Photo Blog: Gadgets Overdrive During my Hong Kong 2011 Vacation

While I take a break and enjoy my vacation in Hong Kong in Nov 2011, my gadgets went on overdrive.

This is the first time I brought my 4-year-old daughter abroad, so I need to make sure she is well-occupied. I brought all her favourite gadgets - the spare iPhone 3GS and the iPad, plus a comfortable pair of Sony MDR-Z1000 headphones.

Who doesn't love a pair of comfy cushiony headphones?

I also brought the Logitech Wireless Keyboard for Tablet so that I can work using the iPad more efficiently. I love the hard slip-in case that converts into a stand to hold the heavy iPad.

For my own private listening, I used the Logitech UE600vi, an absolute ear-opener. It's so light and comfortable that I could wear this whole day. The treble frequency is not high and so it's very suitable for outdoor use. In comparison, the Sony MDR-EX1000 has very clear treble sound but when used outdoors, the treble overpowers the bass.

I love Hong Kong because it is a very well-connected environment, be it transport or telecommunications. Just 12 months ago, a 7-day unlimited data VAS from CSL costed HK$178. On this trip, it costs only HK$78! Thanks to the 1O1O shop staff at the airport departure hall, I got it set up on my Samsung Galaxy S2 in a brief, while my Singapore SIM card is moved to my iPhone 3GS. Besides data, this card offers free IDD call to many countries including Singapore - pay only HK$0.28 per minute!

This was the Prepaid SIM card I bought. Link

The reason for using the Galaxy S2 for the Hong Kong prepaid SIM card is obvious: Android phones enable Wi-Fi hotspot. With that, I can tether all my mobile devices to the Galaxy S2 and enjoy data connectivity at no extra cost. I made sure all our other mobile devices' data roaming is turned off, and the Wi-Fi is connected to the Galaxy S2.

Besides the benefits of Wi-Fi tethering, the Samsung Galaxy S2 can also do USB OTG (on-the-go), which means I can plug an external storage device to the Galaxy S2 and it can read the storage device. Thus I am able to transfer photos from my cameras via a card reader to the phone and upload to Facebook. The photos are edited using the NX200 built-in editing tools and then resized.

And with so many gadgets, it is practically not possible to survive on a a couple power sockets in the hotel room. For that, I brought my own extension sockets to charge up all my devices. I even bought a portable battery pack just for this trip in case the phone battery runs out before the day ended.

Now that I've taken care of the gadgets, let me share some photos I took during the vacation and the process of capturing them.

Day 1: Going to the airport.

I took this shot on the moving taxi. After a dozen shots, this one captures the airport control tower without blur while the surrounding is. Tip: there is no way to guarantee a good shot on a moving vehicle. Just keep shooting and hold your camera steady.

Above, I used the Panorama mode on the Samsung NX200 to capture this seemingly fish-eye shot of the aircraft. You can see that Panorama modes are not limited to long stretches of images. This 4:3-looking aspect ration is achieved by panning using the portrait mode instead of the landscape mode.

Shooting without looking at the viewfinder takes some practice, but it's the only way to capture images at places where photography is not permitted. With a fast camera like the NX200, it doesn't take more than a second to get this shot and stealthily slip the camera back to my case.


Day 2: Checking the weather.

Still drizzling. Our original plan was to visit HK Disneyland on Days 2 and 3. But Day 2 weather is quite bad, so we had to hope for a better weather on Day 3. To get this shot, I had to anticipate her as she slowly heads towards the curtain.

That's Disneyland Hotel, and at the foggy distant background, the mainland Hong Kong, not the CBD, by the way. That's way too few skyscrapers if you noticed.

Bossini got the license to produce a range of Toy Story merchandise to tie-in with the opening of the Toy Story theme park in Disneyland. Unfortunately, the park only started from 18 Nov, about 10 days short from our trip. Nonetheless, Mayenne got to pose with this statue inside the 4-storey store at Sai Yeung Choi Street, among others. Notice the similar poses?

Day 3: It's Disneyland!

Weather was perfect! Cloudy cooling day with no precipitation! The moment we entered the park, we saw the queue for a photo shoot with Mickey and Minnie. We quickly got on the queue and captured this beautiful memory.

The must-watch show, Festival of The Lion King. Shooting in the dark is no problem for the Samsung NX200. Tip: set the camera to Manual exposure mode, maximum aperture, and then fine-tune the shutter speed, using the viewfinder as a guide.

