Day 5 in Hong Kong

Day 5 - Macau

Lets just say Macau was totally different from Hong Kong :)

It reminds me of a quaint cosy village rather than a city on its own.

We had taken the 9.30am ferry, and the whole ferry ride was about 50 mins.

First stop was to The Venetian Resort & Hotel!

The thing about Macau is that you can actually hop on free shuttle buses (:

The Venetian Resort was so grand with all of its old Victorian charm.

Would really love to stay here some day in the near future :))

Upon reaching, the first thing we bought was food!

Koi Kei egg tart that was found at Level 1 of the hotel (:

It was piping hot, and tasted really yummy!

I had a hard time finding something nice for my grandma,

and was really happy to have found this shop!

It's a gemstone store, and the prices were reasonably priced.

Different gemstones symbolize different things :)

Bought 3 clear crystals bracelets after spending a long time in the shop.

After we were done with the Venetian Resort,

we tried to head to Senado Square directly.

But alas, there isn't any direct bus at all.

So we took the free shuttle back to where we came from.

Then we took this Bus 3 to Senado Square.

It was a lovely place!

First, we headed for lunch (starving by then) lol.

Jiaxin managed to find the place she ate at previously.

It was a small cafe alright, but the food was traditional macau food :)

I order the famous Pork Chop Bun & iced milk tea.

The Pork Chop was way too oily for my liking actually.

And it came as a surprise to me that the bun was so crispy!

It was kind of tough to bite into it.

And it was a messy affair with all the flakes and crumbs with every bite. lol!

The milk tea was really nice though, thick and milky!

With lunch done, we headed out to shop! :D

Nah, actually we were trying to get to the St Paul's Ruins.

The thing about Macau is that the street names are all in Portuguese.

And they are such annoyingly long and similar names,

which make it hard to decipher as well.

We passed by many Koi Kei outlets!

And finally we reached the St Paul's ruins :D

I had expected more.. but it was just a pillar.

The rest of the ruins were gone.

But nevermind, the pillar is quite grand looking on its own too :P

St Paul's ruins was the only touristy place we went.

It was crazy shopping thereafter. hehe :P

There was a Naraya outlet in Macau! *surprise surprise

And the bonus was that it having a storewide 20% sale.

I grabbed sooo much loots! :D

Also got my Koi Kei food souvenirs as well.

Was luggin back boxes of the Orange Peel cakes, and this white sesame peanut candies.

Should have bought more of the white sesame peanut candies.

They were wildly popular with the relatives. lol!

Goodbye Macau, you were fantastic!! :D

P/S - the ferry ride back was really bumpy :(
We should have known that was the precursor of something bigger.

Yes, I mean the typhoon Nesat that was about to reach HK.

Day 4 in Hong Kong

This is my 2nd post of the day,

I've also covered Day 3 in the blog post below this entry :)

Day 4 is basically a round up for our shopping on main Hong Kong island,

as the next few days were spent in Macau and Disney Island.

We didn't go Ap Lei Chau as stipulated in the itinerary,

cuz we figured we won't be getting anything there,

and decided to save on the cab fare as Ap Lei Chau isn't very accessible (:

In case you're wondering, there's a Prada outlet store called SPACE at Ap Lei Chau.

We had wanted to go initially to see Miu Miu stuff.

So instead of Ap Lei Chau, we made our way to Citygate Mall at Tung Chung (again)

I just can't get enough of shopping there! :D *Coach, Coach, Coach!

Managed to help my bro get the gift he needed,

and I saw this lovely coach cosmetic pouch which I hadn't seen on Day 1!

It was on 40% off, it was from the adorable Poppy Art collection.

Couldn't resist getting it for myself :D

So here it is now, lying happily on my bed :D

After getting the Coach stuff, we managed to get some T-shirts from QuikSilver as well.

That was our final loots from Citygate.

Thereafter, we took the MTR to Central Station.

