Hooray, our virgin trip to Hong Kong was finally happening!!! This long awaited holiday/ belated Graduation trip for us have finally arrived!
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| Departing from Changi Airport! |
We landed on time in this Dim Sum land early Tuesday morning at around 5.45am. All was well at the customs except when we realised that Ms. W hasn't come out after a while. After a series of panic and asking around, we finally sorted out that she had to refill her forms at the immigration because she had filled in the Departure form instead of the Arrival form.
Kind reminder: Do fill in the Arrival forms accurately before proceeding to the customs.
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| Arrival exit at Hong Kong Airport |
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| The first "person" to welcome us into Hong Kong was Kim Soo Hyun! |
And our next task was supposedly getting a SIM card so we would be contactable and have access to data while we were in Hong Kong. However, we have landed too early for the shops to be opened for us to purchase the cards. The shops usually open at 7am and it is highly recommended to get a prepaid card as this would not only make keeping in touch with your friends (especially when you travel in groups) easier, you would also easily have access to GPS.
So without getting the card, we set off via taxi to our hotel
Dorsett Mongkok on 88 Tai Kok Tsui Road. The journey from the airport to the hotel took us about 30 mins and cost us HKD $280 (~$45sgd/$11.40 per pax).
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| View on the way from Airport to hotel |
Since we were too early, we were unable to check into our hotel rooms and thus had to leave our luggage at the concierge. We quickly washed up before taking the 8am shuttle bus to Mong Kok MTR station. We then walked from Mong Kok MTR to Kam Wah Cafe which took us half an hour by foot.
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| Kam Wah Cafe |
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| Yuan Yang |
I found the yuan yang a little disappointing maybe because I personally don't like the coffee taste and the coffee taste was very strong in their Yuan Yang.
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| Set meal - HKD $ |
Taste delicious, except for the luncheon meat which tasted a little weird.
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| 菠萝包 - Pineapple buns |
Their pineapple buns are the best! No visit to Kam Wah Cafe is completed without this!
Kam Wah Cafe
47 Bute Street
6.30am - 11.30pm
After breakfast, we realised that it was just a few steps away from Prince Edward Station so it would be more recommendable to train to Prince Edward MTR station and
exit B2 if you would like to check out Kam Wah Cafe.
Kind recommendation: Do grab hold of their Octopus Card, it is not only useful as a transportation card, there are also many shops (such as 7 eleven, convenience stores, supermarkets, MacDonalds etc...) which accepts Octopus Card so feel free to top up as much as you think you may need.
And from there we trained to Admiralty MTR station to catch bus 629 to Ocean Park! Simply follow the directions in the MTR station which says "Bus to Ocean Park" and the bus station is just right outside the exit.
The bus ride was about 20 minutes and cost us HKD $10.60 each (~SGD$1.70), payable via Octopus Card.
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| Bus 629 to Ocean Park! |
Purchase the Ocean Park General Admission Ticket at the ticketing counter. The usual price is HKD$320 each (~SGD$52). We got our tickets at HKD$281.60 (~SGD$45.80) instead because there was a promotional price for KrisFlyer card holders.
Definitely much better to go in the morning when the Park opens as there were floods of tourist groups coming in in the afternoon. Ocean Park is very much bigger than Disneyland, so for people who like animals and thrilling rides (not me though), Ocean Park is a must-go!
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| Ocean Park! |
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| Old Hong Kong Street |
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| Shops along the street |
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| Cable Car Station |
Take the cable car up to the other part of Ocean Park.
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| Queuing up to board the cable car |
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| View on the way up on the Cable Car |
The first ride we took was THE RAPIDS!!!
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| The Rapids (Get Ready to get Wet!) |
Since it was raining, and we were partially wet, we decided to go for it AGAIN!
Then we moved onto the Thrill Mountain section where I only took the Whirly Bird.
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| Whirly Bird |
Then the three of them went for other rides such as Rev Booster, Bumper Blaster, Artic Blast and even the Hair Raiser while I hid in a shelter trying to catch a wink due to the lack of rest from the short flight. And great for them because the adrenaline rush totally woke them up and they were no longer sleepy.
When they were done with the thrilling rides, we went to visit some animals...
Eventually we took the cable car ride back down to the main arena of the Ocean Park.
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| Red Bean Pudding - HKD $12 |
The red bean pudding was twice the price of a same piece of pudding outside of Ocean Park, but we were too hungry by then to think of the price of the food, moreover, it tasted YUMMY!
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| Egg Waffles - HKD $22 |
Ms. Y and her boyfriend got their caricature drawn at the above store, found on Old Hong Kong street.
Then we went to visit more animals!~
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| Panda! |
I am pretty sure there were many more rides we could have taken but because we were getting tired, we decided to leave Ocean Park for now...
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| They are building a MTR station right next to Ocean Park so it should get more convenient to get to Ocean Park in future. |
Ocean Park
10.30am - 7.30pm
We left Ocean Park at around 4.30pm, boarding bus 629 again, which took us back to Admiralty MTR station. We went into the station and trained one stop to Wan Chai MTR station, taking
exit A2, walking along Hennessy Road. Their Char Siew is a not-to-be-missed, it was so thick and juicy that it totally melts in the mouth.
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| Joy Hing Roasted Meat |
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| The char siew is so thick and juicy! |
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| May seem like ordinary vegetables, but its taste was extraordinary good that we ordered a second bowl. |
Joy Hing Roasted Meat
Block C, G/F, 265 - 267 Hennessy Road
10am - 10:30pm
Last agenda of the night was to view the Symphony of Lights from the Golden Bauhinia Square. So from Wan Chai
exit A5, we took the skybridge which led towards the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Unfortunately the clouds decided to steal the beamlight of the night and we didn't really quite fully get to enjoy the lights as said.
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| Golden Bauhinia Square |
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| Symphony of Lights at Victoria Harbour |
Having had a long day, we decided to cab back from Wan Chai back to our hotel. That was a little challenging as not many drivers may be willing to cross the tunnel from Hong Kong to Kowloon, but we were blessed to be led to a taxi stand where there were taxis waiting which were willing to take us back to Mong Kok Kowloon.
A super fruitful Day 1 I would say and it left all of us tired since we didn't get to grab much sleep on the plane ride to Hong Kong. We were super pleased when we were finally able to enter into our hotel room.
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| Rainbow on the hotel bed, he has a new friend to keep him company this time! |
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| Panoramic view of our hotel room |
We booked the family suite at Dorsett Mongkok and we have to say that we were super satisfied. Many people have preempt me that the rooms in Hong Kong may be small but we were utterly blessed to learn that since our room was built to cater for disabled people, it was large enough for the four of us and we did not feel tight or lack of space.
And with that, we all prepared for a good night's rest.
For Day 2 of our trip, access it from
HERE.
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