Sunday, November 7, 2010

Hong Kong - Day 1

30 October 2010 - Saturday
Min, Hubby & I woke up excitedly in the wee hours of the morning to catch the Air Asia 6.05 am flight from Penang to Hong Kong. What I like about this is that it is cheap (only about RM
500 for 2-way per person) and that it is direct! I hate stopovers and waiting time at the airport.

A pretty sight flying above the clouds

Upon reaching the Hong Kong International Airport, I straightaway noticed a few things. The airport is huge. The toilets are clean. And the elevators are so long. Look at this one. One flight of escalator is about 3 storeys high!

Then we made a phone call from the airport to let our guesthouse know about our arrival at the airport. All local calls are free using the public phones in the airport.

After collecting our baggage, we then bought and loaded an Octopus Card with HK$ 250 + HK$ 50 deposit. This is to be used in almost all public transport in Hong Kong. Then we bought the Airport Express from Airport Station to Kowloon Station. We got the 'groups of three' discount which was only HK$ 190 - which was only HK$ 63/person. Buy from the counter to get the group discount, not from the machine. If you buy from the machine, each will cost HK$ 90.

(We did not get the Airport Express Travel Pass as well because after calculation, it is not worth it for us.)

The Airport Express is clean, and efficient, almost like our KLIA Express. They are frequent too, with one every 10 minutes or so. There is this light on top to indicate where you are now and how long to the next station.
There is also an individual speaker located at the back of your headrest and you can control the volume according to your preference. Speaking of high tech!

We then took the K4 Free Shuttle Bus to get to our guesthouse. It is all very convenient with proper signage all the way.

We got off at Park Hotel which is in the same road as our guesthouse. Walk about 40m and you can see Lee Garden Guest House signage.

LEE GARDEN GUEST HOUSE
Block A, 8th Floor
Fook Kiu Mansion,
34-36 Cameron Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Reception Tel:
(852)-23672284, (852)-23013821 and (852)-23012304

We walked the small alley and was a bit apprehensive about this place. But then this place is being recommended by Rough Guides and Lonely Planet, so it should not be that bad, right?
The lift looks old and when we stepped into it, it was a really small lift. I could not even open my arms wide and it states there that the lift can carry only 6 person!




And when we reached the 8th floor, the whole floor is being occupied by them and looks decent. Our room was not ready since it was not yet noon. So we just left our luggage there to go grab some lunch and come back.

Ate at the nearby The One Mall at a Taiwanese Restaurant. The restaurant's name is written in Chinese which I can't read. Anyhow, food was average. The mince pork was good and the rest just average.
We ordered a Lunch Set (consists of Pork Rice w Citrus Wafu Sauce, Fried Spring Rolls and Tea w Milk & Pearl Sago) for HK$46.
And another ala carte Mnced Pork Rice for HK$ 22.






After lunch and a little stroll around the mall, we went back there at 1.30pm and our room was ready. Our triple room with Ensuite Shower/WC was really little but the place is very clean. This is how our room look like. One mini double bed (smaller than queen size) for hubby & me and a mini single bed for Min.

Our bathroom is quite decent with hot shower fresh towels every day. They even provide you toothbrushes and shampoos/bath foam.

Look....flat screen tv on the wall. Haha. I guess they cannot squeeze in a box tv into the room. All rooms in Lee Garden Guest House comes with windows, which makes the room airy and bright, but is noisy if you keep it open at night.

After freshening up, we went out again for our Day 1 itinery - to all the markets.

So how is the weather in Hong Kong? Well, I would say is cool but warm when the sun shines on you. A light sweater is needed.

This is the nearest MTR exit from our guest house. This is Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit B2 which is located at the end of Cameron Road, which is just 2 minutes walk away from our guest house.


When we first entered the MTR station we were amazed by the number of people inside the MTR station. There were so many people inside rushing here and there and there were many shops in there. It was like another place of its own there.
After fumbling around and understanding how the MTR works, we took the MTR to Prince Edward Station, Exit B1 to get to the market streets.

First of all Ladies Market and Fa Yuen Street Market. They look almost the same to me, quite alike Penang's Batu Feringghi Street Market selling all kinds of thing ranging from souvenirs to bags to toys and etc. But of couse their weather is much nicer to walk - cool weather (and not hot and humid like Penang's).

