Citadines Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

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

Posted on November 26, 2017June 2, 2020 by ziyi

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.

Entertainment for the young at hotel lobby

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Walking through the village theme street

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 1 – Arrival at Hong Kong and visit to the Peak

Posted on November 24, 2017June 2, 2020 by ziyi

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

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.

Office of the richest tychoon in Hong Kong

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.