Tuesday 13 March 2012

Fun Fun Fun Hong Kong Trip


I always wanted to travel in Hong Kong as they say it was the shopping capital in Asia and of course its one of the home of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters in Asia. My friends "GLAMM" planned to visit Hong Kong, but due to personal issue we were not able to pursue our 2011 trip (sigh...)

It is now 2012 and still I haven't visited HK, hence when I saw the promo in Groupon I immediately called my brother and convinced him that we should go for it. Once he reached home we read the conditions of the promo and saw that it is restricted to Singaporeans, Malaysians and Indonesians (so irritated,, grrrrrrrness). Hence, we searched whether there are sale fare promos in Jetstar, SQ and Tiger luckily we saw affordable fares in Jetstar and immediately booked a flight as there is not much difference in the Groupon promo (ahaha finally YAHOO !!!!).
The travel dates we chose were in Feb month so we can still experience the cold weather in HK as we are so tired of the weather in SG and PH plus me and my brother wanted to layer our clothes (its one of my frustration when I was I kid, I just think its chic and cool). It is one of the awaited travel destination I wanted to visit hence I need to prepare and prepare and prepare ;). All I did in my prep time was to buy outfit as most of the stuffs I have in my wardrobe are not for cold weather. Below are some of the highlights and photos I got during my 3-day trip/ photo shoot.

February 3, 2012 - Freezy Friday-life in HK 
        As the travel time from SG to HK is 3 hours and the we waited few hours before we can check-in on our hotel there were only few hours left to spend on our tour. The landmarks that we visited on our first day included The Peak and Time Square in Causeway Bay. We were not able to visit Madame Tussauds wax museum located in same place as The Peak as it was too late and we were planning to watch the lights show in Victoria Harbour. The museum displays famous celebrity look-alike figures.
       We thought that Victoria Harbour is located near Causeway Bay MTR hence we headed to that location (Victoria Harbour is also situated near The Peak huhuhuhu). As it was dinner time when we arrived in Causeway Bay MTR we had authentic Hong Kong noodles (best food on the freezy friday night) paired with milk tea. It was also a blessing that we made a stupid mistake going to Causeway Bay as we were able to taste super yum noodles and see the locals on their friday night outfits in Time Square. Their outfits are so fab and trendy, if in SG girls compete by wearing super shorts well in HK girls compete by wearing coats and boots with fur (its a FURRY fight).


@The Peak and Time Square in Causeway Bay
HK through my lens

"Outfit #1 :: Bumble Green"
@Hong Kong International Airport
=Waiting for the Airport Express train to City=



FYI : Airport Express has only 5 stops (Asia-World Expo, Airport, Tsing Yi,Kowloon and Hong Kong).Airport Express is the most convenient way to travel from Airport to City than Taxi as fare are quite expensive
"Outfit #2 :: Furry Godmother"
@The Peak
=The Peak is one of the famous destination as it provides  bird's eyeview of HK=

February 4, 2012 - 7-years old again  
       It is our second day in HK and we allotted this day to visit Disneyland - the place for young and young at heart :). As me and my brother were too excited to visit the place we left the hotel without taking breakfast as we don't want to waste our time :). When we arrived in Disneyland my brother bought bread at the Bakery as he reasoned out we need energy or else we will not be able to enjoy. He took the muffin and I had the hotdog on a bun.
       Every corner inside the amusement park is a perfect background for our picture moments. I can't say more on my experience in Disneyland as I am so overwhelmed with it the important thing is that I felt like I was 7-years old again.



@Disneyland Hong Kong
Though our feet are aching to the bones we have to go to our next destination - night market to do our shopping. Hong Kong is famous as shopping capital in Asia hence it is a haven for fashionistas and shopaholic.
My brother is the one who arranged our itenerary and as per it our destination is Ladie's Night Market which was located in Mong Kok. He thought that Mong Kok and Kowloon are the same place hence we alighted in Kowloon (which is a wrong place). We wasted our time and energy by checking a way out on ELements mall in Kowloon to get to the Ladie's Night Market but no luck hence we asked the information desk and asked how to go there and we came to know that its in Mong Kok station good thing she suggested that we can visit Temple Street night market instead in Kowloon.
There were only few items that I bought in the night market as it was late (we have to catch the train back to our hotel). I bought one cute iPhone casing, bag holders, ring, souvenir shirts and my brother got neckties. I think it was better if we have gone to our original plan - go to Ladie's night market.

Tip:
Always do research about the place and how to get there.
If in case you lost your way despite the instructions in your research ask immediately on the information desk if any. If you are at the road ask for the nearest MTR station (say the word MTR and you will be save).


@Temple Street

 "Outfit #3 :: Ms. Brownie Black"
@Adventureland Disneyland
=I'm going to visit Tarzan's tree house=


"Outfit #4 :: Shine in Darkness"
@Yau Ma Tai MTR station
=Waiting for the train to Central Hong Kong=

February 5, 2012 - Goodbye HK
      The last day of our trip :(, 3 days is not enough to see the beautiful places in Hong Kong. I will surely comeback and when I see you again I'll make sure to shop till I drop :)). Though time was too short and I don't have enough budget to spend I enjoyed my trip.
       During the last day we attempted visiting Big Buddha in Lantau Island but the ticket queue was long and we don't have much time to spend on the travel time, hence we check out the outlets on malls (forgot the name) in Tung Chung station. There are alot of stores which have factory outlets such as Mango, K-Swiss, Nike, AX and others but we only have few hours left hence we were not able to shop as we want more time in choosing quality sale items. HK has a lot of bake shops compare to SG and we were so happy to see the baked goods at affordable prices and in good packaging, hence we bought some for our pasalubong.
        After doing a window shopping we went back to the hotel and took our buffet lunch on the nearby hotel which is only 88 HK dollars equivalent to 15 SGD. It is our second time having our lunch buffet as we think its more expensive if we ate outside and ordering ala carte items. As soon as we finished indulging on the Asian cuisine we went to our next destination - Avenue of Stars. There are too MTR station near this place via Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui. We took the Tsim Sha Tsui route and we made a mistake again as we have to walk for around 15-20 minutes whereas if we take East Tsim Sha Tsui it will only take 8-10 minutes. Be sure to take the shortest path to avoid wasting time, another lesson learned.


"Outfit #5 :: Hot Issue"
@Tung Chung bus station
=Walking like a star to bus terminal=

Failed attepmt to visit Big Buddha in Lantau Island

@Avenue of Stars
=Real stars visit the Avenue :))=


Some tips for first time travellers in HK
1. Do research on the tourist destination you want to visit
2. Bring extra paper bag if you are buying any items from 7/11 stores as they don't have plastic bags
3. Always have coins as if you pay on mini bus and buses they won't give you the change
4. It is better to use your Octopus card when you do not have exact amount when buying stuffs(they don't have coins for cents hence they round off the value of the item)
5. Sometimes trains on one station are located on different floors make sure to read the signs
6. The departure airport is too huge as in huge make sure to come early so you can still shop and enjoy.
The check-in counter for baggage (Terminal 2) and immigration (Terminal 1) is located in separate location for low-budget airlines. I'm not quite sure for other airlines having long travel period time though.


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