So in the end, we have decided to go to Hong Kong instead of Vietnam.
Day 1: 6th March 2008 (Thurs)
We took the 545pm flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. Before boarding the flight, we had Popyes Chicken and Biscuits. Like many people have said, they are indeed nicer then KFC. The chicken is juicer. The biscuits…err looked like bread. I would say, they are special in their own ways ;)
We had dinner on board the flight. It was oriental meal for the girls and seafood meal for the guys.
By the time we reached Hong Kong airport, it was already 930pm. We took the airport express to the MTR station line and took the MTR to reach the Dorsett Far East hotel. When we finally reached the MTR near our hotel, we realize that no one printed the map to get to our hotel! There were many exits at the MTR station and we had no idea which one to take. In the end, we called up the hotel to ask for directions.
After we got our rooms, we quickly brought our luggage into our rooms and we are out again. We went to explore the hotel surroundings. The streets were still quite crowded despite the time. We realize that there were many small cafes around out hotel. All of us felt hungry and we decided to have supper at one of the cafes. I had wontan noodles. The wontons were big and tasty.
After supper, we went back to wash up and called it a day.
Day 2: 7th March 2008 (Fri)
Lanatu Island - Ladies' Market - Temple Street - Roasted duck dinner
Really felt good that I didn't have to work on this day. I am holidaying!!
We woke up early in the morning and went to a cafe near by our hotel for breakfast. After breakfast, we took the MTR to Tung Chung Station where we could take the cable car to Lantau Island. There is a shopping mall near the MTR, which houses some of the factory outlets.
The journey on the cable car was pretty long. There were many nice sceneries along the way. All of us were busy snapping photos and also enjoying the breeze while we were high up. It was very cooling!
We visited Ngong Ping Village, which is at Lantau Island. We had to walk through the village before we could reach the Buddha.
We climbed the steps leading to the Buddha to reach the foot of the Buddha. I have no idea how many steps there were, but after climbing all the way up, I was exhausted. The Buddha statue is indeed huge. It was around lunchtime after the climb; so after walking around the area and taking some photos, we went on to have a vegetarian lunch that is being served at Po Lin Monastery.
After lunch, we did some walking to get to the Wisdom Path. You can get to see the Heart Sutra being engraved on tree trucks. They were being arranged in the shape of the infinity sign.
After that we walked back to the cable car terminal to take a cable car back to Tung Chung station. We then decided that we shall "pass by" Disneyland...
We had to take the MTR to Disneyland's MTR station, and then transfer to a special train that would bring us to Disneyland. The train was cute! The windows and handgrips were in the shape of Mickey Mouse's ears. And through out the train, one can find bronze sculptures of Disney Characters! As we did not have enough time to spend in Disneyland, we decided that we should go there to take a look and take some pictures.
We went to Kowloon area that night. Along the whole stretch, there is the Ladies market, Temple Street, Goldfish Market and Flower Street. (As the name goes, that is what the last 2 places sells...Goldfish and Flowers :P) Along the way, we bought egg tarts, stinky tofu, curry fish balls and sausages to munch on from the street side shops. My Cantonese was put to test, but anyway, we got the food...:P We kind of lost our way there and had to ask around for directions. After all the walking, we decided that we should find a place to sit and rest. We came across 许留山, the dessert stall that is famous for its mango desserts. We went there and ordered a few desserts to share. They were really really nice!
We had roasted duck for dinner that night at a stall called 源记.. The roasted duck looked good and was delicious. We walked around the area and we bought egg tarts again. This time it's the flaky skin type. We had those as part of our breakfast the next morning.
Day 3: 8th March 2008 (Sat)
Macau
We didn't know where to have our breakfast the next morning, so YS suggested going to the fast food restaurant nearby our hotel. It's called 大家乐.
After breakfast, we headed to Shang Huan MTR station and took a Turbo Jet to Macau. We engaged the services of a local guide to bring us around Macau. He brought us to the various popular and famous sites. We also requested that he brings us to buy peanut candy, which is said to be one of the iconic foods of Macau. After the guide dropped us off, we went to have our lunch at a "coffee shop" liked shop that sells noodles. I had 鱼角面 and we shared wonton soup. They were great.
We went into the casinos to take a look. They looked grand. Opposite some of the casinos are prawn shops. And I guess we all can understand why...
On the way to the ferry terminal, we finally saw another iconic food of Macau, the 猪扒包. We went into the shop and bought one each to try. After that, we went Yaohan shopping. (Yes, you are right, it's Yaohan...long gone in Singapore but still can be found in Macau!)
We took a ferry back to Tim Sha Shui. There are many shopping malls and branded shops around that area. (And there was a long queue outside the LV shop) We passed by the Science Museum and the Space Museum. There was a huge T-Rex head outside one of them. That night, we had dinner at Sogo basement. It was something like Japanese fast food.
