PonyTales

We head over to Hong Kong island on the 2nd day of our trip. Daddy wanted to experience it all like the good old days and so we took a ferry (only HKD2.1 per person) to HK island instead of the much faster MTR. Let’s see what are the things we discovered in HK island…

We saw at least 2 SuperStar cruises while crossing the Victoria harbour in ferry. The cruise is really huge and looks grand (a little proud that it belongs to our very own Uncle Lim). Another things I realised is things are really clean in HK, even these old ferries and the water at the harbour is not smelly at all….hahaha

The ferry harbour station is actually connected to the International Financial Center of HK (IFC). Don’t be fool by the name but IFC is really just another upscale shopping complex with blocks of offices at the top. Left of the pics is the 5 mins bridge walk connected directly to the Hong Kong MTR station and IFC. Pic on the right is the Hong Kong airport express station. It is pretty convenient and no sweat at all travelling this way, even with a toddler and stroller. Just at the entrance of IFC, I could see the famous Lane Crawford store (things r pretty expensive there with no sales, mostly 4 figures…yikes!)

We head over to Times Square at Causeway Bay for lunch, using MTR (just 2 stations away from IFC). Tried the much talked about Krispy Kreme donuts and it costs us HKD42 for 2 donuts and a drink (Mamma Mia!). Times Square is an old building but still as packed, we literally walked every floor available and ended up having our tim sum lunch at the Super Star Seafood Restaurant, total damage HKD231. There is this Vietnamese waitress serving us and she is pretty helpful and very kind - she recomended some very nice tim sum to us - and I love the roast goose chee cheong fun! Yummy!

We walked a little from Causeway Bay and took a bus to the Peak Tram. The place was really crowded. The ride up on the tram is pretty steep and at one moment I actually did tought whether the tram could climb with so many people inside - The tramways was celebrating its 120th anniversary when we were there. The tram ride + tickets to the top is not cheap either (cost both of us around HKD96, if not mistaken).

Enjoying the magnificent views at Victoria Peak. The multitude of highrise are so dense there, its like the old joke that if you ever run out of salt while cooking, just extend your hand to your neighbour to borrow some…lol!

Zoe really enjoys the floor water fountain. The water actually spring out following the rythmn of the beat of drums - pretty interesting. It was Mid Autumn that day and we could see lanterns decorations there. A bottle of 500ml mineral water at the peak is HKD16 (pengsan!)

We climb up to the top most lookout point at night - the view is really pretty and the place was very crowded. Zoe got pretty tired by then, so we decided to head down to Central to take a MTR all the way back to Kowloon.

Zoe and Mommy with Bruce Lee at Madam Tussauds.
Manage to snap a shot of the really beautiful Coach boutique at Central. Hubby told me a few streets down would be the famous Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) where people drink till they drop. We skipped LKF as its pretty late already and Zoe is really getting very sleepy.

In the evening, we actually wanted to head over to Temple Street nearby our hotel after some rest. Shortly after, we realised that it was Mid Autumn festival that day and all the shops are closing early…hahaha….how blur we are! So, we had supper in our hotel room - the famous HK instant noodle (Kung Chai mien) - cheapest food in town…hahaha!

Next - Shopping Day at Granville Road and CityGate Outlets in Tung Chung!

First day itself, after a good rest in the hotel (overslept actually), we took our own sweet time to walk along Nathan Road. Our destination is Avenue of Star to watch the "Symphony of Lights". The walk is pretty long but interesting, there are never a boring spot along Nathan Road…so many things to see and shop. As I turn my head and look, every corner I can spot a designer brand…from Prada, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo…you name it, they have it!

Anyway, let’s not focus on designer brands lar cause it’s not like we gonna buy right!?
Below are some shots of what we saw along the way…

The junction at Austin Road from BP International

Nathan Road - be sure to have a map cause this place is so packed its easy to get lost

Along the way we saw this - TST police station, reminds me of the famous Hong Kong series - Police Cadet (was hoping to see a Tony Leung police look alike…hahaha)

Please take one!
Right at Parklane Shopper’s Boulevard, these dried abalone greet us

Daddy and Zoe checking out Park Lane Shopper’s Boulevard - there are still some final sales going on but the good stuffs are all taken…huhuhu…its not as cheap anyway compared to M’sia

We saw this hand monument at Park Lane. When you took the Kowloon Park path from BP Int., you will reach a staircase and exit here to Nathan Road, this is the monument to look out for to know that you have reach the exit.

The famous clock tower at the harbour. One will never miss this if they have grown up with HK-TVB during the 80s and 90s. Beside the clock tower is the HK cultural center. If I am not mistaken, this is along Salisbury Road.

