Hong Kong
Tallest building in Hong Kong!
Hong Kong.. Once again, still amazing! Second time round!
Ahh… Thats the sound of the feeling when you get back from a good holiday.. 
Just returned to UK yesterday after a truly AMAZING time in Hong Kong!! OK, so yes I only went there 7 months ago and yes I had to endure a 12 hour flight but I had to go again coz I was so amazed last time. I can still say the same applies. It is an amazing place to go for sure! It has everything there.. Views, shopping, good weather (while I was there), funky style, good FOOD and I can’t possibly use all this page to go on and on about what it has all day but trust me, its better than Nottingham, UK.. (OK OK, where isn’t.. I know I know..)
This time round in HK, we went to a whole lot of new places. Our hotel was in a good location 5 minute walk from Mongkok station (Loads of shops and markets). The hotel staff were friendly and the place was really nice and clean although pretty small rooms. More than enough though considering we didn’t pay a lot! We had air conditioning which was obviously convenient since it was so so hot the entire time we were there, even when there was a little rain a couple days in the first week. Breakfast at the hotel was a bit random (when we got up in time), there was the ‘usual’ sausages, egg, toast, beans, coffee etc.. Then there was the option of noodles and samosas.. Some other things I wouldnt normally associate with breakfast as well, however here I am commenting on it but I was always there with my plate heaped with noodles and samosas anyway. I love em’ both!
When we arrived, we tried to do everything ourselves without asking for directions and help every 2 minutes.. The roads in Hong Kong aren’t too easy to follow though unless you know where you are headed.. We stopped to ask a lady for directions.. Now, we couldn’t speak a word on Cantonese past hello and thank you but her ‘directions’ consisted of hitting our map with the back of her hand and spitting Cantonese at us so fast that even if we could speak the language we wouldn’t understand what she was going on about. We stuck our hands in and took back our map thanking her for her ‘help’ and walked on. Eventually we navigated our way using the not so clear tourist map.
I had mentioned before on my friend’s blog (Anand), that I did not intend to buy a Nintendo DS Lite on this holiday 
.. So.. What did I do? Of course, I bought one.. Someone tell me why!? OK, so they aren’t as bad as I had thought and I found myself getting addicted to it whenever we were in the hotel! 
Things out there are so much cheaper than in the UK.. For example, eating out at a nice restaurant (by ‘nice’ I mean anything better than a fast food restaurant) would normally cost at least maybe £10 - £25 or so? Well, eating out in Hong Kong somewhere nice would cost around HK$120 which works out to be roughly £8.. Most of the places we ate at cost half that amount anyway, so you get the idea, its really cheap! Food there is so good as well, with lost of variety everywhere you go! mmmm! 
. Its a similar story with shopping in general too. Well, to be honest you only have to set foot out of the UK to experience that though. 
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There was so much to do and see, we still didn’t get to do everything in the 2 weeks we were there.. (Maybe I need to go at least one more time 
) . We traveled mainly on the MTR (The underground rail network) which was always clean, fast and busy! Almost every stop had a HUGE shopping centre above it! Good idea in principal since you don’t have to go outside to get home, but because of the size, the walk back to the MTR was sometimes a mission in itself. So much variety there it takes great control (or a lack of money) to not go crazy and buy something every time you step off the train.
The city never sleeps. I don’t know what time it was some of the nights we were out, but Boots (chemist, health and beauty shop) was still open.. So was the Nike shop, oh and the Adidas shop, also the 24hour McDonald’s (obviously)! Everything was still open! Do they not sleep?! Hmm 
.. But it was definitely convenient for us anyway! We had many walks down the Ladies Market (Not just for ladies haha) and a trip up the Victoria’s Peak!
I need to thank Vicky and Suet for meeting up with us and helping make this holiday GREAT!! Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your time out there and we’ll have to do this again some time! Be safe
Ugh, our coach journey from the airport was shocking! I always use this company when I am going to and from a London airport as it always seems most convenient, but will think again next time! The toilet on the coach must have flooded or had a leak or similar because the whole coach STANK of urine etc etc.. Won’t go into too much detail but imagine a 4 hour journey when that is all you can smell. Exactly.. Terrible!
