Hong Kong 2019 Day 16/17 – Hong Kong Space museum, shopping at CHKC and Home Sweet Home

This day started with early as I woke up to resume my Sunday morning run after a 2 weeks hiatus as it was simply not possible to run in freezing cold Korea.

Left the hotel at around 645 and jogged towards the bay only to find that there weren’t any roads along the bay to run. So I ran inland and at certain point, headed towards one dock to snap a view of Kowloon and continued on. While jogging, I found that the place where they shot Transformers was on this side of Hong Kong and within running distance and thus headed there. It was not too difficult to reach but to get that particular view, I had to go around the building.

View of Tsim Sha Tsui from Hong Kong Island.
Limited running path near the water.

Since it was really early, I was the only one there taking photos and left shortly, realizing that there were notices put up to inform people not to take photos as these were residential areas and privacy should be respected. The return trip from the hotel to Yik Cheong building was about 10km.

Yik Cheong building

The rest of the family slept in late till 10 and when we were finally ready to leave, it was already noon. The rainy weather was bad; it was a drizzle that would soak when exposed to it and yet the clouds wouldn’t just pour to empty the clouds, dragging the dreadful wet weather to indefinitely drizzle.

We went to Hysan place and found the queue to the toys still packed with people. Hong Kong people really loved their toys and there was no end in sight for the queue. We decided to visit eslite bookshop instead, on the 8th floor.

Large screen stretches the entire building
Avengers at Hysan mall

The bookshop had 3 levels, many books to sell and other decorative stuff as well. Mommy initially thought of getting a fountain pen for slightly more than a hundred HKD but decided not to as most likely she won’t be using it. After hanging around a bit, we left for the Hong Kong Space Museum.

Eslite bookstore

We thought we would get lunch at Tsim Sha Tsui and thus took the subway there. Upon arrival at the museum, after getting stuck in between 2 traffic lights and slightly wet from the rain, we found a long queue at museum ticket counter waiting to get tickets. There weren’t any place for lunch and so we went in search for one, which was funny because HK was supposedly a food paradise but somehow we just couldn’t find one, as if they were hidden behind the cloak of rain.

In a desperate attempt to eat and get away from the dampness, we entered a One Peking shopping arcade and got up to a 10 floor to have our lunch there, at Imperial Treasure. They were at their last orders so we had to pay immediately after the food arrived but were good for us to stay till we were done eating. Ordered fried noodles, a bowl of pig lung soup, vegetables and char siew, a bowl of walnut paste and a mango pudding for a whopping 669hkd. The food was pretty tasty though and the 10th floor offered a nice view except that we didn’t get to enjoy it as we were seated away from the windows.

Imperial Treasure restaurant for lunch
Vegetables
Char Siew
Fried Noodles
Soup
Dessert of Mango pudding and walnut paste
Restaurant with a view

We walked back to the museum and I charged ahead to get tickets first, and I found that the queue from the morning had disappeared (but not the drizzle). After K and mommy arrived, we entered the museum that had 2 floors, one focus was on the cosmos and the other was on space exploration.

Hong Kong Space musuem
Looked like an observatory
Entrance tickets

There were a lot of interactive displays used to describe concepts which made this place interesting and we spent some 2hrs there just for the exhibits itself. K didn’t bear to leave the place and had spent the last few minutes trying out the interactive exhibits (spinning around to talk about Newton’s 3rd law) before we finally exit for the shop (which was another struggle to get away and eventually bought a pen in the shape of a NASA rocket for 85 HKD) and out of the museum.

Exhibit that looked like Jupiter
Exploring the cosmos
Planets
Interesting exhibit about how Auroras were formed
Many rockets sent to space before
Room with visual simulation on floating in space station

We walked to our next destination which was our favorite shopping place for every Hong Kong visit, the China Hong Kong City Mall as mommy want to get something from the Esprit outlet. We took to the street to walk there since the drizzle paused. Bought a black sugar tea from the TP tea shop there and went to the 3rd floor where the outlet shop was. The MMhouse which sold Disney clothings was closed, unexpectedly early and so mommy went to the outlet herself while K and I sat outside to chill, mostly K spending some time on my handphone looking at the videos that I took.

China Hong Kong City mall
Bought tea from this tea shop
Esprit outlet
Lights in the night

When we were done, we returned to Causeway Bay in search for dinner. After getting thru the drizzle that resumed, we arrived at a King’s Dim Sum Store near our place and settled our dinner there, consisting of a bowl of chicken porridge, crusty char siew pao, XO carrot cake and a tapioca roll and a Milk tea for almost 300hkd. After a very filling meal as I normally will clear everything left on the plates, we return to the hotel room.

King’s Dim Sum for dinner
Siew Mai
Crusty bun and porridge
Tapioca roll
XO carrot cake
Glutinous rice

We packed for the return trip to Singapore the next day and played around with the direct phone to TV mirroring with my iPhone which I was pretty impressed with, although buffering was an issue. Then it was nights off after the usual kids banter, close to midnight.

Day 17 Home Sweet Home

Last day in Hong Kong after a long time away from home and we took it easy waking up late and just chilling and some packing. I went downstairs to get some milk tea from some 南龍冰室 cafe, one that had the old style Hong Kong feels and seemed like it had some really good milk tea. My parents had gotten quite a bit of pastries from the night before when they were out with the relatives, we had the egg tarts for breakfast. K spent the remaining time running between the two rooms, until it was time to check out and head for the airport slightly after noontime.

Mommy booked an Uber, the XL one but when it arrived we were unable to fit all our luggage in and my parents to had leave on that one while we booked another taxi. The hotel bell was especially helpful by moving the luggage in and out of the hotel when we had this crisis and also directing the jammed up traffic of the street just in front of the hotel due to some road works. He had advised us against using Uber since we may not be able to get everyone up whereas for the taxi companies, they would provide one that could allow space for more luggage when requested. The taxi came 30mins later and while it may be a little later than we planned, at least we were on our way.

The rest of the journey was no drama, checking in and some shopping at the airport (of course) where there was a Disney store. We were contemplating on getting another set of Ironman PJs for K as he loved wearing that set to sleep but didn’t and bought something else. Proceeded to board the plane soon after where I was met with a stuck screen but no biggie as I slept and K enjoyed his entertainment. Nothing interesting for the trip home except a visit to the latest Jewel mall where I had preview tickets to see the giant rain vortex, which was mesmerising.

Disney store in the airport
Infinite loop of loading…
Colourful lighting show of the rain vortex

This trip was one that we planned to go with the entire extended family after many failed attempts to do so previously. It was difficult to manage not only in logistics but more so in expectations since everyone of us were different in interests and tastes. However, it was made easier by allowing flexibility (a lot of it!) and isolating to just one or two locations. I was glad when my aunt from Hong Kong thanked me for arranging this, and that there weren’t any disagreements along the trip. This was not our first time in Seoul but it was still refreshing to visit since our last visit was very long time ago. I do not know if such trips were going to happen again but am certain it was going to be a while till the next time!

