Due to some problem with my Korean visa, somehow I needed to get out of the country for a couple of days before coming back again. Going back to Singapore or Indonesia will be too expensive so I decided to go to HongKong ^^. Beside I don't need visa to go there. It's the end of the year, December 26th but cathay pacific has some discount on the air fare, and so I got Incheon-HK return for 250,000KRW. Not too cheap but cheap enough for just a visa run trip.
It's a last minutes planned trip so I did't really have many choices for hostel. After contacting my HongKong friend, that I met during one of those long Korean classes I attended previously, I decided to book Yesinn@Causewaybay via hostelworld. (And it was a really good choice indeed ^^) I booked the hostel from December 26th to December 30th straight, too bother to look for another option. Costed me around 35,000KRW per night for a 9 beds women dormitory room. Cheap compared to those in Tsim Tsa Tsui and it's near downtown and subway station.
December 26th
Arrived in the airport at around 12 noon. With the direction I got from hostel world, I took bus A11 from the transportation center. It costed me 100HKD. Paid in cash and need to be in exact 100HKD as the driver won't give any change. After like 1 hour ride, I took off at Wanchai Fire Station in Hennessy Rd. Walked a bit to the traffic light and crossed the street to NCB bank. The Hostel is on the 2nd floor. It was kinda hard to look for the entrance as it is not the same entrance with the bank, but in small alley beside it. There was a small door with a small sign. I took the stairs and arrived in the lobby. It was a good thing that my luggage was light and just one small carrier. It would be hard for people with big luggage to get inside and climb those stairs.
Got my key card and some brochures and took the elevator to 6th floor. And the room was.... surprisingly nice ^^. Yeah, it's a bit dark, but it's clean, smell nice, spacious with some locker inside. The bathroom was clean and somewhat new. The 3 stacks bunk bed was also nice, clean with curtains to ensure some privacy, reminded me on how I used to playing cave with my sisters on our bunk bed at home back then ^^. They also had international plug adaptor installed on each bunk bed wall. The only drawback point at that room was the bed is too thin, but I don't really mind as I used to sleep on the floor as part of the korean tradition LOL
I was somewhat sleepy so decided to sleep for a while before meeting my friend at 6pm. But in the middle, I woke and felt the urge to throw up. Uurrrghh, felt sick and my suspicion was the breakfast they served me at cathay previously. I didn't eat anything beside that. Okay, need to be more careful next time.
Bought the "T-money card look a like" transport card and met my friend at 6 in Central Station. After a dinner which not that nice and took me a hard time to finish, she took me for a walk around Tsim Tsa Tsui, clock tower, avenue of star and around those area. It still had some christmas ambience and full of light and decoration so it was really nice ^^.
After some rounds and since I was really tired, we decided to go back and I slept soundly that night.
December 27th
9 am in the morning, woke up after a morning call from J Oppa. Surprisingly felt so much better and ready to explore the town. Took a shower and went out, following a map I grabbed from the hostel's lobby. Took a really long walk, passed 3 subway stations already =.=" I was too energetic somehow. But the weather was nice, warm compared to the freezing Seoul at that time.
Along the walk, I made a stop at a snack shop, bought some J Oppa wasabi flavor greenpeas and dried kiwi, which turned out really tasty. They were really cheap compared to Seoul. Made a stop at Pacific Place as well, which turns out to be a mall. Took some pictures of the christmas decoration and decided to continue to walk. The goods price in HongKong (except the food) is around the same with Seoul, with lower quality, so why bother to shop, haha.
I made another stop (for taking pictures) at HongKong park, just beside the Pacific Place Mall. It was nice and cool. But gave me a Singapore feeling, hahaha. I just realized then that these two countries are somewhat similar ^^.
After HongKong Park, walked another 200m or so and I arrived in the peak tram station, aha ^^. After much consideration, decided to take the full package ticket. It includes tram tickets (round trip), madame tussauds museum ticket and sky terrace at the peak tower ticket. It was pricey, costed me around 250HKD at that time and not that worth. The queue for getting the ticket and ride the train was long, took me around 30minutes. Lots of tourists from Thailand and Japan. The tram ride was nice but full, reminding me of Blue Mountain Katoomba "devil" railway I took while I was in Australia. I managed to get a seat just beside the window and it was really nice. Arrived at the peak and it was... another shopping mall. =.= with some sophisticated dining. Typical at those kind of "high scenery" places.
