Right, I’ve been to Hong Kong so many times that I don’t think there’s a need to separate the days into different pages. There isn’t that much to be written/posted anyway. So here goes!
Dates: 17th February 2017 (Friday) to 23rd February 2017 (Thursday)
Flight: Cathay Pacific
Accommodation: Novotel Nathan Kowloon
I’ve been flying Singapore Airlines these few times when I went overseas, as I was trying to chalk up more KF miles for my business class trip. However, as the Hong Kong trip was only confirmed at the very last minute, only Cathay Pacific had deals still for Hong Kong tickets, and only if HSBC card is used. So there’s no other choice but to forgo my miles this time.
Cathay Pacific actually has the best safety records in aviation for the past few years, and their inflight food actually taste a lot better than SQ. No pictures, unfortunately. Maybe… I’ll convert my DBS Altitude points to Asia Miles instead (even though most flights will need to transit in Hong Kong).
17th February 2017 (Friday)
Anyway, we reached Hong Kong at around 11+am, queued for prepaid data sim card and after topping up the Octopus cards, we proceeded to queue for A21 to our hotel. It’s Bruno’s first time to Hong Kong, so I chose to take the public bus – the cheapest option with views to boot. It took about 45 minutes before we reached out hotel, and it was too early to check in anyway. We just left our luggage at the concierge and went to look for lunch. I always love to stay at Jordan area because there’s just so many good food around the corner. I brought Bruno to Mak Man Kee for lunch, and he liked the wantons very much! I ordered kway teow to go with my wanton, as I can’t take yellow noodles. Doesn’t taste as good as yellow noodles, but what to do, when one’s digestion system is weak. =(
After lunch, we just explored around the lanes and alleys a bit, before heading back to the hotel for check in. Bruno tried to sleep in a little, but ended up not being able to sleep. I told him to just close his eyes and rest a little still, as he did not had any sleep the previous night. I certainly didn’t want him to fall sick on the first day!
Half way through his rest, the hotel sent up a surprise birthday cake! Yup, it’s Bruno’s birthday on 18th February, which was the next day. How nice of them!
Bruno decided he really couldn’t sleep, so we went out to walk around a bit and also to get our dinner. We went over to Tim Ho Wan (I mean, who skips this place when in Hong Kong?), and ordered some of the usual dishes (which we would order in Singapore also), just to compare.
Conclusion: THW in Hong Kong is better (of course)!
After the filling dim sum dinner, we decided to slowly stroll to Ladies Market. I hadn’t been going there for YEARS, for the last few times I went Hong Kong. Only went there this time because Bruno wanted to. Meh, I don’t really like to squeeze through that tiny lane with so many random people, to be honest. And buying anything there is such a bad experience – you need to bargain, and if you don’t buy something after lingering at a stall for some time, be prepared for the stall owner to throw nasty words at you. Simply put – I hate that place.
Anyway, Bruno was looking to buy some stuff (his mom wanted a scarf), so he took some photos to send it to her and we left the place. (Yes it means we had to be back another day, ugh.)
Back at the hotel, I actually had a lot of free time because for the first time, I did not attempt to do work while I’m overseas! I did bring a laptop, but that’s to watch Dota / play games. So we just kept the TV on (just letting Discovery or BBC Earth run their programmes), and go on doing our own stuff.
18th February 2017 (Saturday)
Happy birthday Bruno!
We skipped breakfast today, because Bruno woke up late and I didn’t really want to wake him up. I just went downstairs to get my daily caffeine fix from Starbucks, and a slice of banana cake from 7-11. After that we just proceed to Nathan congee for brunch. No photos, because I’ve been eating there every time I go Hong Kong. :D
After that, we took the MTR to Central, to go to the place where I’ve always wanted to explore, but never had the chance to – Mid-escalators!
Yes it’s a nice and long walk up (with the aid of escalators), but it’s a nightmare walking back down the route with stairs and steps lol. We managed quite a bit, before we surrendered and rested our wobbly legs at NOC coffee. It was just a random cafe that we passed by and decided to try. What can we say? Lovely coffee, amazing latte art, awesome cranberry pastry (no pics for this, sorry).
After the small nourishment to our bodies and rest for our feet, we continued ahead with our plan – to check out the Graham Street Market. It REALLY is a market! Lined up along the steep street, no less. Amazing. I didn’t take any photos of the market along the upslope/down slope (depending on which end you are standing at), because the area is really narrow. I just went to one of the many junctions and take a photo of the stalls operating there.
We dropped by Sogo at Causeway Bay for some supermarket shopping, but nothing much interest us. As we were starting to get really hungry, we decided to just pop into a random restaurant in their food basement – Hokkai Ramen. We got their udon sets instead, and well… the food was just so-so. Nothing much to shout about.
I was starting to feel a bit sick already, and initially I thought it was because of the cold wind while we were there at the mid-escalators. So we went back to the hotel for me to rest. However, I was unable to sleep… after tossing and turning a bit, I realised my nose felt fine already! Then I started to suspect it could be the air pollution that’s making me sick. Good thing I brought my mask along…
Anyway while we were at the mid-escalators, we also came across a random supermarket which we went in to browse, and subsequently found Taiwan Kyoho grapes! Bruno, of course, bought it immediately, without batting an eyelid. LOL. Kyoho grapes are really nice. Very sweet and juicy. No wonder they are considered the “king” of grapes!
