Hong Kong Day 2: Sheung Wan Dried Seafood & The Peak

Day 2
Wednesday, 4th June 2014

We were told that Mongkok has many good eateries and we don't really need an address to find these places.  All we need is our good eyes and a nose to sniff out these places, that means if you see crowds or queues, just join them for that special gastronomical treat!

But alas, when we were walking around past 930am, many shops were still closed or about to open.  We walked near the Ladies Market and surrounding area, but could not find any crowds or queues, and some food eateries only had a handful of customers in them.  Saw some local policemen and decided to ask them (why not, right? since they were not busy chasing bad guys, I'm sure they'd at least know where to find the best xiao long pau or famous palo pau, etc).  We were told just down the road, there are a few eateries, good or not good, all can eat!  Hhmmm...

By that time I'd really just gobble up anything, so we proceeded into the next eatery and ordered whatever recommended.

Ladies Market in the morning

Polo pau and egg tart.  Average.  We have better buns and tarts in Malaysia.

Beef noodle - the beef is really, REALLY tender.  Good stuff here

The name and address of the shop where we ate our breakfast 

We changed a few MTRs to SheungWan.  Today's morning agenda was to go dried seafood shopping!  Did a little research on the dried oysters and dried scallops, and am totally unprepared on the other stuff.  For once, wish I'm more ah-soh to know more prices and how to cook these delicacies.

The street in front of the MTR exit.  Now show me some scallops!

Resting their legs and enjoying the cool air in a shop whilst Mummy pretend
ask price

And I thought these were quite impressive... wait got more, but really paiseh to just snap pictures!  I scared kena marah or poured hot water at (mistaken as competitor)!  

And lunch... just before the lunch crowd came in about 10 minutes after we're sitted and food just arrived.  We ordered their signature dishes (too many but just hantam three first - fortunately too, coz the portion is really huge!)

This was the crowd that built up.  It's common to share tables.

Name of the shop?  Don't know.  We asked Vic to read out the words on the board, and she said no, it's not that... then corrected our intonation!  Abuthen... that was the place we were looking for!

Mixed chicken, pork belly and some fish balls with rice noodles 

Porridge (to me, it's actually rice in soup) with minced pork, preserved vege and mushrooms

Porridge with melon, minced pork and small clams

Leaving the place, this was the waiting crowd outside the shop

Western Market in Sheung Wan.  It is a heritage building with stalls selling textile and souvenirs inside.  Nothing much.  Very similar to our very own Central Market in Kuala Lumpur

Abalones of different sizes are a common sight in this place.  So are other types of dried seafood, many of which I do not know the names

Star fish also available?  Wow!  Someone please tell me if this is legal, and how to eat this! We have seen dried seahorses in glass containers too, so sad

And these are how the seafood are dried... just on the street.  They are so fresh, we can even eat it on its own.  

We had to skip the famous dim sum place, called Dim Sum Square in Sheung Wan, after the porridge place, because there was a micomm between me and hubby, and it didn't dwell into me that we were eating at TWO places!  The three bowls were so filling, even shared amongst the four of us, so eventhough we took a number at Dim Sum Square, the kids and I wouldn't be able to appreciate the dim sum with such full tummies!

So we walked on to the Western Market and part of the famous Des Voeux Road - which is really, REALLY where the dried seafood market is!  Now, don't expect a market, like what we are always used to.  There is NO building, no designated area, just a street of shops and shops selling all kinds of dried seafood!  Clean, tidy, no crowds, no bargaining aunties, or pestering sellers!

So, which shop to walk into?  Don't know.  Which sells the cheapest and freshest?  Don't know.  If you spot a customer (be it local or tourist) in the shop, just join in to see.  If you think the price is reasonable (most prices are about there... ), then go in.

Tip: Best to know your prices from where you come from first, then when you go to Hong Kong, you know the amount of savings ie how much to buy!  All prices for dried seafood is quoted in "kan" which is 600g.  You will need to convert this back to per kg price if that's what you're used to.  

