Esprit Outlet Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

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

Posted on November 27, 2017June 2, 2020 by ziyi

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.

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..

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.

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.

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 2016 Day 6 – Home Sweet Home

Posted on January 31, 2016June 2, 2020 by ziyi

I woke up at 2am to clean up the bottles and pots and prepared milk for baby K before going back to sleep.

7am sounded and I couldn’t get up. Snoozed for some time before getting up while wife got ready for cooking. Baby K slept till 10am while we had got ready the food and packed most of the items into the luggage and had bread for breakfast.

Wife went out to shop at the Esprit outlet the last time while I took a walk around ISA boutique that sold branded goods, and a wide range of items from clothings to shoes to bags and accessories, and were at huge discounts. Didn’t get anything though.

By the time we returned to the hotel, it was already 1145am. Last minute diaper changes as baby K chose to poo poo and thereafter we left the room to check out. The line to check out was incredibly slow at that time as the counters dealt with both incoming and outgoing guests. We only checked out by 1230pm.

Walked to the taxi stand just on the next tower entrance, a couple shamelessly overtook us while the door staff was checking with us on our destination for the taxi and took the only taxi waiting there! Had to wait for another one which arrived rather quickly and the taxi driver was exceptional in his service, helping us to load up the luggage and then the stroller at the front seat.

300hkd and 20mins later, we arrived at the airport. The taxi driver continued with the good service, advised us on the counter for the check in and also asked me to pick up a luggage trolley so that he could load it up.

Checked in at the counter with a short queue but didn’t see the priority queue we enjoyed the previous time we were there. As baby K began to fall asleep we chose to not check in at the counter for the stroller. Little that we know that baby K didn’t sleep long enough to fully utilise the stroller.

As usual, we had some food at Tsui Wah before going through departures. There was also no priority queue so we had to go through the normal queues. Luckily there were new counters opening and we proceeded quickly to these to clear.

The gate was at a separate building so we had to take the train transfer. By the time we had arrived it was almost 15 mins before boarding. Luckily a queue was still going about where we quickly went to toilet and also got the diapers changed out at male toilet.

While on the plane, we were at the bassinet seat but weren’t given a bassinet. On the flight to Hong Kong we had to asked for one too. Don’t know if this was related to just Cathay Pacific flights or not. Otherwise it was the usual entertaining baby, letting him sleep and eating and alternating the care with mommy.

This trip to Hong Kong and Macau was primarily to visit the historical places we missed during our last trip there. We wanted to visit the big buddha and the Victoria peak during this trip but couldn’t due to the bad weather. However, we made the visit back to Ocean Park, something we did when we were a lot younger and that felt good, because now as parents, we were bringing my baby boy instead. There were bad moments such as the lost of my tickets that cost 80SGD and the weather but overall it was nice experience.

Hong Kong 2016 Day 4 – Wet weather program – shopping

Posted on January 29, 2016June 2, 2020 by ziyi

Woke up earlier for almost the same routine. However we were able to get ready earlier since we didn’t have to pack to leave. Ate the Portuguese egg tarts for breakfast while preparing.

The tickling sound of water can be heard and the obvious disappointment followed as after peeking behind the curtains were raindrops on the windows and opened umbrellas can be seen on the streets below. Bad weather.

Nonetheless we were aiming to visit Ocean Park today and we left the room at about 930am hoping that it t was not that bad a weather. All hopes were dashed soon we reached the entrance.

Wet weather program was to continue our shopping at the same mall (CHKC) we went yesterday. However, not all the shops were opened. Walked around G2000 outlet and also to the Mickey Mouse House outlet and purchase some items. Went back to the same nursing room to feed baby K and change his diapers and suddenly there was a blackout. We weren’t worried as I turned on the light on my hp but a staff was there to “rescue” us with his torchlight and helped shone the way for us to get to the mall, which was not affected. Most of the escalators stopped working though.

That was quite an issue as we brought a stroller along and were told to take a detour for the lift. Had to ask the staff to locate the lifts. Made our way to the Geox outlet but wasn’t ready to pay so we left.

