ZhuEn is coming over to Hong Kong to visit for the fourth time actually. We are doing more relaxing things rather than being touristy now. I planned most of the events, and the rest of it just happened spontaneously. As usual, her trip here happened and ended so quickly, just like a dream.
8 November 2017, Sunny, University
It was a light hearted morning. I woke up at the usual time and went for my morning lecture, making sure that ZhuEn's journey to Hong Kong was smooth. I left the lecture early so that I could meet ZhuEn at Shatin. It was all sweet embraces when we were finally reunited. Our lunch was Tonkotsu 8, my favourite ramen at Shatin. It was a nice and pleasant meal. After that, we walked over for some cheap but nice ice cream, then made our way back to my school. I settled her down in my room before going over for seminar and lessons. She slept in my room while I went for the seminar and lesson.
The lessons ended at six. The sky is already dark since winter is approaching. ZhuEn was not used to it and was pretty shocked. I took her to Shatin again to eat spicy noodles and KFC in a special bei fung tung flavour only available in Hong Kong. We then went back and rested for the night.
9 November 2017, Sunny, University
I had group meeting in the morning, so I woke up early. Leaving ZhuEn in the room, I left for my office. ZhuEn woke up later. Group meeting went as usual. I then went back to my room to find my hungry partner, almost going to cook instant noodles for herself. I brought her out to Morningside canteen for lunch, to let her have a taste of school food. She commented that the food is quite bad, which I cannot disagree. The views however, was beautiful. After lunch, I brought her around campus again. This time, we walked to the back of the mountain. I brought her to Tolo cafe, where we sat down and enjoyed ice cream with the marvelous views.
We then walked back to my room, where we played some computer games together. It was really a strong bonding moment. We had lots of fun and enjoyed the company of each other. Soon, it was five, and we arranged to meet ZhuEn's friend, ChieSze, from Malaysia for dinner at Chan Kun Kee, a famous street food stall near Shatin. Dinner with her friends was enjoyable. Although I was shy at the start, I forced myself to socialize with her friends. Some of her friends turned out to play a very popular game that I was also playing, so that was a good source of common topics to talk about. Good to know more people still active playing this game. We ordered their specialty wasabi chicken, which I already knew beforehand. It tasted really good. I can see that ZhuEn is really enjoying herself with good food and good company. Her friends even gave her a birthday present as we were about to say goodbye. We then went back to my room and rested for the night.
10 November 2017, Sunny, Tung Chung
We woke up slightly later than planned. After making a hasty breakfast for me and ZhuEn, I made my way down to Prof. Jason Cohen's talk. As usual, his presentations are very enriching and inspiring. It dragged because I was trying to talk to him after his talk and there were many students asking him questions. I met ZhuEn at the train station at noon. It was already very late. We bought buns near the station and went towards Tung Chung. There, we bought some sushi takeout and headed for Tai O.
ZhuEn liked Tai O, the rustic fishing village untouched by Hong Kong's modernization. We walked around the town a little bit, bought some local produce, and ate fried chicken wings with instant noodles at one of the shops in town. We really do like this small town a lot, although the bus trip here is quite bad. After that, we took a bus that takes us straight to Ngong Ping. I can still remember the stunned face of hers when she finally saw the big Buddha at Ngong Ping. We first climbed up the stairs to see the big Buddha and took some mandatory touristy shots. We then descended and went to visit Po Lin monastery, the popular temple also in Ngong Ping. We visited the Hall of Heroes, an apparently very famous building.
Next, we decided to try out the local TaoHuey, made from mountain water rich with ions. True to its word, this TaoHuey is the softest that I have ever eaten. Its softness when cold matches the softness of other warm ones, so much so that it nearly melts in your mouth. Finally, we walked around Ngong Ping village. We did not like it, seeing how touristy the village is. We then tried to find our way out by bus, which, to our horror, was not any better than queuing for the cable car. After some 45 minutes wait, we finally got up the bus that took us to Tung Chung, and then took the train to Mongkok East. Here, we revisited Lo Dim, the first Dim Sum shop that ZhuEn ever visited in Hong Kong. We had a pleasant dinner here, getting our Dim Sum craving fixed. After dinner, we went back to my room and pack up for our stay for the next three nights: an AirBnB place at Mongkok. We arrived at the AirBnB slightly before midnight.