A quick trip back to our studio to freshen up, unload our loots into the refrigerator and then it's out again to The Peak.  Now, it would be silly of us to visit Hong Kong without going up to The Peak, right?  Like, which tourist would head to Peninsula Malaysia without seeing the Twin Towers?

We got our tickets around 5pm-ish.  There was a queue - as expected, but the queue moves pretty fast.

We passed the iconic Bank of China

Also another landmark, the St John Cathedral, partially blocked by a tree!  

We thought this crowd was pretty bad, but just wait till at night, the crowd size swelled!  Looks like more people travel up to The Peak at night to catch the breathtaking view

In the tram.  It's REALLY STEEP!  Make sure you get a seat, else you'd better be hanging on to dear life on a rail.  

Our dinner at Tsui Wah Restaurant at the Peak Tower.  Price was surprisingly reasonable. service good and taste was commendable.

Kids at the Peak Tower

This is the day view

Evening sun set view

Night view.  As you see, it's not fully dark yet but we had to leave before the swelling crowd at the Sky Terrace joined us at the tram.  Later we found out the queue going down was snake long, and when we reached the bottom, the queue going up was even scarier!  Watch out for a certain group of nationalities who are prone to jump queues unabashedly! 

That's all for Day 2.  You bet we were all tired! But... tomorrow it's another long, tiring but exciting day!  We're heading to DISNEYLAND!!!

Hong Kong Day 1: Ladies Market, Sports Shoe Market, Avenue of Stars, Symphony of Lights

This must have been our MOST last minute preparation for a holiday trip.  Although the air tickets were booked as early as last year, and the accommodation was booked and paid in full in the first quarter of this year and I only had a vague idea of where we needed to go, but we didn't have a solid detailed itinerary, nor have we any plan on how to move from Point A to B.

A couple of days before we were to fly off, we booked our Disneyland tickets online.  Tip:  You could actually book with a local agent who could give you a small discount off, but we weren't sure if our agent could do that, and the logistics that followed, so we decided to purchased our standard tickets here. 

A little advice here and there from friends who knew or stayed in Hong Kong gave me ideas on where to go and what to buy.  Of course, the internet is a source of information itself.

So here we go... the night before Kakak packed and moved into her temporary home with 3rd Aunt.  The kids had dinner at 530pm, and we put them in bed by 830pm.  Victoria slept soon after, but the boy kept asking every 15 minutes-or-so, "When is the taxi coming?", "Is the taxi here yet?"

I think he finally shut eye a few hours later at the same time as both hubby and I.

Tuesday, 3rd June 2014

Alarm rang at 330am, and cab was to arrived at 4am.  Waking the kids at 345am was no feat at all, as they bounced out of bed with excitement.  To be honest, we did play "cheat" a little as I had them wear their travelling clothes before sleeping, so we didn't have to change them in the morning. ;P

We arrived at the spanking new KLIA2 and also received a RM30 discount from our taximan - thank God for that.  After checking in our luggage, we headed to Paparich for breakkie, which wasn't cheap.  In fact, all the food at KLIA2 was nothing near "low-cost" at all, although I applaud the management for the variety offered.

Getting to the gate... 

The biggest complaint is of course the lllooonnnnggg walk to our gate, which happen to be the last I noticed.  Even the other gates before us, still required at least 20 minutes of walking.. or was it 30 minutes?  We took close to 45 minutes from the Immigration to our gate (hubby please correct me if I am wrong) and along the way, I was thinking how deep in trouble one would be if one had been late for the flight (think Hanoi ).

But we got to the gate in good time.  Plane arrived on time, and we departed 710 as planned.

Second half the flight, the kids couldn't sleep so Tinklebell on mute mode kept them occupied.

Hong Kong, here we come!

