"Liburan yuk bulan depan."
It wasn't until that moment I realize I needed one too. Not a long and big holiday, but just a couple of days out of the town to soothe my mind would be great. I immediately responded to her invitation,
"Ayuk. Cari tiket murah. Akhir bulan, kita beli ya."
Nimaz and I started to browse over many destinations and affordable flight ticket prices. We were trying to occupy our busy minds, therefore we are looking for a place that seems to be busier. Merrier. Sooo merry that we do not have time to let stressful thoughts come inside our mind. After long consideration (and budget adjustment), we decided our destination: Hong Kong!
It was my second time to go to Hong Kong and the second time for Nimaz too. We both went with our families before and wasn't satisfied enough with the whole trip, we wanted to re-do the trip and spend more time in HK. Nimaz asked if she can invite her sisters along, and I said ok. So there were 4 of us traveling. Our fun journey then began!
Nimaz, Dhinar (Nimaz's younger sister), and I traveled with Tigerair and had to do a long transit in Singapore. It was 11-ish pm at night and all of the stores are mainly closed. We will reach HK in the morning next day and we got a lot of itineraries to go through, so we needed a place to sleep. Dhinar searched the airport for a sleeping pod or whatsoever through the iChangi app and found a snooze lounge in airport lounge E. Anyways, a little tip for ya if you have a long transit in SG, download the app as it saves you much time to browse all your needs and gives you a 24hr free WiFi connection! Thank god we found a 'proper' place to sleep in the E11 lounge. Otherwise we would have a back pain tomorrow!
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| Snooze area in E11 lounge (terminal 2). They have the other one, similar snooze area in E5. So good to selonjoran! |
Day one
One fact about HK before we continue, it comprises of sooo many islands. To make it easy, I divided HK into three main area: Lantau Island, Hong Kong Island, and Kowloon. Kowloon is an area just across the Hong Kong Island, where the land of Kowloon, if you go far to the North, is in border directly with China.
We reached HK on the next day at around 10 am. Hong Kong International airport is located in Lantau Island and approximately 30 kilometers away from the city so we need to take either taxi, bus, or train. When in HK, you should buy an Octopus card which makes everything simpler and most of the time, cheaper. It's an e-payment card you can use for MTR (Hong Kong train system), bus, convenience stores, pharmacy, basically almost everything. It's similar to Singapore's EZ Link.
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| image: Wikipedia |
The cheapest way to go to the city is by bus (39 HKD). You can also take the Airport Express (60 HKD) continued by MTR or a taxi (approximately 150 HKD). We decided to take the bus because it's the cheapest and there is a direct bus which stops right in front of our place without changing any bus (the truth: can get a little sleep, again :p). We directly bought the Octopus card at the airport for 150 HKD (includes 50 HKD credits and 50 HKD for deposits which you can reimburse later). We took bus number A22 and the bus trip takes around 40 minutes (should be less than that, thanks to HK traffic). First thought when going out of the roof: it is hot. Sunny. But the sky is gloomy. Pretty much a condition I usually meet in Jakarta! Let's just hope it won't rain during our stay in HK.
We stayed in Nathan Road in Kowloon area, the busiest shopping district in HK. We found the place through AirBnB and was really satisfied with our pick!! It is located just above the Jordan MTR, easy to reach as it is right big road of Nathan, and the place was tidy, clean, and comfortable. The host provided us with towels, comfy blankets, shampoo and soaps, enough plugs, glass and plates, and also trash bags to replace everyday.
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| 2 bunk beds fit for 4 people |
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| Sofa is also provided. The middle space is full with our luggage! Haha |
We arrived at around 12pm and showered right away. After we cleaned ourselves, we went out to see HK! We were really excited because the weather was sunny up until the moment. We had not eaten any lunch but we held it for a while because we wanted to walk to Tsim Sha Tsui first. We didn't take MTR but walked instead because we wanted to see more of the road. Tsim Sha Tsui is just one MTR station away from Jordan Station and it is popular for because it is filled with shops, from designer shops, malls, to retails.
