中華人民共和國香港特別行政區：行程说明，第一天

It was the morning of the 10th of January, 2011…

Let us first introduce the 11 main characters, in alphabetical order of reference.
1. B
2. Boss
3. D
4. E
5. Hen little boy
6. Jc
7. K
8. Miss Awesome
9. Slim
10. Van
11. Zhe little boy
(Yes, I’m too lazy to come up with better names)

The 11 of us woke early, very early indeed, to get to the airport by 0450h. The plotters had set the time so everyone got there by 0500h, and the result was better than expected. Last to arrive was the Van, at 0500h. For that, it was determined that he should treat us to breakfast (which he didn’t).

We proceeded swiftly to the check-in counters, with D&E leading the way. Check-in went smoothly, and if you really want to know, K’s bag was probably the lightest at 7.3kg. D probably had the most cash to start the trip, going by this quote (or similar): “my dad give me then my mum give me then my aunt also give me,…”, in response to a question posed by Boss.

We entered the departure hall after saying our goodbyes to our parents, if they were around. With about an hour to spend, we headed for breakfast. Most ate at Killiney Kopitiam, with kaya toast, kaya butter toast, butter toast, soft-boiled eggs and so on, on the menu. Here, it was found that D’s confidence in cracking his own eggs was lacking, despite positive demonstrations by Boss. Ultimately, his second egg was opened by K. Zhe little boy probably spent more time at the free internet kiosk than at the table. E ate a sub, apparently.

Having satisfied our stomachs or otherwise, we decided to head for the gate. Upon reaching the floor where the gate was located, we realised we were not in good time at all. Most ran at least part of the way towards the gate, but thankfully it was not at the furthest ends of the Terminal, as D had first feared. We eventually got there as final call passengers and before boarding started, which meant that we could take photos, our first group photo.

The flight was uneventful, most falling asleep. Hen little boy and K probably got the least sleep, with K probably visiting the latrine more times than any other passenger. Miss Awesome and Jc played a few games of Monopoly Deal, utilising the extra space they had with the empty seat. The plane was an Airbus A320, standard for budget short-haul flights. Other seating arrangements were B, E, Slim; Hen little boy, D, Boss; K, Van Zhe little boy.

Upon our arrival in Hong Kong, we were treated to our first blasts of cool air when we walked off the plane and on to the runway to wait for a bus to the terminal. There was no aerobridge, typical of budget flights. The bus was interesting, with large doors on all 4 sides. On our way to the terminal, some remarked at the difference in size between our plane and the others, like Boeing 747s. There was also interest in the different airlines, with Saudi Air catching most attention with the words “God Bless You” on the airplane.

Entering the terminal was decent enough, though it smelled like cheap cigarettes. We headed to customs, and were lucky when they opened up more queue lines when we reached. This meant slightly faster clearance. The next stop was the baggage collection, where our luggage arrived safely. A quick visit to the wash-rooms later, we decided that lunch should be next on our agenda. By proposal of D, we did not head to Ngong Ping 360 as planned. Instead, we took 3 cabs and headed for the hotel. By some random assortment, the 3 poorest guys, Hen little boy, Boss and K ended up in 1 cab. They were thus the only ones to have paid more for the cab ride than if they took Airport express. Upon arrival at the hotel, K found his luggage handle had broken completely. Jc too seemed to have suffered some damage to her luggage. Later in the day, Slim would find her luggage’s zipper damaged.

We could not check-in at the hotel as we were about 2 hours early. We wanted to leave our luggage at the hotel, but even that was not possible as the luggage store was full. This meant that we would bring our luggage with us for lunch. D brought us to the main street, where we would not find food nearby. As such, we stopped at a book-store, while Slim, Hen little boy, Van and K went to look for eateries. We eventually found them much closer to our hotel and randomly sat down at one with space. It seemed that only Zhe little boy had spent much time in the bookstore.

For our first meal, Hen little boy stuck to fried chicken cutlet rice, with Boss or Zhe little boy eating curry, Slim taking beef brisket, and K experiencing crunchy beef balls, hard to the extent the teeth could hurt when biting. The drinks list was also varied, with a number consuming coffee mixed with tea. Those sitting with their backs to the street experienced something different. There was water dripping from somewhere, initially believe to be from the air-conditioning units of the building. When Boss looked up however, he discovered the water to be originating from the laundry of people living in the block. That led to a comment that “at least the water is clean”. Either way, the dripping primarily irritated the Longchamp bag carrying duo, B & E.

When lunch was done, it was time for check-in. We were given 6 rooms on the same floor, all in the same wing of the hotel. Due to the small size of the hotel, this meant that we had almost half the wing occupied by our group. Rooming was decided by D, as follows: 203 – K, Van; 204 – D, Boss; 206 – E, Slim; 207 – Jc, Miss Awesome; 210 – B; 211 – The little boys. B had volunteered to take a room alone. D & Boss ended with the largest room, featuring a 1m * 1m study space, along with a well-sized toilet and the standard bed space. E & Slim were a little unfortunate, their room being much more cramped, and being able to open either the bathroom door or the main door at any one time. Despite offers from B to switch rooms, they stuck with their place. With a settling-in time of about 20 minutes, E notably decided to unpack most of her stuff, before we next met in the corridor. The lift couldn’t fit everyone anyway.

It was a short walk to the MTR station (Hong Kong’s MRT), and we then proceeded to purchase our Octopus Cards (Hong Kong’s ez-link). The ride was also short, only 1 stop to Mong Kok from Yau Ma Tei. With our Octopus cards, we saved ~HK$0.30 for such a short ride. Our first shopping experience was thus at Langham Place, a 12 storey shopping mall. Having set our meeting place as Armani Exchange (A|X), we split up and went shopping. Interesting features of the mall included a very long escalator, and the sculpture of the man holding the brush, which you will find we managed to convince Hen little boy to mimic.

We covered both the inside of the mall and some shops outside, including a H&M store where Van came close to buying shoes, but it was not to be. D & Boss both purchased bubble tea which they did not finish and passed to the other 4 guys at a chance meeting. The bubble tea apparently tasted great, and the ladies too had their fill. Having reached A|X with about 15 minutes to spare, D decided to bring the guys, in particular K, to see sunglasses. D had his eye on Ray-Ban aviators, while K was more interested in Oakley jawbones. As such, the guys ended up being at A|X later than the ladies. The ladies also had a better haul, averaging 1 bag of stuff from either H&M or Cotton On each.

From there, we headed to dinner, which was also at some random place. With our numbers, we couldn’t occupy a single table, so the split was such that the little boys, Boss and K were at one, while the rest were at the other. The lady serving us was extremely friendly with Boss especially, later asking him to recommend the plate of fried beef kway teow he shared with K to the others. She also asked questions with regards to our age, our relationship with each other (classmates), our education status, and rolled down Boss’ sleeves, saying it was cold. Zhe little boy ordered his drink at random and ended up with hot Ribena, a drink that attracted the interest of E. As Hen little boy received his macaroni (which he also didn’t know he ordered) before the other table even placed their orders, he decided to eat it piece by piece. He ultimately finished his meal before the other table anyway.

We had another group photo outside this eating place, and then headed for Ladies Market. This street market was rather large, spanning 3 streets. It would prove to be the cheaper of the two street markets we patronised. The little boys took the longest shopping here, and we were unsuccessful in our pursuit of Hui Kin’s t-shirts at the lowest possible price. The t-shirts were later procured on another day of the trip. Boss and Van were also unsuccessful in looking for a wallet and shoes respectively.

It was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel for our rest. Night time details vary from day to day, but there is little to be had from day 1 night that wouldn’t be covered on another night.