Further up we saw this gigantic lanters built on water - its featuring wild life from the swamp to birds and sea creatures. Built on water below with paper and bamboo - very beautiful especially at night. Zoe loves this so much and was talking non stop while looking at it. Telling us, "See, bird! fish! flower!"…the few things she recognise.

Entering Evenue of Star, we saw this monument that looks like the award given to superstars in HK. Along the path, there are a lot of concrete plate on the floor, some with the star’s hand print on it. I was trying to take the one with Andy Lau but there are just too many people crowding it lah! Sigh!

Zoe and Mommy taking in all the sights and sounds of Hong Kong.
Quite a number of HK movies/series is shot here, along the stainless steel rail behind us. Its usually the scene where they ponder over their life while looking at at HK island, or they were crying their hearts out over broken love, family, business…or they were celebrating new love and etc. I have even seen a series where there is this young couple sharing a box of ecomony mix rice here - depicting the hardship of urban life…Nostalgic!

There are many speedboats that night with youngsters celebrating the eve of Mid Autumn on the boat. They pass by and greeted loudly to us, "Chung Chow Chit Fai Lok!" while waving away.

Yeap, no shots of the laser show - Symphony of Lights. All did not turn out well…bleah! I think Daddy was really tired then and he thinks its not as impressive as it seems. The speaker somehow was too soft that day.

We did not finish the show but head home shortly, took the MTR from TST to Jordan - really too tired to walk back. I think Zoe had the most fun that day walking/running along Avenue of Star and even joining a bunch of street singers dancing on the streets. This girl just loves to dance.

Next post - Hong Kong Island Escapade…

I have not been updating for a long time, sorry for being away for so long. I was quite busy with work earlier and we just came back from Hong Kong 2 days ago. Yeah, we…Hubby, Zoe and me brave the TVB-land for a couple of days. It was a really good trip, thou we were dead tired by the end of each day. There were just too many shoppings, too many staircases, too many people (every square feet seems to have somebody standing there especially the nite markets)…and just way too many interesting stuffs…

I will go slow here for the documentary of our 1st overseas trip with Zoe…hehehe…please bear with me. Start with the shelter hotels that we stayed. This is a purely free and easy trip, no agents involved at all, we book everything from flights to hotels and transport via the Net. Armed with maps and a mini compass…we trek on our own in this urban jungle of Hong Kong…hahaha

 
Mommy woke me up at 4am and told me we are going to Hong Kong. I was not in the mood in such unGodly hours but after I see the airplane and so many people, I am all happy again!

 
BP International Hotel in Austin Road, 5 mins drive from Kowloon station and 5 mins walk from Jordan MTR station and also Nathan road. The location is good since we are travelling with a toddler and stroller. We spent 3 nights in BP

We were upgraded to the Harbour Parkview room at 20th floor (Executive floor) and I was so pleased with that. The room has a nice view of Kowloon park and the harbour. We booked the room earlier via HK tourism board at HKD850 nett per nite inclusive buffet breakfast (3rd nite at HKD800 per nite), but got upgraded to this executive floor room which cost HKD2.1k per nite…kekeke

The room comes with mini bar and some mini liquor. What else is not mini in HK? Suprisingly, the price of these items in the mini bar is reasonable and almost the same price with 7-eleven or the supermart downstairs. Anyway, a bowl of instant noodle is about HKD9. There is a cold and hot water dispenser near the pantry of the floor and there is even a shoe shine machine (all FOC)

The toilet is small but clean, comes with all the necessities - toothbursh, shampoo, conditioner, towels, shower caps, cotton buds, and etc. 

The view from our room - Kowloon park, buildings at Nathan road and part of Harbour city and the harbour. At the distant, we could see Hong Kong island and the multitude of highrise. It was hazy, so this is what we could get… 

The pool in Kowloon park, there are always people swimming there starting as early as 8am till almost 10pm at nite. The monument of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing is still there - promoting the Paralympics games. The neighbouring condo small garden. The condo looks normal and higher than our hotel but I am sure it costs millions of HKD to own one

 
Disneyland’s Hollywood hotel at nite. We stayed 1 nite in this hotel for the last 2D/1N. Mickey Mouse signature motif is everywhere, they really put quite some toughts into designing this hotel.

The room is bigger and comes with 2 queen bed. As usual, Zoe will be the first to sleep on the bed. We paid about RM545 for 1 nite.

We initially booked the Garden View room but got upgraded again to a room with Disneyland view - could not see much actually but the reception was telling us we could see the nightly Disneyland fireworks from our room.

Mini bar, a small pantry and the LCD TV 

 
Everything is Mickey theme, from toiletries up to the bedroom slipper given. It’s really cute! 

I am overall very pleased with the rooms and services given. The staff are very attentive and come to us even when we do not ask for help. They probably see us handling a toddler in a stroller lah.

Next - our journey to watch "The Symphony of Lights" at Victoria harbour…