A Surprise Face-to-face Encounter with Taylor Swift (Part I)

I did it again. Traveling alone, to a foreign soil, a country that i never stepped into. This is the first part of my 5 days 4 nights trip to Hong Kong last month. Just in case you are wondering, Hong Kong is awesome and the weather was great. There was no rain at all and it was colder in the morning and night due to the strong wind from north. The temperature was lingering around 14 - 17 degrees Celsius.

What do you need to prepare prior entering Hong Kong ? The Hong Kong Dollars of course. I exchanged all these at the money changer located on the Lower Ground Floor in Mid-Valley Megamall Kuala Lumpur at the rate of HK$100 = RM39.30.

Just like UK, Hong Kong Dollars are issued by commercial banks (with the exception of the HK$10 bill). Three banks are licensed to issue banknotes in Hong Kong namely HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong). HSBC logo is clearly visible in the bottom right of the banknotes posted above. Each banknote issued by different banks bear a different design (for the same currency denomination).

This is the HK$20 bill issued by Bank of China (Hong Kong). I have not come across any banknotes issued by Standard Chartered to date. The HK$10 is issued by the government of Hong Kong SAR itself and is made of Polymer just like the Aussie Dollars banknotes and our very own RM5 bill. Just so you know, all other Hong Kong Dollars banknotes (HK$20, HK$50, HK$100, HK$500 & HK$1000) are made of cotton fibre, thus do not fluoresce under ultraviolet light.

Airlines : Malaysia Airlines

Date : 20 Feb 2011

From : Kota Kinabalu

To : Hong Kong

Scheduled Flight Time : 2 hours 55 minutes

Actual Flight Time : 2 hours 40 minutes

Scheduled Time of Departure : 11:35am

Actual Time of Departure : 11.45am

Scheduled Time of Arrival : 2.30pm

Actual Time of Arrival : 2.25pm

Boarding pass and Enrich Card. I was assigned seat 14A but later changed to row 26 so i can have the whole row of 3 seats (26A/B/C) to myself :D

Did you know that Kota Kinabalu is much nearer to cities in North Asia compared to our capital, Kuala Lumpur ? Going to Hong Kong from Kota Kinabalu is like going to Kuala Lumpur as Hong Kong is like only 10 minutes further away by air compared to Kuala Lumpur.

Decent meals on this short-haul flight

- Prawn Salad

- Fish with noodles

- Chocolate Cake

- Bread (Butter & Orange Marmalade)

Bon Appétit

Our plane docked at the North Satellite Concourse. Beside our plane was this Dragonair's Airbus.

That's the plane that brought me to Hong Kong. Also in this picture - Dragonair, Royal Brunei and Garuda Indonesia.

Inside the shuttle bus that "ferried" us to the Main Terminal Building

The immigration clearance hall. Someone shouted "NO PHOTO NO PHOTO" in a heavy Chinese accent once i snapped this photo. Luckily she did not confiscate my digital camera. It once happened to my friend that they requested him to delete everything inside the camera ... Phew ... lucky me !

Try to find me inside the picture. I have got to be in there somewhere :D

Here is what happened. Once i cleared immigration and got my checked-in luggage back, i went to the tourist counter to get all the maps as well as some flyers that a tourist can definitely find useful. All of a sudden, there were people shouting outside like there is no tomorrow. I knew there could be some celebrities out there but i thought he/she/they could be some TVB actors. Anyway, being as curious as i was. I decided to go out and have a look. I couldn't see who he/she was at first. All i can see then was just the back of a few freaking tall bodyguards who can crush me to death with just one hand. So i just stood still behind the bodyguards and tried not to push into the crowds. And then she turned, oh yeah, now i know it's a she. She is Taylor Swift who just walked past me. I can get a much better picture than anyone else because she practically was just beside me. Anyway, it was already too late when i took my own camera out. A lesson learnt. Always get your camera ready in such situation.

TO BE CONTINUED ...