Thursday, January 17, 2008

Hong Kong [11/01 - 14/01]

0. Getting There

After a few days of rest back in Singapore, I am off to my next trip, Hong Kong - the Pearl of the East. I spent a day preparing for this trip. Not that I am confident of it, but I am accompanied by another travel expert - Master Cheng. After reading through the travel guides and online sites, Hong Kong is best experienced via 2 activities: Food or Shopping.

As this trip is largely subsidized by our company's travel vouchers, I spent a total of S$630 in all (which includes accommodations, airlines, personal expenses). Master Cheng booked the Cathay Airlines flight which depart from Singapore's Changi airport at 8.05am. As my house is fairly close to the airport, I am able to catch the first bus departing from my place and still arrive there in time for breakfast at their staff canteen.

I have to admit that Cathay Pacific flight services are very much better than Singapore Airlines. They have the same inflight entertainment as SIA but the plane crew definitely appears more patient and more approachable at passengers requests.

We arrived at Hong Kong international airport 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We cleared through customs and got our luggage promptly. Just past the baggage inspection is a Tourist Information Centre. We spent around 35 minutes inquiring with the centre staff on places to visit and recommended eateries. They were equally patient and friendly, and were very professional in providing information to us. While we were inquiring, a taiwan pop group, SHE, just walked past behind us. There were a great number of fans waiting at the entrance welcoming them. Next we went on to the Macau Tourist Information Centre at the A6 booth of the Hong Kong airport where the centre staff too provided us with lots of information in travelling to Macau.

With all these information at hand, we are ready to begin our travel around Hong Kong and Macau proper. We took bus A23 from the airport to Mongkok which takes 30mins at a cost of 33HKD. Hong Kong buildings are generally characterised by its great heights with residential areas reaching an average of 50 storey high. I am quite impressed by their heights throughout the journey. The bus also passes by the Tsing Ma suspension bridge which is quite an amazing sight. Heard from the net that there is some Feng Shui design considerations behind it.

We have no problem finding our accommodation, the Dragon Hostel. It cost 270HKD(S$50) for 2 people per night. It is very cheap considering its prime location. I shall not share any photos of the room as it is very small. We are actually living in a typical Hong Kong residential house!! Here is a contemporary photo of the Hong Kong narrow street and towering residential areas. It is really very chinese-like as protray from the Western films. Guess the western perspective of the Chinese only came through Hong Kong. The many cities around China are more modern looking and spacious.

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Master Cheng's mission to Hong Kong is to visit a Feng Shui master and to get lots of Feng Shui books and equipments. Just 5 minutes walk away from where we stay is the office of Master Lam(林国雄). Heard he is quite famous in Hong Kong and amongst the Feng Shui community. The master is not around so an attendent share with us on the activities in the centre.


1. Flower Market

Departing from the centre up north is our first stop for the day - the Flower Market. Along the way we had our lunch at one of the food-shop while passing through the many shopping streets. Here is the flower market, with all the shops along the streets selling flowers.

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2. Bird Market

Past the flower market is the bird market. It is another street with many shops selling birds. There is also a small park adjacent to it where bird enthusiasts proudly display their birds. Multi-colored birds in cages below.

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Parrots being out in the open.

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3. Fish Market

We walked southward after the bird market and arrived at the Fish Market. The street has many shops selling aquarium accessories to live fishes.

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4. Shopping Streets

There are many shopping streets in the area around Mongkok. It ranges from clothings to chinese new year goodies to technology gadgets.

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Some shops sell a number of particularly amusing garments.

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5. Temple Street

This is one of the more famous night market in the area. The shops only open after 7pm. Besides the usual shopping stuff, there are also stalls that offer fortune telling services. Some stalls are really popular, esp. amongst the girls.

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We had our dinner at a restaurant in the Tsim Sha Tsui area. When the meal arrived, we were puzzled why eating utensils weren't given to us. A local diner noticed our puzzled look and hinted to us that it is found beneath the table. There is a drawer there!!