HK is a heaven for those who love shopping. Sasa and Bonjour are nearly everywhere, you can spot them not more than 100 meter apart from their next store. This is the place if you want to search for drugstore make ups, local medicine, or even snacks. Our first destination was Cotton On in the Granville road. I needed to buy a sunglasses (broke mine during the flights!) and the others wanted to do some window shopping. Granville Rd is one turn away from Nathan Rd, and the Cotton On here is huge! It consists of 4 floors. Typo, their infamous stationary shop, is bigger than the one I visited in Singapore (in Somerset or ION). You had to visit Typo here if you are a sucker for trinkets like me. No significant difference with the price compared to Jakarta, but they had a sale that was a value for money, though. Lindry and Nimaz bought a backpack, pants, and clothes for around 60 HKD each.
Our stomach couldn't compromise any longer after we got out from Cotton On. We. Needed. to. Eat. We wanted to go to McDonald's but Lindry forced us not to. She came up with an idea to eat at Kam's Roast Goose, a Michelin-starred restaurant located in Wan Chai. I browsed this place before but I was just... really hungry to go up there. Wan Chai is in Hong Kong Island, the same location with Victoria Peak. Okay I thought it was a good idea, so we decided to buy ourselves some snacks in 7-11 and went straight to Wan Chai by MTR.
We arrived at Kam's Goose and ordered the same menu for the 4 of us: Single Roasted Goose with Rice. A honest review of the food.. IT WAS REAL GOOD. Their Michelin star is no joke! Even the famous Duck restaurant in Jakarta doesn't taste this good. The duck meat is really soft and the portion is big enough, not to mention the plum sauce (or not, not sure what sauce was that) made the goose tastes even better. Thanks Lindry you saved us from McD!!
I had seen on other people's photo taken at the Peak, it was really foggy you can see nothing. I was really worried but thankfully I found this site where I could check the live weather at Victoria Peak (and other areas too). There were several ways to go to the Peak; taxi, bus, or tram. There is no MTR that takes you directly to the Peak. The Tram is the most popular way to reach the top but of course, the most touristy, and most pricey. Because none of us had tried to take the tram, we decided to go with one. If you want to take the Tram, you have to go to the The Peak Tram Lower Terminus in Central, Hong Kong Island. The first time I went there on a Christmas holiday, the queue was CRAZY. But probably because it was Friday afternoon, the queue was waaay short!
We bought the package ticket for the Tram (single, not return) and the SkyTerrace for 77 HKD. If you have the Octopus card already, use it to pay for the tickets because it saves you a lot of time from queuing as it has a different line. We waited in the Tram station for about 20 minutes before it arrived. The trip took about 15 minutes to the Peak with stops in several tram stations. It was crowded, some had to stand because there were no seats left at the Tram. The view from the Tram was pretty good, but if you go to the SkyTerrace, you will have the same (better, tbh) scenic view from up there.
The SkyTerrace located at the Peak Galleria, together with Madame Tussauds and the famous BubbaGump restaurant. We reached the top of the Peak Galleria, which is the SkyTerrace, and thank God the fog is not that bad, we still can see HK skylines from above. There were a lot of people at the terrace, but it was still enjoyable. I think this is one of the must-go spot when you go to HK!
At first, we wanted to wait until it was dark but because it was pretty windy up there, we couldn't bare any longer. We went down by taxi (thanks to a stranger who was so kind asking us to company her and paid half of the taxi fare) and reached Central within 10 mins. Central is another area in Hong Kong Island, still filled with shopping mall and stores. There is nothing much to see if you are not looking to buy anything. I got myself a pair of Adidas shoes and good news, HK got no GST for the price. Adidas also gave an additional 10% discount for.. I'm not sure what was that for because I couldn't understand what the shopkeeper said clearly. But I think the discount is for everyone who shops in HK. The price of the shoes then became cheaper than in Indonesia :p
We were really tired of walking all day, so we went back to our apartment after (of course) another stroll at Tsim Sha Tsui. Lindry, Nimaz, and Dhinar went to GU (yes, Uniqlo's GU) that was recently opened in HK. They had no intention for dinner (wth?!) but I was hungry already at that time so McDonald's, here I came. I met my friend, Samuel, who was in HK too for a trip with his family. However after we got into our apartment, we felt that we were still strong enough to go outside. Not wanting to waste our time in HK, off we went around. This time, Samuel replaced Dhinar who was too sleepy to come, and off we go to Lan Kwai Fong. An area in Central (yes, we went BACK to Central) which is the nightlife district in HK.
