Hong Kong Day 1 - Sun Kee Pork Cheese Noodles, Stanley, Authentic Dai Pai Dong & Hoi Kee Walnut Place

Just came back from Hong Kong a month ago and it was really fun! Many of my friends thought I was crazy to go to HK for 9 days (I thought so too) but happy to say that I wasn't crazy after all. I'm finally having some motivation to blog about my HK trip (despite still being lazy) because many of my friends are asking me to send them my itinerary. So here goes!

First and foremost, here's the breakdown of the total cost of my entire trip:-

1. Flight (Air Asia) - RM 853.16 (only bought baggage and did not buy any travel insurance / in-flight meals) [baggage - 25kg (KUL-HKG); 20kg + 20kg (HKG-KUL)]
2. Hotel (Airbnb) - RM 1,434.00 (for 8 nights, RM179.25/night)
3. Cash that I brought there - RM 4,235.00 (which is equivalent to 8,700 HKD)
4. Balance of cash at the end of the trip - (RM 300) (around 600 HKD)

TOTAL EXPENSES INCURRED FOR 2 PAX (ALL IN) FOR 9 DAYS 8 NIGHTS - RM 6,222.16


Day 1 - 30/09/2016 (Saturday)

We reached Hong Kong International Airport at roughly around 11.15AM and my cousin was already waiting at the arrival hall. I was lucky enough to have relatives in HK who brought me around throughout my 9 days there. So, I really couldn't thank them enough. :')

Then my cousin's bf drove us to our Airbnb hostel to check-in but the check-in time was from 3PM onwards so we just left our luggage along the corridor of the hostel. Here's the link to the Airbnb hostel - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9292007. Overall, the building itself was very old, the room was too small and there were no windows in the room. Thus, the lack of air ventilation in the room. However, the room and the washroom were both clean and Jordan MTR Exit B1 was right in front of the building so I really can't complain much.

First thing to do upon reaching the airport is to buy an Octopus Card. Octopus can be used to ride almost all types of public transportation in HK. Most of the convenience stores such as 7-Eleven accepts payment via Octopus so it is really convenient.

HK MTR System Map - http://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/en/services/routemap.pdf

Octopus Fare Chart - http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/tickets/octopus_fares.html

You can use the Train Trip Planner on the website above to get a rough estimate on the fare charged from one station to another designated station so it's really convenient.

In addition to that, this website helps me to plan better too. http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/index.jsp

Sun Kee Pork Cheese Noodles (新記芝士麵)

I did my research on where to eat in HK and this was definitely one of the must-go places when you're in HK. I came here for late lunch and the crowd wasn't so bad. My cousin, who is a Hongkie, said that she loved the pork neck cheese noodles here!


This is the bomb! Pork neck cheese noodles. 47 HKD

I know it doesn't look appetizing at all, but trust me, it was that good. Who knows maggie mee + cheese goes so well? I expected the pork neck to be dry but NOOOO it was the complete opposite. The meat was so tender and moist that it literally melted in my mouth.



Baby ordered this. Egg with sausage cheese noodles. 44 HKD.

Squid tentacles with sweet honey sauce. Direct translation from the menu is honey dragon beard haha. 50 HKD

A cup of iced lemon tea to finish off the meal! 20 HKD

If you don't read Chinese, the pork neck cheese noodles is the second one (47 HKD) and the sausage and egg cheese noodles is the third one (44 HKD).

 

And if you want to try their pork neck, sausage and also egg, just go ahead and order the first one (58 HKD) which is a combination of 3 of these ingredients.



The drinks menu.

They have 2 branches in HK. One in Tsim Tsa Tsui and another one in Wan Chai. I went to the one in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Wan Chai Branch
Address: 3 Burrows Street, Wan Chai (灣仔巴路士街3號地下)
Opening Hours: 7.30am to 11.00pm (Daily)
Directions: MTR Wan Chai Station – A4 Exit Google Map

Tsim Sha Tsui Branch
Address: Champagne Court 16-20, GF 13-14, Kimberley Rd Tsim Sha Tsui
(尖沙咀金巴利道16-20號香檳大廈地下13-14號舖)
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 7:30AM – 11:00PM; Sun 12:00PM – 6:00PM
Directions: MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station - Exit B1 or B2. Champagne Court is just opposite The Mira hotel. Google Map

Stanley (赤柱)

After our satisfying first meal, we headed over to Stanley. Stanley is quite far from Tsim Sha Tsui by the way. The winding road made me dizzy too. We decided to come here because we had too much time in hand. So, why not pay it a visit right?

