Hong Kong Trip (Jan 2016) - Day 2 Part 2

Second half of Day 2 would be a visit to The Peak! To save time from having to queue for the tickets when we are there, we actually bought the tickets beforehand using the agent - Klook. We just have to book the date and time and make payment and they would assist in helping to purchase the tickets. 

All we had to do was meet them at the meeting location and there they will issue the tickets and bring us to the venue! Super convenient isn't it?

Our Tickets

Look at the crowd queuing up for tickets! To save time from having to queue, you may wish to opt for the agent instead. You just have to plan the date and time of the visit beforehand. 

Super crowded!

And up up we go~

The dismissal area for those who only purchased the Sky Terrace tickets. For those who also purchased the Trick Eye Museum & Madame Tussauds tickets, they will still proceed on with the agent where they will bring them to the respective places.

We were given the audio devices upon entry to the Sky Terrace. This device provides an introduction of the place itself.

Rather disappointed when we saw the view is foggy. Can't even see anything:( 
I was actually looking forward to this for the awesome view you know! 
But wells~ things don't always go the way you want it to. We just took a few other photos and that's all. Maybe I shall revisit this place again in future if I am back in Hong Kong:P

2016~ please be good to us!! 

Let 2016 be a better year :)

This photo is taken using balancing act! Can't tell right? Haha.
Seems like I am sitting down. But actually I am not! Cuz the seats are too wet from the rain. 

Guess my friend's part-time job :P

Rainbow Fountain Lights! See how foggy the place is!

Dinner at Tsui Wah Restaurant @ The Peak

Fishball Noodles

Pork Chop Bun

Some wefies before taking the peak tram down. Do pardon our messy hair. It's super windy and cold up there. 

And there we are~ back at ground level...

Next up - shopping around Causeway Bay Station.

LINE STORE

Hysan Place, Causeway Bay

Super cute pair!

This photo!
Looking at this photo reminds me of what happened at this area that time after this photo was taken.
Unforgettable encounter for both of us! HAHA! 

Via Tokyo

Shop nos. 1A-1B, G/F., Leishun Court, 106-126 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Nearest MTR Station: Causeway Bay MTR Station, Exit F1

Lucky there's no queue outside when we arrived though it's crowded inside.
It's not until we arrived that the queue started to form.

Famous for their matcha soft cream

Okome Shiratama Azuki Mix Soft Cream - HK$51

Ichiran Hong Kong
Shop F-G, G/F, Lockhart House Block A, 440-446 Jaffe Road, Hong Kong
Nearest MTR Station: Causeway Bay MTR Station, Exit C

The seating arrangement inside the room we were brought into. 

We ordered the ramen with medium flavor strength and medium richness with some of their original red sauce.
Super nice and taste unique from the other ramen we have tried. Can they open one in Singapore soon?

And that's all for day 2 in Hong Kong:)

Hong Kong Trip (Jan 2016) - Day 2 Part 1

Day 2
Early start to our day for breakfast! The coldness really makes it even harder for us to leave the bed. Just don't wanna get out into the cold. It's like we just wanna stay inside the blankets. Hibernate mood :P

Photo taken in the MTR on the way to have our breakfast

Selfiee~

Have a guess of where we are heading for breakfast this morning! Hehe

Tim Ho Wan @ Sham Shui Po Branch
G/F, 9-11 Fuk Wing Street, Hong Kong
Nearest MTR Station: Sham Shui Po Station (Exit B2)

We reached there around 9.30am thinking it had opened. Only to find the gates still down and people already queuing outside. It actually open at 10am. And yes, there's already a queue even before their operating hours. But the place can fit a lot of people inside. Quite a big place. So in no time, we were already seated inside when it opened their doors at 10am!

Baked Bun with BBQ Pork - HK$19

Steamed Fresh Shrimp Dumpling (Ha Jiao) - HK$26

Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (Shao Mai) - HK$26

Vermicelli Roll Stuffed with Shrimp - HK$22

After breakfast, we then proceeded on our way to the next stop - Citygate (Tung Cheng Station - Exit C). 

Having a coffee break~ 

Exploring Central Area

Business District area that it's pretty crowded with vehicles and people dressed in corporate attire

Our plan is to find Lan Fong Yuen initially. But while trying to navigate our way there (with the use of google map), we stumble across this place - Dim Sum Icon. Based on our itinerary, we had intended to have this on our last day. We thought it was the same outlet as what we planned in our itinerary and decided to go for this instead since we found it first.