Breaking the thoughts of mine, Lan Kwai Fong at 11:30 PM is really crowded. The road was uphill and free from any vehicles so we had to take a walk from the bottom. The left and right side of the road was full of bars and sparkling lights. The bar waiters were standing in the (middle) of the road, waving the people 'Hello!' and often poked us to come inside their bar. In a glimpse, I think most of the people are either office workers or expats who are seeking for some fun after working hours. We got into one of the bars called 'Mine' and being seated inside because the table outdoor (nicer one I think) had a minimum spent of 350 HKD! The price of the foods and drinks are normal, just like when you go to a regular restaurant or bar in Jakarta. I like the ambience of Lan Kwai Fong, reminded me a little of Legian area in Bali.
The last MTR ran at 12:30 PM so it was the last destination for us and we went back to the apartment with tired (encok!) legs.
Day two
Disneyland today! According to the weather forecast, it was going to be raining that day.
Before we went to Disneyland, we had ourselves a breakfast at the Australia Dairy Company which was only 2 blocks away from our apartment. The breakfast place opens at 7.30 am and known for its long queue. To avoid that, we went there straight from bed (without showering), arriving at 7.45ish in the morning. We succeeded: we didn't queue and placed directly inside! Yeay!
We ordered the breakfast set consist of: milk tea (hot or cold), macaroni with slice of ham, and a toast bread with egg (scrambled or fried). Because I don't eat pork and I wanted to taste the macaroni so bad (Idk why I was just curious), I ordered myself a plate of macaroni with beef instead of ham.
Honest review for ADC, it was so-so. The milk tea tasted authentic and a little bit bitter, you had to throw some sugar if you like sweet. The scrambled egg is somehow delicious (they said the fried egg is also delicious) and the macaroni soup didn't taste that good. For a savory tooth like me, I didn't see the speciality of this soup. The beef was good, though, it was softer than any other usual beef. The waiters didn't speak English and were incommunicative to the customer. The wanted you to finish your foods in 10 minutes and don't bother to ask for additional requests (plates, forks, or sauce) because they would show their angry face to you! Hahaha.
At around 11 am, off to Disneyland. Disneyland located in Lantau Island, we had to take the MTR to go there. Alight at Sunny Bay station and jumped in to the Disney Resort line. It was Saturday so I expected the parks to be packed, but it wasn't! We rode almost all of the top attraction at the parks without any long queueing. I knew that the foods at Disneyland are expensive and doesn't taste the best (around 100 HKD for a meal). I had a strong willingness to bring foods from the apartment, so I forced the other to do so. This might be a little tweaker for you too, bring foods if you don't want to spend unwanted money. They allow you to bring sandwiches and mineral waters from the outside. You save time (because you will eat your sandwich while queueing) and dimes!
The weather forecast turned out to be true, it was raining all day. It was still a fun day, though. I could relieve my stress for a while. Always kid at heart!
We finished almost all of the rides by 5 pm. The raining started to get hard at the afternoon. We canceled our plan to watch the fireworks because it was too long to wait for it (the show starts at 8.30 PM). Tung Chung became our choice of place to go after Disneyland. Tung Chung is an area in Lantau Island, near Disneyland, where you can find the Citygate outlets. It is the end of the MTR line in Lantau Island, just one station away from Sunny Bay. Many people told us to go to Citygate because they sell branded items in a cheaper price.
The citygate looked like a regular mall. But, from all of the stores we got ourselves into, we didn't find anything match to our needs. We think that the price is no difference than in Jakarta. We got into Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Furla, Coach, but none of them sold their stuffs in a good price. But we could clearly see that people were lining up just to get into the store which had a big sign of 'SALE' hanging inside. Probably it was just cheaper than the usual HK price. Not satisfied enough going home empty-handed, we went straight for the Ladies Market in Mongkok.
I was aiming to buy for a phone case. Nimaz, Lindry, and Dhinar didn't have any idea what to buy so they just wanted to look around. Some tips for you if you go shopping at Mongkok:
- Don't look like you need the stuff so bad. Don't praise in front of the seller such as "Aah this is so cute!" or "We don't have this at home we should buy!" as they will bid the price higher for you.
- Stay cool, ask for the price directly. After they say the price, you say "Make it cheaper."
- They will ask you to state your desired price. Bargain 1/3. Trust me, 1/3! This does not make you evil, this will save you from one (the seller). I bargained half-price and the seller nod to me, saying "Okay!" DIRECTLY without any consideration. So, 1/3 would be appropriate.
- Bargain. If you don't have the skill to bargain, ask your friend to do it for you. This is a must.
