Hong Kong and Singapore 2016

Results tagged “Hotels”:

Day 12 - Monday 25 January - Singapore to Canberra

And continuing onto Tuesday ..

Had a bit of a sleepin on our last day - til 7:15am!

View from our hotel room

I did photo and blogging stuff then headed out for a walk around the Gardens by the Bay.

Dragonfly Lake

Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove

Supertree Grove and Marina Bay Sands

Supertree Grove

Floral clock

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay

Singapore Flyer

Gardens by the Bay

Marina Bay Sands

Dragonfly Lake

Gardens by the Bay

Supertree Grove and Dragonfly Lake

Dragonfly Bridge

Water lilies in Gardens by the Bay

Walkway between Bayfront MRT station and Gardens by the Bay

And got some morning photos from the roof

Marina Bay Sands infinity pool

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

Downtown Singapore from Observation Deck

Singapore from Observation Deck

Victoria Theatres

National Gallery of Singapore

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

The Durian

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck

People in the infinity pool

View of Singapore over infinity pool

Came back and got ready, then headed down to Rise for the buffet breakfast. It was a lot bigger and the hash browns were actually hot (they hadn't been anywhere else this trip), but also a lot more people so a lot more craziness. Plus I was stressing about getting everything done before we checked out.

After breakfast had a final swim in the infinity pool to have it under morning light. We watched a rainstorm come closer and got out just as it hit.

Stu and Kaz having a last swim in the infinity pool

View of Singapore and incoming storm from infinity pool

View of Singapore and storm over infinity pool

Then back to the room to repack all our bags, and we managed to checkout right on 12pm.

Left our bags at the Concierge then went for a wander through the Shoppes. Stopped and had some ice tea and macarons, and wandered around for a bit. But The Shoppes is a really awful boring mall. Unless of course you're into the high end super expensive watches and handbags. Boring boring boring.

Stu with his tea and macarons at TWG Tea

I couldn't stand being there for another hour or two, so we jumped on a train and went one station to Downtown and had a bit of a wander around there. Stu stopped for coffee and I wandered, and even found an outside bit to get a view of the bay from another angle.

View out the window on the train to Downtown

Dream sign and Marina Bay

Marina Bay panorama

Marina Bay Sands

ArtScience Museum and Singapore Flyer

Finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. Then three trains to the airport.

Singapore Air Traffic Control Tower

Had some noms and some bubbly (and a shower!) at the Qantas club before boarding. Our boarding passes must have been checked at last half a dozen times. Security was only at the boarding gate, not any earlier.

A330 for this flight - up near the back on the left. Took off to the north so no interesting views (other than the airport).

Airbus A330-200 VH-EBV at Changi Airport

Had the beef goulash for dinner.

Dinner on the plane - Slow braised smoky beef goulash with mashed potato and steamed vegetables

Watched The Walk first up which I really really enjoyed. I'd seen a documentary on it relatively recently, and this was a sort of a docu-drama. Very cool. All CGIed of course. Although even if the towers were still there, they'd have had to CGI a lot of stuff *out* of it.

Then watched The Hangover which was actually ok.

It was midnight by this point so attempted to sleep. Failed.

Thinking I had time, I put on Boyhood, but the time listed was wrong and I was still watching it right up until arrival at the gate in Sydney, so missed the end of it :(

(They turned the cabin lights on at 1:30am, and got a bit of breakfast at about 2am. Landed at 3am, which was 6am Sydney time).

Breakfast on the plane - sour cherry pastry

I was feeling about anxious about everything actually (mainly missing the end of the movie), and I thought this set off an upset belly. But in actual fact I just had an upset belly which was making me feel queasy. Stuff came out both ends which was fun. Not. Luckily all at Sydney airport and not on a plane! And felt better after that. Stu was feeling a bit delicate too.

Then our last flight to Canberra. A fairly empty Dash8 in the back row on the right. Took off from half way down 34L and were airborne by the time we passed the east-west runway. Rain and clouds all around Sydney though, so not much of a view.

Qantas Dash 8 VH-QOC at Canberra Airport

Chrissie picked us up at the airport which was lovely of her.

At home we snoozed for a couple of hours then started tackling the mess that is our house.

So pretty good holiday. It was spoilt a bit by the rainy weather in Hong Kong and the unbearable humidity in Singapore, as well as not having much of a plan for what we wanted to do. But we did do some cool stuff and eat lots of good food, so pretty good in the end.