I didn't take any still images of the Street Parade, because I felt that a video capture offers a better visual memory for my daughter (she still watches the video regularly at home till today). Here's one just to show the colour vibrancy of the Samsung NX200.

There were 2 things which I felt regretful as night time approached, yet the regrets were all negated by one non-event. One: the Samsung NX200 battery could not last the entire day. For that, I was fortunate to have a secondary camera, the Fujifilm Finepix F550EXR to capture video footages, while trying to conserve the NX200 battery for the fireworks. Second, I did not bring a tripod for the fireworks shoot. So I had to look for a flat elevated surface and attached my pocket flexi-pod. The only elevated surface I could find: the trash bin.

And this was the position.

But all these problems came to naught, when the PA announced that the fireworks show was cancelled!!

As the crowd dispersed, I attempted to capture a better shot of the Castle.

I wasn't able to capture any more shot, because at this point, the NX200 battery went completely flat.

Day 4: The Return

Before we checked out of the Disney Hollywood Hotel, we explored the garden, which is surprisingly well landscaped. If you are staying there, please make an effort to visit the garden.

At the airport, she insisted on handling her new luggage we bought for her. Doesn't she look like a seasoned traveller?

Credits:
I'd like to thank the following companies for lending me some of the gadgets to use for my vacation:

• Samsung for the NX200 and lenses
• Logitech for the UE600vi earphones and Wireless Keyboard for Tablet

There is also the Sony Camcorder HDR-PJ10 which was not featured in this vacation blog because, despite their kind intentions to lend me, I decided not to bring for the trip because I had too many gadgets to handle. This camcorder has a built-in projector which can project up to 60-inch size, and records with an internal 16GB memory plus optional card slot for expandability. The original intention was to use the camcorder to record videos, and at the end of the day, I could project the footages in the hotel room. I tried it in my own bedroom and the brightness is rather good. In fact, it spurred me to look around for portable battery projectors so that I could watch movies in my bedroom without all the wires and heat and fan noise from the common projectors.

If you have any questions about the post, drop me a comment. You may follow me on my Facebook photography page at Chester Tan Photography.

Nov 2010 Hong Kong Vacation - Day 3 to 5

Day 3, 14 Nov 2010

Day 3 was dedicated for shopping and eating along Queens Road Central. But I made a planning mistake. I went to Kau Kee Beef Noodle house and realised that it was closed on a Sunday. So wifey and I walked all the way to Yung Kee for the famous goose. I love their century egg appetizer!

After brunch, wifey did her rounds at H&M while I tried to find some clothes at G2000. We also dropped by Toys "R" Us (toys are cheaper than in Singapore). Early dinner was at Guai Kee Wanton Noodle House along Carnarvon Road. We then proceeded to a dessert store near our hotel. Apparently for the past 2 nights, we saw long queues waiting to get in. So when we arrived there are about 5pm with just a few seats left, we went in. We tried the frozen mango dessert and molten chocolate lava. THEY WERE DELICIOUS!

After dumping our purchases for the day, we walked down Nathan Road towards the bayfront. Went to SOGO and hustled with the rest of the shoppers for some Thanksgiving Sale. Before we returned to hotel, we bought BBQ sticks for supper.

(compare to my Day 3 experience in 2009)

Day 4, 15 Nov 2010

Since we missed the opening of Kau Kee on Day 3, wifey wanted to go again, so that's what we did. But not before a very late breakfast and a trip to Times Square for shopping. After getting our beef noodles, we walked down Gage Street and reached Lan Fong Yuen, famous for their ice milk tea and pork chop buns. And indeed, their milk tea is the best we've had in Hong Kong. Then just down the street is Tai Cheong Bakery, famous egg tarts.

By late afternoon, we proceeded to Mongkok and shopped at the Ladies Market cluster. Dinner was claypot rice that we chanced upon, seemingly popular with the locals. But by the time we reached hotel, we were screaming for more food. So at 1am, I went downstairs and packeted beef noodles, which tasted quite yummy.

Day 5, 16 Nov 2010

We did our hotel checkout, left our luggage at the lobby, then headed out to Harbour City. Angie felt like having porridge, so we looked for a food house that had the word "porridge". Found one, and I also ordered the beef noodles. Both were excellent choices.

