This is a story of me winning the first million dollar (before 20% tax deduction and in Taiwanese dollar) in my life.

Thank you everyone for making this “The Moment” of my life. It’s gonna be long. I should get it published as a book. Like Beckham…

THE MOMENT I heard our team’s name being announced. Everything came true! Finally… WE WON!!

Let’s rewind back to 5 months ago. Kai Yit just graduated from University of Malaya, looking for job while I was having school holidays but in the midst of preparing for camp and industrial attachment. Just a casual internet surfing I accidentally bumped into an advertisement about this “Best Trip of the World” competition organised by Taiwan Tourism Bureau.

BooN -- “Hey.. There’s a travel competition like the Australia Best Job in the World in Taiwan.”

Kaito -- “What is that?”

BooN -- “The Australia Best Job in the World? About hiring an islander to take care of the island and make it a … … … … blah blah”

Kaito -- “No. I don’t care about Australia. What’s about Taiwan’s part?”

And we were in the competition slightly 5 minutes after that.

But first problem was communication. At the starting stage we almost conducted our discussion through emails. I was in Singapore while Kai Yit was in KL. It was so difficult to get a thing done and took much longer to decide on a thing. Luckily I made several trips back to KL whenever I was free. At this stage, we never expect ourselves to go that far. All in our mind was to spend our time to have fun while working together to come out with the best plan ever!!

The first round required us to submit 2 things. A proposal for 4 days 3 nights with a clear theme with places that we were going to visit together with a 1-minute video of team introduction. So whenever I return to KL, we would spend endless day time in Starbucks, Kim Gary, Old Town… Almost all places that has got WiFi in KL for discussions… We wanted to do something really really big and serious this time. So we decided to give our full attention into it.

Once we were so frustrated, so many themes to be explored in Taiwan… Which one to go with? Be very special~~ Be very discreet~~

It was luck again when Kai Yit stumbled on an aboriginal song. He showed me the next day and immediately we fell in love with the theme “The Search for Aboriginal Melody”. What a beautiful yet creative theme for 4 days in Taiwan! We never had the chance to explore the aboriginal races in Malaysia so why not now with a chance to see it there?! That’s how we got our theme.

For the video, we were so excited about making our first introduction video and decided to do our shooting in KLCC as the location best represented our country. We felt that the video was very important as it would give the very first impression to the judges. So we took a very special approach as the first part of the video was very serious introducing the theme of our journey and in the later part of the video unleashing our energetic and young team doing all the fun stuff.

It worked.

July 10 marked the first step ever to our 1 million dream! We were so shocked when it was announced that our team made into the World’s Top 50 in the competition. We stumbled, we stunned but we went on! We quickly picked up our pace as we didn’t have much time to prepare. My school was starting in 3 weeks’ time and Kai Yit had just found his job. We couldn’t delay our trip any further but to have it in 2 weeks’ time, and we hadn’t even started a booking yet that time.

2 weeks from July 10 to July 25, we had the biggest storm before the trip. Flight tickets, accommodation and transportation arrangement, meals, exact location of places and much much more to worry. We had so little time yet we faced more and more troubles along the way. We were both students without credit card so it was really a trouble for bookings. We both had laptop of “centuries-old” and we were worry that it might not function well (for video-editing) … We tested and tested and reviewed and reviewed …

July 26. We were set!

And go! Taiwan here we are!!

The week we had in Taiwan were both exciting and exhausting. We would spend the whole day playing nonstop and yet night we were busy typing and editing videos for our blog as a requirement in the competition. The day would start at 4 or 5am when we woke up in super blur condition and it would end at about 2 or 3am right after we satisfied with the progress of our products. We had only 1 week in Taiwan and so our team had more to do compared to other teams where they could do the video and submitted them later on in Taiwan. But we were fine. We had so much trouble on the trip, the equipments kept malfunctioning, the laptop kept jamming, the batteries kept running out… But we were fine.

I remembered that we were not after the 1 million prize money that time. We were purely executing our duties and responsibilities as we were given a chance as the World’s Top 50 in the competition and the opportunity, and so we worked our best while having our great time there. I couldn’t deny that I wished I can just enjoy the whole trip without doing the blogging and video. But we glad that we were able to share our amazing experience with the world after that!

Our first news article appeared on Nanyang Siang Pau. We never expect that the news would keep on appearing for 6 or 7 times after that!!

Just a quick fact on our achievement.