Day 11 - Sunday 24 January - Marina Bay Sands

Had a super slow start. I'd had trouble sleeping (woke up in the middle of the night and took forever to get back to sleep). Ended up sleeping in past 7am.

Spent some time getting ourselves organised, and went down for a fairly late breakfast. Then back to the room to pack up.

It was 11am before we finally got out the door.

Our destination was just across the harbour - the Marina Bay Sands. At over $600 a night we certainly weren't going to stay here more than one night, but as it was the last night of our trip we decided to splurge.

Also because it was our last night, the hotel staff let us checkin when we arrived at 12pm instead of waiting til the normal checkin at 3pm. And they gave us a late (12pm) checkout instead of the usual 11am. So lovely :)

The hotel is amazing. Even the atrium is spectacular. When you get into the room and plug your card into the power, the curtains open up and you see the amazing view. Although we missed that effect because we didn't plug it in straight away heh. The room is *huge*. The bathroom is nearly as big as our bedroom heh. Just amazing.

Kaz looking out the window in our hotel room
Photo by Stu

Bathroom

Our hotel room at Marina Bay Sands

View from our room at Marina Bay Sands

View northwest from our room

So we enjoyed the view for a bit, then headed up to the roof to have a look at the pool and the observation deck. Wow.

Bayfront Pavilion

Gardens by the Bay

Infinity pool and Singapore view

Rooftop of the Marina Bay Sands

Downtown Singapore

The Durian - Theatres on the Bay

The Merlion

Stu and Kaz on the rooftop at Marina Bay Sands
Photo by Stu

Singapore from SkyPark Observation Deck

View east from SkyPark Observation Deck

Singapore Flyer

Gardens by the Bay

Marina Barrage

Then we headed down the "shoppes" downstairs to find some lunch. Got some food at the food court but it was very busy and getting a seat was a challenge. We were a bit hot and frustrated by the end of it.

Marina Bay Sands atrium

Canal in the shopping mall under the hotel

Atrium in The Shoppes

Back to our room briefly.

ArtScience Museum

View from our hotel room

So we came up and had a swim in the Infinity Pool. It was super windy up the top, and then it rained, which successfully cleared out most people. But then the rain stopped and they all came back - doh!

Went back to the room. Stu chillaxed and I went out for a walk to get some photos of the building in the afternoon sun and go over the "helix" bridge. It was hot, but the breeze meant it wasn't too unpleasant.

Marina Bay Sands atrium

Looking across to Gardens by the Bay

Helix Bridge

Heilx Bridge and Marina Bay Sands

Then got ourselves ready for dinner. We went to "db Bistro" by Daniel Boulud. Had some lovely scallops for entree. Stu got a *huge* bowl of seafood, and I had a very tasty coq au vin blanc. All super yummy but there was so much food we struggled to finish it!

Appetiser at db Bistro

Rosemary skewered Diver Scallops, smoked bacon, savoy cabbage, soft polenta, hazelnut brown butter sauce

Stu's seafood dinner at db Bistro

Coq au Vin Blanc, white wine braised chicken, smoked bacon, carrots, local greens that I had for dinner

Went and watched the 8pm light show outside.

Downtown Singapore by night

Marina Bay Sands sound and light show

Marina Bay Sands hotel by night

Took some photos from our room at night

View from our hotel room by night

ArtScience Museum by night

Then had another swim at night.

Stu in the infinity pool at night

Watched the end of the 9:30pm light show from our room.

Marina Bay Sands sound and light show

Then I went back to the roof to get some photos at night.

Helix Bridge and Benjamin Sheares Bridge by night

Gardens by the Bay by night

Singapore Flyer by night

Marina Bay Sands Hotel rooftop and infinity pool by night

Was about to collapse into bed when I realised I hadn't washed my hair. Doh.

So just a note about this hotel. Don't come here expecting any peace and quiet. You'd think from the price it'd mostly be business people, but unless (presumably) there's a convention on, business people don't seem to stay here (why would they, it's nowhere near the CBD). There's a *lot* of families and young people so there's a lot of noise and activity in the corridors. They make a bit of a fuss about the dress code, but since most people coming and going are using the pool, there's a lot of very casual clothing and bathrobes in the lifts heh.

Day 10 - Saturday 23 January - Shopping and Chinatown

Had a bit of trouble sleeping - stoopid thermoregulation issues.

Woke up at 6ish though. Got up, did photo and blogging stuff, then headed out by myself.

