BB Cream...

Ok, I am sold! I simply like the smooth coverage that the BB Cream gives! If you don't know what is BB Cream...Google it! It is a Blemish Balm Cream, so it is called BB Cream for short.

It is very popular in Korea and Japan, but the craze is slowly starting here in Singapore. Korean actresses swear by it, and the best brand is supposed to be Hanskin.

My colleague gave me a sample of Hanskin BB Cream, and it's really good! I still need to use a layer of powder to take away the stickiness, and also to give me the extra coverage that I need. I'm very happy with this new "discovery"!

BB Cream is supposed to improve your complexion as you use it, so I hope to have clearer and glowing complexion soon! Ha! Even if it doesn't give me better complexion, I think I'm happy to use it as a make-up base anyway.

J thought I was joking when I told him I'm using the BB Cream, he thought I've gone bonkers! Because BB is the name of our car mah...hehehe....

Do let me know if you are going to Korea!!! :) It is certainly much cheaper from the originating country!

Hong Kong - Day 5

Ok, technically we are not in Hong Kong on Day 5. We took the ferry over to Macau. This is my first time there, and I'm just so excited because J kept telling me how nice the Venetian is. He went over a few weeks back, and has been talking non-stop about it!

The ferry ride was uneventful, we were so sleepy that we slept all the way there. We checked into the Grand Waldo Hotel, and was really happy with the room! Thanks to Cath for recommending this hotel!

We immediately went over to the Venetian, because J said that I need a few hours to shop there because the place is HUGE! Huge shopping malls are my forte! Ha! So excited now!

This is how the entrance to the Venetian looks like....wow.....

I am impressed by the fake skies, and the canal that goes through the shopping mall! But we missed taking the gondola because it was evening time, and they have stopped operating :(

The blue skies look real hor? Wah, I like leh...even though it's fake!

I think this is one of the nicer Christmas tree I've come across this year :)

The Venetian is a truly shopping paradise! I'm not into the gambling...but the shops!! Aaaarrggghh....Joy & Peace, Lancel, Marc Jacobs, Prada, On Pedder, LV, Gucci, you name it, they have it! I could shop for hours here...which I did lah...hehehe...I only wish I had more money to spend!!

After the shopping, we went out of the Venetian to view it from the outside, and it is indeed very grand...

This is the entrance to the Four Seasons Hotel beside The Venetian. It is also very grand, but not as big as Venetian.

After taking shots of hotel exterior, we went back in in search of food. J and me could not decide what to eat, so we ended up eating McDonald's :P There are a lot of restaurants inside, but we didn't know which are the good ones, and didn't want to risk having an expensive meal which is not tasty. The restaurants were only like filled with one or two tables?!

We stayed around the casino - me to play jackpot and J went to play some games at the table. J won HKD200, and I won....HKD4.00! I was too embarrassed to cash out my winning ticket! Kept it as a memento instead :)

The next morning, we had a yucky buffet breakfast, but it comes free with the hotel stay...so...we ate and we left.

I took a pic out of the hotel window, and you see nothing but construction sites! They are building more casinos and hotels and mega malls. I wonder if they will be realised during this economic downturn?

We didn't explore much of Macau after that, but took the ferry back to Hong Kong. The ride was quite rough and poor J felt terrible. As for me, I slept all the way through again!

Back in Hong Kong, we moved to Cosmopolitan Hotel to spend one last night in Hong Kong before heading back home.

Hong Kong - Day 4

On Day 4 in Hong Kong, we discovered that the porridge shop directly opposite our hotel serves really good "chok" and "ngau lam meen"!

The beef brisket noodles comes in a clear soup, which I don't really fancy, but this soup tastes really good! This pic looks kinda fuzzy, it's because the bowl of noodles is steaming hot!