- If they keep giving you a crazy high price, time for your last move; say "OK. Fine it's OK." while slowly walking out of the store.
- They will most likely chase you and lower their price. Not as much as you desired, but with a little bargaining tricks you will get your best price.
- If they don't chase you, it means they don't consider your desired price. If you want the items so bad, try to increase the price little by little. But if you don't, try searching at the next store, you'll find something similar!
We ended up buying knick-knacks for ourselves. A unicorn power bank (90 HKD), iPhone cases (55 HKD each), and socks (100 HKD for 7 pairs). We didn't feel satisfied with the price at all because we thought it was still possible to reduce it.
Mongkok is another must-go spot when you are in HK. Beside its well-known tourist spot Ladies Market, I found that the drug store, such as Sasa and Bonjour, are cheaper compared to their other branch. So if you're looking to buy stuffs from them, better to buy it at Mongkok! We finished shopping at around 11.50 PM and luckily we still managed to catch a bus home.
Day 3
Nimaz, Dhinar, and Lindry went to Macau but I stayed in HK. I have been to Macau before and I thought that one time was enough because there was nothing new to see plus the cost would be, ehm, a little bit costly (blame the Adidas shoe!). So I decided to walk around HK by myself.
The sun was hiding behind the thick grey clouds that day. It was hot but it started to rain. Hong Kong and its odd weather. I brought my umbrella and started to explore the road.
I went straight for breakfast because it was already 11 am when I got out. I walked up to Central to find Mak's Noodle, the famous noodle restaurant, for a bowl of soup because I wasn't feeling well. I was seated with a stranger who was eating alone too at Mak's Noodle. I ordered a bowl of wonton soup for 40 HKD. Pretty pricey for a plain rice noodle, water, and shrimp wonton mixed together. Not the best meal I had, gotta find something to eat later, I thought.
My brother asked me to find him an Adidas shoes. The shoes are not available in Indonesia and upon the Adidas store I went to at Central the day before. I headed to Mongkok (again) but this time I strolled around the Fa Yuen street or better known as sneakers street. Samuel, as a sneaker junkie himself, had suggested me several good shops where I could find my brother's shoes. But it seemed that all of the shops are closed in Sunday!! Well, well, not my lucky day. I decided to search in the store of Adidas itself (trust me there were like 5 Adidas stores in Mongkok) and found what I needed, but the size of the shoe ran out. Fyuh.
I walked back to Tsim Sha Tsui because it was started to rain. I bought my family stuffs from GU because I hadn't had the chance to go in. On the way home, not far from GU, I found a shop called '360' which sells various snacks from HK and Japan with a cheap price: Market O Real Brownie, Kit kat, Alfort biscuit, Matcha snacks, you named it.
Going out of the shop starved, I remembered about one halal restaurant near Nathan Road. I ate there the last time I went to HK and trust me, their oxtail tongue is to die for. I googled the restaurant and voila, I found it! The restaurant named Ah Lung Pakistan Halal Food and it is located just 200 meters away from the apartment. The curry tongue is still as nice as before and the portion is really big. Normally I would share it with my mom but on that day I finished the whole portion by myself. Haha. No surprise there. If you don't like tongue, you can change it with beef or chicken too.
Nimaz and her sisters had not shown up yet til the evening. I contacted Samuel and we decided to go to the Promenade to watch HK's Symphony of Lights. The show is running amongst the building in Hong Kong Island, therefore it's better to watch the symphony across Victoria bay in Kowloon so you get to see all of them. The best spot to watch this is probably through the Avenue of the Stars, but since it was still under renovation, you can head to the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower and see it over the bay. The show started at 8 pm and lasted for 15 minutes. Good ending for an exhausting day!
I met with Nimaz and Dhinar (Lindry was really tired) and we went for the Temple Street Night Market. Again, the street market is located only 2 blocks away from our apartment. We walked until the end of the alley of the street market but didn't find any worthy stuffs. Temple Street Night looked like the Ladies Market in Mongkok but in a less crowded and aggressive ambience. But to be frank, the stuffs are better at Mongkok.
After getting one last shot to Ladies Market (yes, we went back to Mongkok. The 3rd time for me), we went back to the apartment and packed our luggages because it was time to go back tomorrow. Hiks!
