To be frank, our escapade was so short and infinitesimal in the entire scale of 2015, I would be second guessing the reality of the trip if not for the photographic evidences and the weird, splotchy tan lines that I have been sporting on my back, arms, thighs and feet ever since. Nonetheless, it was a good grad trip, and travelling with these bimbotic 8 years' old friends made it even more special.
Please forgive me for the messy post, and pardon me if some of the information I provide in this post is wrong because it has been a good 5-6 months since HK happened.
The first night was definitely monumental even though all we did was spend whatever waking hours killing time in McDonald's at Changi Airport Transit Lounge, because that waiting-for-flight period pretty much set the mood for the rest of our trip. Although we look decently glam in the pictures below, we were making such a ruckus, and our dearest Sylvia was laughing so hard she actually spit a mouthful of water on the floor.
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| Just 4 of the 1001 photos I snapped on the plane |
While planning for the trip, we were contemplating between Airbnb, Cosmopolitan Hotel and Royal Plaza Hotel but ultimately decided on booking a Family Deluxe Room for 4 at Royal Plaza Hotel via Expedia. Somehow, the majority of Airbnb apartments in HK seemed rather shoddy, and Royal Plaza Hotel's strategic location in the middle of Hong Kong's (and apparently the world's - according to Guinness World Record) busiest district, Mong Kok was enticing. Plus, each of us ended up only having to pay about SG$50/night for our room at Royal Plaza Hotel, thanks to Jolene's boyfriend who discovered a rebate code for OCBC cardholders.
Unfortunately, none of us snapped any other photos of the hotel lobby/room (please do your own googling if you're interested), but you can get a glimpse of our wonderful models washing their feet in our beautiful bathroom here:
Unfortunately, none of us snapped any other photos of the hotel lobby/room (please do your own googling if you're interested), but you can get a glimpse of our wonderful models washing their feet in our beautiful bathroom here:
The bathroom is see-through (we all questioned why it's designed this way especially in a 'family' room) but there's this button in the bathroom which you can click on to draw/undraw the blind hung ON THE OUTSIDE. Naturally, we couldn't resist teasing the first bather/pooper by threatening to draw the blind every few seconds.
When you put 4 vain pots together in a cosy room, we naturally also couldn't resist camwhore-ing. Do not be fooled by these pretty photos though. They're solely Florine's camera's magic. Our room had crap lighting and tinted mirrors, putting on my usual makeup in the morning was near impossible!
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| More camwhore-ing on the streets of Hong Kong |
Our first breakfast in HK was congee from the highly-recommended 妹记粥品/Mui Kee Congee Stall - Fa Yuen Street Market and Cooked Food Centre, Mong Kok. A quick google search will prove that Mui Kee Congee Stall is indeed well-known for their smooth, flavourful congee and is a popular eatery among tourists, and thus, we were quite surprised that both times we had our breakfast there, the only other patrons were local market-goers.
Their serving is rather large, in that there's probably enough congee in a HK$30+ bowl to feed 2.
Fun fact: If you're a Snapchat fanatic, Hong Kong has some seriously adorable location tags!
Fun fact: If you're a Snapchat fanatic, Hong Kong has some seriously adorable location tags!
That first day, we also got to try this green-cold-noodles-snack thing that we first came across online during one of our travel-planning sessions.
The type of noodles, the type and number of ingredients, the type of sauce; they're all customisable. We spotted quite a few stalls selling cold noodles in bags like this, but 百味食品/Bai Wei Noodles - New Town Mall, 688 Nathan Road, Mong Kok had the best, hands down.
Fun fact: There's this really messy store in the nearby Agryle Centre that you simply must check out for the fun of it! Can't remember its name now but the storeowner scolded us for snapping the following picture:
A trip to Hong Kong warrants paying 澳洲牛奶公司/Australia Dairy Company - 47 Parkes Street, Jordan a visit too, so...
Honestly, we weren't expecting much from Australian Dairy Company because we heard it was overrated, but it was GOOD. Perhaps I'm just more impressionable than I think I am, but you've got to admit HK$30 (approximately SG$6) for a hearty set of macaroni, sandwich, scrambled eggs that completely blow my personal favourite McDonald's out of the water, and a glass of iced milk tea is worth the short MTR trip to Jordan and the surprisingly quick queue.
Even with close-to-bursting stomachs, we wouldn't give up on the HK$23 milk pudding without a fight and we ended up getting 2 bowls to share.
Needless to say, we couldn't finish them, but coming from someone who doesn't drink milk because she thinks fresh milk tastes salty, the milk pudding is tasty!
Honestly, we weren't expecting much from Australian Dairy Company because we heard it was overrated, but it was GOOD. Perhaps I'm just more impressionable than I think I am, but you've got to admit HK$30 (approximately SG$6) for a hearty set of macaroni, sandwich, scrambled eggs that completely blow my personal favourite McDonald's out of the water, and a glass of iced milk tea is worth the short MTR trip to Jordan and the surprisingly quick queue.
Even with close-to-bursting stomachs, we wouldn't give up on the HK$23 milk pudding without a fight and we ended up getting 2 bowls to share.
Needless to say, we couldn't finish them, but coming from someone who doesn't drink milk because she thinks fresh milk tastes salty, the milk pudding is tasty!
