Solo Trip to Hong Kong - Day 1

This was my first solo trip abroad and it was a fun experience. Before the trip, I did quite a bit of research and also read up other bloggers' posts on their HK trip.

Would like to give credits to the following blogs for helping me to make planning of my trip easier:

me&myTHRILLS

KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL

Motormouth from Ipoh

Precious Pea

Some kind soul had also uploaded a consolidated Hong Kong guide to the hardwarezone forum, with plenty of useful information on shopping, food and sight-seeing etc.  I spent a total of 7 days in Hong Kong and covered quite a number of places such as Lantau Island, Tai-O, Macau etc.  Stay tuned, will blog about them soon!

I booked my flights with Jetstar.  This was also my first time taking a budget airplane.  As the journey was only slightly more than 3 hours, a bit of "suffering" was still tolerable.  Round trip ticket cost $414.90 including insurance.  For hotel, I made my booking with Largos Hotel because of its location (3 minutes away from Jordan MTR).  For 6 nights stay, it cost me HK 3132 (Exchange rate:  $1 = HK 5.48).

I took the earliest flight at 6.40am.  I had made arrangement with my colleague to meet her and her husband at HK for lunch at 12.40pm near my hotel.  Hubby drove me to the airport at around 4.30am.  Jetstar operates at Changi Airport Terminal One and thus, no need to go to Budget Terminal.

Why is Joanne Peh picking up such an ugly piece of meat?

I didn't get anything from the menu.  I would rather save up to buy better food in HK!

On my way back, the lady who sat beside me on the plane ordered the $10 chicken rice.  I found the portion quite pathetic.  I think she didn't quite enjoy the food and she even scooped some soup from her friend's tom yam cup noodle to put on her chicken rice.

Tip:  Please along an empty water bottle with you.  You can fill up the bottle with water from the water cooler at the gate.

Approaching HK... The flight took around 3 hours 15 minutes

We got to take a free shuttle service from the plane to the airport terminal

Bought my octopus card (HK 150, including HK50 which can be refunded) from Airport Express Counter

Picked up tourist maps and brochures at the Vistor Centre

I bought my Ocean Park and Lantau Island Cable Car ticket from here.

Tip:  For Ocean Park adult ticket cost HK 250 but you can get it at HK 215 here

I took Cityflyer bus A22 from the airport to my hotel.  Cost only HK 39 and you can use your octopus card, very convenient.  After placing your luggage at the lower deck, you can still move to the upper deck to get a better view.  No need to worry about your luggage as there is a CCTV where you can "see" your luggage from the top deck.

Alight at the 4th stop ie after airport stop, count 3 more stops.  You will see Kowloon Union Church on the right.  I missed the stop and had to walk one bus stop back in order to get to the hotel.  Reached the hotel at 12.40pm and I was supposed to meet my colleague for lunch at 12.40pm.  Luckily, the MTR is only 3 minutes walk from the hotel and thus I still managed to meet up with them.

After checking in, I quickly rushed to meet my colleague and her husband at Jordan MTR for lunch.

Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop

My plate of Wanton Noodle

The serving is really big, so much noodle that I couldn't finish it.

The wantons hidden underneath the noodles were quite big too (abt 5 of them).  However, I found the noodle too dry.

Pork Trotters in Fermented Beancurd noodle

Colleague's husband ordered this and he finished everything up!

I tried one piece, not bad

澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company

Double Steamed Milk Pudding (HK 18)

This is really a "Must-Try" dessert.

Mongkok Station

Fa Yuen Street

Pet Street

Famous desert joint - Xiu Liu Shan

I like the glutinous rice balls as they were very chewy.

I had dinner at this restaurant that had quite an attractive signboard, specializing in beef balls.

My bowl of beef ball noodles

I found the soup a bit too bland and thus I added lots of chilli to my soup to give it more taste.

  The beef balls were big and quite nice.

Argly Centre

Quite disappointing.  Didn't manage to get anything from here as I think the clothings here are more suitable for teenagers.  If you are looking for something to wear to work, no point coming here as there are mostly casual clothings here.

You can find Bonjour and Sasa almost everywhere in Hong Kong.

Sasa has a security guard here.  I bought 2 boxes of "我的美丽日记 - President masks" at HK 98 here.  However, I got a feeling that I would need more than 2 boxes.  They had a wide range of masks here.  How I wish I can have a sample of every type :P

Day 2 - Lantau Island/ Tai-O