We woke up at eight to a freezing cold apartment. Nine degrees the Weather app showed! No wonder it’s freaking cold. Thank goodness it’s our last day and we’re leaving. Goodbye Hong Kong, you have been really fun this trip as we totally enjoyed ourselves. But I am sure we will be back again.
HK Day 4: We Walked and Walked and Walked…
16 DecToday we topped it all, the mother of all walks! We were on the move for almost 12 hours, doing 17,217 steps and 10.7km. We covered so many areas after a hearty breakfast. It was a much colder day today with the temperature at 14 degrees Celsius so it made walking brisk. Everyone had three layers on except for M1.
We walked to Victoria Park to visit Tin Hau Temple and Lin Fa Kung Temple; after that we walked to Sogo the departmental store and went to every floor to browse because it’s fun to look especially at the household and decorative items. We saw an incense burner that costs a bomb, well, HK$428,000 to be exact! I kid you not. Does money fall from the sky for the people here? Seeing that we are not worthy to be new owners of the burner, we left Sogo for Nathan Road.
The Goldfish Market street was very interesting with lots of pets on display for sale. We crossed over here and there braving the sardine packed streets and stumbled upon Fa Yuen Food Market. Looking for food, we inadvertently found Mui Kee Congee. So good the congee tasted.
Sated and rested a bit, we moved on towards the Ladies Market, the main attraction in that area. By then the wind picked up and temperature got colder. And when it gets colder, one tends to want to go to the bathroom more frequently. But with so many street vendors and cramped eateries, finding a bathroom wasn’t easy. So what did we do?
We walked into a hospital to use the bathroom at the A&E department!
We ate again, this time finally getting our roast goose and roast pork with rice. Ahhh…. So so good. But the evening was not over yet as we headed down to Tsim Sha Tsui to watch the evening laser show. It was a little after 9.00pm when we got back to the apartment and all of us just couldn’t feel our feet anymore. What a day!
After four intense days of walking, I foresee no such lengthy walks in the next few days ahead. I must say it has been a really good family vacation and looking forward to the remaining time we have together with M1 before she goes back to the US in January.
HK Day 4: Tsim Sha Tsui
16 DecTime flies when you are having fun. It is our fourth day already and I feel like we’ve done so much yet not enough. Today we will go across to Kowloon to do some serious eating and shopping. After yesterday’s 6.7km effort, look out Tsim Sha Tsui!
The last two days, out of the blue, my iPhone5S acted up. Frozed several times whilst I was taking pictures. Aargh. Why? Why now? I noticed the camera app has been a wee bit slower than normal. Maybe it can’t take the holiday stress with so many pictures? Hmm… I hope nothing serious. I don’t need to change to a new phone although the huge Apple stores here have been very enticing.
Multi levelled and so brightly lit, the Apple stores were also packed with customers. Yesterday at IFC, a lady stood outside the store offering to sell an iPhoneX that she just bought. And of course one would pay for it at a much higher price. No, I don’t need this. So my phone better behave so that I can take more memorable pictures for today’s outing.
HK Day 3: Lantau Island, Part 2
15 DecFrom 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.
HK Day 3: Lantau Island, Part 1
15 DecThe 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.
HK Day 3: Ngong Ping 360
15 DecWoke 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…
HK Day 2: Disneyland
14 DecI 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!
HK Day 2: To Disneyland
14 DecThe 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!
HK Day 1: To the Airport
13 DecEveryone 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.
The Blundstone Travels Again!
12 DecNow 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.
Remarks