Pedestrian underpass sign

Swissotel at Raffles City

The sun was out so I thought I'd make the most of it before it got tooo hot. Decided to walk down to the harbour again. Even at 8:20am, the Merlion is super popular with the tourists. So got some photos of it and the harbour and it was all quite pretty.

Esplanade Outdoor Stage - with fogged up camera lens

Singapore skyline

Clouds over Marina Bay

Esplanade Bridge and Raffles City

The Durian - Theatres on the Bay

Merlion

Clouds over Marina Bay

ArtScience Museum

Little Merlion

Then back to the hotel to have a shower and have breakfast.

After breakfast (it was about 10:45 by this point) we headed out.

We took a train out to Orchard to see a couple of stores Stu wanted to see.

Shops on Orchard Road

Chinese New Year - Year of the Monkey

The first was Kinokuniya - a huge bookstore. Had a good long wander through there.

The second was The Demin Store - Stu thought maybe he could get some better quality jeans there. But it was just before 12:00 and they didn't open til 12 (!?) and the shop was quite small, so we gave up on that idea, figuring they wouldn't have anything in Stu's size anyway.

While we there, it rained. When we came out, the temperature was actually almost bearable. We headed back to the hotel, and by the time we got there, the sun had some back out. And it was HOT. And HUMID. Just awful.

Carlton Hotel, Singapore

Chilled out briefly in the hotel, then headed out again - downtown to go on a foodie tour. But this one had a lot more culture and history than the Hong Kong ones do. In fact we didn't actually eat anything for the first hour and a half - we just looked at some buildings and went into the Singapore City Gallery which was in the town planning office and it had all these super cool models of Singapore as well as history of the place and future planning.

Singapore Model

1:400 Singapore Central Area Model from above

Singapore Master Plan poster

1:400 Singapore Central Area Model

Singapore Island Model

The foodie tour bit then kicked off. We went to several food courts, where old street hawkers had been moved under cover, which gave them the benefit of running water and electricity and more space for customers but presumably less character. I guess similar to what they're trying to do in Hong Kong to move the little green sheds into more fixed premesis.

At the first one we had sugar cane juice, chicken rice (almost a rerun of yesterday's lunch!) an oyster and mushroom cake, and a banana fritter.

Maxwell Food Centre

Sugar cane juice

Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice store

Chicken rice from Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice store

Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake store

Making the oyster cakes

Oyster and mushroom cake

Banana fritter

At the second one we had a vegetarian popiah (which is a wrap made with the same skins used for spring rolls, but not actually deep fried). Very fresh and very nice.

Ann Chin Popiah store

Vegetarian popiah from Ann Chin

We heard some of the history of the local streets.

Old terraces on Smith Street

At the third one we had a Chinese-Malaysian chicken curry which was a tad spicy for me but very tasty.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee store

Chicken curry

Finally we ended up in an actual mall, and had a cake made with pandan juice. So light and fluffy.

Pure Pandan store

Classic Pandan Chiffon Cake

So all up a pretty good afternoon.

Singapore Art Museum

Headed back to the hotel, had a shower, then had a swim in the hotel pool.

Glass in the lobby of the Carlton Hotel

Had some drinks and nibbles at the hotel, then went across the road to the Swissotel to have a drink in the CityScape bar (after we found the entrance to the place - have I ever mentioned how much I hate malls?!). I had a Singapore Sling (as you do) and enjoyed the *ambience* and the view. Super expensive though :( Also didn't get the full panorama. Might have to try the restaurant next time.

Singapore by night

Clarke Quay by night

St Andrew's Cathedral by night

Decorations at Swissotel Raffles City

Day 9 - Friday 22 January - Singapore Flyer and Chinatown

Another approx 6am wakeup. The bed here is a lot more comfortable. Pillows ok. Worst thing is temperature control. Too hot with the doona on, too cold with it off.

Got up and had breakfast at the executive lounge. Not quite as fancy as the Hong Kong hotel, but perfectly adequate.

Breakfast bar at the hotel

So then we headed out. Into the hot wet blanket that is Singapore air.

First stop was the Raffles Hotel to get a photo of it in the morning sun. Except as soon as I took my camera out it instantly fogged up :( Next time I'll need to give my camera a good long hug to warm it up before heading out.

Raffles Hotel

Then a long slow walk to the Singapore Flyer.

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation and Raffles City

Park under Benjamin Sheares Flyover

This place hates pedestrians. Apparently nobody walks here. At least not outside. Every other intersection you're redirected to the other side of the road or to an overpass or underpass. Now I'd be happy to walk through malls and passageways *if* once you got into them you could get out again. Malls are completely evil - once you get into them it's impossible to find your way out again. Super frustrating.

