Hong Kong Trip last June... Part 1

   Hong Kong - On EMO mode. It was raining at the Avenue of Stars. But made great picture day

I am quite sure by now people know i am one for late posting. No wonder people don't ask me to write Adverts! Will fail!.  Last June, during a long weekend, i flew to Hong Kong. Yes, country of residence at that time was extremely dull and i wanted to shop till i drop, Hong Kong seems like a reasonable place to be. And yes, i got tired of failed dim sums in the place i used to stay, wanted real authentic hong kong dim sum.

The flight just took 2 hours and i have to say this- never go hong kong during their start of summer. The word ... hot is just not able to describe it. You start off the morning nice and clean but by 1/2 hour, you are all sweaty and dirty. Nevertheless, with plenty of malls and shops in Hong Kong, you can always duck into the shops for a quick breather. Heavy amount of my budget was spent on 1) Ice Cream 2) Lots of cold drinks 3) Lots of Desserts in cold places - if you want to go June, prepare to sweat it out. But it is a good time to go as there is a lot of sales going during that period.

From Airport to Kowloon
For those who are afraid to travel on their own, Hong Kong is quite an easy place to get around. Once @ Chep Lak Kok airport, if you want to go to Kowloon - take the airport express.  I was quite impressed with this service  as it only takes 24 minutes to central locations in Kowloon and Hong Kong. You can even buy a return pass like i did, so the day i left hong kong, i just went to Kowloon station and hoped on to the Airport express. I paid about Hong Kong 90 Dollars for this, but i thought it was much cheaper than taking a taxi to the airport.  I find countries with advance transportation planning are awesome! And, if you are lucky, and you can also get a free ride to your hotel - depending on where your hotel is located- now how is that for transportation.

Next at the airport, grab an Octopus Pass. This little handy card where you can buy a certain amount is useful for MRT travel within Hong Kong and Kowloon. (Think you can also use it for buses as well as trams ). Some of the more popular hotels are drop off points for the free shuttle bus from Kowloon station.

Accommodation:
It's pricey in Hong Kong. I paid a bit more because i wanted to stay in proper places but for those on the budget you can check out Hop Inn budget hotel. It's clean and in the middle of Kowloon. When i was there in June, i chose to stay at Luxe Manor because Agoda was offering discounts! It's quite a boutique hotel ( i loved the toilets ) but i felt the deco made me feel like a gangster's moll. Service wise the place was awesome. Deco took some getting used to. Location: excellent - 2 minutes walk to my favorite mall and food food all around in Nathan Road.

     Complementary Breakfast at Luxe Manor Hotel

Food: 

If you are booking via agoda - read the fine print if the deal comes with breakfast. For hong kong, mine did but when i book for bangkok the room was cheap because it had no breakfast provided. However, along Nathan road there are abundant of those small "char chan teng " which you can pop in and have a quick meal. I found a great little tiny shop that sold the most awesome egg tart and er ... spam bun on my last day in Hong Kong.

Egg Tarts at the corner of Carnavon street

Things to do in Hong Kong: 
Hong kong is one of those super vibrant cities that never sleeps   My first night there, after reaching my hotel at 8pm ( Traffic in Nathan road on a Friday is hectic ) i showered and headed off around Kimberely road and shopped till at least midnight. The damage for 4 hours was quite ... extensive i would say and sometimes bordering on silly :D  There are way too many cute stuff in Hong Kong to say no to. But Hong Kong has a lot of activities all year round - so time your visits to events which you can find on the Discover Hong Kong website  I was lucky, i got to see my first up close Dragon boat race and met Mickey rowers

Row, Row, Row your boat... Gently down the ... er Harbor

M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E - Team Disney's rowers for the day

However, everyone goes to Hong Kong mostly for this... Shopping.What is there not to buy. I almost bought jelly colored galoshes back to KL. For what reason i have no idea but just because they were there! Hong Kong island is too expensive? Go to Mongkok's Luen Yuen Kai  ( Lady's Street )... While i think it is good to go there for the experience, i don't recommend buying stuff there, it's quite a tourist trap and you need to bargain your way there. Plus the quality of goods are quite meh in Luen Yuen Kai. There are plenty of malls in HK for you to buy reasonable stuff from.

Across the waters in Hong Kong Island

So this is just a short teaser of what i saw in Hong Kong. Next up, what i ... ate while in Hong Kong- Yes the other " To- Do" things in Hong Kong is enjoy the glorious food.