Hong Kong 2019 Day 15 – Sino Center and Hysan Place

Hong Kong Day didn’t start well with the weary weather that loomed overhead. Instead of going to Lamma Island that mommy initially wanted to go, fearing that the weather would not hold up (with weather forecast thunderstorms throughout the day), we decided to go have morning tea before deciding.

Called Uber and a BMW 5 series came to pick us up. Was informed that per car only allowed 5 persons and thus not to call Uber if we had more. After a few conversations on the location, he finally understood that we wanted to go to City hall and drove us there, just a couple of minutes away.

We got off and entered what looked like a concert theatre. Went up to the 2nd floor and found tons of people already queuing at the Maxim Palace restaurant. Went to pick up a queue number and was shocked to find that we were queue number 56, and the next in line to enter was number 4, a whopping 52 numbers behind. We abandoned this chance to eat the traditional push cart dim sum and walked into IFC instead.

City Hall building
Maxim Palace with a crowd
Clouds covering the Ritz on a rainy day
IFC Mall entrance
Panoramic view of the Hong Kong

Was introduced 2 restaurants by the IFC staff one more expensive with less queue and the other more affordable with longer queues. We went to the more expensive one first but found that there were reservations already and we had to eat within an hour. We didn’t want that so tried our luck at Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop and thankfully there was already one readily available for us. Ordered some porridge, carrot cake, XO sauce rolls, egg tarts and wantun noodles upsize and a bowl of sesame paste for dessert for about 300plus HKD. The noodles were pretty good and K almost finished the entire bowl on his own while the rest was ok too. While eating, we realized that we were lucky to get there early as a queue also started to form outside this restaurant.

One of the recommended – Lei Garden
IFC mall was huge
Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
Our orders of Dim Sum
Buns and egg tarts
XO sauce chee cheong fun
Sesame paste

After randomly roaming a few stores in IFC and deciding to abandon going to Lamma Island altogether, we decided to go to Sino Center in Mong Kok to buy some Nintendo Switch games which I thought that it would be cheaper to get from Hong Kong, and Sino Center was indicated on some webby that the concentrate of video games shops was located there.

Walked to Central station and took the subway to Mong Kok, and then it was a short 10mins walk to Sino Center. The whole street was crowded with people and so was the building itself. We took the escalator, went to the third floor skipping the second and immediately we found a shop that sold the games. Walked in to ask for the cost and was quoted 355HKD. Negotiated for a discount and was given 350 which I took it. I knew for a same game back in Singapore, it would have costed me 70SGD, and buying here would save me about minimum 7%. But it would have made more sense to get more since the transportation costs to get there would have equaled the amount of savings.

Sino Center
Where I bought my game of Mario Kart

K was complaining about being tired so we made our way back to the hotel. My parents was given a new room on the same level as us and fortunately, they were upgraded again, room with a nice view, a living room and not many mirrors! It even came with a nespresso machine!

Upgraded – living room
Huge bedroom
Toilet
Shower
View from the room

We put K in bed for a short nap and during this time, I went out to the park for a walk to play my Pogo and was surprised to see that the people in Hong Kong were pretty crazy over this game as well. There were many holding umbrellas in the tiny drizzle (I didn’t have one) catching the Pokemon as they strolled in the park (there was an event ongoing, explaining the sudden surge of people there). I spent about an hour walking to and fro and checking out the park where kids were racing water boats inside a fountain area before returning to the hotel to find K just waking up.

Victoria park
Toy jet boating at the fountain
Panoramic of one of the fountain at the park

We got ourselves ready and got out the hotel for dinner. This time we wanted to try roost goose and walked about 1.2km there. When we arrived at Kam’s Roost Goose, it was again crowded outside the restaurant. Asked if there was a queue and was informed that the restaurant was no longer taking customers and those outside were actually people lining up for takeaways. We left for another place to eat.

No chance at the Kam’s roost goose.

Retracing back the same route, we went into a certain Restaurant Kowloon to eat. Ordered fried rice, broccoli, sweet and sour pork, soup and white chicken, 2 drinks and a red bean ice for 400plus HKD. The food was not too bad but the amount was definitely more than just filling. K got a toy from one of the staff from an earlier incident which made him cry and was very eager to return to the room to play.

Restaurant Kowloon for dinner
Chicken
Fried rice (already started eating)
Other dishes

After dinner around 930pm, we walked to Hysan place and when we entered the building, there was an event ongoing for the Avengers movie and lots of toy models and characters models on display. We wanted to get a photo of K with his Ironman cap and realized that it was left in the restaurant. I returned to retrieve it and the staff actually kept it safe in a drawer.

Retro trolley buses on the street
Statue of Thanos
Collectable Avengers toys on display

After taking photos amongst the many people who were there for the same purpose, we decided to skip the shopping and return to the room. En-route, we stopped at a beancurd store called Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong (人和荳品廠) and bought some beancurd to eat. Shared with mommy original cold one while my parents got the hot almond flavored one and one with fruits cocktail. All these for about 30HKD, affordable simple desserts.

Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong beancurd store
Nice cool beancurd

Back at the room, K played with the toy and later proceeded with bath. Then it was milk and some a page of the Avengers sticker book before going to bed, slightly past midnight.

Hong Kong 2019 Day 14 – Seoul to Hong Kong

Transition day for us and so slept in late as usual while I had to wake up slightly earlier to pack. The transport that we booked was for 10am, giving us 3.5hrs to get from Seoul to Incheon Airport for the flight to Hong Kong scheduled at 135pm.

I had to dress K in this sleep and then turn on YouTube to automate the rest of the morning process. Soon he was already up and ready eating bread and having his milk.

We made it to the ground floor to find a black vehicle waiting downstairs but of a different vehicle number. Whatsapp the driver who helped with the booking and found that the vehicle was not the right one even though he thought that the vehicle had arrived. It wasn’t too long before our vehicle came.

This Chinese driver helped with the luggage as we all loaded up his vehicle, this time more spacious for us as my sister’s family had left on an earlier vehicle to Gimpo for their extension to Japan. The journey was a 1 hr drive to Incheon and it was spent with K chattering most of the time and playing with imaginative scenarios of ice cream making and trying to shoot some last photos of Seoul from the vehicle with my phone.

Leaving for the airport…many bridges around Seoul
Interesting looking building.
AREX train
Incheon Airport

We got off the vehicle, paid the 70k and as I wanted to whip out my phone to see if I could place some Pokémon at the Seoul gym, I found it missing. The transport! With all the contacts being made thru my phone, I was in a very difficult situation but thankfully I remembered that I got a name card from my first driver and was taking photo of it just in the morning in the vehicle with my camera. Found it in the bag and quickly called him. Though it was frustrating, he managed to call the driver who brought back the phone to me.

We carried out the check in at the self check in machine assisted by the staffs there and it was a breeze. They even helped with attaching the luggage stickers and we were off to dropping off the luggage at the counter. We were informed to stay back for 10mins to clear the luggage Xray in which we just visited the toilet and then left to queue to clear security and immigrations. It wasn’t too long before we were at the departures and granddad who was holding bags of goodies that we bought informed me that my strawberry jam from Pocheon strawberry farm was confiscated because it was not checked in!