It was not only until we settled down in the cozy place inside that we realized that the Dim Sum Icon outlet we intended to go is at Tsim Sha Tsui. But wells~ change of our plans then! So end up we did not have the chance to patronize Lan Fong Yuen:( That's for another time I guess.

Spot the Little Twin Stars!

It's located at the basement of Century Square

Little Twin Stars Dim Sum! The characters are seasonal for a limited period before other characters take it's place. Rather unique!

Little Twin Stars Teapot & Cup

Steamed Egg White w/ Milk in Coconut Shell - HK$69
This dessert was served warm. It's not bad with a tinge of refreshing coconut taste! But I am guessing I will prefer it being served chilled instead.

Creamy Custard Bun (3pcs) - HK$49
Beware~ The Custard filling inside will just burst out full-blown when you take a bite out of it. Haha

Small PrawnBurgers (2pcs) w/ French Fries - KH$59
I find this a disappointment:( The buns of the burger is hard and the prawn filling was so-so only. Not that fantastic. 

Gonna continue the second part of Day 2 in another post instead. Too long already! LOLOL
Stay tune then :)

Hong Kong Trip (Jan 2016) - Day 1

And here it is, the long awaited post on my trip to Hong Kong in January:)

Woke up super super early at 5.20am on the day of departure to prepare and all before heading to the airport. Part of the reason is to avoid my brother preparing to go school, and also to avoid the morning hour jam when taking a cab. This timing is seriously earlier than waking up for work and since when have I woke up this early before since after school days? Can't really recall so means that I must not have woken up this early very often. haha. But of course, this time it's for holiday so at least there's some motivation there to drag myself out of bed no matter how unwilling I was to leave the super comfortable bed:P

A mandatory shot at the airport with my luggage! Not sure why this time round my luggage is so heavy for just a 4 days 3 nights trip! And not as if I am bringing those winter clothing along... Until now, I still don't get it. But wells~ don't bother figuring out anyway. As long as I don't exceed the baggage limit. Lucky my luggage weight is just nice, within the limit. LOLOL.

Shot taken with my friend at boarding area. No sign of my colleague yet:P Do you know that my colleague actually took the same flight as me? Such a coincidence!! And we book at different occasions also. Yet still same flight to and fro! I only saw my colleague when we touched down in Hong Kong airport and gushing about how cold it is with the strong wind.

And ta-dah~ here we arrive at Hong Kong Airport - Arrival Hall at 2.25pm! 

After collection of our SIM card, we then proceeded to take the Airport Transfer to Kowloon Station. Pretty accessible from Hong Kong Airport to Kowloon Station - the train ride is just around 20 mins. And from there, we proceeded to take the Airport Express Shuttle Bus.

Depending on your destination, there's various shuttle bus services available. 

Our destination is to Cityview Hotel. Hence we took shuttle bus service - K5 and it's just one stop away! Cheaper and convenient as compared to taking cab. 

After checking in to our hotel and gearing up for the cold weather since it's really cold with the strong wind and slight drizzling, we headed out for our first destination of the day - visiting Wong Tai Sin Temple!

Octopus Card - similar like our Ez-link card in Singapore.
It cost HK150 (with a deposit of HK50 which they will return to you when you do a refund).

Wong Tai Sin Temple

Nearest MTR Station: Wong Tai Sin Station (Exit B2)

I don't usually visit the temple especially overseas, unless it's with my parents. Since I do not know how to go about doing it. I always just tag along with my dad and follow whatever he's doing. LOL. But since my friend wanted to go, I guess I was okay with it as well. So my first time trying to figure out how to go about by my own. 

However, we did face a problem when we are there since we do not know which is which, being it's our first time there. We did ask around though (trying our best to understand since we don't speak cantonese) and also "people watch" and in the end we roughly figure out how to. 

After that it's finally time for our meal! Hungry people we are. Our only meal is Macdonalds breakfast at the Airport in the morning before flying off! And we did not have anything to eat in between. So you have no idea how glad we were when finally we get to head for our first meal in Hong Kong!  

One Dim Sum

Shop 1 & 2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion, 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward, Hong Kong

Nearest MTR Station: Prince Edward Station (Exit A)

Their Menu

Deep Fried Dumpling in Sweet & Sour Sauce - HK $16
Nice combination with the sauce! Great for whetting your appetite.