Our flight was 8.20pm. We returned to the hotel to collect our luggage, then hailed a cab to Kowloon MTR, did a city check-in, then took the Airport Express to the airport. We dined at Fairwood Fast Food, the roast pork and curry beef are fine stuff.

As we took budget airline, our plane was parked on the tarmac, so we had airport buses to ferry us to the plane, which is not a bad idea, so that we need not have to walk too far to the gate, where it is often quite a distance from the main building.

(what did I do on Days 4 and 5 last year? Click here)


For more photos, visit my facebook album at this link.

Nov 2010 Hong Kong Vacation - Day 1 and 2

Finally I have time to review my photos and relive the nice vacation I had last month in Hong Kong!

It's also quite interesting as I revisited my 2009 vacation post. and compared what I did then and now. Armed with the Samsung NX100 with 20-50mm and 50-200mm, I certainly captured more because the camera performs formidably fast.

Day 1, 12 Nov 2010

Arrived at the T1 airport at 4.40am, and checked-in at the Jetstar counter with no queue! Our flight was 6.40am. All the duty-free shops are not open, so we had our breakfast at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Arrived at Hong Kong at about 11am. This was our first vacation where we practically booked everything by ourselves. So we spent some time planning our itinerary. First, we asked how to get to Tung Chung from the airport. Then I went to the 1010 retail outlet at the departure hall to buy the CSL prepaid SIM card for data service (the sales staff was very nice to help me configure the APN). Next we had lunch at Maxim's inside the airport. Last year we went all the way to the Maxim's Palace at City Hall, but we don't really fancy the dimsum that much. Still, we decided to relive the food and since there was an outlet in the airport, we just went for it.

After lunch, we made our way to the luggage locker service counter to dump our luggages, then headed to the bus stop where the bus service brought us directly to Tung Chung. Last year we did not go to Ngong Ping, so this year I wanted to go there. The queue for the cable car was rather long, but we were rewarded with a 20-min cable car ride which was scenic and calming. Wifey was afraid of heights, so she kept rather still throughout the ride, while I was frantically capturing photos around the area.

I was rather unimpressed with the destination, which is too touristy.

After we left the Big Buddha, we did some shopping at the Tung Chung Harbour City, till early evening, then took a bus back to the airport, retrieved our luggage, hopped on the Airport Express Train to Kowloon station, caught the free shuttle bus to our hotel, Butterfly On Prat. We were surprised to find that the bathroom offers a see-through view of the bath user. The reception told us that curtains could be arranged to protect the modesty, but we were fine with it.

The hotel offers free Internet at the lobby as well as in the room. But I only brought my iPad which doesn't allow direct connectivity to the ethernet port, so I had to use my Nokia E72 via Joikuspot to establish a Wifi hotspot. The CSL data network is very reliable and I had no problems accessing data services throughout my Hong Kong stay at all locations.

After settling down, we made our rounds and got our usual supper fix.



Day 2, 13 Nov 2010


After a local-style breakfast, we took the MTR all the way to Luo Hu station where we crossed the border to Shenzhen. (For last year's trip, we also chose the 2nd day to go out of Hong Kong) After a brief immigration clearance, we got into the Shenzhen MRT and headed to Old Street station. There is a huge shopping area spanning across a few streets. Lunch was at a fast food restaurant called "Zhen Gong Fu", where they serve steamed dishes with rice.

After lunch, we took the train to Hua Qiang Rd Station. This is the electronics shopping belt, and it is here that I bought some of the cheapest accessories that I could ever dream of. Imagine 3-metre HDMI cable for S$3! I also found some very useful HDMI-DVI converters at less than S$5. I didn't buy more because I wasn't sure of the quality.

The other expensive gadget I bought was the bluetooth keyboard that I first saw in Singapore at Comex in September selling at S$98. I bought it at one of the stalls at SEG Mall for S$55. What's good about this keyboard is that it comes with a trackpad and a laser pointer, which is perfect for presentation. I intended to use it with my iPad, but unfortunately, Keynote for iPad refuses to recognise keyboard commands to move the presentation slides (it's a software constraint, not the keyboard problem). So now it's sitting in the box while I think of a way to make good use of it.

We went back to Old Street Station as Angie made up her mind to get something she saw earlier. There, we had some street food, which tasted yummy (don't they all taste good?).

After Angie got what she wanted, we headed back to the border.

(to be continued, Days 3 to 5...)

