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HK Day 3: Lantau Island, Part 2

15 Dec

From Ngong Ping Village, we took Bus no. 2 down to Mui Wo and met up with my high school friend and her hubby for a late lunch. It was good to catch up and they treated us to a really sumptuous seafood lunch. The chatter was so rib-tickling and entertaining, just like the good old days.

I am glad we made the effort to meet up as it’s not often we see each other so much, with her residing here in Hong Kong and me in Kuala Lumpur.

After the meal and goodbye, we took the ferry across back to Hong Kong island. What a day with subway rides, cable car, bus and now the ferry. It was only 5.30pm when we were at the IFC area. We wandered a bit before making our way back to our familiar territory, bought dinner to bring back to the apartment to eat in the comforts of ‘home’.

I thought I would cover 6.0km today but no, I actually did 6.7km or 10,965 steps. Yes, we are all tired to the core but it’s a good tired.

Tomorrow it will be another day of walking and more walking! Kowloon on the agenda.

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HK Day 3: Lantau Island, Part 1

15 Dec

The queue for the Ngong Ping cable car ride was longer than those at Disneyland. We got to the Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal by 10.30am after breakfast. As we opted for a one-way instead of a round trip, we could not pre-book the tickets on klook.com. So we had to stand in line, for half an hour, to buy tickets and another half an hour to wait for our turn to board the cable car.

The cable car ride was very breath-taking. And for the first time, we saw the whole layout of the airport, HKIA. Rather bland looking (all brown) but busy and practical. It took 25 minutes from the starting point to reach the other end, the Ngong Ping Cable Car Terminal. Weather was lovely again, a bit on the cool side.

We had a quick bite at Ngong Ping Village before having a leisurely walk through the village to Po Lin Monastery. The atmosphere was rather serene. There were cows everywhere, grazing and chilling amidst the crowd. Interesting. Heading towards the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the burning incense was enough to make our eyes sting in a nice way, I guess.

After admiring all the architecture, colors and statues, we made our way to the bus stop to catch the bus to Mui Wo.

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HK Day 3: Ngong Ping 360

15 Dec

Woke up with a splitting headache. The pillow is simply horrible. It’s so flat and worst than a fluffy pancake. Ugh… But I won’t let this spoil my day. We are heading out to Lantau Island again to take the Ngong Ping cable car and visit the other interesting sites there.

Maybe another 6.0km on the MiBand? We shall see…

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HK Day 2: Disneyland

14 Dec

I must say Hong Kong Disneyland was rather enjoyable this time! We bought our tickets from klook.com at a discounted rate (HKD70 less per ticket) from the published rate. And the weather was cool without any sun, the queue lines were minimal, plus the crowd not too overwhelming, it was excellent to be outdoors.

Most rides we waited in line was a mere ten minutes, with the longest being 20 minutes. Despite getting to the park at 10.30am and not staying for the night fireworks, we managed to do nine rides plus the Lion King musical.

I thought Iron Man was neat, so was Toy Story but we all chickened out on the RC Racer ride, it looked too scary.

The day ended with each having a bowl of hearty noodles after we got back to Jaffe Road. I clocked in 5.8km and 9,625 steps today. Long day. Well calling it a night soon because tomorrow is another activity filled day!

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HK Day 2: To Disneyland

14 Dec

The decision to visit Disneyland is solely for M2. She requested that this is a must do when we mooted this family trip. Our last Disney visit was to the California one back in 2012, so it’s apt to revisit another Disney park although a much smaller one. It will be a long day ahead…

We all woke up to a freezing cold apartment. Dang! It’s cold, I had to sleep with socks on. Quickly we got ready and headed out for breakfast.

The morning meal was typical Hong Kong style before we took the MTR to Disneyland. What fun we had!

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HK Day 1: To the Airport

13 Dec

Everyone woke up by 3.00am and got ready without being pushed. Our pick up came at 4.30am and got us to the airport by 5.15am, way too early to check in. But it’s okay, better to be early than late for the 8.45am departure because KLIA2 is huge and the place was packed with travellers. By the time we walked to the gate, I have walked 1.8km already and the day has not even started!

The AirAsia flight was on schedule and we took our time, not rushing with the crowd at HKIA. We even ate at the airport before taking an Urban Taxi into Hong Kong island. This trip, we are staying at an AirBnB instead of a hotel. A cosy two room with a little kitchenette, it is located on Jaffe Road at Causeway Bay, very central to food and shopping.

