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Friday, December 21, 2007

Hong Kong - Day 6

For those who left comments in advising me what to eat and where to go in HK, thanks. But too bad that i don't get to go anywhere.


My days in HK were not any better than that in Taipei, if not actually worse.



Sigh, worked past 1am everyday. Other than the first day and this afternoon, i had lunch and dinner by myself everyday. It was just as what i've expected, i'll be all alone here and the colleagues don't really bother about me at all. I guess this is the difference between people of Taiwan and HK.

I'm fine in eating alone actually , but the problem is that the office is located in an old area and there isn't any decent non-Chinese restaurant around. I don't know where to get good food, or even if someone had told me, i wouldn't have the time to go to the place anyway.

So, after a few days of kopitium food, which are more or less the same, i'm kinda sick of it and felt like eating something else. And more importantly, i miss good coffee! There aren't any coffee chain store around here like Starbucks or Spinelli. The coffee i got from the hotel is so diluted like coffee-flavoured water, and those i got from the kopitium tasted strange. I want good coffee!!!

Before i go on rambling, here's a record of what i had in HK since Monday:

(Some pics were taken with my mobile phone and hence are kinda blur)

Monday
Lunch: roasted duck and roasted pork rice (燒鵝叉燒飯), again... courtesy of big boss.
Dinner: McD (pork burger!)



Big boss brought me to this kopitium for lunch. He said it's authentic HK food and he wanted me to try. I didn't tell him that i had the exact same thing the day before.

In the evening, not knowing what to eat, decided to try the pork burger, which we don't get in SG and Msia. There's nothing special about it; i still prefer beef and chicken burgers.

Tuesday
Lunch: fishball hor fun (魚蛋河粉)
Dinner: fried hor fun and apple pie (room service)





The lunch was just like the kuay teow soup back at home, except that the broth was thicker here. I'd say it's just so-so.

As for dinner, since i gotta rush for some work and i was tired of walking, i ordered the room service, which surprisingly was good. The serving was too much though, and i didn't finish both.

Wednesday
Lunch: fried rice with beef (牛肉滑蛋炒飯)
Dinner: congee (艇仔粥) + you tiao (油條)



The lunch may not be nothing much to look at, but it actually tasted rather good. Then in the evening, i had originally wanted to eat at the hotel, but there are two restaurants, one was having buffet dinner, and the other is offering Singapore/Malaysian cuisine (duh?!). So i ended up walking around the area in search for something good to eat. Finally i went in to a congee shop and tried the authentic HK way of eating congee.

Thursday
Lunch: dim sum at a Chinese Restaurant, courtesy of the HK colleagues
Dinner: doughnuts

Today started off badly. It was all because of a stupid air ticket.

A few days back, i reminded my big boss that my return ticket was on Friday morning, which means that he would have to finish up the work alone here. He then looked surprised (even though i had already told him last week and he didn't say anything then) and insisted that i must stay on for the whole of Friday because the round-up meeting is very crucial. He then wanted me to change the flight to Friday evening instead.

So, i contacted the secretary back in SG and asked her to make the arrangement for me. As expected, it's peak season now and there wasn't any seats available on Friday at all, not even the HK-KL-SG route. She placed me on the waiting list, but the chance of securing a seat was very slim.

Then my boss asked me to try Saturday flight instead. All flights on SIA and MAS were also fully booked for Saturday, and the only available one was on Cathay Pacific. So we decided to change the flight, and then i received a call from the travel agent in SG. She told me that due to the change in airlines, i gotta go to the EVA office to get the physical ticket instead of using the E-ticket.

We were supposed to go to another office for meeting today early in the morning. The office is in the Kowloon area, but the EVA office is in the Central. So my boss postponed the meeting time to 9.30am for me to get the ticket sorted out.

So this morning, i woke up early, didn't take any breakfast, took the MTR and rushed to the EVA office. After some difficulties in getting the EVA service staff to understand what i wanted, she told me that i actually can get the ticket from the ticketing counter at the airport on the day of my departure (WTF??!!). She said she couldn't print the ticket out for me unless i could wait for an hour or so, because they were doing the prior day closing and couldn't use the system. I of course couldn't wait, since by then it was already 9am. So i left the EVA office empty-handed, and rushed back to the office for meeting. I was late in the end, and starving too for skipping breakfast.

I was very pissed at the travel agent for giving me the wrong information, or rather, not really wrong but not entirely correct too. If i could get the ticket at the airport, the why the hell did she tell me that i MUST get the printed ticket from EVA office, and even sent me the address?

My worry is that i'm not entirely sure that the EVA personnel is right. If i couldn't get the ticket at the airport counter, and end up not able to get onto the flight and am stuck in the airport, i'm sure gonna make a big scene out of it. Hope that won't happen.

Anyway, even though i had a bad morning, the day turned better with a good lunch. The colleagues from the other office were nice enough to give a treat to my big boss and i at a Chinese restaurant, where i had the dim sum, which is oh-so-famous in HK and on everyone's must-try list. Indeed, it was nice, especially the siew mai that's so soft and juicy.

I have more to relate about today, but it's time for me to get ready to go to bed. So, to be continued...

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Have you put on weight? Ha. I guess by the time to read my comment, your closing meeting was over. Hope you have a good rest over the weekend!

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Friday, December 21, 2007 @ 2:12 am: Happy food
Monday, December 17, 2007 @ 4:21 am: Hong Kong - Day 2
Sunday, December 16, 2007 @ 4:57 am: Hong Kong - Day 1
Saturday, December 15, 2007 @ 4:57 am: Taipei - Day 6
Friday, December 14, 2007 @ 4:54 am: Taipei - Day 5
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 @ 4:47 am: Taipei - Day 2
Monday, December 10, 2007 @ 4:54 am: Arrived in Taipei
Sunday, December 09, 2007 @ 7:31 pm: In transit
Sunday, December 09, 2007 @ 12:03 am: Leaving tomorrow
Saturday, December 08, 2007 @ 11:40 pm: Another year