:: Ping | Ping ::

First day was exhausting with all the walking. Definitely lost stamina from the backpacking days during Easter. Well, this day is packed to the brim! Starting from going to Lantau Island (aka Da Yu Shan) to The Peak at night :)

We woke up early to catch the famous Starferry from HK island to Southeast of Lantau Island at a place called Mui Wo. Well, according to our guide book we're able to see nice coastal view of the island before reaching our destination Ngong Ping.

This is An reading the papers while waiting for our ferry to arrive.

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Gate to board Starferry to Lantau Island - Mui Wo:

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Transportation in HK is pretty convenient, we can pay all kinds of transport with our Octopus Card (Ba Da Tong). It works the same way as our ez-link card and is used for most of the public transport and even food payment.
View of HK's skyline in the day.

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Me & Dear

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Upon reaching Mui Wo pier...

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This is the area where we queue for our bus to Ngong Ping, just a few metres from the pier.

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Then we waited, and waited and waited... and realised that the next bus only arrive after 40mins! OMG... the queue is getting longer and longer! Luckily we didnt leave the queue, cuz when the bus arrived, only half of the passengers queueing up can board! and the next bus is 1hr later... *heng*

Actually, there is SOME coastal view... and they are pretty much being obscured by trees and bushes =_=|| Ayez, but we still did see some impressive mountains that were so densely covered with trees and a nice view of a lake (which we only know later it's a reservoir)

YEAY! Reach Ngong Ping~ Home to the famous Po Lin Monastery and the Big Buddha. Truly a sight to behold :)

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Pardon my excitement, but this area is literally the ideal place to Shang Shan Xiu Xing! *looks at Xueyin* hahaha... Huge open areas surrounded by green mountains and the sea in the distance with a magnificent Buddha sitting serenely in the middle of nature. *Amitabha*

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Climbing up the steps to reach the Buddha...

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And finally at the top!!!

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the BIG Buddha

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Scenery behind the Buddha

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I love this picture...

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We came back down to go into Po Lin Monastery. It's nice being greeted by Laughing Buddha at the entrance *happiness* haha...

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and into the main square of the monastery:

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Interestingly, there are many Poinsettia plants around. With its vibrant red, I'm sure it doubles up as a prosperous and lucky colour for the Chinese in the Christmas season :)

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An is fascinated with the intricate carving of this dragon on pillars of the main hall.

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Done with Ngong Ping~, we took a bus to Tung Chung for Factory Outlet mad shopping!

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That place is a must go for tourists! haha... Levis, Adidas, Puma, Nike, I.T., Esprit... it's a factory outlet MALL! Woohoo~ Whilst An had a very fruitful shopping trip, I returned to HK island without any buys :(

Anyway, the next highlight for us is to head to THE PEAK! and guess who I saw?? Jackie Chan!

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That's a prelude to what tourist will see at Madam Toussauds up at the peak.
Taking the tram up!

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I think the Peak is like a showcase of the best in HK's history. Most popular movie stars to the essential transport for the rich and famous to reach their super duper expensive homes at the peak.
Famous Person 1 - Bruce LEe

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Famous Person 2 - Maggie Cheung & Famous Person 3 posing behind the pillar - Jackie Chan

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Best of Hong Kong skyline from The Terrace:

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And a nice meal to celebrate our 2 years together @ Forrest Gump inspired restaurant - Bubba Gump! *happiness*

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Shrimp Platter~~ *drools*

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I'm impressed how patient An can be while peeling prawn shell

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Popular quotes from the movie -

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What's the difference between being stupid and an idiot?? Oh no, is that a stupid question? Or an idiotic question? *Arghhh~*

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Heading down from the Peak - Peak hours for cabbies

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And tony Chopper finally makes his appearance on MTR.
YAW!

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Zzz...

My first trip overseas with An! After all the semesters that we were separated from our own exchange programmes, we're finally on our first holiday together in Hong Kong! Woohoo~~!

Our flight was at 6.40am on Jetstar~ gotta check in at 4.40am. Ayez, budget airline always fly at this kinda hour. Well, I mistook the time so we reached airport at 4am instead. *Yawnz* but, that's enough time for us to enjoy some BK breakfast @Changi T1.

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Oh, Froggy's coming along too! hee

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Saying 'Bye~' to Singapore...

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And 'Hello~ HONG KONG!'

