HALLOWEEN@LKF

Halloween Night!! For sure we were going to hang around and have fun!! We met at TST and then took the ferry to Central. We didn't dress up and make up but Man drew a spider on my hand :D It didn't look scary tho but it was fun!!


On the way to LKF, we saw a lot of people with costume and scary make up. Very interesting!! It was the first time for Kyoko to be in Hong Kong on the Halloween, she was very excited coz people don't celebrate in Japan. She wanted to dress up but it was too late!! So next year we are going to dress up!! :D

Central was full of people!! It was very crowded!! We took nearly 1 and half hour to walk from the pier to LKF!! So crazy!! You couldn't even walk back!! We just followed the crowd to walk. We bought some beer from the convenient store, drank, took pics and had fun in the crowd.

Then we went into Insomnia to have some drinks and enjoy the live band music. It was more crowded than usual!! Kyoto had to work on the next day so we didn't stay till too late. We left at around 2am and we all had fun!!

PEKING DUCK DINNER

I'm supposed to have French lesson on Thur but I skipped my lesson tonight coz I was going to have Peking Duck dinner! Christophe and Charly are going to leave soon so it might be the last time for me to see them before they leave. Eléna is going back to France too!! Seems everyone is leaving Hong Kong!!

I don't usually eat Peking Duck coz it's kinda like tourist stuff but I like peking duck a lot!! I quite like this Spring Deer Restaurant!! Their food was really good!! Pekingese food is rather greasy with strong taste, so I usually don't eat much. But we ordered a lot of food!! We were so full and I'm glad that we all enjoyed it!!

ANA SUSHI

Dinner gathering with old friends, we had postponed this dinner few times and finally we managed to come out. It's really not easy to gather together since we all are quite busy.

We had no idea what to eat so Helen suggested this Japanese restaurant. PY and Kevin had to work overtime so we ordered the food first coz we were very hungry.

Sze suggested to go travelling together and she wanted to go somewhere with sun and beach. We all were very surprised coz Sze can't swim and she doesn't like the sun!! What made she wanna have a sun + beach vacation? She said she just wanted to try to relax at the beach and read the books there LOL OMG!! It's hard to imagine!!

I'd like to travel with them but I have some plans for myself so I'm not sure if I'm available. I really wish I could have more holidays and money!!

1DAY MACAU TRIP

Just wanna relax and get away of Hong Kong, we went for Macau for a day trip. It's my 3rd time to go to Macau. This time we mainly hunted for food but not sightseeing!

We planned to take the 10am boat to Macau but someone was late so we had to wait for 1 hour to take the 11am ferry. When we arrived Macau, it was nearly 12pm, then we took the map from the tourist infomation centre and then started to plan for our day.

We were so hungry so we took the shuttle bus to Hotel Lisboa and then walked to Rua do Campo. There is a local small restaurant which is famous for eating crab congee and shrimp dumpling. We tried these 2 famous dishes, they were quite good but not that impressive.

Then we walked to Ruins of St. Paul's, on they way we saw that many people were buying pepper pie at a little shop so just bought one to have a try. It was quite good with strong pepper taste.

We didn't walk up to Ruins of St. Paul's, just took few pics there. Since Ruins of St. Paul's is listed as one of the World Heritage, many tourists go sightseeing there. Macau is not just a small city now, their government did a lot of things to develop this city as a tourist attraction.

Then it was nearly afternoon tea time, we went for one famous shark fins soup restaurant and tried their soup. Many people were lining up there so we took away and enjoyed it at the park. The soup was delicious!! No wonder there were so many people!

We then took the taxi to Taipa and went to Tai Lei Cafe to try the Pork Chop bun. Once again we had to line up and wait!!

It was my first time to try this pork chop bun, many people told me that it was very delicious and it was a Must-Eat-Food!! Finally I could try it!! It was better that I expected!! Very delicious!! I liked it a lot!! The pork chop and the bun were perfect match!! :D

We were so full after eating so many things so we had a walk at Taipai and then bought some souvenirs at Rua do Cunha. I bought some nougats and a bottle of Portuguese porto wine. I quite like the Porto wine but I hardly find in Hong Kong. AC and PY kept calling me tippler coz they think I usually drink!! It's just a bottle of wine!! Of course I'm not tippler!!

After buying the souvenirs, we saw a nice cafe shop and the cakes looked delicious. We were so full but we really wanted to have a try. So we just got in and ordered the cheese cake and Serradura. The Cheese cake didn't look like cheese cake but it was very delicious!! The serradura was very soft and creamy!! I liked them both!!!

