It's begun! HK stopover and ethnicity in Singapore

Well, the 13 hr flight to HK is really long, especially if you forget that you can't sleep on the plane and the flight was at 0200h on a Sunday night, and you didn't nap before going to the airport! I lose a day, so technically, this is day 1, 2 and 3?

Trying to sleep is impossible when someone's got a light on, or you get fed 3x during the night. I had a hard time with the meal situation, as Air Canada doesn't have special meals with multiple allergies, so I had to pick one that I thought would be the least of the 3 evils, as I am allergic to egg and dairy in a GI sort of way, and gluten, which gives me hives, rashes and lethargy. I could really only eat 2 out of the 3 meals and would've been better off with what everyone else got. Funny thing about flying to HK, you get instant noodles and congee.

I started to watch a movie at breakfast time, and didn't finish! "Law Abiding Citizen", I gotta see it when I get back! Really good police and law drama, I'm so drawn to these kinds of shows. Other than that, I didn't read any material I brought with me in the carry on (I had guides to Singapore and Cambodia). Not my usual, but I wanted to sleep. In fact, I only researched a little about Singapore as it seemed like a small place and things could get planned when I got there. I researched way more about Cambodia and HK.

The stopover in HK was 9 hrs, thank goodness my friend Winnie was happy to take me for breakie at 0600h! I hadn't had much protein in the last 1/2 day, so had chicken, sausage (that's what the menu said, but it's Chinese for wiener!) with vermicelli in soup. Ah, noodles in soup, how Chinese is that?

We took a walk around a neighbouring park, tons of fish in the pond, turtles even. Lots of people exercising, but not really Tai Chi or anything. There is such a big contrast in the landscape. Super high rises, 80 floors or more and then street level parks, etc. All the apartments look the same here, no different architecture. Maybe it'll be different in the city core. We are in Kowloon.

The malls didn't open until about 11 or noon, so we just relaxed at her downtown apartment. ~ 600 sq ft 2 bedroom and studio, way too small for me, but she fits 4 people in there, if not 6 when her parents are visiting. I think we Canadians love our space, but people in these big cities are used to the density and take it in stride. People pay millions for these flats!

Back to the airport with time to spare, but I didn't want to risk getting lost and missing my connecting flight. The MTR subway system is really efficient here, I guess they have the ridership, unlike Vancouver. They have this prepaid Octopus card that tracks when you get on and off and deducts the fare automatically, but you can also use it in convenience stores too. Great if you don't like carrying change (men, that's you!)

The flight to Singapore was only 3h 40m, short in comparison. The flight attendants are so dolled up, almost like we would be for a wedding, really dramatic hair and makeup, but I hear the guys love it. The service was good and bad, the ladies beside me got their special meal right away, but never got their plates taken away until near the end. That doesn't bode well for me in the window seat and drinking lots of water, if you get my drift...

I watched "Precious", really good movie, but a really sad story. You gotta see it, so I won't ruin it for you here by telling you all about it. I also watched the pilot episode for Glee. Not bad, quite entertaining actually. I might just have to rent the season later. I found out that my friends in Singapore have it on their PVR, but I doubt that I'll have that much spare time to watch the tele.

My friends J and M have a really large modern condo in East Singapore. It has a great view of the city and has air con! All the electrical outlets have on/off switches, I had trouble getting used to that. The power doesn't go on when you plug appliances in, you also have to push it to "on". The adapter I brought looked like it should fit, but it didn't! arggh. Good thing my friends travel a lot, as they had spare ones for me to charge my camera battery. I got a new Panasonic Lumix DMC FH20 and was trying out all the features and ran the battery quite low.

It was great to finally shower and get cleaned up. I figure I won't have jet lag, cuz I went to bed at ~ 11pm and would imagine that I would sleep my usual 10+ hours.

Funny thing, I woke up at 745 and I felt rested. I didn't turn the fan on all night and was quite sweaty from sleeping with my long hair down my back all night. I didn't want to risk catching a cold, since I had that problem in Thailand before where the AC was on all night and I would put on a sweatshirt halfway through the night because I was so cold, but my (then) boyfriend would be too hot without it on.

