Hong Kong 2007 (8)

Last day in Hong Kong. We were feeling partly gloomy (because that marked the end of our vacation and it was BACK TO WORK) and partly relieved (back to the bosom of clean and warm Singapore despite food price hikes and taxi fare hikes). Flight was scheduled at 8.10pm, so had plenty of time to do some last-minute shopping.

As we came out of our apartment block and reached the streets in the morning, we saw this roadside booth promoting awareness of the local 'SPCA' - Lok Hong Social Service Association. The very enthusiastic promoter (who is actually the President of this voluntary organisation) handed us a booklet (and a DVD) detailing the various efforts and initiatives towards caring for abused animals. What they do is they will house abandoned animals (due to lack of permanent premises, the animals are actually housed temporarily in volunteers' homes) and arrange for adoption with kind-hearted parties. If the animals are in various states of abuse (from what we saw from the booklet (and the pictures were really graphic), there was a dog with inflamed gums, a paralysed rabbit with inflamed eyes, and even a chinchilla with an inflamed uterus (but it died in the end)), they will treat them till they recover. Besides putting these animals up for adoption, they also bring the animals to old folks' homes to let the lonely elderly play with them, in what they call 'animal therapy'.

We were utterly touched by the work that they do, and we made a small donation. The adorable animals at the booth were pulling at our heart strings too, especially a ginger-coloured cat which looked like Garfield.

The booth

We wanted to have our last meal in Hong Kong at 冬菇亭 (the humble-looking cafe that captured our hearts with their simple yet tasty cuisine), but it had a mystery - when we intended to dine there, we would never be able to locate the cafe; when we did not have that intention, we would come across it. Yeah, it was that hard to find places in complex Hong Kong. Gave up finding after walking for half an hour, and instead, had lunch at the 'pork chop bun' cafe where Slug could have his favourite pork chop bun for the last time.

Our lunch

After lunch, we took a walk in Wan Chai and Slug clamoured to visit the Park'n'Shop and buy the cup noodles which we bought and ate on our first night here. I could not believe he bought six of them and I just groaned in exasperation thinking about how those bulky bowls were going to add on to our baggage. "But you cannot find these in Singapore!" he protested, and with a gleeful smile, he added, "And they come with an braised egg!"

Wan Chai

Fire engine coming out of Wan Chai Fire Station

We found it weird that despite having Sogo at our doorstep (not literally), we only visited it on our last day. The variety of Japanese goodies at their supermarket really peeled open our eyes, and I nearly went berserk sweeping whatever delectable snacks and candies I laid my eyes on into my trolley (luckily I had Slug to help me filter out things that I did not need (and should not need), or else I would have busted my debit card). In addition, bought some local pastries and confectioneries for the folks back home. My favourite buy was this box of strawberry-flavoured daifuku filled with chocolate, wrapped in beautiful Japanese paper and cost a whopping HKD80.

The supermarket at Sogo

We returned to our apartment to repack our baggage, and while resting our feet, we snacked on a packet of smoked duck breast that we bought from Sogo. Highly salty but tasted good.

Smoked duck breast sprinkled with black pepper bits

Slug enjoying the snack

When it was 5.30pm, we walked to the bus-stop to catch the A11 bus to the airport. Hong Kong's transport system is really as complicated as its streets - both A11 and E11 go to the airport but the latter does not allow luggage on board and the former does. And you are wrong if you think that since we arrived at a bus-stop in Causeway Bay by A11 from the airport, so it means that to return to the airport we will need to take the same A11 from the opposite bus-stop. It is weird, but the bus-stop to take A11 back to the airport is hidden on another road 300 metres from where we arrived. It took us 20 minutes to finally locate the bus-stop after consulting a clueless Sogo receptionist, a helpful but inaccurate policeman and a handsome hotel concierge.

Relaxed on the one-hour journey to the airport and watched Hong Kong light up amidst the falling darkness. Checked-in for our flight at 7pm. Flight was supposed to depart at 8.10pm, but due to some traffic delay, ended up flying off at 8.30pm and reaching Singapore at slightly past midnight.

Hong Kong Airport Terminal 2

The customs officer signalled for us to let him check our baggage, but we lied that we wanted to do some shopping at the DFS, before mixing into a crowd of passengers exiting the baggage hall and managed to escape without him knowing. Whew, we managed to save the bubble gum.

Till our next trip.