Day 1: Singapore — Hong Kong / Mong Kok
We landed at about 6am in Hong Kong and by the time we arrived at our hotel via the airport express bus, it was only 8am, which means too early for check-in, which means no sleep time, which means we first had to fill up two very hungry stomachs. After some failed navigation with no data (Google Maps) yet, we finally arrived at our destination thanks to the directions from the locals and my not too shabby Cantonese skills *proud Canto moment* hurrr
First thing first, the highly-raved about Australian Dairy Co. Verdict: expectation leads to disappointment. We both felt that the food there was slightly over-rated, and was comparable to a typical Cha Chaan Teng.
I think we both still look quite alive albeit having only a few hours of sleep before our 1:30am flight. The flight itself was quite meh for me, but the pig on the right knocked out beside me (as usual)
Looks good visually. Ok fine, the food did not taste bad either, it's just that when you've heard and read so much about it online, disappointment might hit you in the face.
I love curry fishball omg it is the best combination?! Even in Singapore, I'd buy the pasar malam version and finish everything on my own.
We had these FRESHLY HANDMADE sushi hand rolls inside Argyle Centre and it was the bomb.
Concluded the first day at Mongkok. This was after we've headed back to the hotel after breakfast, managed to check-in at 10am yoohoo, took a satisfactory 3 hours nap before kick starting our shopping spree all refreshed and charged.
Day 2: Victoria Peak / Stanley / Victoria Harbour / Tsim Tsa Tsui
This picture is irrelevant but since it was taken inside our hotel room, I'd like to mention that our room is super cosy and just the right size for 2. Hotel Rainbow I give you 9/10.
Uh yes, the times when he is not smiling nicely for the camera, he'd be up to no good. Regardless, I love both sides of him :')
Guys really damn chill can, all they have to bring when they are out is basically a phone and wallet. Or a stitch drawstring pouch in my boyfriend's case.
The view from Victoria peak was almost 10/10. I think view with skyscrapers can never go wrong.
We spent almost 4 hours at the Peak just eating, walking around and taking in the gorgeous view. The time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted, indeed.
After we finally left the Peak, we headed to Stanley Market. I actually really love visiting places like this.
See. Got a lot of feels, just walking through the streets like a tourist and basking in the local culture.
What's more when you also get a panorama view of the sea!!!
But then your view kena blocked!!!! Kidding guys, he is the view.
View leaving me behind
When the view stares right back at you (heart eyes emoji) hahaha ok I need to cut the drama
Victoria Harbour at night. We reached before 8pm so as to catch the light show which wasn't anything spectacular lol why is the internet always lying to me?
But well, at least I had a romantic sushi date by the sea.
And this picture. We troubled a stranger to take it for us with the sea and neon lights illuminated skyscraper as backdrop but then the lady suggested that we take it with the moon instead hahahaha okay so there you have it, spot the legendary (almost) full moon.
Day 3: Ngong Ping 360 / Tai O Fishing Village / Citygate Outlets
Breakfast food? YAS PLEASE.
On our way to being tourists.
To ride a cable car!
View #1
View #2!! Omg I couldn't stop staring at the trees. Doesn't this feel like one of those Twilight scene where they show the forests from a top down view aaaah
The view though seriously AAAAAHHHH!!!!!
Felt so close to the clouds when we reached the top.
The main attraction was this Big Buddha which was... big haha can't find a better word to describe it.
Before my legs gave way (may I direct your attention to the flight of stairs behind us).
It was extremely sunny that day so we did not stay for long. After making our way back down the never ending flight of stairs (#legsday), we went to queue up for the local bus which would bring us to Tai O Fishing Village where a lot of the locals live in stilt houses and grow their own plantation for a living. And you'll see, this place is the exact opposite of the city. I think the locals here must lead a very serene life. I mean just look at that sky and mountain combination which resembles a poster. The first thing we did upon arrival was take a $5 boat ride which would bring us around the village and finally out to sea to see the legendary pink dolphins. Luck was on our side that day as the tour guide told us that despite it being high tide, we managed to see wild dolphins. 5 bucks very well spent!!
