Hong Kong 2012 - Chapter 2: Citygate Outlets & The Happy Train

Day 2 was probably the best day everyone had in Hong Kong since it was before all the 'drama' began~

We started our day early as we wanted to have breakfast at Kam Wah Cafe （金華冰廳), a well-known shop serving HK style food that was very conveniently located near our hotel :)

Outside our hotel bright and early~

A view of one of the streets, there are just so many things squeezed into a narrow street that I always don't know which way to look first @.@~

Case in point....

We were so early that most of the shops hadn't opened yet, this was obviously taken at Fa Yuen Street-translated as 'flower garden' street where they sell lots of flowers, there was also Goldfish Street, Watercress Street and Kangkung Street nearby :)

The very familiar looking 小巴 or small bus, they are so famous because they always appear in HK dramas.. hehe..

Kam Wah's breakfast sets~ $30 = SGD5

ham, sausages and eggs waiting for their partners to make up the can dan noodle combo (餐蛋面)

My almond milk.. It was a bit too diluted, too bad... I prefer the one from Old Tea Hut near my office~

菠萝包 (Bolo bao) and 菠萝油 (Bolo yau) - This is what Kam Wah is most famous for.. the difference between the 2 is that one has a big slab of butter and is more guilt-inducing than the other.. we wanted to try both but of course the one that makes you feel guiltier usually tastes better T_T

西多士 (Thick toast) - Filled with peanut butter and also served with a slab of butter, sweet and oily and everything unhealthy.. hahahha... since there were 6 of us, we split into 2 tables. On my side, we shared the 2 buns and the toast and were super full already.. The other table got 1 set of bun+tea each and also ordered the toast and ended up not being able to finish, hahaha..

Taking a ride on the MTR after breakfast~

We wanted to go to the Citygate outlets which is on Lantau Island, so since we were on Kowloon, we had to change trains at Lai King station to transfer to the Tung Chung Line. On the way there, we made a detour to Sham Shui Po as it has a lot of shops selling cheap clothes but we were too early and most of the shops were not open yet..

The street that the TVB drama Hidden Treasures (鴨寮街的金蛋) was based on :D

Arghhh, people rest for 11 days during chinese new year, I only had a measly 2 day-holiday T_T

We finally made it to Citygate and then we all went crazy!! :) the shops there have real good deals and lots of nice stuff available, not like the stores in Johor Premium Outlets. my colleagues all went crazy buying CK, DKNY, MNG, Coach, etc.. Esprit and Giordano are super affordable there too as they are HK brands..

Had a short break for lunch at the foodcourt.. I had Macau style baked rice since I didn't have a chance to visit Macau this time *wasted*

A small part of our loot~

On the way to Tung Chung, we passed Sunny Bay station, which is where you need to go to change to the train to Disneyland! During lunchtime, all of us, except one hardcore shopper colleague, decided to stop by Disneyland to take a look since the theme-park wasn't part of our itinerary.We only had about 1 hour before we had to go back to the hotel to meet our boss for dinner..

The way to a happy place where everyone becomes a kid again *guaranteed* (Ooops, suddenly realised I haven't blogged about my trip to Disneyland in Paris during my Europe trip in 2009 XD)

Just looking at the windows of the happy train was enough to get us all excited!!

The whole train was full of Disney decor, and all of us were so excited over every little detail that we were practically squealing, lol...The seats are U-shaped by the way, how cute is that...

Even the hand grips were Mickey shaped :)


At the entrance to Disneyland! It cost us a freaking HK$11.80 to go from Tung Chung to Disneyland, which is technically 2 stops.. usually 2 stops only costs about HK$2 @.@~


The very cute fountain~ The Mickey figure on top of the whale moves up and down together with the water, ingenious!

Mickey ears appearing all over the place~

Everyone just couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear :D

We went round the exterior, up to the part with the turnstiles where you can only enter after purchasing the pass.. Hmm, maybe next time I visit HK, I'll include Disneyland in the itinerary.. heard that HK Disneyland is quite small compared to the others tho, wonder it that's true...

