HongKong 2009 Day 1

Early bird catches worm, while I'm catching an early flight to HongKong. Although it's not my first trip, I'm still looking forward to it. Previously, I went during Autumn with my bf. The weather was rather cooling during autumn.

We were going during winter this time round. Had did researches and refer to blog(s) for guides and reviews. Boohoo, the temperature was freaking low in HK. I was behaving like some o-ba-san watching 10pm news when they mentioned 16 degree.

Whew! My mind finally rested in peace. I "presumed" that it gonna be like Aussie weather (the previous time i went). Boohoo-hoo, the news cheated my feelings terribly. Read till the end you gonna find out more.

We're taking Cathay Pacific to HongKong. Well, I seriously don't like the flight despite my friends singing praises about it. It's not that awesome afterall.

We are currently waiting at the boarding gate after some lurk around at Terminal 1.

It's awfully chilly in the morning. It might be due to some minor morning flu I've been suffering over years. Therefore, coat and jacket on.

I don't really appreciate Cathay Pacific. Well, I know I shouln't compared airlines. But the qualities definitely differ quite alot. I shan't be picky and get straight to the point. The fault all begins with the little small box infront of my seat.

I always thought I'm allowed to select my movie; play and paused anytime I want. In fact, I'm absolutely out of my mind to have pinned such high hopes. Cathay Pacific only allow user to select channels to channels. Alright, simplified - It's just like you normal TV at home.

To watch Channel U, Press *5
To watch Channel 8, Press *3

Get what I mean?
Therefore you can never restart a movie or pause, even if you are going for a toilet break or taking a short nap.

Ohhhh, it irritates me.

By the way, I've only ranted on 1 major point. Here comes another.

I tend to be allergic to dust. Therefore my nose itches easily when dust level is high. Throughout my flight, my nose doesn't itch only. In fact, I had been sneezing. Just a simple pat on the pillow, you gonna see particles floating.

I'm not being picky, just sharing my thoughts about the flight. Haha.

As for their food, I considered it as consumable. Just imagine if you were on JetStar, one chicken rice gonna cost you 10 bucks. I guess, current situation would have been better.

Cool! We reached Hong Kong after approx 2 -3 hrs flight.

After retrieving our baggages, we headed off to purchase airport transfer tickets and octopus card. With tickets, airport transfer you take you to a bus terminal in your staying area. From terminal, we took a shuttle bus to our hotel that cost about HKD 70 (tickets bought at promotions, usual HKD 80).

Note: You gonna see the map displayed at the tickets office before purchasing your tickets. Different pricing for different terminal; hence different terminal consist of bus to different hotel.

Confusing?
Haha, you gonna understand WTH I'm talking about when you are there. If you were staying at Tsing Yi area, I recommend cab.

(Above) This is how the airport transfer(train) look like.

Tickets may be slot in upon exiting your destination.

The train will have an idicator (refer to pic below), telling you the duration or approx time for arrival.

This is the shuttle bus which brings you to your hotel.

Look a little rundown?
Nah, it's not what you thought. This could be quite common. Minibus all looks like this. It's usually used for short journey.

(Below) A picture of shuttle services for your references. Don't mind about the blurred image, the bus was driving off and I can't use flash as the window might just reflect(light) badly.

We stayed at The Empire Hotel @ Wan Chai.

You may click on the above link which direct you to the website for more details. No worry, there aren't any hidden information, charges or cost. You can put your trust in the website. Photo(s) of rooms were shown as it is.

It's just a simple and clean hotel. Staff were friendly and bilingual. Majority could speak basic english, chinese or cantonese. One of the staff name Kelvin was kind to us. Every morning he would greet us with a big smile; direct and suggest great places to us.

VOILA!

Lunch time, hurray. My poor tummy had been tolerating since the arrival as we need some time to settle down, check-in etc. We went for high tea at a restaurant. The price were reasonable or probably cheaper than Singapore.

The food takes a long time to serve, but of high quality. Well, worth the wait.

The only thing irritate me the most was my bf. I was about to order tea, and he told me he wanted Chrysanthemum Tea. Oh dear, have you ever heard or watched on TV whereby people in HongKong ordered Chrysanthemum Tea. (Laughs.....)

Yeah we might have it in Singapore, but it doesn't mean we had the same culture. Feel like digging a hole and burry myself when he suggested that infront of the waitress. Furthermore, he even asked "WHY" when waitress replied telling him it's not available.

I ordered 铁观音 without his approval. Heck, chrysanthemum.

Trying super super super duper hard to read the impossibilities. For your info, he can't read chinese. Ohh, shall I say he's a semi mother-tongue 文盲. I guess so.

Ahhh, this(above) is yummy. I thought it might be some banana pisang or fried mango with yam. It turned out to be carrot(white). It was really sweet and soft; combining with the crisp - it's heavenly. Haha, little exagerating for entertainment.

But it was really good. Chris don't like sweet stuff, 我喜欢. It's all mine.

Char Siew Bao is a must-eat in HongKong. The char siew aren't minced, in fact they were big and chewy. Drools, I missed it so much.

