Hong Kong Trip Day One

Day #1: Singapore - Hong Kong - Tsim Sha Tsui 
24h December 2008 (Wednesday 13-18°C

10:10am: Departed from Changi Airport Terminal 1. Flight number: Cathay Pacific CX 0736



Our Entry Passes

2:05pm: Arrive at Hong Kong International Airport.

The airport was busy like expected. We made our way through the customs and took the Airport Seat in Coach to our hotel from Arrival Hall B. We also got our Octopus Cards at one of the counters there since was told by Jack it would be handy to have it once we reach Hongkong... it's like our ezlink card!

Octopus Card

The shuttle bus service cost HKD140/pax. But guess it's worth it since it beats having to lug the luggage onto the train and wasting our energy and time to look for the hotel. The journey was about 1hr 15 mins. The coach was rather empty and ferried us to different hotels along the way. Ours was the last station and we were the only two who alighted at that final stop. :)

Ticket for the Airport Seat in Coach (Airport Hotelink Limousine)

Hotel was nice and cosy as expected. Service was not too bad too. We checked in and was assigned room 17-06. The room was small but very nicely decorated, very cosy. We put down our luggages, rested a while and made our way out to our first destination at about 6pm - Tsim Sha Tsui! We planned to go to Avenue of Stars for the Symphony of Lights show.

We took the MTR from Causeway Bay which was about 3-5 mins walk from the hotel. There was also a free shuttle bus from the hotel beside that shuttles to and from Causeway Bay. The MTR was as crowded as Singapore's MRT and people there just kept pushing!

[Causeway MTR --> Transit at miralty --> Tsim Sha Tsui Exit B1/B2]

We were hungry from the walk and decided to have our dinner at Heng Heung's Kitchen @ New World Center. Hubby ordered a Curry Pork Chop Rice and i ordered a Prawn Char Siew Egg Hor Fun. We also ordered a Fried Wanton to share...

We wanted to check out the Cosmetics at Granville Road but abandon the idea since Hubby wasn't interested to see me shop just when we reach HK. So as planned, we went to search for the Clock Tower but unfortunately, it was under renovation. We just walked down intuitively, hoping to find the Avenue of Stars. As it was Xmas eve, many of the roads were blocked. We managed to reach there somehow after a long walk.

Left: Hubby's Curry Pork Chop Rice;
Right: Fried Wanton

The food looks alright but i found a hair in my hor fun! I immediately asked to change for a new one and guess what! When the new bowl came back, there was another hair! I was so disgusted and did not want to continue eating. The Manager came to apologise and we ordered Chee Cheong Fun but it sucks! Very bad experience for my first HK dinner... Paid HKD 133 for that lousy meal! [Rating of 1.0/5.0]

After that lousy meal, we went to catch Symphony of Lights at Avenue of Stars. The show stars at 8pm! It was pretty! The place was so crowded and everyone was just squeezing to catch the lights! The movement of lights coinciding with the music was really a great sight... we both enjoyed it! Unfortunately we didn't have a camera good enough to capture it... but it's definitely worth watching! (that is if you dun mind the crowd!)

After the show, we decided to continue to walk to the MTR station but coz of all the road closures, we ended up walking to many other places like Canton Road (where the Espirit outlet sale was) and Austin Road. We eventually ended up at TTS Sweet Dynasty (糖朝) for dessert

Had White fungus with Almond, Snow Frog with red date and lotus seeds, rice roll with twisted roll inside, egg tart with swallow’s nest and char siew bao. The dessert was a little too sweet and the rest of the food not exactly fantastic. Char Siew Bao was not bad though. Their egg tarts taste a little too buttery for my liking and the rice roll with twisted roll is not hot and tasteless. But all in all, still better than Heng Heung though… HK$176. [Rating: 2.5/5.0]

We proceeded to Temple Street Nothing much there except lots of children's clothes.

Temple Street

We kind of got lost and after lots of directions asking, we got to Jordan MTR and headed back to the hotel.

What a tiring day!