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 1881Warmth from a fireplace displayOld style display with Xmas treeRocking 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 RestaurantPork ribs noodlesHor 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.
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.
Esprit outlet a favourite now.Inside CHKC.
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.
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.
Busy Nathan road.
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.
Pork noodles.Fish bee hoon.
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.
Lion dance deco at Sogo.1881 Heritage.
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.
Entrance to Harbour City.
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.
Teapot deco inside harbour city.
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.
Inside Citysuper supermarket.Matcha cone.Matcha bun.Sweets House Cha Cha.
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.
We woke up real late today, but since it was the last day, there weren’t much of a plan. After we were done with packing and having the longevity bun for breakfast, we walked to Harbour City again, having found on the Toys R Us website that the shop was actually at the Ocean Terminal side. The hotel granted us a late check out at 1pm which meant we had about an hour to shop and get out.
It was easy to get to Toys R Us and in fact, the whole level on the ground floor was dedicated for children’s stuff. There was a store called Its Magical which had some original toys for kids. Didn’t get anything from there so we went to Toys R Us. It was a huge store but we had limited time so we quickly decided on what to buy and paid for the items. These toys were selling cheaper in Hong Kong than Singapore so we bought quite a bit. Plastic bag was 50cts additional, a nice environmental initiative but we needed it to lug the toys back.
Back in the room, we quickly packed the stash of toys and fed baby K before checking out. Initially wanted the recept to assist with booking a taxi but she just told us to go to the entrance where a colleague would be there to assist us. When we got out, the staff just told us to wait at the entrance and at that instant, one taxi came in to pick us up.
The trip to the airport was smooth as traffic was light. It was supposedly a holiday for Hong Kong. The costs for the ride was about 240HKD, pretty close to the airport express tickets of 100HKD each. The time taken was about 30mins but I felt it was worth it to pay that additional for the extra comfort, especially with a baby in tow.
Inside Hong Kong international airport.
We checked in at the Cathay Pacific counter under the priority queue of having baby K in arms and it was done quickly. Proceeded to the 2nd floor to have lunch at Tsui Wah when my mom joined us after arriving later at the airport and completed checking in. Ordered chicken rice and fish ball rice noodles and Portuguese style coffee and red bean drink. Nothing extraordinary but adequate for a good lunch.
We went through immigrations and at the scanning line, there was again a priority queue and we sped ahead of my mom who had initially gone ahead and went onto the normal queue. It was lucky that the staff allowed her to bring the insulated container of porridge through as she said it was for her grandson although we were not together at the queue.
After immigrations, we proceeded straight to the gates as we were afraid that getting there required us to take the train. In this case, it wasn’t required and we just waited to board. Wanted to shop a bit but impossible with the time flying past like that.
Waiting for boarding at the airport surrounded by mountains.
After getting onboard, the 1hr that it took for the plane to taxi till it was airborne, baby K was frequently screaming! He must have been hungry but it was very frustrating for us. We had to try to feed the porridge to him while taking off to calm him down. Challenging experience.
The rest of the journey was smooth except baby K was largely active and moving around a lot. That meant that it was tiring but still manageable.
This trip was largely for us to catch Bon Jovi live in Macau and to do a relaxing shopping trip in Hong Kong. However, there was simply not enough time at all and everyday’s activities were limited. It was worst in Macau that I felt I have not even been there, except for the concert. I will be revisiting, having been to Macau more than once but not a single time seen the most iconic ruins of St. Paul’s.
Through the 5 trips with baby K, I think the period where it was easiest to travel with a baby was during the period where he was 6months old. Food was still milk and he was not able to move around that much. However, babies at different age present a different challenge and it was really up to the comfort level of the parents to determine when to travel with a baby.
Started the day waking up at 8am. Since there weren’t food to prepare, we managed to get ready by 1030am and left the room. First stop was to get breakfast en route to Mira hotel, where my sister stayed. We had to borrow their steamer to cook baby K’s meal.
Found Tsui Wah restaurant at the exit of Tsim Sha Tsui MTR and headed there, about a 10mins walk away. It was still not so crowded and we headed to the 2nd floor as directed. Ordered Set C comprising of vermicelli, butter bun and a hot drink and addition butter with condensed milk bun and milk tea.
Tsui Wah at Tsim Sha Tsui.Preserved vegetables vermicelli and the condensed milk bun.Full during lunch time on the 2nd floor.
After our meal, went to K11 that had free wifi and called my mom using Whatsapp, which meant the call was free. Found that we had to bring our own rice to cook for baby K as there weren’t enough so we walked back to the hotel for get it. By the time we arrived at Mira hotel, it was noon already.
Kept baby K busy while wife prepared the porridge. By the time we left, it was almost 130pm and we had a reservation at Tin Lung Heen at the same time too. They would hold the tables for 15mins.
Rushed to take the MTR to Central and as we found ourselves at an unfamiliar place, I called the restaurant and they told us that we were at the wrong place – they were located at ICC at Kowloon while we were at IFC at Hong Kong! However they were able to hold the table for us which was great news.
