Hong Kong and Singapore 2016

Results tagged “Tours”:

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 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