Hong Kong: Day 3 (Kowloon)

After that long post about Disneyland, the next few post ahead may not be as exciting anymore. Day 3 is Kowloon and shopping day thus not much picture is taken. However here are some of my selection.


Started off in the morning by trying out Hong Kong Dim Sum. We went to this restaurant called Lin Heung Tea House along Wellington Street at Central.


The atmosphere is pretty much like those HK dim sum restaurants you see in movies; grumpy waitress with moving carts bringing fresh n hot made dim sums to tables giving that 'if you don't want then don't order la' look or maybe the 'can you make up your mind which basket you wanna take' look.


If you're thinking of having the table to yourself, you might as well wait until evening or you come at 4am to get a good seats. The common sight is that you'll see alot of uncles with their pals and some with their newspaper. Sorry, no kung fu master with birdcage sighted that day. haha


So we ordered quite a few dim sum and I would like to bring this dish to everyone's attention. Have you tried steam rice with minced meat topped with soy sauce and a 'hor phau tan'. Sounds not too bad right? OK picture and with the meat cooked with dried orange peel... lots of them! Don't get me wrong but this dish totally suck. Even my mom who has the most acquired taste finds it hard to eat. Oh well, maybe the hongkies enjoys such food. Overall the food there's alright but i suppose there's a few more tea house that would serve food that we're more familiar with.


Still in Central, we tried the egg tart from Tai Cheong Bakery. Found reviews and recommendations from some bloggers, so we decided to try it out.


Taste pretty good to me.

Guys! stop staring at her boobs...


End of Lyndhurst Terrace


Central-Mid-levels Escalators is the world longest covered outdoor escalator system. Not gonna talk much about it but in HK, one don't need to worry about walking on uncovered pavement. Have a look in the next few pictures. The escalators span through 800 metres.




View of Connaught Road Central. The building on the right is Four Seasons.


So we need to walk from Central to the pier to take a ferry over to Kowloon.


See what I mean when one walks from one building to another. If it rains, you can never get any rain drops except during typhoons maybe.


IFC Two is the highest building in HK. 7th tallest at this point when this article is written.


Taking the Hong Kong ferry that brings us across from Hong Kong island to mainland Kowloon.


The top deck which is air conditioned cost only HKD 2.70 and HKD 1.70 for the lower deck. Can we even sit a bus here for rm0.75?


Star Cruise Harbour from Harbour City Mall


One would probably hear of Chunking Mansion (made famous by Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express). This 'mansion' house alot of foreign worker. You don't see westerners here but rather the minority ethnics such as Indians, Nepalese, Bangladeshis, Nigerians and Pakistanis.


View of Nathan Road.




Another view of Chungking Mansion
Mansion = a large imposing residence (taken from Merriam-Webster)


We were in HK in the middle of the Olympics and most sports shop were marketing their products with that theme.


Walking through Haiphong Road


People in HK seem to line up for everything without being told


Along Nathan Road




Uniqlo & Muji @ Miramar


Day 3 was more of a shopping day for us therefore I didn't take that many shots. I knew I should've taken more of everything that day. I brought my tripod along that day to take a few night landscape shot. Good thing Harbour City Mall has locker service for me to put my tripod in there.


View of Hong Kong island from Kowloon




Symphony of Lights starts at 8pm every night.
DYKT: The amount electricity that is used for the skyline in Hong Kong only for one night can power a small country for a month.






Master Oogwai's pad


Ghost on Avenue of Stars


Walking through Avenue of stars, you can find your favourite HK movie stars on the walkway. I spotted one.




Peninsula Hotel is Hong Kong's first hotel and probably one of the most expensive. It apparently houses one of the biggest Rolls-Royce fleet in the world. Think if you stand in the lobby long enough, you can easily spot a famous figure.

After a long day from walking (I think i walked more than 10kms around Kowlooon), we went to this dessert place called Sweet Dynasty just above Canton Road. Was too tired to take any pictures there but do check that place out when you're there. Totally recommended.

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Next up on Day 4... Central & Victoria Peak

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Hong Kong: Day 2 (Disneyland)

foreword This foreword section is becoming a apology section for me to explain why I had to keep you guys waiting. I won't be providing much excuses but here it is.. Day 2 of Hong Kong - Disneyland.

From many feedback and reviews, we've heard that Disneyland is not worth going if you're visiting Hong Kong. People will say there's lack of ride and one can finish the whole park in half a day if there's no queue. Oh well, it's Disneyland and whether it's in Hong Kong, Paris, LA or even if it's in blardy Papua New Guinea, I think I will need to pay a visit to fulfill this childhood dream of mine. We bought the tickets earlier before our trip via online. The cost of the ticket is only 350HKD so it's about RM150 to spend a whole day relishing yourself like a small kid.


So one can easily take the MTR to Disneyland via the Disneyland Resort Line. All MTR lines are connected to each other. From Wan Chai, we board the Island Line heading to Hong Kong station where we interchange to Tung Chung Line. Stop at the Sunny Bay station where you'll need to interchange to the Disneyland Resort Line.


This MTR only has one destination and it's a one way ticket to Disneyland. See that Mickey logo on the train.


It's probably almost a ritual for most photographer to take a picture of this hand rail when they see it. Nice bokeh effect?

Alright, just a note to travellers bringing DLSR to D-land. I brought my all-new Lowepro Apex good enough to fit my body with a lens. I did a crazy thing by lugging the Manfrotto as well as I wanted to attempt some fireworks shot later in the night. Good thing they've got locker service for me to keep it there until the night.


There's many shops for you to buy souvenirs & memorabilia for friends and families. Things there are not cheap as I spend about Rm350 on just getting things for people.


Adventureland is our first stop.


