RT is getting tougher with each session. Still, I love the feeling after the run. Refreshing and Energetic. However, I hate the journey back home. Not only I have to wait for the buses for a very long time, I have to squeeze myself in the bus as if I am the sardine in the can. Hope that all these will soon be over. *Cross my fingers*

Anyway, saw these adorable pair of ducklings in the bathroom of my hotel room in Shanghai.

'Bring me home' is what was written on the card attached to its neck. Too bad, I can't adopt them for I have too many pairs at home. Nice touch from the hotel for its guests to play with while soaking themselves in the oversized bathtub.

As promised earlier, here's a short entry of what we did during our 3 days stay in Hong Kong :

Accommodation @ Sheraton Hotel

The moment we opened the door to our room, Mum was 'wowed' by what she saw. The room was very comfortable and spacious (by Hong Kong standard)...just nice for the 3 of us.

Our first dinner at one of the popular Char Chang Ting @ TST

Five of us enjoying our very first dinner in Hong Kong

Pin Pan - A combination of roasted goose, barbequeue pork, roasted pork and chicken. This is what the char chang ting is popular for. Upon entering this little restaurant, you will not fail to see on the wall the numerous newspaper and magazine articles featuring its specialty. Our verdict : The meat is really delicious except that they are too big a chunk. You may feel sick of eating after chewing two or more pieces as not only they are quite oily, they are also abit salty. The guys enjoyed it but the ladies gave it a miss after a few bites. Hahaha... Besides the meat selection, we did order a few other dishes like the tofu and vegetables. Quite tasty.

What comes next after finishing the main course ? Of course, its none other than dessert !!! Brought them to this very famous dessert joint just a stone throw away from where we had our dinner...

The Sweet Dynasty - Ring a bell?

This is the highlight of the dessert - A bucket of Dou Hua (jelly beancurd)...It is soooo smooth that it melts in your mouth. And also it is something light that you don't feel you are full despite eating 4-5 bowls of it. Of course, we felt the pinch after a few bowls for we just had our very sumptous dinner and other desserts as well.

Other desserts :

Tang Yuan in ginger soup. The Tang Yuan are very nice with black sesame filling. Oiishiii...

Red Bean soup with Orange Peel. I felt that this red bean soup was bit too diluted and the taste of the orange peel was too strong. Not recommended.

Ordered some other snacks/food besides the desserts ...

Congee

Dough Fritters wrapped in rice roll...very nice & crispy.

Supposed to go to Ladies street after our desserts but everyone was too tired and full to carry on. So we went back to the hotel for a 'good' night rest. Actually, we did not sleep well on this night....probably due to our overstuffed stomach.

The next morning, all except myself went for their complimentary half day sightseeing tour. According to my mum, they went to the mid levels of Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen and as usual, some jewellery and Chinese Herbs stores. They even get to see Jackie Chan's residence as well as some other popular celebrities' ones ( from far of course ) over at Hong Kong Island.

While they were enjoying their tour, I slept till around 11 am before embarking on my shopping spree. For me, Hong Kong is not only a food paradise but a shopping heaven. Somehow, there are just too many things in Hong Kong for me to buy...haha.

Met up with Vincent for lunch and he brought me to this very posh restaurant at One Peking which specialises in Japanese and Italian cuisine.

While waiting for Vincent at the Star Ferry Terminal, this cruise ship attracted me...Star Aquarius...I was onboard this ship about 13 years ago !!!!! That was my 1st and last time on a cruise.....I want go for a cruise soon....who wanna join me ?

Fine Dining @ Aqua with old pal Vincent...

Somehow the sun is very glaring

My Grilled Black Cod

To end on a sweet note - Our desserts..Strawberry sorbet and Green Tea ice-cream.

Went Shopping with Vincent at the newly opened Shopping Mall at Kowloon Station - Elements. One thing that amazed me is its toilets. Not that I am crazy about toilets but the ones here really impressed me. Before entering the toilets, there is a waiting lounge with sofas, magazines and sweets to keep one occupied while waiting for their love ones. Once inside, the toilets are very posh, new and sparkling clean. Seriously, you wouldn't mind spending more time doing your 'business' there. Do note that these are the public toilets in a Shopping Mall that I am referring to. Even some 5-stars hotels toilets can't beat this.

Instead of the usual pine tree with the usual bells n neon lights as Christmas Decor, the Christmass 'tree' is decorated with toys.