We stayed in the cafe for an hour and more, chitchatted and relaxed there. We were very tired so it was better just relaxing there than walking around. Then it was nearly dinner time and we went to a Portuguese Restaurant to have our dinner.

The restaurant was quite full so we had to wait for around 45mins. We just took pics and hung around to kill the time. I've been this restaurant 2 years ago, it was quite good so this time I wanted to come again.

But this time it was very disappointing becoz of their bad service and the bad quality of food. We ordered some few Portuguese dishes but they were only ok. What upset us was the service, their attitude was bad and they just wanted their customers to finish the meal fast so they could do more business!!

We weren't happy with the meal so after dinner, we had Durian ice-cream to cheer us up :P Someone says eating dessert make you feel happier, I guess so!! The Durian ice-cream was very good!! We 3 people shared one only coz we were extremely full after having so many food in a day!!

Then we took the bus back to Macau, walked around and did our final souvenir shopping.

We took the ferry at 11pm and we were so exhausted. What a crazy eating day trip!! It was very rush but quite enjoyable!! :D

CHARLY IS BACK

Charly's come back to Hong Kong again! He has resigned his job in Portugal and he came to join Chris for their Asian Trip!! They will travel for at least half year? I'm so jealous!! How come they can travel that long and seems they don't worry about life!! I bet they are rich :D

We had dinner at Jin Luo Bao Korean Restaurant! Once of my favourite!! :) Charly has never tried Korean food before and seems he like the food! This time we didn't order much food like before!!

After dinner, we went to Wanchai to have a drink at Carnegie's. Some young lads and girls danced on the bar table and I asked the guys to dance but they didn't want to!! I tried that before, it could be embarrassing but if you drink few glasses before, you would definatly think it is fun to dance!!

ZANTHIA & VINCENT'S WEDDING

It's Zanthia and Vincent's Wedding!! But I think it's more like 5A gathering coz the atmosphere was like that. We all just talked about our recently life and planned for the next gathering coz Zanthina was too busy to come to take pics and talk to us.

We met some teachers as well!! Surprising K.K. Wong could remember us!! He was my class teacher back to F.2 and he has very good memory!! And the teachers don't look old at all!! They looked like quite the same as before!!

We hardly had chance to take pics with Zanthia and Vincent so we took pics with their portraits!! Kinda silly tho LOL Finally we got chance when we left tho it wasn't formal pics. But it's better than nothing!!

DAD'S 60 YEARS OLD B-DAY BANQUET

I came back to Hong Kong at 5pm after my trip and then I had to rush home, put down my luggage, took a quick shower and rush to the restaurant coz it was my dad's 60 years old birthday. We celebrated with him in a Chinese Restaurant and all our relatives came to join the banquet.

I was supposed to be there earlier to welcome the guests, I rushed there and luckily I wasn't the latest :P Dick and Hei kept saying that I was late and everybody was waiting for me!! They were very noisy!!

I guess they weren't waiting for me!! They were waiting for my camera!! Dad looked so happy and he kept asking me to take pics. I suddenly felt like I was useful and I was like a photographer :P

The dinner was quite good and I missed Chinese food after 2 weeks vacation in Europe. Dicky and Hei made me and Kay drank a lot of red wine!! Luckily I didn't do anything silly in front of the relatives :D Mom said I didn't look so drunk until I got home. When I got home, I just lied down on the sofa and I can't remember how I went to bed :P The next day I realised I didn't take off my contact lens and I didn't even wash my face!! So crazy!! It's my first time for being like that!!

Time runs fast!! Dad is 60s already!! I don't realise he is growing old!! Maybe I don't spend enough time with family so I don't realise about that? I really should spend some more time with them!!

DAY 17 LONDON / HONG KONG

It took around 13 hours from London to Hong Kong, I was exhausted so beside eating, most of the time I was sleeping on the flight :P I didn't even want to do anything!! So the flight time seemed not too long for me this time!!

I enjoyed this journey very much but it was the most exhausting trip for me coz I didn't stay in the same city long and I had to carry my heavy luggage all the way. It was a bit rush and I think I could enjoy more if I could have longer vacation to relax!!

It was so happy to see old friends and meet some new friends. And it was a very good experience to travel on our own with some local people. In this journey, it was my 2nd time to visit those cities and it didn't feel like the same at all with travelling on tour. I could see more and it was more flexible to visit on our own.

I enjoyed the food, shopping and culture in Europe!! It was so much fun and I didn't want to come back! But holiday is holiday, it will end!! So I'm looking forward to my next vacation!! Gotta work harder and save more money!! :D

DAY 16 ROME / LONDON

Our vacation is ended today!! We couldn't do anything sightseeing today coz we had to take the flight from Rome to London, and then from London to Hong Kong.

