Hongkong Trip Part V

HK - 30 Jul 2011

No morning alarm today again. Wanted to try the dim sum at Maxim's Chinese restaurant as it was recommended in the guide book and I have also read it from a blogger's trip to HK.

It was located at Whampoa, where there is no MTR within walking distance, so we took a cab there. Food here is not bad, actually, I find that that dim sum in SG is comparable to that in HK (or maybe because I have not tried the best yet). The charsiew pastry is yummy and we both like the quail egg siew mai, though the one at Lin Hueng teahouse tasted better. No pics coz I think they all look the same.

Whampoa in HK is really like the one in SG. It is like a heartland but with many shops/shopping centre within. Look at this huge ship in the middle of nowhere. It is actually JUSCO hypermart.

We had nowhere in mind to go, just walked around and happened to reach a bus terminal. We boarded a 小巴 (mini coach), thinking that the destination is to Mongkok east station.

 Unknowingly, we ended up in Kowloon Tong, where there is a big shopping centre, Festival Walk. Luckily, it is on the same line as Prince Edward MTR, where we had planned to stop to visit Fa Yuen street. Had dinner at a Cha Can Ting again. Though it is only instant noodles, I really like the way they cooked it. Looking at the pics make me drool. After dinner, we went to temple street to walk walk.

Bought lots of stuff at Fa Yuen street and Allied Plaza. Magnets from Ladies Street.  

HK - 31 Jul 2011

Today is our last day in HK, unknowingly we slept till 10am today. Went to a small shop selling 车仔面 behind our hotel to have our breakfast.

Checked out at 12pm and hubby wanted to go back to the anicom exhibition again. Took train to Wanchai, and he went alone while I waited for him at Starbucks, to use up the wifi time for tourist that we bought at 7-11. By the way, this is like a wifi login password that costs HKD20 which can be brought at 7-11 stores. If you purchase the octopus card for 3 days usage, there is a coupon inside which entitled you to buy the wifi login at at discounted price of HKD15. This login only lasts for 24 hrs from the first moment that you login and it can only be used at PCCW (service provider) wifi hotspots, like Pacific Coffee, Starbucks, 7-11 stores, MTR stations, etc.

 

Saw a backpack yesterday at Allied Plaza but hubby thinks SGD60 is too ex for a bag, so din buy it. After much consideration, he decided to buy so we went back to Allied Plaza at Prince Edward. As we still had time, we went to walk walk again at Sino plaza and then took a rest at Wood Cafe (near Yau Ma Tei MTR station, near our hotel) and also for the free wifi to spend our time before leaving for airport.


Hubby's bag. Managed to bargain a bit to SGD53.

A closer look, what does it resemble?

In this building, there are many such cafes that offer comfortable sofas and board games to play with. Took the free shuttle from the hotel to airport express station, Kowloon. And from there we took the airport express to the airport. Hubby liked the 葱油面 from Crystal Jade so there we went again for our dinner before we depart for SG.

Wood Cafe

Back to SG!! Landed at around 1230am and by the time we got our luggages, it was 1am. Hungry and decided to have supper at Wang cafe before we head home.


My chicken macoroni

 

Hubby's laksa

This HK trip this time was not as tiring as the last time as we took our own sweet time to walk around leisurely and rest our feet whenever we can. It was quite a relaxing trip and I did manage to shop a lot! Hubby also enjoyed this trip as he manage to go to all the comic shops that he wanted to go and even visited the exhibition twice!

Hongkong Trip Part IV

HK - 29 jul 2011

Woke up early for the anicom exhibition. Had breakfast at a local Cha Can Ting and went straight to Wanchai where the exhibition was held. Check out the queue! The news reported that the first guy had started queuing 8/9 days before!

There was a special queue just for tourists together with the disabled and aged people. This queue was like 100x shorter than the normal one. Actually hubby had already ordered all the figurines that he wanted from one of the shop, so we went to the exhibition just to check out the stores and to soak up the atmosphere. Youngsters here are really very much into all different types of comics, be it HK, US or Japanese ones. There were also many teenagers who are into cosplay. Didn't take any photos of those, though.

Hubby's must-visit booth!

Stuff he ordered (which will be posted to us), ticket to the exhibition and a photo of us!

Had lunch at a nearby Cha Can Ting and went back to our hotel to put the stuffs that we bought at the anicom.

Rested for a while and headed to Stanley market. Ride was long but nothing much there. It is really for the tourists as many shops are selling souvenirs, like those at Lucky Plaza in SG. View is not bad though, and there are a row of western restaurants facing the sea.

Had our tea-time there before we left.

Hubby using free wifi

View from the cafe

Back to Wanchai as hubby needed to go back to the comic shop to buy more stuff. I had a walk around Times Square and bought some stuff. My loots for the day!

