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*