The Goldfish Market is more interesting. It is really a street selling all kinds of fish! There are fish inside the plastic bags. I wonder if they change the water daily. If not, won't the fish die?

And these are fish in the aquariums.

And look at this mini frogs of some species. Aren't they cute?

Look at this thingy. You know what it is? Initially I thought it was 'bak chang'. But when I went closer, I saw that they were crabs, with all their legs tied up and in the fridge. They were actually still alive! Ewwwww....


I love the Flower Market the most. The flowers are are cheap and aplenty and beautiful. No wonder you can see Hongkie guys in TV proposing to their girlfriends with 10,000 roses! If a Penang guy do that, he will go bankrupt! Haha






And I do see some shops selling very beautiful Christmas decorations. You can find everything Christmas-y here - from angels to mistletoes to bells to reindeers! :P

We then walked from Mong Kok to Yau Ma Tei Station to get to Ladies Market. (You can take the MTR, Exit C) Since Ladies Market is open at night, when we were there, they were just getting ready to open their stalls. So we went to hunt for the recommended desert shop.

By looking at the address, we found the place Yuen Kee Desert although as usual, the name is written only in chinese.

Yuen Kee Desert
G/F, 58 Temple Street,
Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon,
Tel# 23843659



We ordered the recommended Fresh Mango Pudding (HK$15) and Soybean Pudding (HK$11).
The Fresh Mango Pudding was good. Mangoes was sweet and pudding was yummy.

But my favourite is the Soybean Pudding. This 'tofu fa' is so silky and smooth. And eating this hot desert in the cool place is really a nice feeling.

Then we see everyone ordering this hot purple-ish colour hot desert so we asked the taukeh what is that. He said it is called 'Cha cha' (HK$15) and is a Malaysian desert.

So we also ordered one. It sounded like 'bubur cha cha' but is not. It's taste is like a combination of 'red bean soup' and 'green bean soup' with coconut milk. It actually has 5 types of beans in it.
It tasted a little funny and all 3 of us don't quite enjoy it but we still managed to finish the bowl.

This is how Shern shows us the GOOD sign - with his index finger instead of his thumb!

We walked around and saw this signboard that reads 'Wan Kam Leung Practical Wing Chun Kung Fu). Wow.....you get to learn Wing Chun here in Hong Kong! ;)

Then From Yau Ma Tei Station, we took the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui Station to get to the Avenue of Stars. When I reached there, I was stunned. Hong Kong night view at Victoria Harbour is really breathtaking! To me, it is even more beautiful than the night view in Shanghai Bund.
My point-and-shoot camera is not doing justice to the beautiful view. You really need to go there yourself to see how beautiful is Hong Kong's night view.




We then walked along the pier to take photos.



After watching the Symphony of Lights show at 8pm (sorry no photos, only video and lazy to upload), we walked back to our guesthouse.

But along the way, we stopped at Granville Road to eat at the 'dai pai dong' (stalls) the 'Egg Balls' HK$11. Didn't quite like it, the flavour was kinda bland. Maybe should have tried the chocolate one.

Also tried the Curry Fish Balls (HK$8/each stick) and its varieties. Curry taste is nice but the fish balls were not as springy as Penang's. Texture was kinda chewy.

Stopped at this hot.com stall and bought some snacks to try. Everything is HK$10 per item.

Bought the fried siew mai. Quite nice.

The Mango Bubble Mil Tea tasted weird. And they gave u lotsa pearls.

Their fried chicken wings was so-so. Nothing spectacular.

After that, we just walked the next road back to our guest house. Legs were damn tired from whole day walking.

End of Day 1. Stay tuned for Hong Kong Day 2.

Hong Kong - Day 1
Hong Kong - Day 2
Hong Kong - Day 3
Hong Kong - Day 4
Hong Kong - Day 5
Hong Kong - Day 6
Hong Kong - Day 7 (Part 1)
Hong Kong - Day 7 (Part 2)


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you send me the itinerary, including the hotels, etc...

Your first day blog make me wants to go to HK too.

Can't wait for the subsequent post

Giap Seng

ndru said...

Eh Peter can fly d meh?

tanshuyin said...

giapseng...sure. i will send u our itinery. what is ur email add?

ndru..yes. he can fly d.
btw, ur fifa11 there not that cheap also...the one i saw la. around rm150-160. so i didnt buy for u.

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