Sticky Rice W/Lotus Leaf - HK $26
I like this the most of all the things we ordered! The sticky rice is very flavorsome and fragrant!
If I have a chance to be back to One Dim Sum, this is definitely something I will be ordering! And as I am drafting out this blog post, I am already missing it :(

Steam Shrimp Dumpling W/Vegetable Shoots - HK $20
Not a vegetable fan myself. But even so, I find that it's not that bad. The skin is rather thin with generous scoops of shrimps and vegetables. 

Barbecued Pork Bun - HK $14
What's Dim Sum without this? :P A definitely must order! At least it applies to me. Not sure if everyone is feeling the same way too. Hah!

Steam Cake in Mala Style - HK $16
My friend mentioned that other bloggers have recommended to try this. It's very soft and fluffy! 

Fried Egg Stick W/Honey - HK $17
Beware: Consumption may result in messy aftermath! Don't say you have not been warned.
Reason due to the sprinkles on top and the honey.
But I would not recommend this personally. Nothing fantastic there~

DO YOU KNOW~
Initially our plan in our itinerary is to go for Dim Sum supper in the late night. But then after the extremely full meal we had, we decided that we have enough dim sum for the day and therefore decide to remove that dim sum supper plan from our itinerary. 

After dinner, we then randomly walk around exploring the area between Prince Edward MTR Station to Yau Ma Tei MTR Station. And used google maps to find our way to places we want to go very much. Walking down the streets, it's like I am back in Taiwan. Like those night market kind of concept:P 

And it's really windy and cold, with some drizzle! I am literally hopping around trying to keep myself warm! I even bought scarf for myself hoping that it would help to bring some warmth. Even bought a hot green tea which did some help to warm my freezing cold hands. 

It's a fight against the cold! :P

百味食品 @ Argle Centre

Located at Street Level.

Nearest MTR Station: Mongkok Station (Exit D2)

We do not know what to mix with, so we ask the person for recommendations instead:) I can't remember what she added for us already. She spoke in Chinese and it sounds chim. LOLOL. Think there's Squid, Octopus, Jelly Fish etc? hahaha. But anyway, I only tried the a little bit only:P It taste special and unique. Can give this a try when you are in Hong Kong:)

An incident we encountered at Ladies Market is the aggressiveness! We actually got a scare by one of the sellers. Not a major or negative incident but rather, it allows us to learn. Haha. Learn how to go about tackling such incidents~ Learning point for us:P

Since there's still time, we decided to head for the Temple Street Night Market which is further down from our hotel at Yau Ma Tei MTR Station. Since we had no idea where it is located at, we used google map instead. Hahaha. The power and usefulness of google map! But of course sometimes it bring us to our destination via the longer route. A few times actually... 

And turns out that we took the longer route while making our way there. And somemore walking along the dark and quiet streets that resulted in us having second thoughts if we were on the right track. We did asked a passerby who happened to be walking towards us and the response was that we just have to continue walking. Haha. But we learnt to be smart when making our way back to hotel - by walking another route with more people and more light up. :P

Back to Hotel to call it a night

Shivering cold that when we are back to hotel, we switched off the air-con. However it's still extremely cold. Too cold till we actually can't fall asleep at all. And we don't even want to get out of bed cuz it's just too cold when you get out from underneath the blankets. I don't even want to get out to use my phone which is charging near the dressing table! 

CNY Yearly Affair @ Chinatown

So with the nearing of Chinese New Year, to be exact in just 5 more days, how's the preparation and spring cleaning coming along? Is it a yearly affair for you to visit Chinatown to grab some goodies for the new year? 

Previous years, I will head down with my family the night nearing Chinese New Year either on the eve itself or a few days before. That's when there's lots of cheap deals coming along as the store owners compete over low price offerings to customers in order to clear as much of their remaining stocks. Maybe that's why our parents like heading down on the last weekend/ day before Chinese New Year? Cheaper deals! hahaha. 


For me, I don't usually like going to Chinatown during this period because of the crowd. It's like the weather in Singapore is already very warm and humid. And with the crowd, it just makes everything worst. And it's hard to shop when there's a crowd. But this year... this year is the first time I actually experience going down early in the evening around 5pm and it was not that bad as compared to late at night! 

Initially it's raining. Lucky it stopped when we reached.

Other than 瓜子 (Nuts), another common stall you see would be the the jellies/ mochi.
There's actually a lane full of such stalls selling goodies for new year! And that's the lane I most want to avoid. To me, it's the lane of stickiness with all the rubbish and jelly syrup all over! LOLOL

My favourite!!! <3

Anyone fancy a plate of Char Kway Teow? :P

Overall, I did enjoy my trip to Chinatown this year! Most of the things you get to see might be the same every year, but there's also some other things you can get to find there:) 

I believed many would have watched the previous 9pm Channel 8 drama, The Dream Makers 2! I myself was hooked to that drama!! 