I am still in process of sorting out all of the pictures from the holiday.. I am sure I will get round to it soon, so watch this space! 
I found this so funny in all the MTR stations… The poor granddad in the picture has a bit of a tumble down the escalator!
See more cool pictures here
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Hong Kong was AMAZING!!!
Ok, so by now you all will know I’ve just been to Hong Kong! It is an amazing place. I was lucky to actually make it to the airport though, after booking my coach tickets for the wrong day!! Yea what a start, plus leaving it to last minute to realise and change it left me in a tricky situation… Even that wasn’t enough, I then did my washing and packing right up to the last half hour before I needed to be on the coach.. Meaning I had a SPRINT all the way to the bus station… LUCKY is what I felt when I sat down on the coach! Would have probably done something stupid if I missed it!!
First impressions when I got there… Hong Kong is by far the cleanest place I have EVER been to! Not even chewing gum wrappers or Coke cans were to be seen on the ground in contrast to the UK, where on many street corners you could find probably more than one instance of both the above.. People follow the local laws without it affecting their lives.. eg, there is a law whereby you can’t cross the road when the light is on red for pedestrians, even if there are no cars.. Or you can get fined HK$5000 (£333 approx).. This doesn’t bother people though as you can sometimes see hundreds of people stood at a crossing waiting for the ‘green man’ without a single person venturing out to cross before the change.. There are too many things like this to write about in this blog, but cultural differences between HK and UK are vast.
Food was also amazing, despite the fact that I thought most of it looked completely strange. “What’s that?” is all I kept repeating every time I was at the dinner table.. I tried more different food there than I have in my life as well as some things I have had before, but in a style I would have never seen before. Squid, Octopus, Seaweed, Sushi, Duck, Ostrich, Crab, Lobster, Chicken, Beef and Pork to name a few of the things I ate whilst there.. Not saying I liked them all but it was definitely good to find out for myself than take other people’s word for it. Food there is not as it looks, sometimes there would be a ‘red blob surrounded by some white spongy stuff soaked in some weird brown sauce’ etc.. So I’d look at it and close my eyes with a screwed up face expecting a terrible taste bringing those chopsticks near to my mouth… Then most of the time, in fact ALL the time it was nicer than it looked. Sometimes the food tasted nicer than the smell. Always a pleasant surprise, plus it looks less rude when you finish your plate obviously, so nice food definitely helped me along with that! Sometimes I couldn’t even recognise chicken from first glance, that’s major for me since I’m a fan of chicken!! (However, look on the photo pages at a shop sign with a whole chicken incl head and it could put you off chicken!!) Check the pics out on PAGE18 of pics (As soon as I locate my camera battery I will get them on there). Ah, food food food! Question for you if you’re still actually reading this, ‘Do Chinese people cook at home? ‘Coz there were queues for every single food place there and believe me there were MANY MANY eating places!!.. hmm…
Everyone seems to live in apartments in HK… Really tall ones.. Some of them over 80 storeys tall :?… I’m not exactly the biggest fan of lifts, since I’ve had some bad experiences (getting trapped in one for half an hour, having one fall one floor and freeze etc..).. Having said that I didn’t exactly like the sound of taking the stairs up the 32 floors where we were staying at one point… Loved the views once inside though.. Wish I could have stayed there! If I had been more prepared and left the UK with a bulging wallet then I would have been in shopping paradise.. So much shopping potential in Hong Kong!! Forget London, go to HK! I like clothes and gadgets, probably like most guys really and let me say I felt like I was watching heaven go by through iron bars at times.. I didn’t exactly splash out.. Didn’t have any idea how much cash I had since I know I didn’t exactly save up I didn’t bother checking the old bank balance.. What a mistake though, seriously!! Things were so cheap there! Not exactly, ‘look I’ve been to Hong Kong’ style things, but general clothes, electronics, gadgets etc were so much cheaper than UK!! Could have bagged myself a Nintendo Wii or PS3 which aren’t even released as yet in UK at half/third of the price taken off!! OMG what a mistake it was not preparing properly!!