Took the train for another stop to Kowloon station and walked towards Ritz Carlton. Took the elevator to the 103rd floor and at the left hand side was the elevator down to the restaurant.
We requested for a window seat on arrival at 2plus and were given. The weather wasn’t fantastic with what looked like haze but still, we could see something. Ordered 5 dishes and it was really delicious! Baby K, while not enjoying the food was getting cranky so I had to carry him around to distract him. The delicious food came with a very expensive price, the priciest dim sum I have ever eaten, about 260 SGD for 7 dishes. Don’t think I will have this 2 star Michelin restaurant again.
Inside the restaurant.Carrot cake with XO sauce.Siew Mai, with an abalone on top.Soup in coconut, smooth and nice.Honey char siew.Glutinous rice.Free custard moon cake and osmanthus jelly.Crispy egg tart.Mango sago.My failed attempt at taking a selfie with baby K admiring the view.
After Dim Sum, we went to the mall below called Elements to shop around. Wife made use of the beautiful nursing room while I waited outside with the sleeping baby K. That room set the highest standards of comfort for parents, come with milk warmer, thick change mat liners for free, lotions and even a seat for babies, impressive! We bought something for baby K from Zara and left when he became cranky.
Room for nursing, nice comfy couch and changing station.There were lotion and milk warmer available for use in the nursing room.
As time flew past, we decided to drop by Harbour City ( which was minutes walking distance from our hotel) Toys R Us to get some toys. When we arrived, we couldn’t find it on the directory so instead we did some window shopping. There wasn’t a sale going on and things were really expensive so we went back to the hotel to drop some stuff that weren’t required before going to the mall known as The One to meet up with relatives for dinner.
Harbour City.
While at The One, there were specific lifts for specific floors and queues for the lifts managed by a controller. Interesting concept to regulate flow of passengers.
East Ocean restaurant took the whole shopping space at the floor alone. We were the last to arrive at 730pm, having still feel full from the dim sum that only ended at 4pm. Food was served shortly after, mainly Cantonese cuisine. Didn’t really take much since I wasn’t hungry but I guess it was alright. The last dish was huge longevity buns that we took away back to our hotel. Unlike the one in Singapore, even though it was exactly the same signboard, the cuisine served was different.
We walked back to our hotel via the huge underpass that connected our hotel to the shopping strip of Tsim Sha Tsui ( which was what we did for the whole afternoon) and took a detour to the jetty area as we saw quite a crowd coming from there, thinking that there might be some celebrations on this Mid-Autumn night. We were right as there were some exhibits of lantern near the jetty and quite a bit of street performance by young people to earn some pocket money. There was quite a crowd walking around, enjoying the outdoors of this popular Chinese tradition. After we purchased some more lanterns for baby K and our nephew, we went back to the hotel and I knocked out rather quickly, due to exhaustion. Carrying bags and baby and walking around was really tiring.
Night view of the harbour, on Mid-Autumn’s night.Lantern exhibit near the jetty.The full month shone brightly in the cloudy skies.
6am and it’s the start of a brand new eating journey. Packed our bags and got out at 630am for our journey back to Central station. Our breakfast starts at Tsui Wah restaurant. The empty shopping streets had a few overnighters that hadn’t gone home since their night of fun at Lan Gui Fong, probably enjoying the World Cup match of Brazil vs Holland 3rd position playoff.
Tsui Wah Restaurant.Popular milk tea.Vermicelli.Toast that came as a set.Popular sweetened milk with butter toast.
The restaurant was fairly busy at 7am, ordered some vermicelli and the popular sweetened milk toast. Although it was sweet, the toast volume balanced it out and the sum of it was a crispy sweet bread. Had the milk tea too but in my opinion it was just ok.
At 730am, we proceeded over to Jenny’s bakery to buy biscuits. It was well known all over the web and we had to queue for it ourselves to see it. The shop opens at 10 and by the time we arrived at location, there was already a couple from Taiwan waiting. While waiting we chat with each other to pass time, and soon more and more people started to join. At about 930am there was already a line of at least ten people in front of the shop, even in the slight drizzle. There was even people with luggage waiting to lug the metal boxes of cookies back home. We saw a couple buying cookies from the shop beside, supposedly source from the same shop but marked up. Still everyone waited for the original. We also understood that the one at Tsim Sha Sui was worse, having to start waiting even at 5am. Madness.
945am and the queue had stretched pretty long. The shops owners were only just coming in and at 10am, the shop was opened. There was a notice to inform about the limitation of boxes that each could purchase, 4 boxes per person and so we bought ourselves 3 big ones consisting one 2×4 flavours and 1×8 flavour and 2 small ones with 4 flavours. We helped the ones in front of us to purchase another 3 small ones as they had promised their friends back at Taiwan to get some for them. There was another Taiwan family of 4 that was getting 16 boxes and they had came the previous day too, to purchase another 16. They brought along a luggage bag each time. Simply incredible.