It's a really great drama portraying about life of the people from the entertainment industry. But what was filmed in this drama not only applies to people in the entertainment industry. I guess it can also happen to anyone as well. 

It's like what was being shown on television dramas. There will always be all sorts of encounters and obstacles in life. It can be in relation to your work, your family, friends and even other obstacles in life. But then the outcome of your life will ultimately lies in your hands, depending on the way you look at things. You can choose how to face it and accept the obstacles and decide how your story progress from there.

Things will not always be smooth for us. We might not have the best of everything. That's the way how life is.

Sometimes it may seem that some people have all the things most would wish for. But who will know about what that person had gone through to be where he/ she is right now? For all you know, that person might have lost so much more to gain what she have now. All we see is the surface of how things appear to be. It may seem that a person is always happy. That doesn't mean that the person do not have any difficulties and problems in life. Underneath the mask, there is so much more to reveal. 

So in the event that things are not smooth for you now, don't lose hope and keep hanging there and continue fighting. The clouds and fog will clear one day for you to see the sunshine! :)

End of 2015

With 2015 coming to an end, shall take the time to reflect and think back on the things that had happened. It seems like 2015 have been rather happening for me that it's like taking a roller coaster ride - up and down, over and under, and even caught me off-guard.

It's been a year with many different changes and there had been times when I just feel like giving up. But then I had managed to persevere through in the end with the support of friends and family. I am glad for them being there for me despite all the odds. Now looking at how far things have come by, I am glad that I had not given up halfway:) But of course there will always be exceptions to things. Some things, no matter how hard you tried to salvage, it just won't work out the way you want it to be. And I am regret to say that I have to put it down. It was really a pity and rather sad, given it was what I had cherished and all. And despite of the dark sides, I did not leave things as such because of that. Instead, I did tried my very best not just once, but actually a few times despite the negativity affecting me. It was after many tries that finally the truth dawned on me that I have to let it go. Sometimes letting things go can also be for the good. It's not necessarily a bad thing. 

And sometimes, you do get the feeling like everything is just going against you when things just happened one after another. And you are filled with the fear and uncertainty if things are going to be okay or will it escalate for the worst. However, I am glad that at least at this current juncture, things seems to be alright but shall continue to monitor. Hope it continues to stay this way. 

But even though many things have happened, there's always some things to be happy about such as companionship of my friends and family! :) I hope that they will all stay happy and healthy. 

And not forgetting my first trip ever to Taiwan - definitely will want to go there again in the cold weather period 😉 Missing the popiah ice cream and Taiwan sausages and the nice scenery. It was a real nice experience there. 

2015 have also been filled with many volunteering opportunities for me! The year with the most volunteering events to date! Such as SEA Games where I met many new people. And from there, we went on to volunteer for other running events and also for Para Games! Though it was rather tiring especially for the running events since we need to be there overnight, we still had fun and lots of laughter. Lots of epic moments we shared together:)

And I am glad for those:) And of course there's also little minor things that happened that brings a smile in our lives. Those are important too since small things do add up to a lot! 

With that, I hope that 2016 will be a better year filled with many many manh happiness, joy, and positivity! :) 

A song to listen to - 现在你是怎样的人.



你有没有想过　成为怎样的人
从前要的生活　是不是已完成

几道伤痕　几次的纠纷　书写青春
你记得吗　当时是怎样的
培养几个　昂贵的消遣　岁月静好
懒得竞争　随便你说什么

只想做个简单的人　却变成了复杂的人
也想做个无求的人　却祈祷着生命丰盛
只想做个宽容的人　却美化了我的伤痕
也想做个坚强的人　眼泪却是我的本能

剩下一点天真　留给爱我的人
眼角多了细纹　我还是我自己

多少苦闷　多少的快乐　都过去了
有些牺牲　到底值不值得
到了今天　我对于梦想　依然虔诚
就算这样　也不代表什么

只想做个自由的人　自由原来稀有的很
也想做个快乐的人　生活总是让人苦闷
只想做个温柔的人　然而世界如此残忍
也想做个低调的人　却又贪图你的掌声

你想成为怎样的人　现在你是怎样的人
曾经你是怎样的人　现在你是怎样的人
你想成为怎样的人　现在你是怎样的人
曾经你是怎样的人　现在你是怎样的人