Emily and I, together with Philip, Don, Sui Yan, Vicky and Kelvin went to Lantau Island to hike. We aspired to climb the Lantau peak, which is the second highest peak in HK. In the end due to the fact that some of the members couldn't make it physically, we decided to cut short the hike up the Lantau peak and proceed on to the Giant Buddha and Tai O. Don and Vicky went ahead separately to climb the Lantau peak.

The Giant Buddha is really big and you can imagine its size by the photo we took below.

Tai O was our next destination. Although I have been there, but it's really a nice place to visit again :)

At the end of the day, after we had dinner at Tung Chung, we did something that's crazy, really crazy!

We took the Disney train to Disney Resort station to take photos! Haha, that's to relive the Disney trip for Emily and I; for the rest, it's probably prelude to the magical world of Disney so that they'll probably go there in the near future? :p

Anyone manage to guess where I went on Wednesday?

Hmm ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the House of the Mouse!! ...

Well, needless to say we went to Disneyland! Finally, we managed to fork out time to go there during a weekday, 6 weeks after it's open. There were 6 of us - Yuin Yee, Richard, Linjia, Yunxin, Emily and I.

I've heard comments from the press that it's not as good as the one in Japan or the States. However, it's really strange that when one entered Disneyland, it's like returning to childhood - without stress, living in fantasy, entering a whole new world ... ...

It may be small as compared to that in the States, but it let me experienced the magic of Disney. I think that's what Walts Disney wanted everyone to experience - he created Disney with the vision of a theme park where family can have fun together; where adults can relive their childhood. I guess there is a child in all of us and the success of Disneyland is because it is able to bring this fantasy to everyone, something which everyone of us yearn to live in/ experience, no matter how old we are/ where we are from.

"I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic carpet ride

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I'm way up here
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new world with you
Now I'm in a whole new world with you

Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

A whole new world
Don't you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath - it gets betterI'm like a shooting star
I've come so farI can't go back to where I used to be

A whole new world
Every turn a surprise
With new horizons to pursue
Every moment red-letter
I'll chase them anywhere
There's time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you

A whole new world
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous place
For you and me"

Today's a rather tiring day; rushing assignment and attending make-up tutorials. All the lecture series are coming to an end as the term is drawing to an end. Advanced Organic will be covering organocatalysis and non-linear effect for the last 2 lectures. It has been a great experience attending lectures by Prof. Wu as he's the expert in physical organic chemistry. The materials learnt is this course will be useful in my future. It's more than physical organic; in fact, it's a combination of mechanisms, asymmetric synthesis, organometallics etc. For tomorrow and the next few days, I'll be rushing my advanced organic project and preparing for the presentation next Wednesday. Intermediate Inorganic is finishing up with NMR and olefin metathesis.

I'll be going to a special place this Wednesday; will reveal it after that :p

AnywayI've been to some interesting places last Friday and Saturday. The brief travel logs are written as follow:

Friday 181105 (Trip to Peng Chau, Mui Wo and Tai O)

Before that, what's so special about the above mentioned places. Peng Chau is a small island well known for it's rural environment. It boasts a Finger Hill which is 95m above sea level and we can get a pretty good view of Lantau island from there. Mui Wo is a small town in Lantau and it is said to have a must-visit waterfall and cave. Tai O is at the other end of Lantau and readers who are fans of HK serial will have probably heard of "大澳的天空", a drama serial which depicts life in Tai O (大澳). It's really a beautiful place, distinguished from the other villages by its stilt houses in its main creek. It is inhabited mainly by the Tanka people who are decendants of HK's first settlers. It is nicknamed "The Venice of Hong Kong" by some people.

• 0707: Took minibus #11M to Hang Hau
• 0715: Reached Hang Hau. Saw many school children and adults going to school and work respectively. Kinda remind me of the morning scenes in Singapore.
• 0724: Took MTR to Central. It's damn crowded :(
• 0750: Reached Central and had breakfast at MacDonald.
• 0845: Reached the Post Office in Central and went to purchase a country map of Central New Territory.
• 0905: Bought a ferry ticket to Peng Chau and it costs me $21.00
• 0918: Ferry leaves for Peng Chau
• 0943: Ferry reached Peng Chau

• 0954: Tin Hau Temple.
• 1001: Golden Flower Shrine
• 1010: Saw Lung Mo Temple, a school and Tung Wan. This beach cannot be compared to that in Sai Kung
• 1030: Hiked up Finger Hill. Saw Disneyland, Discovery Bay and Silvermine Bay. Kap Shui Mun Bridge is also visible from here.

