Life is a Trip!

Step My Foot in Hong Kong For The First Time. Bewildered..

I have dreamed about going to Hong Kong (HK) since a long time ago. On March this year, I finally stepped foot for the first time there. Everything was settled. I booked the accommodation through 9flats.com. It was a small and cheap apartment at Causeway Bay, the center of shopping spree although I didn’t look out to shop that much. The host was a professional room seeker (www.wing-kong.com) and I kept in touch with somebody named Melissa by email all the time. Everything was okay until my arrival in HK.

My flight from Kuala Lumpur was delayed a little bit, so I arrived late in HK. The last email from Melissa said that we had to meet at Causeway Bay Station exit F, so soon as I arrived I bought a HK simcard, which costed almost HKD 200 (around USD 20) to contact her. Guess what? She didn’t answer at all!

After tired of trying to call and send text messages, I finally decided to find another place to stay. But several guesthouses that I call hung up just because they didn’t speak English. I was bewildered and lost. Oya, I forgot. I also called the Wing Kong office, but the person who picked up the phone told me to call the next morning because the office was off at that time. What kind accommodation provider was that?? There was no responsibility at all!

Luckily there were two Filipinos helped me. They were two girls taking pictures in front of McDonald. They were so helpful finding a place to sleep for me until I really got a room. It was around 1am by the time.

Melissa was able to be contacted the next morning. So technically I lost a half day just to deal with the apartment. When I asked her why she didn’t pick up my phone that night, she said that she handled another customer! What a shocked!!

Through 9flats.com, the customers have to pay in advance by credit card. So basically, I’ve paid for five nights, but only use the room for 4 nights. I already told Melissa to tell her boss to deduct the payment. But I don’t think they do it up to now. Going to write my review in tripadvisor as well.

Soroako Christmas Choir Competition

Attended a Christmas Choir Competition last night on December 9^th, 2011 from 7pm to 10pm at Oikumene Church, Soroako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. There are four quartet vocal groups and five choir groups performed. I came with a friend named Ellys, a colleague who was a member of the church. Actually I was invited by another person joining the choir competition. So I came to see the Christmas joy of the Soroakonese.

It was an interesting event for such a small town like Soroako. Venue was purple decorated. The performances were enjoyable; the choirs were very good. It was kind of surprising seeing so many people, men and women, boys and girls, all of them had great voice, great harmony, and don’t forget a great spirit of Christmas. With all the dresses and uniforms, I believed that they had prepared that with all their hearts. Although there were so many kids running and giggling around, few of them even played around the stage without parents telling them to stay quite during the show.

In Soroako, because it is such a small town, people get to know each other quickly. Church (or other gathering places) becomes a small community. People you see at church, they are the people you will also see in town. It is not surprising to see someone you know or even in a same project at church. If there’s an event, it is very likely that you will participate. Like in this event, at least I saw seven people I know from the office joining the competition. For me, it is a chance to mingle with locals and get to know their activity. Not very different from the city I came from, but the chance to participate is bigger. It creates a pleasant feeling to have a community especially a small one, so that people feel that they have each other and don’t feel alone.

Anyway, the three juries announced the result right away. I’m not going to mention about the winner because it really doesn’t matter. It was the togetherness that matters. I took some pictures and edited a video. Please do take a peek.