5 things I did in Hong Kong in 3 days

5 things I did in Hong Kong in 3 days

Frankly, 3 days were a lil' too short for me.

If I could, I would have stayed longer, just to go for more hikes in Hong Kong.
We skipped the touristy spots such as Disneyland, Ocean Park, Victoria Peak, Tian Tan Buddha,

Avenue of Stars, and I did not even get to visit Lan Kwai Fong!

1. Eat & eat & eat

 

1. Australian Dairy Company
(47 Parkes St, Tsim Sha Tsui)

I missed this during my first trip to Hong Kong, and I knew this is a must for this trip.

The epitome of 'simplicity at its best';

made with simple ingredients which left us wanting more.

The scrambled egg was the best, just like what many people rave about.
My advice: order a (or two) serving of scrambled for yourself, and do not share,

because you will love it so much!
I have also heard about the infamous attitude of the staff there,

but fortunately, they were nice to us and even attempted to joke with us.

2. Hui Lau Shan

(several outlets everywhere)

Mango + Coconut juice + 小丸子 is my favourite combination.

3. 百味食品

(1st level of Argyle Centre)

My friend, Kimberly, gave me a whole list of food which she tried during her latest trip to Hong Kong, and this was one of them.
This noodle snack was surprisingly irresistible!

4. 真美味

You can also find curry fishballs aka yudan everywhere, but of course there are nice and not-so-nice ones.
This one that I had at MongKok area was the best that I have tried for this trip. 

5. Sham Tseng Chan Kee Roast Goose 

(427, Reclaimation Street)

To be frank, the goose meat was pretty good,

but skip the noodles soup and save the calories.

6. Mobile Ice-cream
Must-have. Period.

7. One Dim Sum

(Shop 1 & 2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion, 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward)

This is popular among tourists, as told to us by Jasmine's friend,

who has been working in Hong Kong for some time.

The Steamed Minced Meatballs was my favourite.
I felt that the dishes were reasonably priced too.

8. Delicious Kitchen 美味廚

(Shop B, G/F, 9-11Cleveland Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong)

Fried pork ribs served with vegetable rice.

We both agreed this was definitely one of the top 3 favourite meals that we had for this trip!

It was so sinfully delicious.

The pork was glazed with honey, and that explains the sweet and tangy taste;

and the rice was so fragrant and it matched well with the pork meat.

I finally understood why Jasmine told me that her friends loved it alot.

9. Mak's Noodles

(G/F, 77 Wellington Street, Central)

HKD$37 for a small bowl of wanton mee was lil' expensive for me,

but it was undeniably AWESOME!

Especially after comparing it with the other wanton noodle stall right opposite, Tsim Chai Kee.
(Above pic = Mak's Noodle, Below = Tsim Chai Kee)
I tried the latter just to have a comparison,

because I chose not to believe what I have been reading online.
Trying is believing,

and indeed, although Mak's noodle comes in a much smaller serving, it was of such great quality.

The soup was well-balanced, the noodles was springy and most importantly,

I could not taste any alkaline taste (the one I had at TCK had a terrible alkaline taste)

No wonder Mak's Noodles is such a hit among tourists!

10. Tai Cheong Bakery

(32 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central)

We literally had no more space for this, at the time when we visited the place,

so we only bought one each.
Being the greedy me, I took a bite of it despite being really full.
What happened next?
I made Jasmine took a bite of it,

and immediately, we turned back to buy 8 more.
Hahahahah!
It was sooooooo heavenly!

11. 7. Urban Bakery

(Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Langham Place Shopping Mall)

The best croissant I ever had!
We tried both the caramalized croissant and salted egg croissant.
The outlet which we went to was a takeaway station;

the croissants were not heated up, yet the taste was not compromised!

They have a few other outlets too. 

12. Jasmine Garden 八月軒

(Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Langham Place Shopping Mall)

Met up with another of Jasmine's friend, Elaine, who is from Hong Kong,

and she brought us to this restaurant for dinner.