OK, so in a nutshell, Hong Kong is an amazing place, I’d recommend it to anyone that wants to go somewhere: [glamorous] [with completely different culture to UK/US] [for shopping] [food] [Gadgets] [buzzing 24/7 with LOTS to do]. If you agree with any of the above then GO GO GO!! If you just want purely clubbing then just stay in Europe, clubs there are good but there is just so much more to be doing!
I will DEFINITELY be making a return to Hong Kong, maybe even this year.. We’ll see! Places I hope to go this year are:
-Jamaica (I was born there),
-Hong Kong (It was so good and I want to re-do it this time with a FAT wallet),
-Tokyo (Looks good and I hear good things about the place),
-Shanghai (can mainland China rival Hong Kong? Well I wanna find out myself)…
Looking expensive to me.. Looks like I’ll have to go out a lot less between holidays this year!!
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Got to thank Nicky and Anna and family for the invite to HK, had a wicked time as you already know! Maybe do it again in 3yrs :P. Don’t forget 2008 summer Anna! lol! Oh yea and DELETE those pictures PLEASE!!
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Happy New Year once again people!! Gosh, this blog has gone on forever..
Peace!!
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Last blog before Hong Kong!!
Woo hoo!
Its FINALLY here!
I’m in HK between 25/12/06 - 01/01/07
PEACE!!
See ya when I get back!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Can’t believe its nearly Christmas.. Think I’ve lost that christmas feeling you used to get when you were a kid.. Now I just look forward to time off work / uni and seeing cousins / uncles etc etc..
I’ll be in Hong Kong Christmas until New Years Day and I absolutely CANNOT WAIT!!! Will be around after that though people so if you’re around Notts (My home city) Giv me a shout!
MERRY CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS
+ not to forget
have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Woo hoo!
Peace!
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Wow wa wee wah! Its been a while eh?
Well, as pointed out at a silly hour of the morning, I haven’t written a blog for a good while now.. Time to get it sorted out I think.
So here goes.. Last Saturday, well, interesting I’d say.. Was there an occasion? I can’t even remember if it was someones birthday? Hmm. Oh well, but good weekend. A few crazy photos were taken that night. Not all of them could make it onto the site though.. For censorship reasons, lol!
Chinese test earlier in the week was ace! Feel like I did just fine, phew! One down, 2 to go (Spanish and Japanese). As if they weren’t enough, there is the looming 3000 word Essay due in this Friday! STRESS!!
Did I mention I decorated my room? Well, I did, finally! Got 350 pics printed out and I think it looks pretty cool. Moving out is going to be a bore, all that blu-tac!
Oh yea, fruit n veg.. This week was the first time for a lil while now that I bought myself some fruit n veg. Well, buying it isn’t really enough is it? Got to eat it now.. pffft.. My health is so bad at the minute.. Still got that ‘oh so talked about‘ cold, so ideally should be eating as much of the stuff as possible! As well as getting a sleeping average higher than 4 hours per night! I need more sleep!
HONG KONG IN 15 DAYS!! OMG can’t wait! Gonna be AMAZING!! Woop woop!
Keywords of the week (Don’t ask, lol) - Hamph, Pushpa, Mandira, Soy loco si?, Retake Reta, Ooooof! Terre ma Nungi, bubla………….As I said, best not to ask since that is possibly the most random thing you will ever read!
Oh yea.. blah blah blah!
Peace!!
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The doctor won…
Ok, I remember writing on here somewhere that I didn’t need the doctor, because Ionly have ‘a common cold’… Well.. The Doctor won this round.. I had to go.. Colds aren’t supposed to last 8 weeks are they? Don’t think so.. Antibiotics it is then.. 1 weeks worth.. This better get rid of it because I hate taking any kind of medicines.. Don’t believe in the stuff..