J and Jen ordered the century egg with pork porridge, and it also tastes good. But I prefer to have the noodles over the porridge, because it is just impossible to get good beef brisket noodles in Singapore! The porridge comes in small and big bowls - order the big bowl only if you are extremely hungry and can fit like a gallon of "chok" in your tummy!

I know it's not yet noon time, but I still like to have ice cold drinks. J is not a fan of cold drinks, but me like them at anytime of the day.

Day 4 was filled with more shopping at Times Square and Causeway Bay, and I took more pics of the Carrie Chau exhibition :)

We went to the SOGO at Causeway Bay and bought some snacks from the myriad of food shops at the basement. But we were still feeling peckish and wanted to have something to eat, and ended up at KFC! Ha! This spread only costs us about SGD20! Cheap and satisfying. We had 9 pieces of chicken, waffles fries, 2 corn on the cob, 4 glasses of Coke (or Pepsi?), 2 whipped potato, and also 2 bowls of rice! The rice comes topped with some sauces, but I can't remember what they are though. That is a lot of food for 20 bucks.

At night, we had dinner at the Ladie's Market....we were there for the braised goose. I still prefer the roasted version though.

The good was quite decent and cheap. I just love drinking out of the old Coke bottle! Wuahaha...

After dinner, we took a walk along Ladie's Market and I got a Hello Kitty iPhone cover :)

Tomorrow we have to wake up early - Jen and Mr Pang to catch their flight back to Singapore, and me and J to go Macau! Venetian here I come!

Hong Kong - Day 3

We trudged our way to City Hall in Central to eat dim sum at Maxim's! Some habits die hard, I always go to Maxim's for dim sum...hhmmm...must try out other places the next time!



The pics of the food aren't that great. Again we were starving and just kept ordering and eating! The bill came up to HKD1,000! *faint* What the heck did we eat?! I calculated that we ordered 27 dishes....and again when we look at the other tables, they eat so much lesser! Is this a Singaporean syndrome?! That we must "whack" everything?! Wuaahaha...no wonder the Hong Kongers are so slim. Hmmm...I would be too if I have so many nice clothes to buy! Ha!

For some reason, the rest of the gang don't want to eat Har Kow that day. And I really whacked all 4 of these plump and juicy morsels! There were at least 3 huge prawns inside! My favourite dim sum is har kow with thin translucent skin, and filled with big prawns, and I eat it with mustard. Not chilli sauce or anything else...just good old pungent mustard. It cannot be American mustard that you squeeze out of a plastic bottle, it has to be French mustard made from mustard powder!

Again, we over ate during lunch. Oh dear, it's becoming a pattern in all our meals! We waddled out of the restaurant, and went shopping to digest the food!

Our first stop - Louis Vuitton at The Landmark. I think the glass exterior is really cool...

Day 3 was filled with shopping around, but I didn't buy anything except for a Miumiu bag. We went back to the hotel quite early, to rest our tired feet...more walking to come!

Hong Kong - Day 2

In anticipation of spending the whole day in Disneyland, we had a hearty breakfast to start our day! I had the wanton noodle soup...look at the huge wantons! There were 2 whole prawns in EACH wanton! Can you beat that? This bowl only costs like HKD18!

We also ordered a side of chee cheong fun...yummy! I like how they add sesame paste into the sauce.

Disneyland here we come! I like how Disney makes it an experince right from the beginning - from the train that goes into the resort, which has Mickey Mouse shaped windows, and Disney paraphernalia inside, attention to details were paid in every aspect.


I see Mickey Mouse!! Woohoo!....This is my 2nd time in Disneyland Hong Kong, but it is still exciting to go there again!

Hey it's Mickey again! Hahaha...he is everywhere! It's like seeing double everywhere you go. See how many Mickey Mouse you can spot in all the pics below!

Disneyland is indeed magical. I love the Christmas tree they have set up - the lights are so fairy like and look at the star at the top! Exactly how it looks like in Disney cartoons! Hahaha...