I had bad impression of people in Rome coz it seems they like to take advantage on the tourists. Me and Connie wanted to buy the train ticket from Rome train staion to the airport on the self-served ticket machine, it only had Italian language and we needed to take time to figure out how to buy the ticket. An Italian guy came over to ask us where we were going and helped us to buy tickets from the machine. We thought he was just trying to be nice and friendly but after helping us he asked for 1Eur for buying coffee!! So crafty!!

When we arrived London Gatwick Airport, it was nearly 2pm. But our flight to Hong Kong was at London Heathrow Airport so we had to take the bus from Gatwick to Heathrow. The fastest way was to take direct express bus and it only needed around 1 hour and 30mins. But our departure flight to Hong Kong was at around 10pm so we got plenty of time. So we used another way to go to Heathrow Airport.

We took a bus from Gatwick to Victoria Coach Station first, then took another bus from Victoria Coach Station to Heathrow Airport. We didn't have enough time to visit London but at least I could see this lovely city on the bus.

When I arrived London, I felt like home coz I could speak English finally!! I mean I could communicate and understand what people say!! It was frustrating in Italy coz people couldn't speak English well and they didn't even have English menu in some Italian restaurants. Paris was ok, at least I know a bit French and the people I met in Paris could speak English quite well. And in German, mostly of the time I had Michele and Kristin to translate for me so everything was fine :D

We didn't have time to visit London but we had time to try fish & chips!! It was only ok coz I don't really like greasy food much.

We got a little problem when we checked in at the airport. The ground staff told me that the seats were overbooked and we might not be able to take that flight!! I was shocked!! I didn't want to be delayed or changed to another flight!! I didn't mind if they could upgrade us to first class!! All I wanted is to get on the flight!! Of course finally we could get on and depart on time! Goodbye Europe!! I'm sure I will be back again!!

DAY 15 ROME / VATICAN CITY

It was the last day for us to sightseeing in Italy! We had breakfast in a cafe and then we visited Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. This basilica is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.


Then we took the underground to Vatican City and visit the Basilica di San Pietro. We took pics at the square but we didn't get in. I've been there inside 6 years ago, I still remember there was the statue of St. Peter and it is believed that touching his feet would bring you luck so his feet were slick!!

We then had lunch at a bar but it was the most expensive lunch I ever had!! We had chicken leg with chips, sausage with vegetable, seafood salad, Ravioli and 2 drinks. It total costed 52EUR!!!! Crazy!! We didn't check the price before ordering coz it was a self-served bar and we didn't expect it would be so expensive. The food was just ok and it wasn't deserved to pay that much!!

I think we order too much and we were too full to finish all the food but we tried our best to eat them all coz it costed 52EUR!! We didn't want to waste the food (money) LOL

After lunch, we just walked around to buy some souviners and relaxed. We didn't want to rush the last day. We just wanted to enjoy our last day in Rome.

We were supposed to have a nice dinner for our last day in Rome but we spent more than we expected at lunch so finally we bought some bread and salami and went back to the hostel. Not too bad tho, at least we had something to eat :D

We've changed the room and we had a new roomate from South American. She was very friendly and nice so we invited her to have simple dinner with us in the room. We talked about everything, she is going to study in Germany and she travelled Europe for 10days alone. There are quite a lot of travellers who like to travel alone! I wanna try too!!

DAY 14 ROME

It was a nice sunny day in Rome!! Comparing with other Europe city, Rome was hot!! We didn't expect that but we both liked this nice warm weather.

The hostel was closed to Colosseo so we just walked to there. Colosseo is one of the greatest work of Rome architecture!! I was interested to get in to see how it looked like but again there were many tourists lining up there so we just took some pics there and had a quick breakfast.

We then walked around to see this ancient city. Actually Rome is a modern and cosmopolitan city but on the other hand she has many ancient buildings that make Rome so lovely. No wonder why it is the 3rd most-visited tourist destination in Europe.

Rome isn't the city that I like most but it is the city I would like to suggest to go especially if you like to take pics!! Definately you can take a lot of nice pics here!!

Fontana di Trevi is another must-go-place in Rome!! A legend holds that it brings luck to throw coins into the fountain, using your right hand and tossing backward over your right shoulder. Trowing one coin supposedly means you will return to Rome; throwing two coins ensures that you will fall in love with a beautiful Roman; and three tossed coins means you will marry that lucky lady or gentleman!

6 years ago when I first came to Rome, I did throw one coin!! See I come back now :D For sure this time I threw the coins again!! :D Just let the legend comes true!! Yay!!

