In the span of three months, our little family has gone on three trips! Okay, maybe some of you wouldn’t consider the church camp in JB a trip, but it still required a passport, so I think it counts. Here’s a photo diary of our recent Hong Kong trip.
Playing in the Plane
Happy to be in Hong Kong
There’s a 4km flat trail at The Peak, and I heard from C that the view along the trail is really amazing, as seen from the above shot. We were there with his colleagues, as part of his office’s Fun Day, and I chose not to go on the walk, so as to avoid slowing our team down. Instead, I checked out The Peak Galleria, and got a pretty nice view of the area from the rooftop’s observation deck. We took the tram down, and I do think that it is quite an interesting experience. If you want to visit The Peak, do consider taking the tram up or down. Do note that the slope is very steep, so try to get a seat if you can, especially if you are traveling with young children.
The breathtaking view at The Peak
The View from The Peak Galleria’s Observation Deck
Us at The Peak
The Ocean Terminal is also a nice place to visit, with a good view of the ships and Hong Kong island. There is a HUGE mall there, Harbour City, and I spent quite a few hours walking around with Noah while C was busy with his colleagues. However, I was a little disappointed that the prices in Hong Kong are generally similar to Singapore’s, unless the items are on sale. I managed to buy some toys for Noah, and scored a pair of Melissa shoes that were 30% off.
Ships at Ocean Terminal
View of Hong Kong Island from the Ocean Terminal
The other shopping area that I visited was Causeway Bay, which has a wide selection of malls. I visited the Mothercare store at Lee Gardens, as it carries ELC products, and managed to get something at 50% off for Noah. Despite the fact that there was an on-going sale, the clothes and other items at Mothercare were slightly higher than the Singapore stores, so I decided to do my shopping in Singapore instead.
Monsters University at Causeway Bay
I took the MTR quite a bit when I was on my own with Noah, and was rather amused by the ‘mascots’, reminding people to hold on to the escalator handrail. Most people do keep to the right side of the escalators, and we were impressed by how orderly they were. However, not a single person gave up his/her seat to me on all my train rides, even though I was carrying Noah. I was too chicken to ask for a seat too, because it seemed like that wasn’t the norm in Hong Kong.
We stayed at Langham Place in Mongkok for the second half of our trip, and spent a bit of time walking along the streets of Mongkok. We both agreed that Hong Kong is very densely populated, and no matter what time of the day we went out, the streets were perpetually crowded. There are also a lot more tall buildings everywhere, and C said it reminded him of New York.
A typical Mongkok street
Tall buildings everywhere
Busy ‘Lok-Lok’ stall
I wanted to check out the Ladies’ Market, so we took a slow walk there from our hotel one evening. There were many stalls selling similar items, such as bags, t-shirts, paintings, and handphone accessories, all clearly targeted at tourists. The stall owners can be quite feisty, and we witnessed one particularly grumpy lady yelling at some tourists for walking away after testing the speakers she was selling. My advice? Don’t bargain if you don’t intend to buy the item. The atmosphere is very much like our local pasar malam (night market), and it can be quite fun to walk around there, as long as you don’t expect high quality products.
The Ladies’ Market
The Beyond songs seem very popular in Hong Kong, and we came across a few groups of buskers performing the songs, both at the Ladies’ Market, as well as at the Ocean Terminal. People would gather around them and join in the singing, while some even took videos of the performances. To be honest, I cringed quite a bit while listening to them, because they sounded really off-key at times, but strangely enough, the audience didn’t seem to mind. I’m not particularly musically-inclined, but I guess being one of the teachers-in-charge of my school’s choir has made me more sensitive to these things.
Beyond Buskers (look at the huge crowd!)
Mobile Softee! I regret not buying one to try.
We also visited the Goldfish Market one morning, which was quite fun for Noah (I think). He kept stretching out his hand to touch the fish, but of course, his arm was too short. He did stare quite intently at the goldfish swimming around in the tanks, and seemed rather fascinated by them. There are rows and rows of plastic bags filled with different types of fish, tied outside each shop, though I wonder how many of these actually get sold each day.
At the Goldfish Market
To be honest, we didn’t really do much sightseeing on this trip, as we were really there for the food. I’ll be doing a separate post on some of the places we ate at, but for now, here are some photos of what we had.
Food, Glorious Food
More Yummy Food
Do look out for my foodie post on Hong Kong, okay?
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