Hong Kong Trip preparation and Day 1 - Ocean Park, Lai Kwai Fong
Bitten by travel bug, my dear boyfriend and I plan a trip to Hong Kong! My passport have less than six months till expiry date so it took some time for me to renew my passport, resulting in late booking of accommodation and flight >_< Sorry dear.
Links
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/
offical website for Hong Kong Tourism
http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=394843
Hahaha, Hong Kong for dummies, I got this link from tripadvisor which is very detailed!
http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/engtxt/planner_index.php
MTR Planner
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/index.htm
food reviews at Hong Kong
8th April 2011
We went to airport at early hours of 430am (sleepy...) As usual the service is prompt at Jetstar Asia counters. We have breakfast at toast box? Or some shop that sell Kaya bread , there is a ah beng staff obviously is a new staff who keep asking question and get customers' orders wrong (^_^;) Jia you bah, ah beng.
Learning our lesson from Taiwan trip, we reach early at the gate at 6am (Our flight is 6.30am). I really wanted to try the free OSIM foot massager though ... next time I have to come even earlier! TV was showing the news when yet another earthquake strike Japan. The ninja warrior is showing too., I'm always amazed on how strong and fast the participants are.
Our Jetstar plane!
presenting the land of Hong Kong!
The flight is estimate to take 3 hrs and 20 mins but we reach Hong Kong airport at 10:15am, 15 mins earlier than the time anticipated? However the line to customs is SUPER DUPER LONG. Eavesdrop on a group of girls (it's not my fault they are so loud! =X) on different nationality - "Singaporeans although like to rush but they follow the system." Haha I forgot the rest.
After a long wait (around 20-30min?) we finally got through the customs (Hong Kong stamp geto!) and I get to collect my check in bag. To my horror, my favorite lock is broken! (Do you have that scary feeling that makes your stomach turn cold?) Luckily we managed to fiddle with the inner mechanism and open my bag (>_<)
Right outside the baggage claim area is the counter when you buy train tickets/ octopus card. We wanted to buy the round trip to Kowloon (HK$160), but the staff recommended us to buy single trip for group of two to Kowloon (HK$140) instead, explaining it's cheaper. We also bought the Octopus card (HK$50 deposit + HK$100 value) that works like our Singapore Ezlink card
Our itinerary plan is to try the Duk Ling Ride, which according to website we can book through Hong Kong tourism board at airport. We spend sometime begin lost before finally finding it ... right next to train ticket counter |||oTL
Wah kau, the staff there are so high tech, they use iPad to show maps and information! In the end, the pretty staff say we have to go to HKTB branch at Star Ferry to book and we can't book on spot at airport cause they can't issue ticket or have money to give change (=A=) website bluff one!
Not wasting any more time, we head to the airport express train to go to Kolwoon. To my surprise, there's no gate for us to use our card! The train is accessible immediately!
-very spacious train
The train ride is 24 mins where we admire the sea view and a tad run down Hong Kong city.
We exit the Kolwoon station with the group of 2 tickets and follow the signboard (and the crowds +whistles+), we head to the Airport Express Bus stop thingy. I must rave how tourist friendly they are with staff on spot to guide you, and LED signboard to show how long is the next bus.
Bus driver drive like initial D character though +hang on the safety belt tightly+
We alight right outside of our hotel!
The Cityview http://www.thecityview.com.hk/eng/index.php
Recommend by Zuji.com, and saw lots of good reviews for this hotel. We try to book online but maybe because of NATAS period, the server keep hanging on us. In the end we book directly through the hotel website. We book the so call superior room but the front desk staff explain "since the rooms are all taken up, we offer a free upgrade to deluxe room" Looking at the room, it looks quite normal though... makes you wonder if deluxe is normal then how bad is "superior"? errrr.... Maybe by Hong Kong standard it is quite big bah.
After resting a bit, our plan is to head to ocean park!