We parked our car at Stanley Plaza.

 

 

Murray House at Stanley.

We also went to Stanley Market to just take a look but didn't buy anything from the market as the things there were pricey. We stayed for only 1-2 hours before heading back to Jordan to check-in to our hostel room. I'm sure it would be nice to just have dinner at one of the restaurants there overlooking the gorgeous view at night.

For detailed information regarding the directions here - http://www.hongkongstanleymarket.com/getting-here/public-transport

Authentic Dai Pai Dong at Shum Shui Po

My cousin treated us dinner at this authentic dai pai dong at Shum Shui Po. It was nothing spectacular to be honest but we enjoyed being there! Here are food pictures from that day. (I honestly don't remember the names to the dishes that we've ordered)



This is yummy!!



I've never seen this brand in Malaysia before and I think that this is even better than Heineken!

Total cost of this dinner was 320 HKD.

Hoi Kee Walnut Place (海记)

Then of course we went to have desserts! There were many choices of dessert shops in HK but in the end we went to Hoi Kee Walnut Place (海记).

 

 

I love the one on the left! Black sesame glutinous rice balls in ginger soup!  

 

This is glutinous rice balls coated with sugar, white and black sesame. It was good!

We ordered those desserts for sharing and we were too full to even move after finishing them all. We paid 135 HKD in total for the desserts shown above.

 

Hoi Kee Walnut Place232 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Prince Edward

 

Directions: Google Map

MTR Mong Kok Station - Exit B3 or

MTR Prince Edward Station - Exit B1

 

Will continue my day 2 in another post! Thanks for reading!

Krabi - Day 3

This post is way overdue, I know. Haha. But anyways, will just share some pictures from my Krabi trip for Day 3.

I remembered choosing to go to Koh Phi Phi and Maya Bay for my island hopping package. We did go to other islands but I could only remember visiting the famous Maya Bay and snorkeling around other islands.

Look at the clear water. 

Snorkeling was fun!

Us in Maya Bay.

Maya Bay.

We went to Krabi in March 2016 and it was hot and packed with tourists. If you want to know how much we have spent on this trip, check out my previous post for Day 1 and Day 2. 

Krabi Itinerary - Day 1 & Day 2

3 months ago, I went to Krabi and had a blast there. It was my birthday trip! :) So, I thought of sharing my itinerary here and also the total cost incurred throughout the trip. Hehe. Firstly, let me state down the summary of the cost for this trip.

Note:- All costs stated below are for 2 pax.

• Air Asia return flight ticket (KL-Krabi) - RM248.00 (we did not add-on baggage)
• Hotel (3 nights) - RM635.42
• Cash (RM to Thai Baht) - RM800 (can't really remember the exact rate but I think it was approximately RM12 to 100Baht)
• 1/2 Day Kayak, 1/2 Day ATV Ride & 1 Day Island Hopping - 5,459Baht
• Hilltop Restaurant (for dinner) - 1,749Baht

TOTAL EXPENSES FOR 4D3N (2 PAX): RM2,548.30NETT

Day 1 - 06/03/2016

Was feeling extremely excited for the trip! :) Our flight was at 1.30PM so our plan was just to chill at the hotel until about 6 something before we head down to the night market. Upon reaching the airport, we went to board the airport shuttle bus. The fare was 150baht/pax and the shuttle bus would literally drop you off at your hotel. After long hours of research, this is the cheapest way to get to Krabi Town or Ao Nang from the airport. However, the downside is that it would take a longer time to reach your hotel as the bus driver goes from hotel to hotel to drop off passengers before it's your turn to be dropped off.

Areetara Resort. Image taken from Agoda.com

We stayed at Areetara Resort at Ao Nang, where I got injured in the bathtub. :( It was a terrible experience and I'll elaborate on that later. Anyways, back to the going-to-the-night-market story. Initially, we didn't expect it to be sooooo difficult to catch a tuk-tuk or a minivan to go to the night market from Ao Nang so we waited until the very last minute i.e. 6.00PM local time, to go down to the hotel reception desk and ask for a tuk-tuk. They quoted 400baht round trip for 1 pax. Wth. Of course we rejected. To cut the story short, we went to the tourist information centre to ask for a tuk-tuk and they provided us with an offer price if we were to take their island hopping package. After negotiation, we took their kayak + ATV + island hopping package and we agreed at 300baht/pax for return trip from our hotel to the night market.

