A trip to Hong Kong

Singapore is experiencing a dry season never seen before for more than 100 years. Even the soccer field is turning brown. So for the March school holiday, I decided to take a short trip to Hong Kong with a cool weather of between 16 & 22 degrees centigrade. A quick check with the airline companies showed Tiger Air having a promotion. So Hong Kong, here I come.

taking the MRT to the airport

on flight

On the morning of 19 March with two luggage on tow, wifey and I took a train ride to Changi Airport…..no pressure and no hurry. We still had time for breakfast at the staff canteen before catching the flight at 12.30pm. The flight was a breeze with a smooth landing at Hong Kong International. After the CIQ clearance, we had a cup of coffee and some pastries before heading for the City via Airport Coach Express. It took us about an hour to reach Shamrock Hotel where we’re going stay for the next five nights.

The hotel location is good…along Nathan Road just next to the entrance of Jordan MTR Station and a stone throw from the famous Temple Street. We checked in at 7.00pm and 15mins later we were down at the street, shopping, although the objective of this short break was to relax and enjoy the weather. Anyway, we were back in the hotel at 9.00pm.

Day 2 Thurs 20 March

The plan was to spend the day in Hong Kong Island…bus hopping and what not. We started the day at 9.30am taking a slow walk downtown towards Tsim Sha Tsui area. Although this is not our first time in Hong Kong, the place always excites us….from the streets crowd to its superb old & modern transportation system. After some photo taking along the way, we headed to Hong Kong Island via the MTR. As we’ll be here for the next 5 nights and going to take the public transport quite a lot, we bought the Octopus card…something similar to our Easy Link card. We can use the card for traveling in their superb MTR system, their efficient bus services and the slow moving older transportation system, the Tram. The tram system was built in the early twentieth century by the British and is still in service albeit slow moving.

Our first stop was to the Hong Kong Islamic Centre where they serve the only Halal Cantonese Dim Sum. The food looks appetizing but anyway I only took the red bean pau…Hehehehe all the way to Hong Kong.

Lunch at the Islamic Centre in Hong Kong Island

Shau Kei Wan tram station

 

After that with so much time to spare, we took the tram right to the eastern part of the island, a small town called Shau Kei Wan. It took us almost an hour to reach there. We explored the area for about 2 hours and back to the city via MTR which took us 15mins only and hopped into another bus going up the Victoria Peak for an evening view of the city. Victoria Park is a must visit, at least for me. The first time I was up there was in 1985 followed by 1992, 1997, 2007 and 2012. Since then lots of changes have been made…with addition of new buildings and structures and of course getting more crowded. The view of the city from the peak is just awesome. We end the day with a cup of coffee at the peak and back to the hotel at 9.00pm.

At the Victoria Peak

 

Day 3 Friday 21 March

The plan today is to go to Macau free and easy. After breakfast at 9.30am, we took a 15 mins walk to the Ferry Terminal. By 10.30am we were on board the Turbo Jet ferry heading for Macau. Buying ferry tickets was mayhem with so many touts selling tickets right in front of the ticket counter with sold out signage being displayed. It seems to be legal for these people. Anyway, we manage to get two return tickets from another counter with 15mins to boarding time…..so it was a dash to the ferry.

We arrived in Macau at 11.30am. Just after the CIQ, we were met by another group of touts selling tour packages. Although we need one, we pretended that we are not in a hurry. We took our lunch at a nearby McDonald and observed those touts and tried to look for one who looks decent and honest. We spotted our target and are convinced that he could be our tour guide for the day. So we approached and told him what our requirements are. By 1.00pm we were out and about in his MPV going around Macau SAR.

The ruin of St Paul in Macau

Tourism is Macau main industry with its 34 casinos spread around its city. Thus all tourist attractions were crowded and these include their casinos as well. We visited one of the resort, The Venetian….and the casino is smack in the middle of the lobby at the ground floor with just barricade/ balustrade around the periphery. I guess its location is chosen for a purpose…..to tempt anyone walking into the resort.

We left Macau at 5.00pm. The sea was rather choppy and quite a few passengers threw out. We reached Kowloon at 6.00pm and walked back to our hotel.