Not very shortla... I didn't want to go through the phase where hair sticks out at the nape.
Arrived at Hong Kong in the evening. Picture was taken from the bus on the way to our hotel. We stayed 5 nights at the Ibis Hotel. It was a new hotel with a great view of the harbour and close proximity to the MTR trains. My only advice to anyone who would like to stay at the Ibis, bring a mid sized luggage. There was barely any walking space in the room. It was approximately 2 feet of space around 3 sides of the bed, excluding the wall behind the headboard. Hence, not much space for luggage.
To paint a clearer picture, once in the shower, we had to take care to not move too much when soaping because... your elbow may hit the water gauge and your shower water would be turned off. I had shampoo in my hair when the water suddenly cut off. I then thought " Oh crap...no water can't be good " when I realised it was my elbow that had hit the gauge, effectively turning the water off. Also, its Hong Kong! Space..what space?
Next morning we had breakfast in a typical Hong Kong coffeeshop called the "Cha chan theng" in Cantonese. As in TVB movies, our menu came as Set A/B/C/D. Unfortunately, everything was written in Chinese so my in laws had to translate for me. Good thing I understand Cantonese!
I took pictures at different MTR stops because I wanted to create a collage of photos with them. Here are some of the stations I captured.
The picture below is rather interesting. In Hong Kong, when one needs to apply for a day pass into China, the administration office needs some passport photos from the applicant. Being very efficient, they had a DIY passport booth in the office itself where applicants pay, step into the booths for their picture, collect it immediately and proceed with their application! Sure beats our Malaysian way of going to FujiFilm or some other studio to have it done huh?
What is a Hong Kong trip without pictures of roadside food?
On a 'Ding Ding' the Hong Kong electric double decker train
The electric train tracks running through the middle of a street, surrounded by shops and flats
Stopping for a quick shot on a busy street. So obviously a tourist!
Hong Kong Times Square in the background
Introducing.... Oscar the trophy winning dog! He is a Samoyed, a celebrity dog and has won many trophies in competitions. He belongs to Alex's cousins. Ain't he a beauty? So white, so furry and so big!
We had another wedding dinner in Hong Kong, this time a small one for Alex's direct family on his dad's side.
View of Hong Kong island from the Kowloon side. We were visiting the 'Arena of Stars'
What is the 'Arena of Stars' without a statue of Bruce Lee?
If you look real hard you will see that this handprint was made by our fellow Malaysian Michele Yeoh.
More views..
A maintenance worker updating the paint work on the hand prints.
Alex being a director for the day
What is the 'Arena of Stars' without a hand print of Jackie Chan - the big brother of the Hong Kong acting industry? :p
A giant sized replica of the Beijing Olympic torch being given a place of honor right across the other Hong Kong landmark, the Exhibition Center (designed to look like a turtle-in the background)
At the Ladies Market!
I wanted to experience the street food in Hong Kong namely the 'Dai Pai Tong' food and it was fantastic that we did dinner there one night. So happy... The food was yummy and I'm told that many of these places have closed down over the years plus the one we ate at that night was one among the 3 left. They need licences to open such places and once the current licence expires, the Hong Kong goverment would not renew the license so these places are slowly closing down. Its sad I think. Sure this place does not look visually appealing but the food is great and its somewhat a culture and inheritance of the local people that should be kept alive for the next generation.
The next day we headed out to Lantau Island. We wanted to ride on the newly completed Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride, starting our ride from Tung Chung into the island. The ride took about 25 minutes and it gave us fantastic views of the sea, the airport and the pristine beauty of untouched nature in Hong Kong which is rare. The authorities are doing all they kind to preserve nature here that when they built this cable car attraction, they used donkeys as mode of transport to immitate the natural conditions of the island as much as they can.
There was a hiking trail from one side of the island to the other. From our ride, we could see some people doing the climb. This is a picture of the steps they built to help the climb
Pristine hills
At the end of the ride, just as the cable car pulls into the station, there is a toy monkey holding on to a camera. The camera automatically flashes to take a picture of the occupants in the cable car. If you are prepared for it, you may get a nice picture like the one of us below :) This was thanks to Alex who gave us a 2 second warning to smile before the flash hit us. Hehe... pretty good picture hey? Well if you forget and miss it, don't worry there is another toy monkey on your trip down, just before you pull into the Tung Chung station.
The buildings at the top of Lantau Island look nice and 'chinese-y'
We ate lunch and then subsequently had dessert at this yummy place called Honeymoon Dessert.
Our Mango dessert with sago, mango chunks and pomelo bits
This place also had this very yummy durian dessert. So rich, creamy and yummy! Just writing about this is making me crave it so badly
More views from the cable car
Look careful and hard at this picture. Take a guess at what this is. The specks that you see are actually the bent backs of villagers, taking advantage of the low tide picking cockles off the sea bed.
The family met again for dinner on our last night in Hong Kong. In summary, it was a great trip. Even though I have been to Hong Kong twice before this, during this trip I managed to experience a little more of the local side of things.
Pros: Great food! :)
Cons: I put on some weight in Hong Kong :(
cheryl
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