HongKong- The symphony of lights

Heard about this so many times and wondering why it topped the chart of HK attractions.

We lived nearby the Tsim Sha Tsui area where the Avenue of Stars is located. Avenue of stars is like the Hollywood walk of fame, where you can find names of famous HK actors are engraved along the walkaway. It is interesting for me as I grew up watching a lot of HK movies rented by my brother. Especially those movies with Stephen Chow and Jackie Chan. 

The symphony of lights is a free attraction for all. It takes place along the Avenue of Stars and basically what you have to do is go there before 8pm, get a nice spot for you and your camera and wait. From the Avenue of Stars, you can see rows modern design building lining up along the shore. All these buildings will give out their colorful lights, it's so bright and beautiful. Then, at 8pm, the music will be played with announcer at the back. The moving lights was only the green laser that dances with the music. So, basically, you don't need to fight for the best seat if it happened that your view is blocked during the peak time, because it was nothing much. You can get the same exact view after the performance finished and you can snap away however you like. But, worry not, I don't think it will be that difficult to find space. Since the performance happened every night (I'm not sure if it depends on the weather), if you didn't manage to witness on day one, you can always come again the next day :)

Overall, it was really breathtakingly beautiful, for a modern day view.

The symphony of lights from our eyes. Can you see the green lasers? That's the dancing lights. 

HongKong: Halal Food

I love Chinese food, especially the dimsums and dumplings family. 

We have gyoza (Japanese dumplings) here in Japan, but so far, all are not halal as pork is their main ingredients.

So, whenever I passed the gyoza section in here, I would just shoo the crave away, not!

Recently I keep making gyoza by my own. It will be much easier if I can find the halal gyoza skin, but I still failed to find one around here. But I heard, they are a lot of selections too and I need to keep looking.But, I am not a person who would just sit and wait. So, the right thing to do is..make gyoza from scratch! I'll share with you the recipe later on.

Now, I'll need to teach you where to find the real dumplings in Hong Kong and halal one of course.

From our almost non-existent itinerary, we have two days of city tour which is..more than enough. Hong Kong is really small. So, in those two days, we selected two halal chinese restaurants to try. They are quite a list of halal restaurants you can find when in google or just by walking in the city. They are plenty of Indian and Middle East restaurants alike. Unfortunately, 'A' and me are not the fan of those so much. I can't remember when was the last time we had naan in here. heh.

First stop is Ma's restaurant which is located near the Prince Edward station. In our record, it says that this restaurant was located at the Tsim Sha Tsui, very near to our hotel, hence the postpone. On the day we plan to finally do the food tour, we head there when we were already at the state of extreme hunger, thinking so that we can stuff our face with all the food. When we arrived in front of the building we were greeted with relocation notice -__-" But, we weren't all that worry because it is Hong Kong, in 15 minutes we'll get there. yey!

In front of Ma's restaurant. Very spacious and there were a lot of people when we were there. So many menus you can try, all chinese cuisine with Halal certificate hanged on the wall. But our heads were set for dumplings. We ordered all dumplings in the menu. We thought, "oh, we'll have dumplings as starter. You know, just dumplings, it's like a snack only." We were so wrong -_-" and the best part is, it's so cheap! 

Lamb dumplings.

Chicken steam dumplings.

Chicken soup dumplings.

The rest? We ate only these then we were very full -_-" ahaha..yea, we are not just the right people for food travel.

Now is time for the highlight of my entry. If you wanted the best dumplings ever ever ever and halal (of course) you must go to this place- Masjid Ammar and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre's canteen!

Actually this place was on the top of my list to go in HK. But, 'A' who is not a fan of doing things twice didn't agree at first for us to try another dumplings. Even after I kept showing him the CNN reports that says this place is a must go to try the best dumplings (for all, not just for muslims), he still feeling skeptical. Lucky for me, on the last day, we had some extra time, we travelled a little bit further from our hotel to go this place. 'A' chose Ma's restaurant for our dumplings experience as it was located in the middle of the city, it is near to the main attractions so that would allow us to go to many places in a day. But, on the last day, he followed my wish finally!

In front of the masjid. It was quite far away from the station. If you google, it is recommended to take a bus there. But, I think no need. It's just about 15 minutes walk which is good so you can immerse yourself among the locals and stop at their shops to buy souvenirs. hehe. Oh, and we didn't have the map to here. We just follow our gut until we saw a pair of middle eastern walked by. 'A' asked him for directions and alhamdulillah we were just nearby :) So, my advice is, bring map with you.heh.