Did some last minute shopping for mommy who wanted something from Nature Republic and then again to spend off some of the Korean Won, I bought more goodies to bring home while the rest of the family were having a small lunch of Udon at the Saboten outlet in the food court.

Robot at the charging station
Airstar Avenue for last minute shopping needs

We walked towards the gate with 15mins left and upon reaching found that we were last passengers to get on. Made it to our seats and then the plane was seated there for almost 15mins before it took to the skies. But this was not a problem as K was thoroughly entertained by the entertainment games. This plane was a new one, different from the ones we took from Singapore, and the entertainment system was new too!

There was time for me to watch 2 movies which I caught Into the Spiderverse and King of Comedy. K just played his Mickey Mouse game throughout and a little bit of Angry Birds. He was even lamenting why the plane landed so quickly before I had to pull him away to disembark.

I love the new screens
For the boy, pretty sumptuous

Clearing immigrations and customs was quick, even our luggage was out the moment we arrived at the belt. We met our Hong Kong relatives at the arrival hall who was there to pick up my aunt to return home. They then escorted us to the taxi stand where we separated and went on our way to Lanson Place hotel, the accommodation where mommy was staying for her business trip.

It was a one hour drive where we all slept and upon reaching, the kind bellboys just took over all the barang barang and we could just go to the 1st floor for check in. Did a check in for my parents since mommy already checked in for her room and as we requested for the same floor, there wasn’t one. They gave an upgrade to my parents which was twice the room size but when they looked at the place and found too many mirrors and felt uncomfortable, they were given a room at the much lower level instead.

TV and a desk
Queen bed
Small pantry with stove
Rain shower

 

Toilet

We got out for dinner and visited a Wing Kee noodle store and joined a queue that already formed. The noodle store concept was like Yong Tau Foo and we ordered 2 bowls with 4 and 3 varieties and a bowl of vegetables. Shared mine with K who loved this place as he loved noodles and could take the Tau Pok, fish cake and even the vegetables while mommy gave him some pork. I found the soup base really good and that complimented the other food that had a good texture. Worth the queue that didn’t take too long and the affordable price of 114HKD.

Wing Kee noodle store with its queue
Yummy noodles

Proceeded to Yee Shun Milk company to have some desserts and ordered the steamed milk with red bean for mommy and chocolate flavor for me while my parents had the original and lotus seed one. The staff had to confirm the order so many times that we wondered why she didn’t bother to just write it down. The dessert tasted good, the same that I remembered it to be the last time I tried, which explained the always fully occupied seats in the store. Paid 155HKD for 4 desserts.

Yee Shun milk company at Causeway Bay
Red bean
Chocolate

Spent the night walking around the streets and taking photos. There were big movies displays for photos and we got some photos with the Avengers at Hysan place and another with Dumbo at Lane Crawford.

Avengers Endgame exhibit
4D Dumbo experience
Dumbo exhibits to take photos with

After this short walk around the streets that were still crowded with people brightly lit with colourful lights, we returned to the rooms for the night. Mommy had some time to catch up play time with K on his whack-a-mole before we all turn in for the night.

Streets of Causeway Bay at night

Escape Plan to South Korea & Hong Kong March 2019

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to South Korea and Hong Kong:

Total duration 18D17N
Singapore is 1hr behind of Korea and same timezone as Hong Kong.
Flight time is 4hrs 5mins on Cathay Airlines from Singapore to Hong Kong, a 50mins transit followed by a 4hrs 50mins time on Cathay Airlines from Hong Kong to Incheon Airport Seoul.

Return flight is 3hrs 55mins on Cathay Airlines from Hong Kong to Singapore.

Friday night flight on 29th Mar at 810pm and arrival in Hong Kong in the morning of the 30th Mar at 1215am followed by a flight at 105am and arrival in Korea in the same morning at 555am.

Return flight from Hong Kong on the 15th Apr at 230pm and same day arrival in Singapore at 625pm.

Day 0-1 Flying and Gamcheon Village in Busan
Day 2 Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival and arrival into Geoje
Day 3 Cruise to Oedo Island, Tong Yeong Hallyeosudo cable car and Junggang market
Day 4 Hakdong beach, Windy hill and drive to Yeosu, Odongdo island
Day 5 Yeosu Rail bike, Aqua Planet and Teddy bear museum
Day 6 Drive to Jeonju, cheese theme park and Jeonju old town
Day 7 Explore Jeonju and drive to Wolmido
Day 8 Fairytale land, Chinatown and back to Seoul
Day 9 Yeouido park, Noryanjin Market and Myeongdong
Day 10 Lotte World Adventure theme park
Day 11 Nami Island, Gangchon rail park and Garden of Morning Calm
Day 12 Dongdaemun and Lotte Outlet
Day 13 Strawberry farm, Pocheon Art Valley and Herb Island light festival
Day 14 Seoul to Hong Kong
Day 15 Sino Center and Hysan Place
Day 16 Hong Kong Space museum and shopping at CHKC
Day 17 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was the first time in donkey years that we travel with my extended family. It was not an easy itinerary to begin with, having to plan different flights for my wife, my parents, my aunt in HK and for me and my boy, as we were flying different times, for reasons such as for business, for best price and for breaking the trip. There was also trying to plan a bit of something for my parents and for the kids. Glad that everything turned out well.

Budget nature: Rather Expensive 

Costs of living in Korea was quite high especially in the cities, car rentals was expensive too. This was offset by the optimisation of squeezing into Airbnb units in Seoul and getting the better deal through Klook and utilising discount coupons from tourism book brought over from Singapore.

Complexity: High

Due to different flight times (5 different tickets) for everyone, we had to get all the dates and times right before purchasing the tickets. Travel by car outside the city was still fine but met with heavy traffic when in Busan. Thankfully for the Hyundai Sonata in-car GPS, it was a little easier to navigate as Google maps do not work, and Naver app wasn’t driver friendly. Travelling via public transport in Seoul was easy but not so in a taxi as we were easily lost in translation, and getting taxis for a big group was a challenge itself, as the taxis can only take up to a certain number of people.

Hong Kong 2017 Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

Final day before returning home and the morning was spent in bed. Our flight was at 210pm and thus we had to leave by 11. We initially wanted to visit the Kowloon park to let K enjoy a little bit of playground before going home but it was not to be, as K slept all the way till 930am. By the time he woke up, got prepared and all, it was almost time to check out.

After packing all our shopping goodies into a pumped luggage, we checked out at 1055am. The staff informed that we could get a taxi to the airport for a fixed fee of HKD230, which was a pretty good deal and so had them arranged one for us, while we would go check out Heritage 1881 which typically would have nice Xmas deco.

It was a brisk walk there and we weren’t disappointed by this years theme of rocking horses and beautiful display of a traditional western building. Took some quick photos and K even managed to ride on one of the rocking horses before we proceeded back to the hotel just in time before the taxi arrived at 1120am.

Xmas display at Heritage 1881

Warmth from a fireplace display

Old style display with Xmas tree

Rocking horse is the theme

Again because of the busy street, we had to move quickly to prevent a jammed up situation and reduce the horning on the road. Other wise it was a slow drive out of the main city and a total journey of 45mins to the airport.

