Hongkong Trip (Day 6)

Well rested and woke up only at 9am..

Since we don't have much time left to our flight at around 4pm. took a stroll at around yau ma tei area. Here, there are leather import/export shops, kitchen stuff shops, wet market, a small garden for the folks to do their morning taiji or leisure chit-chats.

Bought some stuffs at heng xiang shop before going for a last desert at a desert stall in the back alley. Found another gem. The desert is well prepared. i had a 'san za almond' desert which is a little sourly and almondly tinted soup.


















The photo shown below is 'tang yuan' that is very special. The sesame is wrapped with sago! Be cautious that one don't scorch your lips if you are not careful.. :)





















Another nice desert is the 'chuang pi nai' with red bean.. very smooth and the red bean complements the milky taste. Though to milky for my liking but i think this is a cool desert.





















lastly, this spring roll is the last to arrive. It is a few variety of mushrooms wrapped in spring roll skin and deep fried to a lovely golden colour. The rolls looked like it was prepared when ordered.



















When food is finished, bill is settled, its to the airport...

Cathay Pacific airline's pre check-in service is a good way for people to self-service and we have 1 chance to choose our own seats. i think this is really a neat offer. However, opinion of the actual flight experience is somewhat lacking.

The cabin is stuffy when we board the plane. suspect that the plane was detoxed and 'aired' before we board the plane. When we asked, the stewardess explained that the air conditioned is only turned on when the captain turns on the engine. Weird reason. i don't remember encountering this on SIA, China air, Quantas or even BA. Wonder if this is anything to do with the dreaded swine flu? Throughout the flight, it is really warm. Exactly the same as when we flew to hongkong.

So there, only managed to enjoy good food. Surprisingly, the lao po bing and other local produce that are not branded tasted better than the branded ones like 'heng xiang' and 'lao bing jia'. The char siew, roasted duck/chicken rice is simply heaven. Many a time, we see our chicken rice served in Singapore where the chicken is 'flattened' or the char siew is not prepared properly / coloured naturally. This is really good.

The wantoon mee is also excellent. 2 prawns wrapped by the wanton skin uses a small dub of pork to 'glue' everything together. The noodle is just nice, and finer than the ones in Singapore. 'Q' is the word. All for the price of between HK$20 in the less touristy places to HK$45 for the more expensive ones.

Bought 1 shirt, 5 paris of socks, 3 CDs and some local produce... still think Hongkong is a good shopping haven? Try convincing me.

Hongkong Trip (Day 5)

Today, its time to explore the lantau island.

Plan is go lantau visitor centre, tai O fishing village and lastly citygate.

Took the train from Jordan station once again. This time to lai king station and changing the MTR line to Tsing yi station. walked out and looked for the bus terminal. The bus captain is really nice. keep asking us to take a seat at the bus station since its not time for the bus to start service yet.
























maybe we really look like tourists, haha... 2 act professional cameramen and 1 uncle videoman.. the bus fare has been increased to HK$6.50 since 1st may contary to some of the blogs where the bloggers had the chance to pay only HK$6.





















The simply furnished visitor centre show-cased the construction of the Tsing ma and Kap Shui mun bridge. Found that actually this is the 'gift' that the british built before returning hongkong to china. haha... what a gift, wondering who actually paid for the construction. logically should be from hongkong's coffer? don't you think so?






















Originally wanted to find a way to get to lantau island Tai O fishing village from Tsing yi island. Flagged a red cab who keep asking us to board as it is 'illegal' for him to stop. asked him about tai O village, and he refused to answer but keep pressing us to board. Got smoked by him, board the cab but then he said there is no way. can only reach there by boat. WHAT?! no way? my research online and from lonely planet for what? never mind, told him to bring us back to Tsing yi station. The trip luckily took HK$28.50 which is tiny bit more expensive than if we took the bus back to Tsing yi station.

Had a lunch at mos burger... not bad... took the chance to walk walk at the shopping mall at Tsing yi station. noticed something? i have not mentioned any CD shop along the way? finally found one here. Wonder how the hongkongers survived without CD shops or that the CD shops are hidden? haha... anyway bought some cantonese CDs and some very old tracks that are not found in singapore. Even say the complete recording for Beethoven. sigh... didn't want to lug the box back so didn't buy it.

now even my family start to wonder if Tai O can only be reached by boat. from the lonely planet, Tai O can be reach via bus 11. Does bus 11 mean to 'walk'?

Mustering some adventure spirit, took the whole family to Tung Chung station and guess what? found bus 11 at the bus terminal that can bring us to Tai O!! The fare is HK$$11.80. Be warned that the trip takes exactly 55min. really worth every cent of the bus fare. Take a little nap and we reached the quiet place beside the coast.

The place looks like it is on its way of decline though one can see that the place should be bursting with people and energy previously. There hill and water, really photo perfect place... here's one.


























Since this is a fishing village, definitely there are seafood around. see the photo below? the sharkfin is hugh... really tempting.. the prices of the scallops and fish lung are much lower than what you see in the city and shopping area and the quality looks better... mum's so happy... haha...


