One who've been to Disneyland would recognize this machine. The Magical Coin Press Machines are located at various parts in the park. Each machine allow you to buy one exclusive coin press with design. Each machine has different designs.


You can even buy a booklet to keep all these coins. I manage to collect only 5; 2 Mickey & Minnie, Chip & Dale, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Stitch. Cost HKD10 for one if i can remember.


Next stop was the Festival of the Lion King which was to me a summarize version of what the real Lion King musical will be. So Simba's already a King and the animal kingdom wanted to pay tribute to the King by presenting him a musical about his life. Yes, a musical in a musical (if you get what i mean)


So they have all these foreign performers (Filipinos i think) and man can they really sing.


I was kinda amazed by this part where they hang this acrobatic performer. She was tied with a wire and she just turn around the stage when the duet sang Can You Feel The Love Tonight. Simply stunning IMHO. She's suppose to be a star dancing in the night i think.


The fiery battle between Simba and Muzaffar & hyenas.




After watching this mini-musical, I'm gonna watch the real one when it comes to a town nearby.


This show is totally recommended for those visiting Adventureland. Be sure to queue up before the show as the turnout for this can be quite high. It was almost a full house on a Monday afternoon.


Jungle River Cruise is just a journey around the river to see some boring, 'mysterious' attractions.


This boat ride was divided into the English and Chinese guide. Obviously we opt for the English one. Half the time we could not understand what the guide was trying to explain. And this 'mysterious' ride is suppose to have a few suspense like for example fire flames extinguishing nearby, aborigines shooting arrows using blowpipes and harmless crocodiles.


The funny thing is the guide will go something like "OK that was a close encounter, I hope no one got killed... *Phew Ok Let's continue our adventure now... ". As unsuspenseful as it is, the guide tried to make us feel like we're on some Indiana Jones adventure when it's purely just a boat ride. Ok it prob didn't sound like how I heard it but put that with a strong Hongkie accent, you will only understand when you hear it then. But would give them a pat for such enthusiasm in their job.




Tarzan's Treehouse


View from the treehouse


Me and the mother taking a picture below Tarzan's treehouse


The name of the raft that carried us across


Next up is Tomorrowland. This land has most exciting rides at least for me. For most people coming to Disneyland expecting thrill ride, I guess they will be disappointed as most of the rides here are for children. The most heart-bopping ride is prob Space Mountain which my sister yelled like a crazy woman. But remember that Disneyland is a kids thing. You want thrill rides, go to Movie World in GoldCoast. Do set your expectation right before ending up being disappointed.


We come in peace


Paying homage to traveling tourist who likes to take pictures of toilets. This one has futuristic rings on it.


Some creepy machine that goes around talking to people in the park. The puppet was speaking in Cantonese and I wasn't too sure what he was trying to say. I think there's a camera that's attached to that vehicle and someone will talk through the microphone remotely. This thing shoots water too.


Mom and sister trying to reach to Infinity and Beyond...


The Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster is prob the most fun ride in Adventureland for me. You sit on this capsule and it moves around requiring you to use a laser gun to shoot down as many aliens as you collect points.


As you can see how much mom & sis enjoys it. Mom actually scored higher than the pathetic sister. I of course scored the highest.


Moving bin that goes around Adventureland land.


Autopia is suppose to give you an experience to drive a futuristic electric car. Picture yourself driving in the Jetsons cartoon. As much as I would call myself a petrol-head, this ride is certainly one of the lousiest ride in Adventureland.


Totally overrated having to queue up for more than 20 minutes. That consider long on a weekday like this.


Gives me an opportunity to take a shot of them.


Mom & Sis getting so psyched up for It's A Small World ride. Look at how Disneyland can make an adult act like a kid at times.


A journey on the happiest cruise that ever sailed.


I remember sitting this ride in Genting awhile back. Can anyone recall when they have it there aoens ago?


The cruise takes you across continents singing and looping the same song over and over again.


I like the part when they reach the middle east and the song is transposed to a middle eastern gypsy-like rhythm.


The islands


As they say in France... they've got Selamat Jalan too.


We missed Disney on Parade at noon as we're prob somewhere around Adventureland. But we manage to catch the Mickey's WaterWorks Parade.




As the name suggest, they have Disney characters coming out in floats shooting waters at crowds. Totally refreshing after a hot & humid day. Didn't capture alot of shots as I was too carefully protecting my camera.


Band performing at Main Street




Mr Grumpy at one of the souvenir shops.


Mickey Mouse


Hope Mickey doesn't mind me stealing a kiss from Minnie.


Goofy






Pluto has to be one of the most wackiest character in Disney. This particular mongrel earlier made a kid cry by scaring him repeatedly. Made the queue hold up so long for it too. Good thing he made it up by doing this with me.


Sleeping Beauty Castle @ Dusk


Cinderella Carousel in Fantasyland




One thing most visitor should take note is to look out for the FASTPASS signs on attractions. This allow one to booked your time to come back at certain period to skip long queues. We used FASTPASS on the Space Mountain ride and this was the only picture taken. Guess we were too cheapskate to buy the prints from the counter. Here's a mugshot.


Waited til after sunset before I brought out the tripod and started shooting. Here's one with a long shutter at Main Street.




This was my first time attempting shooting fireworks. Didn't had time to read up on how to take nice shots. But here it is.


Came equipped with my Wireless remote. I've also removed the lens filter to reduce any unnecessary flare.


Shots were not that impressive or satisfiable. I will do more redemption at some MIFC post later on.











So that's it... over 50 pictures to journal my day in Disneyland. It was fun-filled and ended well with a blast in the sky.

Now you know why I take so long to post up one post.

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Next up on Day 3... Stay Tuned!

p/s: I will prob post some fillers just in case the interval takes too long.