Day 4 _ Hong Kong here I come

After checking out from the Hotel in Shenzen, we walk towards the Immigration checkpoint in Lo Hu.



Passport stamped ' exit China' , we took the Hong Kong MTR to Mongkok East station,
then switched train to Mongkok.



Searched north south east west to locate the hostel that we have booked.

Finally found it. Actually we were very near it already. Just too bad walked in the opposite direction

The place is quite ok, a unit on the 8th floor of a highrise in busy Mongkok. Our room is
a 8'x10' twin private ensuite, a double bed, a small TV and a small bathroom. Daily charge is HKD 280(RM140).


Location is very strategic. Walk a few steps we can access these places









Wow, "people mountain people sea" ( aka a lot of people la!)

Street musician in action.

This girl is very 'chu bi' ( interesting).

She stands still like a statue, with a card on the floor written: Don't give any money ,or else I WILL SING!

Being curious, I put in 1 dollar, the lady starts shaking and sings for about 30 seconds. Another guy put in 2 dollars, she sings about double the time. See , how much entertainment you get depends on the 'investment'. But hor, I think I can sing better than her.

At night we went to Temple Street.

If I walk into one of these tents, I may be told when will I strike KTM, or when will I get 4 for my PTK. But I didn't. No gut mah.

Toured 43 countries_ 2

Actually hor, I used this passport,

and this "Visa"

to tour here

You see, the world is under my feet

when I was up here

Current Issue In China ( March 2009)

One of the hot issues in China at the moment is counterfeit money. You can hear about it in the news nearly everyday. People has been advised not to accept notes bearing serial no. CE or CH because they are counterfeits.

When you pay for your purchase or food with big bills ( say 100 yuans notes) , the cashier or waitress will read out the serial nos to you and you have to nod your head to acknowledge.

This routine is to prevent you from denying they are yours if the notes turn out to be fakes.

The crooks try all sorts of way to circulate the fakes. They go to the extend to join half a fake note to half a genuine one. Then they deposit it into the bank's cash deposit machine. The machine can't detect its fake because it has half real one. After that they withdraw the same amount in good money from ATM. Smart ler!

Toured 43 countries

Don't believe it?


See, This is my passport


These are the immigration stamps when I enter the
countries. Altogether 43 of them!




and........
.
.
.
.
.
These are the places of interest I visited

Taj Mahal in India


House Of Parliment , London


London Bridge, London





The Colosseum, Italy


Angkor Wat, Cambodia



L'Arc de Triomphe, France



Eiffel Tower, France



Kyongbokgung, Korea


Borobudur, Indonesia


Japan



Royal Palace, Bangkok Thailand





and many many more.............

Shopping in Shenzen

See the number of people? so 'lau juak'!!!!

But I always had that insecure feeling; takut kena pickpocket,

takut kena tipu,takut...............................

A peculiar scenario: when an alien(ya they address

foreigner as alien) walks into a CD shop, a few fellows will

swamp around him or her to peddle cheap cheap DVD as

soon as he comes out from the shop. These people are quite

persistent and will follow you some distance before giving up.

There is some kind of reminder somewhere that says when

one pays for cheap DVD with big note, the change received may

be counterfeit money. Ya. counterfeit money is the hot current

issue in China.

There is a food outlet that sells all parts of a duck: meat,

wing, leg, neck, head , tongue, internal organs ................

I was not that adventureous, duck wings will do. But don't

know what type of seasoning is used, it tastes not only hot

and spicy, but can even numb your lips and tongue after

eating it.

Shenzen here I come

My original plan was to travel from Jiangmen to Hong Kong by ferry.

http://www.cksp.com.hk/eng/route/main.html

But I have taken that route before, why not try something new?

So I changed my mind and decided to visit Shenzen.

I took an express bus from Jiangmen to Shenzen. Travelling time is

2.5hr , roughly equivalent to travelling from Penang to Tapah.

This is the view from my hotel room, looking at the Shenzen

railway station. The long line of taxis are queuing up to fetch

passengers. The line is non-stop and moves rather fast,

indicating the passenger volume of this station is really huge.

I had the honour to visit the first Mc Donald in China, not

to makan , but to pee..... paiseh.

Xi Chiaw San ( Xi Chiaw Mountain)_ cornered into a tight spot episode

After lunch at Fo Shan I took a cab to a scenic spot called
Xi Chiaw San. Distance is about 30Km, travelling time abt
40 min and taxi fare is 75 yuans ( abt RM40). This is a
mountain abt 500m above sea level and is located near a
small town, Xi Chiaw.Around the mountaineous area there
are 8 scenic spots. Comparatively is like Air Itam, Kek Lok
Shi and Air Itam Dam in Penang. Difference is visitor has to
pay $ to get in.
The taxi man dropped us at the main gate . Immediately a
man on a motorbike approached us, offering to take us up
the hill for a fee of merely 8 yuans for 2 pax( the bike can
carry 2 pillion riders!) He said to walk up the hill may take
hours. So we hopped on and broooommm.................,
not realising the 'best' is yet to come.
Brooommmm ............ this fellow took us uphill and right to
the door step of a small and old temple. 3 locals(2 men and
a woman) greeted us, offering us some 'free' joss stick to
pray to the gods there.After that the man asked me to grab
some rice grains from a bowl and put them into an angpow.
He even asked me to blow some air into it before sealing it
and asked me to take home and put it into my rice urn.
That will bless me to have rice to eat forever. I felt like a fool
going through these superstitious ritual.It was an insult to
my intelligence. Worst still, when it was done, the man showed
me a book and asked me to jot down my name and write some
wishes. I didn't realise he was partially covering part of the
page with a card.Eventually he pushed it aside and wa..lau..eh..
there were 3 columns on the right for me to list down my
donations for 3 different purposes.I glanced at the rows above
me and saw quite hefty figures. Shit! I was cornered into a tight
spot. I was deceived. I didn't mind donating, but not in this
manner.
As a sign of protest I merely wrote 3 yuans for each item.
That fellow must be cursing, kiamsiap !

When I came out, my wife had just made a wish in front a wishing
tree ( suggested by the woman) .The lady was asking for 30 yuans
for the wish. My wife protested because she doesn't know Mandarin,
so can't understand the label on the tree. But what to do, we are in
foreign land. Pay lor. Chiaklat.
Ah! China! macam macam ada!


That's not the end of it. The biker took out a brochure and showed
us 8 locations around the area. He wanted 80 yuans to take us there.
Alamak, the initial cheapy 8 yuans was just a bait. Sekarang baru
nak sembelih. Kena conned again!!!!!


Fed up, just topped up 5 more yuans for him to fetch us to the Kuan
Imm statue, that's it.

Along the way he hookwinked us again to part with 15 yuans to buy
some joss sticks from his contacts, telling us that it would cost more
at the temple.

I felt like I sudah kena kongtau man!!!!!!!








You often see this type of tree in the Hong Kong TVB
serials. Write down your wish on a piece of red paper, tie it
to an orange and throw it up. If it hooks, your wish will
come true. China pun ada woh!!!!!

We have to track down hundreds of these steps to get down
the mountain.

This taufoofaa is super smooth, supposing made using
stream water......