And lunch was at Lin Heung Tea House.

I was a little apprehensive about this place actually,

cuz I read that it's a traditional dim sum house,

and there is no good service rendered at all.

I was imagining grouchy old waiters and waitresses,

rowdy crowds, and basically a warzone of sorts.

And...

I was right. lol.

But, we met a really nice old (a little gruffy) waiter who came to our rescue.

We were basically stuck at the cashier initially,

being pushed around and trying not to bang into people.

Then this waiter came up and waved two fingers in front of us,

seemingly asking if it's 2 of us.

We nodded and he pointed to this faraway table to us. hehe.

So we scurried over and sat down with 8 other people in a round table.

With all our loots, we tried to settle down,

but ended up dropping things all over. lol.

Then it was fight for food time.

I gave up being a prim and proper tourist,

and just went up to the dim sum carts to open up the baskets of food.

Was telling Jiaxin that I'm prepared to get scolded by these waitresses.

lol. But thankfully they didnt scold me! hahah!

So, here were my victorious returns:

Cha Shao Baos

Guess what is this above?

Siew Mais

Tada! It's actually Lian Rong Bao with salted egg yolk.

Even though eating at Lin Heung felt like fighting a war in most aspects,

I still think that it's the best place I've dined at in Hong Kong.

Both Jiaxin and I agreed that we like Lin Heung more than Tim Ho Wan.

Maybe it was also partly due to the people factor.

Our table people were kind to us;

they helped us get a new pair of chopsticks when Jx dropped hers.

They showed us how to wash our utensils before eating,

and even waved goodbye when we left (:

They may not be the most polite people ever,

but there is genuine kindness in their eyes (:

And that touched both of us very much.

After having a hearty and cheap lunch

(came up to approximately S$12 only in total),

we headed to the H&M at Queen's Street.

It's apparently the biggest H&M in Hong Kong,

and boy, it sure is with its 4 levels worth of clothes.

Jiaxin and I were so excited to grab the clothes and try! hee (:

I managed to get 2 cotton tops for HK$80 (S$13)

Following H&M, it's time for The Peak!

The Peak was really quite nice (:

Finally I'm doing something touristy again instead of shopping :P

The wind was nice, but there was a little sun this noon,

so I had worn my floppy hat for shade. heh.

After The Peak, we went to Sogo Causeway Bay (again)

cuz I wanted to get this Sapphire and diamond earrings for my grandma.

Alas, price was way toooooo steep (and to think it wasn't even real diamonds).

I suddenly missed Singapore's Chomel alot then. lol.

We ended up eating Japanese food again.

The thing about Causeway Bay Sogo is that there isn't much restaurants to choose from.

Very unlike our Singapore malls where restaurants are littered through out.

My dinner:

Char Siew Ramen

Went to get the famous Heng Xiang Lao Po Bing thereafter,

we decided to call it a day! :D

Truly a longgg day, but a very fruitful one too!

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Addresses:

Lin Heung Tea House

162 Wellington Street,

Central Hong Kong

Opening Hrs: 06.00 - 23.00

H&M (Central)

68 Queen's Road Central

Opening Hrs: 10.30 - 22.00

The Peak Lower Terminus

33 Garden Road

Central, Hong

Day 3 in Hong Kong

Mongkok Day! :D

It's Jiaxin's favorite day,

and also the day which she bought more than me. lol.

Kicked off the day with brunch at Sham Tseng Chan Kee Roast Goose.

Jx had wanted to eat roasted goose,

and we had shortlisted Yung Kee.

But looking at its exorbitant price online,

we looked for an alternative.

Turned out that Chan Kee's Roast Goose was really good too!

Jiaxin had the roasted goose while I had the cha shao rice.

Look at the sheer amount of cha shao I got!

It was a little pricey at S$6, but it's so worth the price :D

Oh, if anyone is like me who only likes lean meat cha shao,

do remember to tell them you want the lean meat only!