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth (ok maybe just an awful lot of sweating) we made it to the Flyer. $33 each. Which would be fine. Except. People. I hate people at the best of times, but when you're sweaty and exhausted from a whole hour of being in Singapore heat I was ready to murder people. Especially those super annoying ones with the selfie sticks who don't just take the odd selfie to show they've been somewhere, but dozens and dozens of them. Get over yourselves people!!!! Hate.

We had ok weather for the ride. It had been a bit sunny earlier, but had clouded over by the time we got there. Not thick cloud so it wasn't too bad.

Singapore Flyer

Singapore Flyer sign

One of the capsules of the Singapore Flyer

Marina Bay Street Circuit for Formula 1 racing

View south to Gardens by the Bay

Marina Barrage

Moet and Chandon capsule at the top of the Singapore Flyer

View northeast to National Stadium

Singapore buildings looking northwest from the Singapore Flyer

The Float @ Marina Bay Grandstand

View south to Gardens by the Bay

View southwest towards Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city

View southwest towards Singapore city

View west

Marina Bay Sands

Sands Expo and Convention Centre and ArtScience Museum

Top of Marina Bay Sands

View west to the Durian and National Gallery

The Durian - Theatres on the Bay

Fullerton Hotel

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

View southwest to Marina Bay Sands and Singapore city

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

Gardens by the Bay

Looking into the Singapore Flyer structure

Afterwards stopped for another drink so we could decide what to do next. Decided to find the nearest MRT station and head to Chinatown where we were meeting Kit's friend (and our former neighbour) Audrey for lunch. We didn't have very clear instructions (the ticketmaster booth) so it took us probably fifteen minutes of wandering around, including through dreaded malls, to try and find it.

Trying to find the MRT station

Once again this city hates pedestrians

No durians!

Once we found the meeting spot, we still had about fifteen minutes, so walked up through the street markets and even through a Tintin shop!

Looking down Pagoda Street

So Audrey found us and we went to have lunch in a big indoor food court place. Had some "chicken rice" which is rice with some chicken. I thought chicken rice might have had the chicken mixed through it somehow.

Chicken rice

Stu, Audrey and Kaz
Photo by Stu

It was also good to chat to Audrey. I'm not sure if we'd met before or not. She lived behind us for a year or so about five years ago, so we probably saw her in passing. We chatted about Singapore and travel and of course Kit ;)

After lunch (it was probably nearly 3pm by this point and some rainstorms had passed through) we trained it back to the hotel with the idea that we'd go for a swim. Except the rain closed in and didn't go away again. So I spent a few hours in the hotel extremely frustrated. Bored in the room, but not able to go out without getting soaking wet (from either rain or sweat) and/or hit by lightning.

Pool in the roof of Bras Basah MRT station

Pool of the Carlton Hotel

Carlton Hotel, Singapore (this was our building, our room was on the other side)

Had drinks and food at the hotel then spent more boredom time before giving up and going to bed.

Day 8 - Thursday 21 January - Hong Kong to Singapore

Another 6am wakeup.

Got ourselves organised, then breakfast as usual.

Out the door at 8:45. Train to Hong Kong where we did the In-Town Checkin so didn't need to cart our bags on the airport train.

Inside Hong Kong airport

Went through security, then had a drink, then headed to the plane.

It was a very full flight. Fullest I've ever seen a Cathay Pacific flight. I should have picked our seats weeks ago, but didn't, and only did it at the web checkin in the morning. They'd given me a window seat nearish the front, but too close to the wing for my liking, and they hadn't allocated Stu a seat at all yet. So I changed them both. There were no seats together, but luckily we could both get window seats up the back, so that was pretty good.

Belly cam of the plane

Takeoff was to the east, but Hong Kong was covered in cloud, so nothing to see there.

Lunch was a very nice chicken dish - the chicken was lovely and tender.

Lunch on the plane

I watched Pixels first up, which was of course completely ridiculous, but a bit of fun.

Then a documentary - The Secret World of Lego - about the company and designers which was interesting.

We flew over Vietnam - lots of fires :(

Coastline of Vietnam near Bai Xep

Coastline of Vietnam near Tuy Hoa

Fires in the mountains in Vietnam

Then saw Singapore from the air before landing from the south.

