The Official Shit That No One Cares About, Thread

[Badhobz]

i wanted to go to yuen long to see chickens and gangsters, but the wife wouldnt let me go

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Oh, nice. Near Mong Kok MTR, Badhobz's favourite part of HK.

I usually stay in TKO when in HK and I'm surprised the Popcorn Mall doesn't have an arcade.

Isn't Hollywood at Diamond Hill or something?

I hung out at popcorn a lot too cause that's where I stay. The sprawling mall complex is so big and you can walk all the way to the community center at Tiu Keng Leng. No more though, my aunt moved (I stay with my aunt) to Po Lam. I personally don't think Po Lam is as nice.

[BIC_BAWS]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

i wanted to go to yuen long to see chickens and gangsters, but the wife wouldnt let me go

I didn't see any gangsters but I found all the modded cars. My relatives seem to think there's a lot of... (bad) spirits in Yuen Long. But I had quite the time exploring my dad's childhood places there.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Isn't Hollywood at Diamond Hill or something?

I hung out at popcorn a lot too cause that's where I stay. The sprawling mall complex is so big and you can walk all the way to the community center at Tiu Keng Leng. No more though, my aunt moved (I stay with my aunt) to Po Lam. I personally don't think Po Lam is as nice.

I may be thinking of the Hollywood Shopping Centre / Plaza and not the one at Diamond Hill.

Popcorn is crazy because it stretches through to many other malls. You don't even need to step outside. The MTR access is nice too.

[Gumby]

Was in HK 2025 and 2026 and barely explored the Kowloon side. Spent most of our time on the HK Island side.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Was in HK 2025 and 2026 and barely explored the Kowloon side. Spent most of our time on the HK Island side.

you rich guangdong motherfucker!!!!

[bcrdukes]

Big ballin'!

[6793026]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

i wanted to go to yuen long to see chickens and gangsters, but the wife wouldnt let me go

these days are long gone.

I can tell you yuen long is far out and there are no more chickens. Reason being... online. There are so many websites they don't need to start out on the streets.

It still happens at Portland Street (砵蘭街) but you're talking about 50-60 yr old ladies looking after 60-70 yr old men who doesn't know how to surf free p)rn.

[spoon.ek9]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

i wanted to go to yuen long to see chickens and gangsters, but the wife wouldnt let me go

I went to Temple st market with my dad and his gf. There were plenty of chickens and tough guys at basically every doorway to buildings

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

I didn't see any gangsters but I found all the modded cars. My relatives seem to think there's a lot of... (bad) spirits in Yuen Long. But I had quite the time exploring my dad's childhood places there.

My mom's side is from Yuen Long too. However, I should note that they're (mostly) bat shit crazy. I do miss my grandparents though and the og farm house.

[BIC_BAWS]

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

I went to Temple st market with my dad and his gf. There were plenty of chickens and tough guys at basically every doorway to buildings

I went with my mom and my mom's cousin (?) and their family. I did not see chickens or tough guys LOL. But the whole area is trying to be revitalized to be more of a Richmond Night Market vibe.

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

My mom's side is from Yuen Long too. However, I should note that they're (mostly) bat shit crazy. I do miss my grandparents though and the og farm house.

This probably explains my dad's side of the family. Paranoid fucks LOL

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Isn't Hollywood at Diamond Hill or something?

I hung out at popcorn a lot too cause that's where I stay. The sprawling mall complex is so big and you can walk all the way to the community center at Tiu Keng Leng. No more though, my aunt moved (I stay with my aunt) to Po Lam. I personally don't think Po Lam is as nice.

We used to do that walk all the time, from TKL to TKO or HH. My favourite restaurant was there, and we'd go for walks after, but this was before any of those connecting malls were there, or the hotels, or the vendome/sports park. Or even the art school! Although that was built pretty early. A lot has changed in 20 years (but not in that picture I posted!)

Po Lam hasn't changed a lot; still the same big mall there. The stores have changed of course. It's nice to walk around there too though. Maybe TMI, but you can walk from Po Lam to my village if you follow some trails through the jungle and over one mountain. I've done that hike a couple times, but it's not the most pleasant walk. But it was crazy the first time we did it, walking to a mall from where we live.

The most interesting thing about all these changes in Hong Kong is that in the 2010's they seemed to really build everything around attracting Mainland Chinese into the country, for tourism and especially shopping. This entire area was one of the hot spots, as all the local type stores and restaurants were squeezed out, and they even built a hotel there. And it worked for a while, as numbers skyrocketed. But somewhere along the way it's like the Chinese realized that hey, we can do all this shopping here! Why would we need to go to HK? And then covid sealed the deal. Although the sinking USD, which HKD is tied to, has brought them back more lately.

[Mikoyan]

Yuen Long Is pretty boring, but we were out there to see family. Family's OG farmhouse is also gone.

Temple St chickens are there around the edges of the Street market, hanging around the doorways behind the market stalls. They're not obvious, but they're there. When we had late night dinner at the clay pot rice place near there, chickens were having dinner too.

Edit: How many people here have fam in YL??

