Hong Kong Business Trip

Greetings from Hong Kong!! I have been here for almost a week and it's been pretty boring and routine... Wake up 7.30am, breakfast at hotel cafe, jostle with the morning crowd on train, work, lunch, work, dinner, return to hotel room, more work... Only managed to do some shopping only yesterday lor (and it's at Shenzhen instead of Hong Kong) hahaha =)

My place of accommodation: Regal Hong Kong Hotel (HKD 1086.80 per night) is situated pretty near to Causeway Bay MTR (5-7min walk away), Sogo departmental store, Time Square, etc... A pleasant surprise awaited me when I first entered my room... Gosh, the room is HUGE, hahaha.. and nice =)

Comfy bed and spacious living room

Decent bathroom. L'occitane shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion are provided, lovely!

Welcome gift for corporate customer. Nice gesture yah!

Views from my room

MONDAY (21-SEPT-2009): After check-in, I met up with a fren for a quick dinner at one of the eateries near my place... Food is so-so and expensive (by SG standard!)...

I had sweet and sour pork with rice plus coke set meal (HKD38); my fren had spicy noodles (HKD 38) ; plus a plate of kang kong veg (HKD20) to share.

TUESDAY (22-SEPT-2009): First day of work in HK office, exciting, hahaha... Morning crowd on the train wasnt that bad, and I managed to find my way to office quite easily... Lunch was at Cafe De Coral (HK's slow-food chain) which is opposite my office - Roasted meat rice with coke set (HKD31.50). Dinner was at Venue's Garden, Island Beverely with my colleague - Grilled steak with soup plus tea (HKD86.90). Oops, no photo here cos i forgot to bring my camera out, hahaha...

WEDNESDAY (23-SEPT-2009): Need to get to office by 8.30am for a conference call... I wonder why my boss loves to have such an early call lor... We are supposed to start work at 9am! Lunch was at Pret A Manager - Salmon sandwich plus ham/cheese sandwich (HKD40) Well... the portion is really small and I skipped breakfast, so I had to buy two sandwiches to fill my empty stomach!! After work, I decided to be adventurous and took the tram back to hotel. This was a bad decision cos there was an accident at Wan Chai distinct and the tram was stuck in the traffic jam and couldn't move till someone sorted out the mess... I had to walk 30min to return to my hotel even though Wan Chai is only a station stop away from Causeway Bay. Super tiring, esp when I was carrying my laptop!!

Dinner - Taiwanese oyster mee sua (HKD10), pan fried dumpling plus milk tea set (HKD26) at one of the eateries along the long journey back to hotel. Food was good and cheap, I love it!

THURSDAY (24-SEPT-2009): Work again, boring... and I had a lunch time conference call. Late lunch was at IFC Mall's roof top garden where I did a takeaway for a salmon sandwich plus mango smoothie (HKD74) from Simply Life. You can enjoy the breeze and views of Victoria Harbour from here and it's free... Cool!

Sandwich and smoothie from Simply Life

Roof top garden where there's a public seating area for you to consume your food while you enjoy the breeze, sun and view.

Views from the garden.

Dinner from the eateries near my hotel - Shrimp wanton noodle soup (HKD28), green veg (HKD20) plus peanut dumpling dessert (HKD15)

FRIDAY (25-SEPT-2009): TGIF!! Lotsa work to do for today and we had to pack food from Cafe De Coral...

Menu at Cafe De Coral

Factory like operations where you order your food and pay at the cashier, you join a queue to collect your food and the workers hurriedly make the food and serve you your order.

Portuguese chicken rice with coke set (HKD29); tasted awful.

IFC Tower (left) and Exchange Square (right)

Escalator to go to Exchange Square One & Two

My office was at Exchange Square One. From Monday, I would need to report to new office at IFC Tower.

We decided to treat ourselves to a good dinner as a reward for all the hard work done for the week, hahaha...

Pan fried rice noodle rolls in XO sauce (HKD42)

Specialty shrimp wanton noodle soup which was awarded Bib Gourmand by 'Michelin Guide HK Macau' (HKD38). I found this dish to be similar in taste to the one I had last night, hahaha...

Sliced beef and pork meatball congress (HKD38)

All in all, I found Hong Kong to be pretty similar to Singapore in most aspects, except for the price of meals here which is kinda pretty expensive. An average meal of HKD40 (equivalent to SGD7.50) at their local eateries will have bought me something better at the hawker centres in Singapore, hahaha...

Another week to go, and it's home sweet home!!