Hong Kong / Macau (2002)

Travel Dates: July 15-25, 2002

Accommodation: The Excelsior at Causeway Bay (Room #1735 - view is not good as it was blocked by the next building walls)

Transportation: Singapore Airlines ($1,258 for 1 adult + 1 child 2yrs old)

Tips: Buy the MTR octopus card if you are going to stay for a few days. This is very convenient to use in trains and also fastfood chains.

Some of the crews in fastfoods don't speak good English. I was only asking for a plastic bag (cause they gave me a paper bag which i cannot hang in the stroller) and the crew had to call in the manager to ask what i wanted!

Jollibee is yummy!!!! They have a lot of shops around the city. The crew (based on the places we went to) were mostly Filipinos :)


Itinerary:

Day 1 - Central Pier, HongKong Pier. Walked to the highest escalator. Dinner at Jollibee.

Day 2 - Walked from hotel to central area. Stopped by HongKong Exhibition Centre.

Day 4 - Visited Kowloon area via Tsim Tsa Tsui MTR. Walked along the harbour, with view of Hong Kong island and the colorful buildings during the night. Visited Space Museum, Clock Tower, Arts Centre.

Day 6 - Walked from hotel to Peak Tram terminal via HongKong Park. Took the Peak tram to Victoria Peak on a very steep ascend. From the Peak there is a panoramic view of the island. You can also take a walk in the park. Be warned, there are a lot of mosquitoes.

From Victoria Peak, we headed to HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens for an afternoon with nature. Then Took a train to New World Plaza at Shatin MTR to visit Snoopy's World. Only to find out it was closed! We arrived too late.

Day 7 - Went to Ocean Park (HKD180 per person). Bus ticket HKD12 per person. The Ocean Park tower ride gives a 360 view of the island. We watched feeding session of sea lions @ Pacific Pier. Hubby was brave enough to try The Abyss ( a ride that takes you slowly few meters up and then plunges you down and up for a view times!). We also took the cable car to go to the other side of the themepark.

After the day at Ocean Park, we headed to Stanley Beach and Repulse Bay via bus.

Day 10 - went to Macau for a half day trip. From HK we took the Turbojet to Macau (HKD130 per adult, HKD115 per child). Upon arrival, we signed up for a group tour. We visited A-ma Temple, Maritime Museum, Macau Tower, Ruins of St Paul Church, Museum of Macau, Senado Square, and the residences of rich people in Macau. On the way back, we took New World First Ferry Services to Kowloon (HKD113 per adult, FREE for Kelvin).

First Asian tour: HongKong and Macau in 2002

Kelvin and I went with Mark on his business trip in HongKong. It was a 11-day trip. We flew with Singapore Airlines and stayed at Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay.

On our first day, after checking in & unpacking, we headed out to have a glimpse of HongKong Island. We walked from our hotel to nearby parks and tourist places. We wanted to see the Mid-levels escalator which was famous for being the world's longest. It wasn't really that impressive. We were expecting something really long, uncut escalator flow. But I guess the excalators we see from MRT to street levels in Singapore are even longer. After the long and tiring walk, we looked for a place to eat. Where else??? JOLLIBEE! I actually contacted a college friend who used to live in HongKong to specifically ask for locations of Jollibee outlets! We missed chicken joy a lot as we don't have it in singapore.

July 16 - walked from hotel to Central area. Stopped by HK Exhibition Centre.

July 18 - ventured into Kowloon Island visa Tsim Tsa Tsui MTR. Walked along the harbour where we saw HK island's skyscrapers. Others things we saw - clock tower, arts centre and space museum.

July 20 - walked from hotel to Peak tram terminal via HongKong Park. We took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak. It was a very steep, roller-coaster-like ride to the top. At the Peak, there is a small shopping cum eating place, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The building is shaped like a "wok". It was a nice view from the top. We also walked around the forested area (good thing it was still a bit early so not much mosquitoes). After going to the Peak, we visited HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Then Snoopy's World at New World Plaza in Shatin. Unfortunately, we got there too late, it was already closed. We just took some pics outside the play area.

July 21 - went to Ocean Park (HK$180 each!) via bus (HK$12 each!). Got into the Ocean Park Tower Ride which had a 360 degree view of the island. We watched feeding session of the sea lions at Pacific Pier. Mark was gusty enough to ride on THE ABYSS!

http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/eng/park_explorer/headland_rides/abyss.htm

The cable car ride was fun - taking you from one side of the park to the other.

After a very exhausting time at Ocean Park, there was still some energy left so we headed to Stanley Beach and Repulse Bay.

July 24 - this day was reserved for Macau. We took the turbojet (HK$130 per adult/HK$115 per child) from HongKong to Macau. Going back from Macau to Kowloon, we took New World First Ferry Services (HK$113 per adult, child was FREE!!!).

Upon arrival at Macau ferry terminal, we signed up for a group tour because we didn't have that much time - just the whole afternoon. We were on a van with a tour guide. There were around 10 of us. We visited A-Ma Temple, Maritime Museum, Ruins of St Paul, Museum of Macau, Senado Square and some churches and houses of the rich.

View from Macau Tower was incredible. The cars parked on the base looked like matchbox cars from the glass floor of the viewing deck. It was a bit scary but Kelvin doesn't seem to mind the height. The tour ended late afternoon. We headed back to the ferry terminal for our trip to Kowloon Island. It was already dark when we arrived in Kowloon. Dinner time.