Even the Castle is also lighted up all around! The nightly fireworks is the highlight for my trip to Disney. It never fails to transport me to la la land...hahaha...where the cartoons live!

After the fireworks, we reluctantly left Disneyland to go back to reality and again satisfy our rumbling tummies! We went to have steamboat at Yau Gwat Hei at Tsim Sha Tsui. As it was after 9pm, they have a promotion which only costs HKD79/pax for the buffet.

The soup is delicious! Can you see how milky it is? It has been boiled for hours with pork bones, corn and spring onion and it already tastes good before we cook anything in it! There were chunks of bones in the soup, which has been boiled until the cartilage and meat simply melt in your mouth.

We ordered lots of beef...hehehe...and I think the people were afraid that we could not finish the food, and was reluctant to give us all the food that we ordered! Looking at the other table around us, our table has ordered the most food! People were cooking and enjoying their food slowly, we were wolfing down our food! Oh dear...a bit unglam lor...but we were so hungry!

The guys had beer to go with the meal, and the restaurant only has San Miguel. It actually tastes quite good! Reminds me of Carlsberg beer, actually. But it is really cheap! I think it was HKD21 for a big bottle.

Fun in Disney, and a satisfying steamboat dinner sums up Day 2 in Hong Kong! More shopping and food to come in the next few posts!

Hong Kong - Day 1

Reached Hong Kong at around 11am, and the first thing we did - or rather what I did - was to eat Pork Chop Rice @ Cafe de Coral in the airport. It's a "tradition" for me upon touching down at HK Chek Lap Kok Airport (赤鱲角機場) and eat Pork Chop Rice before doing anything else :)

The pork chop rice used to come with 2 thin but huge pieces of pork chop, but now it comes with 1 piece of thick cut pork chop! Anyway, it still tastes great whatever the shape and size of the pork chop. I just love the tomato gravy on top of the fried rice! Yom!

After a satisfying meal (at least for me...ha!), we went to take the Airport Express train to town. I just love taking this train, it is part of the Hong Kong experience for me! The train leads you to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. We alighted at Kowloon station to take a shuttle bus to our hotel. The shuttle service really makes it convenient to get to the hotel, and they even show the timings on the board.

After settling down, we headed off to Causeway Bay, and took a cab to Ap Lei Chau. There are tons of warehouses in Ap Lei Chau, selling discounted designer stuff, but I didn't get anything there. So we cabbed it back to Times Square in Causeway Bay. I immediately fell in love with the Christmas decorations in Times Square. It's an art installation by Carrie Chau and they are just gorgeous! I simply love the Leopard Black Sheep!!! Aaarrggghhh....!

The guys are hungry and grouchy by then, so we went in search of Xu Liu Shan dessert shop, to tide over our hunger before we head over to Yung Kee for dinner later.

The mango desserts are to die for lor! Mango cubes so fresh, and the glutinous rice balls are perfectly QQ, and slightly sweetened. You can not get desserts like this anywhere else!

J had 3 bowls of desserts here! 2 bowls of some yam thing with chestnut, and 1 of the coconut steamed with bird's nest! See who is the vain one here! The yam dessert comes with the fried carrot cake, which is also delicious! It is so nice that we order another portion to share, and it tastes superb with the Lee Kum Kee Chilli Sauce.

With tummies satisfied, we waddled to the MTR to go to Central...and came across this giant iPhone! Cool!

From Central station, we walked...or rather climbed our way to The Peak Tram Station. We walked past the BOC - my favourite building in HK!

Here comes the Tram! I think the ride up and down is just part of the experience! Just love it! I've lost count of how many times I've been up to The Peak, but it is something that I just do everytime I'm in Hong Kong. Don't ask me how many times I've been to Hong Kong either! Ha!

The view from The Peak is always breathtaking. The HKD20 is worth it for this view!

After freezing our a** off at The Peak, it's time to go back down to warmer climate and fill our once again rumbling tummies.