Strolled around the little village, there are 2 kindergarten, one run by the Buddist monastery and the other is run by methodist. Interestingly, there are just seperated by one street. wonder if there have enough kids around.

Had some tou hua and sesame desert at ah po shop. its HK$7 for the tou hua and HK$8 for sesame desert.




















The desert is well prepared. here's a photo of yin and yang.. :P






















after having a little foot rest, we took another 55min back to Tung Chung. Now to Citygate mall. Here, there are many factory outlet where the items are the yester-season ones. If you think the items are going to be cheaper, i think you will be disappointed. i bought a geox shoe in singapore at SGD$130 but price in here is SGD$170. Many of the apparels are not worth the $$ in my opinion. Some people may say that i cant afford, therefore i complain. well, for those who know me, you know what i go after. Finally saw a shirt that look nice and fit me. More over, the price is right. pay straight away.. :)

Tired of shopping without much war trophies, we headed back to jordan for wanton mee. well, this is one big surprise. The noodle is great. really savour the good meal.

After that back to hotel for the electronic check-in of cathay pacific and read up of the recent news.

Hongkong Trip (Day 4)

now... its day 4!

after having some lao po bing and other goodies as breakfast, we head off to jordan station, taking the train to admiralty station. exiting from the station, we bought the tickets at HK$208 each and then took the citibus 629 to ocean park. Bus fare is HK$10.60.

Along the bus journey, we passed by Aberdeen bay, the scenery is really nice.






















As it is sunday, there are many other people on the bus as well. i noticed that hongkongers employ a lot of filipinos as helpers, one can see them all over the place today perhaps since its their off day. we reached ocean park in around 15mins.






















As we enter the park, grabbed a map of the park, and started to venture around... so many escalator, wonder why the government choose this hilly place to build this park? its either stairs or escalator.. Think in time to come, the park will lose more business as more population turn grey..

Along the way up the hilly park, saw the park keepers feeding the baby sea lions. i suspect the keepers are using this as a chance to train the sea lions to listen to instructions. see the photo below, the wand with the green head on the lady's left is the thing that sea lions would watch out and follow. when the sea lions follow the wand obediently, he/she will be handsomely rewarded with a big fish.. so yummy that another sea lion is watching jealously.. lol.




















ho hoo... dolphin show at 11.30am.. and ... we are hungry. so, we ate char siew / roast duck rice at HK$45. though pricey, i think its well worth it. the char is thick and nicely prepared. the rice grain is well defined, neither the mushy type nor the too dry type. i almost took it for taiwanese rice.

After clearing off the lovely food, off we go to the dolphin show, the show is quite nicely done but as compared to the gold coast sea world, i think there's way too simple. Here's a shot of the dolphin showing off its "high jump"..





























After the show, we took the ocean park tower to have a good view of the whole park. Quite nice, would have queued again if not for the 20min long queue.

Guess what. There is the jerllyfish gallery! its a fascinating sight to see the jelly thing float around and coupled with the lightings, the image is real cool.




































Noticed that i have 'borrowed' a number of shots from my brother? He's holding to a newer/better camera. The sensor is more sensitive and accurate.. think its time to retire the old D70s. anyone interested?

Took cable car to the lower section of the park, again, happily snapping photos of the surrounding. Out of the cable car, surprised to see a panda gallery, a very cool (as in the temperature) environment for the precious gigantic panda. The pandas are the gift from china when hongkong was reunited with the mainland. quite envy of the pandas, controlled temperature, controlled humidity and good food, life's good --> LG. :)





















Just beside the panda gallery, another nice gallery.. the goldfishes! there are many different types of goldfishes, and the gallery even bring us through the 'development' of the goldfishes.






















what's left in the park are for kids, so being the big kids as we are, we left the park for more shopping in the causeway bay area. Took the bus service 65 at HK$6 which take only about 10mins. very near indeed.

Went Sogo, time square, had an eye opener at the road side wet market. whenever the market goers approach the stall holders, the prawns and fishes are then brought out and displayed. hence, the prawns are still flipping and the fishes are still puffing! most of the sea food are alive and not dead like in Singapore. Had a egg tart. just out of the oven and cheap too. HK$2.50 for 1.

lastly we combed the shops along yee wor street. shopping result - still nothing. in the end, had dinner at the Mac and went back hotel to surf net. its expensive in eaton hotel man... HK$3 per min. but luckily, there is a ceiling limit of HK$130 for every 24 hours. so still not that bad... you just need to surf more than 1 hour and you will hit the limit already. This is so different from macau in golden dragon where its free and the staff even delivered the RJ45 and power adaptor to our room! now this is customer service.

Hongkong Trip (Day 3)

Day 3. Another city tour but in macau.

Visited the macau tower.. Didn't want to pay $$ to go up the tower just to see city view so went around to take some photos instead.












































Next, we went to a ma temple for a visit. i normally don't go temple so this time round, no choice so have to find something to do, hee hee... went to the back alley for this.... Portuguese egg tart!!




