While we took a left upon exiting following the arrow to the MTR. Not knowingly, we chose to proceed to the Jordan MTR which was some 15mins walk away instead of choosing the Austin station which was closer, to take a train to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR. Baby K meanwhile snoozed while mommy carried him.

The subway at the Jordan station was not stroller friendly and I had to bring it down the steps. Within the station though, we found lifts that brought us to the train platform and we quickly boarded the train which had just arrived.

One stop and we took our exit. With no real target, we hit the iSquare mall to walk around a bit. Bought a pair of shoes for baby K and myself, scoring the sale items. Went to Baby R Us and bought a toy for baby K and brought back a balloon too (babies have a thing for balloon). There wasn’t much more and as baby K started to become cranky due to hunger, we quickly left (since the restaurants there felt expensive) and went back to Tsui Wah back at one of the TST MTR entrance.

Our stroller had to be left at the doorway for being to big but we were given a table close to it. Ordered some pork with instant noodles and wife got some tasty fish bee hoon. Baby K was hard to manage as he wasn’t really interested in the lunch we cooked him, probably bored from eating the same thing for so long. Fed him some bread that we bought from a bakery.

Then we started to walk southwards along Nathan road and went into SOGO hoping to find a supermarket but it was tiny. We then headed west towards Harbour city. We walked through it, looking at the various on sale options and at the end, returned back to our hotel room for a break, while feeding baby K and giving him a bath and collected the items from the hotel concierge left by my mom that she helped bring for us.

My mom then came along with our aunt from Hong Kong to come see baby K and there we spent some time in the room. Mommy cooked dinner and then tried to get baby K to sleep after my mom and aunt left, but we couldn’t dissipate his energy enough. In the end, we packed and went shopping back at Harbour City and baby K fell asleep as soon as we were back in the open.

Went to the various stores of our favorite brands and many were on sale. I didn’t think I could afford them but my wife manage to get something. Went to Uniqlo but it seemed more expensive than Singapore. After a while, my mom called and informed of the reservation made by our Hong Kong cousin at Crystal Jade restaurant. Met up and we went for dinner, baby K finding hard to get comfortable with his unfamiliar overseas aunt.

Dinner was alright as we fed baby K oatmeal with milk while we dined having a couple of dishes ordered for the 5 of us, inclusive of the popular dumplings. Baby K was always a handful at the dinner table, my mom having to deal with his forte of troublemaking while we had our dinner.

After the dinner, we left for our shopping while they made their way back. Continued to the C!tysuper supermarket which was pretty huge and offered some fresh fish where we could buy for baby K meal preparations. After that, we also purchased some desert of matcha icecream and a puff containing matcha cream and red bean, from Sweets House Cha Cha, pretty tasty but expensive.

Continued to Zara and then going back to the room thereafter, ending a full day of shopping.

Back in the room, we were just exhausted. But the work didn’t start to end till baby K fell asleep at 1130pm and finishing and cleaning at 12. Tiring again, but expected as part and parcel of traveling with a toddler.

Macau and Hong Kong 2016 Day 3 – Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui

Posted on January 28, 2016June 2, 2020 by ziyi

Learning from the previous day, we woke up at 8am to start the day early. Baby K woke up twice again, once at 230am and another at 630am but my biological clock was already in tune to his feeding time.

The light sound of thunder could be heard and the showers came. Though we were going to leave Macau, it was going to be difficult if the showers continued.

Preparing the food for cooking while wife started packing and baby K still snoozing made us highly productive. We even had time for breakfast which we packed from the day earlier. Only when baby K woke up was when we had to keep an eye on him so that he didn’t hurt himself.

Breakfast bread from the Macau Tower bakery.

After we were all packed, changed and ready, it was past 1030 and we proceeded to first check out the room and then deposit our luggage before visiting the Macau 3D World within the hotel, that was like the Alive museum. It was another 48Hkd for one as we already had a free ticket from the hotel stay.

There were quite some numbers of wall paintings but some were really not that good. The first exhibit had Michael Jackson and some of his album related displays. Then it was dinosaurs and other random but local related activities. We didn’t spend much time there as baby K soon napped as mommy carried him. There was another floor with very limited display of a moving Trex and a dinosaur video superimposed with our image. We left only after 30mins.