Having arrived Hong Kong, I already felt hungry, but wanted to keep stomach space for all the yummy food which I thought was waiting for me just doors away from our rented studio in Mongkok.

Looking down before we landed

We collected our luggage, bought our airport express transfer and Octopus cards then headed to 7-11 and bought the cheapest local sim card costing HKD48 (with free HKD10 upload) and then proceeded to call our agent to wait for us.

I had problems calling out from my local sim, and the Information Counter lady was ever so helpful to check for me and solved my problem.  She even let me call out using their land line.  (First brownie point for the helpful locals)

With one check in luggage, 4 push trolleys, a backpack and 2 kids, I think we did pretty well getting from the airport express, to transit twice between MTRs before arriving at Mongkok MTR station.  Oh yes, before I forget, free wifi on the airport express train but pity my iPhone 5 was still on it's memberontak (retaliation) mood so only hubby got to enjoy the free access on his HTC.

Our agent met us as the designated point just outside the MTR exit.  We walked a few streets to our studio apartment, checked in and then refreshed ourselves before we headed out to scout for lunch.  It was 245pm then.  Malaysia time is the same as Hong Kong time, so this was a really late lunch and you bet we were all famished as our last meal was a small snack at least 6 hours ago.

The two double beds which were really about 4ft each and not our standard 5ft queens.

This is our kitchen/pantry.  Comes complete with utensils, pots and pans, and detergents, and sauces (with dust layered on top, so I ignored them)

From our first floor balcony looking down at Mongkok Road

The main entrance, shared with other apartment owners upstairs.  It's old, and has a narrow stairs leading up, very typical and similar to what you'd see in Hong Kong drama shows, I guess. (I stopped watching a long time ago, btw)

Our entrance was in between two eateries, one selling "yau char kwai" and some snacks, whilst the other sold noodles, but there didn't seem to be much people there so we headed further away. Hubby led the way, and all the time I was wondering why couldn't he just let us eat downstairs because I was REALLY REALLY hungry, you know.  We chanced upon found this restaurant a few streets down, air conditioned and the waitresses were ever ready to help us with the menu.  It was actually a waiter who took our order but we told him we didn't know how to read the menu, so let him describe a few items to us, and we just said "OK."

Food rating = 2/5 because the rice was undercooked and everything was average.  Service was good and staff very friendly.

After a late lunch, we walked around the Sports Shoe Market street, passed the Ladies Market (but did NOT shop!... can you believe that? Hah!) but didn't find anything interesting.  It wasn't like we really knew where we were, (not me at least) and hubby was the one navigating and bringing us around with a map.  We went back to our studio to freshen up and rest a bit before heading out to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR.

These birds hanging around looked nice, but we didn't try them. 

Now this crowd looks familiar... hold on to your little fler tight in this human sea

Ladies Market during the day.  Admittedly, we did not go as we needed to get to Tsim Sha Tsui for dinner.  Since we stay around here, this could be any other time. 

Some cuttlefish balls which were probably better when eaten hot

Not appropriately dressed to enter The Peninsula, so we settled with just the fountain in front.

We ate here... Shanghai Popo in one of the malls

Dining area.  Waiting for our food.  Service not so good.

French beans

Beef cubes with rice cakes and roasted pine nuts.  Average.  

This was special and exceptional.  Wanton soup in chicken broth.  

Traditional junk

The most captured statue in the Avenue of Stars

Amateur actors and actress, haha

Having fun with the statues

That's all for Day 1.  Back to studio, very tired from all the walking.

Happy 6th Birthday William

For William's birthday, he was as decisive this year as he was in the previous years. When we asked him where he would like to celebrate, he immediately told us that it has to be at the same place as his 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th birthdays because he liked the food there and the special hats that he get to wear.

So we made our bookings early, and I'm sure we were the first to make a reservation for April, as the manager was shocked when he took down the date from me.