11 November 2017, Cloudy, Shek O
Today is a hiking day. We woke up late because we slept late the previous night. After preparing some things we need for hiking, we set off to eat our brunch at Hong Lin restaurant, a place that ZhuEn's friend recommended. The food here turned out to be very good, although the Polo bun was not as good as Kam Wah cafe. The dry prawn noodles and the tomato stew turned out to be better than expected. We bought their egg tarts as takeaway because reviews mentioned that their egg tarts are good. After an enjoyable meal, we set off for Shau Kei Wan to meet with my friends and start the Dragon's Back hiking. There was not too much sun and we had a rather easy climb before we start to get the beautiful views.
Too bad the weather was not good and we did not have the blue sky. We did have very strong winds though. We lagged behind the main group because we kept taking pictures. ZhuEn and I really enjoys hiking a lot, so in our future trips, we should find more places to hike. After going up and down repeatedly on Dragon's Back, the hike descended into forest cover, where the hike start to become boring. We made haste and soon, the path led us to Big Wave Bay. Here, we made our way to the lifeguard post, which overlooks the entire bay, allowing us a spectacular view. We enjoyed listening to the wave crashes and observe people riding the waves. Soon, we had enough and we decided to go off for dinner. After some discussion, we made our way to Causeway Bay to eat JiBao. It turned out to be a very unenjoyable meal. Not letting it dampen our spirits, we went to Jordan to take away milk pudding desserts from the two famous milk companies, namely Australian Dairy Company and Yee Shun Milk Company. We took them back to our BnB and compared them side by side. Turns out we prefer Yee Shun Milk company more because it is less sweet and more milky. The one from Australian Dairy company has egg flavours and is overly sweet. We then rested for the night.
12 November 2017, Rain, Tsim Sha Tsui > Wong Tai Sin
It is her birthday today. In order to make it a birthday celebration, we decided to go to Deluxe Daikiya for brunch. It was really a super enjoyable meal. The seafood was reasonably fresh. We enjoyed our salmon sashimi, crab legs cut in the wrong way, sea urchin sushi, and many more delectable selections. These are only just some of the favourites that we enjoyed.
As always, I peel crab legs for her. We did like four rounds of ordering, staying all the way till it closed. After the really full and satisfying meal, we made our way to Prince Edward and starting walking to Hong Kong SGI Peace centre. Here, we met ZhuEn's friend, KaSing, and his new girlfriend, to attend the world peace gongyo. A video about the founding fathers of Soka Gakkai was screened. After that, we walked around the centre, just like how we did the first time she visited. We left the centre and headed towards Wong Tai Sin for dinner. We were kept in the dark where we were going for dinner until we actually reached the place. It was a Singaporean Restaurant. Since we were very full from the brunch, we shared a bowl of laksa. The laksa here has hints of curry. The white coffee is decent, but it was obviously made from instant coffee mix. Next, we went to Kai Kai dessert. We arrived early and there was no queue. We found the dessert here cheap and good. I ordered sweet potato soup, while ZhuEn ordered TangYuan. Both our desserts are gingery and it really hit the spot on a cold rainy evening. We bid KaSing farewell and continued walking around Jordan and Mongkok for a while before going back to the BnB to rest.
13 November 2017, Rain, University
We woke up. I wanted to give her a massage, and so I did. The travelling in the past few days probably wore her out, and I wanted to really rejuvenate her before sending her back to Singapore. After a slow and nice massage, we started to pack up and went for brunch. It was at MeiJi porridge in Mongkok. It turned out to be very nice. We ordered pork and century egg porridge, complete with fried dough sticks. The porridge here are cooked in golden bowls. The uncle was very nice and allowed ZhuEn to take a picture of him before we leave.
Not going to miss Kam Wah's Polo bun, we went there to buy the takeaway. It is heavenly as usual. We then took the train and made our way to my room to spend the afternoon doing the final packing up. After she is ready to fly back, we went to Shatin to each TangZai again. This time, I chose the tomato soup. Turns out ZhuEn did not really like the tomato soup. Finally, we took the bus to the airport, reminiscing the times we spent together in the past few days. Good byes are really really difficult. Every time we meet and depart, the feelings were reinforced. Till the time when we can really live together, also looking forward to the next time we travel together.