Checked in at the SQ counter and then we proceeded to Tsui Wah restaurant, like we always do before leaving Hong Kong. This time we had some pork noodles and hor fun for brunch with K sharing our food, though he didn’t really liked it.

Tsui Wah Restaurant

Pork ribs noodles

Hor Fun

After paying HKD230 for the meals with HK milk teas, we went to window shop a while, mommy buying some HK snacks while K and I visited some of the toys shops there. Then we proceeded to go to the gates, and it was all pretty smooth as it wasn’t really busy at that time. Had a little time at Zara though we didn’t get anything before boarding the A380 back to Singapore, an older plane compared to the one we took to Hong Kong.

Gate for departure

The programs on the plane were slightly more updated and a little different. The flight back had a few turbulence but was nothing major. K even took a nap of an hour before we landed in downcast Singapore.

This was a short getaway to Hong Kong, mainly for the purpose of visiting Disneyland as a way to celebrate our boy’s birthday. Overall it was kinda rushed as time literally flew while we were there. I guessed a lot of time was spent waiting and thus the timing of the activities could have been better planned. Overall it was still enjoyable, very tiring and we missed out the food this time around.

Hong Kong 2017 Day 4 – Shopping Day Esprit outlet @ China Hong Kong City, iSquare

Shopping day started late, everyone overslept and worst was K who only woke up at 930am. But it was ok since that was the only item on our itinerary. I had gone downstairs to the bakery to get some egg tarts and bread and we had these for breakfast before getting ready to visit the malls.

The place where we stayed was just so close to everything else, we strolled towards Harbour City where we visited the last time, nothing much changed except that there wasn’t a sale going on now. After depositing one of the bags at the available rental lockers, and short window shopping later, we then moved on to China Hong Kong city, where there was a outlet Esprit outlet store where mommy spent most of the time there. K and me got ourselves comfortable on the seats outside as we watched videos that I had taken and played Pogo, till my battery was not having much power left.

Lockers of different sizes

Lockers at Harbour city

Inside Harbour City

China Hong Kong City mall

Inside CHKC mall

Esprit outlet

Then it was time for lunch and we went back to retrieve the bag that costed another HKD10 but there was a change machine so it was good. We googled and Yum Cha came out to be one of a recommended restaurant for dim sum. It was near too, and thus we walked 15mins to that location. Along the way, we stopped by iSquare to take a photo with its Xmas deco that had a Lego theme to it and K doing his heart shape pose with the heart shape deco there.

Upon reaching Granville road, we couldn’t really find the entrance as it was on the 3rd floor and found it to be part of a hotel called attitude on Granville. The restaurant was beautifully decorated, out of our expectations thinking that it was supposed to be another type of old style Hong Kong dim sum place.

Mommy placed order for 6 items and the buns were really cute to say the least. The Cha Siew bun were in the shape of a pig and the custard bun had eyes. Generally the food was tasting great, just not the traditional taste that we were familiar with dim sum. Probably these were more fusion taste. The bill was quite high too, HKD430..

Entrance to Yum Cha restaurant

Yum Cha restaurant

Inside Yum Cha restaurant

Interesting 3D goldfish in a bowl

Cute buns

Onion pancake

Fried chang fen

BBQ chicken and lotus chips and carrot cake

We left for the iSquare to visit the supermarket and mommy also splurged on some cutely designed expensive chocolates to try, by Lucullus.

Lucullus bakery

Chocolate from Lucullus

By the time we returned back to the room it was already past 4. K took a dump and down a packet of milk before 2 storybooks and was knocked out 5mins on the bed. The parents also rested the time K was sleeping.

Before we knew it, it was already 630pm and while I had initially proposed to visit a certain Sino Center (retro stuff could be found there according to some forums) to see if we could buy cheap DVDs of Disney cartoons, we felt too lazy to go that far and settled for visiting HMV back at iSquare again. Took a short walk back to iSquare (in fact it was much shorter on land than taking the underground route), and went up one floor, after taking some photos at the Xmas display now lighted up.

HMV was a huge store with lots of selection, guessed it was one of the few surviving ones left as online digital world killing retail all over. There was a couple of selections of Disney films and we got Frozen for HKD140 something. It wasn’t cheap but at least we could watch it in the apartment. Later, on the return, we bought some snack food of fish balls and egg pastries for dinner, as we didn’t feel too hungry for a proper meal.

Fish balls

Eggy pastries

Back at the apartment, we tried to used the DVD player and couldn’t turn it on. Got the hotel staff and assist and he managed to turn it on after changing the batteries on the remote. Thankfully this worked if not it would have been a waste for the DVD purchase.

The night was spend in front of the TV, getting K associated with the characters since he liked the song. The usual routine of clean up and story books and bedtime follow after, seemed like a short night but still late getting into bed.

Hong Kong 2017 Day 3 – Ngong Ping and Citygate Outlet Mall

Third day in Hong Kong and we slept in a little more. It was much more tiring than I thought, underestimating the effect of the growing K against overestimating my capability as I aged. We only woke up at 8ish and K at 9am, after switching on the TV for some time and letting the cartoons wake him up naturally.

Everything was pretty smooth up to the point where he wanted to watch more TV instead of leaving. Whined and cried until we had to leave him in the room to force him to obey. We could have stayed longer if there was the luxury of time.

We walked outside to explore the external facilities and found deco that mimicked a scene of Hollywood, with the famous sign. We took a photo with the ocean behind us and took K to the playground that instantly removed his grouch from the morning while I went to do the check out. It was pretty quick since there was no queue and we got to keep the door cards for remembrance.

Lift at Disney Hollywood Hotel

Retro car at the hotel compound

Panoramic view from the compound

Hollywood Hotel sign

Garden path behind the hotel

Playground within the compound

Hotel Swimming pool

Entertainment for the young at hotel lobby

Room cards for souvenirs

Back at the playground K finished his round of slides, tremendously happy and we went to the shuttle bus to bring us to the train station. There was a UNICEF run that morning and thus the roads were blocked with a line of traffic built up. Thankfully there wasn’t much of an impact and we were soon at the MTR, paid a HKD15 per person to Tung Chung.

It was already 11am by the time I checked in my bags into lockers at Citygate outlet malls (HKD10 for 2 hrs, first 6hrs and subsequently doubled after that). There was only payment by notes and I paid HKD20 for it.

Exit C towards Citygate Outlets

Lockers at the basement

Lockers

Went back through the MTR station to buy some breakfast from a bakery and proceeded to exit B on the other side, in the direction of the cable car station. Had our bread out in the open before a short stroll up the escalator and joining the queue at the prebooked line where again I have gotten my tickets from Klook. Since we had to redeemed at the counter, we had to wait again for almost 25mins before we got our tickets. Again it was a combination of a popular destination plus Sunday that summed up to the waiting time.

