Hong Kong Holiday

6-10 - Hong Kong here we come

2007-10-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Before I start the photoblog of our trip, I need to pay a special tribute to Esther from charheimee.blogspot.com. She had recently visited HK in April and her wonderfully chronicled blog was our main guide for this trip.
Click HERE for the entries for her trip.

Why is the Singapore flag the wrong way around?

First stop, Krispy Kreme

What a spread!

Chokolate Krunch

A Bite of the "Rich and Dark"

The Airport Express is super fast, and relatively cheap. We highly recommend you get the $300HKD bundle. It's a 2 way trip + 3 days of unlimited MTR use.

The first room they put us in was mighty small.

Double Bed... The size of the room...

Changing rooms made a world of difference. The Twin room was just a touch bigger, but felt more comfortable.

Yes, there is a gap between the beds.

The City never Sleeps. Actually, this was taken about 8pm, had just got my measurements done for my shirts.

A little late, but I decided to catalog all the stations we visited. 'Mong Kok' is the stop you want to take to head to the beef noodles, and 'Ladies Street'.

This place was packed. Not sure of the street name, but it leads to the Beef noodle shop.

One of the best Beef Noodles I've ever had. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and the noodles were perfectly cooked al-dente.

I believe the shop is called Rong Yuan. Kudos to Esther for the recommendation. I have no idea how we would have found this place without her directions

That's 'Smelly Tofu' in the picture. I've always wanted to try it, but I really couldn't bring myself to it. I'll probably need to be spurred on by a dare of sum sort before I actually do.

Beef Tripe and other innards. No, I didn't eat any. It did NOT look appetising.

BFF went for the desserts. I'm not really a big fan.

While she was happily munching away on her mango-pomelo-iced-jelly-balled-cocktail thingy, I decided to take pictures of the area.

We walked down the famous 'Ladies Street' and guess what I found... A Hello Kitty store. I had been previously tasked to purchase items for a friend in Spore, so I duly followed the instructions.

I'm not sure if we arrived on a special occasion, but all the side streets were closed to traffic. It was just a wave of people walking up and down the street.

I just loved the lights and signs.

Krispy Kreme.....

From Mongkok, we walked down 'Ladies Street' and Nathan Road, and found ourselves at the next MTR stop. 'Yau Ma Tei'.

Tsim Sha Tsui was the stop to our hotel. Contrary to the signs, exit E is NOT the closest exit to Kowloon Hotel. Exit F is.

Yup, our day 1 seems to be exactly like Esther's day 1 :)

7-10 - Bright Lights, Big City

2007-10-11T14:06:00.002-07:00

First priority of the day is BREAKFAST. This time, we used the good food guide bundled with '8 days' a couple of months ago. Do note that the guide is NOT very accurate. Directions are confusing and MTR exits are often wrong. Be wary if you want to follow the guide explicitly. Anyway, Sheung Wan was the first stop of the day. We were looking for a place called "Lin Heung" which is a famous "Yum Cha" place for breakfast dimsum.

So we walked and looked...

And we walked and we looked...

And we walked and we looked...

And walked and looked... Following the bloody directions in the guide...

Finally, after about 30mins of walking, we found the place. We were positively famished, but it was a good way to build up our appetites. Did I mention that it was mostly uphill walking?

Was it worth it? Hell yeah. The food was lovely. Not the exquisite dim sum you would find in Tung Lok, but it was surely delicious. And the atmosphere was rowdy, noisy and you had to share tables with perfect strangers. Our table was all tourists too, and BFF was chastising me for staring at the guy at our table. To be fair, he was using a Leica M7 to take pictures and I love that camera.

I love Siew Mai... Not the best I've ever had, but ranks in the top10.

I think this one was 'Sharks Fin dumplings'. Wasn't that bad, cept I couldn't taste any sharks fin within the dumpling.

Turns out, we were closer to 'Central' station than 'Sheung Wan' as per the guide. Btw, this place is totally Lucky Plaza (and it was a Sunday too).

Next stop, Causeway Bay (also known as Tung Lo Wan, fans of 'Young And Dangerous' might recognise that name)

Das Gute!! I dunno, didn't get to try it.

A Krispy Kreme a day, keeps the doctor away. There was a branch at the basement of Times Square

Random pic of a lingerie shop.

Times square was next on the agenda. BFF had taken a shot in front of that clock (left of screen) 10 years ago, and we had to recreate the photo 10 years on.

