Hong Kong - Day 5

Day 5 in Hong Kong started early as we wanted to have our Dim Sum breakfast recommended by Gu Gu.  It is located at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.  We took the MTR down instead of the ferry.  The early morning feel was refreshing and invigorating.  There was a light drizzle outside but still it was much better than the heavy rains we experienced in the earlier days.

As always, the Hong Kong skyline never fails to amaze me.  Just like how it looks with the buildings in front and the mountains behind them.

I got a kind of nostalgic feel when I entered the restaurant with it's trolleys of dim sum as it brought me back to the days when my parents would bring me to the Neptune Restuarant to have dim sum.  Although Serenade was much brighter and smaller than Neptune, it just brought me back in time for that moment.

Serenade has a rather classy feel to eating dim sum.  The place wasn't that noisy and it was naturally bright with the full length windows. And now the food.  As there was only the 3 of us, we didn't really order a lot.  So we made the usual dim sum selections like Char Siew Buns, Siew Mai, Carrot Cake, Century Egg Porridge, Dumpling Soup and their more creative varieties like the one that looks like a fish, although I didn't really know what it was.  Come to think of it, it does sounds a lot.  Haha.

 

 

 After our sumptuous morning meal, we walked along the river to enjoy the scenary and walk off some of the food we ate.  As we walked, a drizzle started but we ignored it and continued on.  Suddenly, we heard the sounds of sirens and saw a fire engine arriving.  Baby G was so enthralled with the fire engine that we had to back track just to see it again.
 

 

Just couldn't resist taking this shot.

After our slow stroll, we reached the Star Ferry as we wanted to cross over to the main Hong Kong island.

Baby G started to be more excited when we reached the main gate to board the ferry.

After reaching Central, we had to take a bus to the Peak Tram.

 

Here are some of the pictures of the Peak Tram.  Enjoy.

 

Time for lunch.  We decided to try the Mak's Noodles (considered quite famous but expensive).  Why expensive?  Because one bowl is not enough.  We decided to just go with one bowl each.

 

All I can say is I enjoyed it thoroughly albiet the portion was rather small.  The noodles is really Q-Q.  Don't eat this if you are starving though.

After lunch, more walking and also, more rain.  Couldn't take nice shots of the wonderful scene in front of us.

 
 

After our Peak Tram adventure, next is the Ding Ding Tram.  By then, Baby G was pretty tired as we did set out early in the morning.  But he gamely followed us just to experience the Ding Ding tram.

 

Once he got onto the tram, he became a bit more lively.  As the tram slowly moved along at a leisurely pace, Baby G actually fell alseep.

We had to wake him up just for a while as the exits were quite narrow for me to carry him down.

He asked to be carried and we obliged.  But after a while of carrying him, we decided to rest our feet and replenish our energy at the UCC Cafe.  At the same time, Baby G could sleep comfortably and we could relax too.

We ordered their set which is some kind of waffle with bananas and cream.  A little sinful on the cream but what the heck, I am on holiday.

After our break, time for more shopping... actually more of window shopping.  Nothing really caught my eye.  We also walked along Lee Theatre & Jardine's Crescent but again, because of the rain, most of the street side stalls were not opened.  In the end, we decided to go look for our dinner.  Dinner was a supposedly famous noodles store.  With our trusty map in hand, we still got lost.... hahaha.... we walked and walked and in the end, had to U-turn back again after we started to drift into parts unknown.  The streets became more dark and looked less friendly.  So we backed-tracked and finally managed to find the store.  I must commend Baby G who walked all the way with us and never complained once about the extremely long walk.  And here we are, our dinner.  I would say it was pretty worth the long walk, or perhaps we were over hungry already.  The warm soup against the cold weather was a perfect combination for our tummies.

After dinner, back to more shopping.  This time at a more classier location of Times Square.