Map showing route to cable car station

Citygate outlets

Aroma bread for breakfast

The cable car line was again long but because the cable cars were coming in fast and furious, we cleared the line in no time, in about 10mins. Luckily we didn’t take the crystal cabin as it took a much longer time since the frequency of the cable cars were much lower but the line was long. We shared the cable car with another 2 groups as each one could take up to 10 people. Just before the cable car left the station, the staff would take photos for each group.

Ngong Ping cable car

Queue to Klook counter

A lot of people during the weekend

Map of cable car route

Tickets to cable car

The journey took about 25mins crossing seas and climbing mountains. Along the way we saw trekkers taking the footpath making their way up. The view would have been awesome if not for the mist that shrouded the skies, blurring everything. We saw the Big Buddha seated on top a hill and we knew we were almost there, arriving at the station at about 1225pm.

Much shorter queue for standard cable car

View from cable car

Big buddha and temple seen from cable car

Walking through the modern ancient Ngong Ping village, we quickly used the restroom there before heading towards the Big Buddha for the arduous climb up many flights of stairs to the top. It was a lot of hard work especially carrying a 11kg load on my shoulder. Took a few photos along the way, enjoyed the scenery for a bit before descending down, equally challenging and quite painful for my ankles which was probably inflamed due to gout.

Ngong Ping village

Xmas display at Ngong Ping

Walking through the village theme street

Tree with hanging wishing oranges

Gate towards the Big Buddha

Free roaming cows

Steep climb to the top

Panoramic view from the buddha

Close up view of the Big Buddha

Many flights of steps climb down

Then we wanted to visit the Wisdom Path, a place where the running man visited when they were in Hong Kong (a scene mommy remembered but I didn’t have a clue). The sign indicated a 15mins walk which shouldn’t be far. We saw a few free roaming cows along the way and then it was a footpath through the forest. We reached a clearing and then on the right were many tall pillars with inscriptions on it. Frankly I liked the majestic view of it and the nice weather and blue skies made walking there very much worth it. A short rest later, we took the return journey, distracting K with finding small sticks for him to break so that he could walk himself, which he did amazingly all the way back to start of the path.

Wisdom path

Walk through the forest

Clearing near the pillars

Many pillars of wisdom

We skipped the visit to Po Lin monastery since it was already 140pm. Went into a Ngong Ping 360 shop to get some souvenirs before going to a wishing board to hang a wish tag (given by the shop). Then it was lunchtime at Zen Noodle cafe, where we ordered fried rice and ramen plus a big plate of xiao bai chai so that K could have some vegetables, at a price of HKD250.

Ngong Ping Village map

Wishing board

Zen noodle cafe

Fried rice

Ramen

Vegetables

By the time we left for the station for the return trip down, it was already 250pm, and the line was much shorter. This time round the crystal cabin cleared faster too since there was a much shorter queue. So the better idea was to take a standard cabin up and a crystal cabin down, if anyone would like a taste of the crystal cabin. It didn’t matter to us and again it was with 3 groups when we boarded the cable car.

The mist had cleared revealing the the blue of the skies and the nice scenery around. K was just as excited going down as when he was going up, talking really loudly and really chatty.

View on the return cable car

View of the waters on return

Back on the ground K was beginning to feel tired so we tried entering a restaurant with long cushion seating to get him to sleep but he didn’t want. We decided and we would carry him till he dozed off which happened really quickly and then returned to the same Urban city diner and let him lay on the seat while I had some coffee and mommy carry out her shopping first.

Urban Cafe

There wasn’t free WiFi so I relied on my data roam to keep me entertained until mommy came back, half an hour later. She had a pair of jeans that she wanted to get and would combine with mine for an additional discount. Then placing K’s head on a rolled up jacket, I left for my shopping time.

Crowded Citygate

As the website of Citygate mentioned that there was free handphone charging so I went to the counter whom advised that the charging station was across the bridge at the other building. I proceeded to walk to the other building as approached the information counter there, expecting to see some lockers with charging cables. But when the staff brought me there, I was disappointed to see that it was an open area with 4 miserable cables, all fully utilized. Waste of time, I went back to start my shopping.

A sucker for jeans, the Evisu outlet was the store that I spent a lot of time there, and I scored a pair of jeans with 70% off plus a 10 that mommy wanted to get ( only thing was I had to return to check with her if that was the pair she left at the counter). After paying, I returned to the restaurant as K had woken up. We paid for the drinks and went to the 10th floor where 10th Avenue was, the entire floor dedicated to shoes.

Lift to 10th Avenue

At the 10th Avenue

All the shoes shops

As I was looking for both a pair of running shoes and a pair of shoes for the new year, we all bought at least a pair from there. After K changed his diapers, we went to Hugo boss where I got myself some shirt (the cheaper ones, they were really comfortable). That was the end of my shopping experience but it had already added up the weight to lug back to the hotel.

Inside Citygate

Claiming the bag left in the locker, I had to pay an additional of HKD50, in which I paid 60 as I didn’t have a 10 dollar note and there was no change given. Bought the tickets back to TST station for HKD19.5 each and we were on an hour journey back, including the long walk within the station (so thankful for the travelators as my back was breaking). We went to iSquare to visit a Maxim cake shop to get a small piece of cake for K as it was his actual day birthday and then returned to Citadines. Checked in was quick as the staff knew who we were as we had initially stayed there and gave us the keys.

Receipt from the locker

Maxim’s cakes

This time around, we were one floor higher but with the exact same design. We put everything down, rested a bit while K watched a video and then proceeded to a diner called Sweetheart Garden restaurant just across the street for dinner. Although mommy wanted to visit a Cha Chan Ting, we had to settle for this since it was almost 9pm already. Mommy ordered a sumptuous pork chop with fish and fried egg rice and a black pepper pork chop served on a hot plate. K shared the rice with mommy and I took pork chop.

Room

Separated toilet and wash basin

Tub

Small desk

Kitchenette equipment

Living room

Goodies from the outlet mall

Garden Restaurant

Soup and bread

Fried rice with egg and cutlet

Chicken chop on hot plate

Milk tea and red bean dessert

Halfway through, mommy and K returned to the room first as he said that he wanted to go poo. Left myself to finish whatever was on the table and paid around HKD 216. Retrieved our luggage and from reception and also our delivery from Door Door, super delicious nougat shop, and brought everything back to the room.

Went to reception to borrow a lighter for lighting up Ks candles but was informed that there wasn’t one available but the staff could lend it to us as she was a smoker. Went to get it from the reception was told to return it only at check out, a nice gesture. Back at the room, we sang a birthday song for K and he blew out the 3 candles after multiple attempts, the 4th time this month he was celebrating (school, and with the grandparents). After a few mouthfuls of cakes, it was bath time, storytime and bedtime.

My ankles were still painful after taking some pills but the tiredness overtook the pain and drove me to dreamland quickly, a eventful day at Lantau island.

Hong Kong 2017 Day 2 – Disneyland

Woke up early as my bodily clock didn’t change even overseas. Spent some time jotting and completing the travel memories from the day before and spent some time on Pogo, which was having a thanksgiving event.

