The City that Never Sleeps

We were in Hong Kong (HK) for a five-day break, starting Fri, 11 July (‘7 Eleven’) which marked our 4th wedding anniversary. This was our third trip together to HK. We are fond of HK – my dialect group is Cantonese, and we both love the shopping, the vibrancy of the city and the food.

We took the first flight out on Cathay Pacific. The sky was pitch dark when we set out from our house…

A bird’s eye view of Singapore:

We stayed at the Stanford hotel located in Mongkok. The view from our room (no zoom was used to take this shot). It was that close to the next building.

Some flavours of potato chips which are unavailable in Singapore. They tasted just like the usual flavour.

We didn’t forget to get something for the girls. We were at a stretch of pet shops in Causeway Bay and came across the Temptations treats (costs about S$3.20 per packet). I wonder why this is not sold in Singapore. Initially only Braun likes them, now Skoda and Mikki have taken to them as well. They are not crazy over the treats though. While in one of the shops, I saw this blog link being featured on a notice board – Ding Dong Foundation, a shelter for stray cats.

An animal welfare group, Rescue Centre for Abandoned Pets also put up a stall in the area. Its volunteers were raising funds through the sale of merchandise and distributing brochures on what the Centre does and to seek support.

We bought these publications from a roadside newsstand and a convenience stall respectively. I wonder when we would have a local cat magazine.

On our last day, we took a late lunch at a Delifrance cafe that was well tucked away from the busyness on the streets. Just look at the human traffic…

Hong Kong is truly a city that never sleeps. People hang out on the streets late into the night and shops are open till 10-11pm. The weather was similar to Singapore’s (ie some sun with interim showers).

We shopped to our hearts’ content, covering shopping malls in Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Nathan Road and Causeway Bay. This might explain the lack of photos taken of the trip. It was summer sales’ time. The mainlanders are the ones who keep the cash registers ringing. We usually don’t go for branded stuff but the discounts proved irresistible. Common sizes were fast running out of stock. My haul included three pairs of jeans, three pairs of shoes and 13 tops (hee!) in total. The things in Hong Kong are not necessarily cheaper as compared to Singapore (HK$5.45=S$1), but the variety is a lot more interesting and more to pick from. I won’t need to go shopping for some time to come.

This time round, we entrusted our girls to C, a cat sitter with KittyCare. Here were the daily updates:

11 Jul: “Cats are fine. Skoda under sofa, Mikki in the room and Braun is on top of the fridge.”

12 Jul via MMS:

13 Jul: “The girls are fine. They let me touched them today :)” I expressed my surprise that Braun was “touchable” and C replied: “Yes Braun was a bit scared but did not try to run away.”

14 Jul: “Just to let you know that the girls are fine :)”

When we reached home, Skoda and Mikki were near to the door. Braun had gone into hiding under the sofa but she emerged shortly. They looked just the same. When I went into the master bedroom to put my things, Braun sneaked into the room and plopped herself on the floor – this is her way of “demanding” for chin rubs, which I promptly dispensed. Coming home couldn’t get any better.