Our first trip of dumplings. OMG..serious guys, the best dumplings ever. 'A' who was not interested at first, ordered a bunch for for take away. 

How to order. So cheap, huh. yey!! Oh, this canteen only serves dumplings alike. There are a lot more selections than Ma's restaurant. Even the Ma's owner recommended us to come here. lol xp.

So, if you have time, please try both places. Ma's restaurant is maybe more suitable for other kind of chinese cuisine like the rice, noodles and all, but for dumplings it is best for you to go the the Islamic Centre. I couldn't imagine what I'd missed shall I skip the visit to the Islamic Center -_-" 

If you like middle eastern's and Indian cuisine, you shall not worry. So plenty, you wouldn't believe you eyes. lol xp.

HongKong: Must Go Disneyland

I'm past 30 and I have lost hope towards Disneyland. Whenever I go, the possibility to experience more than 5 rides is like mission impossible T_T. So, we were 50-50 about going to the Disneyland, or is it just me? Because the first thing 'A' bought when landed at the Hong Kong airport was Disneyland ticket. We didn't even have Hong Kong money with us that time but he was so determined that he withdrew some from the ATM using credit card..just for the Disneyland -_-"

Oh, before I forgot to tell you, if you plan to go to the Disneyland, it is advisable to buy it from the travel agent at the airport as you will get cheaper price and un-fixed date. So, you can go on whichever date convenient which the weather allowed.

I was so glad that I got my health back on the second day we were in Hong Kong. Syukur tak terkata.

So, the night before we decided to go for Disneyland the next morning! The good thing about Hong Kong is that the country is small, so traveling to one point to another does not take hours even the Disneyland is located at different island. 

As far as I remember, for Disneyland Tokyo, we had to come very early in the morning at least 7.30 in the line for tickets. Then the park is opened at 8-8.30am. It was that early. But, for Hong Kong, it opens at 10.30am. We were a little surprised looking at the opening hour. So, in the morning, I managed to cook nasi lemak for breakfast and only left the hotel at 9. It was such a relaxing Disneyland trip ever! 

The trip to the Disneyland was very easy and relaxing given that at that time people has already in their office. Another surprised for us was when we took the Disneyland train and there was very few number of people were on board with us. We can practically lie down on the seats like a boss! We arrived at the Disneyland at around 10am. The train station and the entrance was just about 10m from each other unlike in Tokyo where you need to walk about 15-20minutes to get to the entrance from the train exit. Anyway, since we arrived very early and we already had the tickets, we took time to pose for some pictures and take a look around.

Inside the Disneyland train. See..so few people. That made us so curious..what's up with the Disneyland -_-"

This is the first ride you'll see when you enter the HK Disneyland. If you are a Disneyland frequent, your jaw will literally dropped onto the floor, too shock for seeing a scene like this. Only two people are queueing for the Space Mountain -_-" aaaa... so, 'A' went straight in and after 10 minutes finished one ride. I was like 'apa nih..it's still early!' -_-" Actually 'A' was rushing here to get his fast pass. But, as we look around, I don't think the fast pass machine is even exist in here -_-"

I think this is the most dangerous ride in HK Disneyland. Of course only like 5 people were queueing and therefore 'A' had this for a few times while I snacked at one of their empty cafe. Oh, and he rode it until I managed to get a perfect shot of him riding in this -_-" If in Tokyo, I don't think he can even dream of getting the fast pass.

It's very hard to miss the parade. The compound is kind of smaller than Tokyo's. So, even you are not following the schedule, it is so unlikely for you to miss it, unless on purpose. And anyway, at other Disneyland before, we could only mostly enjoy the parade as it took at least an hour to get on one ride. So, we weren't so into the parades. 

While we were walking around the cinderella castle which is quite disappointing for me (they didn't do it as nice as Tokyo's. It looks like murals put together. They can't fool me.), a lady stopped us and hand us a pass. we were like 'what pass is this?'. We kept it anyway and use it if it happens we walked by the castle again at the designated time. Turned out, we did walked by and we saw..tada!! Elsa and Anna. haha.. You can greet them if only you have the pass. I had it and among the first to arrive. yey!

We have tonnes of photos at the Disneyland. But this one meant a lot. It's been a long time since we curious about Winnie the pooh ride. Whenever we were in Disneyland before, the waiting time would be 2 hours most of the time. Aaaa...we were not that crazy to wait for that long. But in HK, no waiting time. We enter and straight ahead ride. OMG!!it was so entertaining. It was for suitable for children but we felt the satisfaction as the mystery was solved!