Guess what is the thing labelled 黑? It is cotton buds in black! Bought it as hubby's ear were itchy, haha.

Hongkong Trip Part III

HK - 28 jul 2011

No morning alarm today. Had a relaxing morning as we planned to have brunch at the famous Yung Kee. This restaurant is very famous for it's roasted meat. Saw from the menu that it was awarded Michelin 1-star this year. As I can't take goose meat but Yung Kee is famous for it's roast goose, hubby ordered a dish of roast goose with rice. We also ordered roasted suckling pig, honey roasted char siew, spinach and fried rice for 1.

As usual, we ordered too much. We tried our very best but still couldn't finish. Overall, yes the roast meat were really good. By the way, they don't serve duck.

Plan for today was shopping at Citygate Outlets located at Tung Ching. Nothing much as I remembered from my first trip to HK 3 years back, but still, had to go and look see. In the end, bought only from mango, adidas and puma. Nothing good at espirit at all. Disappointing.

Left for the peak at around 4pm. We decided to take a bus from central pier to the lower peak terminus to take the peak tram up. The last time we came, it was already dark, so I couldn't remember seeing anything from the peak train. However, as we reached there, the queue for the tram was horribly long. We decided to share a cab with an european couple, and it took only 10mins to reach the peak!  Luckily we didn't queue for the tram.

Dinner at the peak lookout. I think this place is more famous for it's ambience than the food. Nothing fantastic and i find it overpriced. But it had free wifi which both of us desperately wanted. Had beers, lobster bisque, thai spring rolls, spaghetti and roast duck.

Madam Tussaud revisited! Pictures say it all!

Since our last visit 3 yrs back, there were new additions like McDull (famous pig cartoon character from HK), Ip Man, Jet Li, President Obama, Lady Gaga, Captain Jack Sparrow etc. They also rearranged the settings and renovated the place.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY for hubby. The annual ani-com exhibition!

Hongkong Trip Part II

HK - 27 Jul 2011

Ocean park today! But first, we decided to go and look for the famous dim sum restaurant, Lin Heung teahouse, for breakfast. 3 years ago, we failed to locate this place and had been moody over it ever since as we saw recommendations from almost everyone who visited HK. And yes, we managed to find the place this time.

It is really a typical HK teahouse, where there are many old folks reading newspaper while chatting over tea, aunties shouting "siew mai" while pushing carts of dimsum around the teahouse. Tried the Siew Mai, Lo Mai Gai, Char Siew Buns, etc. Not bad but not really fantastic we think, though I really like the ambience.

Lin Heung Teahouse was located in Central. To me, this place is like the CBD of HK. However, it really amazes me that there was a stretch of shops (like wet market) along a slope right smack in the middle of all these atas stores in the CBD area.

Reached ocean park at around 11am. There were so many people and the weather was terribly hot and humid. First to the aquarium. I still think that sg's underwater world is better.

My main purpose of visiting ocean park is to see the pandas! It was so cooling inside the panda enclosure that all the giant pandas were happily snoring away. One of it gave a lazy stretch and looked up at the tourists, then went back to it's beauty sleep. Red pandas are very cute too, managed to catch one eating.

Took the cable car up to the summit. Though it is quite scary, but the view was gorgeous! Shared the cable car with a middle aged couple who were fellow singaporeans. As both of us are not fans of exciting rides, we just walked around.

Queued for the ocean park tower. View was fantastic from up there too but the ride was too fast. Before we know it, it was descending back down.

Next, to the pacific pier to check out the sea lions. They are so cute! Swam gracefully too!

The next must-see, according to hubby, is the chinese sturgeon. They have lived in the Yangtze river for 140million years, since dinosaur era?

By this time, we were so hot and sweaty and tired and we decided to leave. Took the super comfortable ocean express back to waterfront. Good bye ocean park! Bought a sea lion cum cushion for baby zq.

Had a late lunch at around 330pm at 生记粥面 opposite our hotel. Hubby had 清汤萝卜牛肉面 while I had 皮蛋瘦肉粥. Hubby's soup was good and my porridge was fantastic. What was special about it was that the lean meat was shredded and there is a mouthful of pork with every spoon of porridge. The porridge was very tasty and smooth. Yummy!

Had a rest back in our hotel before we proceeded for shopping at Mongkok. Shopped at Argyle center and H&M at Langham Place. My loots for the day!

Ever since 3 years ago, my hubby's HK fren brought us to this small dessert shop at Tsim Sha Tsui, I have been thinking about it and craving for it. The soy bean curd is so smooth that it really slides down your throat. Nowhere can match it. Went to look for it but it is gone! Though we don't really remember on which exact road it was, but we had a vague idea where it is near. However, we walked all the streets near Tsim Sha Tsui but cannot find it. Sad! No choice, went to Sweet Dynasty for a very late dinner at 930pm.