Changi Airport

Ships in the Singapore Strait

View of Changi Airport from the plane

Getting through immigration at Singapore took what seemed like ages - about half an hour. And both my phones refused to connect to the airport wifi :( So that was all hot and frustrating. We took so long that instead of getting our bags from the carousel, they'd taken them off and left them next to it, so it was all a bit of chaos.

Kinetic Rain sculpture at Changi Airport

Then it was out to find money (easy enough), phone sims (Singapore Recommends didn't have them and no 7-Elevens in sight), train cards (Singapore Recommends had sold out). So that was all a bit fail. Got the train card at the airport station, $12 with $7 credit on them. Asked if that would cover the trip to the city - she said yes.

So two trains into town. Getting off, turns out the fare from the airport is like $1.30. Sydney please pay attention!!!

Everything here is in four languages. Except when it's too hard, they just go with English.

The heat and humidity here is like a blanket. At hot, wet blanket. I really think I'm going to die here.

But we did find a big mall (Raffles City) to walk through which saved walking a city block outside.

Carlton Hotel, Singapore

Checkin at the hotel was easy enough (although they only gave us one room key, and you can't use the room power without it, but you can't use the lift without it either - not very practical if one person wants to go out and the other wants to stay in the room - so went and got another key).

Our room at the Carlton Hotel

View from our room at the hotel

USB charger points, power and light switches

View from our room at the hotel

National Museum of Singapore

View of the pool from the lift lobby of our hotel

View from the lift lobby of our hotel

St Andrews Church

Top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel

For dinner we just went to the executive club lounge and had a couple of drinks and some snackages.

Went to a 7-Eleven across the road to get some sims, but they'd sold out :(

Then I decided to walk down to the waterfront to have a look at the Marina Bay Sands light show. The walk down was a little frustrating in places - seems this place is not too well designed for pedestrians - presumably of course unless you know all the underground and in-mall ways to go. At one point I found myself in this underground walkway, that had a gallery inside it! You could never do that in Australia - it'd get destroyed by vandals instantly.

Walkway under Esplanade Drive

Finally got to the waterfront and saw the Merlion and the light show which was quite pretty.

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

Singapore Flyer by night

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

The Durian, and Singapore buildings by night

Light and Water Show at Marina Bay Sands

The Fullerton Hotel and Singapore skyline by night

Merlion by night

Esplanade Bridge by night

Merlion and Singapore skyline by night

Sinapore Flyer, Art Science Museum and Marina Bay Sands by night

Sculpture at Marina Bay waterfront

Lighted trees at Marina Bay waterfront

The Fullerton Hotel by night

Back to the hotel to shower and crash.

Anderson Bridge by night

Esplanade Drive bridge by night

Victoria Theatre and Victoria Memorial Hall

National Gallery of Singapore

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Japanese Occupation

Carlton Hotel, Singapore

Also. Why do old people take so damned long to go to the toilet?

Day 6 - Tuesday 19 January - Po Toi

Another day, another island.

Slept til only about 6am.

Breakfast was the usual, although a little earlier. We were actually out the door by 8:45am!

Walked down towards Causeway Bay to catch a bus outside the library - a 42C to Aberdeen. Got a front top seat which was good.

Got to Aberdeen arond 9:30. Hacked some portals while waiting for the 10am ferry to Po Toi.

Fishing boats and buildings in Aberdeen

The ferry is a private ferry, so no Octopus cards. $50HKD each return. Took about an hour to get there.

Buildings in Wong Chuk Hang

Ocean Park

Looking towards Repulse Bay

Hong Kong Satellite Earth Station

Tin Hau Temple, Po Toi

There's not much on the island, and even less in winter. But we were there to do a hike. Starting in the town, around past the Tin Hau temple, a couple of false starts due to inadequate signage, but then up and up and up over the island. Basically the island is a great big lump of granite sticking out of the South China Sea, and it's very exposed. The walk was pretty good and we took our time and took lots of photos.

Maris Tsui Wah Ferry A7663 that we took to Po Toi

Waterfront at Po Toi

Mat Chau island

Flag and dog at Tin Hau Temple

Tin Hau Temple, Po Toi

Granite hills on Po Toi island

Ferry pier at Po Toi, Mat Chau island and ships in the South China Sea

Hong Kong Satellite Earth Station

Granite hills on Po Toi island

Rock on Po Toi island

Stu at Kwoon Yat Pagoda

The second part of the walk, down from the pavilion, was all paved which made it even easier (just a *lot* of steps going down!)