Mommy woke up when her alarm sounded at 730 and she started preparing the soup and pasta for K. K woke up at around 830am, also around the same time he usually wakes up back in Singapore. Though he looked a little tired, the thought of visiting Disneyland made him excited again.

After having our pastries that mommy bought for breakfast, and a little TV, K got changed and was ready to go, even chasing his slow poke parents to hurry up – it was a first!

We finally checked out at about 930ish and left our main luggage at the hotel as we would be back the next day. Walked to TST MTR and bought 2 tickets costing HKD46 in all to Disneyland. It was a short ride back to Central, a 10mins walk and then around a 20mins journey on the orange line. Then finally a changeover to a dedicated pink line in which a Mickey Mouse design train arrived and picked up the passengers. Even the interior was different and felt a little more atas then the usual one. K was amused!

MTR train with Mickey window

Mickey design handles too.

Interior layout was different from the standard trains

Statue of Donald Duck in the MTR

We arrived shortly at around 1030am, 30mins after park opening and already there were hordes of people around. After a few quick shots at the fountain, we proceeded past the bags check which took a while as the security was a little slow and unsure, then straight to the entrance as we had already purchased 2 adult tickets on Klook. Having already downloaded the voucher on the phone, we entered using the QR codes and were given 2 physical tickets at the gate itself.

Disneyland MTR station looked like a fantasy train station

Fountain at the entrance of Disneyland

Our tickets

Using the HK Disneyland app which was just really useful, we could locate all the services we needed. So mommy went to get a stroller for rental cos we knew K wouldn’t walk that long and the park was huge and I went to drop off my heavy haversack at the locker rental. It was HKD100 for the stroller rental and similarly for the locker rental too.

Stroller rental rates

Locker rental place

Quite a few lockers to choose from

Panoramic view the spacious Disneyland resort

As there was a show about to start, we went straight to the Fantasyland and entered a huge theatre. It was almost like a real musical and the effects were pretty fascinating. There was also fake snow and ending had falling confetti which wowed the crowd. Songs from the Disney movies such as the Little mermaid, Tangled and Brave and of course Frozen entertained all. But K wasn’t impressed and wanted to return to the hotel, maybe because he hadn’t seen any of the movies and had no connection to them, except “let it go”.

3 Disney princesses

Colourful stage such as this Aladdin

Kids’ fave – Elsa

After the show ended, we popped next door to the “it’s a small world” and K actually changed his mind about taking the boat ride. However, we got him on the slow boat ride and he was amazed by the different displays that brought him through different continents complemented with Disney characters. He then wanted to go one more round! After we exited and mommy went to the toilet while we took some photos of the castle outside, did I convinced him to go check out other stuff, such as visiting Tinklebell at the fairytale forest. He wasn’t even interested in taking the flying dumbo rides or the Cinderella carousel.

Tiny world castle

While inside, lining up for the boat

Toy soldiers

Colourful themes of countries

Another world

We entered the forest that had an interesting display of Disney’s princesses’ stories from Rapunzel, Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White. Different displays all had a fake winding mechanism that K like to wind. He went through it all without asking to be carried which was good. However he was disappointed he wasn’t able to find Tinklebell at the location, there wasn’t even a time schedule so we just told him that she wasn’t around at the moment and we could try later.

Fantasy Forest

7 dwarves

Tale as old as time

Beauty and the Beast castle

Castle with a garden

Cinderalla castle

Underwater castle

Where’s tinkerbell?

We proceeded to lunch at Clopins festival of food after we saw a long queue at the Royal Banquet Hall. It was around HKD 112 for a set meal of main and a soft drink, which mommy bought a BBQ chicken set and I got myself a huge bowl of Wanton noodles. K gobbled up his pasta and even had a bit of my noodles, all the while kept entertained by his pencil tablet.

BBQ chicken set

Wanton noodles

Clopins’ festival of food eatery

We got K to change his diapers at the restroom and tried the fairytale forest one last time after our lunch and found out after exiting from the staff that Tinkerbell would only be there at 3pm, a little late already. So mommy brought K and boarded the park train while I brought the stroller back to the rental location as the stroller cannot go up the train. Met them at the main train station and as I parked the stroller back at the rental store, promising to return later after Ks afternoon nap, and retrieve our haversack, mommy went to the store for some shopping.

Internal train within the park

Spewing volcano for an adventurous boat ride

Xmas tree in the middle of the park

K wanted the bubble making toy and broke down crying and whining for it and only stopped after I brought him outside the store and ignored him. Down the Main Street people lined the sides waiting for the parade to start at 3pm. K then requested to enter to store again, this time being more obedient, knowing that he couldn’t have the bubble toy until much older and settled for a interesting Lightning McQueen cup instead.

Met mommy who was still busy shopping for stuff (HKD600 ish spent) and have her paid for the cup while I brought K out of the store to see huge display mobiles on the street, where dances with music were performed by people and costumed characters. It was frankly quite impressive and even K thought it was nice. However it was short lived as it was already at the end of the parade and they were already moving off.

Inside the huge souvenir shop

Afternoon parade with Tinkerbell

Toy story

Back at the store, mommy was still in line. After the payment, we exited the park with invisible stamps on our hands for reentry, already 4pm. Thought that the resort was nearby so I made the decision to walk, and it was about a 10mins walk. Felt difficult as I was carrying the day bag and K on my shoulder. We entered the Disneyland hotel only to find out that I booked the Hollywood hotel via the reception after lining up for my turn. I forgotten I booked the cheaper option, it was no wonder the original Disneyland hotel looked more grand. Boarded the shuttle bus just outside and alighted at the right one, 2 stops away.

Walking path back to the resort

Disneyland hotel entrance

Check in done and we were up to the top 2nd floor. There was a nice birthday cake display and a greeting card for K which he was happy about it. The accessories were also nice and even had nice room slippers, a pair for K. We quickly changed his diapers and gave him a packet of milk, read a story and he was then fast asleep. The parents took the time to nap as well before I woke up to write up this blog. Before I knew it, K was awake after 2hrs of nap time.

Disney Hollywood hotel

Inside the hotel

Xmas feels

2 queens

Mini bar next to the corridor

Bathroom sink

Tub

Toiletries box

Disney themed toiletries

Birthday gift

Cute room slippers

Not so awesome view

We left the room at 7pm and caught the shuttle bus back to the park. The skies were already dark and the streets were illuminated with lots of lights overflowing with the Xmas feels. Though these were essentially the same things in the day, it looked nicer in the night.

Xmas deco on the windows

Night view of Hollywood hotel

Shuttlebus back to the theme park

We went through the security again after some photos at the fountain and even though there was a priority queue for hotel guests, it made no difference as there weren’t many people entering the park at this time.

Theme park gate lighted up

The fountain at night

We couldn’t find one of our tickets but because we had the stamp on our hands, we were allowed reentry thankfully. Made a beeline to reclaim our stroller while K and mommy went to the giant Xmas tree to take some pictures. Then proceeded in the direction of Iron man expo, in the hope of using a priority pass that hotel guests were given.

Lights lined buildings

As we hit the Main Street, we found many people seated along the kerb – the parade was about to begin and I had forgotten about it. We walked the furthest we could and stopped to watch the parade instead. It was a better idea as it was awesome!