After checking in, a short rest and we were out again. By the end of the day, a good one I must say, I have done more than ten thousand steps or 6.0km. By 9.30pm, we were all dead tired, so best to call it a day as tomorrow, it will be another fun day ahead.

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The Blundstone Travels Again!

12 Dec

Now that M1 is back, we will go off for a family vacation. Last year, we did Ho Chi Minh City and boots or warm clothes were not necessary. This year, we opted for Hong Kong, definitely colder and certainly boots, jackets and sweaters are required.

So my Blundstone boots will travel again. Yay! Looking forward to this trip but not the wake up call and ride to the airport. The 8.45am flight means waking up at 3.30am for a 4.30am pick up. Ugh. It’s an hour’s journey to KLIA2 and travellers are advised to be at the airport three hours before departure. Ugh.

It will be a long day ahead tomorrow.

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Together Again

11 Dec

As one would know, coming home from the US would take over two days, and with one day having never occurred in your life when you cross the International Date Line. And depending on the flight’s origin, time and connections, it may take even longer.

M1 actually left campus on the evening of 7 December after the last exam paper. She had a ten-hour layover at LAX before the long journey began the next day. Throughout the day, I was tracking the flight path on Flightaware.com.

Everything was on track and it was reassuring. I could even carve up a Citizen to while away the time. But coming into the last stretch of the flight, the aircraft approaching HKIA went off track. It looked like a time-wasting ten minutes diversion. Maybe CX 885 was early and there’s no landing rights, nothing major. It was scheduled to arrive after 14 hours 39 minutes but in the end, it was captured at 15 hours, still an hour ahead.

This then gave the layover an additional hour to two and a half hours before the final leg to KLIA. Unlike a previous trip, she had only a 50-minute layover and she had to run the length of the airport to the gates before they closed for boarding! Nothing of that sort this time. Phew.

The flight arrived ten minutes early at 12.27am on 10 December but knowing her, she’d be the last one out. Sure enough one hour later, she strolled out from the Departure Hall. And in a blink of an eye, another year has gone by, my firstborn is back and the family unit is complete again.

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As Its Name Implied

4 Dec

I don’t know why I thought eating in Rawang was the itinerary when clearly the highway, being called Rawang Bypass, would not lead us to the town. Looks like I did my research and got it all wrong. I could have been too excited at the prospect of savouring new food to realize the implication of the name.

As its name implied, we bypassed Rawang when we did the day road trip on Friday. Our scenic and leisurely-paced drive led us to a lot of places except Rawang but it was fun!

We made several stops – at a hill slope village with a Chinese temple showcasing a karma cycle mural on its hillside wall; savoured a simple noodle lunch in another town; saw a man-made dam and appreciated the vast volume of water surrounded by the mountains; and a winding ascending drive to Fraser’s Hill for a second lunch amidst lovely weather and a very tranquil surrounding without the crowd.

I’m glad we bypassed Rawang. It was lovely especially driving to Fraser’s Hill with towering trees to admire along the way and cool weather to appreciate because of the elevation. Such a welcome change in weather, we had the windows down all the way and turned off the air-con in the car. Indeed sheer driving pleasure.

And the walk around the quaint little town enjoying the foliage and green surrounding, breathing in the fresh air, made this impromptu stop very enjoyable.

I am sure we will be back to discover more and poor Rawang will be bypassed again.

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Bored to Tears

1 Dec

The year-end school holidays has just started and M2 is bored to tears staying at home. She claims that there’s nothing to do. So for that, I insisted that she should continue to do her revision daily because next year is an important exam year for her. Make use of the time at home rather than idle away doing nothing.

I don’t remember facing the same predicament when I was 16 because I had my tree to climb, the garden to play in and lovely weather to be outdoors during the dinosaur years. Unfortunately in this era, the tree in the garden is not worthy to be climbed, the garden is soggy and it’s been raining constantly. I guess I cannot fault her for complaining.

Well, thank goodness today is yet another public holiday so she’s getting a break. We are taking a short day trip to discover a new town using the new elevated highway that was officially opened just two days ago. And of course, road trips that we take usually include food and discovery of more food! Hopefully this will quell the boredom.

Oh my waistline is all I can say…

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