Monday 24 June 2019
This was how we documented our travel to Hong Kong: taking pics at the MTR pillars
We reached Tim Ho Wan at 11.20am.
I told the rest on our way there,"We are awfully late. We are going to have to wait a long time. The queue is going to be very long!"
Surprisingly, there was virtually nobody at the door! I took a second look to check that it was indeed Tim Ho Wan and that it had not closed down.
By the time I took out my DSLR from William's bag, two groups of customers had gathered at the counter outside the shop.
We couldn't miss out on their signature char siew buns, could we?
As good as ever! Yumz!
Old already still must take a picture with the buns
The only chicken feet that I eat
Prawn dumplings for the kids
This used to be the love of my life but it was disappointing this time.
Not sure what happened but the pig's liver now tastes similar to what we have in Singapore, smelly and hard.
Beancurd wrapped shrimp
This was good. I don't usually like Beancurd wrapped stuff but this was crispy for a beancurd wrap and it tasted differently from the ones I usually have.
Pig's liver siew mai
I was a fan of their pig's liver chee cheong fun so on seeing that this was new on the menu, I thought it must be good too.
Bad choice. Liver was hard and tasted just like Singapore's pig's liver. I forced myself to down one and coerced William to eat the other one.
The bill
We were stuffed.
We took the train from Sham Shui Po to Tung Chung for the Crystal Cabin Cable Car ride to Ngong Ping.
William had never been to the Giant Buddha so he wanted to see it.
My first time on the cable car had only our own family in a cabin.
Now they squeezed at least 8 in a cabin. Doesn't matter if you are perfect strangers.
While she was game at scary-to-death roller coasters, Baby was apprehensive about taking the cable car. She asked a lot of questions about the cable car before we boarded one and kept urging us not to stand or move about in the cabin.
The sight that greeted us at Ngong Ping. As touristy as ever.
We were intrigued by the roaming cows!
One of the cows roamed among the people and everybody was crowding around it.
It must have wondered why the humans are staring at it.
When I went near the cow for a picture, I realised how brave the girls were to stand that close to the cow. I was afraid that the cow might be agitated by the unwanted attention and turn to attack me.
The mist shrouding the Giant Buddha
I wanted to go Tai O, a fishing village 10 minutes' ride from Ngong Ping.
I checked my itinerary and saw that the ferry from Tai O would leave at 4pm and 6pm while the cable car service would cease at 6pm.
It was already 3pm, so we had to leave for Tai O before climbing the 200-odd steps to view the countenance of the Giant Buddha.
We took a cab that charged us HKD 100 for a 10-minute ride. Coco commented that it was the shortest $20 ride she had ever been on.
It was quite anti-climax when we got to Tai O.
Not sure if I had too high an expectation but I was not too pleasantly surprised that Tai O was rather quiet. Not many tourists were there. It's as if most people already know that Tai O was not worth a visit.
When we entered the streets of Tai O, stalls selling various food products came into view.
Hot or cold beancurd pudding
Tourists buying local products
We were amuse by the huge pufferfish hanging at the shopfront
We missed this sign and went straight and deep into the street leading us to the residential area on land.
We had to walk back to the entrance to find this.
Our thought: A poorer version of Venice. Lol.
More products sold by the shops
Frozen fruits as ice-cream
At 4pm, we frantically searched for the pier as we needed to return to Ngong Ping for our cable car return trip.
It was a mistake. This is why you should have your itinerary done up way before your trip.
For some reason, I equated 'Tung Chung' with 'Ngong Ping', so when the internet stated that the ferry goes to Tung Chung, I thought it was going to Ngong Ping!
It didn't even occur to me that Ngong Ping was on a mountainous area, so how could a ferry go up a hill?
So we boarded the ferry and paid for the fare using our Octopus Cards and enjoyed the 'scenic' ride which comprised of mainly the waters and some remote lands and houses.
I was shocked when William told me,"We are back on land. The cable car is on the other side."
He hadn't even gone to his Giant Buddha yet!
We found a red urban cab driver that took us to the Tung Chung Cable Car Station, but William decided that a cab that crossed over the water would be faster and cheaper than a cable car ride so we took a blue cab to the Giant Buddha.
The cab driver was very nice. He knew we were pressing for time so he sped all the way to the foot of the Giant Buddha.
We reached there at 5.30pm and the tourist attraction would close at 6pm.
You won't believe it but we climbed all the way up in 5 minutes.
This was the Buddha that we took a picture with.
Mysterious and sacred, shrouded by a thick layer of mist.
By the time we got down, which was like 5.40pm, the mist had enveloped the place.
I felt like we were in Silent Hill, sans the horror and sinister elements, thankfully.
We had to try to figure out where Ngong Ping Village was.
"The lights! That's where we came from!"
What made the mist worse was the rain!
We were wet, although not drenched from head to toe, by the time we reached the cable car station.
As if that was not the worst, it was announced that the cable car service had to cease due to the bad weather!
We had to take a coach back to Tung Chung
In the end, we still didn't get to take the Crystal Cabin Cable Car for our return trip. Haiz ...
We must have had such a good time shopping at Citygate Outlets that I forgot to take any pictures of the shops and mall!
It was still rainy by the time we reached Tsim Sha Tsui MTR.
I asked Coco to choose between Ichiran (Ramen) and Tsui Wah Restaurant.
Coco is a ramen fan but the rain deterred us from walking 5 minutes to the outlet.
Tsui Wah was just next to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR so after buying two umbrellas from the 7-Eleven store beside the MTR, we trotted over to Tsui Wah for our last meal of the day.
Tsui Wah is very spacious.
My camera didn't come with a panoramic mode so I could only take a picture of half of the restaurant.
I had read that tourists and locals flock to Tsui Wah but perhaps it was late, when we were there at 11pm, very few customers were there.
Coco had Swiss chicken wings
William's dish: Curry chicken rice
Mine: Hainanese chicken rice
For a HKD 75 chicken rice set, it was, well, good. Edible. It came with a nice tomato soup.
Don't compare it with Singapore's chicken rice and you will do fine.
It's Hong Kong chicken rice after all.
Where to go:
Tim Ho Wan, the Dim-Sum Specialists
9-11 Fuk Wing Street (Sham Shui Po MTR Exit B1/2)
Opening hours: 8am - 9.30pm (Daily)
Ngong Ping 360
Take to Tung Chung MTR for cable car to Ngong Ping
Tsui Wah Restaurant
2 Carnarvon Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui
Opening hours: 7am – 2am (Daily)
Nearest MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui
Opening hours: 7am – 2am (Daily)
Nearest MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui
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