Sunway: Tai Lei Loi Kei 大利来记

Tai Lei Loi Kei has been blooming everywhere since mid-2013. I've seen one branch in SS15 before a newer one open in Sunway Pyramid. (There may be other branches opening at other places, but due to my lack of knowledge/common sense/sense of direction, I only know about Subang area.)

It is actually a restaurant that is famous with their pork chop bun (猪扒包) in Macau. Many tourists will drop by the stall in Macau and I've seen photos of long queue, just for their pork chop bun. It does not attracts me as I think it is something that I can make at home. Fried the pork chop and toast the bread. Easy huh?!

After my Hong Kong trip in December 2013, I've tried pork chop bun in Macau, but not from Tai Lei Loi Kei. The restaurant that I went is recommended in openrice hong kong and hence I decided to try that instead. Hmm... Nothing surprise me. Other than the crispy bun, pork chop taste pretty normal. Something that I dislike is the bones in the pork chop! Quite hard to finish the bun like a lady. XD

Well, there's one morning that I went to Sunway Pyramid and trying to look for something light and not filling. I've tried most bread shop in Pyramid and hence decided to try Tai Lei Loi Kei. Give chance give chance. =P

Missed their breakfast set, which ends at 11am. Was there around 11.10am. *CRY* So I ordered a pork chop bun (plus egg and cheese), curry fishballs noodle (咖喱鱼蛋面）and also a Macau dessert -- Serradura/Biscuit Mousse (木糠蛋糕). 

Here's the bun! The bun is nice but there's bones in the pork chop! WHY MUST HAVE BONES? I almost crack my tooth with food again. LOL.. Additional egg and cheese make the bun tastes nicer. But it is quite oily overall. NOT HEALTHY. 

Hong Kong Yuen Long: Tai Lam Country Park 大棠/ 大榄郊野公园

Friend's auntie suggested to her that we can go Yuen Long to search for maple leaves. And since I've visited quite a number of must-go tourist spots in Hong Kong, I decided to go for this maple leave hunting with my friend. 

Yuen Long is located in New Territories West, Hong Kong. It took us about 1.5 hours to travel from Central to Yuen Long. We took train and then another bus in Yuen Long to travel to Tai Lam Country Park, the place where a lot of bloggers mentioned about maple leaves. When we were queuing for bus, we think we are heading to the right spot.  The bus stop was filled with a lot of tourists and locals holding their professional cameras.  

So, being a not-so-professional tourist, we followed the path of others. When we saw the signage below, we were really happy. Right spot to hunt for maple leaves. Yesshhhhhhh......

There's signage showing where to find maple leaves. So we were more relax that time. But we need to walk for another hour to reach our destination. Half-way through, we found a huge barbeque spot. So we stopped by to take some photos and enjoy the fresh air. *breath breath breath* 

The place where people can barbeque and enjoy some family time. =D

It was getting dark when we continued to walk to find maple leaves. Before we found maple leaves, we saw sun-setting. Hence, we walked a little faster so that we could take some nice photos. 

About 15-20 minutes after the barbeque space, we found maple leaves and a lot of people! Oh! Such an amazing place! So romantic and pretty. =D Too bad we went there a little too late and hence the photos aren't very awesome. But it's my first time surrounded by maple trees with red maple leaves. <3

So many maple trees!!!! 

Me and the maple leaves. So pretty!! Autumn feeling in winter. =)

My favourite photo taken by my friend. You're such an awesome photographer. <3 <3

Different experience in different country, with different weather. That's why I love to travel.

More information about Tai Lam Country Park with directions can be found here.

Ahhh!!! Don't forget to get some Yuen Long Lou Poh Peng (老婆饼) on your way to the park or on your way back home! Heard them from TVB dramas? Why not try them yourself? =)

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 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!

HK: Temple Street 庙街 and Sport Shoes Street 波鞋街

This post continues from my previous post. So apparently, I went to Wong Tai Sin Temple in the morning/afternoon and I turned up at Yau Ma Dei (油麻地) and Mong Kok (旺角). I did make a small wrong decision by going Ocean Park at 4.45pm and ended up nobody wanna sell us ticket because the park closes at 8pm. Hmmm... Another kind soul I met in Hong Kong. 

When we reach Yau Ma Dei MTR station, it was about 6pm in the evening. I'm so thankful that there's super convenient public transport in Hong Kong that allows me to make a wrong turn and still didn't waste much time. 

Once we reach Yau Ma Dei, we start to hunt for food! We were walking passed a shop selling claypot rice (煲仔饭) with a super long queue. The restaurant didn't seem fancy but the queue is 2 shop lots away. Since I'm a tourist, I decided to follow the crowd and queued for 1 hour. It's winter and I queued outside to challenge my cold rash. XD

The queue!!! Crazy isn't it!