Next, got a transfer to fisherman's wharf for a buffet lunch before going to the ruins of st paul's cathedral.. here's an artistic shot... :)





















along the way, dropped off at various local produce shops but didn't get anything from macau since i don't like their almond biscuit which is not as nice as the ones i like in KL. Actually think that macau is a been there once will do kind of destination. No offense to the local folks but the place really has got nothing much sight seeing place to offer.


Head back to macau ferry terminal and took a ferry back to hongkong. noticed that we can actually board at earlier timing than our ticketed time if the ferry is not full.. Good. now i have 1 more hour to sight see in hongkong... :)

Went back to mongkok for meat ball noodles at Lok Yuen Ball King... just exit from Mongkok station exit D3, along argyle street, once reach fa yuen street, turn right and walk down a little more, you will see the big big sign board... not bad... each bowl is about HK$30 odd dollars... quite filling too. tried the vegetable honey tea which turns out actually to be "xi yang cai" soup with some rock sugar of sort to make it taste like honey.. haha.... its nice..

combed through fa yuen street, langham place, sai yueng choi south, hollywood plaza before calling it quits. cant find anything cheap. the sports apparals seems to be about the same price if not more expensive.. if you are like me who seldom spent too much... there's practically not much... at the night streets, one can bargain but getting the "don't waste my time if you are not interested" in cantonese is really laughable on the "customer services" of these stalls.. Got a pair of cute cuff link over here and had a "xu liu shan" mango pomelo desert before heading back to hotel for a good night slumber.

Hongkong Trip (Day 2)

Day 2.

Today's a short day with a city tour in hongkong with some roaming about in macau..

1st we went to one of the exhibition hall of hongkong. saw this big flower which china gave to hongkong signifying the hope that hongkong always 'blooms'.

























Finally after one stop, the guide brought us for breakfast. Had a good breakfast at Hoi Tin Harbour Restaurant. Had a experience that the hongkongers actually can get up so early to have dim sum, slowly read their newspaper or sip chinese tea. If no pre-booking was done, i bet that you will be queuing for some time before getting a table.


















































once we had our fills, we head up to Victoria peak mid point for a good photogenic view of the hongkong island. the view is a little misty here... maybe its the air pollution?? haha...





















Visited this temple with the "qian sui men" gate. i wasn't quite paying attention to the guide so not sure where is this... i think this is at repulse bay..

here's the 'result' of my "not paying attention" roaming... haha...





















next, we headed over to the harbour and had a sampan ride to see the boat people, who practically eat, sleep, play and live on the boat. One would not be able to wonder how they live on their boat and have electricity for their TV, air-conditioners and the likes. The guide explained that many a times, the electricity supply is 'tapped' from any source they can find. when inspectors comes around, they would cut their tapping lines to avoid being caught... talking about free electricity.. :)



















Time flies, we had lunch "xin fu chao zhou jiu lou"... then a open-top bus tour around hongkong island before dropping off at hongkong ferry terminal to go macau...

The ferry ride is about 1 hour. we made use of it for a good nap on board the ferry. not bad, much smoother and comfy than the penguin we take to tekong.

After checking into golden dragon hotel and dropping off the baggages, took a cab to venatian macau for a look. The sights are beautiful, a very close resemblence of the real venice though i feel that if the designers can make the paintings a little older, it will really look like the real venice. This replica is too "clean"...





















a little more roaming around, time for a good rest... :P

Hongkong Trip (Day 1)

Had a memorable trip to Hongkong this week.
Though it was a good experience going sight-seeing, i think i would think thrice if you invite me back to Hongkong again.

Here goes my trip..

Checked in at cathay pacific counter at T1 in the morning and flew off almost noon time. By the time we reached hongkong, it was already about 3 hours and 25 min later.



















Had a transfer to eaton hotel. Can say that the ambience is not bad at the hotel but don't quite get it why do i have to place a deposit at the hotel when i have already paid for the hotel rooms?

Had a short rest before heading out for the 1st adventure in hongkong city... time 5.30pm.. think family is hungry already, so we got ourselves the octopus card at HK$150 each, HK$100 for usage and HK$50 for refundable deposit. caught the train and alighted 2 stations later at mongkok. Guess what we tried? the modern toilet!
























Location:
240-244 Portland street,
Room 3B Mong Kok MPM
Just opposite Langham place or you can exit Mong kok station exit c3.
























The food is not bad though i get a bit bored with the background music getting repeated every 3 minutes. its japanese lyrics with some flushing of the toilet. haha... why didn't the composer add in the shitting sounds? more disgusting fun isn't it? :P

Guess the damage to our wallets? around HK$260 for a set meal each plus one desert (see above photo). The desert is HUGH even if you have 4 stomaches.. you have been warned.. :) oh yes, there was a 10% for using DBS credit cards.

After dinner, we took a train down to Avenue of stars at Tsim Sha Tsui for the laser show of "symphony of lights". Took us some time to get there. Had to make a detour when we wanted to cut across one hotel to reach there faster but there isn't any path from the hotel. reached at 8.10pm. sigh... the sight is lovely with all the laser lights shining with the rhythm of the broadcasted music. the show ended at 8.15pm... what a waste to be late! anyway, we spent the rest of the evening here, taking night shots with my brother... here's a few..






























































After that its back to hotel for a good rest..