Singapore or Hong Kong?

Living in Hong Kong, I have often been told Singapore isn't worth visiting as its similiar to Hong Kong, but more suitable for older people. When you say older, I guess I'm not there yet, as I'm only 26.
Not one to listen to people. Let me check it out for myself I thought. A friend of mine from London was coming over and said she was going, so not thinking twice. I booked my flight and joBined. Silly me...arriving at Terminal 2, she was suppose to meet me, but it never occurred to me that there's up to three terminals!!

I got my Fave meal ever...Chicken Rendang and waited for her...an hour later...still no Mauddah. Ok...I just have to make my way to the hostel. But, I took a quick gamble and decided to go to Terminal 1 on the shuttle...getting off...voila...there she was.

Note to self ....always confirm the terminal when meeting with someone!

We made our way to Chinatpwn...the huge big clean streets were full of people. Red decorations adorned the streets for the upcoming Chinese new Year festivities.

We spent the day at Sentosa beach. We got some drinks and chilled by the beach, it's a nice place to possibly hire a bike for the day and go around. The place itself is like Disneyland...colossal...with lights everywhere and fountains...countless shops and screams of children. Where we were seemed like more of a lake than a beach..the sun was beating down on us....sat by Azure bar we soaked up the rays and indulged in the sounds of reggae from the bar.

What was most shocking was how expensive it was. By Clarke Quay, we had a few drinks at Hooters. Which is an American style bar, with girls dressed slightly scantily clad in tight orange shorts with tank tops with a bit of cleavage on show. For a mock tail, I paid the equivalent of £10.
Clark Quay is quite spectacular, I would say. It has a European feel, with lights reflecting on the water...if your part of a couple you can walk with your partner holding hands across the bridge.

Singapore has a very mature feel, which was reflected by the crowd. It's a far cry from the brash ambience of LAN Kwai Fong in Hong Kong, where beer cans and bottles are cluttered on the street and whiffs of smoke brush along your face as your walking in the crowd.


I have to say...I prefer it here in Hong Kong.

The highest al fresco bar in the world

Nauddah and I were so busy catching up, one of the things we wanted to do was visit the Night Safari ( a must see attraction in Singapore), but we were so caught up in conversation after not seeing eachother in three years. One of the first things I noticed was how much higher prices were in Singapore in comparison to Hong Kong. The MTR or MRT as they call it in S'pore is very clean and chewing gum is banned in Singapore! Total opposite of good ol' London where the streets are paved in it! On Saturday we headed over to Raffles Place ( financial district) to go to the highest al fresco bar in the world; Altitude. We got there early , around 1pm and it wasn't yet open. Going up that elevator was nerve - wracking....it was more like a rocket. Despite being 282 metres from sea level and on the 62nd floor, it wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. The view was spectacular....and free! Marina Bay Sands charge about $20 to check out the views from their rooftop bar, I believe. I tried to convince my friend to make the most of the view; but she was petrfied. I just about got her to take a pic of us there, as she was quite hapy to sit down the whole time. Acrophobia kicked in!

Clockenflap Baby!!!!

Last year, I was fortunate to work, but unfortunate to have to work weekends. Thus, I missed out on all the fun Hong Kong is about...junk boats, rooftop parties and Clockenflap!
Last year, I heard so many people talkng about how great it was and this year was set to receive over 20,000 people. Tickets were just $500 HKD for the weekend (£40).

My main purpose for going was to see Miss. Azealia Banks herself. I won't lie, I feel a bit out of touch when it comes to music, and was highly astonished when I realised my students knew who Rihanna was, but no idea who Beyonce is. Yep...confused over here too!!

We all know Azealia has got a slightly filthy mouth, but when it comes to it her delivery is sick ( sorry for the South London slang there), but thats the best way I can put it. After numerous indie acts performing, here she came...Black Rupunzel, with a stream of black reddish hair draping down her back....dressed in black....with her svelte legs on show.

Damn...she realy put on a show..no doubt....Hong Kong were reall feeling her, not just that but people were singing along too.

We Salute Miss Azealia!!