We then had lunch in a bar, we ordered coffee, lasagne and risotto. Many people say that the Cappuccino in Rome is the best and that's why I ordered it!! I can't say it was the best coffee that I even had but it was really good. The Lasagne was average but I didn't like the risotto coz it wasn't hot enough and the taste wasn't so good.

After lunch we walked around Piazza di Spagna and shopped around as well coz there were many brand shops near by Piazza di Spagna. Shopping time again!! I bought some accessories from D&G and it was very cheap!! I like Dolce & Gabbana!! :D

We went back to hostel in the evening, put down our stuff and then went back to the restaurant where we had dinner yesterday. We went there again coz the food was good and also it was closed to our hostel. We were too tired to walk and look for other nice restaurant.

Tonight we had cream sauce spaghetti with clams and pizza. Pizza was still delicious but the spaghetti wasn't as good as I expected. It was a bit hard to chew but the sauce was quite good.

We didn't do many things at night in Rome, not becoz there was nothing to do, it's just we didn't dare to hang aroung too late at night. The area where our hostel located was a bit far away from the train station and it didn't look so safe to walk around there at night. So we just headed back to the hostel after dinner.

DAY 13 FLORENCE / ROME

Waking up in the early morning again coz we had to take the morning train from Florence to Rome. It wasn't far away from Florence to Rome, it only needed around 1 and half hour.

We met some Japanese tourists in the train, they were a big group and I borrowed a map from them to see where the Japanese tour would like to visit in Rome. Mostly it was quite similar with what Hong Kong tour but they also focused on going to supermarket and Japanese department store. It's strange that the tour were arranged to shop around at Mitsukoshi!!

We didn't do many things in Rome today, it was kinda like wasting time but sometimes you never know what it would happen when you go travelling. It could be unexpected but we learned a lesson!!

We checked in in the hostel in the evening and then we went out for dinner at a local Italian Restaurant. Italian people usually have dinner quite late, we chose this restaurant becoz many people were there and we guessed it could be quite good.

We ordered house white and red wine, I liked the red wine! Surprisingly the wine was even cheaper than coke!! We ordered pizza and some pork as well and they were very good!! The dinner didn't cost too much and we were so full already!!

We shared a hostel room with a lady from Finland, she travelled alone. She slept so early and we didn't want to wake her up so when we got back to our room, we just slept right away.

DAY 12 FLORENCE

I was very tired but I hardly slept on the train coz we had to watch out the strangers in our carriage. We sat on the window side and in the middle there were a German mother with a girl and on the aisle side there were 2 Italian men.

But the German mother and the girl got of the train in the midnight and there were only us with 2 Italian men. We were a bit worried coz they looked a bit scary LOL But finally we started to talk together and their destination was Rome. On and off some people came into our carriage and left, I fell asleep for a while and tried to walk on the aisle to keep myself awake.

When we arrived Florence, it was early morning!! I was a bit disappointed that it rained in Florence!! We looked for the bus station and took a bus to the hostel. We missed 2 stops so we had to drag our luggages and walk back to the hostel.

The roads in Florence were so rough, it was not easy for us to drag our luggages under the rain!! The hostel was not conspicuous, we kept walking around and asked the local people where it was. When we arrived hostel, it was nearly 9am. We wanted to take a shower coz we were wet and sweaty but they didn't have early check-in. So we just let them to keep our luggages and start to visit Florence.


Florence is not very big, it is good and easy to stroll around this historical city. We crossed the bridge to Piazza della Signoria. And then we visited Duomo, San Giovanni and Giotta as well.

The design of Duomo looked so special and grand!! It was even bigger than I expected. We took some pics and then walked around the shops. The leather goods are famous in Florence and for sure we had to buy something!!

Shopping around until noon, we were so hungry and had lunch in a Italian restaurant. Surprisingly there were many Japanese tourists in the restaurant! I think maybe the Japanese guide books recommended this restaurant.

We ordered a seafood risotto and T-bone steak. The risotto was so delicious!! It was one of the most delicious risotto I ever had!! And the T-bone steak was good too!! We enjoyed this meal a lot!!

After lunch, we walked around again and then we visited Chiesa di Santa Croce. The Basilica is the largest Franciscan church in the world.

The Arno river is in the Tuscany Region which passes through Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The view or Arno River and the buildings were so great when we took pics on the bridge.

Nearly evening, we took the bus to Piazzale Michelangelo, it is the most famous tourist attraction in Florence. And you can see the magnificent skyline of Florence!! So beautiful!!

We took a lot of pics there and we just sat down to relax and waited for the sunset. What a wonderful moment!! I like Florence!! What a shame we couldn't manage to visit Pisa as well!!