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6. Star Ferry - Recommended Experience

The plan for the second day is to visit Hong Kong island. One of the highly recommended experience in Hong Kong is to ride the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. So first thing after breakfast is the ferry ride to Hong Kong island. The journey there takes around 5 minutes at a cost of 1.7HKD. The return journey cost 2.2HKD in all. We eventually took the ferry 4 times today.

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Yea. Here I am admiring the morning Hong Kong city line from the ferry.

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7. Hong Kong Central

Hong Kong's financial centre is large, much larger than Singapore's. There are towering skyscrapers all around and the windows glitter in the morning sun with some mirroring the images around.

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There is a bridge linking the ferry terminal to the west side of the financial centre just off the Macau ferry terminal.

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8. Dry Goods Market

The West Market as it is commonly called. It is a series of streets that sell lots of dry goods. This is part of the walking tour recommended by the walking guide. Up till now, you should have realised that the shops in Hong Kong are mostly grouped by the streets - Flower Street, Bird Street, Fish Street and now the Dry Goods Street.

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9. Man Mo Temple

The Man Mo Temple(文武庙) is in the west of the financial district up the hill. This part of Hong Kong is mostly hilly with some roads have steep inclinations up. This temple is really amazing and very smoky. I love the smell of incense but there are just too many of them. It is very popular with many locals making offerings.

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10. Central to Mid-Level Escalators

Along the way, we came upon escalators named the Central to Mid-Level Escalators. It is actually a series of escalators connecting from the central area of the financial district to the upper level of Hong Kong residential areas. It is quite tiring to climb all the way uphill and these escalators really help make the walk easier.

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11. Former Central District Police Station

The police station was opened as some exhibition was going on there. So we pop in for a rest. Here we see the older-designed police station against a backdrop of modern towering skyscrapers.

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12. Gas Lamps on Duddell Street

Here are some gas lamps on Duddell street. Nothing much, just places where you can get good photoshot.

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We visited our last walking sight at St Paul Cathedral before visiting the HSBC building where Master Cheng is very interested in its architecture. Next we went for our lunch where the Tourist Information Centre strongly recommended - the restaurants along Wellington Street. It does have some good and affordable eateries there. We came to this restaurant - Tsui Wah restaurant twice for our lunch and dinner.

13. Tram Ride - Recommended Experience

Thereafter we hop on the tram for a quick journey to the eastern part of the island and back. It cost only 2HKD per ride and it is really convenient.

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13. Avenue of Stars

As we still have sometime till the evening, we decided to catch a photo shot of the Hong Kong city skyline from the avenue of the stars.

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Here is a statue of Bruce Lee.


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And here we are - Me and Master Cheng.

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14. Victoria Peak

We got back to Hong Kong island and there is a Peak Bus which cost 3.2HKD for a ride from the ferry to the tram terminal. Since we use the Octopus card, a single deduction of 22HKD is made when we went up and 11HKD is deducted when we came down.

The tram will automatically stop visitors in a shopping mall with escalators going up to a Sky Terrace. It cost 20HKD to get to the sky terrace. This is a tourist trap! We decided to exit the building instead of paying for it and made our way along the sides. We got this beautiful sunset view at one of the mountain edge.

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And this classic view of Hong Kong city line.

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15. Lan Kwai Fong

This place is famous amongst the foreigners for the many pubs and drinking areas. Note: It is only popular amongst foreigners.

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Here is a view of Hong Kong city line from Tsim Sha Tsui. Thankfully, today is a clear day and I am able to capture non-fog photos of the city line. There is some light display every day at 8pm and this area is the best place to watch them. I have attached a short video below.

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16. Big Buddha of Lantau Island

On the last day before my flight departure, I took the MTR from Mongkok to Tung Chung. While there, I came upon this promotional ticket going for 73HKD which includes unlimited rides on buses and a single trip on the cable car. As this is my plan, I just went for it. If you were to buy separately, it will cost 16HKD for the bus and 58HKD for the cable car. The bus ride is just amazing. The after-effects from the previous day ferry ride to Macau has not worn off and now I'm in a drift and turn bus ride along mountain tracks. But the bus ride will bring visitors along some spectacular sights.