Looking south from the top of Po Toi island

Fishing boats off Po Toi island

Cliffs along the south side of Po Toi island

Stu at an intersection on the footpath on Po Toi

Fishing boats off Po Toi island

Walkway on Po Toi island

Granite rockface on Po Toi island

Rock carvings on Po Toi Island, possibly around 3000 years old
Photo by Stu

Rock carvings on Po Toi Island, possibly around 3000 years old

Ferry and ferry pier at Po Toi
Photo by Stu

Got back to the ferry pier around 13:30 in time to finish our lunch and catch the 14:00 ferry back (there's only one ferry each way per day during the week - and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays). About another hour to get back.

Breakwater in the Aberdeen Channel

Buildings on Ap Lei Chau island

Statue of Queen Victoria at Aberdeen

In Aberdeen we hopped on a bus back to Causeway Bay.

Got back to the hotel about 16:30 but it was about two hours til we were going to meet up with Chris and Anne, so I thought I'd do a quick walk around Victoria Park to do some Ingress missions. Two hours and 8000 steps later... whoops! But did do the "Victoria Park" mission series which looks pretty good in the scanner.

At 18:45 we met Chris and Anne and Bronte and wandered into Causeway Bay - this time to have dinner at Lei Bistro which was pretty good.

Apple Store

Times Square building

Dinner at Lei Bistro

Buildings on Hennessy Road

Buildings on East Point Road

Had some dessert back in Tin Hau - I had this shaved ice cream dish which was awesome.

Shaved ice cream

Then back to the hotel to wash hair and crash.

Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

Breakfast floor of the hotel still decorated for Christmas

Day 5 - Monday 18 January - Peng Chau

(Blogging on the same day for a change!)

Best sleep in so far - 6:50am!

Also! Sun!!

View from the hotel pool floor

Pool at the hotel

Got ready just a little bit earlier, but then we tried to find the laundry man we went to last time, but he was gone, so called Chris and he recommended another laundry so we went to that instead - and it worked out a lot cheaper - only $61HKD for our bag of washing. So it was about 9:45 before we managed to get to the station. And of course that meant we missed the 10am ferry, so took our time and caught the 10:45 ferry.

It had already started clouding over by then too. But it was still a nice ferry ride out to Peng Chau. There's not a lot to see and do on the island. We did go on the "northern" walk around the edge and middle of the northern half of the island. We debated doing the "southern" walk as well but we were a bit tired (had already done 10000 steps!) so didn't. Hacked a few portals then caught the ferry back to Central.

Sea Success arriving

Hong Kong Island buildings

Kowloon buildings

Hong Kong Island buildings

Welcome to Peng Chau sign

Tin Hau Temple, Peng Chau

Kam Fa Temple, Peng Chau

Kam Peng Estate - we got stuck in this trying to make our way north

Tai Lei island

Pier at Tai Lei island

Boats in the harbour

Pier at Tai Lei island

Beach on Tai Lei island

Beach on Peng Chau island

Looking east towards Hong Kong

Jackfruit growing on Peng Chau

Farm on Peng Chau

Beach on eastern side of Peng Chau

Looking east towards Hong Kong

Pagoda on Peng Chau

Peng Chau Ferry Pier

Kowloon buildings and Discovery Bay 19

Hong Kong Island buildings

Our ferry back from Peng Chau - Sea Splash

At Central we walked up to go to Dim Sum Square.. CRISPY PORK BUNS!!!! So awesome. Also some turnip cakes and beef and parsley rice rolls.

Pan-fried turnip cakes at Dim Sum Square

Minced beef and parsley steamed rice rolls

Crispy pork buns!!

Then caught a tram back to the hotel, arriving around 4pm.

Des Voeux Road Central

Trams on Yee Wo Street

On the way to the laundry to pick up our clothes, Stu started getting a migraine. So back to the hotel to dose him up on painkillers, and I washed some underwear. Another nice thing about this hotel - even though they don't have a guest laundry - they have big bathroom sinks, with plugs, and a retractable clothes line in the shower. Epic win!

Then I met up with Chris and Anne and Bronte and Marg and we went to Din Tai Fung for dinner. Got some shrimp xiao long bao, some mushroom dumplings, some spicy shrimp dumplings, a noodle with peanut sauce dish, some greens and some wonton soup. All delicious.

Dinner at Din Tai Fung

Headed back to Chris and Anne's, and we went up to the roof and saw the Symphony of Lights from their rooftop - just lovely. Then borrowed some lightweight pants off Anne, because I stoopidly forgot my own lightweight long pants - and I wanted them for Singapore evenings. So that was good.

