I Heart HK!

I went to Hongkong a couple of weeks ago with my fiance and some friends of ours.  It was a long-overdue vacation and I just loved every minute of it!

We specifically picked a hotel in Kowloon to be near the shops since we wanted to do some serious electronics shopping. We stayed at Metropark Hotel Kowloon (booked via asiatravel.com).  The hotel room rates weren’t that expensive but our rooms were spacious and clean. We had cable, hot water and free broadband internet. I didn’t even get to use my hair drier (which I brought with me) since the hotel provided us with one. The staff was English speaking and they had a shuttle that left every half hour which brought us to the nearest MTR station or to any of the nearby local spots.

Our hotel room

Transportation was a breeze. We mostly took the MTR to get from one place to another. We each got this Octopus card for HKD 150 which was good for three days (similar to our stored-value MRT/LRT cards here). I strongly recommend getting this card as soon as you get to HK. Sobrang sulit! We were surprised that we were able to use the cards on the ferry and bus rides to Ngong Ping. Plus the unused amount is refundable. I was able to refund around HKD 30 from my card on our last day.

taken at one of the MTR stations (probably at Central)

Note to self: the next time I go to Hongkong I’d definitely bring more cash. I only had one credit card with me and it was going bonkers (Thank God it worked at the hotel!) so I wasn’t able to use it at the shops. Fortunately, we did most of our shopping at the Ladies Market and at the Night Market in Temple Street. I had to use my haggling powers honed by my extensive Divisoria and Greenhills experience. Both markets were blocks long filled with all the merchandise that you can imagine–from clothes to bags to toys to art work to antiques and other types of trinkets. We usually got back to the hotel late at night with aching feet and lighter wallets.

We visited two major computer centers: the one in Mongkok and the other in Wan Chai where I bought this pair of orange TDK magnetic speakers:

I was lucky to find this at Wan Chai for just HKD 126 (roughly around Php 760). One of our companions even got himself a secondhand black macbook for only Php 30,000. We spent the first half of our trip in these shops and I had to forcibly stop myself from going gadget-crazy. I was so tempted to buy a lot more than those orange speakers.

The best part of the trip was the food. Since we’re a pretty adventurous group when it came to food, we mostly ate at the small restaurants near the hotel or near the markets/stores. Serving per plate seemed good enough for two and everything was just delicious. Budget per meal was around HKD 20 to 30 (less than Php 200). My personal favorite was this restaurant at Temple which was right beside this adult video shop. My friends and I dined al fresco–we feasted on fried oysters, beef brisket, chinese fried rice, vegetables, noodles and beer. YUMMY!

The restaurant at Temple Street. Two thumbs up!

"Eat Together"--we ate here twice! It's near the Ladies' Market.

The menu at Eat Together with Cj and Benoit on the foreground.

The dim sum at Eat Together is a must try. They have the best fried dumplings!

HK's own version of turo-turo

The assorted balls are tasty (squid, fish and something else I can’t distinguish) but they also have these small sausages wrapped in bacon that are just to die for. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

We realized later on that we didn’t get to eat a single siopao when we were there. Since none of us could speak nor read Chinese, we relied on pictures. Maybe we just missed it.

Of course, we visited the more tourist-y spots. Too bad we only stayed there for four days. We didn’t get to visit Disneyland or the Peak.

At the Avenue of Stars for the lights show

Couples' pic at Lang Kwai Fong

the boys and their Heineken

Probably the trip's highlight for me--visiting the Big Buddha

Having a sweet tooth meant I just had to try this sweet-sour candy apple at Ngong Ping. Yum!

Cable car ride from Ngong Ping. Too bad it was foggy.

I couldn’t really say anything bad about Hongkong. Even the weather was great! I think Mac loved it as much as I did that we’re willing to go back there for our honeymoon. Maybe next time we can include a side trip to Macau in the itinerary.

We’ve been back in Manila for over two weeks and I still have HK hangover. Nothing really beats traveling to a great place with great company.

Our one and only group shot. Taken at a restaurant in Soho.