Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Our HK Trip: Day 5 (4 Mar 2010)
Like the previous day, we spent the morning at the cafe in the restaurant. We tried some of the things that we did not manage to try on the previous day. Ian liked the Mickey-shaped waffle, pancake and hash brown.
After breakfast, we returned to our room to pack our luggage. We also took some time to take some photos of Ian with his beloved balloon that would be deflated in a few hours. One thing we did not like about the hotel was the early checkout at 11am. It was too close to breakfast!
The 3 pairs of slippers that the hotel had prepared for us - in L, M, and S sizes!
After checking out of the hotel, we took a taxi to the airport. The journey cost about HKD100+ which was pretty alright, considering the convenience.
We arrived at the airport pretty early, at around noon. We walked around the airport to waste some time, before checking in to have our lunch. We randomly chose a Chinese restaurant to have our lunch. We ordered Ee Fu Noodles and a roasted pigeon for lunch, as we were still pretty full from the breakfast. To our pleasant surprise, the pigeon tasted even better than what we found in Kowloon!
After our long lunch, we quickly headed towards the boarding gate.
Although it was a short, last-minute trip, and it was tiring to bring along a toddler, we enjoyed ourselves!
After breakfast, we returned to our room to pack our luggage. We also took some time to take some photos of Ian with his beloved balloon that would be deflated in a few hours. One thing we did not like about the hotel was the early checkout at 11am. It was too close to breakfast!
The 3 pairs of slippers that the hotel had prepared for us - in L, M, and S sizes!
After checking out of the hotel, we took a taxi to the airport. The journey cost about HKD100+ which was pretty alright, considering the convenience.
We arrived at the airport pretty early, at around noon. We walked around the airport to waste some time, before checking in to have our lunch. We randomly chose a Chinese restaurant to have our lunch. We ordered Ee Fu Noodles and a roasted pigeon for lunch, as we were still pretty full from the breakfast. To our pleasant surprise, the pigeon tasted even better than what we found in Kowloon!
After our long lunch, we quickly headed towards the boarding gate.
Although it was a short, last-minute trip, and it was tiring to bring along a toddler, we enjoyed ourselves!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Our HK Trip: Day 4 (3 Mar 2010)
Ian was so enamoured of his Mickey helium balloon, that the first thing he did in the morning was to look for it. It was supposed to be an idyllic day. We began the day with a hearty breakfast at Cafe Mickeys in the hotel. The food was not bad, but the spread was wide - continental to Asian.
We took our own sweet time to go to the park. It was a sunny day - what a dramatic change in the weather as it was cool on the previous day. We made a wrong decision to let Ian wear a long-sleeved shirt. Along the way, we bought a Mickey hat for Ian to keep some sun out of his head. The park attendant whom we bought the hat from highly recommended us to visit the Mickey Philhar Magic show, hence, it became our first stop.
While waiting to enter the theatre, each of us was given a pair of shade. Look how Ian looked in them!
Ian enjoyed the 3D show tremendously, and had even attempted to stretch out his hands to touch the objects. Right outside the theatre, we found curried yudan and sat down for a bite. Ian was craving for the fishballs as we savoured them. In the end, we bought one more pack since Ian liked it so much.
After the short break, we headed towards Tomorrowland...
We found this part of the park to be quite fun too. Unfortunately, one of the rides was out of bounds to Ian because he had not attained the minimum height requirement.
A little astronaut has been spotted!
After our fair share of rides, we chased around the park for a photo with the Disney characters: Pooh Bear, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, and casts from Buzz Light Year.
There was still some time left, and we revisited one of the stations in Tomorrowland for a second ride - to help Buzz shoot down the 'bad elements'! I attained the 5th grade in this ride!
We returned to Main Street Cafe for dinner. We ordered ramen and a salad. Thumbs up for the ramen!
After the dinner, we walked around the streets while waiting for the fireworks display. Because Hubby was busy filming the fireworks on the previous night, this time round, it was his turn to enjoy the performance with Ian, while I had free hands to take still shots.
This night, we joined the crowd to return to the hotel. To our surprise, Goofy was loitering in the lobby and we took this chance to take a photo with him!
It was a magical holiday indeed!
We took our own sweet time to go to the park. It was a sunny day - what a dramatic change in the weather as it was cool on the previous day. We made a wrong decision to let Ian wear a long-sleeved shirt. Along the way, we bought a Mickey hat for Ian to keep some sun out of his head. The park attendant whom we bought the hat from highly recommended us to visit the Mickey Philhar Magic show, hence, it became our first stop.
While waiting to enter the theatre, each of us was given a pair of shade. Look how Ian looked in them!
