Hong Kong (Part 2)

Just a note. All hanyu pinyin will be replaced by Chinese words soon... When my computer decides to cooperate with me.

Ministry of Bellz (MOB) Educational Trip (Part 2)

Perhaps I have not got on a plane for ages, but I found the air stewardess' explanation of the use of life jackets and escape routes extremely interesting - the way they point to the card in their hands with the front facing us, showing us how to use the life jackets and fake-blowing into the mouth-piece that comes with the life-jacket.

Reached HK, first thing to do - put on jacket. Second thing to do - take picture:

Mel, Kim, me, Debbie (front)

(Mr.Udders asked who's the goondu posing at the back of the photo. That's our Music Director, the person who formed this Ministry of Bellz ensemble, the person who organized this trip and my percussion tutor in Secondary School =D)

I was amazed that their signboards had Chinese words on them

and their travellators had recordings telling us to be careful or something when we stepped on it. Paiseh, I have the tendency to be amazed about everything.

Anyway no matter how different things are and what are the different languages, there's one thing that is the same in most countries:


Since it was an educational trip, we had a coach bringing us everywhere. After a few days, I still could not remember where were the places we visited. I don't even know where our hotel is exactly at! All I know is we visited Tai Po very often (read: every day) and drove past that area where jiu shu died in some Brothers show which I don't know about.

This is some bridge there that's quite impressive, but I DON'T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT. I know there are two layers of road, upper and lower, where the cars drive on different days or something.


There's the bridge in the background. Just realized something from this picture. Why does that car/van have two license plates?

On the bridge itself

Some of the places we went past, the roads we drove on, were similar to Singapore.

Kind of a random scene out of the coach window

Buses

Nothing special about them though. There are apparently a few companies providing bus services, unlike here where there are only 2, but I could not really differentiate between the different buses (because my eyes were glued on other stuff). Oh, if my memory serves me right, they also have TVs inside the buses. Did see those buses that are run by electric on rail-way like lines but did not have the chance to take a picture of them. Any idea what are the proper names for them?

We also drove past the trains, one of which links all the way into Mainland China. Our tour leader told us that the HK railway system is very efficient with a train every 5 minutes. However, the buses are still more popular than the railway because, like in Singapore and probably everywhere else, buses stop right at or closer to the passengers' desired place.

After which I saw these old, old buildings we sometimes see in HK dramas:

I was so amazed by them I took quite a few shots at other places when the buildings were spotted. There are newer flats but I'm not sure if the people staying in them are any different from the people staying in the older flats. One can often see the old and new flats standing side by side.

I suspect there are other styles of houses because we spotted one where the area that the poles are hung is separated from the apartment by a mere gate and the furthest end of the pole holder was so far from the gate that we were wondering how they manage to hang their poles there. Not to mention that there was no flooring underneath the holders where you can actually walk out to hang. It was pure empty space beneath the holder. Like the laundry holder in the picture above but the wall is a gate instead and the holder is further down at about feet level and much further out. Isn't it very dangerous then?

And watching some of the people, it was like seeing people from a HK drama serial come to life - the clothes! The vest-like sweater, long-sleeve shirts and sweat pants.

The first thing we did was to have lunch at a local restaurant. Their rice and food really a lot. I could still handle the food on the first day and we cleared a majority of the dishes.

A huge bowl of rice for everybody - the start of our first meal in HK

Do restaurants in Singapore serve rice this way? I don't remember it being so.

Some of the members then went to buy some pre-paid card that comes with a HK number so that they can call in and out of the country. Was surprised that my friends would call back home to assure their family of their safe arrival. I just needed to send an SMS and that was it. In fact I sent only an average of an SMS per night to tell them I am alright and going to bed, or perhaps a couple more when asking them if they want or need anything from HK.

Some of the girls chose to go shopping after that, but Kim and I decided to follow the guys for dessert at 许留山. I think it was the original one. It was fantastic!


Didn't try the famous one amongst all of the desserts in this place but it is similar to the one on the top right. The mango was seriously good. Have never thought that mango can be served in so many different ways.

Another one of the delicious desserts

Roland, one of the members, managed to dig out all of the flesh of the coconut in one go so that the entire piece was intact.

Then it was off to lesson at Asia Handbell Music Centre - Handbells Institute. The one we went to was a small studio in Tai Po Estate. It was really small but cosy enough.

Unloading from the coach

Yes, the bells were so heavy that we needed a trolley. See that guy in the beige jacket holding on to the trolley? That is Kevin, our instructor for handbells throughout the trip. He can play really well and has gone on the Chinese show Zong Yi Da ge Da. He's really young, only 27, but is already married and is darn accomplished. He is officially my new idol =D Oh, and I think he is good-looking too. Shit, will the other ringers from the group read about this. Oi, if you all read about this, pretend you never see it hor!

There were times during practice when I felt like a schoolgirl again with a stupid crush on some teacher =D Was rolling my eyes at myself throughout when my mind went "oh! The flutter of butterflies in my stomach!". See, it don't have to be men in uniform to make me hyperventilate.

First day's rehearsal was tiring. We learnt a lot of new techniques and it was only then that I realized how weak my left arm was and how clumsy I must have seemed with the bells. I could barely strike the bell properly, not to talk about any form of musicianship. It was like learning to walk all over again.

Then we had dinner at one of their erm..... is it called 茶餐厅. It's a small diner not unlike a single stall at a hawker centre with the seats outside the stall belonging to the stall, then put four walls around it, a door and a roof. Ta-dah! You have your 茶餐厅! Ok, why am I describing a diner...

Anyway I had their wanton mee! The noodles are completely different from what we have, theirs is a lot better, obviously. Which reminds me I have yet to try Malaysia's wanton mee too. Oh and their wanton mee is really only wanton and mee, no vegetables, no other sort of meat or whatever. Though it was nice, I soon got sick of eating it.

After which we headed to the Tai Po Baptist Church for a short exchange with the church handbell ringers.

Show you all how huge handbells can be. Compare the bells in the top picture to the ones in the bottom:

Damien and Roland with the bass bells

me, Debbie, Pearlin and Axils

At some point in time, Kevin told 4 of the girls, including me, to play the huge bells. I was horrified. I could barely hold it up, not to mention ring it. It was so bad we were basically plucking the clapper but holding the bell in its upright position instead of swinging it out and ringing has per normal.

Random picture of Kevin conducting =D

After which we finally checked into the Rambler Garden hotel at about 11.30pm.

Pearl, Kim and I shared a twin room. It was an extremely tiny room with an extremely tiny bathroom (which had no lock - blush). Once you enter the room, the bathroom is on the right,

wash basin and mirror (left), toilet bowl (middle), shower (right)

I could cross over from the basin to the shower in one step. And immediately in front of the bathroom is the bedroom. It was a decent room though. At least there were no cockroaches running around, for which I was extremely grateful.

I was standing in the small space between the toilet door on my right and the wall on my left with the front door at my back when taking this picture

It was a very small room with a very beautiful night view of the port:


I loved the containers and the light and the way the machines carried the containers around.

After a very exhausting day 1, we still had to sort out with the hotel people the number of towels, blankets and pillows. Then it was finally a bath and bed - at 1+ am. That's all for day 1 of the trip. Will talk about day 2 tomorrow.

If there are any wrong information about HK in here, please do correct me.

Part 1
Part 3