Went to Madame Tussauds Museum, and well... it's nice but not worth the ticket price. It was small and almost the same size with 63 building wax museum in Seoul. Even the one in Seoul is slightly bigger. Took some pictures and went out.
The last attraction is the Sky Terrace. The wind suddenly became strong and it was cloudy. The view, well, nice and okay but couldn't take pictures because of the fog, wind and cloud. It was all white. ㅠㅠ
Hungry and there was this Bubba Gump restaurant, the same with the one in Kuta, Bali. I always wanted to try it, so went inside and took a seat in it's bar counter. The atmosphere and interior were really nice. It was inspired by "Forest Gump" movie and it came out nice. The view was also nicer (and warmer) than the Sky Terrace, haha. So I ordered their special, Seafood Platter and a glass of Mojito. The mojito is nice, but the seafood platter was urrghhh... and I paid more than 200HKD for something like that...ㅜㅜ
If I knew it I would eat at the foodcourt instead.
Went back by the tram. Feeling tired but went to Mongkok and Temple street instead, hahaha. Bought some bowl of fishball (I love fishball) with yellow curry sauce. I can't speak cantonese so used the body language instead, haha. It was nice, yeah dirty, but nice haha.
And there was this dessert chain store (I forgot the name) nearby. I tried a mango juice and it was super duper nice >.<
I took some pictures of the night market (never really want to shop), and went back to the hostel. And this time by metro, really tired of walking.
December 28th
Woke up late, too tired, haha. After shower, took the metro to Tung Chung to go to Ngong Ping. it was still early and Tung Chung appears to be a really big mall which sells famous brands fashion in big discount >.< Did some shopping (a big one), and eating (they have Singapore food court chains, Food Republic there). The dimsum was simply delicious.
After another long queue, got my round trip ticket to Lantau Island by the famous cable car. It costed me another 150HKD.
I thought the cable car ride would be short, never thought it would be a 30minutes ride and was so high. You will sea and mountains through the ride.
After the ride I arrived at Ngong Ping Village. A man made tourist village. They have lots of stores and restaurants and some photo zones. I bought some souvenirs and charms for my friends here. The big Buddha statue can be seen starts from this village. After some walk, I arrived at the monastery. It is nice and tranquil. You can spot some buddhist monks (and some handsome ones :P). The stairs to the Buddha statue was looooonggg. But it was rewarding. The sunset was perfect. Actually you can buy some special ticket to get inside the statue (there is a temple inside) and another ticket for some temple vegetarian snacks, but I was too late, it was sold out already by the time I arrived. Still, the view was so nice that I didn't really mind about it.
It was dark by the time I took the cable car back. In Tung Chung Station I realized there is this cute little candy shop called "sophisca". I was so hooked that I asked the employer if I can take pictures. And she said yes ><. They have all those kind of kinda ero candy and chocolates, and cute candies of course. I bought some early Valentine choco for J Oppa, some "durex" wannabe chocolate and some cute candies in jars set.
Back to causeway bay station and got another midnight snack, cream puff >.<. Delicious and cheap. Went back to the hostel with full stomach.
December 29th
The weather was simply nasty. It was raining hard for the whole day. I decided to explore causewaybay area and beside there is a local product (food) expo in the victoria park nearby. There was some lego exhibition in a mall nearby, took some photos.
Another round of mango dessert. It was simply delicious.
Still raining hard outside, so went to Ikea to look around. Got a really nice bed sheets sets for 20HKD. Oho... Treated myself with Ikea famous meatball afterwards ^^
Went to the expo, still raining though. There was an entrance fee to go inside, but I forgot how much. Strolling in the expo, ate bunch of snacks. All are delicious. Bought some old style chicken pie for my uncle, some fruit pickles for me, another fish balls (haha) and went back to the hostel.
After some nap, felt really hungry and so I went to this nearby porridge store which turned out to be good. The phitan egg was really nice. Well, I always love HK style porridge anyway, haha.
December 30th.
Went back to J Oppa in Seoul early in the morning by A11 bus again. It was a nice trip. Will come back again to HongKong someday.