Gym today… feeling like I’ve been slacking.. As usual.. But my arms just weren’t handling the free-weights today.. So feeling kind of dead now.. But.. Something a friend said lately “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.. Now how true is that.. Looks like if I always slack off at the gym, nothing will change, lol! Nice one…
Need to get some photos printed today.. About 900 to be exact.. Had my camera a while now… racked up a good 5000 pics between my cameras but not got a single one printed.. Hmm… Me thinks I am in need of plastering my walls with some pics.. website has a fair few pics on there but want more on my walls…
5 weeks till Hong Kong!! C’mon, the clock is dragging its feet! Almost forgot to mention.. The Mexico pictures have finally been updated.. There are a few more on that page of photos now!! Check it out!!
Anywayz, lets keep this one short.. photos to print, shopping to do, music to download… Oh yea.. Some Uni work to do If you are one of the people that knows me but are still unfortunate to not have my msn addy then mail msn@locksleynet.com..
Peace!
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So tired!!
These past few days I’ve been soooo tired! Loads of work to be doing but just so tired! Gonna have to make some changes this week.. Spend more time on my work and less time on going out I think.. Just seems that everyone has a birthday / work do or another special occasion all at the same time.. Can’t keep up with it all.. I just want to sleep!
Stu’s Birthday do…. What an ‘event’! So much happened in one night! Can’t believe it to be honest… there was tension, tears, joy, romance.. I think every emotion was covered fully during that night by the group of us that went out! The SU was soo good this weekend! Repeat performance any time soon? Hmm…
This week has just been full of madness anyway! From Monday (Halloween party dress up night… see here ), to Wednesday in Ocean (another crazy night, meeting new peeps) to Thursday in Media and of course not to forget what happened Friday, dont ask..! All in the name of fun I think its been a cool week.. Maybe chill out the next few weeks and focus more on the gym and my uni work.. Still also got a trip to NYC to get sorted…
Hmm… Got some other things to be thinking about as well…
SawIII
This is definitely one of the most screwed up movies I have ever seen! If you don’t like blood and gore then definitely do not go to see this film!! I think it is the best out of the 3 so far.. Will there be a number 4? Hmm…. Lets hope they don’t spoil it!!
Borat!
Full of controversy!! This is also another movie I’d say don’t watch if you are easily offended.. I don’t think there is a group of people left on this Earth that Borat hasn’t somehow offended in this movie! Laughed pretty much all the way through it, can’t take anything he says seriously can you?!
p.s - I’m now on an official mission to get in shape.. If you catch me eating chips / chocolate / other unnecessary junk then slap me! Please! By ‘Xmas in HK‘ I’m gonna have a completely different body… You’ll be surprised.. (Thats my aim anyway..)
Adios!
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Busy busy busy…
So… You may hate to admit checking this blog on a regular basis (sorry for being slow at times with updates)… but.. just some quick facts I thought I’d throw out in the open.. 10,000 people each month since March this year have been reading this blog… generating 30,000 - 40,000 hits to the section of the site monthly, thats a fair few people considering this is only one blog out there out of millions…. Yet about 0.00001% of you have ever left comments here.. hmm.. silent readers are you? Dont feel shy to comment once in a while, lol!
Anyway…. Freshers week has come and gone now.. Now I have officially got the Fresher’s Flu.. Cough, sore throat, blocked nose, headache. Its been here a good week now and isn’t showing any signs of leaving me alone
Decided this year I am going to try and go out a lot less than usual… Reason? Well, I’ve signed up for Chinese and Japanese lessons.. Alongside my Spanish degree… Yep.. thats a whole lot of language learning for me.. Crazy yes? ;). Plus alongside that I’ll be doing some thai boxing and finding myself in the gym a whole lot more than I did last term.. Wanna be in top shape in the next few months as I think I’m starting to let myself go a bit! Can’t be having that now!!
