Hong Kong Trip Day Nine - Back to Singapore!

Day #9 Hong Kong - Singapore
1st January2009 (Thursday) 16-19°C

It's the last morning we have in Hong Kong and we'll be scheduled to fly back to Singapore this afternoon. We've booked the Shuttle Bus to pick us from Cosmo Hotel Lobby to the Airport at 10:40am. Same price as when we came, HKD140/pax.

Receipt for the Shuttle Bus to Airport

We were ready by around 10:15am and took some pictures at the hotel lobby while waiting for the shuttle bus to come.

Lobby @ Cosmo Hotel



It was another 1 hour plus ride to the airport. We reach about 12pm and we wanted to do a self check in. However, we was not able to do that and it keeps saying that they cannot track our booking.



Attempting to Self Check In

We then proceeded to the Cathay Pacific check in counters. Again they told us that they were unable to trace our booking. We were both shocked. After checking over and over again for about 15 mins, we finally got our boarding passes. Apparently, they were unable to trace due to the position of our first names and last names. It was keyed in the other way round. Haha...

Finally got our boarding passes to CX735 @ 14:20

After the mini-shock we had from Cathay, we decided to go for our Brunch before boarding the plane. We had wanted to try Maxim's Chinese Restaurant earlier during the trip but did not have a chance. So we headed to the one at the Airport. We ordered our favourite dim sum dishes and porridge for each of us. Food was not too bad. Spent a total of HKD 236.50 on our last meal in Hong Kong. [Rating: 4.3/5.0]





Our Favourite Dim Sum Dishes & Porridge

After the delicious brunch, we went to shop a little more at the DFS shops. We got ourselves a pair of Emporio Armani Couple Watches before we decided to enter the departure hall.

1:45pm: Went through the customs. Bye Bye Hong Kong! It was a nice trip! We'll be back soon!

Hong Kong Trip Day Eight

Day #8 Causeway Bay - Mong Kok

31st December 2008 (Wednesday) 16-20°C

It's the New Year's Eve and we'll be flying back to Singapore the next day. We slept in till 2pm as we were both too tired from the previous day to Macau.
As there was road block due to New Year's Day, we were advised by the hotel staff to walk to Causeway Bay MTR instead of waiting for the shuttle bus and be stuck in the traffic later. Since we're returning to Singapore, we decided to do our last minute shopping and headed to Mongkok to buy the Wife's Biscuits (老婆饼) from the recommended Hang Heung (恒香). 
Before that, as hubby was feeling hungry, we ate at Cafe De Coral (大家乐). We ordered Char Siew Rice, Toast with Sausage, Pork Cutlet Rice (again) and coffee. [Rating: 3.9/5.0]

Hang Heung(恒香) [Address: Shop 1, 579 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon (旺角弥敦道579号地下1号铺); Tel: 23947668] was very crowded when we reached. We bought what we wanted and took the MTR back to Causeway Bay as we did not want to be stuck with no train back to hotel.

@ 恒香

We decided to have our dinner again at Tsui Wah Restaurant before heading back to the hotel. Since i was feeling quite full from the late lunch we had, I only ordered the Crispy Bun with condensed milk while Hubby had Spicy Noodle with Prawn and a lemon Drink. Total bill HKD 90.

Last HK dinner @ Tsui Wah

After dinner, we bought fries from a nearby shop named Ireland's Potato [Address: 铜锣湾谢菲道518号] for HKD 33. Hubby enjoyed the fries and said that given a chance, he would buy it again in the future. 

Ireland's Potato

We then went for a short walk at Laforet where i bought a pair of earrings and some sweets before making our way to Leighton Centre to take the shuttle bus back to our hotel to rest and pack our luggage!

Hong Kong Trip Day Seven

Day #7 Hong Kong - Macau

30th December 2008 (Tuesday) 15-18°C

It's the day to visit Macau finally. We planned to start our day earlier but ended up only waking up at 8am. We took the hotel shuttle bus to Admiralty MTR to transit to Shuen Wan for the turbojet to Macau. Upon reaching Shun Tak Centre, we decided to have our breakfast before we buy the tickets. We chose to eat at the only familiar restaurant 地茂小厨. Ordered 皮蛋瘦肉粥 with 油条，出前一丁with luncheon meat and egg + coffee. Total HKD 48. Cheap and good. [Rating: 4.2/5.0]

出前一丁with luncheon meat and egg. No idea why we didn't take pictures of the other food.