The street lights were dimmed for the parade and then from a distance, we could hear music as big display mobiles and street dancers headed our direction. The dazzling lights on both the dancers and the mobiles wowed the crowd as they strolled past us, entertaining people young and old. I thought it was way better than any parade than I have seen, like Chingay, only much more dazzling. One by one, K’s favorite character turned up, starting with the flying Tinklebell, and a red hot Lightning McQueen and his huge disco container truck. Mickey was last but had one of the most eye catching moving display, suited his wizardry theme and many others in between.

K’s fave, Lightning McQueen

Mac, the container truck from Cars

Beauty and a huge rose

Slinky dog from Toy Story

Fantasia Mickey as the finale

As the parade ended at almost 8 and people cleared the street, we could finally walk to the Ironman expo. We had to walk back from theatre to Tomorrowland after I mistaken where I thought it was. K was pretty hyped to go see Iron man but were left disappointed when we found that there was height limit. Checking back on the app, the one applicable for all ages was the Heroic encounter instead of Ironman experience. The heroic encounter was closed unfortunately.

We then decided to return to it’s a tiny world to take the boat since he liked it in the afternoon and also agreed to go there instead. Then a brisk walk later, we found it closed, a 2nd disappointment, and K was close to tears. Consoled K a bit and we then went around to look for dinner. Went past the other side then we missed completely in the afternoon and found most of the areas closed already. Ended up at the USA streets and in the Plaza Inn restaurant, thinking that since it was $$$ in price, we could most likely get a seat. Dead wrong, there were in fact 15 more people waiting in front of us, according to the queue number.

We walked again, this time back to the place that we had lunch in the afternoon and found it closed. The staff pointed us to the Royal Banquet Hall and the second time we pass through the brightly lighted carousel ( one of the few attractions on OT), we entered the impressive Beauty and the beast medieval theme hall and got a seat while mommy went to buy food.

She came back with a trolley of 3 meals, HKD130 each which was too much for 2.5 people. There was meatball spaghetti, baked rice and curry chicken rice and K was ok having the spaghetti and fish from my baked rice. I couldn’t finish the spaghetti as the baked rice was huge enough for myself already.

Royal Banquet Hall

Meatball spaghetti

Curry chicken rice and baked rice

Inside the Banquet hall

We ate till 855 and then we rushed outside to catch the fireworks, which was back at the USA street. This meant we actually made two rounds around the park in that night alone! The main space in front of the famous Disney castle was already packed and we tried to get as close as possible. The spectacle was about to begin.

Music and snippets of Disney movies begin to show, using the castle as a screen. Then later, small teasing fireworks shot up the sky. Both music and movie complemented the buildup in intensity of the fireworks, much like telling a magical story, which was a similar concept that we saw the entire day in the park. Soon flames and spotlights also came in and gave the night sky canvas a beautiful combination. It was a pity that we were slightly too near to the action and too sideways to see the entire view but still fireworks were always nice to watch. K felt a little scared and wanted to leave but I tried to calm him down, telling him that it was ok while seated on my shoulder.

Whatever best shots I took

The 15mins show ended and then it was a mass movement of people towards the exit. Slowly but surely we took baby steps to get out, passing through the USA streets that by now was snowing (foam). Incredible Xmas feelings warmed the heart, K having fun seeing snow falling on mommy’s head. With the Xmas tree in the middle, we tried to get a family selfie.

Xmas tree lighted up

Returned the stroller quickly and exited the park, with Santa Goofy singing some Xmas tunes with singers at the main train station. Went back to the shuttle bus station and I thought we had to wait since there were so many people leaving, but the clever management anticipated the huge influx of leaving crowd and catered additional buses to ferry the guests back the hotel so we didn’t have to wait. 5mins ride and we were back in the hotel.

MTR station looked nice too

Shuttlebus station

Visited the hotel shop to get a gift for nephew and after a while, we returned to the hotel room. I was physically tired and had to rest a little before giving K a bath in the tub while K was playing his all new remote control Lightning McQueen car. He spent some time in the tub, like all kids loved, changed to pyjamas, and later watched Disney’s cartoons (those I remembered watching before when I was much younger). His parents bathed, cleaned up the containers and bottles and packed for the next day. Made K a bottle of milk and 2 storybooks later, it was lights off, mommy alone on her queen bed and K sharing it with me on another.

Hotel souvenir store

Hong Kong 2017 Day 1 – Arrival at Hong Kong and visit to the Peak

K’s birthday trip to Hong Kong started early on Friday morning. To catch that 955am flight, the parents woke at 630 ish while K had the slightly luxury to wake 15mins later. Having down a bottle a milk, getting dressed dazed but knowing that he was going to get on a plane helped get him out of bed way faster than a normal school day. Dad drove us to the airport taking the PIE, and while we were aware that K might puke in the car, he didn’t – traffic was light and we got to the airport in slightly more than half an hour.

We helped ourselves with the printing of the luggage tags and drop the luggage at the new hi tech looking bed drop and then we were through the departure and the immigrations. Sat ourselves at Pret A Manger (been a while since we visited) for some drinks while K had his chiffon cake for breakfast and plane watching for entertainment. We were also given by the Changi staff a airplane-neck pillow, which K enjoyed playing with.

Hi tech auto bag drop

Before proceeded to the combined gates (A1-A5 I think) area, we changed his diapers at one of the diaper changing area. Older now, he initially chose to lie on the koala fold down table and to buckle up but later we got him to stand up since he was going to use diaper pants.

Boarding happened soon after and there was a long line to the plane. We settled quickly before K started his marathon viewing of Baby First, something he remembered where he was watching it on another flight before. There was a water spill incident at the seat in front of us and the passengers in front had to be reseated somewhere else, good because K was always kicking the seat in front.

The child food came after K downed a 250ml but his appetite was a little surprising as he munched down the entire bread with butter plus a big amount of the egg omelette. We had to stop him from eating some more fearing that he would vomit everything out if he didn’t feel well. The fear was for nothing as he managed well, even though he didn’t sleep at all.

Avengers colouring set for the kids

Child’s meal

Uncovering a smooth omelette underneath

I managed to catch Pirates of the Caribbean Dead: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and K had the baby TV and his scribble pad, and a change of diapers at the seat later, we had landed in the cool (literally) country of Hong Kong, 20mins late (since we took off 25mins late due to the busy flights at Changi).

Cloudy, weatherman was right

We got to the immigrations and there was a long snaking line that took about 15mins to clear. There was another passenger with the same name as K at the next counter which we found amusing as we didn’t know it was that common. Picked up the luggage at the belt immediately after clearing the immigrations and my “reservoir” and we were outside trying to hunt for voucher booklet but didn’t see any. Later we boarded the urban taxi heading towards Tsim Sha Tsui, HKD306 and 45 min later, we arrived at the narrow one way street for our accommodation, Citadines Ashley.

Xmas deco along the path

Red for urban taxi into Hong Kong

No queue

One of the staff on seeing us struggling, me trying to keep the change that the driver gave me and at the same time negotiating with 2 luggage, came out to help. Showing the voucher I had in my iPhone wallet, check in was easy. Before we knew it, we were at the 18th floor of this hotel.