We cab it to Yun Kee at Wellington Street. It is so iconic that all taxi drivers know it. There are a lot of people who say that Yung Kee's roast goose is overrated, but I've not been able to find anything that taste close to it! Any recommendations anyone?!

We were served their famous century egg with still wobbly egg yolk. I wonder how they do it though...cook it for exactly X minutes?!

Up next is the moment I've been waiting for....the Roast Goose! Hehehe...it was delicious. Some people keep saying that it taste like DUCK. Sorry, I think it tastes better than duck! Yom! I could eat a whole goose myself! Wuahaha....

We had meat overload this dinner, cos we had stir fried beef with onion and ginger, roast goose, roast pigeon (eewww....), and the char siew! Felt quite "je lak" after the meal...

Took a pic of the restaurant again after the meal. It is somehow reassuring that some things just don't change - see this this pic I took 2 years back.

We headed back to our hotel, exhausted...and looking forward to going to Disneyland the next day!

Why Hong Kong is a Shopper's Paradise...

I came back from Hong Kong only a week ago, and I'm completely exasperated at the level of service that I get here in Singapore.

In this week alone, I've experienced so many unpleasantness.

Incident no. 1 - Louis Vuitton @ Takashimaya

Me: Hi, how much is that bag?
Sales girl: That is $2140
Me: What?!!!
Sales girl: Yes, it is expensive (in a condescending tone of voice...like I could not afford it!)
Me: No, it is not expensive, I bought the bag for more than $2500 in Hong Kong!

And I walked away...totally insulted...

J got the same LV bag in Hong Kong, and we thought that it would be cheaper there because there is no GST and the exchange rate is quite ok between HKD and SGD. I was really surprised that the bag is > $100 cheaper here, that is why I gave that surprised expression quite loudly. And the sale girl just assumed that I thought it is too expensive? Hey, where are your customer service skills? Sorry, I forgot, they are trained to be snobbish...in Singapore...

Singapore has a looooooooong way to go to up service levels, and I bet with you it will never reach the level in Hong Kong. Hong Kongers are survivors, and they saw the need to change their mindset, they just DO IT. Why do the designer boutiques here have to display such attitude? What is the point exactly? In recent years, I have not encountered such attitude service in Hong Kong.

Incident no. 2 - Chanel @ Takashimaya

Me: Hi, can I see the pink wallet?
Sales girl no. 1: (Silently take out the wallet for me)
Me: (Silently look at the compartments in the wallet, and whispered to J that it's too small to put a note inside without having to fold it...which I thought was a weird design flaw...)
Me: Do you have a wallet in this design but which allows you to put in a dollar note without having to fold it?
Sales girl no. 1: Yes, we have this bigger wallet....(and hands me the long wallet...)
Me: Hmmm...but I don't really like the long wallet....
Sales girl no. 1: Then we don't have....(and stands there silently...)
Me: ????....hmmm....

In Hong Kong, the sales person would have recommended a different wallet that will suit my needs. Oh well, this ain't Hong Kong. So I continued to browse around the shop...and saw a bag which I thought looked interesting.

Me: Hi, would you be able to show me that bag on the top shelf?
Sales girl no. 2: Sure...(and gave me a smile! nice...she took down the bag...)...this bag costs $4600
Me: Oh ok...(took the bag and tried to sling it over my shoulder...and returned the bag to her as it looks very aunty on me :(..)
Me: Oh, may I see this wallet?
Sales girl no. 2: Sure...this wallet is priced at $1600...
Me: (in my thoughts....WTF? Why is she telling me all the prices?!)
Me: Is this how you do it? Telling the customer the price of everything??
Sale girl no. 2: Yes, this is our company policy...
Me: (WTF?? The first sales girl did not do that?!)

Ok, I'm totally pissed off because it made me feel that I could not afford the bags? Although the 2nd sales girl apologised to me if she had offended me, but I can hardly believe that Chanel will set such a policy?! And if it's a POLICY, then why Sales girl no. 1 did not advise me the price of the 2 wallets that she has shown me?