Highest views on 4-day travel video

1800+ fans and supporters on our BKT Facebook Fans Page from more than 20 countries

More than 40 bloggers supporting our team on their blog (list below)

More than 20,000 views on our travelogue in Cari & Backpackers forum

Featured at least 7 times  on newspapers

Featured 2 times on local Chinese radio station 988FM and AI.fm (+ 1 in Taiwan radio radio channel)

Featured 3 times in magazine

Countless features in online media

September 10.

Our team won the “Most Popular Team” for the Chinese category. Though a little unexpected but we were confident that time with our effort that time. We knew our hard work had started to pay off and thus we pushed ourselves even further in each round. In the final round, the “miracle” happened!!

OK I won’t deny that I was the one who came out with the crazy idea. I was actually half-jokingly suggested the idea and I never expect Kai Yit to nod his head. At first it was just a random joke, but Kai Yit nod his head, SHOCKINGLY!! (perhaps he wanted to do it for long? we’ll never know…)

To sort of like “perfect” it, we found another 3 victims who also nodded their head (how come so easy de?!) but we were deeply regret the moment we were forced to wear the dress on. It was hard. Really hard. I was damn regret the moment I was trying to fit my fat body into the dress… But we learnt to push down our dignity and learnt to appreciate women more. It was hard to be a women, really. We learnt it the hard way and so please believe us!

All I wanted to say was I am lucky to have these guys as my friends. Where can you find such crazy friends that would do such things together with you?! (with no pay of course! All we treat was a Bak Kut Teh meal… so pity huh?!)

Well some people asked me what made me wanna go that far to dress up like that for the competition? Am I confident that I will win it? That’s why I did it?

NO. The answer was NO. I never predict anything closer than TOP 3 that time. The competition was huge. So many great teams out there that deserve to win. I did it purely because I don’t want to be typical. I couldn’t deny that I wanted to grab attention but wasn’t it the real meaning of doing the video? So let me present to you the greatest video with more than 30,000 views!

Amazing huh? =.=”

Catching up with studies and work, we never stop chasing our dreams. Pulling votes from time to time, we got huge response from all over the countries, and that’s when we started to believe in ourselves. And we knew we can do it!

So we pushed ourselves even more! Sharing our experience face to face with people in my university, breaking into the school compound to get support directly from students like me!

And we met many people with same passion as us in travelling, in sharing our overseas experience through such events… We received even more support then.

My life had became more random than ever. I never been to and fro between the city of KL and Singapore so many times in my life. Averagely I would be taking buses (often I just hopped on.. without much planning ahead) every 2 weeks. My sleeping times were disrupted. My blood pressure had increased. My workload had been more than ever. My financial crisis was bigger than ever!! (Imagine per round trip cost RM100 and how much it would cost you to travel in 5 months?) It’s a good chance for me to polish my social life as well as to get adapt to the flexibility as well. I won’t say I love to travel that much but I started to getting used to it. It wasn’t that bad after all.

And 5 months had passed just like that!

November 1 when the competition had ended, our team never rest. We compiled all of our effort into a full report and sent to the committee as a reference. We did it as a duty and responsibility. Then we rested and continued with our daily life. I was waiting anxiously until November 11 Wednesday, I received a call from Taiwan during my class. I almost yelled and screamed but I didn’t. I was told that Bak Kut Teh had made it into the Final Top 3 and we were asked to attend the ceremony on Sunday November 15.

But we were told to keep it as a secret and confidential.

I was excited but I couldn’t tell anyone. (Except my family) But I was afraid that I lost. I had the hardest time in my life in that few days. What if I lost? What if I gone to Taiwan and lost? How would I feel?

But think again. 5 months. We walked so far. We had done so much. We had done enough. Win or lose. We are in Top 3 of the World! How many teams can do that? We didn’t even thinking of winning at the starting of this competition and yet we walked this far. In my mind, I am already a winner. Yes. Winning or losing is just a formality of a competition, as long as you know you had done your best, you are a winner.

So we flew to Taipei with a relax mind. Though nervous at some moment, but we mainly spent our time with our freed mind.

November 15 was the day. We were walked to the venue. They hid us in a room avoiding the media before they brought us in and showed us the final 4 results.

We were so nervous in that room. Haha… Knowing that we were so close in the end! And we met…

West meets 东! Another top 3 finalist, Althea Lin and Ben, a strong team and young couple from the USA. We were friends since months ago chatting on facebook but it was the first time we met. A really great pleasure to meet them, nice people and they brought their baby too!!

It’s always to have a baby with you cause they are the medicine to everything!! We were playing with the baby and we never realised that it’s time to announce the results!

And so we were brought to the live venue for the media centre. My first time that we were surrounded by so many media.