Desserts next.  The famous Lucky Desserts.  Actually by then, I was pretty full already and didn't really feel like eating much.  So in the end, just opted for the Mango Sago.

Some of the shopping that we did.  Managed to get a pair of Army pants for Baby G.  He was really happy with his choice.

 

San

 

Hong Kong - Day 4

Day 4 in Hong Kong started early for us as we heard about queues forming at the Australian Dairy Company that we wanted to have our breakfast at.  True enough, when we reached, there was a queue, although it wasn't as long as expected.  I think we were the 5th group.  The wait wasn't that long, less than 20mins and we managed to get it.  It was really crowded and noisy.  Everyone was chatting and the place was rather cramped but quite well organized.

 

 

Staff seems pretty friendly, even joined in with us to take pictures.

We actually didn't know what to order so we picked the daily breakfast set, their warm sweet milk & egg sandwich.  I must say, the milk was just nice.. not too sweet and it is super smooth.  Only their macaroni tasted 'normal'.  The scrambled eggs were generously plied on top of the warm and moist bread.  The egg custard milk was also smooth but a tad too sweet for my liking, however, the sweet milk was just nice.  We even takeaway one bottle of cold sweet milk.

After our hearty breakfast, off to Sham Shui Po for some sight-seeing.  We took the MTR down to Sham Shui Po station and this structure greeted us when we emerged from the station exit.  The day spent at Sham Shui Po was lots of walking and looking around us.  Not sure why we didn't take as many pictures as expected.

For our lunch, we wanted to try another recommendation from OpenRice.  This time, we had to work hard to find the place.  We got all confused with the street numbering system and couldn't seem to find the address.  Luckily, in the end, as the rains started to fall again, we managed to find the shop.  The noodles were springy and the vegetables fresh.  The dumplings were big too.  It was a hearty lunch.  I definitely enjoyed it.

 

After Sham Shui Po, we went back to In's Point again to buy my X-Wing and Baby G's City set.  Again not much pictures since we already took In's Point yesterday.  The rains started to fall again and we decided to stop and snack on some fried sotongs.  Really oily but crispy and shiok.

This day is mostly about eating.  I seriously have no idea why there are no other pictures for this day except all the food that we ate.  Here is our dinner at the Da Pai Dong store that we happen to chance upon along our way back to the hotel.

 

San

Hong Kong - Day 3

Day 3 in Hong Kong was quiet.  Peaceful even.  There was a light drizzle outside.  We woke up earlier to have our breakfast.  Alex told me that the Typhoon Level went up to 10, the highest level and we actually slept through it.  I do recall that I could hear the rains beating against the windows the night before but never expected it to be that major.  We turned on the news and watched the reports on the typhoon.  People actually still went out just to experience a Level 10.  But they also showed smaller trees being uprouted, especially at the coastal areas.

Before we headed out, the Typhoon Level was still at 8 but it looked so calm, we decided to venture out.  As we exited our hotel, it was really quiet as no one was going to work due to the typhoon.  Most of the stores remained closed.  We continued to walk ahead towards the direction of Fa Yuen Street.  Along the way, luckily we found a quaint looking place that served breakfast.  We ordered Chee Cheong Fun, Fish Porridge, You Tiao and Soya Bean Milk.  I tell you it was really the most simplest yet yummiest breakfast in the longest time.  The porridge was so smooth and it just glided down the throat so easily.  The fish was fresh too.  Ahhh... the simple pleasures in life.

After our breakfast, we decided to continue on.  The streets were so quiet and almost deserted.  Lying around were lots of broken umbrellas and their metal sticks, remnants of Typhoon Vincente.

As we reached Fa Yuen Street, the city seems to be more alive; with the shop and push-cart owners slowly unpacking their wares and setting up their stalls.  The most interesting sight for Baby G was the Goldfish Street.  Quite a number of shops were already opened and the various varieties of fishes were put up on display.  Baby G was very enthralled by the sights and sounds... and not to mention, the many questions he had for us.