Dim sums are a must in cantonland too, so here are some 1-Michelin-star-worthy dim sums from 一点心/One Dim Sum - 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward to feast your eyes on.
Another popular HK snack is the 菠萝包/polo bun which directly translates to 'pineapple bun' because '菠萝' = 'pineapple', so we ordered a few of them to share at 金华冰厅/Kam Wah Cafe, 47 Bute Street, Mong Kok. But, it is not made up of pineapple whatsoever - WHAT A CHEAT. No, I'm just kidding. These buns are known as '菠萝包s' because the sweet crust at the top is bright yellow and spot little lines that cut across the bun, making it resemble pineapple doodles like these.
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| https://www.pinterest.com/pin/65583738298734059/ |
To be honest, I thought it was meh. I'm not a fan of butter but I do love the thick slabs of margarine in my thin SG butter-kaya toasts, so these teeny bits in my chubby polo bun didn't feel quite decadent enough. Perhaps we're all spoilt rotten by the wide variety of breads in the bakeries in SG, I thought this bun tasted somewhat like the other 1001 non-authentic polo buns we can get here. Granted, Florine's Google research suggested that Kam Wah's not the number 1 spot for polo buns in HK.
Apart from the mediocre polo buns, Kam Wah does serve a very decent breakfast set of soupy egg noodles, runny sunny side up, ham and sausage though.
Another dish we were told is a must-try is wonton noodles at 麥奀云吞面世家/Mak's Noodles - 77 Wellington Street, Central.
For the hype and the price (approximately SG$6 for the small bowl of noodles and wonton soup), it was so-so. The noodle was alkaline-y and the wontons were ok. Maybe I just don't know how to appreciate good wontons - my favourite wontons are CP's after all. /: The tossed beef brisket noodles wasn't exactly legendary either, and the accompanying bowl of soup had a weird herbal-y taste that none of us could really appreciate.
We did find out that they were opening an outlet in SG soon though, and you can read about it on Daniel's Food Diary and Lady Iron Chef.
For the hype and the price (approximately SG$6 for the small bowl of noodles and wonton soup), it was so-so. The noodle was alkaline-y and the wontons were ok. Maybe I just don't know how to appreciate good wontons - my favourite wontons are CP's after all. /: The tossed beef brisket noodles wasn't exactly legendary either, and the accompanying bowl of soup had a weird herbal-y taste that none of us could really appreciate.
We did find out that they were opening an outlet in SG soon though, and you can read about it on Daniel's Food Diary and Lady Iron Chef.
I didn't even know roast goose was a thing until Florine wanted to get a whole goose from 一乐食馆/Yat Lok Restaurant - 34-38 Stanley Street, Central for her family. So while we waited for her goose to be packed, we got a quarter to try too. Initially, we wanted the cheaper quarter just to satiate our curiosities because according to their menu, the top quarter costs HK$110 while the bottom quarter (where the drumstick is) costs HK$140. However, when we placed our order, the waitstaff told us our top quarter would cost HK$130. Why? Is ours The Golden Goose or something?
We ended up paying the extra HK$10 for the lower quarter.
We ended up paying the extra HK$10 for the lower quarter.
Depsite the 'fraudulent' marketing *scowls*, our quarter was yummy. The only other 'roasted' delicacy I ever liked was Beijing's 全聚德烤鸭/Quan Ju De Roast Duck that I had back when I visited at 11 years old, so Yat Lok's roast goose really made quite the impression.
In this age of cafe-hopping, travelling is not complete without dropping a/some cafe(s) a visit, and we got to squeeze a trip to Bakery Cafe Born To Bake - 73 Wellington Street in our itinerary.
To be frank, it was yet another meh point on my food list. I was sooo excited when I found 'warm cookies with vanilla ice cream' on the menu because I had a mad-craving for Rookery's Monster Cookie, but when the waitstaff served up bits of crunchy dark chocolate sea salt cookies with a scoop of Dreyer's vanilla ice cream, my heart sank. Sylvia's SG$7 rose tea pictured with my cookies in the 2nd photo was also crazy overpriced.
In this age of Instagram, however, these looked amazing in pictures so I guess we're cool?
Besides food, Hong Kong also houses Singapore's nearest Disneyland. You must know by now that I love all things Disney, so dropping by the happiest place on Earth is without a doubt a must. Let me proceed with the mostly-self-explanatory pictorial diarrhoea.
We also spent a day at Ocean Park, Hong Kong's older theme park. If you're a snob like I was and think Ocean Park is nothing compared to Disneyland, think again. Ocean Park is like the Zoo + River Safari + S.E.A Aquarium + a more thrilling theme park, and I had so much fun being coerced on looping/dropping rides and watching sharks.
A little part of me might actually think Ocean Park beats HK Disneyland by a mile!
A little part of me might actually think Ocean Park beats HK Disneyland by a mile!
Lastly, we're living in an era where it basically never happened if you don't have photos to prove it right? So, here's a bunch of photos taken at Stanley to prove that despite our short trip, Hong Kong really did happen!
Personally, I'm too lazy to snap much photos whilst overseas (even though I'm mad sentimental), so credit for pretty much everything above goes to everyone else but me.
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