Day 4
Our pick for breakfast was Tsui Wah, a local HK restaurant with branches everywhere. We ordered the breakfast set consists of instant noodle with beef (because the other choice was pork), toasted bread with scrambled eggs, and milk tea (hot or cold). The food seemed alike with the Australia Dairy Company, I think this is the typical breakfast for the local, but this time it tasted way better. The ambience of Tsui Wah was more comfortable with an air-conditioned room and friendly staff. The milk tea from the breakfast set is the best I've drunk so far. It is different than the regular milk tea you find in a stall like Cha Time or Gong Cha. I bought it again later that day on Tsui Wah's airport branch because I like it so much!
We also ordered the crispy bun at Tsui Wah because according to many food bloggers, they are heaven. And.. it turned out to be accurate! The crispy bun is crunchy on the outside but melty and sweet on the inside.
Our flights were scheduled at 10 pm but we had to check ourselves out of the apartment by 1 pm. Nimaz, Dhinar, and I brought along our luggage because ours were small-sized. Lindry brought the medium-sized luggage so we needed to place it at the locker and get it back later. The locker located in the Hong Kong station, a station where the Airport Express train passed by. Hong Kong station is connected to Central MTR station so you can easily walk and follow the sign to get there.
Last destination to explore was Causeway Bay, an area in Hong Kong Island famous for the Times Square, Soho, and Sogo shopping malls. We just wanted to look around, didn't have anything to buy. I forgot to tell you that this side of Hong Kong, which is Hong Kong Island, has their own tram going around the city. You can use your Octopus card to go in. Too bad we didn't try the tram because it was raining really hard! I like the view of this area because it's different from Kowloon.
We had lunch at Ichiran, yes, the Japanese Ramen Ichiran opened in HK. It was my first time to try Ichiran and I was excited because people said it is really good. Ichiran's restaurant style is as close as it gets to Japan. Each person will have their own table facing a curtained area for the waiters to process our order. The menu, placed already at the table, will be taken out by the waiter after we pressed the bell. Again, I asked for a ramen without pork (they had it at the menu) and was expecting the meat to be replaced with chicken or beef (I know, silly, what kind of ramen has a beef on it?). Here's what I got:
Okay, the taste of the ramen was good, but it was kind of plain to eat it without any meat. The ramen is somehow milky, but not tasty, not really suitable for my Indonesian tongue. I should've ordered an egg but too hungry to wait for that. Overall, the ramen was nice, I gotta try it the next time I visit Japan! I heard they have chicken!
After Ichiran, we walked to Sogo (yes, with our luggage). Surprisingly the mall was REALLY crowded. Many shopkeepers are shouting and spreading flyers to the customers. Apparently, they were on a big sale, the root cause of people swarming around. The brands are tomato-tomahto with the Citygate. What about the price? It wasn't cheap either! We couldn't see why people were lining and thrusting with each other, so we got out and decided to go straight to the airport. We took the bus A22, the same bus taking us on the first day from the airport, and finally we sat comfortably.
That was the end of our journey in Hong Kong. Personally, I feel satisfied because I got to taste so many new foods I haven't had the chance before. I got used to commute in HK as well. Though I may say, May is not the best time to visit HK because of the unpredictable weather. December or January would be best, because the last time I went here, the weather was really nice. Sunny, cold, but not windy. Hong Kong is suitable for you who is a big city kind of people because it is damn busy and you should have a lot of energy to explore HK. Adios, Hong Kong! Will surely come back when you have something new to offer!!!
HK is a heaven for those who love shopping. Sasa and Bonjour are nearly everywhere, you can spot them not more than 100 meter apart from their next store. This is the place if you want to search for drugstore make ups, local medicine, or even snacks. Our first destination was Cotton On in the Granville road. I needed to buy a sunglasses (broke mine during the flights!) and the others wanted to do some window shopping. Granville Rd is one turn away from Nathan Rd, and the Cotton On here is huge! It consists of 4 floors. Typo, their infamous stationary shop, is bigger than the one I visited in Singapore (in Somerset or ION). You had to visit Typo here if you are a sucker for trinkets like me. No significant difference with the price compared to Jakarta, but they had a sale that was a value for money, though. Lindry and Nimaz bought a backpack, pants, and clothes for around 60 HKD each.
Our stomach couldn't compromise any longer after we got out from Cotton On. We. Needed. to. Eat. We wanted to go to McDonald's but Lindry forced us not to. She came up with an idea to eat at Kam's Roast Goose, a Michelin-starred restaurant located in Wan Chai. I browsed this place before but I was just... really hungry to go up there. Wan Chai is in Hong Kong Island, the same location with Victoria Peak. Okay I thought it was a good idea, so we decided to buy ourselves some snacks in 7-11 and went straight to Wan Chai by MTR.
