We woke up early and got to the mall at 10AM, but the stores were closed. It seems like the malls open late and close late too. A great tip to remember. Our final day to shop, but the mall is closed....
So we went to the "goldfish street" in Mong Kok (walkable distance from our hotel). There were a lot of signs stating that no pictures are allowed. We also wanted to go to the flower market but didn't because we couldn't find it? It was supposed to be very closed by, but I guess we took the wrong turn... Yea, and then it started raining...
OMG, we saw this hardcore grandma lugging and pushing all those supplies by herself. Crazy. It was raining too. I can't even imagine how heavy that could be. There were cars beeping at her cause she was moving so slow. So heartbreaking.
It was so hot, I didn't want to eat anything for lunch so I just got a red bean milk drink ($12 HK). We did a lot of outdoor shopping on the streets near Mong Kok and my mother and sister bought some shoes, only I did not - so small! Where are the size 8s! The best deals for shoes are away from the tourists areas. So after lunch we went back to the hotel to put our stuff down and then headed back out again. Can't waste our time chilling.
We didn't know where to go next so we just hopped on the train at Prince
Edward station and got off a various stops and then check out what the
station has to offer (usually there is a map indicating what kind of
attractions are near this station). The tourist attraction information is within the gate so you don't have to scan out, save some $$$ yo. We did this with 4-6 stations. When we got to Tsuen Wan station, we saw that there was a mall so we headed out.
The "City Landmark" mall in Tsuen Wan was pretty and big with some luxurious stores again- can barely buy anything. Oh, and it was also pouring, no umbrella. My mother bought some $100 HK worth of books here... and then we were looking at luggages and the sales lady was SO PUSHY. We bought the luggage from her for $599 HK, now I feel so ripped off. The saleslady kept on emphasizing on the quality and the brand - Samsonite. The luggage we got was just the rubber kind, it wasn't the hard ones, which would obvious cost more. So after a lot of verbal exchanges back and forth between my mother and the saleslady, we bought the luggage, but we didn't want to lug it around the mall so we asked if we can just leave it here for now. The saleslady said yes, but we had to pay in full first. So we did and then left, and when we came back the luggage was in the same place it was when we left. Tsk. These salespeople get commission, they have a calculator ready in their pocket so that they can bargain with you. Yes, we had to lug the luggage back to the hotel again.
The "City Landmark" mall in Tsuen Wan was pretty and big with some luxurious stores again- can barely buy anything. Oh, and it was also pouring, no umbrella. My mother bought some $100 HK worth of books here... and then we were looking at luggages and the sales lady was SO PUSHY. We bought the luggage from her for $599 HK, now I feel so ripped off. The saleslady kept on emphasizing on the quality and the brand - Samsonite. The luggage we got was just the rubber kind, it wasn't the hard ones, which would obvious cost more. So after a lot of verbal exchanges back and forth between my mother and the saleslady, we bought the luggage, but we didn't want to lug it around the mall so we asked if we can just leave it here for now. The saleslady said yes, but we had to pay in full first. So we did and then left, and when we came back the luggage was in the same place it was when we left. Tsk. These salespeople get commission, they have a calculator ready in their pocket so that they can bargain with you. Yes, we had to lug the luggage back to the hotel again.
Miffy @ City Landmark Mall
The final destination of the day was to my grandma's sister's apartment. My grandma and aunt went to Hong Kong 1 day later than us and they stayed at my grandma's sister's apartment. We had to take the MTR from Prince Edward station to Kwun Tong station? and then from there we enter the "Lamtin Bus terminus" to wait for the bus. Well, when we got there we didn't know where to take the bus and which bus to take so we asked some people, but honestly they were not helpful. A lot of people we listening to music, on their phones, etc. We were in line for almost around 30+ minutes and the line was moving SO SLOW. My mother than asked a middle age man how to get to a certain address, and the man told her "why don't you take a taxi, you don't know where you are going and there's three of you so it's better if you took a taxi. It's not that expensive." Real helpful dude. So we got out of the line and just lined up for a taxi instead. Nobody seemed to want to help us. Once we got in the taxi, he drove for a long long time. I believe it was around $100+ HK... smh
When the taxi driver dropped us off, we got in the building and walked towards the elevator. The address we have said that she lives on the 37th floor, but once inside the elevator there was no 30+ floor. So we had to look for help, and apparently there's two elevators, so yea.
So high up, so scary.
Once we got to the apartment number, the maid opened the door. It was so hot inside the apartment, they only had the fan on. I overheard that the maid they hired for my grandmother's sister is actually quite expensive, even though she barely clean and cook. They had to pay for her plane ticket to and from Hong Kong every year, dental and medical expenses, living expenses, food, and salary. The maid is from Indonesia but she can speak Cantonese really well. My grandmother's sister has memory loss or that's what they say, but honestly I think she is just old and due to her bad hearing she can't understand those around her. My grandmother gave her sister loads of money in the thousands (CND), but her sister kept on saying "I have no money." Now, I don't want to be suspicious but because my grandmother's sister is dependent on the maid, the maid could easily steal those cash, especially if she has troubles with her memory.
I think we were at the apartment for 1 hour or so waiting for the rest of my grandmother's sister's family (son and daughter and their kids). We all went downstairs to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. I thought the one who was ordering the dishes would be the one to pay but I GUESS NOT. My grandmother's sister's son (middle age) was ordering all these expensive dishes such as shark fish soup (yes, so sad it's not banned here), piglet, shrimp, lobster, crab, etc. TBH, this is the best dinner I've ever had on this trip. The piglet tasted so good, I only had 2 pieces though - it was soft yet crunchy. We were still eating at the restaurant when they closed. They were clearing the tables and wiping everything, but they didn't say anything to us probably because we ordered so much expensive food - Big customer. When the guy who was ordering the food got up to go to the washroom, my mother thought he was going up to pay, so she told my aunt to go get the bill. My aunt ran quite quickly LOL. When the guy came back he said he just went to the washroom; actually, I don't think he intended to pick up the bill anyways since it was us who invited them to the dinner. Well, in total the dinner cost almost $500 CND. Thank you very much. There were a lot of leftovers, especially lobsters, rice, and tofu. We told the maid to pack it up so that she can bring it back home and she said she doesn't want it. OMG. What a waste. Who knows if she will dump the food when she gets home. Their attitudes and personality isn't really what I thought they would be like- my impression of them is leaning towards the negative, except for the grandma.
After this we took the bus home, and yet again, I really had to go to the washroom, but I held it in for at least 2 hours. There was like nobody on the bus at 9PM so it was great. It was another double Decker bus and we went to the upper deck to sit. There's a LCD television at the front, but most of all, the view is nice from the top.
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