For dinner, we decided to just go somewhere near – and we settled on Tsui Wah. He ordered fried noodles with satay beef, while I ordered scrambled egg with prawns and rice. He loved my scrambled eggs, and while he liked his fried noodles, it got a little gelat in the end. The veggies that we ordered as a side – oh my goodness, they were so HUGE. We didn’t finish them at the end… we just couldn’t!
After we paid for our dinner, I put on the mask and we went to stroll along Temple Street. The mask really helped a lot – I felt totally fine during the walk! On the way back, we finally managed to find 纯粹喝 – 曼特宁 flavour! It’s my favourite flavour from 纯粹喝 since I first tried it in Taiwan. Super nice! Bruno seemed to like it too. Yay!
19th February 2017 (Sunday)
Didn’t plan much for today, except to go to The Peak. I bought the “Fast Track” tickets to The Peak – where we will have priority queue to the peak tram. The only negative about this is that we need to “meet up” with the Klook guide first, before they will bring us to the peak tram terminus. I didn’t like to have a specific timing to be somewhere, but no choice I guess. The queue will be horrendously long otherwise.
We started off the day with brunch again. We went over to Tsim Chai Kee to try their wanton noodles. Bruno still prefer Mak’s Noodles, and so do I. Tsim Chai Kee just doesn’t taste as good…
Since it’s still early and the time that I arranged to meet the Klook guide was at 4.30pm, we went for our daily caffeine fix right opposite Tsim Chai Kee: The Cupping Room. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t be seated on the second floor as we were only intending to have coffee and not a meal, but we still made ourselves comfy at the bar seats facing the window, which was perfect for people-watching.
We actually still preferred the coffee from NOC…
Anyway, we left at around 2.45pm, but there’s still such a long period of time till 4.30pm, so we were kinda at a lost where to go next. We wandered around Central for a bit, and then ended up at Agnes B. Cafe (yes, another cafe!) to just waste the time away. Finally it’s about 3.45pm and we quickly made our way to Central MTR station Exit K to meet up with the Klook guide. Getting to Exit K in Central MTR station was such a pain in the ass. It’s actually on a different level and it’s a long walk from the other exits. We ended up having to rush all the way because we were supposed to reach at least 15minutes early and Klook had specifically mentioned that they will not wait for any latecomers.
We did made it in time, but I ended up needing to go to the loo, but there’s really no time to. Ahhhh I hate it when my bladder isn’t helpful at these times. =( Nevertheless I had to keep it in no matter what, so off we go with the Klook guide. She guided us to walk from the meeting point to the peak tram terminus, and we really did get the priority queue lines and were able to queue for the tram in no time. Really a time saver!
We didn’t manage to get a seat on the right side of the tram, but we still managed to get seats nonetheless. So no complaints from me. It’s usual business once we reached the Peak though. Brought him to the Lion’s Pavilion to take a look at the daytime view, then we went for dinner at Wildfire (we ordered their mixed grill platter, and their lamb chops and BBQ pork ribs were downright delectable!), before heading up to the Sky Terrace for the night scene. He has height phobia though, so he couldn’t stand too close to the railings (vertigo, he says). Aww…
20th February 2017 (Monday)
Went for dim sum breakfast at Tao Heung Pier 88 restaurant – a regular dim sum place that I’ve been going every year. They have the best siew mai, best rice flour rolls, best… yeah you get the idea. No photos this time as I’ve been taking photos of their food since many years back. Really don’t see the point of taking the same photos every year, lol.
After breakfast, we took the MTR to Disneyland. For the first time in all my Hong Kong trips, I did not stay at Disneyland hotel while going to Disneyland itself. So in all honesty, this was my first time on the Disneyland MRT train and station. The Disneyland train was so cute! With handles and windows in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s ears, and even Mickey Mouse sculptures IN the train itself! And the train station was quite WOW…. very fantasy and fairy-tale like.
I booked the Disneyland tickets online at Disneyland website, and I took the package “Play and Dine”, where the ticket will come with a meal coupon. I wanted to head to Riverview Cafe for lunch, but alas the restaurant was not open for the day. So sad! We ended up eating at some other themed restaurant, and to be honest, the food isn’t great. It isn’t bad by all means, just that Riverview Cafe would definitely be much nicer!
Bruno had warned me beforehand that he wasn’t a theme park person, and basically he’s just tagging along because I wanted to go. But end up he rather enjoyed himself in Disneyland! He simply just loved the “It’s A Small World” ride, as do I! We both loved it so much that we took it twice! Haha!
It’s a small world after all~ It’s a small world after all~ It’s a small, small world~~
We queued for a few more less-thrilling rides (I couldn’t take rollercoasters due to my stiff neck), before we went for the Flights of Fantasy parade at 3pm. I was never a fan of that parade, so I was just there to let Bruno have a view of how it looks like. It’s really boring for me. After the parade and finishing up the rest of the attractions, it was only like 4.30pm and we still got a few hours to burn before the night parade and fireworks show. We ended up in Main Street Corner Cafe where we rested our legs and ordered some beverages to kill time. Then, it’s time for the night parade!