Here is what I think are must-have traits in a good sales person:
1. Greet the customer sincerely
2. Understand the customer needs and SELL THE GOOD POINTS OF THAT BLOODY BAG!
3. Give alternatives, and suggest other things that the customer may like based on the information that you have gathered.
4. Praise the customer for his/her good taste in choosing that product! (this is contributed by J)

How did you think I can go to FIORUCCI in Hong Kong and came out with 2 pairs of shoes and a bag in less than 30 minutes? Because, the sales girl is good at upselling!

My intention was to just get a pair of shoes for my mom, and because she wear size 34, I asked the sales girl which shoe model comes in that size. You know what she did? She brought out ALL the shoes she has that is in size 34. Then she proceeded to suggest that I should also get a pair of shoes as she has some new designs that just came in. Then she said my legs are fair, so I can wear bright coloured shoes, etc. Then she also showed me a bag, which she thinks I may like because it's the latest model and it comes in a very nice and unique grey colour.

In Singapore, the sales person will just show you what you want to see, and silently stand at one side and keep quite...offering no constructive suggestions, etc. Don't they get paid commission?!

Even though Hong Kong stuff maybe more expensive now, but I think I feel happier spending my money there because they really make you feel good about buying. I just don't see why I have to be snubbed and then fork out thousands of dollars to buy designer stuff here.

Will save up and do all my shopping in Hong Kong next year!

Updates...

Life can get busy unexpectedly, just like how my niece, Baby Isabel, suddenly arrived on 23 November! Yes, I am officially an Aunty! Oh dear, that sounds old...oh well, life goes on!

I am busy planning my holiday itinerary, arranging the hotels because I'm extending my stay, etc. The country is officially in recession, but the impact is not that great yet, because most of the EXPENSIVE hotels are fully booked!?

There are still some loose ends to settle, like going to the doctor to get my asthma medication :( and also my eczema cream! In case my skin cracks because of the cold weather, and my asthma acts up because of the pollution. Can you guess already where I'm heading?

Tomorrow is my last day at work before the holiday starts! Stay tuned for updates!

Tai Tai Day...

I was stuck in NUH with Mom from 10am to nearly 3pm today! There is sooo much waiting to do in a hospital...just don't understand why they can't be efficient? Oh well, Mom's ok except for high cholesterol levels.

Alas, that didn't deter us from setting off for the Tea Lounge at The Regent Hotel for high tea afterwards. Ooops... :)

I've not been to The Regent eversince they renovated, and took away the "bird cages". That was soooo long ago lor. The hotel is still quite nice, very elegantly styled, and the Tea Lounge is very Victorian. Nice. And I forgot to bring my Lumix! Aaarrggghh....again! Very upset with myself.

See how Victorian the tableware is?! But I think the pink floral pattern is a bit too much...although I do like pink, but this salmon pink is not very pleasant.

We took advantage of the 1-for-1 Women's Weekly voucher for this high tea. I don't think I will pay $36+++/pax for these dainty treats. You don't get to replenish the food and it comes in a set, so you can't choose the things that you want?

They don't taste as nice as they look! The small sandwiches are not open faced - I think open faced sandwiches are just so classy :) This is why I like to have high tea at Sheraton Towers, because they have really nice and delicious open faced sandwiches.

They gave too many scones, which are very filling, and dry tasting. The sandwiches are just filled with normal salmon, ham, egg mayonnaise, cucumber (!) and plain Kraft tasting cheese!! I think I can do better than that. The bread is not even fresh, it tasted stale :(

The only things worth the calories are the mini quiche, the mini sausage roll, and the custardy dessert thing in the middle of the bottom tray.

It is a nice quiet place for a lazy afternoon, but just don't expect good food or service here. You need some really good company and a 1-for-1 voucher to have an enjoyable time @ The Tea Lounge.