Trip to Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea - Jan 25th 2010

Day 2

Today's agenda includes a visit to HK Disneyland. Close inspection of the voucher indicates that it may not be valid until tomorrow. Tried to call them but as they don't open until 10am I guess that they didn't want to answer the call. We weren't able to wake up until 8am.

Didn't end up going to Disneyland. Took the courtesy bus into the city and walked down to the Avenue of Stars [Official site here]. Was a bit excited to discover Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. It's situated right on the harbour and the funny thing was that most tourists appeared to be Koreans.

Foggy day on the harbour in HK.

Avenue of Stars statue.

Bruce Lee statue.

Flattery by imitation.

Jackie Chan - cool dude.

Jet Li - I could take him.

Yu So Chow - sounds like food.

Wu Pang - sounds like fighting noise.

Butterfly Hu - I dunno who.

Shek Kin - need anti-wobble pills.

Miky and The Boy on HK harbour.

Hoi You, over there! Strange name for a boat.

Beware of the pedestrians - funny sign, I thought.

Beware of the sculpture because sculptures are dangerous.

What crowd? Funny sign.

Then we visited the Serenade Chinese Restaurant for dim sum which Miky had read about on a blog. The meal was nice but about the same price as back home. It had a nice view of the harbour and that's probably where the additional expense came from. One of the waitresses, who must have been from the mainland, tried valiantly to provide us with some dish that we hadn't ordered and didn't speak a word of English. I gave the waitress my credit card to pay the bill. She took it away and upon her return asked me if I wanted a table for one. There's something about money and the Chinese methinks.

School students busy drawing the harbour in front of Serenade Chinese Restaurant.

Serenade Chinese Restaurant.

Inside Serenade Chinese Restaurant.

Shredded Sea Blubber and Duck's Tongue with chilli sauce on the menu. Blech.

Caught the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central on HK Island. We walked around and asked directions several times to The Peak Tram. Purchased a combo ticket for the Peak Tram, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and Sky Terrace for HK$500. Normally a return adult tram ticket was HK$36, child HK$16, Madame Tussauds adult ticket HK$160, child HK$90 and Sky Terrace (view from atop the building atop Victoria Peak) adult ticket HK$25 and child HK$25 (I think) - roughly HK$573. Seeing as we wanted to do all of these activities, and we jumped the queue of people just using the tram, it was worth it.

Cool HK tram.

HK skyline in front of Peak Tram terminus.

Maintain cough manners - sign on the Peak Tram.

View of HK from the Peak Tram.

Heading down from Victoria Peak.

Please keep an eye on your own properties - HK English.

Frugal chillin' at the Pacific Coffee lounge on Victoria Peak.

This guy wanted to take me for a ride.

Victoria Peak view.

View from the Peak Tram on the peak.

After viewing the city from Sky Terrace we went through Madame Tussauds Wax Museum which was really good and thoroughly enjoyed.

Who is the cute one?

How's it goin', Mel?

King Frugal seated in his rightful place.

Looks like a McDonalds birthday party.

George L Bush.

Obama is one tall dude.

Tall people should clean their noses.

Hitler looks worried.

I thought Hitler would be this tall.

When in China do as the Chinese do.

Hangin' out with who? Yes, Hu.


Frugal and Johnny Depp.

The Boy and Johnny Depp.

Miky and Johnny Depp.

Yao Ming is a really tall dude.

I've got Yao Ming covered.

Hands off my missus, Beckham.

I'm Ali's shadow boxer.

I'm not the only one with a belly.

Madonna and groupies.

King of Pop and the Moonwalker.

Had some refreshment at Pacific Coffee and then caught the tram down again. There was a walking tour past St John's Cathedral, Duddell Street Steps Gas Lamps and down to Man Mo Temple. No photos allowed inside the temple but the rings of incense were amazing as was the choking smoke.

Man Mo Temple entrance

Crazy tree on Hollywood Road.

Back of buildings in HK. Not a pretty sight.

Wandered down Hollywood Road which was full of antique shops. Next on the list was the Cha Yuen Fong Tea Room. Miky had read about this on a blog and was determined to buy some jasmine tea and a tea set. The owner was very chatty, obviously doesn't get too many visitors, and we purchased said tea and two tea sets. He did serve us three differents types of tea, jasmine, oolong and white, and explained the reason behind preparation of the cups, etc for the perfect cup of tea.

Cha Yuen Fong Tea Room on Hollywood Road.

More teapots than you can throw a stick at.

Plenty of tea for sale.

Thinking about what?

Then we visited Upper Lascar Row for more antiques and souvenirs. The hawkers became quite excited as there was about 20 memebers of the Hawker Control FEHD conducting a raid. They photographed the hawkers' wares and measured their sales areas, made lots of notes and spoke at length to the hawkers. One hawker wasn't interested in selling to us afterwards as he wanted HK$200 for a small tea bowl. Considering we had paid HK$120 for a complete tea set (pot and two cups and saucers) at the tea shop only minutes before he was not being too friendly. It was quite interesting seeing the hawkers hurriedly pack goods away right in the middle of us examining their wares.

I wonder if they sell something other than junk.

Hawker patrol is carrying out a raid.

Somebody is busted.

Then we headed down to to the IFC mall to try the Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop which, surprise surprise, Miky had read about on a blog. The decor was lovely, the service fast and impersonal as seems to be the way in this country, but the beef in black bean sauce with noodles was one of the best asian dishes I have ever tasted.

Inside Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop.

Bought several items of clothing at Zara and then went grocery shopping at iCity. Apples were HK$5.50/lb, milk tea HK$17 and fruit ice creams HK$16. Walked back to Central Station and headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui. Caught the courtesy bus back to the hotel. A package was waiting for me - Cathay Pacific (Dragon Holidays) tickets to Korea and back. And they were delivered on the day that they said they would be. Tried to get some photos of the city skyline but there wasn't a good viewing platform near the hotel.

Best city skyline I could find.

Harbour Plaza Metropolis by night