Hong Kong Avenue of Stars 星光大道

As it was winter solstice, my friend had family dinner to attend, so I had to walk alone in Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀). It isn't sad to walk and shop around alone. Being a tourist, I have to visit famous tourist spots and hence I ended up at Avenue of Stars (星光大道). Night view along avenue of stars is really beautiful. This is where you can enjoy the night view of Hong Kong. Yes, another romantic spot but there's plenty of tourists walking around. Maybe it will be a little PDA if you were to date here. Haha.. XD

I wanted to snap photos with the beautiful views and some sculptures at Avenue of Stars but I faced a problem. I don't have friend to help me to grab a photo. OH NO!! Hmmmm.... Luckily I have an idea. I tried to act brave and asked any kind-looking tourist to help. And I succeed! I am one step closer to be a backpacker! Yeshhhhhh

Beautiful night view of Hong Kong along Avenue of Stars. 

Me posing with Bruce Lee. (photo taken by a Malaysian family)

Night view and me. (photo taken by a kind uncle. He took 4 photos to make sure I like one of them.)

Another pic at Avenue of Stars. (photo taken by a Chinese lady)

Hong Kong Ladder Street 楼梯街 and Duddell Street Stone Steps 都爹利街石阶

Ladder Street is located in Sheung Wan, is a place where you can often see in TVB dramas. Since I am a TVB fans, I decided to pay a visit there after going Stanley Beach and Repulse Bay. Ladder Street can be found in dramas such as "Outbound Love" (单恋双城) and "Heart of Greed" (溏心风暴). I went there in the evening so the feeling is kinda from what I've expected from the dramas.  

The Ladder Street is really long! Our legs were tired that time and we decided to walk half of the street. If you want to have a walk before hitting Lan Kwai Fong (兰桂坊) for the night, ladder street may be a good spot. This street is really romantic at night, with the yellow lamps. Couples can have a walk here and pretend like some TVB actors. =D

Ladder Street! Very tourist pose. haha...

Romantic ladders. Unique, long and antique. I love the environment here. My friend and I spent half an hour here to pose and take photos. We even take out umbrellas to pose as if we are capturing for a music video.

Next Stop: Duddell Street Stone Steps. 

Duddell Street is located in Central, nearer to Lan Kwai Fong. More dramas are taken here: "Healing Hands" (妙手仁心), "Survivor's Law" (律政新人王), "The Drive of Life" (岁月风云). There is a Starbucks Coffee Shop up the Stone Steps, which make this street more developed. This is a better place for photography. I climbed up to sit on the handrails, I climbed up to take photo with the famous gas lamps, I sat on the steps to pretend like a model, etc.... I'm so lucky to have a friend who can take nice photos of mine and also who can think of creative poses for me. That's why people say, you need a good travel partner. I think I found one more. (For your information, I have a few good travel companions. Found them during my student exchange to Melbourne)

I like this photo the most! Me @ Duddell Street. Beware: you need to be careful when you climb up alright. Children needs guidance from parents. XD

Hong Kong Stanley Beach (赤柱) & Repulse Bay (浅水湾)

9 days in Hong Kong means I have plenty of time to slowly enjoy the scenery in Hong Kong. It's winter when I visited Hong Kong but I wish to pay a visit to beaches. Yes, I love beach, blue sky, sea and the relaxing environment. Discussed with my friend and we decided to visit Stanley beach and Repulse Bay. Both are famous beaches in Hong Kong, located in southern district, and there are plenty of nice condominiums and houses around that area. 

Stanley Beach is our first stop. There are a few tourist attractions along Stanley Beach -- Stanley Market, Stanley Plaza, Murray House, etc. There are a lot of fancy restaurants, mostly serving Western cuisine. I saw a lot of foreigners drinking wine/beer or enjoying their chips, either sitting in the restaurant or walking by the beach. Another interesting thing along Stanley Beach is that you can see a lot of people walking their dogs. Whatever breed that you can think of, you can find them there. Stanley Beach is where rich people hang out I suppose. XD

We spent about 3 hours at Stanley Beach, walking, visiting Stanley Market, taking pictures and also did some shopping. Of course, we feed ourselves with a huge slice of pizza from a pizza shop nearby. Food is a must for a tourist.  