The suckling pig was my favourite, while Jasmine loved the 'Hua Diao Wine Goose',

which I thought was unique too but the meat was a lil' tough to eat.

Elaine mentioned that this is one of her favourite restaurants for gatherings,

and indeed, it was packed on a weekday evening.
One of the selling points of this restaurant is that the food are prepared with no MSG,

and the dishes served are said to be chosen for health benefits.

13. Yee Shun Milk Company

(246-248 Sai Yeung Choi St)

Had a bowl of (overpriced) red bean steamed milk here,

just because we felt like having dessert.

14. Egglets

What is Hong Kong without egglets?!

We were lucky that the famous Mammy Pancake was just a 10 minutes walk away from our hotel,

but we were unlucky that all three visits to the place were in vain.
First visit: There was a notice on the gate which mentioned that it was closed for that day.

Second visit: Too early, not opened (1pm - 9pm)

Third visit: Arrived at 8.59pm, gate was already half-closed.

Wanted to give Oddies Foodies a try;

visited it on a Monday since we were at Causeway Bay that day.

Walked all the way to the shop..  only to realise that it is closed on Monday.

My bad. Should have checked online first! (Opening hours: 1pm - 10pm)

Le sigh. So we had some random egglets from right opposite our hotel,

kindly arranged by our host from Hotel Sav (more about my accommodation later!)

15. Little Sheep Hotpot

(4/F,Mongkok Commercial Centre 16,16A and 16B Argylee Street, MongKok)

When Jasmine told me that we must try this in Hong Kong,

I was skeptical. Hahahah I mean.. I really did not expect to have hotpot in HongKong,

and was all ready to spam dimsum.

In the end, it turned out to be our most satisfying meal!

We arrived at 11++pm, and it only cost us HKD$118 (approximately SGD$20) per pax for the hotpot (it is cheaper after 11pm),

and an additional HKD$18 (i think. I forgot!) for unlimited drinks.

The ingredients were surprisingly fresh even though it was a buffet-style.

Most of the items are served to you after you place your orders,

which some others are placed at a counter (which are cleared by 12am.

If you want those items, you can still order, I think.)

This place is ideal for supper!

16. Tong Pak Fu

(99 Hak Po St, Hong Kong)

Jasmine's friend brought us here for desserts on one of the nights.

Loved the chocolate shaved ice, which was rich and flavourful!

The sesame rice ball were refreshing too.

17. Jenny Bakery

(15 Wing Wo Street, Ground Floor Sheung Wan Hong Kong, Sheung Wan MTR Exit E2)

MUST BUY THIS BACK HOME OKAY?!

We were lucky that there was no queue when we visited,

so we were allowed to buy as many tins as we wanted.

(On some days, each person is limited to a certain amount)

These buttery cookies are sooooo delicious;

the first thing I did once I reached home from the airport, was to open a tin to eat them!

Okay.. finally done with the food part.

These were not all that we had of course.

There were a few other random ones, which I felt were only average, so.. I am leaving them out!

2. Hiking

Our initial plan was to hike on the first day of arrival,

because that was the day when we were free for the whole day.

Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side as it started raining right after we left the airport.

So, we could only push it to the third day, since I had appointments on the second day.

And on the third day, we also had a lunch appointment,

which explained why we only reached the start of the trail at almost 4pm.

So anyway, we took the train to Tung Chung Station, followed by bus 3M from the bus interchange,

and alighted at Pak Kung Au bus stop.

Our plan was to hike to the Sunset Peak, but because we were blur like sotongs,

we ended up hiking towards the Lantau Peak instead.

It was only after our hike, that we realised how we ended up at the wrong trail.

 Basically, after alighting from the bus, there were two paths to choose from.