• 1057: Reached Holy Family School along Nan Shan Road.
• 1110: Reached Ferry Pier. I'm too early for the next ferry to Mui Wo, which is scheduled at 1205. I walked along Peng Lei Road to look around.
• 1128: I reached another pier and saw a bridge linking Peng Lei to a sewage treatment plant. Got a better view of Disneyland from here and saw some nice shore line.
• 1155: Back to the Ferry Pier again and took ferry to Mui Wo; the trip costs $8.40
• 1226. Arrived in Mui Wo.
• 1239: Arrived at Silvermine beach.
• 1245: Chatted with a UK guy who lived in Lantau for 23 years. His name is Mark and he claimed to be a TVB part time actor.

• 1310: Reached the Silvermine Waterfall

• 1315: Silvermine Cave
• 1345: Reached Mui Wo bus terminal and took bus #1 which leaves at 1350 to Tai O. Costs me $10
• 1435: Finally, after a long ride, arrived in Tai O

• 1450: Took a boat ride which Mark recommended. It costs me $20 and it's really worth it! Basically you'll get a good view of Tai O in that 20 - 30 mins ride. Saw Tseung Kwan Shek during the ride, something which we can't see when travel on land.

• 1520: I was back to the street and continue walking around and pass by Yeung Haw temple and Po Chue Tam
• 1537: Reacehd Kau San Tei Lookout Pavillon. Got a pretty good view of HK International Airport from there.
• 1600: Lunch at Kat Hing St.
• 1635: Took bus #11 which leaves for Tung Chung. Costs me $11.
• 1720: Finally arrived in Tung Chung after a long ride and I took MTR back to UST.

Saturday 191105 (Trip to Sheung Shui, Lok Ma Chau and Tai Po with Emily)

• 1027: Took KCR from Kowloon Tong

• 1055: Arrived in Sheung Shui
• 1204: Took KMB#76K to Lok Ma Chau Lookout. Had a great view of Shen Zhen over there. Splendid!
• 1235: Took red minibus #17 along castle peak road back to Sheung Shui.
• 1303: Arrived in Sheung Shui and bought a bag there.
• 1353: Took KMB#78K to Sha Tau Kok.
• 1445: When we are about to reach there, we were asked to get down at the checkpoint neat Sha Tau Kok. The police told us that Sha Tau Kok is a restricted area in HK and we cannot go in unless we have a pass. Ahhh...
• 1505: Went back to Sheung Shui and had lunch over there.
• 1630: Reached Tai Po and visit the Railway Museum.

• 1713: Took green minibus #25k to Lam Tseun Wishing Tree from Wai Yan St.
• 1737: Arrived at the Wishing Tree. Made some wishes and returned to Tai Po for dinner.
• 1930: After dinner, we walked to the Tai Po waterfront park to take a look. It is a really nice park with good view of Ma On Shan

Hmm my days in HK are numbered and there are still many places which I hope to visit. If I can complete most of my project in time, I'll love to travel this Friday. Wish me luck!

Attended a Chemistry seminar given by Prof. A.B.P Lever from York University in Toronto. He is a heavy-weight figure in inorganic chemistry and it can be evident from the fact that he is the chief editor of Coordination Chemistry Review. The title of his talk was "The Ruthenium o-Benzoquinonediimine system. Towards 50% pi back donation". It is pretty interesting and I've learnt that he actually came out with a parameter (similar to that by Hammet in physical organic) that measures the electropotential of ligand and from here, in theory, the chemist is able to calculate the redox potential for any metal reduction.

Anyway my Guilin trip is confirmed cancelled due to the reasons mentioned in the previous entry. It's not very practical given my workload, all the deadlines and of course the time spent travelling. Money is also an important consideration. I can go there any time in the future when I have more time for holiday. Right now, I can spend my remaining days exploring every corners of HK. There are still many places which I want to go and so I hope to visit them before I return to Singapore.

One of my friend from Mainland gave me some dried fruits which he brought back from Inner Mongolia. He rushed back a couple of days ago and came back this afternoon. It was really nice of him to brought me some stuff which I have never eaten in my life. He brough me 2 types of dried fruits, one is know as 沙果 which tastes like dried grapes and the other one is 榛子 which has a shell that is as hard as a rock!