Along the way, we stopped by for some snacks.  In Hong Kong, must eat 鱼蛋, so we tried the non-spicy one foor Baby G.  We also ordered carrot cake.  I must say, it was quite refreshing fishball and carrot cake, not that oily, in fact.  And Baby G was really happy with his OEM Lego purchase of the Army Tank.



After our short snack break, we continued on along the streets.  As the majority of the Hong Kong residents were still at home due to the typhoon, not many stalls were opened.  We simply strolled along the streets, taking in the sights and sounds that Hong Kong has to offer.  Along the way, we found a stall selling egg tarts, amongst other pastries.  The smell was so tempting that we just had to stop and buy some egg tarts to munch, even though we just had our snacks.  Baby G loved the egg tarts and gobbled them down.

Our next stop was CTMA, another centre that sold various toys & figurines.  As we walked in, it reminded me of the old styled buildings like Queensway where the shops were small and quite cramped up.  We found a shop selling Lego again, but the prices were much more expensive than what was advised to us by our friends so we just skipped that.  However, I did see a Lego Star Wars series of the Death Star retailing at HKD4499.  Tempting but the words 'budget.. budget.... budget' came to my mind.  Perhaps next time round.



Lunch was at Fek Kee Congee recommended by OpenRice website.  We ordered porridge, Char Siew rice and Cripsy Noodles with Lean Pork.  The Char Siew and the porridge arrived together and both Baby G and Alex enjoyed their food.  My noodles came much later and when it came, I almost fell off the chair.  The entire noodles was covered with bean sprouts! I was trying to find the lean pork and lo and behold, there were a few pieces under the mountain of bean sprouts.  I looked at Alex, hoping to appeal to him to eat but he shook his head and told me he's pretty full from the rice.  Baby G was teasing me about the bean sprouts.  In the end, in order to set a good example to Baby G not to waste food, I actually ate the bean sprouts.  I must say, this is one lunch that I truly did not enjoy but to be fair, the noodles was nice.  In the end, Alex took pity on me and helped me to eat a portion of the bean sprouts; Baby G also helping out a little.  In the end, we managed to finish quite a fair bit but only leaving a portion when I really couldn't swallow any more.

Finally, the moment that Baby G has waited for.  In's Point where his Lego awaits.  The shop recommended to us by Dan was #166 and #168 but the shops were closed.  Baby G was so disappointed.  We even found a public telephone to call the owner to ask if he was planning to open his shop for that day but no one answered.  In the end, we went back in and looked at other shops.  Luckily, we found another shop, #175, also selling some items at a reasonable price.  We bought one set from them but we decided that we will make a trip back again another day.  Baby G was happy with the purchase.

Another short break for us to rest our tired legs.  Mango and Sago desserts.  Baby G all in smiles due to his Lego.

Here are some of the random pictures we took of Hong Kong streets when the weather started to clear up.

As evening approached, the rains also started to fall.  We dropped by the Lung Shing Dispensary, famous for their reasonably-priced toiletries and cosmetics.  Too bad, my SK-II Essence was out of stock, in the end, just got an Olay range of cream for myself.  At least, I did not come out empty-handed.

As we walked on, the rains started to get heavier and heavier and we decided to make a pit-stop for dinner.  We found this stall along the way that had baked rice which Baby G said he wanted.  This time, I decided not to order my share, just in case Baby G couldn't finish his meal as baked rice in the pictures looked like it was a large portion.  Alex ordered the Pork Chop rice for himself.

When we finished our dinner, the rains came again.  It was wet and cold.  We walked in the rain, back to our hotel to dry up and have a rest.  Not much mood for any more shopping or sight-seeing so we decided to remain in our room to enjoy the free wi-fi and Baby G enjoying his 'Puppy in My Pocket' cartoon.

Another set of random pictures of Day 3 in Hong Kong, when the weather was much clearer.

San