Shenzhen with TL, Day 4: Massage and Home

I went to bed “early” bcos I wanted to hit the gym. Their gym was opened 24 hours and nicely set up despite only 2 treadmills. Auntie TL brought her exercise gear but was very grateful when I told her that I didn’t expect her to join me. Lol. She took my remark very literally and didn’t offer to join me. 

The gym has a little sitting area. That is for family/ friends to sit and sip coffee while whoever puffs on the treadmill?

I am not sure if I got back my jogging. I think it was more so bcos the machine was calibrated. I got a nice and manageable jog, much more enjoyable than my previous recent 3 treadmill jogs. I got to “jog at” Tamsui and Xiangshan in Taipei. Not bad and I didn’t feel like dying after 4.5km.

Auntie TL was up when I was back. Did she eat her 小龙虾 last night? Of course! She was savoring them while I explored lala land. She said that she was so full and couldn’t sleep and was binge watching dramas. No wonder she was just turning in when I woke up at 3.30am to use the restroom. Tsk, tsk. 

We hit bfast. Yummy! 

Then packed up to checkout, to go in search of a massage place that was already opened, hoping to squeeze in a session before our high speed rail. We were lucky. Auntie TL found some place and it wasn’t dodgy but a chain massage place that opened for business since 10am. We opted for 1 hour foot massage. 

What happened thereafter was a mad rush. Our train was at 1pm, and we read that we should arrive 45 mins before departure. It was a pretty long walk to the station, luckily the main part of the walk was underground, sheltered and very clearly labelled. I saw Luckin coffee and wanted to get a last cup but Auntie TL said that we didn’t have time and there would be more outlets along the way. She lied, bcos there was no more luckin after that. Zzzzz. Haha. 

We made it to the station with a lot of time to spare and we bought drinks and snacks from the convenience shop. When boarding commenced, Auntie TL panicked bcos she couldn’t find any QR code or barcode to scan. Passport, passport. Everything is passport in China. We got through nicely and after some mad walking, found our carriage. Finally, we happily settled down and relaxed for the 25 mins ride. 

Our plan was to walk as fast as possible when we arrived at the Kowloon station bcos we needed to get in front of the line for the immigration. Unfortunately, many others had the same thought as us. We relaxed after clearing the immigration, thinking that we had time to spare, only to realise that there was the Hongkong immigration to also clear. That took more time and then a long walk across some shopping mall to catch the AirPort Express train. It was freaking tiring. That was the only time that I regretted not bringing a hand pull luggage. The Taobao loots that I also had to lug home didn’t help. My poor shoulder.

QQ met us at the airport and arrived before we did. Thankfully, we got to the airport at about 3pm for our 5pm flight. The airport immigration was decent and we had time for a late lunch. 

Auntie TL took the last opportunity to savor the roasted goose rice. Again, it tasted like duck to me. We also found time to buy some famous HKG cookies and it was boarding by the time we arrived. Silently, I was worried about another delayed or cancelled flight. Thankfully, the plane took off properly. More food! I opted for the orange chicken. So-so only, but compensated by the ice cream.

Daddy Lim was already in bed when I arrived home. I got the mountain of laundry folded, unpacked and threw in another load of laundry. I survived and was back to work on Tuesday. I think I had too much traveling in the last few weeks.

It was a fantastic trip. I now know that Auntie TL and I can travel together nicely. I had a lot of fun and did a lot of girly things that I wouldn’t with my family. The Taobao loots were a pleasant surprise. The ski suit that I lugged home for Daddy Lim fitted him decently. I was still worried that it was too big. 

I am very proud of my battle scar from snowboarding bcos I don’t bruise easily.

Life has gone back to the work - exercise - home routine.

I did find my Luckin on Friday. Luckin must be drugged. It is damned addictive and left me craving. 

Traveling is so fun. I can do this (and not work) for a long time. Haha. 

Our only pain? We needed to get a certificate to prove that the flight was cancelled for insurance claim. It is supposed to be an easy online request with simple information to enter. I had tried 4 times, and also multiple chats with Cathay chatbot, online and offline agents. To date, I still didn’t manage to get hold of the certificate. Each time, the email reply was to try again bcos the system cannot retrieve the exact data. The problem is that I don’t know what is the wrong data entered (they all looked right), so how would I be able to get it right? Auntie TL is facing the same problem too, so it can’t be us, right? I think I would avoid Cathay in the future, unless of course they are priced very right. Haha. 

Mummy Lim

Shenzhen with TL, Day 3: Playing Dress Up, Hakka Old Town and Pretty Nails

JI Hotel has a much better bfast offer, super yummy and so many choices. 

It made the bfast at Zison a waste of calories. 

Our morning was not only spent taking care of our tummies but also the Taobao deliveries. I received a message on the app yday that delivery was not successful bcos the driver couldn’t contact us. Apparently, the hotel would not receive the package if the driver is unable to contact us via phone at point of delivery or if the room number is not indicated. The driver couldn’t get through our international number (vice versa) and we didn’t have a room number indicated bcos we ordered before checkin. The Taobao app helpdesk and the shop were very reactive and effective but didn’t quite solve the problem. The front desk eventually helped us called the drivers and got it resolved, though we had to face an upset driver. The deliveries had to come on Sunday as we were checking out early the next day. It was stressful trying to get those sorted out. Auntie TL said that it was so much easier in her last China trip, no hassles, no dramas.