[spoon.ek9]

The chickens were SUPER obvious to me. I didn't even say anything to my dad and he asked me if those are chickens

[Badhobz]

i love temple st. eat at the dai pai dong, watch chickens work. get your fortune told afterwards.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

you rich guangdong motherfucker!!!!

Back in the day, my mom’s side of the family did business with the HK elite, so we were also treated well to a certain degree. But that influence certainly waned as that generation aged out/passed on their fortunes to their kids.

One negative side effect - my kids have been spoiled with HK Island life; no way that’s gonna continue with my basic 9-5 job!

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

The chickens were SUPER obvious to me. I didn't even say anything to my dad and he asked me if those are chickens

My wife said something similar. "I guess Temple Street's cleaned up, you don't see chickens around." I then pointed out the 5 in the doorways within view.

Wife after clay pot rice, "Did you see the chicken there?"
Me, "Which of the three tables are you talking about?"

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

We used to do that walk all the time, from TKL to TKO or HH. My favourite restaurant was there, and we'd go for walks after, but this was before any of those connecting malls were there, or the hotels, or the vendome/sports park. Or even the art school! Although that was built pretty early. A lot has changed in 20 years (but not in that picture I posted!)

Po Lam hasn't changed a lot; still the same big mall there. The stores have changed of course. It's nice to walk around there too though. Maybe TMI, but you can walk from Po Lam to my village if you follow some trails through the jungle and over one mountain. I've done that hike a couple times, but it's not the most pleasant walk. But it was crazy the first time we did it, walking to a mall from where we live.

The most interesting thing about all these changes in Hong Kong is that in the 2010's they seemed to really build everything around attracting Mainland Chinese into the country, for tourism and especially shopping. This entire area was one of the hot spots, as all the local type stores and restaurants were squeezed out, and they even built a hotel there. And it worked for a while, as numbers skyrocketed. But somewhere along the way it's like the Chinese realized that hey, we can do all this shopping here! Why would we need to go to HK? And then covid sealed the deal. Although the sinking USD, which HKD is tied to, has brought them back more lately.

I was musing of coming back in Oct/Nov this year cause I have vacation to burn. I did notice there were trails around Po Lam and would be great to go with the kids, but alas the airfare is something retarded like 1800+ for an adult. Even with free accommodation it's a bit ridiculous so that idea is on hold for now. It might very well mean we aren't going anywhere.

HKD is not cheap for us as USD is one of the currencies that the CAD is weak to. It makes Japan much more palatable budget wise as the JPY keeps devaluing against CAD. Even the Euro and Pound isn't as strong as USD when we are spending CAD.

[spoon.ek9]

Given the choice between HK and Japan, I would choose Japan every single time lol..

[6793026]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

Yuen Long Is pretty boring, but we were out there to see family. Family's OG farmhouse is also gone.
Edit: How many people here have fam in YL??

YL is where cheap living is and there are some people with farm houses. I think some outer territory area, they have land rights with males and they get money.. I don't know what's its called - see it as aborginals / first nations rights and money involved. LOL

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

Given the choice between HK and Japan, I would choose Japan every single time lol..

no one goes to HK for the sake of going.. it's cause of family. I mean 20 years ago yeah it was hyped up but now.. not much. It is still a very metro / english speaking hub.

[bcrdukes]

Kids in HK don't speak English. They speak Mandarin now.

[spoon.ek9]

it's actually sad that Cantonese is fading out in HK

[whitev70r]

K, Q for you seasoned world overseas traveller. I know you get an eSim for internet.

But what about these websites like banks, etc. that ask for 2 step verification and send a text to your phone for a code. Suppose you're in Japan and want to check on your stonks or your bank, how does that work. You don't want them to send you an international text message so you can sign into your accounts.

[bcrdukes]

You can try to explore the option for an authentication app (i.e. Google Authenticator etc) or if there is an option for email authentication.

There are third-party voice apps such as Fongo or TextNow that allow you to receive text messages on a different phone number but a huge warning: Most of the time, it requires a subscription for authentication-based SMS messages and may be geo-fenced. You might have to combine the option with a VPN to a Canadian server. I have not tried it (yet.)

[radeonboy]

white do you have an iPhone or Android? Easiest is through other authentication methods like dukes said.

If SMS is the only option, you can still kinda get around it.

With a non-Samsung Android (i.e. Pixel), you can turn the sim off and still have people reach the number via Wi-Fi calling (you need to be connected to Wi-Fi ofc).

On an iPhone it's doable but much more complicated (going off of memory on this one). Have Wifi calling turned on. Before you leave Vancouver, manually select your carrier (i.e. Rogers) in cellular settings. Once you land at your destination, your CDN sim will try to find the Rogers network and not find anything. This is fine - your wifi-calling (and texting) will route through the travel sim's internet.

Since it's such a PITA on an iPhone, I went for a worldwide plan that has roam like home in 60ish countries for $65 per month.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by radeonboy

Since it's such a PITA on an iPhone, I went for a worldwide plan that has roam like home in 60ish countries for $65 per month.

I'm guessing this type of roaming plan is for Fortune 500 executives. Have you been holding out on us on who you really are?

"I'm just a guy who drives a Lezbaru" -radeonboy #secretlyballer