The minivan driver picked us up from our hotel lobby at 6.30PM and I thought we would head straight to the night market. Apparently when they tell you "Wait at the lobby and our driver will pick you up between 6.30PM-7.00PM", they meant it literally. So yeah, the driver came at 6.45PM and we reached the night market at about 7.30PM as the driver continued picking up people from various hotels after we got on the minivan. We were then given about 1.5-2 hours at the night market before heading back to the hotel again.

At Krabi Town Walking Street Weekend Market

This is insanely good!

The night market operates from Friday-Sunday, 5.00PM-10.00PM.

Day 2 - 07/03/2016

It's my birthday! :) Happy birthday to me! Hehe. The second day was both fun and tiring at the same time. I couldn't really remember what time they came to the hotel to pick us up in the morning for the 1/2 day kayak trip. I think we went to Ao Thalane for kayak. This is my first time going on a kayak-ing trip and it was very exciting. My bf on the other hand, was exhausted because he did all the kayak-ing. Haha. All I did was being a small little kid who was very excited and took pictures whenever I could.

Baby. <3



 

 

Love this picture! The tour guide took this picture for us. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kayak-ing was really fun and I'd do it again next time! :) However, it was very packed with tourists as some of the routes were quite narrow.

We met a pair of German couple and friends from Philliphines and India. :) Had fun sharing stories from our countries at the end of our kayak trip.

We went back to our hotel for a quick lunch as lunch was not included in this 1/2 day kayak package. At about 2.00PM, the driver came to pick us up for our ATV ride session. It was something different and both of us were excited to gain this experience. The ATV session was about 1-1.5 hours. I was feeling really scared at first and I was afraid that the boiling hot engine motor would burn my legs. HAHA. Yes, I'm a scaredy cat. BUT I SURVIVED THE ENTIRE SESSION although I had blisters on my palms after that. Haha.

The tour guide kept taking photos of us. Hahaha.

We reached hotel at about 4.30PM and we quickly get ready for the most important event of the day: MY BIRTHDAY DINNER! :)

We went to The Hilltop Ao Nang Restaurant for the dinner. I just love the view there because I get to see the sun set and it was so romantic to be there with your beloved one. So, I just want to say that I'm lucky to be there with him. :) I booked a table via their official website a few weeks in advance to reserve a table with sunset view. The restaurant provides free shuttle service from your hotel to the restaurant which is a plus point. :) Krabi is so nice, right? Haha.

Us while waiting for our food & enjoying the sunset view.

The beautiful sunset.

 

 

Next up, pictures of food! :)

 



Hilltop Duck - 290Baht

 

Mussels - 290Baht



Hilltop Seafood Tom Yum - 250Baht

 

Cucumber with egg - 180Baht
 

Young Coconut - 95Baht

 

 

Hilltop Smoothie - 140Baht

 

The food there tasted okay and it's reasonably priced in my opinion. What I don't like about the food is that it was served too quickly and some of the dishes were cold. :( Maybe they pre-cooked most of the food. Sigh. But it's okay because the ambiance won me over. We also ordered a glass of cocktail and a bottle of Chang beer after our meal which costed 220Baht and 90Baht respectively. White rice was charged at 35Baht per bowl. We wanted to try as much dishes as we could so we shared one bowl of white rice. The total damage of the night was 1,749Baht inclusive of 10% service tax.

Went back to the hotel after our dinner and spent almost 1 hour in the lobby because the wi-fi in our hotel room SUCKS. He played games while I browsed and posted photos online. Haha. He wanted to go to some nearby cafe to buy me a slice of cake but then I declined his offer. Thinking back now, I should've accepted the cake offer. :( That was the 3rd time we celebrated my birthday together but he did not personally bought me a cake / slice of cake before. :( He said he would buy me a cake next year. :)

Speaking of our hotel room, I stepped on a piece of glass inside the bathtub and my feet was bleeding nonstop. Zzz. Bf went down to take first aid from the receptionist and informed them what happened. They didn't apologise and instead they said "You should be more careful". Wtf? SHOULD? Hello? Your hotel's bathtub has a piece of GLASS in it and instead of taking up the responsibility you said I should be more careful? Who would have thought that there would be glass inside a bathtub? Not forgetting to mention that there were ants on the table. So much for being a 4-star hotel.

That's all for Day 2! Will blog about Day 3 in another post.

P.S. Didn't check the spelling and grammar before I click publish because I'm too lazy. Haha.