The blogger in pink dress with beautiful sea view @ Stanley Beach

This is another side of Stanley Beach, where I have an opportunity to meet a Hong Kong artist. Didn't manage to grab a photo with him but I stared at him twice that day. Stalker XD

After spending our time in Stanley Beach in the afternoon, we quickly grab a bus to Repulse Bay to watch sunset by the beach. Repulse Bay is quieter compared to Stanley Beach and there are more tourists. I saw some "hyperactive" chinese aunties trying to pose for photos by the beach. Some of them did jump shots, some of them were playing with water, while some of them try to pose with their scarfs. Yes, I tried to imitate the aunties to be a hyperactive tourist. Haha... 

Repulse Bay is so pretty during sunset. The sands became orange and they are really soft to step on. The condominiums along the beach is really pretty. I love their designs. Repulse Bay is one of the most expensive housing areas in Hong Kong. If you need to hunt for a rich husband/wife, you can try walking around this area daily. =D

Look at the orange-y beach! 

The blogger, sea, and the sunset.

Pretty condominiums. 

I really like these two beaches. Would like to visit again during spring/summer/autumn so I could take of my shoes and play around. Winter is too challenging for me and my cold rash.

Stay tuned for my next post! Hope you enjoy reading.

Macau Day Trip Part 2

As mentioned in previous post, I went to Macau for day trip during my 9-days Hong Kong Trip. After visiting St Domingo's Church and Ruins of St Paul, we tried some local cuisine - portuguese egg tarts (葡挞) and pork chop bun (猪扒包).

We went to try Portuguese Egg Tarts at Cafe e Nata Margaret's in the evening and the queue was shocking. We queued for about 30-45 minutes. The egg tarts sold out real fast and it was really hard to get a seat to dine in. My friend and I ordered half dozen of egg tarts and finished all within 20 minutes. Slurps... It was good, not too sweet, the ratio of biscuits and eggs was just nice. @_@ Awwww...... I'm missing the tarts now. 

The logo of the shop

Me and the egg tart. Looks nice isn't it? Both people and food. XD

We tried pork chop bun too but it doesn't really up to my expectation. So I decided not to recommend it here. =) 

After trying egg tarts, we went to hunt for the recommended biscuit shop. We found out in the macau guide that it will be closing at 7pm so we walked kinda fast to search for it. Luckily we found the shop and bought my souvenirs! Mission accomplished!

Here's some photos to show you how the shop looks like. It does not looks like those fancy biscuits shop near Ruins of St Paul. It looks so traditional and I feel more confident with their biscuits. Bought some almond cookies and egg rolls from them, and they tasted really good. Fresh and delicious. Recommend to all my readers to try this shop -- Pastelaria Chui Heong (最香饼家)

So traditional! Look at the bottles!

Even Louis Koo was here before for a movie! Oh, and look at the freshly baked almond cookies!

After buying biscuits, I went to visit Macau casinos. First one was Casino Lisboa (new), followed by Casino Lisboa (old) and Casino Gold Sand. The casinos in Macau are really grand and cool. They are bigger than those that I've visited previously (Casino in Melbourne and Genting Highlands). Even the decorations in casinos can be tourist attraction. I overheard a tour guide telling his group that they can snap some photos in the casino and leave after that. Being an adventurous tourist, I was thinking what is so special in the casino lobby and went in to take a look. Hmmmm..... I'm amazed. Look at the photos below and you will know what I mean. =)

Entrance of the casino. I like the colourful lights. =D

Super grand stairs! That's where the princess walk down for their ball. Ooopsss! Sorry for day-dreaming. 

Last but not least, cinderella-like christmas decoration in the casino. 

