Central excursion!

thanks to my senior michelle who kept asking me to go lan fong yuen in central to try their milk tea and toast, i finally went yesterday!

it's a very traditional place with over 40 years of history, and they still make their milk tea using those "stockings"...and the interior was pretty old-school too. i like. =) i dint order their toast, but got their pork chop bun instead. it looks super normal and plain? yes, i thought so too, but then the taste of it just grows on you after a couple of mouthfuls, and it really becomes very yummy-licous! =) oh, they have another branch just 2 doors down from this old-school place, but i think for the highest level of enjoyment and satisfaction, go to the one you see in my photo =)

this is pottinger street (i think!) - a street built on a slope, and vendors mostly sell ribbons, fabrics, costumes, masks and stuff. lol.

and then i walked on, following the "heritage walk" in one of those hong kong guides. i walked past the former central police station compound, victoria prison, where they were having some kind of exhibition. i actually continued walking but it suddenly dawned upon me that these places are not supposed to be open to public, so this was a good chance to go see the interior of these historic buildings! =) an unexpected twist in my Central exploration! haha. the former central police station has been around since 1864 - almost 145 years!

the white building is the former barrack building i.e. where the policemen slept! haha =P and the interior of it...the whole feel is so colonial.
the theme of the exhibition is "refabricating city", and is part of the HK and shenzhen bi-city biennale of urbanism / architecture. but frankly speaking, i was really paying more attention to the compound itself than the exhibits. and i dint have enough time to look at them the way i should have anyway. haha =P
i tell you, there were a couple of times when i was inside the compound and i felt eerie-fied. haha. cos some stairways are soooo old, some corners are dark and some places are out of bounds, so it felt like i was in a haunted house or sth. LOL. yes yes, i know it's all just my imagination, but still, there were some places that i refused / hesitated to step in! like the room below.....

where got exhibition room so dark one?! okok, maybe have, just that the building's very old and all so....ok i was quite a coward lah. haha =P

and i get excited every time i see something that screams SINGAPORE on foreign land. haha. this exhibit was about urban renewal and development in the bras basar / bugis area.

and the prison...
and this is one of those prison cells. i really dint dare to step into one (dun ask me why!), all i did was to poke my head in and take a look. well actually i dint even have to do that cos the cell is soooo small that you can see it all from outside. can you imagine how claustrophobic you will be in that small little cell?? =X

this leads to the female workshops...

and this was where prisoners could speak to the justices of peace and commissioner of correctional services about any grievance, complaint or reasonable request. but...they just had to turn off the lights hor? -_-

and this is what the inmates see when they raise their heads, if they can even get out there to start with. i guess they counted their blessings when they could even see that little bit of the outside world.

this building is the former central magistracy, also where the regional police headquarters conference room was located.
really very OLD leh....

and that's me in front of the headquarters block! tried a couple of zi-pais, but still asking someone else to take a photo for me gives better pictures lah. haha =P
by the way, i even saw the hk financial secretary john tsang in one of the exhibition halls! he's one of the biggest shots in hk govt. and i know who he is, thanks to the 221-equivalent and the reaction story towards the hk budget we just did. i was a little stunned when i saw him cos i dun even bump into politicians back home! haha. he looked up when i walked past, but er.....i quickly looked away and walked off. haha =P he must be thinking how come this "hk citizen" not very friendly. LOL.
anyway, i continued with my journey, and passed by fringe club, a former cold storage warehouse that's now a platform for artists and performances.

this is the dundell street steps and gas lamps. if i dun rmb wrongly, a few tvb dramas shot some scenes here before. so what's so special about this place? the gas lamps - 2 at the head, and 2 at the foot of the steps - were built between 1875 and 1889, and are the only 4 remaining in hk today. haha i really feel like the PR for hk tourism board. LOL =P

and this is the former french mission building, which has now become the court of final appeal.

and this is st john's cathedral.

and this is the bank of china tower...it has somewhat become an icon for central. =)

and i took this on the way to hong kong park when i was walking along the overhead bridge. traffic in hk can be really bad, and i cant stand the honking that goes on so very often. =X

anyway, i had meant to post some more photos, but blogger just decided to go on strike. -_- jodi, you should be uhm-chio-ing now. TSK. haha =P

and and and, i'm going to watch david beckham tmr! haha. cos la galaxy is in hk as part of an asia tour. yes yes, he's old and over-hyped, but come on, how often do you see beckham play in front of your eyes?! haha =P ehhh i got the student ticket for 120HKD, so it's still pretty reasonable. just that...i really dunno anyone else on the US team other than beckham. LOL =P it's okay, just for the fun of it i guess! haha =P more photos and updates tmr then! =)