Walkway in Victoria Park

Symphony of Lights from Chris and Anne's building

Then picked up some snackages for the sweetie's dinner and back to the hotel.

Day 2 - Friday 15 January - Causeway Bay and Tai Po

So woke up yesterday morning at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. Stoopid body wanting to wake up at normal time :/ Also had a bit of trouble with the bed and pillows. The bed is very hard - probably the hardest bed we've had since Hiroshima in 2009. And three of the pillows are quite thick - only had one that was thin.

Got up at around 6am to blog and download photos and gps. That was mostly all done by about 7am. Then had to get the sweetie to wake up.

Murky view from our room at the hotel in the morning

Eventually went down for breakfast which was pretty good.

Breakfast bar at the hotel

Came back up to finish getting ready and got in contact with @Chrispycon. Finally got out the door at 10am - six hours after I woke up. Yeup.

So met up with Chris and we went for a wander down to Causeway Bay so the boys could get some coffee at a funky little cafe (I had hot chocolate). Chatted for a while and caught up which was nice.

Chris at Café Corridor

Signs in Café Corridor
Photo by Stu

Then headed out into the rain again (it rained. All. Day.) and wandered around Causeway Bay looking at stuff and going into a shopping centre and more wandering.

Tang Lung St looking east

Pinwheels at Hysan Place

Stu with a bear at Line Friends in Hysan Place

Atrium at Hysan Place

Pool in an atrium at Hysan Place

Hennessy Road intersection

Umbrellas in a queue on Hennessy Road

Ladies bathroom in Hysan Place

Lego Woody and Minifig at Lego store

Innis Free store

Yee Wo Street

Causeway Bay Tram Terminus

Came back to the hotel around midday to get organised and have a snack for lunch.

Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

Murky view from our room at the hotel

Snacks to keep us going before the Foodie Tour

Then headed out again to go up to Tai Po Market (it took four trains to get there) for our third Foodie Tour in Hong Kong. Not just food, but a bit of history about the place.

Our first stop was Chan Hon Kee for some rice rolls - we tried some filled with pork liver and also some with dried scallops. I think I preferred the scallops.

Making the rice paper

Rice paper rolls - with pork liver

Rice paper rolls - with scallops

Our second stop was a bbq meat shop. It would have been Yat Lok, but they were closed for a few weeks, so we went to one a few doors down. There we had roast goose with rice spaghetti noodles. I think the goose was probably my favourite dish of the day (altho having to pull out all the bones was a bit painful).

Roasted goose with rice noodles

In between we went up to the railway museum and also Man Mo Temple.

Narrow guage steam locomotive

Inside a carriage at the railway museum

Super skinny highrise building in Tai Po

Markets in Tai Po

Man Mo Temple
Photo by Stu

Man Mo Temple

Our third stop was Macau Phoenix City Souvenirs which is a nut/sweet shop where they make their own nut confectionary. We got some sample bags of candied pumpkin seeds, candied peanuts, and a sweet chewy ginger thing. I was holding cameras and umbrellas so it was all a bit complicated, so just tried a bit then put the rest in my bag to have later.

Sample of nuts we got

Nuts and candies at the candy store

Also walked down to the river to have a look at the "peaceful" side of Tai Po and across into the newer government developments on the other side.

View east from Kwong Fuk Bridge

View west from Kwong Fuk Bridge

Our fourth stop was Snake King Hoi for snake soup. I've never had snake before. And you know how people say about things "it tastes like chicken" - will this time it was actually true. It was surprisingly like chicken in both texture and flavour.

Our guides - Elise and Silvana

Snake soup

Our fifth stop was Miss 3, which was housed in a big building that has both wet markets as well as stores that sell cooked food. There we had deep fried squid balls which were pretty good, some steamed mullet with black beans which was very tasty - maybe my second favourite dish of the day, and some steamed glutinous rice with crab - crab is always super fiddly but this dish was more about the rice.

Tai Po Hui Market and Cooked Food Centre

Steamed glutinous rice with fresh crab from Miss 3

Steamed mullet with black bean sauce from Miss 3

Deep fried squid balls from Miss 3

Our final stop was sweet beans for dessert soup. They gave us three to try - almond, walnut and black sesame. The almond I probably liked best, but I struggled to get through it.

Almond Soup and Black Bean Soups

For some reason this tour felt really *long*. It was the same time as the other tours (four hours), but maybe because of my lack of sleep, maybe because of the rain (it rained. all. day.), maybe because it was dark for the last half of the tour, I just felt super tired by the end of it. Too tired to feel up to meeting up with Chris for drinks - we'll have to try for another night.