In case you're wondering, the shop does say 'Sexual Well-Being Store'. We did not go inside.

It's the small things that I like about HK. Everyone keeps to the right on the escalators, leaving a path for people to walk on the left. Every window in the train has a window for emergency ventilation (in case the air-conditioner breaks down). It's stuff like these that show that the govt cares for the ppl rather than being busy earning million $ salaries.

There's no smoking in parks, buildings or public places. Fantastic rule. They even build special smoking corners (that are glass-encased) for smokers so that they don't disturb non-smokers. Considering how cheap cigarettes are in HK, it's amazing that the population of smokers is so small. I guess raising prices is not always the right way to do things.

Everything goes up, and up and up. I had a neck ache most of the time trying to take pictures of buildings.

Victoria Peak. There's actually an EA concept store. Awesome.

The View from Victoria Peak is gorgeous. Even with the pollution and the haze. Too bad we chose to go on a Sunday night and it was uber crowded. The tram ride up was a lot shorter than I remember though. I think they've shortened the trip by quite a bit. The walk from Central station to the Peak Tram was super long, and super tiring... all uphill.

Dinner was at Bubba Gumps, a concept restaurant based on 'Forrest Gump'. It was actually quite good. The seafood was fresh and well prepared. Check out the wall of 'hot sauce'.

That was the tram that brought us back down.

From the Peak, we decided to walk down to Lan Kwai Fong, the 'clubbing' place to be in HK. I found this building along the way. The Foreign Correspondents Club in HK. I love the structure.

Got hungry after returning to the hotel so we ventured out along the Bay to look for some supper. Recommended by the good food guide, this was supposed to be a supper place that would be opened till 3am. It's supposed to serve fabulous noodles... guess what. It was only 1am and it was closed.

Food guide wrong again...

Thank god there was a street stall open next door. I had the curry fishballs (which were a tad salty), and the fried stuff mushrooms (Was really good).

Click the image for the full shot. My first attempt at sticking together a row of shots to create a wide landscape.

HK is so beautiful at night. Don't remember the name of this place, but it was basically an above ground walkway leading from one side of the bay all the way over to the old Ferry terminal.

8-10 - Learning the secrets of the MTR

2007-10-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

For the past 2 days, we had been going to 'Central' to change trains to head to Causeway Bay, but BFF had the brilliant idea of trying to change at Admiralty this time instead. Guess what, it was so much better. Changing at 'Central' always meant a long walk from one end of the station to the other, on top of a trip up and down escalators. Changing at Admiralty meant walking about 20ft from one platform to the next....

This one was from the good food guide. One of the more well-known 'Roast Meat' places in HK. It was definitely very good. I had the 'charsiew mien' and BFF had the 'Roast Goose Noodles'

That's the Roast Goose Noodles. The Goose was delicious, albeit a little oily. The Noodles were cooked wonderfully. What's with Singapore hawkers constantly over-cooking noodles so they lose their crunch? I don't get it.

That was by far, the best charsiew I've ever had in my life. The meat was so lean, yet so tender and flavourful. I actually think they use the tenderloin instead of the cheap meats they use in Singapore. I can never go back to charsiew in Singapore again.

The Front of the store. Will check out the name and update.

After lunch, we decided to explore Wan Chai.

One can't really tell if these are lodgings or places of business. We did venture up stairs into buildings only to find thriving stores selling various wares. We even walked into this dingy building that turned out to be like a mini-Sim Lim square selling computer stuff.

I really wanted to take the double-decker trams, but we were quite pressed for time. Next trip :)

BFF was feeling a little quesy from the oily goose, so there's nothing like dessert to calm an upset tummy. This place was on the good food guide as well (and surprisingly easy to find). I think this was white-fungus-papaya with almonds.

I saw this roast meat place across the street from the dessert place. It looked lovely, but I was too full to go in and sample anything. Definitely on my next trip list.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I was hankering for some tea. Decided on trying the sharks-meat fishballs written about in the food guide. Guess what.... See above, the picture tells the entire story. WRONG AGAIN... that's the 3rd strike.

Oh well, headed back to the hotel and passed this chicken rice place. Everyone who knows me knows that I can never resist chicken rice. So I popped in to have a taste. Considering the rice was Yellow, it wasn't that bad. The chicken was actually pretty good. But the sauce put it over the top. It was some form of garlic/ginger vinaigrette that mated beautifully with the chicken.

Yup, the shop is called homeless, and the door handle is a huge wrench.