The Moment

To better facilitate you to imagine the live event. We recorded THE MOMENT in the live news below.

It all came true with that sentence.

It all came true.

We always hear “Nothing is Impossible” but we never believe it fully until we face it. From zero in June, we are now literally winning our first million dollar in 5 months. It looked surreal, but it all came true. That’s why I couldn’t control my emotions and cried when I heard our name was called.

No, sorry. I wasn’t as strong (emotionally) as you think. Out of happiness, I cried. Out of excitement, I cried. Out of the perspective that we never let our supporters down, I cried. For so many reasons it’s worth for me to tear for awhile. It’s THE MOMENT of my life.

Seriously, it all came true with our effort, with our friends’ support, with all our supporters’ votes, with everyone together in achieving this. This is an honor I want to share with you all. Really appreciate your support all these moments. I always watch reality show where the final winner walks away with prizes and I never expect that today would be the day that I won and walked away with the top prize.

Thank you very much!

This is THE MOMENT of my life.

Blogs that posting our BKT final video and e-book

以下是轉載我們精華短片和電子書的部落客（25名）：

http://angwoeishang.blogspot.com/

http://lyx911.blogspot.com/

http://zouyuhui.blogspot.com/

http://therealkylelai.tumblr.com/

http://vtcwisme.blogspot.com/

http://thatmygoal.blogspot.com/

http://mylifecreation.blogspot.com/

http://blog.omy.sg/fifthavenue/

http://thomas--world.blogspot.com/

http://pikulingu.blogspot.com/

http://lovestoryhouse.blogspot.com/

http://baiqin.blogspot.com/

http://oldstonehome.blogspot.com/

http://vivalive33.blogspot.com/

http://cheehueiblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.ifublog.com/danyanpi/

http://www.ahbing.com/

http://kuahownland.blogspot.com/

http://blog.udn.com/sherpa/

http://daifeijay.blogspot.com/

://zazapo.blogspot.com/

://lisa717.blogspot.com/

http://infinityken88.blogspot.com/

http://kenny-o-logy.blogspot.com/

http://kankisu.blogspot.com/

http://www.akiraceo.com/

Blogs that supported our 4-day travel video experience

以下是轉載我們四天旅遊短片的部落客（15名）：

http://www.howard-u.com/

http://yenniedoll.blogspot.com/

http://bryanlyt.com/

http://hpility.com/

http://daifeijay.blogspot.com/

http://snowpiano99.blogspot.com/

http://lyx911.blogspot.com/

http://guoxingdeblog.blogspot.com/

http://leonlkw86.blogspot.com/

http://jeffwonderland.blogspot.com/

http://muncheeloo.blogspot.com/

http://angwoeishang.blogspot.com/

http://thatmygoal.blogspot.com/

http://thomas--world.blogspot.com/

http://cacingkk.blogspot.com/

p.s: Next post will be in the weekend I suppose, as I have exams and job interview on Friday and this is a super long post. You can read it for days I guess… lol… Will post more about my media experience in Taiwan, first time ever there were more than 10 mics pointing at me… =.=”

It’s almost 3 days after “The Incident in NTU” that strike the whole NTU, Singapore and also some regions in grief. It cannot be denied that somehow this incident has brought attention to high officers in Singapore also in NTU the issues about STRESS that students might have in Singapore. How much attention am I talking about?!! Keep on reading and I will post on a statistic that shock me!!

Well, let’s leave the complicated part to those officers to worry about.

Perhaps we should concentrate more on the stuff that will make us happy.

It doesn’t mean we can be careless to all the stuff around us, but at least we take a short break and enjoy our moment. Usually I would enjoy the time even there are difficult times.

My colleagues

I remembered I had been to a fortune telling session before some years ago. By looking at my face, the fortune teller said I would have a “difficult life” because I have an “uneven” surface. Huh?! 

That means a lot of LOBANG on my face!!! Thanks to the pimples I’ve got since I was 13.

Not one by A LOT OF THEM!!

After that, I used to blame on my destiny everytime I face with challenges. 

When I think about that now, I know how stupid I am… Just to blame everything because what a fortune teller told me about my destiny and fate. Well, he might be right but let’s not surrender so fast to fate ok?

It’s a long journey by the way. No way we can give up in the early stage in our life!!

And that is why there are many things around us. Family, friends, music… so many things that will support us all the way til the end.

Double rainbow in Tuas, Singapore

Just hold on strong and you will see the rainbow in life. 