Citadines

Spacious living room

Bed

Bathtub

Separate sink outside

Kitchenette stuff

Hob for cooking

View from window extending camera

What we could see

K who was awoke after getting off the taxi, drank a packet of milk before we went back to napping. Both parents rested too but it was a short nap before mommy got up to cook soup and went downstairs to get some egg tarts while I lazed in bed. Eventually, K woke at about 510pm and had some snacks before we left for our first attraction of this trip, the Peak.

Having bought the tickets on Klook, we were supposed to meet up at exit K at Central MTR. If was 10mins walk from our accommodation to Tsim Sha Tsui station and then a short 5mins ride to Central. It was peak hour and as the ticketing kiosk was crowded, it was challenging to get tickets, someone even tried to cut out queue which we told them off, only to find the machine’s notes “eater” faulty. To make it easier, we went to the counter which had a queue but was at most a 2 mins wait.

The MTR wasn’t packed like a sardine even though it was busy, there were even seats. We got to exit K in no time and it was easy to spot the 2 guides holding small orange Klook flags. Getting behind a queue, I gave my phone to the guide that returned me with 2 ARV tickets (A adults, R return and V for train and sky terrace). Since K was under 3 I didn’t get him one. There was 3 groups of people segregated by languages, biggest being Chinese (unsurprisingly), and English and Korean, making it a 100 people crowd. At 615pm ( the last time slot for group booking on Klook), we started walking to the Tram station.

Klook group at the entrance with the orange flags

Klook tour group sticker

Our tickets to the Peak

This was when it started to become a bad idea. When I booked the tickets (SGD 17 each), I forgotten that it was a Friday evening. This was peak time for the Peak. The short 5mins walk to the station became 10mins as the street was packed with people and cars with tourists and people getting off work. We got to bypass a few buildings like the HSBC bank building and Cheung Kong center (owned by the richest man in Hong Kong) before we found ourselves lining behind a very long snaking queue alongside garden Road.

Huge Xmas tree at HSBC building

Office of the richest tychoon in Hong Kong

The queue was crazy!

The wait was as long as 1hr and I immediately regretted going on this trip, wondering when K could have his dinner. From about 640pm I stood in the queue while mommy and K walked about at the fountain and joined later as we were about to go into the station itself, and finally only boarded at about 740pm. And it was chaotic, even though we had a kid and people were reminded not to push, there was still a lot of pushing. Mommy managed to get onboard first and chope seats while I came up slightly later with K, after pushing through the crowd past the small doorway of the tram, feeling disgusted of the lack of civil mindedness but wasn’t surprised at with a predominantly big group of Chinese tourists.

Fountain at the Peak station

At the entrance

Some of the exhibits

Tram arriving

Inside the tram

Getting off at the station, we went through the “market” place and then getting info from the guide, we went in search of food. There was Madame Tussaud that we didn’t get tickets for and a free “trick eye museum” of sort that we bypassed, a Jap restaurant, Bubble Gump and Hard Rock that we saw but ended up at Chinese restaurant called Lu Feng which didn’t have a queue and most likely have fried rice that K could have with his soup.

Marketplace of souvenir store

Multi storey mall at the Peak

We were brought upstairs that revealed a nicely designed interior and had beautiful views of the city but were told that it was fully reserved. Ordered Ying Yang fried rice (2 flavors on the same plate) and a beef fried hor fun. I thought it tasted pretty good and K had a bit of both but was quick to give up eating saying he was full. As usual, I had to eat up the leftovers but it was quite nice in my opinion.

Lu Feng restaurant

Restaurant with a view

Retro style design

Beef hor fun

Ying Yang fried rice

After some fussing in the restaurant for not wanting to walk while i paid for the HKD340 ish dinner, we proceeded to use the locked toilets (key to take from counter) before heading to the topmost 6th floor where the tickets were once again used for entry to Sky Terrace 428. At that time it was again crowded and we had to wait for our turn to move closer to the balcony to take photos. I had never learnt to take a photo for people with a brighter background, and the flash just dimmed the view behind. In the end, the shot came out with very grainy mommy and K, worse without a stand. Taking the view was fine but funnily the iPhone was not able to shoot well.

Night view from the Peak

After a short walk around and a photo of K doing the heart shape pose (his fave pose currently with all his birthday poses being the same) in front of a heart shape display, we left the chilling winds and proceeded to another round of waiting for the tram back to ground level. This time the queue was much faster and in about 40mins, we were on the tram, again after much shoving. We couldn’t get a seat but a nice tourist offered some space to share with K, which he took unwillingly after mommy made him sit.

Tram station at the Peak

The steep descent made us had to hold on tight and since the tram was facing one direction throughout, the seated people were moving in the backwards direction, slided back into the seat.

We went back to the same way we came, now the streets emptied of the crowd and it was a quick walk to Central MTR. We boarded an empty train as the previous one just left and arrived at TST station on a crowded train as passengers boarded at the stop in between. Went to iSquare mall to the Supermarket by Jason’s to buy meat and vegetables for making soup the next day, the supermarket was still busy – 10pm and people were still going in to buy stuff. Paid about HKD130 and we walked back to our hotel, going through the busy street that had probably only getting started for the Friday night.

Supermarket at iSquare

Once back, I rested a while and had a free can of coke from the fridge. Carrying K on my shoulders made my shoulders kinda sore. Bathed K in the bathtub before he was watching a bit of discovery channel, drank his milk and played his pencil tablet while the parents prepared the day bag for Disneyland the next day and bathed.

It was 12mn before lights off, K didn’t even asked for story book and soon we were all off to lala land.

Escape Plan to Hong Kong November 2017

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Hong Kong 2017:

Total duration 5D4N
Singapore is in the same time zone as Hong Kong.
Flight time is 4hrs on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Hong Kong.

Morning flight on 24th January at 955am and arrival in Hong Kong at 155pm.
Return flight is on the 28st January at 210pm and arrival in Singapore at 610pm.

Day 1 Arrival at Hong Kong and visit to the Peak
Day 2 Disneyland
Day 3 Ngong Ping and Citygate Outlet Mall
Day 4 Shopping Day – Esprit Outlet at CHKC
Day 5 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was to get away from Singapore to celebrate our son’s birthday by bringing him to the nearest happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! It was also a good time to visit, given that the weather near the end of the year was nice and cool.

Budget nature: Slightly expensive due to costly hotels and Disneyland, but offset by outlet malls savings.

We had chosen to stay in a apartment close in Tsim Sha Tsui close to Harbour City for most of the days and accommodation in TST are priced higher slightly. The 1N stay in Disneyland was expected to be expensive, even on advance purchase with free upgrade. However, it was just worth it to experience this luxury once in a while

Complexity: Easy to get around with the MTR.

The places we covered were very accessible as every tourist would probably go. Plus the fact that the hotels we chose was in an accessible place, it was easier comparatively. We chose to take the taxi for both trips from and to the airport, just for convenience’s sake.