Ended our day at the Citygate outlets. And here's a random picture of a cup of drink from McDonald's. It's so fun-sized and it wasn't even part of a kids meal. Oh and side note, the matcha ice cream in Hong Kong's Mac are so yummy. Just sayin'
Day 4: Shek O Beach / Causeway Bay
Started our trekking day bright and early. Bless us cos we managed to avoid the peak hour crowd.
My boyfriend is so done with me taking selfies early in the morning hee
Kidz, of course he will entertain me hehehe
WHAT DID I SIGN UP FOR? More stairs. At this point, I remember one of my friend asked me on snapchat "why is Ray always leaving you behind (as evident from this picture)" hahahaha I thought it was quite a funny observation. I am always further behind only because I am a photoholic and I honestly think pictures make great memories. In my boyfriend's defence, he stops to check on me, and also asks me to hurry upppp.
Anyway, the view did replenish our energy. And amazingly, we did not get any mosquito bites albeit not wearing insect repellent, imagine my happiness (I am literally prone to mozzie bites)!!!
To be honest, it was a relatively easy trek. We got to a point where we could either stop and detour back downhill or continue trekking higher. Being me, I had to prevent my boyfriend from going for the latter because 1) I didn't want to be overly ambitious and 2) I couldn't wait to get to
THE BEACH!!!
Relatively empty beach? *throws confetti in the air and do happy dance*
Posing with the 'Dragon's back'
So so gorgeous!!! This place is so under rated. But thanks to that, we got to feel like locals!
Super hungry since it was way past lunch hour when we left Shek O Beach. Gobbled down my food at a local eatery before heading to Causeway Bay for more shopping. No pictures but in general, Causeway Bay houses more high-end shopping malls as compared to Mongkok. We got some really good deals from stores like Hollister and Forever 21.
Hong Kong really is 吃东西, 买东西, 吃东西, 买东西。Here I present to you the best ramen I've ever had.
Ichiran, you have my heart. Period.
Day 5: Ocean Park / Sheung Wan
Onwards to the fifth day, where we had a dilemma between visiting either the Ocean Park or Disneyland. In my opinion, the biggest difference that lies between the two is that Disneyland has a very movie/ animation based theme whereas Ocean Park is more along the line of animal exhibits (I love going to the zoo!!). I mean, both of them are theme and amusement park, but we opted for the former in the end, because it has more thrilling rides and also because Disneyland is more family oriented. The only drawback was that by choosing Ocean Park, we missed out on the night parades, fireworks and what not at Disneyland, but maybe next time!
Omaigad check out the weather yo
Ocean Park closes rather early if I recalled correctly, but we managed to cover the entire theme park in. the. crazy. heat. We had no plans in mind after that, so we decided to search for food along the way back to the hotel. Landed ourselves in Sheung Wan for this egglet thingy dessert (thanks to Instagram).
Verdict: 6/10. Not sure if it was just us, the combination was rather odd (living up to it's store name lol)
On to our main course, the beef brisket tasted so legit! We also had our fair share of local dining experience, sharing a tiny rectangular table with 2 other individual patrons.
Day 6: Sai Wan Swimming Shed / Lam Kwai Fong
We intended to take the ferry over the border to Macau on day 6 but we woke up and had breakfast late so change of plans! I chanced upon Sai Wan Swimming Shed when I was scrolling through Instagram (again) one day and I told Ray we had to go. And wow, sand flies aside, this secret hideout is so beautiful. We were treated to the view of the sea and some boats & ships passing by occasionally. The place itself is rather secluded which probably explained the emptiness except for a few ambitious people like us who came and go. Ray and I took tons of pictures since we had the place to ourselves. We also sat down to talk about life and just goofed around. Life can't get any better than that.