After breakfast, we went to queue up for the tickets for the turbojet.[Cost of turbojet tickets: HKD134/pax]. To our surprise, it was already up to the 11.35am slot for departure. That means we had to wait up to 1.5 hours before we can board. Left with no choice, we bought the tickets and walked around the boring Shun Tak Centre. When we were finally able to board, the crowd was amazing and the customs took very long to clear. We only managed to board the turbojet at 12.15pm and reached Macau at around 1.15pm.

TurboJet Tickets

Upon reaching there, we decided to go to our first planned destination- Macau Tower. We took bus 32 from the Ferry Terminal. However, as the bus journey was very long, we thought we lost our way or missed our stop and got off even before we reach the tower. And since we were feeling hungry, we decided to take our lunch at one of the small eateries along the roadside and it turned out to be one of the best meal we had. Did not manage to get the address of the place though . Only know that it's called 陈光记. We ordered just the roasted meat and rice and it was yummy!

The eatery that sells excellent roasted duck!

After the sumptuous and unexpected meal, we proceeded to Macau Tower. We bought two tickets to the Observation Deck [Cost: HKD 85/pax].

Entry Passes to Observation Deck @ Lvl 58

We took many pictures at the Observation Deck. They had the transparent flooring that allows you to see through down the tower. We had to transit at Lvl 58 to go up to Lvl 61 where some people were doing the sky walk and bungee jump. Both me and hubby did not dare to do it.

At the Top of Macau Tower - Very good view and experience!

After the Macau Tower, we headed to A Ma Temple(妈祖阁). [Directions: Take bus 18/21 from Macau Tower]. We took some pictures there before proceeding to the next location on our itinerary.


@ 妈祖阁



Next, we took Bus No 5 to Almerio Ribero (新马路) and walked to Senado Square. On our way there, we bought some traditional Almond Cookies, Egg Roll with Pork Floss to bring back to Singapore for family and friends. The shop name is called 凤城老澳门手信. (Address: 澳门新马路279号--双喜珠宝金行侧） 

Upon reaching Senado Square, we walked around and took more pictures. We wanted to visit the Holy House of Mercy but it was already closed by the time we reach there. So we randomly took more pictures at Senado Square before proceeding to the Ruins of St Paul's (大三巴).



@ Ruins of St Paul's (大三巴)

After St Paul's, we continued our walk up the Mount Fortress to take more pictures. The scenery on top was great... we can see lighted Grand Lisboa Hotel too.

@ Mount Fortress (Monte Fort)

After enjoying the scenery and phototaking, we wanted to make our way to Fisherman's Wharf but we couldn't find the bus stop. Along the way, we bought the waffle balls (鸡蛋仔) from a store along one of the streets. The guy selling it was a funny one too, keeps talking and joking while he was making it.

鸡蛋仔... smells and taste nice!

We had to walk for another 20 minutes or so before we reached the main road. We managed to locate a bus stop and took bus #3 back to the Ferry Terminal. We happened to see the free shuttle bus to Venetian Macao while we reached the Ferry Terminal, thus abandon our plans to Fisherman's Wharf and went to the casino hotel instead. The place was nice and grand but every corner seemed to look the same after we walked round.

@ The Venetian

We had our dinner at the Festiva Food Court at The Venetian before taking the free shuttle bus back to the Ferry Terminal. Hubby ordered Eel Rice for me, while he has his favourite Pork Cutlet with rice. Food tasted normal but it was definitely an expensive meal. [Rating: 3.2/5.0]

We reached the ferry terminal at around 10.30pm. The tickets for the Turbojet was at 1am. We went through the customs and waited there throughout since all the shops were already closed and we were pretty tired, thus didn't want to walk around or explore any further. When we finally reach Shun Tak Centre, we immediately took a cab back to the hotel to catch our beauty sleep.