Cheong Fun is another must-try item. It's very soft and tender. The waitress would probably pour the sauce upon serving. I'm guess it's to maintain the Q-ness. Cheongfun might turn soggy if soak in sauce overtime.

Chris posing with 招牌.

We were heading to the MTR station. It was just a 5 minutes walk from our hotel.

Their Octopus Card topping-up cash machine were more/less similar to Singapore ones.

We were going to Ladies Street. You may alight at Mongkok and look out for exit signage. But I prepared these information in advance reducing time spend in wandering about.

Awwww, I missed Japan.

Upon walking toward Ladies Street, you gonna see many shops selling street snacks and bubble tea. I love bubble tea to the max, and here comes our first cup. They had very different flavour from us. We used to drink honey, green apple milk/red tea etc.

They served strawberries milk tea. In SG we usually had syrup ones, but they really blend strawberries with milk tea. Woohoo even so, I aimed for something special. I had Ice Milk Tea with BBQ Pearl. Isn't it cool?

They have different daily or seasonal special. I love that.

Milk tea with BBQ pearl.

You can't really see the differences. You gonna taste it someday if you were to pass by.

Buildings.

On the Street.

Ladies Market/Street.

The crowd flows through day and night. They are selling lots and lots of imitation. Some looks so real that you hardly differentiate. They might attempt to extort moo-lah(money) out of you on knowing you are a tourist. It's advisable for you to speak Cantonese to mislead them. Haha, that's what I did. I'm not a fluent Cantonese-speaking person, but my pronunciation is considered accurate.

I spotted a black ring (accessorise) and thought of buying it. The lady boss quoted me a price of HKD120 (SGD 25). Daylight robbery. So I bargain with her in cantonese and push the price down to HKD 40. She gave in eventually. It's only about SGD 7. I got a great deal. Love that.

Anyone love 臭豆腐?
It's god-damn popular in HK. People just bought a piece and chose their own selection of sauce. Black sauce, sweet sauce, chilli sauce and many more. We bought one too.

It's crispy on the surface and stinks badly. Amazingly, it taste great. I love it with sauces. Unlike SG ones, HK 臭豆腐 had no bean sprout or weird taste. HK ones are awesome. People aren't avoiding the smell afterall. It's fragrance to them.

Well, it still smell bad but taste great to me. Contradicting.

Nobody minds that smell, everyone is eating by a corner. Cheers!

Shopping malls.

One of their popular street snacks 鱼蛋.

It is a must for everyone to try. It neither taste like fish nor egg. You gotta try it someday. They comes in different flavours. But we usually had the spicy ones. The weather is cold...
Spices gonna warm you up a little.

Like 凉面?
(Above) See that stall above. I'm sorry that I missed out taking a photos of their mee. You gotta put in some imagination then. You can select different types of mee with your desired flavourings; or maybe their ready made ones. The mee is the usual cold mee that you had in Japanese restaurant.

They will place you mee into a mini-bag with sauces. You got to mixed it up. Simple, just eat as you shop. It's great.

HongKong Cinema.
Its more or less the same as ours. To me, slightly smaller and the shows were screen in Cantonese. No worries, subtitles are usually provided.

They had no LCD TV displaying showtimes. In fact, they are still applying past methods. Shows and times were printed out only. They had different pricing for different times. Times and cost weren’t standardized. Take note.

Coupons and vouchers.

The cinema we went was a building by itself. There's only one way up by escalator, and one way down by stairs. You gotta climb real number of escalator (upward) before reaching 7th floor where our theatre gonna be.

Right after the show, you gotta climb all the way down by stairs. It's going to be crowded as the stairway is slightly narrow. Oh ya, we watched 风云. I rated it 4 stars. Just a little long winded towards the end. The rest were perfect.

Awww, it's raining. We had no umbrella. Look at their rain, it's all so fine and light. You hardly see big droplets unless the rain was really heavy. The weather was quite predictable and everyone got their own umbrella (I mean majority). We are one of those unlucky ones, stranded by a corner at the cinema. I'm so dreadful about water entering my shoes (Ah Tard understand this better than I do).

We got stuck for a while before setting off for dinner.

We had dinner at this little restaurant. We had no choice as everywhere was raining. We could only reach this place through shelter. This time round we had mee. From the menu, you may choose the type of mee, and dishes.

Chris ordered beef flavour while I had my wonton mee.

It's cheap though. Do your maths.

Beef noodle.

Wonton Noodle
Perhaps you can't see from the picture(above). The wonton is times bigger than what I had in SG. Mmm, probably about 3 times big. Not exaggerating this time. I even donate some to Chris and still not able to finish my bowl.

Their mee is usually handmade and looks thinner. I added lots of spices to my soup. Haha.

There are things which shall not be missed. That's 豆奶(soya milk) and 豆花(beancurd). We usually have it in restaurant or famous little stalls (approx SGD2++).

People might be on budget trip. No worries, you can always find those really cheap ones. It's usually by a corner, and you got to pour/dispense it into a cup on your own. This is approx SGD 0.50-. It's a big difference. Avoid if you had low immune system. Take note.

Good Luck everybody. Stay tune for Day 2. Nights.