A few quotes from the newest Netflix release, The End of the F***ing World, reminded me of you. Us. The aberrant yet remarkable feeling we shared that left me curious and cautious, all at the same time. Like Alyssa and James, who each had their own reasons for their actions — perhaps selfish, but definitely genuine. Maybe some would even see them as cries for help.

Episode 1

Alyssa: I get these moments when I have to lie down because everything feels sort of too much. And I look up and see the blue, or the grey, or the black, and I feel myself melting into it. And, for like a split second, I feel free and happy.

—

Alyssa: I'm not saying he's the answer, but he's something.

—

Alyssa: I kind of think I could fall in love with him.

Episode 2

Alyssa: I’m bad at apologising to people, but sometimes I know I should.

—

James: Sometimes I just... Let things happen. Even though I don't want them to. I'm not sure why.

—

Alyssa: Do you want me? What? Do you want me, or do you just go along with things?
James: I want you.

Episode 3

Alyssa: Sometimes James feels like a boy I could love. Like really love. Then other times he feels like a total fucking stranger.

—


James: As a rule, I didn't dance. But it was hard to say no to Alyssa.

—

Alyssa: I thought you said you wanted me.
James: I did.
Alyssa: Liar.
James: I tended not to feel things. For a long time, I was good at it. Good at feeling absolutely nothing. I didn't even have to try. I just, didn't.

—

Alyssa: The world is fucking bleak. I guess I try and do things to forget that it is. Keep busy, keep blind. I thought that's what me and James were doing.

—


James: Being with Alyssa had started to make me feel things. She made me feel things. And I didn't like it at all.

—

James: When her eyes were closed, Alyssa looked a lot less angry.

Episode 4

Alyssa: It's strange. A lot of the time you don't register the important moments in your life as they happen. You only see that they were important when you look back.

—

James: I realised that she was scared of me. That felt kind of unfair. I'd been her protector.

—


James: That was the day I learned that silence is really loud. Deafening. I think maybe my dad spent his whole life trying to avoid silence. When you have silence, it's hard to keep stuff out. It's all there, and you can't get rid of it. I used to be able to get rid of things, banish them. But I knew after that day, it wouldn't be so easy anymore.

—

James: I was never Alyssa's protector. She was mine.

Episode 5

James: I knew she was probably long gone but it seemed important to try.

—

Alyssa: He saved me and I left him. I'm never going to see him again and it's my fault.

Episode 6

James: As the hours passed, I realised that I felt different. Sort of new. She'd come back for me. We were really doing something, going somewhere, and it felt good.

—

Alyssa: His trust in us is kind of heartbreaking But what are you going to do?

—

Alyssa: I think I'm starting to feel a bit more like myself. Sometimes I think I feel more like myself with James than I do on my own.

—

Alyssa: Sometimes you realise you've had a thing keeping you going that might be a lie. When you actually really understand that, 'that the whole thing might have been a lie the whole time, it's like you swallowed a stone.

Episode 7

Alyssa: So what do you think of him?
James: (Sometimes it was important to lie.) Yeah, he's all right.
Alyssa: All right?
James: All right like good.
Alyssa: You don't get it.

—

James: Alyssa felt far away from me. It was like we'd gone back.

—


James: I can't do it
Alyssa: Are you crying?
James: No.

Episode 8

Alyssa: Normally, I always kiss him first.

—

James: Are you OK?
Alyssa: Can I say something? Can we wait? Just for a bit. Like, I don't know, for a few days. Is that OK?
James: Yeah, of course.
Alyssa: I think it is OK. We've got, like, our whole lives.

—


Alyssa: It's like we're on the edge of the world. Like we're safe. Only, we're not.

—

Alyssa: It's much easier to think someone's the answer if you haven't seen them for years. Because they're not really real. People can't be answers. They're just more questions.

—

Alyssa: I love him so much.

i learned more about love from the failure of past relationships than the relationships themselves.
i think that's supposed to be kinda messed up.

but i also learned more about life from disappointment than love.
so i guess that'd make me pretty messed up.

Argyle Centre

Chelsea and I were huge shopaholics back then; after lunch, we quickly found ourselves in Argyle Centre, situated in the middle of Mong Kok, famed for its cheap shopping! We also visited Sneakers Street, Langham Place, and Ladies' Market, all of which are within walking distances from each other. I didn't take photos of all the places because I was, uh, busy shopping.