 

Hong Kong Trip Day Six

Day #6 Causeway Bay - Stanley Market - Mong Kok

29th December 2008 (Monday) 17-20°C

We planned to visit Stanley Market (赤柱市集) today. Conveniently, there was a bus (Bus 6X) from opposite our hotel that goes straight to our destination. It was about 30 minutes bus ride. :) Upon reaching there, we headed to Stanley Restaurant (赤柱餐厅) for lunch. Hardly a restaurant to speak of, it's more like a eatery, zi char place in Singapore. We ordered Curry Pork with Rice, Char Siew Rice. The food wasn't good at all but pricing was ok. Paid HKD80 in all.

There's nothing much at Stanley Market. We walked around the stalls but did not manage to get anything. Took some pictures by the sea further down near Stanley Plaza, had a double scoop gelato ice cream which wasn't very nice. We then left the place by Bus #6 back to Central MTR.  

Boring Stanley Market

We transited from Central MTR to Mong Kok and did more shopping. I bought some make up from Sephora while Hubby bought a few more Dri-fit tops. About 7+pm, we decided to go for our dinner at Kam Wah(金华冰厅) which we didn't manage to eat at earlier. [Address: 47 Bute Street, Mongkok; Tel: 2392 6830]. We ordered Pork Chop Rice (again!) with tomato sauce, pork chop bun, Egg Tart (the last one) and Pineapple Bun (Polo Bun) with Butter. Only the Polo Bun tasted decent but not fantastic. The tomato sauce was yucky! [Rating: 2.8/5.0] They are really only good for Pineapple Bun like mentioned on forums. :)

Dinner @ Kam Wah Cafe... Nothing very special or nice!

After dinner, we went back to Times Square for further retail therapy where hubby bought a top from FCUK. Then we took the hotel shuttle bus back to the hotel to rest for the day.

 

Hong Kong Trip Day Five

Day #5 Causeway Bay - Diamond Hill - Wong Tai Sin - TST

28th December 2008 (Sunday) 19-22°C

We woke very much later today. We went to Tsui Wah Restaurant (翠华餐厅) at Causeway Bay for brunch. [Address: G/F, 20-22 Cannon Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; Tel: 2573 4338]  It's another Hong Kong style cafes with many branches across the whole of Hong Kong. The food was not bad and price is rather reasonable. One of hubby's favourite eating place during our trip. :) We ordered a set meal consisting of Mixed Grill (Chicken + Pork + Beef + Sausage and Bacon), Potato, Soup and Coffee;  one plain Crispy Bun, one Crispy Pork Bun with condense milk, and Hainanese Chicken Rice. So much food for only HKD 130. [Rating: 4.4/5.0]

Nice, Cheap Food, especially the Yummy Crispy Bun

After the very full meal, we walked back to Causeway Bay MTR and took the train to Diamond Hill to visit Chi Lin Nunnery. Upon reaching Diamond Hill MTR, hubby read the wrong directions again and we had to walk one big round before reaching the Nunnery. Nice scenery there but nothing much. We stayed there for a short while, took some pictures before making our way to Wong Tai Sin to pray. 

Chi Lin Nunnery

From Diamond Hill, we took the MTR down to Wong Tai Sin station to visit Wong Tai Sin temple (黄大仙). Before reaching the temple, we were approached by some irritating Hong Kong auntie to buy incense paper and joss sticks. They were so insistent that we had to buy and we paid HKD30 for them. Stupidly, there is a security outside the temple telling us we can't bring what we buy in and had to throw them into a plastic bag. What a smart way to earn money. They probably recycle them by selling to others again. The whole temple was very crowded even though it was drizzling. Many say that this is one of the most "灵验" temple in Hong Kong. We also prayed for good health and safety before leaving.  

@ 黄大仙

As it was drizzling, we decided to hang out a little while at Plaza Hollywood around the MTR. It was such a boring mall. We then walked over to Wong Tai Sin Shopping Centre but it was worse. The place was under construction and many shops were not even open. We decided to take the MTR down to TST instead.