Angel hunger for your hug…

By the way, anyone of you got very nice facial products to recommend? I’m using Nivea Men Wash and Bio-Essence Super Spot Removal Gel on my skin nowadays. The Bio-Essence seemed quite good as it really removed the pimples…

 

Update: Tomorrow I will be posting on the statistic of visitor that came visiting to my blog moment AFTER THE INCIDENT… I was shocked to see that… =.=”

More and more reflection during these festive seasons as I am too free so I can think more about what is my future and which direction I am heading. I guarantee that this entry will be superbly inevitably LOOOOOONG … Please bear with me for 10 minutes as I took hours to write these down with my heart.

This pose is somehow VERY SIMILAR to some infamous politician in Malaysia… hmm… I wonder who will that be?

Talking about memories… I am going to put up some long-time-never-been-seen photos up here back to the days where I just reached Singapore for my studies. I remember that I don’t have a camera to take down every moments but I’m sure I still remember every moment vividly in my mind til now.

I still remember my parents watching me walked into the night KTM Train heading for Singapore that night. I noticed my sister dropped a tear right at my back. I knew I was not away for very long. Singapore is not far, but still it was one of the checkpoint in my life, where I needed to leave my family and started my new chapter in somewhere else with my family far away.

Flowers for me? Or flowers from me? Nah! I don’t have a girlfriend…

No more mother waking me up for school each morning. No more breakfast prepared nicely everyday. No more people to remind me something I usually ignored. No more help from parents as it used to be. No morefree transportation I usually picked up from my father. No more nice home lunches and dinners. No more a warm greeting and care from my mother I got once in a while when I was too tired studying. No more brothers and sister bothering me with their stupid homeworks nor other idiotic small issues.

My life is no more the same as it used to be!

yea.. My life has never been the same ever… Always become ‘daddy’ for other people.. even in drama.. =.=”

The days I spent in Singapore has formed another side of me. I won’t say that I’ve changed much after staying at this place for almost 3 years but what I agree is that I’ve changed. More or less, I’ve changed!

wow, I didn’t know I was so buff that time… =.=” .. ORRRRR have I ever been?? =.=”

I have friends, coursemates, groupmates, professors, lecturers, colleagues, aunties, uncles, babies etc… told me that I am more Singaporean that I used to be. I was like .. “What the fuxk?” “Really?” I would swear LOUD LOUD in a very AH BENG voice “WHAT LAR!!!? I AM STILL VERY MALAYSIAN OKAYYYY?!!!” But to be honest to my own self, for the sake, deep down in my heart… I try to reflect hardly. Which side I am really at?

I am a little struggle on figuring out that one. After staying almost 3 years in Singapore, my accent more or less changed. I didn’t realise that one, SERIOUSLY!! But I still have friends that would tell me that I still have the heavy MALAYSIAN CANTO accent, but when I spoke less Mandarin and more English I’m totally Singaporean.

Sunset in NTU…

I give another BIG CONFUSING LOOK “HUH?!” What do you mean by that?? I thought English IS SUPPOSED TO SOUND THE SAME in all regions especially in Malaysia and Singapore?! Aren’t they?!

Or I swear and complain too much in English that make me very Singaporean nowadays. It’s one of the very ‘good’ habits that you won’t want to forsake for your own good!!! Any problem? Any trouble? Just complain lar!!!! You don’t like your neighbour listen to loud rock music when you are studying?? Complain lar!! You don’t like people gather around together having their own sweet moment while BBQ-ing??? Complain lar!! You don’t like people blocking your way in the office while everyone is so busy walking around?? Complain lar!! Don’t like the phone service?? Complain lar!! SERIOUSLY I BET YOU CAN EVEN COMPLAIN YOUR OWN PARENTS IN YOUR HOME THERE~~~ (seriously I’ve seen people doing that okay?!!!!)

Or does it matter? Does it matter how Malaysian or how Singaporean I am?? I am holding a blue Malaysian IC. I am holding a browm passport with the big PASPORT MALAYSIA words on it. I still remember LAGU NEGARAKU whenever it’s played. I still remember the Lima Rukun Negara (ok, I gave up this one…) I concern for Malaysia news. I concern for the development of Malaysia. I am still planning to come back to serve the country. (crap lar!!! Don’t fake fake lar…) Anyway I am still 100% Malaysian in me. Singapore and Malaysia were once together. Or should I say, we are the people of the world!! (*whoa…)

Really, I don’t want to go further into that because it would be another huge long story. But staying here in Singapore has made me a little bit different from what I was in the past. 

Here… I learn to be more professional.