Argyle Centre

Address: 688 Nathan Rd, Mong Kok, Kowloon
Opening Hours: 12:30pm to late night
Nearest MTR: Mong Kok Station (Exit D2)

Sneakers Street

Address: 75 Fa Yuen St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: 11am to 11pm
Nearest MTR: Mong Kok Station (Exit D3)

Langham Place

Address: 8 Argyle St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: 11am to 11pm
Nearest MTR: Mong Kok Station (Exit C3)

Ladies' Market

Address: Tung Choi St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: 11am to 11:30pm
Nearest MTR: Mong Kok exit D3/E2

I hung around Hong Kong International Airport waiting for Chelsea to land while leeching on the airport wifi. Once she arrived, we got our Octopus Cards and began our journey!


First stop: Citygate Outlets, the biggest outlet mall in Hong Kong. Like I mentioned in my Gold Coast outlet shopping post, I enjoy travelling to each city's outlet malls so heading to Citygate Outlets made sense since 1) it's near to the airport and 2) it wasn't time for us to check in to our hotel yet.

We were a little disheartened that we didn't buy anything because, unlike in Gold Coast, there wasn't exactly any crazy good deals screaming at us in Citygate Outlets.

Citygate Outlets

Address: 20 Tat Tung Rd, Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Nearest MTR: Tung Chung Station Exit C 
Opening Hours: 10am to 10pm daily



We left Citygate Outlets after an hour or two and, typical of Chelsea and me, we stopped somewhere along Tung Chung Station to take photos with our luggage. Forgive us, we were fresh grads who were stepping out of Singapore for the first time in forever!

 I stayed in their Premier Room (Barrier-Free) for four nights. Le Prabelle Hotel's Premier Room (Barrier-Free) room came with a bathtub, which is extremely rare for hotels in Hong Kong, and a king-sized bed. I paid HKD 3,317.60 (approx. SGD $592 in March 2016) for the room.


Because Le Prabelle Hotel's Premier Room (Barrier-Free) room is meant to be wheelchair-accessible, its bathroom is spacious. Although the bathtub is a little shallow, it's good enough. The bathtub would be marvellous during Hong Kong's colder months; I had a good time soaking in the bathtub in March and didn't want to get out!


Le Prabelle Hotel provides free breakfast of a small snack and a packet drink every morning till 11am. They have free coffee, tea and some cookies in the room for your enjoyment too.

The room came with hairdryer, kettle, towels etc. For more facilities, you may to go Le Prabelle's website.


I doubt I'll go back to Le Prabelle Hotel, and strongly advised my friends against booking a room with Le Prabelle Hotel despite their excellent location.

I haven't been to Hong Kong enough to know if all hotels are like that, but Le Prabelle Hotel was inflexible with changing of booking dates, and check-in check-out timings. All of which I understand since I booked my room with the early bird price.

But I cannot accept Le Prabelle Hotel's insistence that we leave HKD1000 as deposit at the front desk. That messed with our budget quite a bit, especially since we were on a short trip and didn't bring a lot of cash. I travel a lot but I have never stayed at a hotel that requires a cash deposit, especially when it wasn't stated in their website.

For that very reason, I will not recommend Le Prabelle Hotel to my friends travelling to Hong Kong.

Le Prabelle

Address

372 Portland St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
 

Email

booknow@leprabelle.com

Phone Number

 +852 2263 1263

Nearest MTR Station

Prince Edward Station Exit C2

Website

http://www.leprabelle.com/


Note: I paid for the hotel room with my own money. This post is neither sponsored nor paid for by Le Prabelle Hotel. I wrote the review based on my own experience with the hotel.

one memory always stuck out: me, huddling on my sides in the middle of the night, weak from your sweet-nothings.

now, with my knees pulled up to my chest, my shoulders trembling, and my cheeks wet, i see what your words were — nothing.

i was stupid.
unforgivably, stubbornly stupid.

Remember I mentioned in my Gold Coast graduation trip travelogue that travelling makes or breaks your friendship? I shared my worries with Chelsea before we departed, but we were fairly certain that we'd do fine since we shared the same interest and were the same kind of travellers (i.e. damn kiasu, everything also must try HAHA).

By the end of our Hong Kong travels, I was so glad I brought her along because travelling together defined Chelsea and my friendship and we've been closer than ever since our grad trip... two years ago. I can't believe I'm so behind my backlogs I'm only writing about my Hong Kong trip now when I already look very different from the photos taken then :')

I actually wrote this post in 2017 but never got down to publishing it for god knows what reason. Our travel dates were 7 March 2016 to 11 March 2016 for reference, so you know how much I procrastinated. I also lost the psd file to my cover photo so only the prelude post will have a cover photo hahhahaha.





This Hong Kong travel was significant for me because it was my first time taking a flight alone! There's a long story behind why Chelsea and I flew separately despite heading to the same destination — this epic story, which most of my ex-colleagues were familiar with, was probably my friends' favourite story in 2016 because I was filled with so much salt I possibly had higher salinity level than the Dead Sea.

You have time? Good. Grab some popcorn, it's story time.