I like the night parade a lot more than the day one, simply because the lit costumes look way more gorgeous and futuristic. Then, we just squeezed with the huge crowd to catch the fireworks show. Which was awesome, as usual. The crowd back to Kowloon/HK Island was horrible though… this will probably be the first and last time where I visit Hong Kong Disneyland without staying in one of its hotels.
Since dinner in Disneyland was too expensive, we went back to Jordan and managed to find a good place for ramen using Openrice app. We found Tatsujin Ramen, which was actually quite near to our hotel (just across the street), and the reviews were generally positive. And so we went, and ordered their ramen and a dish of stir-fried cabbage. Very nice, I’d say! Nice warm meal in a rather chilly weather.
21st February 2017 (Tuesday)
Went to Ocean Park today. It’s the nth time for me, but still taking the MRT straight to Ocean Park is a first for me, as the MRT line was very new. It’s so convenient now. The day was really rather windy, so the cable car ride was quite rocky, to say the least. Still, I’m just as amazed by the view as usual!
We kinda skipped breakfast, so we were pretty hungry when we reached the Summit of Ocean Park. So we went for lunch at The Bayview Restaurant. The pasta was really bad, so please don’t ever get your pasta fix there. I ordered their chinese beef dish, and it was rather good. Moral of the story: Just order chinese dishes in a Chinese country. You can’t go wrong with that.
After that, we just proceeded to visit the exhibits – arctic fox den (which Bruno spent a huge amount of time there), panda enclosure, red pandas, the grand aquarium, etc etc. All the usual exhibits (unfortunately the penguin enclosure was close for renovation when we were there) – so no photos posted up here.
After we were done with Ocean Park, we took the MRT to Central to go for Yat Lok. Of course, dinner is none other than Roast Goose (for him) and roast pork for me, since I can’t take poultry. He just loved the roast goose dish to bits. I honestly recommend all to try the roast goose at Yat Lok. It is REALLY good. None of my friends nor family have been disappointed yet!
After dinner, we went to the nearest 奇华 to buy some food souvenirs to bring back to Singapore. We were both pretty tired out by the end of the day, haha.
22nd February 2017 (Wednesday)
Our last full day in Hong Kong! This day was kinda like FFA, so that we can have time to buy any last minute stuff before we go back. For breakfast though, I brought Bruno to Capital Cafe for their scrambled eggs. Though I think Bruno still preferred the ADC one…
We spent the day going back to the Ladies Market to buy a scarf for Bruno’s mom, and some rabbit plushies for his friends and my niece. Then we headed over to Central again to finally have dinner at Shing Kee – a licensed roadside hawker. My previous trips to this stall were extremely satisfying, and this time wasn’t an exception.
After the satisfying dinner, we leisurely strolled back to the pier to take the Star Ferry back to Kowloon. It’s always very nice to take the ferry at night – the view was spectacular.
Upon reaching Kowloon, we realised we ain’t that tired and since it’s not too late yet, we decided to check out City Super supermarket at Harbour City. I hate Harbour City though… it’s really huge and too many different “sections”. We went the wrong way and stumbled upon a Moomin cafe, and an official Ghibli store!
Bruno ended up buying two small facial handkerchiefs for his neighbour’s kids. Awwww. So sweet. :3
We finally found the supermarket after awhile, and yes it’s really huge! They sell a lot of Japanese brands stuff, so the prices are on the high side too. We weren’t there to buy anything, so we just browsed around, before calling it a day and head back to our hotel to pack our luggage.
23rd February 2017 (Thursday)
This is actually the first time I took the airport bus back to the airport, because all my previous trips I would arrange Disneyland on the last leg and would just cab to airport from Disneyland hotel. But this time, I stayed in Kowloon all the way, so I had the chance to try taking the bus to airport. We checked out the bus stop beforehand on Google map, so we knew where to go to wait for the bus. The bus came pretty fast (despite missing one while we were crossing the road), and the bus actually got quite crowded along the way to the airport. Still, it’s pretty much uneventful, and we reached the hotel rather early. We checked in, and bought some last minute 奇华 food souvenirs again, before going through immigration and lingered around at the airport. We were really early again, but then I’d rather be early and laze around at the airport, than to rush and worry about missing the flight.
The Cathay flight back to SG was an A350, and the in-flight entertainment was really good. There’s even a top and front camera that you can opt to view from, instead of the usual flight path screen. However, the temperature in the cabin was really a tad too warm for comfort…. Food was good. I’d even say CX food is definitely better than SQ’s.
Anyway, so that concluded our Hong Kong trip! Was a relaxing trip, and I finally did mid-escalators. Next aim – to explore Aberdeen and some suburb areas! LOL. But before that, it’d be a Taipei trip at the end of the year. =)
If you are really interested to see the rest of the photos, you can check them out here – but don’t say I didn’t warn you: There are lots of duplicate photos! I’m just lazy to sort them out. =P
Be First to Comment