Ian enjoyed the 3D show tremendously, and had even attempted to stretch out his hands to touch the objects. Right outside the theatre, we found curried yudan and sat down for a bite. Ian was craving for the fishballs as we savoured them. In the end, we bought one more pack since Ian liked it so much.
After the short break, we headed towards Tomorrowland...
We found this part of the park to be quite fun too. Unfortunately, one of the rides was out of bounds to Ian because he had not attained the minimum height requirement.
A little astronaut has been spotted!
After our fair share of rides, we chased around the park for a photo with the Disney characters: Pooh Bear, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, and casts from Buzz Light Year.
There was still some time left, and we revisited one of the stations in Tomorrowland for a second ride - to help Buzz shoot down the 'bad elements'! I attained the 5th grade in this ride!
We returned to Main Street Cafe for dinner. We ordered ramen and a salad. Thumbs up for the ramen!
After the dinner, we walked around the streets while waiting for the fireworks display. Because Hubby was busy filming the fireworks on the previous night, this time round, it was his turn to enjoy the performance with Ian, while I had free hands to take still shots.
This night, we joined the crowd to return to the hotel. To our surprise, Goofy was loitering in the lobby and we took this chance to take a photo with him!
It was a magical holiday indeed!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Our HK Trip: Day 3 (2 Mar 2010)
This morning was planned to be an idyllic one, before we proceed to our next destination - Disneyland! We woke up at our usual time, and crossed the street to Shamrock Hotel for breakfast. I had saw good reviews in forums on this restaurant, and hence, we decided to give it a try.
The restaurant was not as packed as Federal Palace which we visited the day before. After ordering the food, we waited for quite a while. Ian played with the Iphone apps while waiting.
We ordered a few dishes to try...
After breakfast, we returned to the hotel to pack our luggage and check out. We took one last photo of the lobby before leaving.
Staying at Prudential was convenient. We took a few flights of escalators, all the way down to the basement level where the Jordan station was. There was a short flight of stairs where Hubby had to carry the luggage down. Because I was carrying Ian in my arms, a kind lady offered me her seat when we boarded. This was not the first time that we had been offered seats in our extremely short trip. Thumbs up to Hongkongers!
The train journey was pretty short, and we reached the Sunny Bay station within 30mins?
This is the Disney train, in which you see the Mickey icons all over. The seats were comfortable sofas, and because the train was not full, it appeared very spacious! Fantastic.
We arrived at the hotel via the shuttle bus and did an early check in. As anticipated, everything inside the hotel is Disney! It was nice that they had prepared the towels, slippers and bathrobes in sets of three. And the slippers (not the usual cheap hotel type) and bathrobes come in S, M, and L sizes. We took the Garden View room and it was spacious enough for all of us, although there was no view to speak of from the window.
We spent a little time feeding Ian some bread that we grabbed at Jordan station, while I was trying to figure out the schedule of the park activities. It was getting rather late (almost 3pm), and Hubby decided we should just go there to explore.
We took the shuttle bus to the park. Although it was a Tuesday, the park was pretty crowded.
Our first stop was to have lunch at the Main Street Corner Cafe. We ordered a kiddy set for Ian and some fried platters for ourselves. Instead of eating his own meal, Ian liked those fried stuff.
Right after lunch, we waited outside for the parade that started at 3.30pm. It was a long wait.
Our next stop - Small Small World. We followed the crowd and entered the theatre for the Golden Mickeys show. Ian fell asleep soon after we were seated. It was a pity because the theatre was filled with bubbles towards the end, which we knew he would love.
We took various rides in the park, before settling our dinner at Plaza Inn (a Maxim restaurant). The meal set us back by perhaps HKD$300? Both Hubby and I agreed that the food was good though.
Right after dinner, we walked towards the Sleeping Beauty Castle, where there would be a fireworks display at 7.30pm. Since Ian kept looking at the helium Mickey balloons, Hubby bought one for him (HKD$100!) while waiting. The crowd got larger and larger on the streets when everyone gathered for the show. The display was good, albeit the huge crowd.
We shopped around after the fireworks, to wait for the crowd to disperse a little. However, many stayed around to shop as well. Before we left, we collected 2 photos that the park's photographers had taken for us.
Back at the hotel, we let Ian try on the little bathrobe that the hotel had prepared for him. He shrugged it off after a while.
Ian was so fascinated by his balloon that he kept playing with it in the room!
The restaurant was not as packed as Federal Palace which we visited the day before. After ordering the food, we waited for quite a while. Ian played with the Iphone apps while waiting.
We ordered a few dishes to try...
After breakfast, we returned to the hotel to pack our luggage and check out. We took one last photo of the lobby before leaving.
