yummy complimentary breakfast from Nathan Hotel to start day 2
then we 兵分两路; Team A OTOT while Team B set off towards Flower Market...
ICAC logo on the wall, watched ICAC HK drama before - must take pic !
round round, cute cute london cab - must take pic !
people lining up at bus stop also amused me - must take pic !
'pasar malam' setting up or is this the aftermath of last night?!?!?! - must take pic !
oh!!! the mini buses in my HK shows - must take pic !
to have more luck in her favourite game - must take pic !
why use washing machines for a curry rice restaurant deco?!?!? - must take pic !
luv the roundedness of the corner buildings and how they 'English-nised' the Cantonese street names - must take pic !
this orange building is a secondary school!!! - must take pic !
finally we reached Flower Market, streets with many many shops selling plants & flowers & gardening necessities...
the mini pots of xmas leaves/flowers were selling at HK$30 for 2... Michelle would have bought if we were not rushing for our tour... i told her we would be back but didnt...oopx!
but on hind side, luckily we didnt la... else how was she gonna bring these back seh??? i found out that she's a want to buy everything, think later kind of shopper on this trip... 😂😂😂
cute ornaments and mini pots - must take pic !
couldnt stay too long at the Flower Market as we were rushing off because by right, it should be a 30 minutes walk from our hotel in Jordan to Flower Market at Prince Edward then we would have a good 40 minutes to 东看看, 西看看 here but the walk took us 50 minutes since we were so easily distracted by this and that, these and those along the way... 😂😂😂
we had signed up for Dark Side of Hong Kong Walking Tour via Klook at S$43.15 that required us to meet at 10.45am at Prince Edward station and so fun to have XP joined us since she coincidentally was in HK this weekend too...
our guide, Isaac, very smiley with a good command of English... He termed this tour the 'Real' side of HK and shared that a 50 square metre unit in this old & dirty building can easily cost HK$8 million (S$1.4 million)... 😓😓😓
HK$3 million for 27 square metre housing that's already 45 years old... that's S$500k+ for a unit that's similar / smaller than our 2-room flexi flat?!?!?!... 😱😱😱
what a fitting title for a folder that holds the pics that Isaac used to share on the unique & scary housing issues faced by the lower income in Hong Kong
each caged bed house an individual... the picture showed 6 caged beds in a sub-unit... 😱😱😱
a total of 10 sub-units in this one unit of apartment
this sub-unit was rented at HK$5600/mth (S$965) for this tour purpose... it used to house a family of 4 who left some of their stuff behind when they moved into public housing... this sub-unit is considered a 'premium' since it has its own en suite toilet/bath
can i assumed housing is expensive but electricity is cheap since there's air conditioner installed in this sub-unit???
public housing on the left vs private housing on the right and illegal (metal) housing below, perched on the roof, roasting the residents in summer and freezing them in winter...
buildings are built so close that they needed 'lego' holding parts to keep them tight and snugged with each other
We also walked through the 'happening' lorongs where we learnt that happy feet massage parlours are not meant for us, people who are really looking for a good massage...
a methadone clinic to treat heroin addiction... we really saw 'high' people in the nearby park; they were dazed and were bending over in their seats... 😱😱😱
i would give this tour 5/5... not the most comforting but really is an eye opener... 😍😍😍