Halal food

You guys, this is a very good news for us muslim! In Disneyland HK, they served quite a variety of halal food. OMG!! We don't know what to order although the food are asian cuisine. lol xp.  But, since I always love hainanese chicken rice, I chose this! It was 5 star! Sedap sangat!!

Vietnamese rice noodle for 'A'. You know why he chose this? Coz he said he could foresee that I'd love this more than the chicken rice. I just ignored him and had my eyes on the chicken rice all the time until....he convinced me to try a spoon of the soup. After that, I was in charged of the noodle until the last drop. lol xp. Isn't it annoying that our husbands are always right..about us?? geez... 

After our hearty meal, we continue to walk and stop at every ride. Every ride I tell you because no need to queue. Also, the nicest thing about HK Disneyland is the ride is bilingual; english and chinese. So, I enjoyed it very much. Also, I really felt like the Disneyland was book for my private visit. For roller coaster-like ride, 'A' would test first and later reported to me whether it is 'wani-fit'. You see how empty it was -_-". So, if he feels okay for me to ride, he will ride together with me again. So Kardashian kan I ols?

Besides rides, there are scheduled show too. This time we went to the most show there are. Seriously, we didn't waste a minute. Anything that came on our way, we went for it! My favorite show of all was the Mickey Mouse show:) and ride that was not really a ride is the talk with Stitch. So funny that alien. I wish he picked on of us because most of the people he chose could not understand english. We sat at the most front and I only hear us laughing. lol xp. We didn't take so much photos as the scenery was not very nice. But it's okay cause we didn't have time anyway trying one ride to another.

Praying room

Oh, I took chances by asking the customer service if they have praying room. They don't have it, but they let us use VIP room. teehee..So, do not afraid to ask.

I couldn't believe such a Disneyland exist. And we saw a coming soon section, there'll be Stark Expo opening in 2016. The more reason to come back! If I ever crave for Disneyland, I would have no doubt but to go for HK! Worth all the penny!

HongKong: The Peak

There are so many attractions in HK that actually 5 nights are enough. But, we are not that ambitious la. We just chill and do whatever in the day. No planning ahead. We just enjoy walking around and see whatever that comes in our way. 

Victoria's peak (The Peak)

You know that Hong Kong was once colonized by British? So, you will see that name of roads are so english. And that's probably why many of them can speak english unlike when I was in Taiwan, the likelihood to find one that can understand us was like 1/20 people. But still not bad. 

So, in the afternoon of our first day after a horrible morning (tell you the story later), we found ourselves with nothing to do. So, after I took my medication and alhamdulillah I was instantly cured after a few hours rest in the comfort of The Best Western, we decided to visit the Victoria's peak. We had no idea what was that. We just thought let's go! It was around 4pm when we reach the nearest train station to the peak. For the trip up to the peak, we decided to take the bus. The experience..tsk2..it was so scary but worth it. The feeling was like when you successfully rode on the crazy roller coaster without peed yourself up there. Exactly like that. 

We took the bus from the Ferry Piers in the Central. The journey took about 40 minutes, but the nice part was we can see the views of Hong Kong from the ground and going up to the hilly side of Hong Kong where the rich lives. Hehe.. And I tell you the way up was so steep it and windy. Really windy, like all the junctions were very sharp and the roads up are narrow >,< The fact that we sat at the top level of the bus (the bus was a two-storey), just made it more chilling. But the kind of a good chill. 

The two-storey bus. The bus was on schedule.

To finally arrived at The Peak after many time of uhhh...ohhh by us the passengers. Not the type of good uhhh...ohh.. >,<

View on the way up. We can see a lot of elite condos.

We have arrived! Even at the top of the mountain like this ada shopping mall. Not just ordinary stuff, there's even boutique like Furla, Coach, etc.  Behind me, that's the observatory. You need to buy tickets to enter the observatory. But, it wasn't expensive and worth a visit.

We arrived at almost dawn and the view is like this. It was quite hazy in Hong Kong during our visit. 

View from the other side of the observatory. Greenier side of Hong Kong.

While we hang out on the observatory with my coffee experiment, suddenly there was a huge crowd starting to come. Then only we got it! The best view is at night. Luckily we didn't left our spot. As soon as the night crawled in, this view came to life. It was so pretty! Photos couldn't do any justice. It's like everyone is clicking for hundreds of times but still we couldn't feel satisfied.