The second night was just as good, we had Sneaky Sound System with the lead singer donning a skintight outfit with kaleidoscope images. Dazzling to say the least. The beats were catchy and everyone couldn't help but dance!

De La Soul were headlining and took the crowd by storm!!

Africa comes to Hong Kong

The African diaspora seems to be propping up more and more in Hong Kong. With the main African bar in Hong Kong being Makumba, but due to its recent closure,ther hasn't been much for us to hold on to, or places to go where we can hear some makossa or afrobeats. A good friend of mine Alex Nguema who is an African dance teacher in Hong Kong started her first event with her good friend Hitomi called ' Africa Soul Party', where she appointed me as the MC. Yay! This new event will be taking pace every other month, the first was a great success which took place in Insenses on Lyndhurst Terrace. Full Capacity! This Africa Soul Party involved a fashion show full of lovely ladies hailing from all over the world; Canada, Guyana, St. Vincent, France and England. The designs were by Maisha Concept by Rakhee. The prints are amazing, and take me back to my trip to Africa.

Lan Kwai Fong Carnival

Coming from London, I feel blessed to have grown up with people of all different backgrounds and cultures. Thus, Nottinghill Carnival is the place where you can see everyone from all walks of life having fun, getting together and simply having a boogie. When Lan Kwai Fong announced it would have a carnival. Hmmm...I was a bit skeptical. What kind of carnival will Hong Kong have? and Lan Kwai Fong ( Party district) is not particularly that big either. Interesting, LKF was just filled with food and drink stalls with lots of people. Not much different from lkf at night. Also, a few people were there too....Ladies dressed scantily clad in Carnival wear, gyrating and getting the crowd going, dancing to the beat of the drums. Not quite NottingHill, but a good try LKF!

Dim sum in Mong Kok

In Hong Kong, if there's one thing you must do, besides visiting the beautiful harbour of course, is go for dim sum. Dim Sum is just an assortment of typical Chinese food, ranging from pork buns to sui mai to chicken feet. My friend Theresa, is a God send, the perfect person to have in Hong Kong. Not only is she from an obscure part of South London, but speaks fluent Cantonese. So for me a taste of home and she prevents us from getting ripped off wherever we go. We headed to Tim Ho Wan, one of the best dimsum places in Hong Kong, its also a one starred Michelin restaurant. I ordered the glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaf, however the texture of the rice was just to sticky! Yes, I knew it was glutinous, but it was quite unbearable. I daren't try the chicken feet, the texture and the thought of it...eeeekk...just not for me. Theresa did though!

Since my arrival in Hong Kong, I've developed a new found love for the outdoors. Hong Kong  is quite the opposite of what most people would think. The two main islands are Hong Kong Island ( more expats live here) and Kowloon ( which some expats like to call the dark side, as it is very local). I live on the dark side! Then you have the New Territories which is basically the outskirts which have village houses ( as HK is full of tall storey apartments) , more space and green areas.

I've had it in mind to go camping and having the time off for Easter, it only made since to go as the weather was looking great! Scorching hot day off we went. I called the lady Carol Lai who owned the 'campsite'. She explained that you just rent the tent on the beach...in a place called Sai Wan.

The journey took a while....from my apartment, it was a MTR (metro) ride, about 30 minutes to a place called Choi Hung, then a mini bus ride to Sai Kung. Due to the rapid speed of minibuses, they are also known as flying coffins, so I guess that part wasn't too bad! Then we headed on another bus from Sai Kung to Wong Shek Pier, where we got a speedboat....then.....we hiked for an hour and a half, having to take care, as it was hitting 5m; meaning it would get dark at any given minute.
Trekking through the meandering never-ending forest and eventually being greeted with a sandy beach nestled by jagged hills was the best part! We made it!!!

We still had yet to past some derelict village houses and a message from 3 saying ' Welcome to China' made me realise just how far we actually were!

Yet, the difficult part was to come....you ever set up a tent? Cos' I haven't!!

We spent two nights here and hiked to Ham Tin Beach which was nearby, it was delightful to wake up and hear the clash of the waves against the cliffs instead of a ringtone or alarm. Nature at its best.

The journey home wasn't as pleasurable..scenic views were in abundance, but it was spoilt ..by the rain!!