Upon reaching TST, we went to the famous Harbour City to walk around. A huge mall but it's very much like IFC with all the branded stores. Hubby manage to get a pair of shoes from GEOX at 20% discount. We then walked to Carvarnon Road to find the recommended restaurant Tao Heung（稻香）for dinner. [Address: 3/F Carnarvon Plaza, 20-20C Carnarvon Road, TST] Took a long time to find Carvarnon Plaza though. We ordered Brinjal with Salted fish, Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork, Beancurd with scallop in black bean sauce and Stirred Fried Chicken with Cashew Nut and Celery. Food is quite nice but pretty pricey. Paid HKD 268 in all. [Rating: 4.3/5.0]

Food we ordered at 稻香

We wanted to visit Granville Road again for the cosmetics but we were both too tired with the day's walking around. So we gave up the idea and decided to go back to the hotel for an early rest. Along the way back to the MTR station, hubby bought his favourite Tiramisu cake but it was a a disappointment.

 

Hong Kong Trip Day Four

Day #4 Central - Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree - Mongkok - Sportswear Street 

27th December 2008 (Saturday) 18-21°C

We woke up late as usual again. We decided to have our lunch at the very recommended Luk Yu Tea House @ Central - a Tea House hubby was looking forward to. The hotel shuttle bus shuttles direct to Central so we didn't have to take the MTR too.

[Address: 24 - 26 Stanley Street, Hong Kong. Tel: 2523 5464/ 2523 5463]

We ordered a whole lot of food - 虾饺；叉烧包；糯米鸡；春卷；蛋挞; 罗卜糕 and 核桃糕. And we finished almost everything! Spent a total of HKD332.20 but it was totally worth it. Hubby love the carrot cake coz you can actually taste pieces of radish... nice!

[Rating: 4.3/5.0]

Menu @ Luk Yu Tea House

After brunch, we proceeded to Central MTR and travelled to Tai Po Market KCR, where we transited to bus 64K, bringing us to Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree [林村许愿树]. [From Tai Po Market MTR, can take Bus 64K, 65K or minibus 25K. Or take taxi from Tai Po Market KCR or Tai Wo KCR]

The bus was moving too fast and before we knew it, we missed the stop and had to walk back to the location. We walked through the place one whole round before we manage to find the Wishing Tree. Apparently the tree is already "injured", so throwing of the wishes placards is no longer allowed onto the tree. They had set up one booth thingy to hang your wishes there. 

Top (L to R): Directions to the Wishing Tree Place;
Bottom (L to R): The Wishing Tree being fenced up; Booth set up to hold the wishes

There was one auntie who sold us the incense paper for praying for HKD 130/pax and another one brought us to another tree to burn the incense and ask for us to pay her HKD20 as a token to help us.

Praying and burning the incense and hanging up our wishes

After putting up our wishes on the booth, we adjourned to Tin Hau Temple (天后庙) which is just a stone's throw from the wishing tree. We paid HKD 90 to offer incense. I also went to 求签to check out my luck for my job. There's an auntie in the temple who helps to 解签for HKD20 and i got a 上签！She mentioned that there's 贵人in my life that will help me tide over the difficult times and everything will be smooth ahead. :)



At 天后庙



My 上签！

After all the praying and wishing, we headed back to Tai Po Market KCR. Waited quite a while before the bus came. We walked around Uptown Plaza but it was a boring mall. Then we proceeded to Mongkok for retail therapy! 

We went to all the small streets so check out if there are any cheap deals. Managed to get some clothes, sunglass, boots, jeans for hubby after some good bargains.

• 
  
  Sportswear Street (Fa Yuen Street; 11am-9.30pm) [Directions: Mong Kok MTR Exit D3 and walk along Argyle Street for abt 3 mins] 
• 
  
  Ladies Street (Noon - 11:30pm) [Directions: Tung choi Street, Mong Kok MTR Exit E2]

Shopping at Mong Kok

Our initial plan was to visit another recommended cafe Kam Wah Cafe (Address: 47 Bute Street, Mongkok; Tel: 239 26830), famous for their Pineapple Buns and Egg Tarts. However, we were too hungry and we chanced upon this eating place named 极之好粥面茶餐厅(Address: 旺角鼓油街21号C地下; Tel: 2780 2629) and it seems quite crowded. So we decided to settle our dinner here instead. We ordered Oyster Kai Lan, Claypot Chicken with Chinese Sausage, Brinjal with Salted Fish Rice and a glass of ice tea to share. Total bill HKD 117. [Rating: 3.8/5.0]

Simple Dinner at 极之好

After dinner, we continued to walk around for a while more and passed by some pet shops on one of the small streets, selling fishes, tortises etc.