Want to make myself busy so I find less time to be going out and ‘wasting‘ my money.. Hong Kong just around the corner, I know for a fact that I’ll be doing some heavy spending there so saving a bit may just come in handy!
Its that part of the blog where I update with some movies eh?… Yea, well, I’m going to do it anyway..
Tallageda Nights
This movie since as you can see it has Will Ferrell, you must know its going to be a comedy of some sort… Yep.. Anyone seen Old School? Well, it is as funny as that (so if you didn’t like that, you probably won’t like this). Not really one I’d recommend, only because it does go off the plot with just lots of separate random funny scenes, rather than having a storyline…
Click
Quite surprised with this one to be honest.. pretty much the same as the trailer all the way through except for some reason it made me do some serious thinking… Movies don’t normally make me think about life in general but this one did strangely.. Anyone who watched it know what I mean..? Hmm.. *shudders*
Clerks II
Wow.. ended up watching this by chance because it was the only thing on at the crazy time we went to the cinema.. What a good catch though! This movie was making me laugh from start to finish! Its a must see.. Sick jokes throughout this movie made it such a laugh.. If you are easily offended then stay away, lol!
The Departed
This, is by far the best movie I have seen this year so far. Mission Impossible III is the only other that can come close.. It had me gripped through the whole thing from start to finish, despite the fact I was a bit tired by the time I had gone to watch this.. 100% definitely a must see!
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Ok, so I’m off to Berlin for the weekend!
This weekend should be interesting.. I am off to Berlin with 5 other people from work tomorrow (Friday). Once again the rule of ‘What happens in Berlin, stays in Berlin’ applies.. I am hoping it will be good. Its just I have no expectations of Germany, since its never been a place that I would have really chosen to go.. No idea what to expect, in terms of the people there and the things to do.. I guess as long as we go to some kind of party I’ll be alright eh? Hopefully get half a million pictures over the long weekend to plaster over the photo pages !
Not long now till I officially start back at Uni.. Looking forward.. Also looking forward to planning next years holidays.. Penciled in so far… Mexico ‘07 / Japan ‘07, New York ‘07 and Thailand ‘07.. Hmm.. See how the budget goes I guess.. Only 3 months now till Hong Kong!! Seriously, can’t wait for that one! Hate waiting! Still going at learning Chinese - proper course starts in Oct at last!
The Wicker Man….
Wow… What kind of wierd movie was this? Seemed to be going alright at the beginning, but then I think it lost it completely.. Suppose it made sense but it was just so wierd.. Nothing scary, just about scraped by with a storyline.. Unnecessary burning alive scene at the end, which just didn’t fit in with the (up until then) non-gruesome movie.. So, after all, just another tragedy to the world of cinema..
Adios!
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Wicked weekend!
Well well, its September already!! Can’t believe it! where has 2006 gone already?! Ah well, its been so good!
Ok, so this weekend saw Bianca’s leaving meal! Good job organising so many people! Couldn’t have done it any better to be honest! After party was all good as well, despite losing a few people along the way.. hmm… Dim Sum on Sunday - my first taste of the Chinese brunch was all good! tried some foods that I would normally avoid in the menu… Was cool though for a change! When we going again guys?! I want some more chicken feet lol !
Uni peeps are creeping back one by one! First proper student night tonight, was all good. So many people seem to know me even though I don’t even recognise them.. Ah well, can only be a good thing right? Proper student nights are all to come, can’t wait! More people in my flat tomorrow!! Whoop whoop!!
Holidays creeping closer as well.. Berlin coming up on 22nd Sept, then Amsterdam at some point (I think) :?, followed by Hong Kong at Christmas also New York in either Jan/Feb/Mar at some point! Got my ticket money aside!! Woo hoo! Good luck to Bianca spending a solid 6 months in New York! Also to Nicky spending a whole year in Germany!! Lucky people get to spend so long abroad.. I’m jealous!!