We arrived at Kam's Goose and ordered the same menu for the 4 of us: Single Roasted Goose with Rice. A honest review of the food.. IT WAS REAL GOOD. Their Michelin star is no joke! Even the famous Duck restaurant in Jakarta doesn't taste this good. The duck meat is really soft and the portion is big enough, not to mention the plum sauce (or not, not sure what sauce was that) made the goose tastes even better. Thanks Lindry you saved us from McD!!
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| Single Roasted Goose with Rice (53 HKD). Taken from my Instagram story. So hungry that I forgot to take pictures. |
I had seen on other people's photo taken at the Peak, it was really foggy you can see nothing. I was really worried but thankfully I found this site where I could check the live weather at Victoria Peak (and other areas too). There were several ways to go to the Peak; taxi, bus, or tram. There is no MTR that takes you directly to the Peak. The Tram is the most popular way to reach the top but of course, the most touristy, and most pricey. Because none of us had tried to take the tram, we decided to go with one. If you want to take the Tram, you have to go to the The Peak Tram Lower Terminus in Central, Hong Kong Island. The first time I went there on a Christmas holiday, the queue was CRAZY. But probably because it was Friday afternoon, the queue was waaay short!
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| Line for the Tram ticket |
We bought the package ticket for the Tram (single, not return) and the SkyTerrace for 77 HKD. If you have the Octopus card already, use it to pay for the tickets because it saves you a lot of time from queuing as it has a different line. We waited in the Tram station for about 20 minutes before it arrived. The trip took about 15 minutes to the Peak with stops in several tram stations. It was crowded, some had to stand because there were no seats left at the Tram. The view from the Tram was pretty good, but if you go to the SkyTerrace, you will have the same (better, tbh) scenic view from up there.
The SkyTerrace located at the Peak Galleria, together with Madame Tussauds and the famous BubbaGump restaurant. We reached the top of the Peak Galleria, which is the SkyTerrace, and thank God the fog is not that bad, we still can see HK skylines from above. There were a lot of people at the terrace, but it was still enjoyable. I think this is one of the must-go spot when you go to HK!
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| Me & Nimaz at the SkyTerrace |
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| Hong Kong skyline from above. Pretty! |
We were really tired of walking all day, so we went back to our apartment after (of course) another stroll at Tsim Sha Tsui. Lindry, Nimaz, and Dhinar went to GU (yes, Uniqlo's GU) that was recently opened in HK. They had no intention for dinner (wth?!) but I was hungry already at that time so McDonald's, here I came. I met my friend, Samuel, who was in HK too for a trip with his family. However after we got into our apartment, we felt that we were still strong enough to go outside. Not wanting to waste our time in HK, off we went around. This time, Samuel replaced Dhinar who was too sleepy to come, and off we go to Lan Kwai Fong. An area in Central (yes, we went BACK to Central) which is the nightlife district in HK.
Breaking the thoughts of mine, Lan Kwai Fong at 11:30 PM is really crowded. The road was uphill and free from any vehicles so we had to take a walk from the bottom. The left and right side of the road was full of bars and sparkling lights. The bar waiters were standing in the (middle) of the road, waving the people 'Hello!' and often poked us to come inside their bar. In a glimpse, I think most of the people are either office workers or expats who are seeking for some fun after working hours. We got into one of the bars called 'Mine' and being seated inside because the table outdoor (nicer one I think) had a minimum spent of 350 HKD! The price of the foods and drinks are normal, just like when you go to a regular restaurant or bar in Jakarta. I like the ambience of Lan Kwai Fong, reminded me a little of Legian area in Bali.
The last MTR ran at 12:30 PM so it was the last destination for us and we went back to the apartment with tired (encok!) legs.
Day two
Disneyland today! According to the weather forecast, it was going to be raining that day.
Before we went to Disneyland, we had ourselves a breakfast at the Australia Dairy Company which was only 2 blocks away from our apartment. The breakfast place opens at 7.30 am and known for its long queue. To avoid that, we went there straight from bed (without showering), arriving at 7.45ish in the morning. We succeeded: we didn't queue and placed directly inside! Yeay!