Dinner with Family @ Mu Dan Ting

Ordered Pin Pan again and this is really good cos the ladies enjoyed it too. And I get to eat my favourite Suckling Pig....:D

My Favourite dish - Fish with corn - very nice. I heart.

Next up is Mongkok where they did their mini shopping :

It's already so late yet the streets are so crowded. Shops are still brimming with people.

Time for dessert at one of the most popular dessert joint :

Xu Liu Shan !!!

Our Orders :

Mango Oni Oni

Mango Platter

Other delicious Mango based desserts.

Woke up pretty early the next morning and made our way to Chao Inn @ One Peking. This is one of the best dim sum joints I ever had. As we were there early, there aren't many people. Ordered a total of about 30 dishes ( Sorry, I lost count ) and omg, its simply heaven. Everyone was satisfied with their yum cha experience. The Best is, we paid only about S$70 for over 30 dishes! So affordable considering the location and how posh the restaurant is :D.

A very satisfied and happy us :

A sneak of some of the dishes we had :

Prawn Rice Roll - Damn Nice n Smooth....

Char Siu Su - Very fragrant & Nice.

Our Assortment of Dim Sum

Two Goldfish Mango Pudding.

That more or less sum up my Hong Kong holiday. As this is my don't know how many times in Hong Kong, I only care about my shopping and food. So no sightseeing pictures and only food and more food. So for those of you who have already started drooling, am truly sorry about that.

Spent more than S$1k on my shopping. Not sure what I bought, just a couple of shirts, jackets and pants plus my Onitsuka Tiger sneakers......

I Heart them.

Enough of my entry....feeling tired already.

Managed to get a day off today due to some last minute changes :D

Shanghai again tomorrow before my long awaited Amsterdam this weekend. :D:D:D

Till then, ciao

Just came back from RT and was shagged. Well, who to blame but myself for not exercising regularly....haiz. Lesson learnt. Though I hate running, the feeling after the run was great - refreshing and feel more energetic. Hope that I can pass my IPPT the week after next and kiss RT goodbye for GOOD. Hahaha.

Well, Hong Kong was fun ( at least to me, not too sure about my parents and granduncle and grandaunt ). 3 days were spent Eating, Shopping, Sightseeing ( for them ) and Catching up with an old friend of mine. Shall blog more about it and post more photos when I am back from Shanghai this Saturday. For now, I just want to have a good nap before my work.

Keep u guys updated. Ciao.

Met up with TT today and went to the airport to have a glimpse of the new T3. Been there once on my own about a week ago but today is different because we paid a dollar and entered the transit area which has much more to offer than the public area.

Sumptous Lunch @ Fish & Co with TT before heading to T3

Preview of the new T3 :

The Spacious & Airy Check-in area at the Departure Hall

Entering the Restricted Departure Area

Crossroad-A place to unwind before your flt :D

Koi Pond

The very nice and unique Baggage claim area

Oh one very interesting thing about T3 is its toilets. Different toilets have different theme and designs...really cool.

Would like to say that the new T3 is really big, spacious and nice. Really a vast improvement from both T1 & T2. Hope that it will be as efficient, if not better than both T1 & T2.

Finally after 3 months of disappearance, I am back. In case many of you are wondering where I have disappeared to during these 3 months, well, I went to Mars and got lost there. Fortunately, I managed to find my way back here safely and am blogging now. Ok, I am just kidding and know that it's a lame joke :D Did not update the blog because of several reasons :

1. Laziness & Procrastination

2. Writer's block / Nothing to write about
3. Too Busy ( ok, I know this is an excuse...but who cares...it's the truth anyway)

Just touched down from Milan this morning and am now embarking on my week long annual leave. A short break though but gonna be filled with activities to the brim. No time to rest at home I guess.

Talking about Milan, many of you may go 'WOW MILAN!!! MILAN!!!'. When I know that I will be going to Milan, my reaction was the same. However, there's actually nothing much or fantastic about Milan. Be honest, I prefer Rome. Due to the very short stay there, we did not manage to explore out of Milan e.g. Venice, Lake Como. However, we did mange to visit the much talk about place/icon - Duomo. Let the photos do the talking ...