Before Ocean park, it's lunch! We head towards the MTR area and choose a shop with plenty of locals. So many students! Their uniform so cute! Everyone is wearing ties and they look so smart! And their skin so smooth! (boyfriend sweatdrop)
Not knowing what to order, I order the only Chinese word that I can recognize, wan ton noodles oTL
The wan ton dumpling is HUGE lor, almost a small child fist, and it only cost HK$20 (S$3.30)
We then take the MTR from Yau Ma Tei to Admiralty Station and follow the helpful signboard to the busstop. The bus 629 is a double Decker bus where we can see the bustling city from top view.
- pass by Happy Valley Racetrack!
I think it's my first time to try a double Decker bus to go into a tunnel O_O I don't dare to take a photo but we pass by a cemetery with tombstones \(O_O)/
Even though it's a Friday/ work day, there are still a lot of people. Mwhaha, it feels shiok to bypass the queues of crowd tour groups and simply enter the park by our self.
I am so excited to see the hot air balloon! But the area seems to be fence up due to maintenance, sob sob. Luckily my boyfriend console me by suggest we try the real hot air balloon (hint hint Australia? +sparkles+)
I love pandas so we head to amazing asia animals
SO THE CUTE!! I absolutely swoon when I see the red panda, their fur look so smooth, which show how well care they are taken care of.
Secretly I think the panda like to be photograph, it took where exactly to sit for the best shot =p
There's a goldfish exhibition, I hate it with a passion, the goldfish look so fugly, I don't dare if they are supposed to be rare or what but they got this popping eyes and hanging flesh, gross! The above is the only cute one I saw.
Next we try the cable car. OMGWTFBBQ LONG QUENE IS LONG, and the damn China tourists keep cutting into the line. Even a man from I think Hong Kong sternly told them off the queue is at the back of the line.
Damn old China grandma (over my right shoulder) kept pushing and pressing onto me. I mean I don't mind if it's a younger lady but I can totally feel her chest pressing onto my back and I really hope it's her bag that is pressing on my butt. VERY DISGUSTING LAR. SEXUAL HARASSMENT
A cute moment of the HK local father in green shirt/daughter in pink shirt, they are playing hand games but the father keep winning. The daughter will turn away and fake sulk until the father say let's try another game, which she lost again and she spin around to ignore father again, haha.
Argh the deciding moment when we reach the turnabout, damn China people increase their intensity to push and shove from behind, try to cut in front of us! Lucky we stand our ground and managed to squeeze through the turnabout before them. I mean what's the point of rudely pushing people just to get ahead in line!? In the end, we are all still going on the cable ride. Sadly that's life, people who break the rules get first while the people following the rules, get last (=A=)
Sakura Blossom!
There's one cable car coming at the opposite direction of us, full of teens who keep shouting hello. Haha so cute.
The crowd at summit is horrible with crowds of tour groups. By instinct we head to the place with less people, the pacific pier when we get to see the wonderful scenery of Pacific Ocean and the theme park.
Inside the building, there have seals! Haha, they look so lazy as they lie with their fat tummy facing out, sunbathing in the comfortable warm sunlight. Once in a while it raise their flipper / head and make a grunt. +swoon+
We randomly following the signboard and end up near the mine train
My boyfriend keep laughing at this clip =p
Next we try the raging river ride, quite normal until the plunging drop at the end and watch splash all over us. Lucky it was sunny and the water dried up quite fast.
We finish the attraction at this area so we decided to head back to the main area, which is a bad idea cause we have to climb the steep hills >_<
We return back to cable car station for the Jellyfish exhibit, which truthfully I am quite disappointed in it.
The layout and aquarium look like some mad scientist lab with way too dark layout and way too colorful back lighting. The Jellyfishes look like some freak experiments. *Traumatize* People if you are visiting Ocean park, please skip this area , it's also very small (=A=)
Next we relieve our childhood with this flying seats XD The cool mountain wind feel so good~
I force my boyfriend to try the Dragon roller coaster, lol. Whee double cock screw! Strangely he thinks the mine train is scarier than the Dragon roller coaster. And yeah I don't dare to carry my camera this time round.
