This City Never Sleeps
Sunday, May 31, 2009 @ Hong Kong Hong Kong (Day)
So here begins with my day in HK.

Took a cab from the hotel and reached the ferry terminal at 8.45am, took the 9am ferry, and reached HK in 60 minutes. Place of arrival: City Centre Ferry Terminal, located at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Upon arrival, this is the first picture that I've taken:


Nike flagship store in HK.

As me and my brother walked along the streets of TST, we came across the building that puts this building in the world map. Wong Kar Wai's 1994 masterpiece Chungking Express will not be famous without the help of the building:

Chungking Building. Located along Nathan Road, the commercial building first opened in the late 60's. It houses mainly private apartments, which has been converted to hostels and budget motels. Not forgetting that this is the haven for the Indians working in HK. Here, you can get your fix of masala, Shah Rukh Khan and Aiswarya Rai Bacchan dancing on the TV screen, going along with A.R Rahman's award winning score. Last but not least, currency exchange booths and electronic goods.
We had dimsum for breakfast at 10.30am, which followed by the tour around TST. Some of the pictures taken:



Austin Road and the surrounding building.



Nathan Road, which I almost got myself run over by a cab.


Kowloon Mosque and Muslim Study and Research Centre.

Followed by clothes shopping at Uniqlo HK and Esprit Factory Outlet. All I can say is: come here for your fix of newly off season clothes at great prices!


City Centre, taken from L2 of Esprit Factory Outlet.
Followed by rows of flagship stores of different brands, such as Christian Dior...


Chanel...

The main spoonsor of SATC: LV!

And something that is missing from Singapore for a long time...Lane Crawford!

Accompained by an unusual neighbour, an old time resident: Golden Harvest Grand Ocean Mega Cinema!



Had a tea break at Hui Lau San, an famous dessert chain specialised in mango and sago desserts.
After the break, we walked to Harbour Centre.


Right beside the Harbour Centre is the Star Ferry Terminal, where office workers will pay HKD 2.50 (ard SGD 0.50) for a 12min ride to Central, the financial district in HK Island.
A view of the ferry terminal...

Located right beside the ferry terminal is the TST Clock tower and HK Art Museum.
The clock tower leads us to Starlight Gallery, where this is an exhibition showcasing the history of HK Cinema. With the statue being the main attraction of the gallery, you will also be treated to the handprints of celebrities who make it big.

Took a picture of the night view of Central before taking the ferry to Central...

Saturday, May 02, 2009 @ Hong Kong Hong Kong (Night)
So I decided to reverse the order of telling my exploration of Hong Kong thru 3 parts: Morning, Afternoon and Night.

It is so much like the style Gasper Noe told the story of Irreversible, minus the gore and bloodshed in the film. Or more rather, folllowing the style of Francois Ozon's 5X2.

I decided to visit Elements at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Amazingly, there is no direct MTR service from Tsim Sha Tsui station to Elements, which is located at Kowloon station. To go there directly thru train, you have to take a train from TST station, and the train will have to cross the station to Central Station, located at Central, HK Island. It is just like you want to go to Seng Kang station from Woodlands Station, so you have to take the NS Line from Woodlands, drop off at Dhoby Ghaut Station, and changed to NE Line to Seng Kang station, instead of taking bus service, right? (We could have taken a bus, just that we do not know where will the bus lead us to.)

We took the Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui Jetty to Central Jetty, which takes you about 10 minutes to reach. Best of all, it costs only HKD $2.50 (ard SGD $0.50) to take you to Central.

Finally I understand why there are so many working class workers dressed up in suit and business wear, and they took a ferry to work at Central.

Here are some of the photos taken at Central:

This is the side view of Central, where the building on the left is Central Jetty.

The night view of Central taken from the overhead bridge to IFC (International Financial Centre, where the MTR station is located.)

After taking the ride to Kowloon, viola, we had reached Elements, the newest shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.
It is about 5 times of Vivocity, S'pore's self claimed largest shopping centre. Or I would say, about twice the size of Mid Valley Megamall in KL, Malaysia.

Elements is divided into the 5 elements the Chinese believed in: Fire, Earth, Water, Wood and Metal (Gold). Each elements houses various fashion brands, restaurants, condos and entertainment spots. Here, under the water element, it houses mainly fashion boutiques, such as Zara, H&M, Nautica, Hugo Boss, Esprit etc.
My main purpose of coming to Elements is to visit Onitsuka Tiger shop, where I hope to get a good pair of Onitsuka sneakers.
Turns out, the designs are not the type that I fancy, not forgetting the price. HKD $900 on average. :(
Nevertheless, I get a chance to visit The Grand Cinema, also known as the brand new cineplex in TST area. Houses 12 auditorium, including a Gold Class hall, the selling point of The Grand Cinema is their Manhattan Galaxy auditorium, which is their largest auditorium. Boasted with the latest state of the art sound system, the cineplex has a very user friendly box office counter, where the 6 plasma TV above the counter will show the patrons the available seats per show, rather than highlighting the timing in colours to tell the patrons if tickets are available.

Right over here is the lobby area of The Grand Cinema, where gigantic billboards replaces the counters for posters. One thing special about this grand cineplex is that everything is so grand, you had a pillar that displays movie trailers, and a poster display corner (which was found hidden in a corner later), where posters comes in an X-Large size (think a 6m X 3m poster).
So what you see right above are the standees for Zac Efron's 17 Again, Hugh Jackman's X Men Origin: Wolverine, Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi's The Horsemen (which was rated CAT III for extreme gore and violence, unlike the NC16 edited version in Singapore), Friday the 13th (CAT III again), Permanent Residence (CAT III again, but this time for some explicit gay sex and homoerotic elements), an upcoming Hong Kong crime drama, I Corrupted the Cops. (Think American Gangster, Hong Kong style, minus the nudity. Lead by a group of strong cast, such as Anthony Wong, Eason Chan, Tony Leung Kar Fai, Bowie Lam. Unlikely to be played in S'pore cineplex anytime.) and Frozen Flower, the Korean CAT III (again) gay drama set in the Koryo Dynasty. Think The King and the Clown in a more homoerotic way.

We decided to take a JetSpray back to Macau, from Central. And here is the station that many S'poreans are dying to visit: The Central Station.

After dropping off at The Central Station, we have to walk to Sheung Wan Station, where it will take us to the jetty directly.

And we took a 9.45pm JetSpray back to Macau.
End of Hong Kong Trip. Please rewind for the Morning and Afternoon Trip. :)







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