Lunch @ Pizza joint near to our hotel

Cheese & Tomato Pizza with Rocket Leaves

Sphagetti Carbonara

Guess how long we waited for our food to be served ??? Almost 2 hrs....yes almost 2 hrs and we were freaking hungry and angry. We reached the small restaurant at about 1:15 pm and the poor waitress managed to get our order only at about 1:45 pm and our food only arrived like 2:45 pm ? No doubt the restaurant was crowded ( 70%) but the real reason why the food arrived so late was because they placed us on the last priority. When I asked the waitress what took them so long to serve us the 4 plates of pasta, her reply was that they decided to serve the food to those people who need to go back to work after their lunch. This is even so if they arrived at the restaurant much later than us. As for us, as we have the time to wait, so we will be served after them. What the... So if the patrons keep coming into the restaurant, does that mean I will have to wait till the shop is close before I get to eat my pasta ??? I mean if I have the time in the World, I will wait. The fact that we were so freaking hungry and the fact that we still have to get to Duomo before the sky turn dark at 5 pm made me freaking pissed off. They served breadrolls to other customers but not us. So I asked the waitress why we were not serve any rolls. She said she had none left and will get me some shortly. One word to describe the whole incident: Discrimination. I still prefer the one in Frankfurt...much better service and food can be served much much faster ( within 15 minutes ). Try using that kind of service here and see what you will get in return. I thought its based on first come first serve and not selectively.

Fortunately, we managed to finish our pasta fast and get to Duomo via the Tram before 4:15 pm.

Direct Tram service No. 12 from our Hotel to Duomo ( approx. 30 min )

Duomo :

Really a nice to place to enjoy a sip of coffee and watching the World go by :D

That shall wrap up my less than 24 hours stay in Milan. If I have a chance to go Milan again and have a longer stay, I will definitely make a trip down to Venice, Lake Como, Verona as well as Florence.

Just a couple of weeks ago, managed to meet up with Alan and Fion in Taipei. What a rare chance to see each other overseas! Although we only have a night to spend together, we made full use of it.

First we had dinner at this Toilet Restaurant in Ximending.

Welcome to Modern Toilet Restaurant.

Food in Toilet Bowl while Drinks in Urinal or the Urinal container. And I am not kidding, the food is really nice.

Toilet Bowl Chor Peng - Wonder how long this person haven't been 'shitting' :O

Even the name of the dessert are associated with well...erm... Toilet :P

Shopped around Ximending and had our favourite Ah Zhong Mien Sian before heading to Shilin for yet another food eating expedition...hahaha.

Shilin Night Market

Reliving our Childhood days. Think we managed to catch about 8-9 angel fish & guppies using 4 paper nets. A great achievement :D

Did not know that besides dogs, cats, rabbits, fish and rodents, people also rear PIG as pets. Interesting eh.

Anyway, managed to meet up with Alan again few days after our Taipei trip. This time was in LA. If not for him, I will be bored in the hotel room. Did not venture anywhere except having our supper or rather early breakfast ( abour 2 am )at Denny's and shopping around Downtown Disney.

A very unique traveller shop - love its deco

Build-a-Bear

World of Disney

Lunch with the Gorilla @ Rainforest Cafe - Delicious Food with a unique dining experience.

Just burned a big hole in my pocket :(

Reason : Bought a new laptop and a new camera.

While in Taipei, my laptop bag dropped from the top of my cabin bag and there goes my Fujitsu Lifebook which has been with me for more than 2 years. I have no choice but to get a new one for I really cannot survive without a laptop. I need my MSN. I need my Internet. I need my Entertainment. Went to scout for laptop at Funan the moment I came back from Taipei. I already have a few models in my mind - basically I have set my mind on this Sony Vaios model. However, the salesman managed to convince me to get the HP Special Edition laptop which is cheaper than the sony's one and has better specs. I knew that they are trying to clear the stocks but still I decided to get it in the end. Not sure why. The art of salesman talk. The worse is as I was about to pay for my sony laptop at the cashier, another salesman managed to talk me out of it and get the HP one instead. Afterall, HP is more specialised with computers compared to Sony eh. Anyway, I have no regrets for I am quite happy with my HP laptop at the moment :D Since I am already getting a new laptop, why not get a new camera too. So I got one myself - Canon IXUS 960IS. That's it. There goes my money. Gotta work hard to earn it back eh.

Alright, I think I shall stop here...will update more regularly. Anyway be bringing my parents to Hong Kong this Monday for a short well-deserved break. Promised to be back with tons of photos. So stay tune :D