsui. We then went back to the Harbour City Mall for my Mom to look for something for my cousin's kids. There is a Sanrio store there, so she got a couple of hair clips. I looked at the Tokodoki Le Sportsac bags but the designs they had did not appeal to me. I liked the one I saw the other day at the Sogo department store. After we were done at the mall, we went over to Sogo to look at the bags. The one I wanted was still there. Yay! So I bought that plus a matching small zippered pouch. :-D

After the damage was done, we caught the subway back to the hotel. Mom called my cousin and we'll be meeting her towards 7PM. She got here a little early and we went to the restaurant located in the hotel (but not run by the hotel) for dinner. It was a nice dinner, really. We started with some nice barbecued pork. It was quite tender. We had some sort of soup with shark's fin in it. There was a Shanghai specialty called xiao leung bao. There was some prawn dish that was tasty, but I find a bit annoying to eat because it was shell on. Sweet and sour pork (of all things) was also served. Peking duck was ordered. The crispy skin served with nice thin pancakes along with celery, green onions and hoisin sauce. A green vegetable was also ordered. I have no idea what it's called in english but it's quite nice and served in some sort of crab sauce. It's really not as bad as it sounds. The sauce did not have an overwhelming taste to it.

Hong Kong: Thursday Morning

Nothing too exciting this morning other than maybe a few observations to make.

I'll need to read up a bit on the social structure of Hong Kong, but one thing I have noticed here is that it's at times very visible to see the haves and have-nots here. The other evening I caught part of a documentary called Hong Kong Stories. The installment I saw was about the homeless here in Hong Kong. It's rather sad to see but it's also comforting to know that there are organizations that try to help those in need and who want to be helped. There's this thing about pride and saving face here in Asia. So it's interesting to see that there are those who try to save face by seeking the help they need to get back on their feet.

This morning as we took a walk around the area after breakfast, I noticed a few things. There were those who seemed obviously down and out. I saw one man picking through the garbage for anything salvageable. Another man keeping up with his oral hygiene by brushing his teeth near a phone booth. I've seen a number of people around who seem quite a bit less well off than others. A few times we have seen crippled men begging for change in the middle of the street. It's really sad to say. It makes you wonder what sort of social assistance is available at all here. Like I said, I think I would need to read up on this some more.

Anyway, about head out shortly for Hong Kong Island.

Hong Kong: Wednesday

(NOTE: Speed improved so I managed to upload a few images.)

My Mom got a call last night from her friend who was vacationing here as well. The plan is to have dim sum this morning. So we met up with her this morning and went to the hotel restaurant for dim sum.



Afterwards, we decided to head down to Tsim Sha Tsui. We checked out the Avenue of Stars. There was a life-sized statue of Bruce Lee. There were stars along this waterside walk with the names of various Hong Kong stars and directors. Some have handprints and signatures with them. I took pics of the ones I recognized, like Jackie Chan and Jet Li.


Jet Li


Jackie Chan

After that we found ourselves at a HUGE mall full of upscale boutiques and shops. Think of a high end designer and the store is probably there. It was an L-shaped mall on 3 levels. Simply HUGE.

When we got done walking around that, we got back out onto the street and walked around a bit some more. Next to Kowloon Park is a row of more boutiques. So we walked along Nathan Road up until Hillwood Road at which point we crossed to the other side of Nathan and headed back down it.

I think by this time it was nearing 5PM. We had taken a late lunch at a place called Macau restaurant soon after we got out of the mall. We headed back to the Avenue of Stars. I was hoping that with the sun starting to set that we'd see some of the neon lights lit up across the water on the Hong Kong side. Some of the lights were lit up but not all yet. As we strolled along the Avenue, we saw a classic Sampan sail by. I managed to take a few shots of it.

After all this walking, we grabbed to subway back to Mong Kok. We were pretty tired and not too hungry, so we picked up a few buns to munch on as a light dinner. My mom and brother afterwards went out to stroll through the "Ladies' Market" in search of more bargains. Then, after they came back, my brother went off on his own to stroll some more. My feet are killing me, otherwise I would have gone out with him as well.

Hong Kong: Tuesday

Today we made the trek out to see the huge Buddha on Lantau Island. Getting there was half the fun! We had to take the subway all the way out with one change along the way. From there we had to catch a bus to the Buddha. The bus ride took about 45 minutes. I took a short movie of the ride as we had front row seats on the ride out. However, I can't seem to offload it from the camera to this machine.

Well, we finally made it there. That thing is quite a ways up.



It was a bit of a climb up but I managed to make it up. I think those weeks of cardio I have been doing paid off!



After that we had a vegetarian meal by the monastary.



It was quite good. It was also rather filling for 4 people.

After the Buddha, we checked out the outlets at the mall that's by the subway station. Some interesting stuff, but didn't find anything that caught my eye or had the right size. Oh well.

Hong Kong: Monday

The morning started off slow. My brother was right in that things don't get going until late in the morning. Until after 10AM, it's mostly school kids and office workers running around to get to where they're going. So for breakfast we wandered around a bit and found a place that served congee (rice porridge) and some other stuff. This place was not far from the hotel and we found it after walking around the area for about 30 minutes.

Afterwards, we went back to our rooms to digest. We were suppose to meet a family friend to bring us to the cemetery where my Dad's father is buried. It was a bit of a hike to get to because it's in an area a bit north of where we were. I'm guessing that this is in the New Territories areas. Because space is such a valuable commodity, this cemetery is terraced. My brother was telling me that these days, plots can go for quite a bit of money.



Afterwards, we headed back to take a break at the hotel. Then it was out to the Ladies's Market to check out the knockoffs and other bargains. My brother got himself a nice Tag Heuer watch and Louis Vuitton wallet for $80. We popped into an electronics store and I found myself a nice 18-200mm VR lens for $200 less than back home. It looks like the prices of some things are definitely less here.



I think tomorrow we will visit this big Buddha statue on Lantau Island. :-)

Dateline: Kowloon, Hong Kong

Well, after flying from Chicago to Hong Kong for approximately 15 hours, I'm finally here. Aside from a few bumps of turbulence along the way the flight was relatively uneventful, save for the toddler who sat right behind my Dad and was bawling his eyes out every once in a while.

For the first half of the flight, I found it difficult to fall asleep. I listened to my iPod until it ran out of juice. :p I tried to read a little of the book I brought with me, "Heat" by Bill Buford. The flight took us up and around the North Pole. I managed to dig out my camera for this shot of the screen.



After we got in my Mom called some family friends. We met up with them at the hotel. After we freshened up, we went to this restaurant that seemed to specialize in seafood or something. In any case, it was pretty good!



Pretty tired this evening after dinner. My brother and my parents went out for a walk around the area. The shopping here is open until pretty late. The hours here are quite different. My bro says that other than school kids and businessmen, nothing really openes up here until around 11AM. It might have something to do with the climate.

Anyway, I'm off to bed shortly. Maybe I'll write something more significant later. :)