I can’t say that I learn to be more stylish but at least more professional… (the SAD FACT: NO MONEY TO BE STYLISH…)

Wait a minute, I do have a sense of fashion… haha… Check my hair color …

Once upon a time, I dyed my hair okay?!!! hahaha…

Not only that, as my age is nearer to join the working force, I got more chances and opportunity to see the real work force.

My first ever big company interview in SHELL Singapore office…

I get to know more people from really really diversed backgrounds, from ang mo to fellow Malaysians, that happily live ever after. Unlike universities in Malaysia where students fight to take over the student power in the campus. I won’t say it’s bad but I believe that the government should provide a better environment for students to study and involve more in the intellectual or whatever regarding their and the country’s future, BUT NOT TO DRAG THE POLITICS INTO THE CAMPUS!!! Man they won’t understand after all these years!! *sad…

Wy Leong, one of the best mates I have in NTU…

Frau Geiser – My German teacher for 1 year…

By the way, I had the opportunity to learn German and French. So now I am officially a 5-language-speaker!! (shoot… My German and French still sucks la… haha)

I learn to have real fun. Fun at anything. Eating… Playing… And even giving back to the society!!

One of my first projects in Singapore, performing for the children in several libraries…

Hmm… Also one of the most expensive meals I ever had in Singapore (and my life…)

Well I hope I was not influenced by Singaporeans’ mentality then? lol… But if allowed, I would rather work hard, play hard, work hard, play hard, work hard, play hard and die… than work hard, save hard, work hard, save hard, play a bit, work hard, work hard … and die. =.=”

Also thanks to my university life (not particularly to my university because so far it has contributed NOTHING to my overseas trips thus far) I have been able to travel to several countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China (Macau) and Macau. I am really grateful that I got such chances to go overseas and see so many stuff. Really… All these happened only after I first got my passport to Singapore for my study… 

Cambodia… My second overseas country to step on (after Singapore)

The trip really opened my eyes onto what is the real definition on DEVELOPING COUNTRY. We, Malaysians, are way too fortunate than them. 

Also I realised that they might need the toys more than us, so before I departed for the Cambodia-Vietnam trip, I packedand gathered a full bag of OLD toys from relatives and friends and brought over to them! You can see from the picture below where Haksym helped me to distribute to the kids!! If you looked carefully my friend is holding my name… so paiseh…

Vietnam… Another faithful trip…

A very interesting city… And I had my first ever ALMOST-GOT-ROB experience here in the middle city of Ho Chi Minh…

I was here to have a 2-week community service project. It was mind-opening, heart-warming and totally a very special experience for me!! And I met a really really special kid there… If I were allowed I really wished I could take him home… Really…

I don’t know if I had told you all this but I will surely tell you about this again. After visiting this orphanage place, I couldn’t stand the kids’ living condition that I cried non-stop… Really I just couldn’t stand it anymore even though I told myself that I must hold my tears because I AM A MAN AND MAN CANNOT CRY (and damn i screwed that…)

Hong Kong, Shenzhen + Macau … the most expensive trip I ever had (i had only 2 trips anyway)

Wow… I didn’t expect the length of this entry can be so… AMAZING!!! Sure will enter the final of longest blog entry of the century… So that’s all I wanna share!! See ya!!

 

“Balik Kampung” – means back to hometown in Malay language. It also mean this…

 and this …

 and it has been like this for years … Malaysia Boleh!!

I’ll be joining the super dumbing fcuking terribly horrifying damn freaking long traffic (@%$^#!@*&^%!) going back to KL from Singapore 7pm later. And from KL my parents will be waiting for me and going back straight to Penang. =P (another freaking !@%#^$&*(&^$%#@! traffic jam queue)

Penang is a nice hometown. So nice and so kampung that I won’t have internet access for the coming 5 days. But no worry. I will do some pre-blogging so that you will still enjoy. So be sure to come back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow for some really funny that I’ve written for you!! Hahaha… enjoy that when you got no life during this coming CNY festival, you can still visit my blog and leave comment!! =.=”

Go Get Some Life!! It’s Chinese New Year!!