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| The breakfast set (32 HKD). Pic from danielfooddiary.com |
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| Macaroni in chicken soup with beef (29 HKD) |
At around 11 am, off to Disneyland. Disneyland located in Lantau Island, we had to take the MTR to go there. Alight at Sunny Bay station and jumped in to the Disney Resort line. It was Saturday so I expected the parks to be packed, but it wasn't! We rode almost all of the top attraction at the parks without any long queueing. I knew that the foods at Disneyland are expensive and doesn't taste the best (around 100 HKD for a meal). I had a strong willingness to bring foods from the apartment, so I forced the other to do so. This might be a little tweaker for you too, bring foods if you don't want to spend unwanted money. They allow you to bring sandwiches and mineral waters from the outside. You save time (because you will eat your sandwich while queueing) and dimes!
The weather forecast turned out to be true, it was raining all day. It was still a fun day, though. I could relieve my stress for a while. Always kid at heart!
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| Met Mary Poppins. The sun was still up earlier that day. Disney to the rescue! |
We finished almost all of the rides by 5 pm. The raining started to get hard at the afternoon. We canceled our plan to watch the fireworks because it was too long to wait for it (the show starts at 8.30 PM). Tung Chung became our choice of place to go after Disneyland. Tung Chung is an area in Lantau Island, near Disneyland, where you can find the Citygate outlets. It is the end of the MTR line in Lantau Island, just one station away from Sunny Bay. Many people told us to go to Citygate because they sell branded items in a cheaper price.
The citygate looked like a regular mall. But, from all of the stores we got ourselves into, we didn't find anything match to our needs. We think that the price is no difference than in Jakarta. We got into Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Furla, Coach, but none of them sold their stuffs in a good price. But we could clearly see that people were lining up just to get into the store which had a big sign of 'SALE' hanging inside. Probably it was just cheaper than the usual HK price. Not satisfied enough going home empty-handed, we went straight for the Ladies Market in Mongkok.
I was aiming to buy for a phone case. Nimaz, Lindry, and Dhinar didn't have any idea what to buy so they just wanted to look around. Some tips for you if you go shopping at Mongkok:
- Don't look like you need the stuff so bad. Don't praise in front of the seller such as "Aah this is so cute!" or "We don't have this at home we should buy!" as they will bid the price higher for you.
- Stay cool, ask for the price directly. After they say the price, you say "Make it cheaper."
- They will ask you to state your desired price. Bargain 1/3. Trust me, 1/3! This does not make you evil, this will save you from one (the seller). I bargained half-price and the seller nod to me, saying "Okay!" DIRECTLY without any consideration. So, 1/3 would be appropriate.
- Bargain. If you don't have the skill to bargain, ask your friend to do it for you. This is a must.
- If they keep giving you a crazy high price, time for your last move; say "OK. Fine it's OK." while slowly walking out of the store.
- They will most likely chase you and lower their price. Not as much as you desired, but with a little bargaining tricks you will get your best price.
- If they don't chase you, it means they don't consider your desired price. If you want the items so bad, try to increase the price little by little. But if you don't, try searching at the next store, you'll find something similar!
We ended up buying knick-knacks for ourselves. A unicorn power bank (90 HKD), iPhone cases (55 HKD each), and socks (100 HKD for 7 pairs). We didn't feel satisfied with the price at all because we thought it was still possible to reduce it.
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| Unicorn powerbank and iPhone cases |
Day 3
Nimaz, Dhinar, and Lindry went to Macau but I stayed in HK. I have been to Macau before and I thought that one time was enough because there was nothing new to see plus the cost would be, ehm, a little bit costly (blame the Adidas shoe!). So I decided to walk around HK by myself.
The sun was hiding behind the thick grey clouds that day. It was hot but it started to rain. Hong Kong and its odd weather. I brought my umbrella and started to explore the road.
I went straight for breakfast because it was already 11 am when I got out. I walked up to Central to find Mak's Noodle, the famous noodle restaurant, for a bowl of soup because I wasn't feeling well. I was seated with a stranger who was eating alone too at Mak's Noodle. I ordered a bowl of wonton soup for 40 HKD. Pretty pricey for a plain rice noodle, water, and shrimp wonton mixed together. Not the best meal I had, gotta find something to eat later, I thought.