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Here is the Big Buddha.

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A picturesque view of the surrounding monastery and mountain parks.

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Mist enveloping one of the mountain valleys.

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Offerings by Bodhisattvas/Deities to the Big Buddha. There is a small museum at the base building of the Big Buddha.

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Down the stairs and straight down is the main hall of the monastery.

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The entrance ticket to the Big Buddha cost 60HKD and it includes a free vegetarian lunch. Here is how it is like. It has an enormous portion.

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In all I spent around an hour and a half exploring the monastery and spending my lunch-time there. Thereafter I took the cable back down to Tung Chung.

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Here I am.

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From Tung Chung, there is a bus which goes straight to the airport, the S1 bus at a cost of 3.5HKD. The ride takes only 15minutes.

While on the plane, it again encounter lots of turbulence. The queasy feeling from the boat ride and bus ride just came back. But it stopped an hour into flight. Before reaching Singapore, this is the beautiful sunset from the sky.

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Macau [13/01]

On the Sunday, it is a day trip to Macau. I was initially planning to go to the Macau ferry terminal in Hong Kong island, but the Tourist Information Centre told us that there are also ferries departing from the Ferry Terminal at China Hong Kong City (at Tsim Sha Tsui). It depart every 30minutes and the journey time also take an hour. The return trip cost 323HKD which we paid upfront. Hong Kong dollar can be used in Macau so there is not much worry. But we were careful not to receive change in Macau dollar as it could not be used back in Hong Kong.

I read from the travel books the night before that it is advisable that we book the ticket early if we are planning a weekend trip. Oh no!

So in the morning, we made it a point to go direct to the ferry terminal first and make the ticket purchase. We got there at 9am and all tickets for the next 2 hours are sold out. The only available one is at 11.30am. Since I have forgotten to bring my passport with me and we are going for our breakfast next, this time interval is alright with us.

There is a foodcourt at the 3rd level fo the China Hong Kong City, so that is where I went for my breakfast. Bought a wanton noodles from the stall there, was quite shocked by the meagre amount they give. So I strongly recommend visitors not to buy from there.

The ferry was delayed by 15minutes but the journey time is the same. It is a foggy day today so we just slept through our journey there. Once we have cleared through the customs, it is already 1pm. After a quick inquiry with the Tourist Information Centre, we took bus 10A from the ferry terminal to our first stop - the Senado Square.

1. Senado Square

The bus wind through the streets of Macau and after 10minutes or so, we arrived at this popular tourist spot. The sun came out and it is perfect for a good photoshot. Macau was previously occupied by the Portuguese, thus many of its buildings are based on Portuguese architecture. Compare to Hong Kong, Macau has quite a history behind it. A number of chapels and cathedrals are landmarks sights in this area.

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2. Lou Kau Mansion

Straight through the square to another narrow street is the Lou Kau Mansion. It is the house of a wealthy Macauese who was also a prominent figure in the gambling scene of Macau.

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A tour guide kindly brought us around and explain to us the significance of the design and the history behind the house.

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3. Ruins of St Paul

Further down the streets (according to the direction signs) is the famous St Paul Cathedral (or whatever that is left of it). This is one of the more famous landmarks of Macau and is the popular marketing picture used by Macau. The original structure was burnt down in a fire and only the imposing front structure remains.

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4. Mount Fortress

Just next to the ruin is Mount Fortress. It is this defensive position which the Portuguese used to defeat the Dutch. Many cannons can still be found in this hill.

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5. A-Ma Temple

We hop on a bus in front of Senado Square to A-Ma Temple. There are many buses going there from the Senado Square bus stop. The buses cost 2.5HKD per ride. The name Macau actually came from this temple. Macau was originally call A-Ma-Cau (A-Ma Bay) in Portuguese. But 'A' was dropped off eventually and it became Macau. I went in to pay my respects.

