#SPRG去香港

Yearly, my company will organize an overseas company retreat so that we can get to know our colleagues better. Last year, it was Taiwan and this year it's Hong Kong. The main reason why it's Hong Kong this year is because our parent company is based in HK and they are celebrating their 20th anniversary. Everyone was invited to celebrate this occasion - literally everyone. The entire SPRG network including Taiwan, Malaysia, Beijing, etc all went to the city of hustle and bustle at the same time. Can you imagine logistically how crazy the planning for this will be already?! Anyway, it was really more of a work trip instead of a retreat, more so for our managers as they had to extend their trip for managers workshops. 

We were given a budget of $300 per person to book our flight and we were lucky to score a good Cathay Pacific flight deal for $318. Only a top up of $18 and we get to enjoy a proper flight. Wheep! It's been a long while since I took a regular flight, after all umm, since I'm still a struggling working class adult and all...It sure was an experience. There's inflight entertainment - I caught The Longest Ride and bawled my eyes out to the horror of Abby, who was my plane partner hahaha, wine on the plane, snacks, food and even Haagen Dazs ice cream (!!).

I've not been to Hong Kong before, well I did for one day when I was in Macau and my mom and I took a ferry over so that doesn't really count, so I was really really excited! I've heard so much about the food in Hong Kong and the thought of eating dim sum from dim sum land just... *rub hand in glee*

I did my research (as usual) and planned out my ideal itinerary, including all the restaurants/food I wanted to try. I think I did pretty well, having managed to visit most of the key places I wanted to go and eat most of the food I wanted to eat.

DAY ONE

The location of the hotel we were staying at was at Central - Butterfly Hotel at Wellington Street, which was conveniently located at many of the places that I wanted to check out. I've always been told that the houses in Hong Kong are very small, and the city area is just packed with buildings and narrow walkways. No shit about that, really. I did not anticipate the amount of walking, and having only packed a slightly heeled sandal, by the end of the four days, my feet were aching sooooo bad! On hindsight, I should have brought along a pair of proper shoes.

Gloria was my roommate and man, having one of us individually is already crazy, having two of us in one room... it is explosive. HAHA. I really love G, and am thankful that I have her as my roommate. She was so accommodating to all my nonsense and requests. 

Butterfly on Wellington Boutique Hotel

Address: 122 Wellington St, Hong Kong

Foodie Haunt #1: Mak's Noodles

Address: 77 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong

After chancing upon this place on Instagram, it's always been on top of my to-go list. Ivan, Gloria and I went to check it out on our first day in HK. We only touched down in the afternoon and after checking in to the hotel and all,we left for the swimming shed at 4pm. We took a bus to Kennedy Town and walked to the swimming shed. A word of advise, just take a cab up. We were dead tired by the time we reached the place haha. Not to mention we are in the midst of HK's summer and it was freaking hot and humid. From the last bus stop at Kennedy Town to the venue, it took us about 30 to 40 minutes to walk.

The sun was about to set when we arrived, and because its in the evening, it was quite crowded and we had to queue for our turn. It didn't help that the couple ahead of us were taking their wedding photo, so they took longer than usual. We could only take silhouette shots when its our turn. Nonetheless, the view at the swimming shed is amazing and we were really glad we checked the place out!

Foodie Hunt #2: Cold Noodles

Argyle Centre, Mong Kok

DAY TWO

Out of the four days that we were at Hong Kong, we had two days where we had to block out certain time due to compulsory company activities. We visited the SPRG HK office on our second day and they brought us around the office, introducing some of the colleagues we had or are currently liaising with for some of our regional projects. 

We had time off after the company lunch, so a bunch of us headed to Mongkok again for some shopping. 

They were the best damn century eggs I've eaten!

Foodie Hunt #3: Yung Kee Restaurant's Roasted Goose & Century Egg

Address: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

DAY THREE

We went to hit the clubs the night before, so being able to wake up early the next day for breakfast, I must really say we are quite amazing. Haha. Abby, Debs and I decided to go to Australian Dairy for team breakfast. I've seen and heard sooo much about it, especially their scrambled eggs and macaroni soup!

Foodie Hunt #4: Australian Diary Company

47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan

The initial plan was to visit Ocean Park and the company actually bought tickets for us. But I think most of us were still nursing a hangover/couldn't wake up in time, those that were supposed to head to Ocean Park did not. We had this compulsory company dinner in the evening, and since there was still some time before dinner, I decided to explore the city myself and visit all the remaining food places I wanted to go. 

Foodie Hunt #5: Kau Kee Beef Noodles
21 Gough Street, Central

Before we head off for our company dinner, we had this compulsory group photo-shoot at the entrance of Ocean Park. Yep, that's ALL of us.

DAY FOUR

Foodie Hunt #6: Tim Ho Wan

 Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station Podium Level 1, IFC Mall

To be very honest, this year's retreat was not as great as the one last year. For this trip, it really felt like a work trip more than anything else. More so for the management as they had to extend their trip for managers' workshops. Because everyone's interests are so different, the bonding session time wasn't as much as I wished we had. What's more, the people in HK aren't really the friendlies and the heat and humidity was just too much. 

Many asked if I would want to visit Hong Kong again. Honestly, it won't be in my plan for the next three years at least. I had fun - I ate so much, I enjoyed myself, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm not appreciative of our company's and boss's efforts.

It's really just too bad that we had our trip in the middle of the freaking heat la!

This post had been sitting in my draft box for the longest time. My trip was in July and its already mid-September. Heh. My bad. So many things had happened between July and September and there are so many things I wish to pen it down here, but never really got the time to. 

I miss writing. I miss taking photos. I miss all the adventures I used to go on. More than anything else, I missed the life I used to have. I think I've lost myself and the passion I had for well, anything, in the past few months. I only wish I can find that and myself soon. 

  

Signing off here. 

xx

fee