We skip the scary roller coaster rides: Abyss and The Flash. Our last ride is the Ocean Park Tower, over 200m from sea level. Once again the damn China people once again cut into our queue despite we are first in line. At the end of the (tiring) day I can't be bother anymore. After all, the ride is a 360-degree viewing, like the Carlsberg tower at Sentosa, so it doesn't matter if you first or last, you still see the same 360 degree view! * Third finger, okay I AM bother, sue me* Inside the ride, their chattering is so deafening loud. At least the view is grand, even better than the view at pacific pier.
We took the Ocean Express train back, it's a interesting experience =D
Saw this parade on the way to Aquarium, haha, although the MC say there's even a better show at the other side, we have to go due to time constraint.
This Aquarium is HUGE at four stories high
Pretty sea corals! and you can actually touch the starfish!
It feel some awesome to have the school of fishes swim above of you.
\(O_O)/ I never seen this fish before! My boyfriend told me it's stingray shark. What!?
We head to the souvenir shop where everything is expensive. In the end, we didn't buy anything. I really regret not buying a cap but the cap is around S$26? So the expensive oTL + conflict +
We head back to admiralty station on the same bus 629 when we encounter a traffic jam. It's interesting to eavesdrop on two men (one HK local and his foreign friend? And it's not my fault they are loud!), talking about reasons of the traffic hold up (it's a Friday and everyone is heading out for outing) and the buildings' trivia as we pass by.
We took the MTR to Central station where we head for Lan Kwai fong, a place say to be like Clark quay with plenty of bars and restaurants. There are a lot of ang mo talking and having a good cheer over mugs of beer.
We decided to try which have Balalaika , Russian restaurant and bar good reviews at openrice.com and we never try Russian food before . Personally I blame it on Hetalia.
Although we read up there are good reviews but ... we dunno how to order. My boyfriend like the ribs but the soup is really salty! When a person order kehab, the staff will lit it on fire, le woooow.
We also went to a icebar at -20 degree! The staff offer us HUGE mink coats, so warm, so comfort, so heavy. hehe, but but but... oTL never mind.
We spend S$6 on mineral water and S$4 on beer from 7-11... oh logic why you like tat : roll eyes :
This ends our tiring day !
Day 1 - 08 Apr 11: Ocean Park, Lai Kwai Fong
Day 2 - 09 Apr 11 : Ave of stars, Duk Ling ride, Soho, The Peak
Links
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/
offical website for Hong Kong Tourism
http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=394843
Hahaha, Hong Kong for dummies, I got this link from tripadvisor which is very detailed!
http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/engtxt/planner_index.php
MTR Planner
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/index.htm
food reviews at Hong Kong
8th April 2011
We went to airport at early hours of 430am (sleepy...) As usual the service is prompt at Jetstar Asia counters. We have breakfast at toast box? Or some shop that sell Kaya bread , there is a ah beng staff obviously is a new staff who keep asking question and get customers' orders wrong (^_^;) Jia you bah, ah beng.
Learning our lesson from Taiwan trip, we reach early at the gate at 6am (Our flight is 6.30am). I really wanted to try the free OSIM foot massager though ... next time I have to come even earlier! TV was showing the news when yet another earthquake strike Japan. The ninja warrior is showing too., I'm always amazed on how strong and fast the participants are.
Our Jetstar plane!
presenting the land of Hong Kong!
The flight is estimate to take 3 hrs and 20 mins but we reach Hong Kong airport at 10:15am, 15 mins earlier than the time anticipated? However the line to customs is SUPER DUPER LONG. Eavesdrop on a group of girls (it's not my fault they are so loud! =X) on different nationality - "Singaporeans although like to rush but they follow the system." Haha I forgot the rest.
After a long wait (around 20-30min?) we finally got through the customs (Hong Kong stamp geto!) and I get to collect my check in bag. To my horror, my favorite lock is broken! (Do you have that scary feeling that makes your stomach turn cold?) Luckily we managed to fiddle with the inner mechanism and open my bag (>_<)
Right outside the baggage claim area is the counter when you buy train tickets/ octopus card. We wanted to buy the round trip to Kowloon (HK$160), but the staff recommended us to buy single trip for group of two to Kowloon (HK$140) instead, explaining it's cheaper. We also bought the Octopus card (HK$50 deposit + HK$100 value) that works like our Singapore Ezlink card
Our itinerary plan is to try the Duk Ling Ride, which according to website we can book through Hong Kong tourism board at airport. We spend sometime begin lost before finally finding it ... right next to train ticket counter |||oTL
Wah kau, the staff there are so high tech, they use iPad to show maps and information! In the end, the pretty staff say we have to go to HKTB branch at Star Ferry to book and we can't book on spot at airport cause they can't issue ticket or have money to give change (=A=) website bluff one!
