Hong Kong : Live it Love it !

Together with Cang's extended family (mom, dad, sisters, niece, nephew), we took this irrresistable Hong Kong tour package, priced at net 8,693 Baht. The package included round trip air tickets, 2 nights hotel stay, half day city tour, and airport transfer. Since we travelled in group, we got even more discounts. Hence, it is always worth to bargain when buying packages in Bangkok, when you are in group.




 
 


July 7, 2005
We left from Bangkok at 13.45 by Emirates Airways. After 2 hours flight, we arrived at the tremendously huge Hong Kong International Airport in Lantau Island. It was already almost dark when we arrived due to 2 hours time difference. We went to the tour counter to get our pick-up, but prior to that, the staffs tried to sell us many tour packages which eventually we declined to participate as we believed in self voyage rather than organized ones. The pick up took about 30 minutes passing a nice bridge connecting Lantau to Tsing Yi Island to reach our hotel, Rambler Garden Hotel, a new hotel plus appartment complex, located in naval port area in Tsing Yi Island. The staff was eventually able to speak Malay, hence we communicated to her in English mixed with Malay. The hotel room was extremely small, though the design was modern and chic.
In the evening, we took minibus to Tsing Yi MTR station heading to Kowloon District. Here we proceeded to Tung Choi Street Market (Ladies' Market) near Mongkok MTR station for its shopping streets and night bazaar. Like most night bazaar we encountered in other countries, this one sold mostly souvenirs and clothings. There were various kinds of shops around Ladies' Market: electronics, fashion, restaurant, etc. We had dinner at KFC and had some window shopping around. Back to hotel, we took taxi as it rained outside.

July 8, 2005We were picked up at about 8.00 for our half day city tour. It took almost 1.5 hours to pick up other participants. Our guide's name was Patrick, spoke fluent English with Cantonese accent, was quite well informed about touristic sites, but did not do a good job in time management. The city tour started with Victoria Peak which is located in Hong Kong Island. The bus climbed half way of the peak, and stopped at one viewing point letting us taking pictures.
After Victoria Peak, we headed for Repulse Bay Waterfront, the only "nice" and most popular beach for Hong Kongers to have their recreation. In Repulse Bay, there is a nice chinese shrine dedicate to Kwun Yam Goddess.Then, we went to Aberdeen Fishing Village, popular for the sampan cruise. We decided not to take the sampan as some of our members were afraid of getting sea sick. The view was spectacular with all the sampans dotting the waterfront.
Then, the tour took us to a jewelry factory/aterlier and a factory outlet whose prices were surprisingly more expensive than in other places. The tour operator must have got some commission for bringing us to these ateliers and shops. We decided to get out immediately from the factory outlet and bought our own lunch from the nearby McDonalds and had it in the bus while waiting for the others finishing their shopping time.
Tour ended with dropping of everybody in Tsim Sha Tsui, most popular shopping area in Hong Kong. We wandered around the area, bought a couple of clothings on sale in Giordano shops. We also strolled along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, heading to Avenue of the Stars. It's like the beverly hills of Hong Kong, where you can find hand prints of famous Hong Kong actors and actreeses dotting the walkway. We passed by Hong Kong Museum of Art and went straight to see the famous clock tower. Along the way we witnessed an extremely nice view of Hong Kong skylines with its hilly background.We took the ferry from nearby ferry terminal to cross the straits to Hong Kong Island. In Hong Kong Island, we took some pictures in front of the St. John's Cathedral, and then took the famous but cheap Hong Kong tram to Western Market. We had our dinner at a nice Cantonese Restaurant in Western Market area.
We took ferry back to Avenue of the Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui to see the famous Simphony of Lights which is performed every day. Since it was weekday, the lights was not as spectacular as it would be, if it were weekend. Our evening continued to Nathan Road, still in Tsim Sha Tsui area. We wanted to buy a digital camera, but ended up being bullied by the stores. Be careful ! The stores' tactic is to give you whatever price you want to buy, but they will eventually say they are out of stock of the item you look for, and proposed other items instead. We took taxi back to hotel.

July 9, 2005We started early in the morning for our Lantau Island trip. It was not part of the tour package, instead we organized it ourselves. We took a long ride of MTR till Tung Chung Station in Lantau Island, passing the not-yet-open Disneyland. From the MTR station, we continued with bus ride uphill to Ngong Ping Plateau where one can find the largest sitting Buddha statue in the world (Tien Tan statue).
There was also a Poh Lin monastery and a vegetarian restaurant. Admission fee included one lunch set at the vegetarian restaurant. We climbed uphill 260 stair steps to the statue. On top, we could look through beautiful scenery of Lantau bay dotted with several hilly islets. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon taking bus and MTR again.
Our tour operator picked us up at the hotel for the airport. Our plane departed back to Bangkok at 22.30.