昨天开工了，不要误会。我还有一年半才毕业，这是我的industrial training。得到的一间公司是一间重型机械制造跨国公司。不方便透露出来，但时机成熟后我就会告诉大家，所以不要太急！

老实说啦，有点辛苦，有压力。。。

刚开始2天不要以为没有东西做，我们物质工程的可要连机械工程的CAD (Computer-Aid Design)的图画都给搞懂。方才可以开始我们的真正工作，有一点懵懵懂懂的。。。有点害怕，毕竟出来见社会了。。。而且还要自己学会。。。流汗

虽然是有点辛苦啦，做工回到来还要读书，但是有点偷笑因为可以学多一点东西咯。。。但是难免会羡慕别人training回到来轻轻松松的感觉。。。

新年快乐。祝大家万事如意哦。。（好像有一点早了。。呵呵）

Oh my… I can’t believe when I found this!! It just happened when I was cleaning my room and found this special edition magazine that I had made 4 years back when I tried to apply for Bright Roving Annoying Teens programme (BRATs) organised by THE STAR. Thanks to this wonderful creation together with Kai Yit and Kenny Wong, 3 of us got into the wonderful journey to Cameron Highland together!!

This is a magazine about my life. Have a look at them and you might find surprises about me if you read them!! I totally use third person point of view when writing this article out and hopefully you will have fun discovering me! lol

I put very much effort in producing this magazine and haha, please bare with my poor English grammar “4 years ago”… lol ! There are total 18 pages in this magazine. Simple just click anyone of them to view the larger version of it on my web picasa album. You can use the MAGIFYING GLASSES to zoom in and read more about it! (located at top right corner of the photo frame)

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

From My Magazine

I AM STILL AMAZED THAT i FOUND IT!! LOL … I can’t believe Pak LAH was my idol 4 years ago?!!! NO WAYYY!!!!! lmao

Hi Hi Hi!! We went for a superior buffet lunch at Kuishin-Bo at Jurong Point last weekend as a celebration for post FOC gathering!! Haha.. Everyone was happy when Jacky annouced that part of the lunch would be sponsored by him!! =D

So can pay less eat more lar!! lol .. haha

Haha… Why I post this 7.30am in the morning? Make me more hungry nia… haha… enough lar… haha…

Best!! Nice buffet!! Large variety… Good food… Of course better than Sakura!!! But price-wise… haha… that depends on you lar!!

Woke up. The trip so far was amazing that we could sometimes just woke up late and just went for places that we really wanted to visit. This is what we called “Backpacking”. No sstress at all and visit anything that I wanted. Haha…

Today was a very very FUN DAY!! By THAT i mean VERY VERY VERY FUN !! Hahaha … It’s Day 5 of our journey and it’s a Sunday and the second day we were in Hong Kong!! Haha…

So we had our breakfast at another super mega chinese fastfood restaurant in Hong Kong called “MeiXin MX”. Since we were so hungry so each of us ordered a set of breakfast!! Hahaha…

 

 a set of breakfast costs about HKD20 .. which is considered quite ok already.. hahaha…

 quite interesting toilet sign …

After finish our breakfast… we moved to Victoria Harbour to take our leisure cruise/ferry trip over to Hong Kong island. Usually people will just travel by MTR which is just one station away to get to Hong Kong island from Tsim Sha Tsui. But we syok syok went and tried the ferry which turned out to be a very nice experience… hahaha… and before that we went over to the Star Walk to have a look at the PALMS .. hehe …

    

 *sweat… he really got nothign to do liao.. hahaha..

Time to get on boat!!

 

  

Then we reached at Central Pier (中环码头) after just a short 15 minutes trip. And here we go!!!

 

To be honest with you lar… Actually when we came down from the boat.. We were quite blur also.. Coz dunno where really we were and which direction we should go.. so HOW?? Just walked lor.. haha.. cincai la!! 

We saw a lot of BUILDINGS!!

 

 

And we saw a lot of Philipines aunties as well… >.<!!!

  

Walao eh.. I was like SWEAT A LOT when I saw so many maids gathered together at one area (actually they were basically FLOODED THE WHOLE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT as Sunday is an off-day…) We were like “WALAO EH~~~~!!!!! ” On the spot already… hahaha…

So quickly walked over the CROWDED area, we took a bus which will terminate at Stanley Market and off we go!! (Bus Number 66)

 

Actually there were several buses which would terminate at Stanley Market but the bus we took took slightly longer time but were also passing by a lot of places !! Haha.. It didn’t take the tunnel and climbed over the mountain to get to the other side of HK island. So we saw a lot of stuff on the way!! Hahaha…

 

Everything is like on the mountain.. Rich people stay one.. but siao lar!! Everyday if no car then mah climb like siao?!!?!

So after 40 - 50 minutes drive finally we reached Stanley Market!! Muahaha…

 Some sort like a town council.. the small library here not bad oh!! I wonder when can Malaysia do something like this or Singapore’s?!?!

  a very funny canto name for WATSON .. hahaha …

    

It didn’t really appeal much to me and it looked more like a “I’m-rich-so-i-can-walk-and-spend-hell-lot-of-money-here” place to me… So we decided to walk further around and explore to NEW PLACES and we found something interesting!!