Made the long trek back to the hotel and collapsed in a heap.

View from our room at the hotel by night

Day 1 - Thursday 14 January - Canberra to Hong Kong

Wednesday night was so hot and disgusting I barely slept.

Thursday morning up at 6am to get ready to leave at 7am.

Fountain at Canberra Airport

Breakfast at Qantas Club

Our first flight from Canberra to Sydney was on a Dash 8. Had a seat near the back on the left so had a great view of Canberra in the early morning sun. It was cloudy over much of New South Wales though. Approached the airport from the south-west, but then flew right over it, swung right to come in from the south. Got to see my house which was pretty cool.

Qantas Dash-8 400 VH-QOM at Canberra Airport

Canberra from the plane

Breakfast snack on the plane

South western Sydney

Bankstown Aerodrome

Kogarah

Southern Sydney

Sydney Airport

Eastern Suburbs

Kurnell

Shadow of our plane over Botany Bay

In Sydney went and caught the "tarmac tour" bus, aka the international transfer bus around to the international terminal. Immigration in Sydney is now a lot more automated now - you scan your passport, have your photo taken, then drop your departing card in a box. The machines didn't like Stu though, so he had to go see a human heh. Had some nibblies in the Qantas club before boarding.

Qantas Boeing 737-800 VH-VXQ at Sydney Airport

Stu and brunch in the Qantas Club

The second flight was on an A380. We hadn't been on an A380 since our honeymoon in 2008, and we'd never been on a Qantas one. The entertainment systems are a bit better than other Qantas planes. Heaps of movies and tv to choose from. And I think there's even a tiny bit more leg room - Stu's knees weren't touching the chair in front!

Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Sydney Airport

Kaz and Stu ready to depart

View out the window of the Qantas Airbus A380 VH-OQF

Leg room in economy

USB port and network port on the A380 in economy

Old Air Traffic Control Tower at Sydney Airport

Qantas domestic terminals at Sydney Airport

Inner west Sydney

Sydney city

Gladesville Bridge

Diamantina River

Northern coast of Australia

Lunch on the plane was slow cooked beef cheek which was actually pretty good. Dinner (a snack really) was a mini burger and mini hot dog.

Slow roasted beef cheeks in a smoky barbecue sauce with baked carrots, broccoli and corn salsa, that I had for lunch

Mini beef burger and mini hot dog that I had for dinner

During the flight I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was good, but too long. Then I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which was quirky and fun, but filled with quite jarring language and violence. Just seemed really out of place for that style of movie. Next I watched Funny Face which was ok but a bit silly. Finally watched a documentary by Kal Penn on crime data, and another one on binge drinking.

We did a couple of big holding pattern loops approaching Hong Kong before landing from the west.

Clouds at sunset near Hong Kong

Holding loops near Hong Kong

Tail cam of the A380 showing the terminal in Hong Kong

Since I've never been on the flight deck of an A380, I asked the crew if I could go say hi. Qantas staff are always so lovely and they happily let me go up and have a look :) The flight deck is actually fairly spacious and super high tech with so many little computer screens! Only the pilot was still up there and he asked if I wanted to sit in the pilot's seat, so I did, and he took some photos :):):) Soooo cool :)

Flight deck of Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Kaz at the controls of the Qantas Airbus A380-300 VH-OQF at Hong Kong Airport

Coming through immigration was pretty quick. Got pissed off at people that crowd around the baggage carousels so you can't actually get at your bag - one of my pet peeves. Then out through customs.

Went to a 7-Eleven to get some sims, but they had sold out, so went to a 1010 store. Got some snackages at Delifrance. Then topped up our Octopus cards and hopped on a train into the city, with a transfer to the Island Line and a short walk (around roadworks) to the hotel.

Snackages at Delifrance

The hotel is quite lovely (for the price it oughta be!). We have a view of Victoria Park and some of Kowloon. There's plenty of power points, the desk is wood so I don't need a mouse mat, there's even two usb ports next to the bed (one side only) for charging things! We can have up to four devices on the wifi, and there's a physical network port as well (with cable provided!) It does however seem to be the only hotel in history that doesn't have a shaver plug in the bathroom - where I was going to see if plugging in a night light would work. Fortunately there's enough light from the city to see where you're going in the dark.

Our room at the Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

View from our room at the hotel

We were pretty tired when we got in (it had just gone midnight Canberra time) so pretty much just crashed into bed.