We ordered our food while queuing. I ordered claypot rice with pork ribs and sausage (排骨腊肠煲仔饭) and my friend ordered claypot rice with eel and pork ribs (白鳝排骨煲仔饭). We ordered another side dish because it sounds delicious -- fried oyster with flour (煎蠔饼). They turned out to be...........

ermm.....

ermmm....

ermmmmmm.......

Very delicious fried oyster with flour. It is biscuit-like and hence super crunchy! They are quite 豪 with their 蠔. 

But the claypot rice is too speechless... Look at my pork ribs and sausage. Nothing much but just pork ribs, sausage, rice and claypot. I was really WTH when I see my food. Queues are misleading. Haihhhhh....

My friend wanna cheer me up and introduced me cream soda! Look at the metal container that the store owner keep all these soft drinks. So traditional! love it!! 

Temple street is just a night market street. LOL

After having our dinner and walk along Temple Street, we decided to walk to Mong Kok to get me a pair of comfy shoes. My boots are killing me badly after 2 days and I have to wear my friend's brother's New Balance out to continue my journey. Walked along the street and hardly find a pair of women shoes to fit my giant feet. Oh man.... Luckily I got a pair of striking red nike shoes after 1 1/2 hour of shopping. Phewww.... 

Mong Kok Sport Shoes Street. Seriously, the whole street is full of shoes shop. Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Asics, You name it they have it. The price is dirt cheap also! My pair of nike is just RM200+. =D

Before heading to cinema for our midnight movie, we walked around Mong Kok and found this Mobile Softee Car. I've seen it in drama and I have to try it! Winter? Don't care. The soft serve is really nice! Too bad it camouflaged with my scarf in this pic. 

Mong Kok is really happening and I shall talk about it in coming post. Till then...... Cheers!!

HK Wong Tai Sin 黄大仙

Went Wong Tai Sin (黄大仙) on the 3rd day of my HK trip. I always thought Wong Tai Sin is the name of the temple but I was wrong. It is the name of the place (district) and the temple is known as Wong Tai Sin Temple (黄大仙祠). The temple is just 5 minutes walk from Wong Tai Sin MTR station. I went there from Hong Hum (红磡), hence I took bus instead of MTR. But well, the walking distance to the temple isn't far from bus stop. HK is so convenient if you can walk like a HK ppl. =)

The main entrance to the temple. Me and a bunch of aunty uncle tourists. It looks really grand and I can't wait to go in to pray and get my fortune stick (kau qim)!! XD

Every tourist touches this statue from it's "butt" to head and back to it's "butt". Look wrong and sound wrong but as a tourist, I followed what they did. hahaha.... =) Follow the crowd and hope for the best!

Inside the temple, there are many statues and I find this very interesting. Everyone is allowed to get 9 incenses to do prayers in the temple. This statue is holding the candle for people to lit their incenses up. Such a creative and beautiful idea. 

Ta-Daaa!!! The most happening part of the temple where people bring fruits, food and/or wine/tea and kneel down to pray. Some of them were just praying and some were trying to shake out their fortune stick. The praying area is incense-free, so you have to go round the temple to do your praying before you kneel down here. 

And of course, me and my fortune stick!! Tried to ask about work and relationship (姻缘).. hoho.. get pretty interesting fortune stick for my relationship after asking a guy to "gai qim" (解签) (read out the meaning of the stick). What is it about?? Secret. ;)

Before we leave the temple, me and my friend went to tie a string at yue lao's (月老) place. They have pretty special way for you to hold the string, walk toward the statue of your opposite gender and tie your string on the big strand. 

I just spent about 2 hours in the temple, with 1 hour spent finding a right stall to "gai qim". They have 100+ stalls available for you to choose. As I have problem making a choice and also some of the names of the stall sound too god-like, I used up 1 hour just to find a stall to enter. To avoid wasting time, read blogs to get an idea which stall is good =)

To know more information about the temple, you can visit this website: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/highlight-attractions/top-10/sik-sik-yuen-wong-tai-sin-temple.jsp

Cheers!! =)

HK Yee Shun Dairy Company 港澳義順牛奶公司：Awesome Steamed Milk 超正的双皮奶

I always heard about steamed milk from TVB drama and also some food blogs. I wondered what is steamed milk and how it tastes like. Steamed milk is called 双皮奶 in Chinese and it does comes in different flavour in Yee Shun Dairy Company, such as ginger and chocolate steamed milk. The restaurant is like normal char Chan teng where you can order some macaroni or sandwiches. 