I don't feel very well today. The weather turned cold suddenly, averaging about 20 degree celsius. Had a terrible headache before Advanced Organic lecture in the evening but still manage to follow the lecture. The headache got worse when I had dinner with Alice, Richard, Daniel and Yuin Yee but strangely, it became much better after I ate the dessert made by Emily (took a photo of it). How sweet!

I'll be exploring more places this weekend; shall not disclose the itinerary as yet :p

There is a high chance that my Guilin trip this weekend will be cancelled due to both time and price constraint. I saw an offer at a tour agency in Tuen Mun last Sat and it's offering HK$1249 for a 5 days trip to Guilin and Nanning, in which the latter is the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. The trip also includes a visit to the 2nd largest transnational waterfall in the world; it is located in the borders of Vietnam and China. However, when I checked it out again, I realized that the hidden charges adds up to HK$1768, which is kinda steep, although it's still cheaper compared to Singapore. The reason why I like to visit the above mentioned places is due to the fact that they are hailed as the most beautiful place in China, with breath taking scenaries.

I have done quite a bit of travelling and hiking for the past few days; it also marked my first attempt to write a travel log, though some of the important details were not included.

Last Friday, 111105, I went to Sai Kung East Country Park to hike. I completed the first 2 sections of the McLehose Trail and it's a gruelling 24.1km walk. It's kinda tough but I enjoyed the whole process very much:

• 1009: Took green minibus #12 from HKUST to Saikung
• 1030: Arrived at Sai Kung Interchange. It could have been a faster ride if not for the jam along the way. I went to Park & Shop to buy a packet of battery before taking KMB #94 to the entrance of the Country Park.
• 1103: Took KMB #94 to Pak Tam Chung
• 1122: Arrive at Sai Kung Country Park Visitior Center

• 1148: I took a short walk along Tai Mong Sai Road before starting the trail at point M000 (an increase in "1" indicates a completion of 500m).

• 1232: Reached West Dam

• 1245: Reacted M010
• 1305: Reached M013; saw the East Dam.
• 1313: Reached a point where a I got a good view of Pak Lap Wan
• 1318: Reached M015 where I detoured to go to Pak Lap Wan
• 1326: Reached Pak Lap Village and walked to Pak Lap Wan.

• 1332: Left Pak Lap Wan and headed back to M015
• 1343: Reached M015 and continued the McLehose Trail. Saw many people along the way as they are competing in the Oxfam Trail Walker. It's pretty irritating as they are blocking my way, especially during the climb up to the noor as it made me more tired.
• 1400: Reached East Dam

• 1411: Reached M020
• 1414: Completed Section 1. Began Section 2 and saw Long Ke Wan from the hill top.
• 1425: Reached M021 and walked to Long Ke Wan for lunch break.
• 1440: Continues Section 2.
• 1531: Reached Sai Wan Shan. The part from M022 to M025 was an experience that will never be forgotten. Along the way, I saw Sai San, Tai Long Wan and Tai Mun Shan.
• 1558: Reached M030. Shacked out but still can continue on.
• 1613: Reached M031 and saw Sai Wan.
• 1623: Reached M033. Saw Tai Chau, Tsim Chau and Tai Long Wan
• 1635: Saw Ham Tin Wan
• 1710: After M039, saw Tai Long Tsui at the hill top.
• 1714: Saw Sharp Peak
• 1716: Reached M040
• 1734: Reached M043 and saw Chek Keng Hau
• 1749: Reached M045
• 1809: Completed Section 2. The name of the place is Pak Tam Au.
• 1822: Took KMB #94 to Sai Kung.
• 1850: Arrive at Sai Kung and went to Park & Shop to change battery
• 1900: Took green minibus #1A to Choi Hung

On Sat 121105, I went to Tuen Mun with Emily. It was a nice trip and we had lunch with King Ho, one of my HK friend.

• 0757: Took green minibus #11 to Choi Hung
• 0808: Reached Choi Hung and took MTR to Sham Shui Po
• 0827: Reached Sham Shui Po and had Breakfast which is accompanied by a short arcade drumming session after that.
• 0952: Took KMB #52X to Tuen Mun
• 1034: Dropped at station #20 (Tsing Fat Street) because we saw the flea market sign. Went in and took a look. It's pretty scary and the place is damn isolated.
• 1101: Left flea market for Gold Coast
• 1124: Walked along Castle Peak Road and saw some of the hills at Tai Lam Country Park
• 1140: Reached Gold Coast Shopping Mall and took a look at the Art Promenade. We went to the place that sells wire art and Emily bought some stuff there.
• 1241: Reached Gold Coast and walked along the shore. It's a pretty nice beach but still not as good as the one in Sai Kung and Hainan

