Taking advantage of the free shuttle bus service by Dorsett Mongkok Hotel, we boarded at 9.00 am and alighted at this drop-off point opposite this Hollywood Cafe along Shanghai Street.
What i didn't realize was that it's the famous Langham Place that my colleagues often talked about! Conveniently connected to Mongkok MTR station, it boasts a 15-floor shopping mall and a 665-room hotel.
My friend mentioned before that it was a scary experience taking the escalators in the shopping centre. Said to be the "longest escalators within a shopping mall in the territory", it was in the news back in 2017 for an accident that caused 17 persons to be injured. You can check out the video here.
It was nighttime when i arrived at Sai Ying Pun on Day 4; the daytime revealed a neighborhood that's surrounded by residential, instead of commercial blocks.
Objective for returning to Sai Ying Pun; breakfast at Chau Kee Dim Sum which was recommended by a friend. Food was not bad although i was a tad disappointed with the Golden Lava French Toast. p.s. the friend didn't recommend that though.
Too lazy to walk back to the train station and when we saw the iconic red taxis right in front of us, one of our arms just automatically rose to catch the driver's attention!
HK$24 was the base fare and in comparison to Singapore taxis (the normal Comfort taxi), the base fare is about 25% more expensive in Hong Kong. The subsequent rate for the general urban red taxis in Hong Kong is almost doubled that of Comfort.
Halfway through our journey to our next destination, it started pouring. Oh gosh, this wouldn't be good for what we intend to do next as it would mostly be outdoor based. Despite my love for rain, the affection is limited to Singapore and only when i am outdoors.
Thankfully, the sky cleared up once we were about to arrive at our destination. How i know? I can see the cable cars from where we were!
Ocean Park Theme Park - even though it's facing financial difficulties now, the theme park, built in 1977, has given many great memories to Hong Kong residents and i can understand why as it's like you are going to a combination of zoos, museums, marine parks and amusement parks.
It would be our last night in Hong Kong yet we had yet to try the special administrative region's famous roast goose! So let's just splurge at Yung Kee Roast Duck! It didn't impress us but the century egg did; leaving such a deep impression; i am kicking myself for not getting a few back to Singapore! For the picture, click here.
Taking the train again.
Hong Kong actually had a Hong Kong MTR station which might sound strange to some as i don't think Singapore would ever had a MRT station named "Singapore". But once you read about the history of how Hong Kong came to be known, you would probably understand why.
Our intention was to return to Dorsett Mongkok for a quick shower but the temptation of desserts brought us once again to Sugarbird Desserts which was within walking distance from the hotel.
After freshening up, we hit the street once again!
Took the shuttle from Dorsett Mongkok. We intended to check out temple street night market but were dropped off nearer to the fortune telling street! No big deal, there's always google map!
Temple Street Night Market - while the night markets at Taiwan and Bangkok appealed to me more, the one at temple street was slightly better than the ladies market in my personal opinion. Click here for more photos.
Wait, a branch of the Mammy Pancake?! As it wasn't the original branch awarded Michelin Bib Gourmand, the queue was much more manageable and although i had my dessert earlier, this was too tempting to ignore!
I had to get their classic egg waffle and i wasn't disappointed!
Busking in session; always feel so envious of their confidence. Despite my apparently outgoing personality, i am a rather shy person in reality and not as sociable as many thought i am.
Licensed mahjong schools which are technically entertainment venues for those who are above 18 years old to play mahjong and win money; yes, it's gambling hidden behind a more acceptable name.
Someone went in to take a look. Don't be cheated by his innocent appearance, this guy was an avid mahjong player at one time and his gambling stakes can mean a win / loss of close to a thousand dollars a night.
Have i mentioned before that the neon sighboards in Hong Kong nowadays were not as elaborate and as spectacular as the first time i visited Hong Kong back in 1997?
A Tiger Sugar branch; guess bubble tea is slowly taking over the world and in greater force than it did when i was in secondary school. With age catching up, i am afraid i had to cut down on such high-sugared drink.
佳佳甜品 (Kai Kai Dessert) - with a queue, i was curious and it seemed like quite a famous shop for traditional Hong Kong desserts. Pity, i didn't have the stomach space for another dessert!
Still quite a bit of crowd at almost 10.00 pm a night.
Bonjour is a retail store with about 35 branches in Hong Kong that offers beauty products. Its direct competitor would be Sa Sa, which exited Singapore's market by closing down all 22 stores late last year.
People singing on the street; an interesting sight. Even near Temple Street Night Market, there was this opera singing area where interested parties meet up to practice and perform.
A baba nyonya restaurant with roots from Malaysia near Yau Ma Tei MTR station. Well, posting this in case there are Singaporeans / Malaysians who are missing their local food when they are in Hong Kong.
Best Mart 360 - saw this shop a couple of times in Hong Kong and decided to step in for a closer look. From the outside, it seemed to be selling snacks instead being a general convenience store like 7-eleven.
You can find a wide array of snacks and beverages from other countries, including our favourite 3-in-1 Old Town white coffee which was available in boxes of 10 sachets each, at about S$5 (HK$27.90).
Frankly, i might be more keen in buying snacks if there are samples available. Hence, i prefer looking out for cup noodles, especially those from Nissin as their quality and taste are more or less there.
My confidence in Nissin resulted in me buying a bag of instant noodles (the one with purple logo) and hauling them back to Singapore. Cooked a pack with much anticipation and it turned out to be not as good as expected; i think i will go back to Myojo prawn for instant noodles.
Yee Shun Milk Company, another reputable eatery in Hong Kong that i didn't check out as i am not a huge fan of milk pudding which it's famous for.
Alex wanted to take the MTR back to Dorsett Mongkok but it involved making a big loop and we still had to walk. I persuaded him to take the bus instead; a google check revealed a bus 268x that we can take.
I knew we had to drop about 4 stops later outside Ming Kei College.
Turned out we missed the stop and as it's an express bus, we were brought all the way to Yuen Long which was on the far western side of Hong Kong! You can see from Alex's expression how unhappy he was! A few minutes saved turned out to be time wasted many times over.
It's an adventure to me but i am just glad my chanced visit to Yuen Long didn't happen a week later when a white-shirt mob turned violent and started attacking innocent people at the station.
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