Hong Kong, Hong Kong (version 2010)

I'm off to the airport in less than 4 hours and I'm still blogging here! Just wanna drop a quick note that I'll be spending my days in Hong Kong from 12 to 16 Nov. It's rather coincidental that 2 of my colleagues are also going there around the same period. We'll see if we bump into each other on Hong Kong streets. Zoe Raymond is also there for a blog-sponsored trip.

And like the trip last year, I plan to utilise the social media to update my trip via Facebook or Twitter or Foursquare or all of the above, depending on whether I have time and whether I can get the prepaid SIM to work with my E72 without any hiccups. Last year, I bought China Mobile which is very cheap, but the data runs on the old EDGE network which is very slow. This time, I am going to try to get one2free by CSL. Its 7-day unlimited mobile data package costs HK$178 and free IDD calls to Singapore (just pay local airtime of HK$0.25).

So if you are kaypo and want to know my every move in Hong Kong, check for my updates on the following sites:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chestertan
Twitter/Twitpic: http://twitter.com/musicdiary/

Or you can read what I did last year:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4-5

Bye!

Hong Kong Nov 2009 - Day 4 and 5

29 Nov 2009

Morning to Day 4. Going for dimsum at Maxims then to Citygate factory outlets. 9:06 AM Nov 29th from Gravity

We were told that Maxims Palace serve great dim sum, so we took MTR to Central and walked to Hong Kong City Hall. When we reached there, we had no idea where the restaurant was, but some kind elder woman directed us to "follow the crowd".

Below: the memorial garden next to the City Hall.


We eventually found the restaurant. Hong Kong City Hall is actually a theatre. The interior reminded me of our Singapore Conference Hall. I guess it's from the same era. We had no problems getting a seat, as we were rather early. But in no time, the place was full and a queue was formed at the the entrance.

http://twitpic.com/re69b - Dim sum at Maxim's, located at City Hall. 9:59 AM Nov 29th from Gravity

When we arrived:

Before we left:

After the breakfast, we headed back to the MTR.
On the MTR heading to Tung Chung, the (2nd) last station of the line. 11:19 AM Nov 29th from Gravity



Tung Chung is where Citygate, the factory outlet shopping mall, is located. The train ride didn't feel very long, although it's actually one stop away from the airport. We forgot it was a Sunday, so that place was very packed. We spent the rest of the day there till about 3pm. I bought some shirts at Timberland and Esprit. Had lunch at Food Republic, tasted the Chicken Rice and "Hokkien" prawn mee. The chicken rice, apparently famous, tasted pretty authentic but the prawn mee lacks the prawn taste, it's more like a normal seafood noodles.



Done with Citygate. Now moving on to new destinations. 3:20 PM Nov 29th from Gravity

We took the MTR to Mongkok, visited a few electronic stores but bought nothing. Too many people. Walked along Ladies Street and bought a cheongsam for Mayenne to don during Chinese New Year.


Back to hotel. Getting earlier by the day, as we are really tired from all the walking. Maybe we'll go out again later after a rest. #fb 7:04 PM Nov 29th from Gravity
I think all the walking has taken a toll on us. Simply too tired. After a rest, we left the hotel to look for food nearby.

Had dinner at a small cosy shop. The wantons are bigger, better and cheaper than Mak's!! I will recommend 桂记云吞面 along Carnarvon Rd. 10:05 PM Nov 29th from Gravity

It really is! You must try it! No. 45-47 Carnavon Road




30 Nov 2009

Day five in HK. About to check out at 8.3am. 8:14 AM Nov 30th from Gravity
Went to the rooftop for the last time to capture the morning glory.




Checked in at the airport. Waiting for the flight at 11.35am. #fb 10:17 AM Nov 30th from Gravity

Did last minute shopping at the Disneyland store in the airport terminal.


Ok boarded the plane. It's been a good trip with a different experience from my previous vacations. 11:14 AM Nov 30th from Gravity

This HK trip wouldn't be smooth without technology. Thanks to Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter, IM. Most impt, unlimited data service!!! #fb 11:16 AM Nov 30th from Gravity

TOUCHDOWN to Singapore land! 3:16 PM Nov 30th from Gravity

Indeed, if not for data service, I wouldn't be able to micro-blog and post snapshots along the way. I think it's really a great way to make my vacation more meaningful, sharing as I travel along. And certainly made my compilation less strenuous.

~end of vacation blog~