(Facing the direction of the bus which we alighted from), 

on the left, you will see:

And on the right:

We did not see this at all, and happily followed the lantau trail,

thinking that Sunset Peak would be somewhere in between, before hitting Lantau Peak.

This is what happens when you do not do enough research.......

hahahah. Also, I think somehow, we walked the new trail.

(took a left turn at the start, where we had the option of turning left/right)

Source

The Lantau trail to the peak is supposed to take less than 3 hours,

but somehow after 2 hours of hike, we were still 1hour15mins away from the Lantau Peak.

(To be fair, we stopped quite a bit to take photos along the way.)

By then, it was already 6pm, and dark clouds had gathered around the Lantau Peak.

We decided to not go all the way up the peak because:

1. We were the only two souls around. Did not bump into anyone, at all!

So even though we had a headlight with us,

we did not want to risk hiking downhill after the sun sets.

2. I was really afraid that it would start raining/thundering

because the dark clouds seemed a lil' too scary.

Nevertheless, it was such an enriching experience.

And I can only hope that I will get to return to HongKong to do more hiking soon!

Sharing some snaps along the way:

That is the Lantau Peak in the background;

another 1 hour 15 mins away according to the signage.

3. Massage/Spa

View from Chuan Spa.

One of the best things to do after the hike, is to enjoy a cozy spa session.

Except that I had mine a day before my hike. 

Thanks to the arrangement by Langham Place Hotel,

I had the luxury of enjoying a signature 'Chuan Harmony Massage' at Chuan Spa.

It was an interesting experience, because the type of massage oil that was used on me,

was determined via a questionnaire to find out the 'element' which I belonged to at the point of time.
I was told that our 'element' varies according to mood and health conditions,

so the specific massage oil chosen will cater to the type of element.
I was a 'Metal' element that day. Hahahah!
It was a very comfortable session, and I fell asleep.
I seldom fall asleep during body massage sessions!

That very night, I had a very good sleep too.

4. Wong Tai Sin Temple

It has been said that the divination sticks from this temple are highly accurate.

I am quite a believer of such, and so we went to give it a try.

After you get your particular stick with the number stated,

you can actually just look for the interpretation online (just type Wong Tai Sin fortune sticks).

If your Chinese is good enough, you will roughly be able to understand the meaning.

Of course, you can choose to approach one of the several fortune tellers nearby.

There were a whole stretch of fortune tellers situated along a corridor.

All I can say is, both Jasmine and I felt that our sticks were really accurate.

5. Shopping/strolling down the streets

We did not do a lot of shopping for this trip,

but basically we visited the Sneakers' Street at Mongkok area,

Temple Street, Ladies' Street, Argyle Centre, Times Square.
I only bought a random top for the entire trip.

Sneakers' street is a must, if you are into sneakers.
You will be spoilt with choices;

but basically it is a street with several shops selling sneakers from various sports brands,

at a much cheaper price than what you can get in Singapore.
You will see the same few designs in most of the shops though.

'Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable.
Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay.
The journey changes you; it should change you.
It leaves marks on your memory, on your conciousness, on your heart, and on your body.
You take something with you.
Hopefully, you leave something good behind.'
--Anthony Bourdain

You know, I find myself scrolling through the various sites to check on ticket prices every now and then, even when I do not have the plans to travel.

In fact, this Hong Kong trip was an extremely impromptu one.
$132 for a return ticket was too good to resist.
It was meant to be a solo trip, but I was glad that I managed to get Jasmine to join me eventually.
What have I gained from this trip?

The reminder, 'too blessed to be stressed' could not be more apt.

Sometimes, I travel to escape from the stress, which most of the times, happens as a result of my own thinkings;
but this trip truly made me realised that it really is time for me to divert my attention
to the blessings which I have been granted with, instead of focusing on the unnecessary stress

and pressure that I put on myself all the time.

I do not know when will my next impromptu trip be,
but I surely look forward to a solo trip soon.

With love,

Shine