Not wasting any more time, we head to the airport express train to go to Kolwoon. To my surprise, there's no gate for us to use our card! The train is accessible immediately!
-very spacious train
The train ride is 24 mins where we admire the sea view and a tad run down Hong Kong city.
We exit the Kolwoon station with the group of 2 tickets and follow the signboard (and the crowds +whistles+), we head to the Airport Express Bus stop thingy. I must rave how tourist friendly they are with staff on spot to guide you, and LED signboard to show how long is the next bus.
Bus driver drive like initial D character though +hang on the safety belt tightly+
We alight right outside of our hotel!
The Cityview http://www.thecityview.com.hk/eng/index.php
Recommend by Zuji.com, and saw lots of good reviews for this hotel. We try to book online but maybe because of NATAS period, the server keep hanging on us. In the end we book directly through the hotel website. We book the so call superior room but the front desk staff explain "since the rooms are all taken up, we offer a free upgrade to deluxe room" Looking at the room, it looks quite normal though... makes you wonder if deluxe is normal then how bad is "superior"? errrr.... Maybe by Hong Kong standard it is quite big bah.
After resting a bit, our plan is to head to ocean park!
Before Ocean park, it's lunch! We head towards the MTR area and choose a shop with plenty of locals. So many students! Their uniform so cute! Everyone is wearing ties and they look so smart! And their skin so smooth! (boyfriend sweatdrop)
Not knowing what to order, I order the only Chinese word that I can recognize, wan ton noodles oTL
The wan ton dumpling is HUGE lor, almost a small child fist, and it only cost HK$20 (S$3.30)
We then take the MTR from Yau Ma Tei to Admiralty Station and follow the helpful signboard to the busstop. The bus 629 is a double Decker bus where we can see the bustling city from top view.
- pass by Happy Valley Racetrack!
I think it's my first time to try a double Decker bus to go into a tunnel O_O I don't dare to take a photo but we pass by a cemetery with tombstones \(O_O)/
Even though it's a Friday/ work day, there are still a lot of people. Mwhaha, it feels shiok to bypass the queues of crowd tour groups and simply enter the park by our self.
I am so excited to see the hot air balloon! But the area seems to be fence up due to maintenance, sob sob. Luckily my boyfriend console me by suggest we try the real hot air balloon (hint hint Australia? +sparkles+)
I love pandas so we head to amazing asia animals
SO THE CUTE!! I absolutely swoon when I see the red panda, their fur look so smooth, which show how well care they are taken care of.
Secretly I think the panda like to be photograph, it took where exactly to sit for the best shot =p
There's a goldfish exhibition, I hate it with a passion, the goldfish look so fugly, I don't dare if they are supposed to be rare or what but they got this popping eyes and hanging flesh, gross! The above is the only cute one I saw.
Next we try the cable car. OMGWTFBBQ LONG QUENE IS LONG, and the damn China tourists keep cutting into the line. Even a man from I think Hong Kong sternly told them off the queue is at the back of the line.
Damn old China grandma (over my right shoulder) kept pushing and pressing onto me. I mean I don't mind if it's a younger lady but I can totally feel her chest pressing onto my back and I really hope it's her bag that is pressing on my butt. VERY DISGUSTING LAR. SEXUAL HARASSMENT
A cute moment of the HK local father in green shirt/daughter in pink shirt, they are playing hand games but the father keep winning. The daughter will turn away and fake sulk until the father say let's try another game, which she lost again and she spin around to ignore father again, haha.