Want more holidays people…. Who’s feeling Japan ‘07!? Lets do it!!
p.s - ignore the videos page for a little while… needs updating badly… Also got a whole bunch of photos for the Mexico page as well as pages 11+12 on the photo pages!! Coming soon!!
Keep checking back for updates!!
msn? mail msn@locksleynet.com and I’ll send you my msn - …
Adios! Au revoir! Zai jien! Joi Gin!! Arrivederci!!
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Hong Kong booked at last!! Can’t wait!!
Soo after a few months of waiting and uncertainty, it is now official… I’m spending my Christmas / New Year in Hong Kong! Soooo excited right about now!! I hear its really good from everyone I know that has been there!
Loads of saving up to do this summer if I’m going to Mexico in 3 weeks as well as Hong Kong over Christmas!! Thats 2 quite expensive holidays there!! Loads of spending money also greatly needed!! Donations are welcome!! ha ha
2 holidays outside of Europe can’t be bad! Things to do…. New camera, new phone, new clothes! LOADS more things I can think of actually! Erm, this is gonna be an expensive year!! So gonna have to cut down on going out now as well…..
Ah well.. Hopefully will all be worth it!
Speaking of going out…. Market Bar on Saturday people, was great! Regretted having work the next day though. Wasn’t feeling too great!
Ooooooh yea, just in case you didn’t catch the link in the last post…. check this out!! http://www.yonkis.com/mediaflash/reverse.htm
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Exam season is here!
Its that time of te year where a whole lot of people are having exams / preparing for exams. May - June is should be renamed Exam months 1 + 2. Its stressful, knowing I should be revising right now rather than writing this blog… Oh well. I’m sure I’ll make the time up another time.
I’ve once again watched Rush Hour 2… I think I’m addicted to that movie.. Still waiting to download…I mean ‘buy’ Mission Impossible III. That could be a contender for Rush Hour for the late night repeats, ha ha..
Still no idea what is happening with this holiday I’m supposed to be going on in summer! Yet I know I’m going to Hong Kong in December (Ain’t that right Nicky? ). Gonna be GrEaT!! So on with learning my Chinese. Still not ready for any kind of tests I don’t think. I only know some basic stuff.. When I say basic I really mean BASIC… ha ha.. A long time to go though before I’ll need it in practice eh… Good 7 months of practice should do me good!
The gym was graced with my presence today! Wow! You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about…. Well I was supposed to be going to the gym every other day.. But ended up working out to be every other month! Not good since I pay a monthly fee for going!
I can’t believe its 02.25 and my feet are actually vibrating right now from the music downstairs!
Well, think this has turned out to be a bit of an essay so I’ll leave it there!
Oh yea, watch Mission Impossible III. Surprisingly good.
:mrgreen:
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Hong Kong part of China? Or a totally different place?
Ok, this is the deal…. I go to a travel agent and ask for a travel guide for ‘China’….. The woman behind the desk says “which part of China are you interested in?” (Now, I am a tourist, so I name two places I know are very international) ‘either Hong Kong or Shanghai’ I said…….The woman looked at me as if I had said ‘either Iraq or Spain’.
So she then says “Well, they’re two completely different places so you need to make up your mind which one you want to go to!” in the most sarcastic voice possible for a travel agent to be speaking to a ‘customer’.
Not impressed with this woman’s performance, so won’t be going to that particular agent again…
So people… If you know anything about the whole China / Hong Kong situation you will know that Hong Kong used to be a separate country until 1997 where it became part of China again……. So given this knowledge (which to be fair a lot of people may not know)….A travel agent shouldn’t have made that comment since ‘they know more about the world’.
YES they are two completely different places BUT they ARE in the same country so it shouldn’t have sparked any kind of reaction…
Ah well…probably not even important but very annoying!
That aside, I’m going to Hong Kong first and possibly Shanghai at a later date
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Chinese again….
decided to learn Mandarin now instead of Cantonese. Why cant the country just have one language and be simple! Oh well!!
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