Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Pocolento. The honourable 100th post is right before your eyes! After one and a half years, the 100th post is finally here. We shall let this 'Trip to Hong Kong' post be the honoured one to give Pocolento another headstart for the 101th post and beyond. Long live!
Trip to Hong Kong!
My mother and I went on a trip to Hong Kong in October. Also on the voyage were my relatives, whose son is studying at the City University of Hong Kong. Because of that, we thought of visiting him and give ourselves the reason for a holiday getaway.
Wow. Hong Kong is a nice place, with lots of shopping, dining and sight-seeing places, no wonder it's such an ideal place for holiday-seekers - with some extra cash. We somehow were on a budget trip so naturally we didn't get to see the best, as everything was so expensive. Nonetheless we got to experience the lifestyles of the locals, like dining local fares at the Cha Chaam Teng (or Tea house).
On 19 October 2008, Mum and I boarded the Jetstar flight 3k691 (Airbus 330) at 6.30am for Hong Kong International Airport. We touched down at 10.10am and cleared the custom by 11am. We took the Airport Express from the airport to the City at a cost of HKD70/pax (S$14).
Jetstar Asia 3k691. I have nothing to complain about it, except for the extremely small legroom allowance! Imagine 3.5hrs in a frozen position, and having to wake your flight companion from his sleep just because you need to visit the lavatory was a real hassle and discomfort.
The Airport Express train.
We reached Kowloon Station (West of Tsim Sha Tsui) in just 20mins, and transferred to the free Airport Express Shuttle. Within 15mins we reached our destination, which was however quite far away from our hotel. Finally, we reached and checked in at New King's Hotel. Not an accomodation for the Kings though. It was positioned slightly better than a budget hotel (one more star), with rooms being bigger in size, but was quite dusty and run-down, given the old age of the building (of about 30years). And, most importantly there's no ghost. Whaha.
And, the weather was really bad. Other than the 'world-famous air pollution', the heat and high humidity made us feel really bad.
Our first meal in Hong Kong: Beef Curry and Wonton Noodle, at the Teahouse near our hotel. (Picture: Clockwise from bottom)So we began our shopping spree, alongside sightseeing and eating! Perhaps that was the first day and boredom was the word, and especially so without the company of my Uncle and family who were then on a Shenzhen short trip. So we strolled down the alley and streets, took the MTR downtown and shopped at the malls. Great city, lots of skyscrapers, people and shopping malls especially.
At night, we went back to our hotel and got prepared to stroll along the night market (Temple St). Recalling the days when I was young, there were lots of interesting things there we had never seen before. But this time, many merchandises could be found in our Singapore Chinatown. Other than food, there was little that could attract us. So for dinner, we dined streetside for Claypot Rice (煲仔饭) and ordered the Hong Kong style Oyster Omelette. It was nice, seriously. I mean, they were.
Temple Street is just a stone's throw from our hotel. (Picture: Top right hand - Oyster Omellete)So what about the train system, it's fantastic. Really. Maximum 2 mins a train, and often you can get a seat even during peak hours. So we got our Octopus Card (Similar to Ez-Link) at HK$250 and ride our way to play! We alighted at Mong Kok Station and went to the popular Ladies' Street (女人街), among other shopping places in the district.
(Picture: Bottom-right - a machine located at stations for you to tap your octopus card and check its balance. Cool!; Bottom-Center: Interactive route map tells you where your train is, and which side of the door is opening. Cool Too!)
Mong Kok
Day 2
(Picture: Top-left) Fried doughs wrapped by 'Zhu Cheong Fun' (sth like a rice wrap)
Tung Chung. Food Republic is there too!
Right after breakfast, we took the MTR to Tung Chung (東涌), a relatively new town on lantau island for the higher-income Hong Kongers. There's a new shopping mall that exclusively sells branded items at a cheaper price at their outlets. Probably they're off-season products, that's why the lower price. So bought T-shirts at Esprit outlet and gave them away for friends. I myself bought a long pants and some shirts. Three trolley-loads of apparels you see how scary? There's also a supermarket selling really fresh foods, so fresh that fishes and frogs were cut up alive, and crabs still snoring in water. However I don't see cows and their milking machines, chicken and their cages etc. Bought fruit juices instead, which were juiced on the spot.
So basically the shopping went on and on, for a few hours at a single apparel shop until 5pm, when we thought it's time to go for a cable car ride to Ngong Ping 360 (昂坪360), where the gigantic buddha statue is. However we were saddened when we were told of the closing time was at 6pm. So we missed it, and left the town.
(Picture clockwise from bottom left: Curry beef, Restaurant Macau Teahouse, Long bean and minced meat, and roasted chicken.)
Right after that we walked down the streets to find the Star Ferry Terminal. It's probably a joy-ride for locals because trains would be much faster (one station apart), at just 4mins compared to this ferry which is 15 - 30 mins including waiting time. But's it's much cheaper, at just HKD1.70 (S$0.34). We had fun, really. After alighting, uncle was in search of the popular drinking district Lan Kwai Fong (蘭桂坊)just to wander around. It's spectacular I would say, buildings by the sides have everything from bars, pubs, and clubs. Decent or not I don't know, or at least they appeared to be cool. Ferrari here, Porsche there, and Toyotas everywhere (taxis). Seems like it's a place for the rich. And not for the faint-hearted; it's literally an uphill task to visit it, as it was as if a mountain hiking experience.