Saturday, 26th April 2014

We arrived on time for dinner.  Had our car valet parked (how nice it is to have this complimentary service for all diners, not withstanding how much you eat or spend), and proceeded to our table upstairs.

This year, the management gave William a bigger surprise than last year's!

Courtesy of the management - they gave William what he wanted ie a fireman's hat and his very own poster!

How did they make this poster?  Well, neither hubby and I knew what to expect except to expect something with William's picture.  A few days before, the restaurant asked for a closed up high-resolution photo of William, so I got down to work... did what I did best (ie shooting... with the camera) and William did what he did best (ie posing).

William was obviously very ecstatic!  He held his poster, looked at it proudly while admiring the details and wordings, and had it placed near him during the meal.  The chairs were decorated with ribbons, also courtesy of the management, whom we are so thankful to!

The little fireman with Popo and Gong Gong

His long sleeve shirt and silver tie - from H&M bought especially for this birthday dinner, and chosen by his Jie Jie

And what did the birthday boy ordered?  His favourite food - lasagne!  No need to think twice, he is so decisive lidat.

The cake was ordered from Fat Boy Bakes but it was nothing great.  We ordered the chilled oreo cheese cake, which in my humble opinion, I could have done a better job.  The cake was not cheesy, and too sweet and texture was too "gelatino."  No offence, to the engineer turned part time baker cum real estate agent, but he did not even thanked us for ordering his cake, nor asked for feedback or if we liked it.

Saturday, 12th April 2014

We had a joint birthday celebration with Mama Yeh Yeh and Yee Sok, Yi Sam and cousin Theodore at Kitchen Creatures located at Centrepoint in Bandar Utama.  The kids always have fun time with Theodore, especially William and Theodore would run around, tease each other and make fun at things.

The boys are just 3.5 months difference in age.  

Tuesday, 29th April 2014

This is William's actual birthday and as he wished, he got to celebrate it in his kindy albeit a very simple, simple one with his friends.  A cake seemed to be a must with the kids, so we bought another cake just for the formality.  The smile from William's face was definitely one to be treasured, as he grinned from ear to ear and basked in the attention given.  We let him give out the coloring/story book which we bought for his classmates, which we thought were more educational and useful than junkfood and toys.  Of course, the kids would have preferred the later, and one child even exclaimed, "What??  A book?!"

At night, we had another of his favourite food for dinner - hokkien noodles.  As we don't often eat these, and kids don't get to eat much of noodles with dark sauce, this was considered a treat to them.  We ate at this place in Paramount Garden famous for hokkien noodles, no airconditioned, and just simple "dai chau" with Mama Yeh Yeh who made a surprise visit.

A drive after dinner to SS2 looking for Swenson proved futile as we then realized that Swenson has moved.  Thankfully we had an ice cream cake still in my freezer and we headed back home, to finish of the cake.

Dearest boy boy,

I wonder how many more years will you let me call you boy boy?  Well, you are growing up so well, and Daddy Mummy are very proud of your achievements.  You are more assertive now and have always been vocal and confident of yourself.

As you pray for yourself every night, I hope you pray for humility too, and God's wisdom and guidance be the light unto your path.  Do not be easily upset and disappointed. 

Draw to your heart's content.  Express yourself in your own artistic ways.  Build your strength in numbers and words, and may the books you read bring you knowledge and creativeness beyond your imagination.  Have I told you, how you amaze me with your reading and your curiosity to know?  You smile all the time and radiate so much happiness.  Even when you speak or when you look at me, your eyes are smiling.  How do you do that, I wonder to myself?

I hope you will never shy of hugging and kissing your Mummy Daddy.  I hope you will never let anyone make you feel little or shake your confidence.  I hope when you feeling low, you find refreshment and joy in Jesus.  

This will be your last year in pre-school, and next year onwards you will be in a bigger world, a bigger school, with friends that may or may not be very kind.  Stay the cute, innocent boy that you are, ok?  

Mummy loves you always and forever.