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Okay, this island is definitely NOT HK. haha... some fish-shaped island we saw while descending to our destination. Landing in HK soon...

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Here we are~ taking Airbus 21 to Tsim Sha Tsui - the location of our hostel. Just look at the intensity on Tony's face.
"YAW!"

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Sights while travelling on Tsing Ma suspension bridge.

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Hong Kong Port

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Towering skinny skyscrapers - evidence of the large population & land contraints in HK
After checking into our hostel room, we were shocked to find out the size of the bathroom!

There - this is literally the size of our toilet - brush your teeth and bathe in front of the sink. It's the tiniest bathroom I've ever seen man! In the picture, Tony gloats about how big the bathroom is for him "YAW!" =.=

On to the streets we go! Along Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), we saw some ah pehs crowding within a smally pavillion watching a game of chess. So HK drama! haha...

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All these signboards sticking out may be en eyesore for some, but I think they are pretty effective in helping pple to locate shops. The streets are crowded with people, gotta weaving through all the padestrians on the sidewalk is exhausting. Moreover, we've been looking for this mall called Tao Da around Mongkok area as recommended by An's friend for really good buys for Gundam. It's nowhere in sight! We walked from TST to Jordan to Yau Ma Tei to Mongkok. That's 4 MTR (we call it MRT here) stations in a row! Super tired!

We also walked through Ladies Market (Nv Ren Jie) on our way back. Pasa Malam style street that sells all kinds of lady products - fake branded bags, kinky lingerie, soft toys, accesories etc.

Classic HK Minibuses parked along the roadside in the evening.


As night falls, we went to Avenue of Stars to catch the 'Symphony of Lights'. This place is very much like Esplanade in Singapore. Across the harbour is HK's famous skyline. The show happens everyday at 8pm, where the colourful lights on skyscrapers will dance to the music played. It's a beautiful sight at night especially with all the Xmas decor up.




Well, that marks the end of a very tiring Day 1. Next day to Lantau Island and the Peak! Will update soon :)

Today is a quiet day for me. It's a nice day to reminisce everything that has happened :)

Well, this semester have been really hectic. Though there's only 3 examinable modules, my FYP and design modules really took up bulk of my free time. All the lab-going and computer simulation has been pretty fruitful.

Design Project
My design proj grp has 7 members this sem - Jinyang, myself, Yisi, (Prof Wong), Jiarong, Yifeng, Junhao, JunSiong - We sure have put in loads of effort into our Snipebot.
Basically, our minirobot is a shooter that has to shoot balls at 3 targets in the arena. This sem mainly is about building the robot itself and competing with 9 other groups. And I have to say, all the D&T-like manufacturing lab-going, meetings to troubleshoot our problems, and all the late nights in school calibrating have paid off. We emerged champion in the competition!!! woohoo~!

Thanks guys for all the effort, especially JS - i think u really motivated everyone in this proj with your Energizer spirit! Really glad to have bonded closer with everyone else this semester too! That's definitely one of my proudest moments in NUS ;)

New Hobby
Yes, I've picked up a new hobby, thanks to weiann. haha... It started out with buying a SD (super deformed - big head small body) 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' Gundam for gift exchange last Christmas. He bought 2 and kept one for himself. And from then on, he has been collecting the entire set of that Gundam series following 'Chi Bi' movie
Courtesy of Bandai-Asia

while I've been choosing Gundam which I like to fix and paint it :) Dear gave me a blank tofu from his trip to Toyfair earlier this year. And from then on I think tofu's pretty cute. hee... This is the series featured by pi(Play Imaginative)

Blank Tofu is being transformed to...

I coloured everything on my own leh! hehe.. and added a little personal touch to it :)
And there's also Justice Gundam from Gundam Seed (1/144):

I find the painting the gundam more fun than assemblying it. I remember buying a Gundam to fix back in secondary school, but somehow, I think I fixed a part or two wrongly, so it never stood properly. haha.. can't seem to find that model somehow.

Also, there are my Arms Astray P.M.C. (1/144) and Aegis Gundam (1/100). hehe


Yawnz... Oh, i bought another gundam on my HK trip. haha... hoping to fix it real soon, and update on my HK holiday too :)

This is a parody on Beyonce's new MV "Single Ladies(Put a ring on it)" starring Justin Timberlake and Beyonce herself! haha...

Check out Justin Timberlake on the left in tights and heels~ Sexy~~ *pukes* hahaha