Central @ Hong Kong Island. (Picture: Top-center) IFC, International Financial Center, is currently the tallest building in Hong Kong. There's a high-end shopping mall below, which is HUGE.
It was as if I've arrived at the scene of HongKong dramas.!! We retired for the day after a series of 'night hiking'.
Day 3
We had our sumptious breakfast at one of the fabulous Teahouses (茶餐廳) near Jordan Station. It tasted so good that we wish we could return immediately. It was the typical Hong Kong's Set A, B, C etc breakfasts that includes a bun, sunny-side-up and a milk tea. And best of all, their milk tea (港式奶茶) is never to be found elsewhere in Singapore. They were completely different from ours at Kopitiam; rich in aroma, strong flavour of tea blended in with rich milk. They don't usually come sweetened, so we could add sugar according to our preference.
Recharged with food, we went ahead as planned: Trip to Macau, and ZhuHai in China. We went to Tsim Sha Tsui's China Ferry Terminal, bought our tickets and waited 45mins for the ferry.After one hour's sail, we finally reached Macau. Second time there, I almost couldn't remember the place! Apparently there have been massive development going on, and buildings of Casinos sprout out of nowhere. It's just like Las Vegas. Upon leaving the immigration checkpoint into the city, there were many touts asking to bring us around for a fee. We fled, knowing that there's a free connecting shuttle bus to the Chinese immigration checkpoint. When we arrived, I know something was happening - that i'm really visiting China. A blind person could too identify he's approaching China from miles away. We were still hundreds of metres away from the checkpoint facilities, and that's where we come to knowledge we were approaching the restrooms even without the toilet signs. Foul smell, loud voices and not-so-clean environment.
So we, five persons, squeezed into a small taxi (like the way we do on our Singapore MRT) to a small town where the villagers sell seafoods for a living. Frankly the purpose of visiting Zhu Hai was only for the food and merchandizes. We reached the restaurant in 10mins and went to the 'seafood street' by the side to shop for our seafood. There were many kinds of seafood, I had never seen some of them before and probably never will. So we took up Abalone (S$1/piece, alive), prawns, hairy crabs, normal crabs, among other shell species. We brought the bags of seafood into the restaurant and they whipped up sumptious dishes within minutes. We chose our way of cooking, etc.
Suprisingly the abalone didn't enjoy the limelight, but instead, the ee-fu noodle on the bottom-right. After one order, we called on the next. It's just terribly delicious!!! Never have I eaten such a nice plate of noodle. And to sum it all up, the total bill was only about RMB330 (S$60) for 5 persons. We'll definitely return there. If you intend to visit, maybe you want to drop me a message and I think they'll give you a good discount. Cos they remembered us from Singapore! (They said, 'wow Singapore, a big city')At the end of the day, we left Zhu Hai and went to visit Macau's Venetian casino. That was my first time entering a casino! I 'interacted' with the jackpot machines and I won 3x my capital! Feeling shiok, I hopped from machines to machines until marginal deficit came about. That's also the time we left Macau and back to Hong Kong. (No photography was allowed in casinos, not even discreet ones.)
Midway the journey, the ferry actually broke down. About hundreds of passengers were left in the middle of nowhere for about 45mins. There were lightings, but not air-conditioning. Suffocated, yet suprisingly everybody left the ferry alive. So instead of the usual 1-hour ride, we took 1.75hrs to reach Hong Kong only to find out the last train has departed. Taxi became the only choice. The fare was somehow on par with Singapore's, except for the 'tunnel toll charge' (sort of a 'manual' ERP).
Just then, I was frightened when I came about this news saying there's an avian-flu infected crow found at a town near our hotel. Shit! But nothing happened, thank goodness.Day 4
Early in the morning we took the train down to Sheung Wan (West of Central) specially for the popular Dim Sum restaurant! It was indeed really delicious, and there were a lot of special dim sums which I have never come across in Singapore. Once we entered, we could see lots of locals, especially the elderly, enjoying their Char Siew Bao and Chinese Tea while reading their newspapers. It's just so interesting.
Can you find a broken Char Siew Bao in the picture? Wahaha, I have to hide, it's just so delicious, simply can't be shared. After a good fill, we walked all over the places around Central, Admiralty and finally, Causeway Bay, one of the popular shopping districts in Hong Kong (which were about 4 stations away from here to there).
Street markets and shopping is common in land scarce Hong Kong, and don't be frightened by the BLOODY ARMS! They're fake, made specially for Haloween Festival.
Times Square in Causeway Bay. Combination of both the world of old and new.
On the double-decked Electric Tram. Good experience, and definitely it's cheap! (SGD0.50 for any distance. One of the cheapest form of Public Transport.)I was supposed to go for a hair cut at Causeway Bay. But after checking from salon to salon, prices were to high for good. So a check with a young shop assistant gave me a clue on where to cut. Read on!
So basically, everywhere we walked to was on foot. Till we land in this food establishment that sells roasted goose, among other roasted delights.
I'm sorry, let this post complete in phases. To be continued... (Remember to return!)