Guess what. The food place I was looking for previous (who's building was torn down) had moved. Guess the food guide people didn't bother to update.

The signs on the MTR guide actually light up to tell you where you are, and there is even a light to tell you if the door on the right or left will be opening. There are still announcements, but you never have to guess. Just look up at any door and you would have all the information at hand. Like I said before, it's these little things that matter. I wonder if the MTR people need to raise fares every year?

This one was in Esther's blog and the food guide... Tai Cheong Bakery. The best Eggtarts money can buy. It was very very good. I generally hate egg tarts, but I ate two of them.

Warning, VERY HOT!!!

Only 2 left? Not for long...

This one was from Esther's blog. The place is called Tsim Chai Kee. And it's directly opposite Mak's Noodles (from the food guide). The wantons were absolutely huge, and stuff with prawns. It kinda reminded me more of a prawn dumpling, cept it was shaped like a wanton.

All prawns... no meat.

Front of Tsim Chai Kee.

Found another Kitty store. Didn't go in this time cos I had no more space in my luggage.

Literal Translation: Green Clothes. This was the stop to transfer to the train taking us to the station that we need to transfer to the Disney Train.

This was the transfer station for the train to Disney.

Finally arrived at the Disney Station.

When you wish upon a star....
Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams
No request is to extreme

When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love

As sweet fullfillment of their secret drowns
Like a boat out of the blue
Fate steps in and see's you through

Night was still young, so we decided to head over to Temple Street. This time, instead of heading to Central to change trains, we decided on another route through another interchange. It was another opportunity to get another photo of a new station... Lai King

Mr Softee!!!!

From Lai King, we walked down temple street to Jordan Station, and made our way back.

To finish the night, we had a nice soak in the bath tub (feet only) and shared a nice bottle of Dessert wine that complimented the Egg Tarts perfectly.

9-10 - Time to go home

2007-10-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

No picts of the morning as I had to run around without my camera. Basically was trying to hunt down 'Lee Kum Kee - Drunken Chicken Marinade'. We did see it in the supermarket on top of Victoria Peak, but foolish us, we thought that if this ulu supermarket had it, it would be dead easy to find down the streets of HK. How wrong we were. I left the hotel at abt 8, and ran around most of Kowloon and HK looking for it. No joy. Finally bought some of that sharks-meat fishball noodles back for breakfast to the hotel.

After breakfast, we decided to stay around the hotel area. So we headed down to the Harbour City, and old Ferry Terminal. BFF said she took this exact same picture 11 years ago. Well, this one is for posterity.

I remember taking the Ferry as a child. This was way before the underground MTR linking the island and the mainland.

Some things never change.

The View from the old Ferry Terminal.

Another attempt at paranomic stitching.

Another Hello Kitty shop. There are so many of them everywhere.

Ordinarily, I love tall buildings, but these take the cake.

Dessert!!! This one was from Esther's blog. Tong Shui. In fact, BFF even ordered the dessert based on Esthers recommendation.

The Beancurd thingy. I tried it and it was pretty good. Not as sweet as I would've liked it, but BFF liked it just fine.

I can't resist Dim Sum. My two favourites are Siew Mai and Har Gow. Basically Prawn Dumplings. The skin was a little thick for my liking, but the insides were lovely.

Another particular favourite of mine. 'Chee Cheong Fun' or Rice Noodle Rolls. This one was really good. Thanks Esther!

Of course, my absolute must try at any Dim Sum place. Siew Mai.

BFF asked me to take this picture. The Toy House is such a nice name don't you think?

View from the other side. We headed back over to Central to collect our shirts (BFF made one too), and while waiting, we ventured into the IFC (International Finance Center), which turned out to be a nice mall. This was the exact opposite view from where I took the earlier picture.

We spent the last of our money on Ben and Jerrys. The 3 flavours were Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Crunch, Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Therapy. Chocolate overkill? Yup. Worth it? Double Yup.

Nope, this was not taken at the airport. This travellator links Central Station with Hong Kong station, where we had to go to grab our Airport Express back to the Airport.

Final stop. Hong Kong Station.

We bought back 2 dozen Krispy Kremes each. And spend the early morning (after arrival) delivering them to friends). Boy, they disappeared real fast.

My Personal Stash. 2 Rich and Dark, 2 Chocolate Iced Glaze, 2 Original Glaze. Finished by Thursday.

The Shirts I made. The picture cannot properly represent how awesome they are.