We tried our luck gambling and I lost. Friend is smart and lucky. She won back some bucks and our turbojet ticket fare. I'm so glad to have her as my guide (指路明灯). I learnt how to gamble and how to be a tourist with sense of direction. Oh, I miss her already. And so we ended our macau day trip by taking turbojet back Hong Kong around 11pm.

Macau Day Trip Part 1

So here's the long waited Macau Day Trip post. We did not buy our tickets ahead, so we have to buy the deluxe seats (豪华位) to get the timing that suits us. Without doing much research, we bought a tourist guide from 7-eleven and did our quick 1-hour read up in the turbojet. 

A photo at turbojet terminal. =D Deluxe seat is really comfortable. It comes with a meal too. 

The journey from Hong Kong to Macau by turbojet is only 1 hour. I felt a little dizzy in the boat and slept for a while. Reached Macau and we started our journey by taking a cab to Wine & Grand Prix Museum (葡萄酒和赛车博物馆). Before entering the museum, I went to the park opposite the museum to grab a photo as a tourist. 

Tourist in action!! Cheese... =) Love the colour combination of this photo - blue sky, flowers, buildings and me in white!

Grand Prix museum. Lots of cool cars and engines displayed for fans. 

Wine Museum is kinda amazing too. They have different wines on displayed and also portugese traditional costumes. There's also a corner showing how red wine is being processed. If you are a wine lover, drop by to take a look. Entrance fee is just HKD10 if I'm not mistaken.

After visiting museums, we continued our journey with another cab to Avenida de Almeida Riberio (新马路) so that we could visit St. Domingo's Church, Ruins of St Paul and other tourist spots. 

St Domingo's Church - it is located in the heart of Senado Square of Macau. It is one of the attraction listed on the World Heritage List. There are lots of tourists in the church and the church is rather big and pretty. I was quite amazed although I've been to several church in Malaysia and Australia. 

This is how St Domingo's Church looks like. The man behind trying to seek some attention from us. LOL

Ruins of St Paul (大三巴牌坊) - built in 17th century and was destroyed by fire in 1835. This is like the main tourist spot of Macau and so please expect a super duper huge crowd during holidays. It was so hard for us to find a nice spot to take photos without anyone behind us. 

Ruins of St Paul. Still, Sky is perfect for us to take photo.

Along our way to Ruins of St Paul from Avenida de Almeida Riberio, there's plenty of shops selling almond cookies, dried meat (bak gua), dried seafood, etc etc... Many tourists have either 钜记 or 咀香园 bags with them but my friend recommended me to buy the cookies from another shop. What is that? Please wait for part 2!

Hong Kong Ocean Park 香港海洋公园

Sorry for not updating this blog for so long. Got caught up with work for Chinese New Year. Now that CNY is almost over, I'm back to blogging life! =)

To catch up with my previous post about Hong Kong trip, I shall blog about my trip to HK Ocean Park. Oh no no, it should be my second trip to HK Ocean Park. What happened? Please refer to my previous post. Hehe...

So, my friend and I spent about 6 hours in the park. The weather was perfect as it was chilly and a little windy. I would say that Ocean Park is a must-visit tourist spot in HK. The rides can be played by both kids and adults. Of course, we chose those exciting ones and ignored the kiddo rides. But compared to rides in Dream World Gold Coast, these rides are not that scary. Well, it isn't the scariness that matters, it is the people, weather and the environment that's important. 

Ocean Park with Christmas Decoration. Yeah!!

Visited Panda "An An" in Panda Centre. So cute!!!

Me posing with my red bean kueh 砵仔糕 @ Old Hong Kong Theme Street

I think I can camouflage well with the flowers. LOL

Sea lion is so cute! You must watch their show 海洋剧场 and you will be amazed!

Me with Christmas Tree before leaving Ocean Park. Ignore the construction thingy. 

It was an amazing day trip to Ocean Park and I will be back! Ahhhh.... Not to forget to mention that there's a lot of food stall in Ocean Park selling Cuttlefish. Try it! I remember it costs about HKD30 but it is delicious! Worth trying.

Next post will be about MACAU DAY TRIP. More nice food to recommend!