There’s this small path that will lead you to some small houses beside Stanley Market which more appealing to me as it is inhabited by locals there..

  the other side of Stanley …

  

And suddenly I heard some radio… rupa-rupanya this uncle curi-curi tulang here and listen to HORSE RACING news .. muahahaha … … typical scene in Hong Kong!!

So we continued visited some places and got bored and decided to take bus and left the place …

   Maritime Museum… need extra money so we skipped lor .. not big also.. haha

 had quick lunch before leaving … tell you lar … any stall selling wanton mee is better than ALL the stall selling wanton mee in Singapore .. hahahaha … REALLY !!!!

 So we too bus again but this time MINI BUS!! First time taking mni bus (well, at least my first time since MINI BUS was HALTED service in KL more than 10 years ago…) and guess where we were heading ?!?! and WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BUS ?!?!! Muahaha …

 

Still June 14. (this HK trip posts seemed like endless forever… =.=”)

 a shop selling cute cute toys and stuff, which is quite famous in Hong Kong…

 

After leaving WONG TAI SIN temple and had our first ever PORK McDonalds meal as lunch. We continued explore the Pearl’s city. We took the MTR to KOWLOON POND 九龙塘 (literaly translated) where we stopped by a new shopping complex – Festival Walk 又一城. The chinese name for this shopping mall is rather amusing. Literally translated – ANOTHER SHOPPING AGAIN ?!! XD

 

 a mall with ice-skating court!! i can tell you that was so crowded that someone bang with someone … lol

 i think the daddy force his child to play …

After a short walk, we got tired of the high end shopping mall and so we left and took MTR to our next destination!! The Victoria Harbour!! Yay!! We got out from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and walked further to the harbour.

 Nathan Road is so long that we still see it after several MTR stations away from our hostel… =.=”

Along the way we saw HK Art Museum, Sheraton Hotel and Peninsula Hotel…

 

 

 Kung Fu Hustle ?! I saw people play TAI CHI at the museum !!! Surely something you won’t find in Malaysia/Singapore…

 so xinku come far far to Hong Kong, must cam-whore a bit lar .. haha

Then we reached Victoria Harbour. We walked around and around and decided to find a place to sit down and enjoy the scenery.

 

 

Also one reason was that there will be a laser light show going on here every night and we found a nice nice spot and wait and wait …

  and wait and wait … and we wait and we wait …   … …… ??… …. =.=”  and the show started …

“OK LAR … NORMAL ONLI…” was first impression that I got after watchign the whole show. To me the buildings itself are far more interesting than the stupid laser light … lol

Oh yea.. actually hor.. we were not that stupid to do nothing and just wait there lar … our dear Jackson so nice and knew a new friend on the spot and she’s actually from Guangzhou… She said that she has got some relatives here in Cheongzhau Island and she’s on a trip around as well… So we talked and we talked… A photo for memory!! Hope she sees this picture lar.. haha…

 

Then moved on to persoal photo.. Of course!! After waiting for so long!! Mut take picture with the night scenery of Hong Kong … Fascinating !!

 ok.. i don’t look happy becoz of the stupid heads blocking the whole nice view of Hong Kong … …

 

Then we got nothing to do and so we decided to go back to Mongkok to have weekend feel … haha

   

 super siao shopping mall ..

This is what I called “People Mountain People Sea”. Certain streets in Mongkok are just closed for pedestrians for you to spend and spend and spend nonstop here.. hahaha .. evil government … So we were hungry and decided to give it a go and their local chinese fast food restaurant “百家乐”. Not bad lar… We only ordered  …

  

Their Baked Pork Rice because we wanted to try other food along the street later.. haha… not bad not bad… Then!!!! Oh My God !!! The superb dessert!! hahaha … HUI LAU SHAN is one of the most fantastic dessert stall you must in Hong Kong!! Haha.. I was addicted that even in Macau I wanted to take ship back HOng Kong to eat this … (bluf only lar.. but taste good lar.. haha)

 

 

Damn expensive you know?! My Mango Ice was like HKD28 and Jackson’s Sesame Fruit Ice was like HKD32++ … Siao one… As you can see … we couldn’t stand the CROWD along the street so we DAPAO (take away) and eat in our room… so nice with aircond after a logn day walk.. haha..

WAIT?! That’s not it.. other than these ice together we also DAPAO some snacks!!

