Day 21: Lazy Morning...

~ 3rd April 2014~

The weather was still not cheerful so we decided to stay in. We did not even have the stamina to walk out of the house for dim sum. Pinky's mom fried noodles for us and we hugged our box of Ferrero Rocher while chasing after the series with grandpa.

When the weather looked better, we then decided to venture of the house. We have someone we wanted to go. I have been there once but mi madre has never been there before. 

On the way, we went to admire the bald tree at the park ourside Wal-Mart even though it was spring time. 

My Disney watch from Taobao arrived. It is still functioning very well.

Day 20: OCT Harbour - To Go or Not To Go?

~ 2nd April 2014~

I will go if I have never been there before. I went when it was newly opened and the place drew such a huge crowd and there would be shows on the water with fireworks to end the night. This second time, I thought there would be some changes and indeed, the change was it has become a place where you walk in the dark. The darkness complemented perfectly with the light decorations though.

Some of the high end restaurants have closed down and there were new ones which might not last long. I was something like our Straits Quay done in larger scale and looked more exclusive and expensive. I'm a frugal person so I refused to pay for the exorbitant price of food charged. There are restaurants selling fresh seafood but we know where to get fresh seafood at the market and everyone in the house can cook, so why bother dining in expensive place to have the wallet slaughtered?

This year, I refused to go to OCT Harbour no matter how grandeur it looked due to the Chinese New Year decoration of sort.

Day 20: Skyline of Luohu District...

~ 2nd April 2014~

Well, if you have never seen skyscrapers before, it would be a jolly good time looking up and figuring how the rooftop looked since it was usually covered with mist during rainy days.

Ping An Finance Centre covered in mist....

A few of the skyscrapers that I managed to take. 

KK100 as backdrop...

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange building...

Shun Hing Square....

And we had a selfie at KingKey 100. It's not the tallest building in the world but it was the latest addition to the mammoth building of China. If I were to take photos of every skyscraper in China along the way, I will sprain my neck and the camera lens was not big enough to capture the whole building.

Day 20: The Wholesale World of Laojie - Old Street...

~ 2nd April 2014~

The weather was quite tame, with a little drizzle here and there. We had our dim sum at Indonesia Seafood Restaurant and then we head off to Laojie in Luohu District. Luohu District is quite famous because that's where the immigration is where you hop over to Hong Kong. Laojie is always crowded with people, those shoppers and also those hunting for wholesale goods. 

There are so many clothes store and shoes' world that it amazed me how you can find what you want in such a big place. I am not a shopper so I found nothing that I wanted. I have no intention to do any shopping. Further more, you are not allowed to try on the clothes, no matter how expensive it is. Just bring it home and if it doesn't fit you, hang it behind your room door and hope that one day you can squeeze into the dress. If it is too big, then keep it in your wardrobe, one day you might you might grow into the size, you will never know.

Most shops were busy packing for business people who have bought in bulk. The whole place was quite a mess and everything was dirt cheap. For example a hair clip cost only 10 cents calculated in renminbi, but at shops in Penang, that same hair clip would be selling around RM4 - RM5, so how many percent are they earning? Oh, my Maths fail at this juncture. Too many hundreds of percent to calculate.

We came to Laojie for food. Living in Australia for more than a decade, she missed having her Chinese snacks. I, on the other hand, was thinking of going home. Yeah, I'm quite a homely person. I have enough looking at clothes, shoes, handbags and hairclips that can bury you if the whole shelf came tumbling down. 

If you want to do business, just head over there to get your goods. If not you will have to venture further to Beijing. There's a particular wholesale area in Beijing which I like the clothes... I like them all~!

Day 19: Recognizing Overseas Chinese Town (OCT)

~ 1st April 2014~

This was my second time in Overseas Chinese Town and I consider myself truly blessed to have the privilege to live like a local there. Pinky and her family are really great host who would go to great length to make us comfortable. I am an easy tourist. I just need a pillow and I can sleep anywhere. The floor is good enough. If I need to sleep with a dog, I'm okay with that too as I used to sleep with my doggie for many years.

Once you stepped out of the subway, take the B exit. Errr... don't really remember which exit because once you're so familiar with the place, you don't bother with the signage. Take the escalator up but lazy people like us took the elevator up. You will be greeted with black galloping horses and on your far left was a stranded old ship. 

If you feel like you might get lost, don't be afraid. Follow the rest of those who are walking. They will eventually end up at Wal-Mart and then follow on and you will see the pedestrian walkway. They have such good walkway, I don't mind walking everywhere. If the weather is good and coincides with public holidays, you can hear people screaming from Happy Valley. They screamed so much that I don't bother checking that place out since I could have the full view from the bedrooms and the balcony.

Overseas Chinese Town was developed by a Singapore company thus, you will have the feel of mighty clean Singapore in OCT, but once you stepped out of this area, you will get the China feel and view. The people living here are more polite than other part of the place but sometimes, you will meet people with no civic consciousness at all, even though they are adults.

This particular lady had his toddler boy stripped from his pants and shit at the beautiful park. Mind you, there were rows and stretches of restaurants and cafes. McDonald's was just opposite. Anyone could use the toilet without buying anything. Wait till you meet those who let babies pee and poop in the clean subway, you will never forget what you have seen.

Day 19: Three Meals in a Day...

~ 1st April 2014~

The weather was not that bad albeit it was still drizzling on and off. I had my milkshake before going out. I cannot live without chocolate drink. I have Ovaltine at home if not Milo. 

Father drove grandparents to the restaurant while we had to take the subway a few stations away from home. I live like a local and being so much at home, I didn't feel like moving my feet one station away from home. Grandparents always eat at the same restaurant so since we were all home, they wanted to go a bit further from home. Our breakfast could last till lunch. 

We had breakfast at the Fenicle Restaurant and we took some family photos there as the place was beautifully decorated. The place looked very 'atas' - high end and we felt like expensive patrons.

As usual we skipped lunch but on the way home, we saw a banner stating a 50% discount at a sushi place outside the apartment building at the Ecology Square.

The discount was at a given time, a rather odd time which was tea time. Since we skipped lunch, we could wait until grandparents wake up from their afternoon nap then we would proceed with our eating spree. Grandparents were very adventurous. They tried on the sushi. The sushi place was called Green Days Sushi while the topping of the sushi tasted great but the workers have no skills making sushi. The sushi rice fall apart before you could even use a pair of chopsticks to transfer them from plate to mouth. It just crumbled onto the plate. It would be better eaten with a spoon. Then, there was a misunderstanding where they charged us without the discounted rate due to the different colour of the plates but luckily, grandma reminded me to look through the camera since I have snapped every plate of sushi. Yay~!

We went home and waited upon dinner to be served. That's all we did for the day. Went our for breakfast, walked many steps then had sushi for tea and then dinner and ended up as couch potato for the rest of the night.