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We took the bus back to the Senado Square area and board another bus 26A to Taipa. There are buses travelling to Taipa throughout Macau but some buses are less frequent so it is better that we positioned ourselves in the more central area to get there. The journey cost 5HKD. Here is the view of the bridge connecting Macau peninsular to Taipa island. The towering building is Casino Lisboa. We will be checking it out later.

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6. Venetian

Some of you all may have guess it. The main highlight of Taipa island is the Venetian. The largest and newest casino in Macau. It is said to be the largest casino in the world (I'm not sure). Here is the view from the outside of this legendary casino. It is designed based on Italian architecture.

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There are many beautiful Venice-styled canals in front of the main building. Notice the boatman below.

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We went in through one of the main entrance and the beauty of the interiors really took our breathe away. Just take at look at the following photos. This place is huge!!! The yellow lights give this place a golden feel (just like Thailand) and the walls are decorated with beautiful murals.

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Straight down at the 1st floor in the centre is the casino. It is my first time to a casino and I'm quite surprised as to how open it is. Casino in Genting Malaysia is behind closed doors but this is open up for visitors to just walk up and throw in their stakes. I have taken a few photos of the casino in Venetian and the Grand Lisboa. It is only after I read through the travel guides later at night that photos are not allowed in the casinos do I realise I'm not supposed to do that. Thus I will not put any photos of the casinos online or share them with my friends.

After the casino to the second storey is the St Mark Square - just like in Venice! You can check out my photos in Venice and you will realise how similar it is.

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There is an indoor sky, many canals and buildings with shops in it designed after Venice-architecture. While taking a photo of the canal, I noticed on of the boatman is singing and recorded a short video of it below.

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Back to the Grand Hall is this amazing layout. You can notice the casino tables all around the main hall.

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There is a food centre at the 2nd level and this is where we have our dinner. It offers an international crusine, featuring Japanese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Western and Singaporean (Yes, it is Singaporean!!)

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There are shuttle buses going from the Venetian bus terminal to the airport, ferry terminal and Sands. Since we still have 2 hours plus, we decide to visit the Sands resort to check out how it is like. Venetian is still the best. It gives visitors the best experience. Sands is more like a traditional casino with hotels at the top.

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7. Casino Lisboa and Grand Lisboa

From there, we took a cab to Casino Lisboa which is only a 15HKD ride away. Casino Lisboa is started by Dr Stanley Ho. He is quite popular among the casino scene. Casino Lisboa is an older casino while Grand Lisboa is a newer one.

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Grand Lisboa is the most prominent casino landmark in the whole of Macau. During the day it is golden, at night it comes alive with multi-color frenzy. We went into both the casinos. Master Cheng explained to me the Feng Shui significance of the Grand Lisboa.

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A close look at the base of this grand structure. Here is the entrance to it.

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Here is a overview of the casino cities of Macau. With Casino Lisboa in the foreground and Grand Lisboa at the back.

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8. Wynn

Our final casino stop for the day is Wynn. This is the second casino which give visitors a good experience.

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While walking through Wynn, we came to a area which is call the Tree of Fortune. There were many people waiting around and it appears a show is going to start soon. It is 9.30pm. Heard the show start every 30minutes. We are in luck!!

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This amazing ceiling of the 12 auspicious animal open up to a spectacular display of lights. I have recorded the entire performance, so do check it out below.

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There is also a shuttle service back to the ferry terminal and we left at 10pm. Time is running out as our ferry departs at 10.30pm. We have to clear through the customs and get our pass stamp. So we race back and managed to hit the gates at 10.20pm. Phew!

The journey back was the most unmemorable. Due to bad weather, the ferry really gave us a roller-coaster ride back. At the end I noticed all the passengers were feeling queasy from the ride. It took me a few days to get over this feeling. The next day on the bus ride to the Big Buddha and on the plane back, this queasy feeling came back again.