4D3N in Hong Kong (part 2)

Hi! Happy Chinese New Year!! Continuing from the previous post.

DAY 2

We woke up early for breakfast at the Hong Kong-ians' favourite DIM SUM! We went to a dim sum restaurant near our hotel and ordered about 12 items as my sister and I were starving (planned to stuff as much as we could as we knew that the food in Disneyland would cost twice as much as the usual food price). We thought that 12 items were quite the normal amount until the waitress turned around and confirmed with us the amount of food that we ordered. Were 12 items too much for 4 people? 

These are some of the items that we ordered. If you are not sure what to order, try order the items that are marked with a star. Those are the recommended items. 

Right after the sumptuous breakfast, we immediately headed off to the must-go destination - Hong Kong Disneyland. Going to Disneyland by MTR is not a mission impossible. In fact, MTR in Hong Kong has the easiest route from all the places that I have been to. Look at the MTR map and follow the dots leading to Disneyland! I love how Disneyland bring us into the mood as soon as we enter the Disneyland Resort Line. The Mickey window panes, the cute handle, the Disney-themed decoration,... I'll leave this surprise to you.

The entrance

The amazing fountain

The detailed plantation

A little warning to all visitors going to Hong Kong Disneyland is that there will be baggage check before entering and therefore only disposable bottles could be brought in. Don't worry, there are places for you to refill your water.

A jump on the iconic castle. Too bad it is on renovation

And here's Goofy celebrating CNY with us!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Here's a little tips to enjoy Disneyland at best:

- Redeem the FASTPASS ticket for Hyperspace Mountain (Tomorrowland), Iron Man Experience (Tomorrowland) and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Fantasyland). But don't redeem all in one shot. Alternate between show and normal waiting rides. 

- Catch up all the shows and events (They are amazing!)

The show especially "Festival of the Lion King" is especially amazing. Never did I know that they are performed by the professionals. Their singing and acting are superb! Not to forget the props!

Festival of the Lion King

Hyperspace Mountain

Tarzan's home~

Look how a vending machine can be so artistic

Don't miss this place. I love it!

Hey Woody!

Night Parade

Oh, if you are wondering why there's no firework, the firework show is going on maintenance. Do check their website for any updates.

At night, we stopped by at Mong Kok Station and dived into any food that interest us. For example:

One particular restaurant sounded so Malaysia - Satay King, that we decided to stop by for 3rd round dinner. They have some lovely White Curry which taste so creamy, a pretty spicy soft shell crab and an extremely tender chicken! Simple yet delicious dishes!

Chicken White Curry

Fried Soft Shell Crab with Spicy Garlic

Chicken Leg with Potato Wedges

DAY 3

Yet another food-stuffing day. This time not us 2 little girls were hungry. We started off with a really simple and, could I say, local breakfast? These are how it looks like:

Then, we moved on to a old style, classic looking restaurant but westernised food:

This is their menu!

Very cheesy food~

Then, we moved on to the Ocean Park!

Unlike Disneyland, Ocean Park does not have a specific MTR Line as in Disneyland, but it does have a station right in front of the Ocean Park. Just need to use a little bit of time to find the Ocean Park Station. 

The view as we get off the station

A closer view of the entrance

A beautiful opening

Ocean Park is a combination of a zoo and a theme park. The lower part is more towards zoo and kids show and the upper part is both zoo and theme park. I would suggest finishing the lower part first before heading up or heading straight up to the theme park upon arriving and going down later (may be able to catch a beautiful sunset). 

The red panda <3

Marine World

Cute show for kids

To head up, there are 2 ways: cable car or Ocean Express. The more popular one would be cable car and the quickest would be Ocean Express. 

As we arrived to the top, magnificent view awaits us. Too bad that there's construction going on. 

This "entrance" here indicates the beginning of the theme park.

As opposed to the fun, relax and comfortable rides in Disneyland, the rides in Ocean Park are catered more towards the adults, which might explain the lesser crowd. However, if you are bringing the young ones, fret not, there are still rides that are catered for them.

One of the main attractions in the upper part is the dolphin show. It gets really crowded, but thankfully there are a lot of spaces. Do note that most shows in Ocean Park are conducted in Cantonese. 

There are also more arctic animals and marine creatures in the upper part. It's impossible to visit all, so choose the ones that you like.

In Ocean Park, there's one particular ride that is pretty interesting, that is the Mine Train. Mine Train is the first VR coaster in Hong Kong. The staff will help the visitors with the VR. Of course, if you are afraid of dizziness, you could opt not to wear the VR, that means it will be just a normal roller coaster ride. As we could not see what's ahead, it adds toward the fun and excitement. A ride not to be missed. Below is how the course looks like. Nothing extreme but exciting.

The rides close at 6pm but not the cable car to head back down. So, it is okay for you to play till the last minute, then head to the cable car. The night view of the cable car wasn't that magnificent due to the cloudiness and it took a really long time to head down.

Later that night, we headed to the Times Square. I wouldn't recommend anyone to go there as there aren't many food there and it's just another shopping center.


DAY 4

It's the last day! We did not particularly have any plan but the morning market near our hotel have gained our interest in the past few days. So, we decided to shop and buy some souvenirs and local snacks (cakes especially).

Then, we went to this Michelin 1 star Dim Sum Restaurant near our place - Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum. Being a Michelin 1 Star restaurant, it is already packed when we arrived at 10 am (my father mistook the opening time). For your information, they open an hour earlier during the weekend.

As it is already fully packed, we had to wait outside and were given the menu in advance for ordering. As we weren't really hungry and my father wanted to go for another round, we decided not to eat so much. These are what we ordered.

A very reasonable priced Michelin 1-star

Their specialty?

Crispy Char Siew Pau

I have eaten a lot of Char Siew Pau till I get bored of it. But this one, taste really amazing. The crispiness and the sweetness is just right. I have never once praise a Char Siew Pau sold outside after my aunt started to make it her own. So, you can guess how delicious is it. In fact, most of the tables would have ordered one of this.

Later, we grabbed a few more bites and shopped for clothing before heading back to the airport. This time instead of using bus, we decided to use the train. Never did we expected that the train would cost a lot that we had used up the credit in the octopus card without us knowing it.

Since we had a lot of time left, we explored this beautiful airport.

There's a small entertainment zone with star wars characters, history of the airline, how plane works and gacha machines.

When it's about time, we got on our plane and that's when I saw this magnificent sunset view on the sky. Too bad that I couldn't manage to stay awake till the sky turns red.

That's all about my trip. As I have said in the first post, there's not much about "knowing Hong Kong" activity but it's more of a trip to release stress and to play. It's perfect for those who are bringing kids.

Note to myself or to others who are interested: Hong Kong is a small place with a very fast pace lifestyle and therefore some people there might get impatient quickly. There might be a need to sharing tables if it gets too crowded and it is a no no to take your time ordering food. Try to decide on what to order before seating down on the table. 

Till next time~