We were running on an extremely relaxed schedule that day and the heat was really getting to us so... we decided to head back to the hotel TO SLEEP ahahaha 'twas was good 3 hours nap. When we woke up, it was already evening. We went to roam the street markets nearby to comb for food, before meeting up with one of Ray's friend who also happened to be in Hong Kong.
We settled down at one of the bar at Lam Kwai Fong feat. couple PDA-ing at the back.
Here's my boyfriend carrying a Peppa Pig toy set that we bought for his niece at the night market, and walking around bars and clubs hahaha best uncle award definitely goes to you.
Joseph the African who could speak Mandarin hahaha freaking funny I cannot
Day 7: Macau (Taipa Village / Ruins of St. Paul)
The H&M bag was not supposed to be in the picture ahahaha I guess some days we have to suck it up and accept mediocre pictures taken by a passerby.
Couldn't even take a proper selfie without ANY PHOTOBOMBER
Favourite pic of my boy boy as of now
*shoots death stare at the lady* *proceeds to crop her out of the picture*
The day passed by relatively quickly somehow. We had a ferry to catch back to Hong Kong, hence the limited time to properly finish exploring Ruins of St. Paul. It's actually a place I'd return to if I ever visit Macau again. Oh and, I have to jot this down for memories sake: RAY AND I WENT INTO ONE OF THE MANY CASINOS AND GAMBLED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR LIVES HAHA. AND WE LOST 100 HKD (approx. 18 sgd) TO ONE OF THOSE IDIOT PROOF MACHINES. Even though we made small bets, we both felt so thrilled hahaha it was honestly quite an experience. I bet half of the time, we looked like lost kids walking around the casino searching for their parents...
Day 8: Hong Kong — Singapore
By the last day, we were running out of things to do (read: sleeping in and skipping hotel breakfast) and our flight home was at about 10pm, which means we still had almost 3/4 of a day to spare. Woke up later than usual, washed up and checked out of our hotel room. After depositing our luggages to the hotel concierge, we headed out with no plans in mind. No actually, the plan was to finish spending all of our remaining money on food *slurps*!!! Had jap for lunch, then we decided to watch a movie — Now You See Me 2 — to kill time. That was about it. Time to go back to reality.
As you all would know, people typically spend 6D5N in Hong Kong, but Ray and I, we had 8 full days so we really took our time to explore places and do things we wouldn't have time to back in Singapore, like exploring the not so mainstream places (Sai Wan Swimming Shed!), going trekking or even just spending ample time at the beach. Shek O was one of my favourite part of this trip out of so many others. The beach wasn't very big to begin with, but its plus point was that it housed more locals than tourists so it made me feel very at ease just sun tanning and people watching.
Another good thing I appreciate about Hong Kong is that most of the Cha Chaan Teng generally start operating as early as 6:30am so hungry souls like us won't starve. I especially love their local food, just because. Oh and, contrary to popular belief that the locals are very impolite, I was rather impressed with the people we encountered along the way. The nature of their language might make them sound a little crude at times, but in all it didn't really bother us. Moreover, my love for Cantonese really makes me embrace the language's coarse nature (weird, I know).
Nonetheless, if I had to pick on one thing about this trip, it would be the weather. God damn it, it was sooooooo humid during the period we went, especially on the day we went to Macau. I feel like my skin is burning just thinking about it now. At almost every corner of the streets, people could be seen carrying a portable fan — what a life saviour. Thank goodness I bought a cap on the first day of our trip which really protected my face from being exposed to the sun for long hours every day. My poor boyfriend actually got a pretty intense tan haha.
All in all, I truly enjoyed myself this trip. Not just because of the places and food, but mainly thanks to a perfect company. Being able to fall asleep and wake up beside the love of your life is such a blissful thing hehe I already can't wait for the future. Alright, till next time folks x