We proceeded to train the train to Prince Edward after brunch.

Had wanted to shop at Allied Plaza.

Alas, that shopping mall wasn't open yet!

We practically camped ard that area until approximately 2pm before the shops open.

We also went to a nearby mall where I bought my colleague's presents.

Afterwhich, we went back to Mongkok to shop at Argyle Centre.

Arygle Centre is like Singapore's Far East Shopping Centre,

but the goods were at Bugis's village prices. lol.

I got a dress at just S$12 :)

and 2 safety shorts at S$7 in total.

And ohoh, this flat card holder wallet,

I bought 4, and Jiaxin bought 4 too!

It's retailing in Singapore at S$12, but we got it at half priced here. lol.

It's the flat greyish one on the left in the pic below.

I had picked 2 Navy blue, 1 dark green & 1 grey I think.

I hadn't bought alot from Argyle Centre

cuz I thought the fabric tend to be a little thin.

But I kind of regretted not getting more safety shorts.

They are really comfy! :D

After all the shopping, it was time for an early dinner!

We walked to Tim Ho Wan.

Yes, the One-Michelin Star Dim Sum Place :D

We each ordered one basket of the har gao! :D

It was really cheap as well, I think we spent like S$9 each only.

But other than the cha siew custard bao,

I think the rest didn't really have the "wow" factor.

It was good alright, but not thatttt fantastic.

Maybe cuz I had gone in with higher expectations,

given that it was a Michelin recommended place.

Oh, cuz we went early on a weekday,

we didn't really queue for very long.

And when we left at about 6pm,

there wasn't any queue at all too.

So do go on a weekday, and early,

if you wanna eat at Tim Ho wan :)

After dinner, we proceeded to look for Ladies' Market and Hua Yuen Jie.

Ladies' Market was alright, very bugis village.

But the things they sell are mostly alike to each other.

Bought 3 Ralph Lauren Polo replica tees at HK$120 (S$20)

And 4 T-shirts at HK$110 (S$18)

We had a hard time finding Hua Yuen Jie though.

It hadn't occurred to us that we have to cross this overhead bridge,

and the vendors at Ladies' Market gave us different directions.

We kept ending up back in different parts of Ladies' Market. lol.

Ultimately, it was the vendor selling the Polo Ralph Lauren who gave us the clearest directions.

I kind of expected Hua Yuen Jie to look like Ladies' Market,

but I was wrong! lol!

They sell different things, and Hua Yuen Jie sold more fruits than anything.

But at the sides of Hua Yuen Jie were 2 rows of shops,

mostly selling clothes.

So Jiaxin and I roamed the 2 rows more than the main area actually.

Managed to get 2 tops from these shops.

After all the shopping, we decided to call it a dayyy..

As it was a long time to wait before our hotel shuttle reaches Langham place,

we had wanted to walk back to hotel.

But we gave up cuz we were simply too tired.

We ended up sitting on one of the benches in Langham Place Mall.

Haha! We called it our chill and rest bench,

cuz we always sat on this bench while waiting for time to pass.

The first occasion was on Day 2 when we waited for the shops at Langham to open,

and a few other occasions when we were too tired. heh.

Then it was Hotel Sweet Hotel when our shuttle bus came! :D

And oh, we always happen to see these 4 Singaporeans waiting for shuttle too.

They will pass us looks, and say "oh, its the 2 girls again." hah!

They thought we can't hear them :P

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Addresses

Sham Tseng Chan Kee Restaurant

427A Reclamation Street

Mongkok, Kowloon

(Near Mongkok MTR Exit C3)

Allied Plaza

760 Nathan Road,

Kowloon

(Near Prince Edward MTR Exit B2)

Arygle Centre

65 Argyle Street,

Kowloon

(Near Mong Kok MTR Exit B2)

Tim Ho Wan

Shop 8, Taui Yuen Mansion Phase 2

2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok