GETAWAY IN HONG KONG!

Being a frequent traveller to Hong Kong, my aunt always wanted to bring me there to show me around. And she finally did last weekend from 10th-13th April. She's always talking about how nice the weather is, how great the shopping is and how it's so different from Singapore.

So I finally got to cross Hong Kong off my bucket list, as one of my dream destinations! :)

Took an afternoon flight (3:05 pm) as my aunt had to work that morning and the flight duration was 3h 20mins. As we were flying with Singapore Airlines, those 3 hours sure flew by pretty quickly, with shows to watch and dinner served on flight.

Baked Fish with Potatoes and Veggies

The flight was full even though it's a late flight. It should be an unpopular flight timing but apparently a lot of people are travelling to Hong Kong during this period.

Finally, we touched down at Hong Kong International Airport and we headed out to purchase an 'Octopus Card'.

Tourists may choose to purchase train tickets whenever they need to but my aunt wants this trip to be as hassle-free as possible, we decided to buy the card. It costs HKD150 with 2 passes to take the Airport Express Line, which means you can travel to and fro the airport with the card for free, together with unlimited train ride around Hong Kong. 

After purchasing the tickets, we walked to the MTR station and the train comes every 3 mins, its very fast and convenient.

Just like what I saw in the movies, this train had seats that are in pairs and each cabin is separated by glass doors, which makes each cabin very quiet.

At the speed the train was moving, I was amazed by how quiet it was. And also, they are really up-to-date with technology. There was even free WI-FI for all to use in the train! And I'm not referring to shitty speed WI-FI even when we're in the tunnel. (and even though its free!)

This train only stops at 4 stations - Expo, Airport, Tsing Yi, Kowloon, and Hong Kong. 

As our hotel was located at Tsim Sha Tsui, we alighted at Kowloon Station in approximately 20 mins to take a shuttle bus.

At Kowloon station, it has shuttle busses to various hotels! (Be sure to check if the hotel you're staying at has shuttle buses before booking, it is more convenient and cost-effective taking the train and then a shuttle bus, as compared to taking a taxi from the airport to your hotel.)

We arrived at Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel at about 9pm, checked in, dressed up and headed out to ladies' market at Mong Kok! - no time to waste!

DAY 1: Tsim Sha Tsui - Mong Kok (Ladies' Market)

 Streets of Tsim Sha Tsui - full of huge branded shops like Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc.

Weather in Hong Kong during April is cool and breezy - loved it! It was 25 Degrees when we were there. So it was good that I wore a scarf, knit top, jeans, and dr marts!

Train was packed as always but each train comes very frequently no don't worries.
Also, its good to be a little more kiasu there to grab seats.

First thing you'll see along the streets of Mongkok are the overcrowding signboards that you usually see in Hong Kong Movies. Definitely an eye-opener for me.

 Ladies' Market

I've been to Bangkok many times to shop and ladies' market in Hong Kong definitely reminded me of the night markets there. They sold imitated banded bags, shoes, tee-shirts, ladies fashion clothings, luggages, toys, watches, phone covers, etc. Most of the things in Hong Kong is fixed price but the ladies' market is one place where you can hackle their prices, as they'll usually quote a higher price to tourists.

I personally didn't like the clothes sold there so I didn't get anything besides this phone cover for a friend.

Quite disappointed when I found out that I bought the wrong size... Iphone 4 instead of Iphone 5. Any buyers?

We headed back around 12am and we couldn't find anywhere to eat so we ordered room service.

Roasted Chicken Salad

 Club Sandwich

DAY 2 - Macau (Venetian Hotel x Ruins of St. Paul x Koi Kei Bakery) - Tsim Sha Tsui (H&M x Harbour City)

Along the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui

Our ferry to Macau departs at 12 and we left our hotel at 11:15pm.

It was 10 mins walk from our hotel to the China Ferry Terminal and while we were on our way, I asked, "Do we need our passports to go into Macau??". My aunt freaked.

Upon reaching the ferry terminal, we asked the person in-charge and she told us we need our passports. With 25 mins till the ferry departs, and we were supposed to arrive 30 mins before departure time, my aunt ran back to our hotel from the terminal in her heels and took a cab back, with 5 mins to spare.

We quickly checked in and ran for our ferry. We were just in time.

Felt so bad that my aunt went through all that and insisted I stay at the terminal to wait for her. She was perspiring like mad even on the ferry.

Ferry ride was about an hour and we finally arrived at Macau! 

I never knew Macau was a different country from Hongkong! It's just like Indonesia and Singapore, with a ferry ride of 45 mins to 1 hour tops.

Took pics on the bus to Venetian Hotel!

Foggy weather at Macau - Breezy and cool.

Arrived at Venetian Hotel after 20 mins of shuttle bus ride!

 Venetian Hotel's huge ass casino, filled with mainland Chinese peeps.

 Details of the casino's ceiling

After my aunt sneaked me into the casino, we headed to the foodcourt for lunch.

Foodcourt at the Venetian Hotel, resembling the streets in Spain.

The Venetian Mall really reminded me of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Its filled with branded shops and it has the gondola as well. Of course, The Venetian was established many years before MBS.

After shopping around the venetian mall, we headed over to the Ruins of St. Paul, a heritage site as well as where the famous Koh Kei Bakery is located at!

This area was huge and it was filled with mini streets with stalls that sells all kinds of stuff - Sasa, Lancome, Milan Station, mini food stalls, etc.

Yes, we lugged a luggage around (we bought it from Ladies' market for about 30SGD) as we know we'll be buying a lot of Macau goodies and it will be more convenient with a luggage.

As Macau was previously occupied by Spain, it has very european architectures. Very pretty.

Arrived at Koi Kei Bakery! Plenty of handmade Lao Po Bing, Almond/Cashew Cookies, Portugese egg tarts, etc.

Though there is an outlet in Hong Kong, but since it's originated in Macau and since we're there, we decided to get it from here.

Lady making egg roles nad packing them into boxes, ON THE SPOT!!

There were plenty of samples to try from and I just tried everything that was available and I WANTED EVERYTHING. It was so hard to choose. 

Its definitely very pricey, each box of goodie costs at least SGD30, but its all worth it knowing its freshly handmade everyday.

Left Koi Kei with boxes and boxes of traditional macau goodies for our friends and left to see the Ruins of St. Paul. 

The walk seemed very long because they were so heavy...

View of Ruins of St. Paul from afar

Destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835, it was one of the largest cathedral in Asia. It has 66 stone steps leading up to it. Definitely an amazing sight.

With our heavy baggages, we decided to head to the terminal early despite being 3 hours early, as we bought tickets for 8pm ferry.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal, we had to queue up along with others who decided to leave earlier than the timing stated on their tickets. Each ferry departs every 30 mins and there might be some extra seats for passengers like us who wants to leave early. However, each ferry was pretty much filled and we had to wait from 530-730pm till we finally managed to get on the ferry.

Fell into a deep sleep during the ferry ride back as I was already exhausted from all the walking and woke up back in Hong Kong ferry terminal again. 

Headed back to our hotel to leave our heavy baggages and left for dinner and some more shopping at H&M and Harbour City, which were directly opposite each other.

Photo taken from http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/41762062.jpg

buys from H&M Hong kong!! White and black as always...

Everything at H&M was very afforable. Jeans there were only SGD20++, I regretted not getting any :(

DAY 3: Central (Topshop x Zara) - Causeway Bay (Forever 21)

It was technically our last day of shopping in Hong Kong, as we depart at 12pm back to Singapore the next day. So we wanted to make the most out of today. We were indeed very very very exhausted at the end of it, but I was so so happy with all that I bought.

Went for Dimsum at a chinese restaurant near our hotel on the 9th floor to fill our tummies before the long day ahead. Traveling with my aunt ensures that we really use up all our energy before we eat again.

Hehe hong kong taxis reminds me of how I used to see them only in Hongkong Movies.

Why did they have to serve w the chicken head...

After dimsum, we headed to Central for see the Mid-level Escalators, shop around the humungous 2 storeys Topshop, and shop at Zara located in the IFC Mall!

Along Mid-levels Escalators: -

HUGE ASS TOPSHOP!!!!
Items are priced almost the same as in Singapore. But their collection is slightly different.

credits: http://hk-magazine.com

Headed to Causeway bay for dinner!

Causeway bay is the cheapest place to shop, in my opinion, compared to the main places I've visited in Hongkong (TST, Central, and Mongkok) and also the MOST crowded part of Hong Kong, followed by Central.

Loads of slopes in the country.

And finally, F21, which was very very affordable in Hong Kong, selling very fashionable apparels compared to the collection in Singapore.

 6 storeys high!!!

Look at how awfully packed it was in there!

At the end of the day, these were the things I bought. I spent SGD400 altogether. God.

 Super cute marvel tops I bought for Sheryl and Tyn!!

They have a whole collection of marvel pullovers, crop tops and singlets. 

Wanted to get a pullover for Rach cuz it was sooo cheap but they were left with L sizes ):

Clothes I bought for myself from Zara, Topshop and F21.

 3 new pairs of shoes!!!

Overall, Hong Kong was indeed an eye-opener for me and I enjoyed myself very much.
Shopping wise, don't expect it to be cheap and fashionable, just like in Bangkok but if you're looking into shopping at branded stores, this country is full of them.

However though, I do miss out a lot on authentic Hong Kong food, given the fact that my aunt doesn't trust those little 'cha can tengs', and she wanted to bring me around rather than spend our time eating. So I do hope the next time when I'm there again, I get to try more of their food.

xx,
- A