• 1313: We completed the beach "trail" and went to Tsing Yan Street. Took bus 51K to meet King Ho and Tuen Mun Central
• 1330: Saw King Ho and we went for lunch at Golden Shanghai Cuisine; the food is really expensive. Ahhh .... anyway the food was pretty good and I learnt a new chinese word on that day - 滬; it is pronounced as hu(4) and it means Shanghai. So 滬菜 means Shanghai dishes, just like 粵菜 means cantonese dishes and 琼菜 means Hainanese dishes.
• 1547: Finished lunch and went to enquire about tours.
• 1730: Set off for Butterfly Park via LRT
• 1830: Reached Butterfly Park
• 1910: Dinner at one of the eateries in the mall
• 2000: We took LRT back to Tuen Mun
• 2022: We took KCR West rail back and reached Mei Foo at 2050. Took MTR back to Choi Hung after that.

Finally on Sunday, we went out for a short while to visit the Coastal Defence Museum at Hong Kong Island. The most important thing I learnt is that HK shared a common colonial past with Singapore. I know this is kinda lame but it's very true; the place resembles Fort Canning.

I'll be having my last midterm in about 5 hours time; after which I won't be having any major tests (except for one or two more quizzes) before the finals beginning 12th Dec. In the meantime I gotta plan my holiday for the last few weeks in HK in order to maximize my time spend here.

Nothing very extraordinary happened after my last blog entry last Tuesday. I had my Maths Midterm last Wednesday and I did pretty well in it; got back my Inorganic Chemistry Midterm as well and fare well in it. The Inorganic Chemistry paper, as mentioned before, was a challenging paper and I'm glad that I got most of the questions correct. On Thursday night, together with Emily, we went to dine with one of my relative who is working in HK. She treated us to a really fabulous dinner which includes a big lobster as one of the dishes. We wanted to split the bill with her as she's working and have a lovely daughter but she insisted to treat us; nothing very much we could do at the end of the day. I'll definitely buy her daughter a box of chocolate the next time we met up.

On Friday afternoon till evening, I went to look around at one of the suburban area of HK - 牛头角. It's really an eye-opener to be walking in the suburban area of HK as I am able to experience the local lifestyle directly. I walked along 鸿图路 near 官塘 and reached 牛头角. I bought a pair of safety goggles at one of the shops specialized in selling protective wears near 鸿图路 as it was really a comfortable pair of goggles compared to the one I have in Singapore. From there, I walked along 牛头角道 to Kowloon Bay. I saw many things along the way - schools, wet market, live pigeons and chickens for sales, a public library, local small supermarkets, many housing estates (which kinda resembles those in Singapore with some unexplained differences) etc. I managed to find Indo Mee in one of the supermarket call "Welcome" at Kowloon Bay! Finally got a chance to taste some home flavours.
Ah yes, the photo in the middle shows a housing estate in Hong Kong. It's pretty similar to the one in Singapore right?

After I reached Kowloon Bay, I walked back to 牛头角 to pack dinner for Emily and myself. I bought half a roast duck from one of the restaurant over there (which is pretty cheap as compared to Singapore - if you convert it back to Singapore dollars, it's like $9 compared to $15). Emily and I met up in campus after her midterm and I cooked Indo Mee to substitute for rice.

On Saturday, I stayed in campus most of the time to finish up my work except for a dinner trip to 牛头角 with Don and an American Borned Chinese named Philip whom he gotta know in his class. Sunday was a funfilled day as I brought 16 people to Ocean Park! (Yes, I went there again, since I have the year pass!) Out of the 16 people, 11 are year zero mainlanders and the remaining 5 are Emily, Don, Philip, Sui Yen (an exchange student from Harbin) and Ben (an exchange student from Minnesota).

Extremely pissed off with today's Structural Elucidation quiz. Dumb and ambiguous questions being asked. In addition, I realized that my midterm grade for this module drop by another 10 marks, from 300 to 290. I don't know why my marks are keep being adjusted and it's getting lower everytime.

Anyway I've emailed the lecturer and he replied me saying that he accidentally deducted my marks again (it dropped from 312 to 300 the other time). In short, he accidentally penalized me twice. Err, if such screw up keep occuring, then I'll probably end up with nothing in the end. Sigh.