Day 4: 9th March 2008 (Sun)
Dim Sum Breakfast - Ocean Park - Madam Tussaud's - The Peak - MacDonald’s' Grilled chicken burger
That morning, we headed to the Dim Sum restaurant that YT managed to ask a sales lady last night at Sogo. The lady mentioned that it's one of the places that they themselves will go for dim sum breakfast and the food there are reasonably priced. It's some where near MongKok MTR station. We ordered lots of Dim Sum and ate to our fill. And it worked out to be SDG 12 each only!!! It's really cheap and worth it!
After that, we too the MTR to Tim Sha Shui and took the Star Ferry to Central. We could have taken the MTR but we have decided that we should try the Star Ferry since it's one of the modes of transport in HK. The fare was only like SGD 0.30!
After that we had to take a bus that will bring us to Ocean Park. There were many people at the park as it was a Sunday. There were 2 sides to the park. We took the cable car to the furthest end and started roaming around there. Unfortunately, I was feeling a little unwell that day so I did not join them for most of the games. (I saw the pictures they took and how I wished I could have joined them then.) As we were still full for the sumptuous breakfast, we took light lunch at the park. YS, JY and I had hotdog bun while YT had Soy sauce chicken drumstick. He mentioned that it’s good. After that I took some medicine and was resting at the dolphin show area while they went around. I told myself that I must recover as I still have another half more day to go before we call it a day. I felt better after that and enjoyed the dolphin show very much. YT and JY bought a panda jewelry box from Ocean Park for me to console me that day. Thanks both!
We went to the under water aquarium at Ocean Park. It has lots of under water creatures and the tank is really big. We went to see the Pandas in the park too. YT tried his luck at the game stalls and managed to win for himself a blue bear that was always in the pictures that we took after that ;)
After spending the whole afternoon at Ocean Park, we headed to The Peak. We took a bus from the Central to bring us right up to The Peak. The journey was a bit long though, but we were glad, as there were seats for us to rest out tired feets on the bus. We went to see the scenery of HK from The Peak, but it was a little misty that night, therefore the view was not that good. Nonetheless, there were many people taking photographs. It was pretty cooling to be there at night.
We didn’t know what to eat there, so in the end, we had Macdonald’s Grilled Chicken burger for dinner that night. Something that SG doesn’t have.
After that we went to Madam Tussauds. We took photos with many famous people. (And we didn’t know that YS knows Li Ka-shing so well :P) We went to Pacific Coffee to have some drinks and at the same time, rest our poor feets…
After that, we took the Tram back to the…err…bottom of The Peak. The Tram was traveling at 45 degrees…so everything you see outside the window is slanted. Had wanted to take a picture of that scene but the Tram was a little shaky.
Day 5: 10th March 2008 (Mon)
Free and Easy day: 茶餐厅 breakfast – Wife Cakes – Egg Tarts – Roasted Goose Lunch
We checked out our hotel rooms in the morning and went to find breakfast. We wanted to buy Wife Cakes from 恒香 so we decided that we should look for a breakfast place around there. We walked around the area and saw a茶餐厅 and went in there for breakfast. For the first time in HK, we had instant noodles for breakfast. The breakfast set came with scrambled eggs and toast. It was pretty filling. The milk tea served in HK is good and I quite liked them. It’s very thick and has the “tea” taste. After breakfast we explored the area, as the bakery was not opened yet. We found a street that sells lots of soft toys. They call it 玩具交易中心, toys trading center.
We bought our cakes and went off to get egg tarts from 泰昌. The shop was located literally “down the valley”; so we had to “walk downwards” to get the egg tarts. 镛记, a restaurant famous for it’s roasted goose was round the corner, so we had lunch there. This was the most sumptuous lunch we had in HK so far.
There were lots of people on the streets as Monday is a working day and the area can be considered a CBD area.
After lunch, we went to IFC, a very big shopping mall near the Hong Kong MTR. It’s located near the office towers. We went in there and found a Pacific Café and did Internet check-in for our flight.
We had nowhere in particular to go after that, so we went to Causeway Bay, since we always hear about this place in HK dramas.
At around 3.30pm, we went back to the hotel to get our luggage and headed towards the airport. We were kind of in a rush as we were a little late.
We managed to reach the airport just in time to get our luggage check in. Luckily we did Internet check in earlier on otherwise, we might not be able to check in at the airport :S (that was how late we were :P). We didn’t have time for DFS shopping at HK. We walked quickly to our boarding area and they had just started boarding. *phew.
I really enjoyed myself during this trip :) :) :)
After that, it’s Home Sweet Home~~~
PS: I still have one more set of photos to put online as there were 4 cameras. Once they are ready, the link will be announced.