Don't know why, but the sight of the train tracks from the link bridge seemed gorgeous to me @.@

All too soon it was 5pm and we had to meet go back to the hotel to drop off our shopping bags and get ready for dinner.. We stopped at Prince Edward station instead of Mongkok station this time and ended up having to race to our hotel after narrowly avoiding getting lost in the streets.. heh... Dinner was to be at a restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge where we would have a great view of the HK skyline while enjoying our dinner.. The restaurant we went to deserves a whole post to itself, so stay tuned~

PS: Big thank you to Giordano at Citygate for letting me steal your wi-fi connection .. *I was standing just outside the door for around 15 minutes just to use the line, lol*

Hong Kong 2012 - Chapter 1: Going over and Royal Plaza Hotel

2 February 2012

* I really wish I had the leisure to sit down properly and blog about my everyday experiences before they become stale news, the way I used to when I was studying.. sigh.. too bad working has killed most of my brain cells by the time I get home everyday T__T

After working in this company and hearing lots of horror stories about my bosses, I was a bit sceptical when they announced that there would be a company trip this year.. Heck, some my colleagues have been around for 3 years already and have never experienced any company trip before. We were all so wary that we weren't even enthusiastic when asked to choose a suitable place to go to (In the end it was an easy choice as the final choices were Goa and Hong Kong!). In fact, we only definitely confirmed that we were going 2 days before the departure date @.@

Had to work for half a day on Thursday since ours was an afternoon flight scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong just in time for dinner there.. 4 hour flight and Hong Kong is 1 hour behind KL/Singapore, go figure~

The tiny immigration form

Up until the last minute before we were scheduled to leave for the airport, our boss was still doling out work to us :S Anyways, all of us had already brought our luggage to work and we just took a taxi to Changi Airport Terminal 1 to catch our Jetstar flight (which was delayed 1 whole hour, damn Jetstar, grr..)

The luggage that started it all..

I remember thinking when I borrowed this suitcase from my cousin that it looked so common, it would be very easy for someone to take the wrong bag at the baggage claim area, seems like I can go into the fortune telling business.. After going quite a few rounds round the baggage carousel and everyone had gotten their bags except me, I had no choice but to make a report at the baggage counter T__T

I remember asking myself many times why I had to go and think of such stuff since its a known fact that thoughts are powerful.. I was starting to panic but somehow, I don't know when, maybe when the guy told us that the staff at the airport will call me once they locate my missing luggage, I just started to feel very zen and calm and just kept telling myself that I would see my bag soon. Maybe someone had taken the wrong bag, then left it somewhere and I would just walk past and spot it? The worst thing would be that I had to go to bed and go about the next day in the stinky clothes I was wearing and just grab some daily necessities from the nearest Watsons outlet..

I didn't really have time to really panic either, since it was already 9pm++ after the flight delay, immigration and running around the baggage claim area, and I couldn't afford to waste much time as everyone was really hungry and looking forward to checking into the hotel. In the end, we had takeaway burgers from Burger King for dinner on our first night in Hong Kong.. :(

Incredibly though, I got a call just when we were preparing to go to our shuttle bus to the hotel telling me that they had located my luggage and I had to go back to the immigration area to claim it. I felt like I was in some reality show as I was running the length of the airport while on the phone with the officer who was giving me directions to his office ~ I remember it was 9.50pm when the officer brought me to enter through the back door of the immigration area, as the guard at the door said that we had to hurry as he would close up in 10 minutes.. (just 10 more minutes and I would have had no pyjamas that night!) Turns out stupid Jetstar had mislaid my bag, grrrr (damn Jetstar! x 2).

The only picture I took on the way to the hotel as I was still trying to take in the sights around me after such an eventful evening.. Its a fire-station by the way :)

Finally checked into The Royal Plaza Hotel at around 11pm.. Its the building in the background by the way.. (only realised my camera's lens can't zoom after I got it @.@)

These were taken on day 2, cause no mood whatsoever to take photos the day we arrived~

Hotel lobby with chinese new year decor since it was still cny when we went :)

Can someone tell me what fruits these are? so cute~ like the 人参果 in Journey to the West!!

View from my room on the 13th floor 1352~

In the lobby before setting out for dinner on day 2~

The room was a deluxe room and it was huge! I started to miss the room already before leaving HK.. Due to a twist of fate, we ended up with 1 room each when it was supposed to be twin or triple sharing because many people ended up not going on the trip.. Incredible right?! First time I've heard of 1 room per pax for company trips... O.o...

Two beds all to myself~

Huge toilet with long bath.. not that I had the leisure time to enjoy it though...

View from the entrance~

Pantry area.. one of my colleagues got the family room, and it even had a cooker and a microwave @.@

far end of the room

Everyone loved the hotel so much! even those who had been to Hong Kong before agreed that the rooms were bigger than the standard HK hotel rooms.. Its located right next to the Grand Century Place shopping mall and near to Mongkok MTR station, very convenient.. and it was only about SGD250 for 4 days 3 nights.. will seriously consider staying there next time I go, hehehe...

Can't wait to get into the nitty gritty of my trip after this.. :D