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.
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| taking the MRT to the airport |
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| 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.
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| Lunch at the Islamic Centre in Hong Kong Island |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