Our 1st itinerary for the day was this dressed up lunch. Auntie TL found and said that we must at least try once. Since she gamely accompanied me for the snowboarding, I was happy to go play dress up with her. 

We had a choice of 2 costumes for try out and were spoilt for choices. Both of us stayed away the ang ang ones that are supposed to show 贵气. It is ok, I am not expensive. 

 

Then we had our makeup done. The staff were very efficient. I felt like a piece of canvas.

Elaborated hairdo was included. All done. I think I had an extra kg on my head with all the extra fake hair and pins. My neck!

Auntie TL also bought this photography session for CNY 200 that comes with 2 free pictures. Additional pictures are at CNY 200 each - mental note to not add anything.

The photographer taught us how to post and some postures felt totally awkward. While the photographer was snapping away, so were we at the background. Auntie TL did a much better job with the photo taking than I did, plus I didn’t have my glasses on. Auntie TL has such a natural smile. In the end, she didn’t have that many nice pictures taken (by me). Sorry!

There were so many pictures taken and we got to choose what we wanted. All of them were heavily touched up, which I supposed AI had helped things to be more efficient. They looked so different that I don’t even know who are them anymore. 

We were disciplined and only opted for only these 2, much to the staff’s displeasure. That was the time to be thick skinned and pretend that we cannot sense anything. 

There was some free time and we got to play some games and take more pictures. 

Our seats - very elaborately presented.

The appetisers and snacks looked very pretty but didn’t taste very nice. 

The entire lunch went in this sequence - some performance. 

Then, a short video depicting the upcoming dish. They had cleverly used the plate as a screen. 

The food that were prettily presented. 

At one point, the staff was distributing 糖葫芦. I was very excited only to find out that it was tomato. Ereeeeeweee..

The performance and lunch became a little draggy. I had no idea what was the storyline and almost dozed off. After the desert was served, we decided to leave and skip the game segment, to hurry before the crowd to change. 

The original plan was to go to the Dafen Oil Painting Village before the Hakka Old Town. This was to break up the journey bcos the Hakka place was a long ride away. The plan was changed, we skip the village bcos we wanted to do our nails and massage in the evening. Those were much more attractive than some oil paintings. The long car didi was just nice for an afternoon nap, we needed to recover from the food coma. 

Arrived! It was scorching hot. I bought a cold drink the moment we alighted.

The Hakka Old Town is very touristy. It was funny to see so many people in costumes walking around. It was even weird to see them sipping coffee in coffee joints. The price for costume, hair and makeup was very reasonable at CNY 199, which was advertised everywhere. Some of the shops must be quite bad bcos we saw some with ghostly white faces, or matted hair plastered to their face/ shoulders in that weather. I cannot imagine myself walking like that in that sun. 

There were some history and museum. 

But it was mainly eating, drinking and shopping. 

The place was like a maze. There is a Main Street, and many small alleys to explore too. 

It was during this time that we received notifications that our Taobao loot has been delivered and received by the hotel. Woohoo! 

It was really too hot to properly enjoy the town and way too commercialised than we expected. We left at about 4pm to this place recommended by Auntie TL’s friends. She said that there are many nail salons. 

Bye to Hakka Old Town in my almost melted but very elaborated makeup. Did I feel weird? No, bcos there were many more crazy ghastly white faces and hairdo people in the town. 

The didi took us to the Dongmen shopping district. This wasn’t planned but was a great addition to our trip. There were also many people, like Myeongdong or Ximending. 

We saw a huge Miniso Land and I got Daddy Lim his gift. Hoho. Peace!

We were trying to find our direction when a Cantonese restaurant caught our attention or specifically the roasted pigeon. Auntie TL was craving for that. Let’s go! 

Roasted pigeon tasted like duck to me. The food was decent hut there were only the 2 of us and we couldn’t order more variety. We headed to the recommended place for our nails next. There were many shops selling clothes too. Auntie TL bought 4 pieces from a particular shop, which made the boss very happy and we took the opportunity to ask her for nail salon recommendation. 

The price didn’t matter very much bcos it was already much cheaper than Singapore. What we needed are good quality nails and services. The boss quoted us CNY 188 for hard gel nails, the price only for 熟客 bcos of the recommendation. I doubt there was any discount to begin with but it pleases our ego. My nails were done in JB about 2 months ago and had started to chip all over. I so needed new nails. 

We were to choose the design that we wanted. It sounded like they could do everything. Auntie TL went into full pampering mode. She got her hands and toes painted and also opted to remove her feet dead skin. At any one time, she had 2 persons working on her. Very well treated. 

Our pretty nails. 

Very happy, very pleased with the nails. Hoho.

The shopping district was still buzzing when we were done at almost 10pm. 

We wanted to find a massage place but after several attempts, didn’t find one that look professional. We aborted the attempt and decided on dessert, but they were not very nice, leaving us feeling dissatisfied still. 

We finally arrived back to the hotel at 11ish. Our Taobao! 

I bought suit ski for Daddy Lim. It is impossible to get 2nd hand for his size. I also bought butt guards in prep of the year end trip. Auntie TL cleverly bought a cabin size luggage and packed all her stuff and loot to be checked in. 

Auntie TL was craving for 小龙虾 and we managed to order them via Taobao while on the way home. I duno what apps work for what anymore. We did whatever, so long as we got what we needed. The 小龙虾 was waiting for her too. 

The rest of the night was spent on packing. It was 1.30am when I turned in and Auntie TL was still happily 摸-ing and her 小龙虾 was still waiting… 

Mummy Lim