My brother asked me to find him an Adidas shoes. The shoes are not available in Indonesia and upon the Adidas store I went to at Central the day before. I headed to Mongkok (again) but this time I strolled around the Fa Yuen street or better known as sneakers street. Samuel, as a sneaker junkie himself, had suggested me several good shops where I could find my brother's shoes. But it seemed that all of the shops are closed in Sunday!! Well, well, not my lucky day. I decided to search in the store of Adidas itself (trust me there were like 5 Adidas stores in Mongkok) and found what I needed, but the size of the shoe ran out. Fyuh.
I walked back to Tsim Sha Tsui because it was started to rain. I bought my family stuffs from GU because I hadn't had the chance to go in. On the way home, not far from GU, I found a shop called '360' which sells various snacks from HK and Japan with a cheap price: Market O Real Brownie, Kit kat, Alfort biscuit, Matcha snacks, you named it.
Going out of the shop starved, I remembered about one halal restaurant near Nathan Road. I ate there the last time I went to HK and trust me, their oxtail tongue is to die for. I googled the restaurant and voila, I found it! The restaurant named Ah Lung Pakistan Halal Food and it is located just 200 meters away from the apartment. The curry tongue is still as nice as before and the portion is really big. Normally I would share it with my mom but on that day I finished the whole portion by myself. Haha. No surprise there. If you don't like tongue, you can change it with beef or chicken too.
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| Lunch package: Curry Oxtail Tongue with Rice (50 HKD) |
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| Symphony of the Lights as seen through the TST Clock Tower |
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| Thanks to Sam's camera!! |
After getting one last shot to Ladies Market (yes, we went back to Mongkok. The 3rd time for me), we went back to the apartment and packed our luggages because it was time to go back tomorrow. Hiks!
Day 4
Our pick for breakfast was Tsui Wah, a local HK restaurant with branches everywhere. We ordered the breakfast set consists of instant noodle with beef (because the other choice was pork), toasted bread with scrambled eggs, and milk tea (hot or cold). The food seemed alike with the Australia Dairy Company, I think this is the typical breakfast for the local, but this time it tasted way better. The ambience of Tsui Wah was more comfortable with an air-conditioned room and friendly staff. The milk tea from the breakfast set is the best I've drunk so far. It is different than the regular milk tea you find in a stall like Cha Time or Gong Cha. I bought it again later that day on Tsui Wah's airport branch because I like it so much!
We also ordered the crispy bun at Tsui Wah because according to many food bloggers, they are heaven. And.. it turned out to be accurate! The crispy bun is crunchy on the outside but melty and sweet on the inside.
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| Already craving for one now. Crispy bun (18 HKD/2pcs) |
Our flights were scheduled at 10 pm but we had to check ourselves out of the apartment by 1 pm. Nimaz, Dhinar, and I brought along our luggage because ours were small-sized. Lindry brought the medium-sized luggage so we needed to place it at the locker and get it back later. The locker located in the Hong Kong station, a station where the Airport Express train passed by. Hong Kong station is connected to Central MTR station so you can easily walk and follow the sign to get there.
Last destination to explore was Causeway Bay, an area in Hong Kong Island famous for the Times Square, Soho, and Sogo shopping malls. We just wanted to look around, didn't have anything to buy. I forgot to tell you that this side of Hong Kong, which is Hong Kong Island, has their own tram going around the city. You can use your Octopus card to go in. Too bad we didn't try the tram because it was raining really hard! I like the view of this area because it's different from Kowloon.
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| The tram in Causeway bay, Wan Chai, and Central |
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| Ramen without meat at Ichiran (89 HKD) |
After Ichiran, we walked to Sogo (yes, with our luggage). Surprisingly the mall was REALLY crowded. Many shopkeepers are shouting and spreading flyers to the customers. Apparently, they were on a big sale, the root cause of people swarming around. The brands are tomato-tomahto with the Citygate. What about the price? It wasn't cheap either! We couldn't see why people were lining and thrusting with each other, so we got out and decided to go straight to the airport. We took the bus A22, the same bus taking us on the first day from the airport, and finally we sat comfortably.
That was the end of our journey in Hong Kong. Personally, I feel satisfied because I got to taste so many new foods I haven't had the chance before. I got used to commute in HK as well. Though I may say, May is not the best time to visit HK because of the unpredictable weather. December or January would be best, because the last time I went here, the weather was really nice. Sunny, cold, but not windy. Hong Kong is suitable for you who is a big city kind of people because it is damn busy and you should have a lot of energy to explore HK. Adios, Hong Kong! Will surely come back when you have something new to offer!!!
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