After taking some time to go through the brochures my friends picked up for me, I decided to head out on one of those hop-on hop-off bus tours. I never recommend them for people, but figured it would be the easiest way to work my way around the sights here.

The HIPPO tour bus has 2 routes, and other add ons. My $33 ticket was good for 2 days, both routes, a river cruise and other tours. My first stop was Little India. Just like in Vancouver, there were lots of sari shops, jewelry stores and eateries. I actually had a masala thosai for lunch from a place recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. I was so happy to have actually found it. The lady from the kitchen knew right away that I was a visitor since I had my map out with my post it note with the restaurant's address on it. I really like them (I've recently started eating dosas at home since I love crepes and they are made from chickpea flour not wheat).

I perused the shops and saw beautiful sari fabric; I just wish I had a reason to buy a sari, because they are so gorgeous, elegant and I'm sure I would look great in one :) I then went to Malay village and saw more lovely ethnic wares, I bought a table runner with the Singapore merlion on it for $2 SGD (here, the current exchange rate is ~$1.30 Singapore dollar = ~ $1 CDN). I'm mainly looking for table linens as souvenirs since I just bought my new kitchen table. I should try to give my condo more personality, I've been told it's not homey enough. I just don't like clutter, but I guess I could show some personality.

I went by the city and saw tons of great looking buildings, everything looks different and interesting. The Court of Appeal is a space ship-shaped building made of glass, to show how transparent the justice system is. The War Memorial is 4 chopsticks standing on their bases, representing the 4 different ethnic groups, and connected at the base to show unity. Its 75% Chinese here, but more Hakka or Hokkein, vs Cantonese or Mandarin speaking. Even in HK I had trouble with my Chinese, how embarrassing! There's lots of immigrants here, and mostly Muslims and Buddhist.

It's already been 4 hours and I feel exhausted. It must be the heat and the sun, no break at all, except going to some shops which have AC. The city buses stop at ~ 6pm, so I had to figure out what else I could fit in (as I'd only done 2 out of 16 stops on this Heritage city tour bus) before going home.

I stopped at the waterfront to see the Merlion fountain and passed the Singapore flyer (similar to the London Eye, but you can actually eat in the cars, lots of room for a table of 8); the construction of a huge casino out on the water, 3 towers side by side; the Esplanade theatre by the sea (which looks like a durian to me) and the Clifford pier. Lots of fancy restaurants on the boardwalk, and then a Starbucks, they really are everywhere.

I took the tour bus to an MRT station to go partway home and then hailed a cab. I was trying to save a bit money, but ended up losing a lot of time. The lady cab driver didn't recognize the street name I gave her (for the main road), but her GPS system had the small side street where my friends live. She started to drive, but I knew there was a problem when she phoned a friend and spelled it out for her. I figure I'll wait and see if the GPS takes me home like Dorothy and the yellow brick road...and it didn't ! I ended up at the outdoor stadium, close but no cigar. Houston, we have a problem; it's not good when the arrow on the GPS is off the road into the blackness.

She said I could get out and get into another cab, just pay the fair from when the road ran out. Well, there was no other taxi in sight, we were in a parking lot, so she drove me back towards the city. I didn't want to go all the way back and pay for a long trip, I was close I'm sure. She said there were no taxis on this side...what does that mean!? A few streets later, she let me out and said she wouldn't take my money, hell I was going to argue for something, as I kept saying that she didn't know where she was going, but she just kept denying it. There was a cab behind me, and he also didn't know where I needed to go. I must be doing something wrong, because M said that this road is well known.

I had to call the house, and J picked up. I was saying "Kam-pan A-rang" when I was supposed to say "Kam-pong A-long" Geez, you try it and see if you get home! Well, I eventually made it and had to relay the story.

What's wrong with saying the truth? i.e. I don't know where that is, but we'll get you there, or, get another cabbie. Aiya! as they say in Chinese.

Good night, it's almost 1am! Another full day tomorrow. I still have quite a bit to see, so I better get up early. I just like to write stuff down before I forget and fall behind. I have written journal, but this is the first vacation on my blog so you guys can follow along.