Staying at Prudential was convenient. We took a few flights of escalators, all the way down to the basement level where the Jordan station was. There was a short flight of stairs where Hubby had to carry the luggage down. Because I was carrying Ian in my arms, a kind lady offered me her seat when we boarded. This was not the first time that we had been offered seats in our extremely short trip. Thumbs up to Hongkongers!
The train journey was pretty short, and we reached the Sunny Bay station within 30mins?
This is the Disney train, in which you see the Mickey icons all over. The seats were comfortable sofas, and because the train was not full, it appeared very spacious! Fantastic.
We arrived at the hotel via the shuttle bus and did an early check in. As anticipated, everything inside the hotel is Disney! It was nice that they had prepared the towels, slippers and bathrobes in sets of three. And the slippers (not the usual cheap hotel type) and bathrobes come in S, M, and L sizes. We took the Garden View room and it was spacious enough for all of us, although there was no view to speak of from the window.
We spent a little time feeding Ian some bread that we grabbed at Jordan station, while I was trying to figure out the schedule of the park activities. It was getting rather late (almost 3pm), and Hubby decided we should just go there to explore.
We took the shuttle bus to the park. Although it was a Tuesday, the park was pretty crowded.
Our first stop was to have lunch at the Main Street Corner Cafe. We ordered a kiddy set for Ian and some fried platters for ourselves. Instead of eating his own meal, Ian liked those fried stuff.
Right after lunch, we waited outside for the parade that started at 3.30pm. It was a long wait.
Our next stop - Small Small World. We followed the crowd and entered the theatre for the Golden Mickeys show. Ian fell asleep soon after we were seated. It was a pity because the theatre was filled with bubbles towards the end, which we knew he would love.
We took various rides in the park, before settling our dinner at Plaza Inn (a Maxim restaurant). The meal set us back by perhaps HKD$300? Both Hubby and I agreed that the food was good though.
Right after dinner, we walked towards the Sleeping Beauty Castle, where there would be a fireworks display at 7.30pm. Since Ian kept looking at the helium Mickey balloons, Hubby bought one for him (HKD$100!) while waiting. The crowd got larger and larger on the streets when everyone gathered for the show. The display was good, albeit the huge crowd.
We shopped around after the fireworks, to wait for the crowd to disperse a little. However, many stayed around to shop as well. Before we left, we collected 2 photos that the park's photographers had taken for us.
Back at the hotel, we let Ian try on the little bathrobe that the hotel had prepared for him. He shrugged it off after a while.
Ian was so fascinated by his balloon that he kept playing with it in the room!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Our HK Trip: Day 2 (1 Mar 2010)
In the morning, we made a short walk to the Federal Palace which was a place that we had always visited in our past trips, for the cheap and good dim sum.
After a full breakfast, we took the MTR to Prince Edward station to visit the markets at Fa Yuen Street. Unfortunately, Ian poo-ed after only a short walk in the market. We had to look around for a decent place to change him. After changing him, we went to the markets again. I had gotten myself a new iphone case for HKD$35, and also 2 Japanese design tees for Ian, each at HKD$20. There was nothing much that we wanted to buy from the markets.
After lunch, our last task before leaving the markets was to find pineapple buns with butter, which left me with fond memories during my last visit. Unfortunately, it was not easy to find when we had the intention to find something. After asking around, we bought buns from a bakery called Sakurashima. I thought I had chosen the ones with butter, but they turned out to be plain. Hubby liked it anyway.
On the way out of the markets, we had passed by a stall that sells fish ball with curry. I could not resist the temptation and bought a bowl to try. Somehow, they just did not taste as good as the ones I had eaten in the last trip.
We took the MTR back to Jordan and returned to our hotel room for a short rest. After an hour or so, we proceeded out for dinner. We had no particular place in mind for dinner, and went to Harbour City to try our luck. We had dinner at the Crystal Jade restaurant. In HK, there was a la mian with mushrooms, which I thought was good! After dinner, we shopped around the area and then went back to the hotel.
View of Prudential Hotel from across Nathan Road
Signboard of Federal Palace
Ian waiting patiently for his dim sum
We ordered the standard dim sums and could not finish it all
After a full breakfast, we took the MTR to Prince Edward station to visit the markets at Fa Yuen Street. Unfortunately, Ian poo-ed after only a short walk in the market. We had to look around for a decent place to change him. After changing him, we went to the markets again. I had gotten myself a new iphone case for HKD$35, and also 2 Japanese design tees for Ian, each at HKD$20. There was nothing much that we wanted to buy from the markets.