Baby K continued to snooze while we explore the 6th floor of the hotel that had some restaurants and fitness center and pool but the food wasn’t affordable and so we ended up waiting at the reception level at one of the chairs of the restaurant. However, we were asked to move as we weren’t customers of the restaurants and so we went back to the 6th floor as there were cushion seats there as well but not other guests that had packed the reception level seating area.

Baby K woke up after 1hr of nap and we proceeded to wait for the free shuttle bus to the terminal just outside the reception, under shelter thankfully, away from the harsh chill and rain outside. Bus frequency was said to be 15mins but it took about 30. We were the 2nd in queue and loaded up the bus quickly. The luggage and stroller was all placed at the front row seats. There were people who couldn’t get up and had to wait which wasn’t long as the 2nd bus came, picked up what’s left and was long gone while the luggage was still being loaded up on our bus.

Queue for shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. Shuttle bus is the same size as that in the photo.

The bus ride to the ferry terminal was rather quick, about 20mins and soon we were at the ferry terminal’s bus stop. However, the alighting point was not sheltered to the bus and so we had to quickly unload the luggage and move it to the shelter. I made the second trip to get the stroller while mommy carried baby K.

Luckily for lifts on both sides of the bus stop and the terminal, we got to the 3rd floor of the ferry terminal for some lunch at 南北麵點小廚 after checking out the next timing for the ferry to Kowloon. Ate at dim sum restaurant 187Hkd which had good noodles but the rest was so so. After that we bought some Portuguese egg tarts from the local products store on the 3rd floor and proceeded to 2nd floor for tickets.

Purchased the 335pm ferry for 444Hkd (baby K had to pay if over 1 year old) which gave us an hour to be ready. However we still had to wait to check in our luggage and was told to come back at 3pm. For 3 pieces including the stroller, it cost us 75Hkd.

After going through the immigrations quickly, we waited a short while at the small waiting area at the gate before boarding the ferry. The weather was not as cold as before. Seated in the middle row, the ferry raced though the seas whereas it was pretty bumpy at times. That made us a little nauseous.

View from waiting area. — View of the rainy weather from waiting area.

Baby K became cranky and when he couldn’t fall asleep, I made a bottle of milk with the lukewarm water because of the leaky vacuum flask and he immediately devoured and went to sleep.

An hour’s ride and we arrived at the ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. Took the elevator to the arrivals hall where we had to give in to some China tourists who did not give way to us even when we had a sleeping baby in the stroller, pretty annoying. At the immigrations, the queue cleared in 10mins though we had to shift the stroller for the officer to see baby K.

Picked up the luggage that was left on the belt, the last 2 in fact. Left the arrivals and immediately some steps away was the elevator to our hotel – the Royal Pacific hotel. This was so accessible, especially for parents tugging 2 large luggage and a stroller containing my sleeping boy. We made 2 trips up the escalator as I couldn’t find a lift and the checked in was rather quick, given a 19th floor room which had a “ok” view.

Baby K continued to snooze while his parents did a little washing and a whole lot of resting. When he did wake up, he was again on his feet climbing here and there and after changing out his diapers after he pooed, we went downstairs to shop.

As the hotel was smacked in the China Hong Kong city (CHKC), it was just too convenient to have Marketplace by Jasons and shopping at our doorstep. The Marketplace was not really huge though and we didn’t really find fresh fish to cook. There were packets of milk available.

Later we visited the Esprit outlet and while mommy shopped, baby K practiced walking around with me, having fun. As we left, we noticed that there were a few outlet stores here and thought we would returned to check out the other outlets (since there were closed already).

Baby K pooed again and we visited the baby room which was pretty clean but didn’t have a lot of facilities.

At 8 pm we left for dinner but there weren’t many options left as many were closed. We got to an area called podium of restaurants and went into one Kung Fu Dim Sum. Ordered pork ribs rice and beef brisket noodles and a plate of Chee Chiong Fun with Char Siew. The food wasn’t really good. Baby K was cranky as well as the food he ate was a little cold.

Kung Fu Dim Sum restaurant. Manual as a menu.

Went back to room to bath baby K and prepare for the night. The long journey today was tired enough for us to go to bed early.