Argh the deciding moment when we reach the turnabout, damn China people increase their intensity to push and shove from behind, try to cut in front of us! Lucky we stand our ground and managed to squeeze through the turnabout before them. I mean what's the point of rudely pushing people just to get ahead in line!? In the end, we are all still going on the cable ride. Sadly that's life, people who break the rules get first while the people following the rules, get last (=A=)
Sakura Blossom!
There's one cable car coming at the opposite direction of us, full of teens who keep shouting hello. Haha so cute.
The crowd at summit is horrible with crowds of tour groups. By instinct we head to the place with less people, the pacific pier when we get to see the wonderful scenery of Pacific Ocean and the theme park.
Inside the building, there have seals! Haha, they look so lazy as they lie with their fat tummy facing out, sunbathing in the comfortable warm sunlight. Once in a while it raise their flipper / head and make a grunt. +swoon+
We randomly following the signboard and end up near the mine train
Click to viewMy boyfriend keep laughing at this clip =p
Next we try the raging river ride, quite normal until the plunging drop at the end and watch splash all over us. Lucky it was sunny and the water dried up quite fast.
We finish the attraction at this area so we decided to head back to the main area, which is a bad idea cause we have to climb the steep hills >_<
We return back to cable car station for the Jellyfish exhibit, which truthfully I am quite disappointed in it.
The layout and aquarium look like some mad scientist lab with way too dark layout and way too colorful back lighting. The Jellyfishes look like some freak experiments. *Traumatize* People if you are visiting Ocean park, please skip this area , it's also very small (=A=)
Next we relieve our childhood with this flying seats XD The cool mountain wind feel so good~
I force my boyfriend to try the Dragon roller coaster, lol. Whee double cock screw! Strangely he thinks the mine train is scarier than the Dragon roller coaster. And yeah I don't dare to carry my camera this time round.
We skip the scary roller coaster rides: Abyss and The Flash. Our last ride is the Ocean Park Tower, over 200m from sea level. Once again the damn China people once again cut into our queue despite we are first in line. At the end of the (tiring) day I can't be bother anymore. After all, the ride is a 360-degree viewing, like the Carlsberg tower at Sentosa, so it doesn't matter if you first or last, you still see the same 360 degree view! * Third finger, okay I AM bother, sue me* Inside the ride, their chattering is so deafening loud. At least the view is grand, even better than the view at pacific pier.
We took the Ocean Express train back, it's a interesting experience =D
Saw this parade on the way to Aquarium, haha, although the MC say there's even a better show at the other side, we have to go due to time constraint.
This Aquarium is HUGE at four stories high
Pretty sea corals! and you can actually touch the starfish!
It feel some awesome to have the school of fishes swim above of you.
\(O_O)/ I never seen this fish before! My boyfriend told me it's stingray shark. What!?
We head to the souvenir shop where everything is expensive. In the end, we didn't buy anything. I really regret not buying a cap but the cap is around S$26? So the expensive oTL + conflict +
We head back to admiralty station on the same bus 629 when we encounter a traffic jam. It's interesting to eavesdrop on two men (one HK local and his foreign friend? And it's not my fault they are loud!), talking about reasons of the traffic hold up (it's a Friday and everyone is heading out for outing) and the buildings' trivia as we pass by.
We took the MTR to Central station where we head for Lan Kwai fong, a place say to be like Clark quay with plenty of bars and restaurants. There are a lot of ang mo talking and having a good cheer over mugs of beer.
We decided to try which have Balalaika , Russian restaurant and bar good reviews at openrice.com and we never try Russian food before . Personally I blame it on Hetalia.
Although we read up there are good reviews but ... we dunno how to order. My boyfriend like the ribs but the soup is really salty! When a person order kehab, the staff will lit it on fire, le woooow.
We also went to a icebar at -20 degree! The staff offer us HUGE mink coats, so warm, so comfort, so heavy. hehe, but but but... oTL never mind.
We spend S$6 on mineral water and S$4 on beer from 7-11... oh logic why you like tat : roll eyes :
This ends our tiring day !
Day 1 - 08 Apr 11: Ocean Park, Lai Kwai Fong
Day 2 - 09 Apr 11 : Ave of stars, Duk Ling ride, Soho, The Peak