We attempted to look for the maggie mee noodle shop at Mongkok, which we had patronised in our last visit. Unfortunately, we could not find the shop. Hence, we settled our lunch at a noodle house that sells fish ball noodles.
Fish ball and cake noodles, beef ball noodles, yin yang, and honey with lemon
After lunch, our last task before leaving the markets was to find pineapple buns with butter, which left me with fond memories during my last visit. Unfortunately, it was not easy to find when we had the intention to find something. After asking around, we bought buns from a bakery called Sakurashima. I thought I had chosen the ones with butter, but they turned out to be plain. Hubby liked it anyway.
On the way out of the markets, we had passed by a stall that sells fish ball with curry. I could not resist the temptation and bought a bowl to try. Somehow, they just did not taste as good as the ones I had eaten in the last trip.
We took the MTR back to Jordan and returned to our hotel room for a short rest. After an hour or so, we proceeded out for dinner. We had no particular place in mind for dinner, and went to Harbour City to try our luck. We had dinner at the Crystal Jade restaurant. In HK, there was a la mian with mushrooms, which I thought was good! After dinner, we shopped around the area and then went back to the hotel.
Ian enjoying his bottle of Yacult in the hotel room
Our supper, mango pudding
Monday, March 8, 2010
Our HK Trip: Day 1 (28 Feb 2010)
Hubby and I woke up as early as 5am this morning to prepare ourselves. Ian was woken up near to 6am when we were ready to go. The 3 of us stepped out of the house at around 6.30am and it was not so easy to catch a cab.
But fortunately, a taxi was changing shift just at the place where we were waiting for one. The journey to the airport took less than half an hour and we reached the airport and proceeded to check in the luggage and retrieve our tickets. We did not have much time left to reach the boarding gate, hence, we grabbed some food from Delifrance and ate along the way. Ian enjoyed the fresh mango juice the most.
The flight was rather smooth for Ian, being a first-time flyer. He was entertained throughout the journey with his little magnetic writing board and the puzzle from Cathay. (The flight attendants gave us a pack of diapers, diaper cream, and a children kit.) He only got a little cranky when the plane was about to descend for landing. We quickly fed him water to ease the pain in his ears.
We reached HK at about noon, and after collecting our baggage, it was almost 1pm. Hence, we decided to have our lunch at the airport, in case Ian was hungry.
Our wanton noodles from Maxim fast food
The noodles were not bad, but I did like the milk tea which had a different taste as compared to what we have locally. Ian did not have a good appetite, partly because it was near to his nap time. After our quick lunch, we bought a small donut for Ian to be eaten later.
Being our first time using the airport express service, it took us a while to find the counter to get our redeemed the tickets that I had purchased online. I took care of Ian while Hubby took care of the heavy luggage.
The train was spacious and comfortable, and we reached the Kowloon station in less than 30mins. Ian was fast asleep during the journey. There was a free shuttle bus to Jordan Station, and we made use of it. We alighted at Austin Road, and took a little while to find the hotel which was not too far from the bus stop.
The hotel room was just as spacious as we expected. We took a little rest in the room, while Ian finished his donut. In the meanwhile, Ian was enjoying himself with the new environment, exploring around the room.
After a little rest, we took the MTR at the basement to Tsimshatsui, using our airport express tickets which had 3 days of unlimited rides on the MTR. We first walked around Granville Road, hoping to find some good outlets. Unfortunately, there was nothing much to explore. We decided to have an early dinner at the Macau Restaurant, which Hubby and I missed during our previous trips.
We ordered their famous pork chop bun, fried rice for Ian, and a roasted pigeon. For drinks, we tried the coke with lemon, and HK's famous yin-yang. Apparently, Ian loved the coke with lemon and could not stop drinking it! For Hubby and I, we enjoyed the roasted pigeon most!
After our dinner, we walked a little down to find the Esprit outlet which we had visited a few years ago. Unfortunately, it was not around any more. I had also not done sufficient homework to find out the latest location. Too bad for us...
It was neither too early nor too late, and so we did not visit Harbourcity as planned. Instead, we walked around Sogo and went to the Harbour to wait for the Symphony of Lights.
We were over an hour early (although there were many other early birds around). It was way too boring and windy for Ian. So, we dropped the idea of waiting for the performance which we had already watched in our previous trips. Instead, we took the MTR again, to Mongkok for the night markets.
Along the way, we bought some egg waffle and fish balls to eat. Our last stop was Xu Liu Shan for desserts! My fave guilinggao and mango pudding!
Although it was still early by our past standards, we headed back to the hotel by 9pm, so that Ian could have his cereal to make up for the little food that he ate in the day. His appetite for the cereal and jar food was good, fortunately. All of us had an early rest that night.
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