As we turned our head, omg the crowd. tsk...we were lucky because we arrived at dawn :)

Leaving the Peak, we chose to ride the tram. There were so many people left around the same time with us, so the queue was crazy. However, it was very efficient, we didn't feel it was troublesome. The journey with the tram took about maybe 20-30 minutes. For this one, we felt like being thrown down the hill. The tram descended at 45 degree and you will see the building around appeared slanted. We tried to take photos but to no avail. Despite of that, it was less scary because it's like we know the tram will stick to the track, unlike the bus >,<

Finally arrived at the tram station :) It's time to haunt for dinner!

HongKong: Scouting for a stay

HK: Stay

I should warn you, the potential HK travellers out there, who aren't adventurous enough to stay in a very dodgy building with cell-sized rooms and just..creepy; 

'Do not attempt to book a full-paid room located in Chungkin Mansion.'

 We did just that, because of all the good reviews despite of the booking.com stated that this guest house is a one star accommodation. 'A' was just in awe with all the testimonials written there, so he gave it a go, made a full payment for 5 nights. But, if you are okay to stay anywhere because you just adventurous that way, please just book it by all means :)

Me, as usual was against it because of my skepticism towards un-branded or anything less than 3 stars. I learnt it by hard, it's not because I was so high maintenance. It's just not worth your money and time. But, I agreed anyway because there was not much time and hotels left and also the review. I thought, oh, maybe this time we hit the jackpot. Sigh..

We arrived at the building named Chungking Mansion at around 1pm. This building is located at the heart of Nathan road and looks seriously like unfinished construction project. Despite of that, this building was packed with colorful foreigners, named it arabs, asians, caucasians, etc. Most of the first arrival like us will have the reaction like us. Clueless and very worried written so clearly on their faces. Inside this building got a lot of halal stalls, shops which very much looked like those in Kota Raya, money changers and guest houses. We feel like all the guest houses advertised in the booking.com all must be located here. 

I wasn't sure how my face was the whole journey up to the guest house, but 'A' quickly understood. But I said "maybe only the lobby looks like that. Maybe the room is okay". I could not be the one who ruined our hard-earned vacation by being so 'mengada' >,<

We took the elevator up, and during this time we learnt that, not all elevators goes to all floor. Different elevator goes up to different floors. We must check before we enter. It applies to most elevators I rode in HK. After waiting and long queue with other tourist with lots of baggage, we managed to enter the very small and smelly elevator. The person who rode with us usually were looking very...suspicious T_T Maybe they are not bad people, it's just how they look. Maybe the pressure I was having that time painted it the negative way =_=" 'A' who usually had so many things in mind will block me with all his might whenever we were inside the elevator. 

We finally arrived at our guest house and it did not get much better. It looks like an abandoned place which they tried so hard to make up so it is livable. Again I told 'A' maybe the room is okay'. We checked-in and led to our room. And guess what? it was worse. I never imagined such a place existed T_T It was so bad that I almost cried. Because I just can't.. Don't get me wrong, I am not a rich person and never was. But this? It wasn't that cheap also :( There was not even enough space for our luggage! It's like when you open the door, it was straight away the bed. That was my first time I brought the travel cooker, planning to cook simple things for the first time during vacation. But, sigh..there's not even a space for me to do that. Don't let me start with the toilet. And..I don't know where should we pray. Maybe on the bed. While we were discussing in the 'room' we could hear the neighbors. I heard kids and their parents and I wonder how do they live in that 'room'?

After 'A' calmed me down, we decided to scout for a new place to stay. It was 5 nights. Not a short time, and we could not imagine living there for a minute more. So, we walked around the area and enter as many hotels that we are familiar with the reputation and asked for a room. We targeted the Holiday Inn, but there was no room, then we tried Sheraton, etc., all but to no avail. Then, we stumbled upon The Best Western at the end of the Jordan Road. Quite secluded and yet located at a busy road. We went straight to the front table and asked for a vacant room. Luckily for us, they have one last room. I felt so relieved. But 'A' wasn't quickly fell for it. He asked the staff to show him the available rooms and after interrogations and site visits, he agreed to book that room (like we have any options :p). Alhamdulillah...

First day, in front of the Best Western Grand Hotel with such a relieved face. Alhamdulillah..

Roads in HK. This is the common view while walking around. 

Checking in into The Best Western. I don't usually take pictures of check in. But this is a must because it was such an achievement :') 

While scouting for hotel, this is the view of Hong Kong. This is Nathan road. 

The room. It has all the basic facility of 4 stars hotel such as TV, kettle, room service, bottomless water bottle, etc. Because this is Hong Kong, do not expect the room to be as spacious as Europe's. I think Japan's have more space than them. Visit to HK has changed my perception towards Japan's accommodation. hehe.. But, I am all grateful as we could sleep very soundly that night, watch TV and make plans for the next day. the bed especially was very good!

