Entree Kibbles: Day Two in Hong Kong

Saturday, December 07, 2019

Day Two in Hong Kong

I love a good sleep and my renewed energy, after almost 12 hours of sleep at Panda Hotel, was visibly obvious in the morning of day two in Hong Kong!

Let's complement the energy with an authentic Hong Kong style breakfast at 漢都茶餐廳; located in one of the shophouses in the above photo, its clientele appeared to be largely local.

First downpour in Hong Kong; thankfully, it lasted just a while. The period we visited was the start of the notorious typhoon season and we had, in fact, expected to get wet on some days.

Taking the MTR train to our first tourist attraction and enjoying the cityscape. Singapore is increasingly becoming like Hong Kong due to the many high-rise buildings built but there's one thing that set us apart; we do not have that many hills!

The windows would need a good washing.

Many people alighted at Sunny Bay station along Tung Chung MTR Line and it's for a reason you can guess from the train's mouse-shaped windows on the other track; yes, the dedicated line to Disneyland, apparently the happiest place on earth.

Appearance of planes at low altitude signified our close proximity to Chek Lap Kok International Airport. Maybe we should have booked our first night near the airport so that time is not spent on traversing to and fro!

Taking Exit B of Tung Chung station and right in front of us was the building housing Citygate Outlets! Shopping shall be later as i wouldn't want to hold on to my bags of purchases throughout the day.

The tourist attraction in sight; Ngong Ping 360 cable car! I am not obsessed with cable car systems but you can't deny that they have benefits; the bird's eye view, the silence (provided you are lucky), the convenience of traversing across mountains to get to another landmark etc.

Oh yes, how could i also forget the beauty of nature with rolling hills and the tons of greenery surrounding us!? Do check out Ngong Ping 360 for more photographs!

Landmark, i mentioned two paragraphs above, looming ahead of us; the imposing Tian Tan Buddha (天壇大佛) that has been appearing on my social newsfeed ever so often.

Getting up close to the Buddha at Ngong Ping Village; a purpose built retail and dining entertaining arena where you can literally spend your whole day there!

Connecting Ngong Ping Village and Tian Tan Buddha is the spacious Ngong Ping Piazza! You can find some shops offering the famous spring water beancurd pudding and if you are lucky (like we were); you can bump into Lantau Island's free-roaming cattle and buffalo! To find out more, click on the hyperlinks!

Starting the climb up 268 steps to be closer to Tian Tan Buddha! I am not religious actually and hence, was looking forward more to the scenery on top.

The photos! With so many photos taken, i need a separate posting and you can find more of Tian Tan Buddha here. There's also an exhibition hall which is ticketed that i didn't want to pay money to enter but you can step in for some air-conditioning at its outer yet air-conditioned corridor.

Temperature was 30 degree celcius; not much of a problem for Singaporeans who are well accustomed to such climate.

We bused over to Tai O Fishing Village (大澳); known as Venice of the East, it's well worth a visit if you want something other than just shopping centre after shopping centre!

What else did we do at the Fishing Village? Lunch at Fook Moon Lam Restaurant (福滿林酒家) where we had dishes cooked with their local prawn paste and learning more about the village history via the small Tai O Rural Committee Historic and Cultural Showroom!

You can literally spend the whole day at Lantau Island and it's a pity we didn't have much time on our hands; therefore, we didn't even trek towards the Wisdom Path or step into Po Lin Monastery.

Back in Ngong Ping Village to take our crystal car cable car ride back to the main area! Maybe i can consider staying a night or two near the airport in my next visit to Hong Kong so that i can fully explore Lantau Island.

Tung Chung Swimming Pool which is near to the cable car station of Ngong Ping 360. Out of curiousity, i went to check their admission fee and it's more than doubled our little red dot; HKD $17 (about S$2.95) on weekdays versus S$1.30.

Use of bamboo scaffolding continued to be prevalent in Hong Kong; don't play play okay as you need to be highly qualified in order to build it.

Outlet shopping at Citygate Outlets; one word; disappointing as i think i could get a better deal back in Singapore's Changi City Point or IMM. To be fair, i am not into branded goods so take my judgment with a pinch of salt.

Taking the MTR train! I find the train transportation system to be similar to Singapore and it's my favourite mode of transport in Hong Kong. The bus system is another story altogether as the one attempt we made resulted in a detour that lasted more than an hour.

Back to Panda Hotel as we seriously needed some freshening up!

Sights photographed along the way on our free shuttle from Panda Hotel which will bring us to the more happening part of Hong Kong; the downtown Tsim Sha Tsui!

Area was filled with shops offering branded goods that i couldn't afford and don't see the point of buying! Anyway, that's not my purpose of going to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Ice cream truck; while we don't have such vehicles traversing the streets anymore, Singapore has its very own ice cream man!

Green letter boxes; it's a matter of time that you would see lesser and lesser of them around as people prefer to email rather than mail and many companies do accept scanned copies nowadays.

Opened in 1969, the Marco Polo HongKong Hotel is an iconic five-star hotel although it paled in comparison to another grand dame that's nearby. Singapore used to have a Marco Polo but it was torn down in 1999. Click here to read more about the Marco Polo Hotel in Singapore.

Hong Kong Clock Tower; a national monument, the 44-meter tower was completed in 1915 and is an easily recognisable landmark if you wish to meet friends before catching the World's Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show!

Aside from the show, i was equally in awe of the Hong Kong skyline! There were so much light pollution but you can't deny its grandeur and beauty.

Random photo on one of the busy intersections near the Avenue of Stars. Busy because it's right after the "A Symphony of Lights" show and everyone was walking towards the subway station.

The other grand dame; The Peninsula Hong Kong! While Marco Polo HongKong Hotel was built in 1969; the Peninsular was even older as it was opened in 1928!

Chungking Mansions; made famous internationally by director Wong Kar-Wai, it is said to have an atmosphere similar to the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City.

Before my trip, i was so looking forward to having the gigantic souffle from Tai Ping Koon restaurant. However, i didn't get a chance to have any! :(

Finally got to relive my memories of digging into the egg waffle from my last trip in 1997! Back then, it was from a mobile stall. The one above is from 么么DA雞蛋仔.

I didn't manage to check out Avenue of Stars as it was so crowded! However, i did manage to explore the quieter Avenue of Comic Stars (香港漫畫星光大道)!

Walking along the stretch of Nathan Road without any objective as i thought it was still relatively early at 9.30pm. The same can't be said of Alex as he doesn't walk as much as i do and his favourite activity, when overseas, is to stay in the hotel room.