 

 

 the fried squid was very good indeed !! haha .. like it so much !!

i can say tat I’m totally disappointed with their curry fishball … =.=” .. i tot it was so nice to eat … … sweat …

So basically that sums up day 4 of our journey… more surprises coming up!!

 

So what? It’s June 14. A lazy + raining Saturday. We thought we would meet huge crowd at the custom checkpoint and so we departed earlier around 10am. Asking the receptionist at International Youth Hostel that we checked in, she said there’s not necessary that we needed to go through LUOHU 罗湖 because it’s a bit far. There’s an alternative (like Singapore’s Tuas Second Link) whch is just a few stations away. And all the way it’s connected via the subway. OMG!! We decided on the spot. HUANGGANG 皇岗 here we come!!

Without any problem, we passed through the custom and the checkpoint was so nice!! (which in the end left me with some TERRIBLE happened much later, you’ll see that coming…. T.T )

So we reached LOK MA CHAU 落马洲, and we were officially in HONG KONG!! You can’t imagine HOW CRAZY EXCITED I AM … Finally we are here!! The highlight of my whole trip… Hong Kong!!

we straight away bought an OCTOPUS CARD 八达通卡, it’s some card similar to EZLink card in Singapore and here we go! We took the Railway to the downtown… all the way itwas insanely… … crazily… … QUIET!! haha .. coz I didn’t want to attract unwanted attention mah… haha…

 

Cool MTR !! Cool train!! Haha… I can assure you that you won’t get lost in Hong Kong, of course, provided that you know some Chinese… haha…

You know we were carrying a huge backpack and so the first ever thing that we wanted to do is to check in and threw our bag into our room before we could actually start exploring the city. The station was MONGKOK 旺角. And the moment I stepped out from the train station, I was stunned!! I can’t believe that after so many years watching Hong Kong drama talking about this place non-stop … Finally I got the chance to step on it!! T.T so touching … I literally cried on the spot … hahaha

 funny advertisement in MTR station …

The next moment I realised that we had no idea in which direction was our hostel … =.=” haha…

 

So we walked and we walked …

 

Walao eh… The buildings here so MIMI MAMA (tight and close to each other) that made us so hard to find our hostel but we spot this first !!

a BOON MING sports acceseries store !! MY store !!

OK. I admit, that’s IDIOTIC lame. Let’s continue~~~ So we found our hostel after asking a few rounds… and DENG DENG DENG DENG … Let me show you the legendary backpackers hostel !! Dragon Hostel !! haha…

   although I’ve heard of the “small” size of the rooms in HK due to the expensive land price… somehow I stil STUNNED when i saw my room .. …. haha …

 walao eh … can’t even turn around … haha …

After settling down, me and my friend started a serious discussion. It’s so serious that none of us show a funny face in between. Discussing about what?

“Where should we go now?”

Wah Piang … … ok .. another lame one. So we went to a garden, some sort like a Chinese Garden … haha … a Chiese Lotus Garden or sort of … Let’s go!!

We took the KWUN TONG 观塘 line to DIAMOND HILL 钻石山 station. And here we are!!

   

 

 

  

Then we walked until very sien adi, so we moved to our next destination, WONG TAI SIN temple 黄大仙庙!! Also a place whereyou can hear a lot from HONG KONG drama… haha… But how to go? We siao siao take any bus go lor… haha

 after checking, NOT ANY bus can go lar!! haha… cheat you only .. No. 11c got pass by… HKD5 per trip..

 here comes the bus!!

 oh yea.. forgot to talk about the bus fare here… haha… so how do Hong Kong charge the bus fare? It is fixed price from the station you get onto the bus til the last station the bus will go. So let’s say you get onto the bus on station 3 but the bus will end at station 10. You will be charged all the way til station 10. So don’t care you alight on station 4 or 5 or 7 or 10, you will be chargedthe SAME price. Haha… I think they want more people to walk for nearer distance right? hahaha…

 

 quite a lot of people also…

After that we just walked around that area …

 walao .. imagine how many people staying in the building?

 

 then we spotted this MINI BUS STATION !! haha … another funny thing will happen with this MINI bus later on … hahaha … stay tuned …

so… suddenly our stomach cannot tahan liao… not going to toilet….but very very hungry.. so any idea of our first lunch in Hong Kong ?!?!??! i’m sure you will FALL ON TO THE GROUND when you hear th answer …

So our first lunch in Hong Kong was …

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 we ate the “pork” burger there .. you need to know that no PORK served in McDonalds in Singapore nor Malaysia … haha …

Did you fall on to the ground ?