Hubby was interested in the fishes as usual but i quickly pulled him away as i thought the shop stinks...

On our way back, we bought a stick of Hong Kong's famous and popular 鱼蛋. I thought it tasted not bad but hubby didn't like it. We also ta bao 2 bowls of 豆花 back to hotel for supper. :)

 

Hong Kong Trip Day Three

Day #3 Causeway Bay - Lantau Island

26th December 2008 (Friday) 17-20°C

 

It's Boxing Day! We were too tired from the past two day's walking that we decided to sleep in a little longer. As usual, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Times Square for breakfast. Since we had no idea what to eat, we headed to the Macdonalds opposite Times Square and luck is with us, we managed to get the last 2 sets of big breakfast. Taste totally like Singapore's one.

After breakfast, we took a long MTR ride to Tung Chung MTR to take the cable car to Lantau Island. The queue was even worse than the one at the Peak Tram. We queued for 2 hours before we boarded the famous Ngong Ping 360 cable car. Good thing was the weather was cool with ocassional strong wind, making the wait tolerable. However, there was this stupid woman (dunno what dialect/nationality) talking non stop loudly right behind us. 

The long queue before we even manage to get the tickets

The colourful ticket pass for the cable car ride to Lantau

Upon reaching Lantau Island, we went for lunch at the Ngong Ping Garden Restaurant

(昂坪膳坊).[Address: Shop 3 & 4, G/F, Ngong Ping 360 Theme Village, Lantau Island, HK]

We ordered 星洲炒米粉， 杨州炒饭,蜜汁叉烧。

The restaurant was obviously short handed. The char siew was not bad but the rice and bee hoon is normal. Bee hoon was in fact quite tasteless except from the curry powder. The portions were enough to feed 2 pigs! Didn’t finish both the rice and bee hoon. Cost a freaking HK$283! [Rating: 3.0 / 5.0]  

 

After lunch, we went for the "Walking with Buddha" tour where we were given headsets. While we go through the short walk, we were enlightened by the voice recording which teaches us not to greed, learn to forgive and to accept. No phototaking was allowed though. 

We then proceeded to Po Lin Monastery for a short prayer and more phototaking before approaching the long stairway of the Big Buddha. The climb up the stairway was a tiring one. All for not exercising for a long time. I was panting like a dog when i reach the top! (But at least i managed to reach the top somehow) 

Praying at the Po Lin Monastery



Finally made it to the top where the Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha Statue - 天坛大佛)is!

After completing the phototaking at the Big Buddha, we rushed back to take the cable car back to Tung Chung. The queue was horribly long AGAIN! We decided to go for the express queue which requires us to stand throughout on the cable car. But we figured we'll have to wait for another 2 hours anyway if we don't take the express way out...

We then proceeded to Citygate Shopping Mall where the branded outlets were. Both me and hubby got some clothes at good discount.

Dinner was at Food Republic. Exactly the same as the one in Singapore. Hubby had Pork Chop Rice (again) with cheese while i had Teriyaki Beef  with egg. Both came with ministrone soup. Nice and cheap dinner at only 78 HKD.

As I started having a bad tummyache, we decided to make our way back to the hotel early today to rest. Lucky enough, we managed to catch the last shuttle bus back to the hotel from Times Square.

A while later, hubby was feeling hungry again. We decided to order room service instead since it was already late. I had Club Sandwich while hubby ordered Beef Rice Noodle. The sandwich was nice with fries but the Rice Noodle turned out to be very oily. And of course, it came with a "nice" price tag. Total bill came up to 316 HKD excluding a 15% service charge. Oh well... it's a holiday anyway....