The space where I do my cooking. So far, I only managed to masak nasi je with the travel cooker >,<  Because we were so busy stuffed ourselves with varieties of dumplings and whatnot.

Ok, see you in the next post :)

Thank you for reading

*read how do we get to HK here*

Peaching to HK- A major throwback

It's been a long time since I last write.

Anyway, I opened my blog and realized that I have lost so many memories. What have I done from February until now? I think I have been everywhere and did so many things. But, I just can't recall. Oh, what a waste.

So, now I'd like to start with one of the highlight of the year 2015 that I had. 

It was our golden week trip to..Hong Kong!

Like the other vacations, we never have discussed about this whatsoever. 'A' decided on it, like 2 nights before. That explained why he was late to bed. He was researching. 

Anyway, the next morning, he called me from work and nagged me to buy tickets and book hotels from the page he already bookmarked. I was so tired thinking about all the last minute packs I need to do, nonetheless was very happy as he finally had some time off from work.

It was golden week. Japan named it so because it was only once a year they have a long holiday like this, hence the 'golden' (perhaps :p). But, the company my husband is working now, does not always follow this calendar. But this time, fortunately, they did. But they were told about it on the last minute. 

Flight to HK

As we will fly from Japan, it is only logic to check out Peach Aviation first. Peach is like Air Asia in Malaysia, but Peach is still at its infancy so it flies to a very limited numbers of international destinations still. One of it is Hong Kong. After a few surveys (done by me, so expect it to be very brief), Peach had the best offer, so we bought our tickets like a day before! And of course because all of these last minute preparations I think no one knows that we are in HK. hehe.

The flight was at 10am and we left Hiroshima at 4am after fajr prayer. We drove all the way to Kansai Airport as Peach fly internationally from Kansai and other major airports. Unfortunately for us, Hiroshima airport is not one of their major airport. That's too bad despite of how popular Hiroshima is as tourist attraction. sigh.. anyway, I love it though, the road trip. It was fun and not that tiring although it took us roughly more than 3 hours to reach Kansai. The morning view, nice cup of cheap coffees and the ridiculously nice RnR area made it all worth it. We reached Kansai airport terminal 1 at 7 am. We figured, wow, we have extra 1 hour to walk leisurely and explore the airport and you know..spend longer time in the toilet for ritual morning calls. But then as I stepped outside the toilet, I see my husband kind of turning blue saying to me, "uh-oh, we are at the wrong terminal"

OMG. I can't believe that was happening to us and since when Kansai got two terminals -_-"

Anyway, we sprinted to the car after asking for confirmation for the fact that Kansai got two terminals from the information counter (which only open at 7.30am). We had a hard time looking for ways to Terminal 2. The direction was either confusing or, we were just too nervous to understand it. lol xp. But, we finally made it, 2 hours before boarding time. Alhamdulillah..

It was our first time in Terminal 2 of Kansai Airport. It looks like a smaller version of LCCT. It was very small, it maybe has only 3-4 cafes inside. The check-in counter looks more like a bus counter with bag scanners at the front. We tried to self-check-in at the kiosk but failed. The thing is, most passengers failed to check-in from the kiosk and I suspect it was because of our names. Malaysian name, I don't need to mention how complicated our names are. Also, the other passengers were mainly Chinese which names usually consist of three names. I think the kiosk only successful at reading Japanese names. So, we had to queue a very long queue. But, all was good. We checked in and had breakfast at one of their cafes. 'A' had nasi lemak that I packed for him. He always wants bentou, so I always need to pack something for him. He just doesn't like to eat out. Unlike him, I love to try new things although most of the time I regret it and 'A' had to finish it and at the end I ate the nasi lemak. Lol xp.

I didn't take pictures of the boarding gate. Trust me, LCCT looking much more 'mulia'. But, I am very convinced that they will upgrade everything soon. Oh, despite of that, we didn't have to walk miles to get to the boarding gate from the immigration. hehe. You, KLIA2 frequents would know what I mean :p

Like our previous LCCT, we had to walk to the plane. Why Peach when there are so many fruits you can choose from (if you insist you want fruit as a name)? I have no idea.

 The journey took about 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was so short that a pack of Daiso's ika-pea (squid-flavored peanuts) was enough to survive the flight. 

As soon as we landed..and I was already very worried when I discovered that..they don't have bidet T___T OMG...

*sneak peek for next the next post*

Photo showing the clever side of us. Book hotel room only when arrived at the lobby computer of the hotel. Talking about risk-taker -_-"