Jenny bakery store, just when it opened in the morning.
Visited the public toilet just opposite the cookie store and proceeded to walk towards the popular egg tart store on 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Tai Cheong bakery. An easy 15 mins walk although upward sloping. There were few customers who like us were there for the egg tarts. We got ourselves one each and finished it. The egg tart was tasty, now sweetened egg center with a crispy tart. I liked it more if the tart was crispier but it was good enough.
Queue after 10am.Tai Cheong Bakery.Egg Tart.
Bought some wife’s biscuits and egg rolls at Kee Wah and brought all these back to our hotel, filling up my haversack, brought solely for this purpose.
Our limo picked is up at 12 noon after we checked out. The start of excellent service began there. Even before this, they called me to confirm my pick up time and driver and even send a memo to the hotel direct to my room just in case I didn’t get the message. The huge Mercedes even had wifi in car and an ipad for use.
Once over at Ritz Carlton, immediately we stepped off the car, there was already a personal assistant to follow us from registration to room. We got into a lift that brought us from the 9th floor to the 103rd floor for check in. But having gotten the deluxe club room, we did our check in at the room itself. Brought to the room on 117th floor, the highest in the hotel and currently in the world, the view of Victoria harbour was simply breathtaking. This backed with the luxurious deco of the room and the complimentary amenities and facilities, made the romantic package pretty worth it. Made a few changes to the arrangements for in room dining (included) and airport transfer the next day, we were left to our room where we soaked in the view for a while before leaving for Mongkok.
Ritz Carlton from the limo.Highest Hotel room in the world, and an awesome view!Bathtub and double sinks.Separate toilet.An a separate rain shower.
The only thing about the hotel was the indirect accessibility of it from the main shopping areas. We had to take the MTR to Hong Kong and loop back to Kowloon and there is a fair bit of walking at Hong Kong station to Central itself.
We arrived at Mongkok at around 2pm and went into Argyle Center and had our lunch at Cafe de Coral. It was an integrated food center but the place was super crowded. We had to find a seat by stalking people about the finish before lining up to pay first before lining 2 different lines for noodles and rice. The food was not particularly tasty but it had to do for this crowded shopping plaza.
Vermicelli with milk tea.Char Siew rice with red bean coconut drink.
The center reminded me of Platinum Mall but the weekend crowd was really bad. We only got up to the 3rd floor before we decided to leave for another area, the products on offer not suited to my wife’s liking and also the crowd and tight space was a turn off.
Inside Argyle Center.
On the roads, it was just as crowded as well. This was like holiday weekend Singapore Orchard road crowd and people were just everywhere. Similarly, many domestic helpers could be seen, like in Singapore. MTR were packed just like Singapore. Sometimes I think it was much worse here.
Ladies’ market.Street stalls that we didn’t venture into.Super crowded Mongkok street.
We walked around on the main streets but wasn’t seeing much and proceeded over to Langham Place mall. Interesting shop layout but not much interest with the shops offering. It was not long before we left for Tsim Sha Tsui.
Langham place shopping mall.
Once arrived, we walked towards the Avenue of Stars. That was a really long walk, maybe 15mins. And the weather wasn’t helping. Quite tiring for me, not to mentioned for my preggy wife. We ended up sitting on the plastic seats when we arrived, just admiring the Hong Kong island view and the slight breeze from the sea as throngs of people arrived.
One of the statue at the Avenue of Stars.
After that we went back towards the MTR station and got onto the main streets. The street view reminded us of similar shopping streets such as the previous Mongkok or Causeway Bay. Large malls around with various interspersed boutiques located around. Same same but different, maybe. Fatigued, we decided to stop at Xu Liu Shan for mango desert drink before taking the train back to our hotel.
Evening view from our room was great. Took a bath before our 3 course meal was delivered to our room. It was a great feeling, having restaurant made dinner within our room with a fantastic view. The ambience was right as we played the classical music from the iPod on dock in the room but because we were dining ourselves, it was just comfortable. All this come with a price but I think it was worth it for that once a lifetime splurge.
Scallop appetizer.Lobster bisque.Spring Chicken as a replacement for seafood.Tenderloin.Night view just as fantastic.
The staff was kind enough to deliver a second time our deserts and coffee and also a birthday cake for my wife. They even made a photoshopped photo of us in a room of theirs with handwritten well wishes as a momento. Definitely something different and close to the heart.
Ice-cream desert.Birthday cake for wifey.
Our next activity was at 116 floor, a spa for two. As part of the package, we each had a 80 min massage by ESPA. There was maternity massage available and I had a lava massage, something about using warm sea shells to rub the tired muscles. It was enjoyable as we relaxed but nothing extraordinary in my opinion. We weren’t brought to a room with a view although it was a suite. There were sauna available in the changing room but we didn’t utilized it. After the massage, we left for our rooms to use the bath tub before turning in for the night. It was a long day after all.