They have several branches and I visited the one at Tai Zi (太子). I ordered a bowl of macaroni with ham (火腿通粉), which isn't too fascinating. It is a nice bowl of macaroni, but I won't crave for it. Maybe because I am not a fan of instant noodles. Of course, I ordered their famous original hot steamed milk. It is very smooth and the milk tastes great! It has tau fu fa texture but because it is milk, it is much smoother. Thinking about it I'm craving for a bowl now. Haha!! Photos are shown below, don't drip too much saliva on your keyboard ya!! 

Hong Kong Cheung Chau: 允升甜品店

Continue from my Cheung Chau Day Trip post. This post will be about the dessert I've tried in Cheung Chau. We found this shop from food review website and it was a nice try. 

When we arrived at the shop, there were a group of teenagers queuing outside and they insist to wait for seats when the boss asked them to go another shop owned by his son. The shop is quite small, which is normal for shops in Hong Kong. We were lucky coz we are just 2 persons and seats are more likely to be available for us.

Notice the empty table on the left? Yes, that's our seat XD

Mango Cheung Fun (芒果肠粉) (HKD 21) -- white one is coconut and the black one is some seaweed thingy. Honestly, the white one is good but the black one isn't my type of cheung fun. But the mango is really nice. The boss is quite generous with the mango portion (yes, real mango, not paste)

This is called 芒果糯米糍 (like me try to translate -- Mango wrapped with glutinous ball-like skin) (HKD8). This is so good and I do regret for ordering the Cheung Fun. Should have ordered 2 of this. But well, never try never know. Arghhh.... I miss the mango now. 

The shop is located at 長洲新興街3號 and it is not far from the shop that I'm gonna introduce in the coming post. Hope you enjoy the dessert post and stay tuned for more!

Hong Kong Cheung Chau (长洲) Day Trip

I have this precious opportunity to step into Cheung Chau (长洲) during my Hong Kong trip. A day trip to this island is totally worth the time as it is a very relaxing small town. To travel to Cheung Chau, we took ferry from Central Ferry Piers (中环码头), which took us about 45 minutes. We chosen First Class seats to explore how is it look like. First Class seat is about HKD6 more than economy class, but nothing to be fancy about unless you have a group of friends. They have long tables for people to either play card games, eat, or chit-chat. 

Why I want to explore Cheung Chau?? Hmm... One of the answer would be I love sea, relaxing places and good food. The other reason would be I am a TVB fans and Cheung Chau is the main shooting spot for the drama "Slow Boat Home" a.k.a. 情越海岸線 in Chinese. The drama introduced a festival in Cheung Chau which seems pretty interesting but it is held around May each year. The festival is called Cheung Chau Bun Festival 長洲太平清醮 and the drama showed how the people in Cheung Chau celebrate this festival. I would definitely be back one day if I have the chance to experience this special festival. 

The poster of the drama "Slow Boat Home". 

So back to my travel experience to Cheung Chau.

The view of Cheung Chau from the ferry. I was very excited to see the island. TVB drama comes to reality. hohohoho..... 

Walked out the ferry pier and I can see plenty of stalls by the road, selling souvenirs and also room rental services. (Exactly as shown in the drama XD) Also, there are plenty of stalls renting out bicycles for tourists. Of course, we are tourist and we rented bicycles to cycle around the island. Glad that bicycles exist because my feet was too pain during my visit to Cheung Chau due to my boots. (Tips to travel: NEVER WEAR NEW SHOES)

 The souvenir shops. The umbrellas are all the same! notice that? 

Bicycles for rent! We rented the bike for HKD10 per hour. Not too bad as it can save my life!

Cheung Chau is a fishing village and hence you can see fishing boats' "parking lot". Good thing about this fishing village is that it does not has the typical fishing village "fishy" smell. So don't have to worry about cycling here. You will get fresh air. =)

The shop lots around are very old/traditional. They are mostly food stalls, boutiques or gift shop. 

We wanted to visit the beach and with my poor sense of direction, we end up here! Read the words. We saw the building and quickly ran away. LOL

Finally here at Tung Wan Beach (东湾海滩). Saw a lot of kids playing sands building castles. Feel so old but I still have to take pictures. Love the sand but too bad it is winter and I have my boots on. I wanna jump into the sea!!! But look at my OOTD, how can I jump? @.@

Spent about 6 hours in Cheung Chau exploring the food and enjoy the breeze while cycling. Holiday is awesome! Blue sky, kind people, nice food, cold weather and awesome companion, what else I can ask for? 

If you are looking for a getaway during your Hong Kong Trip, do consider Cheung Chau. And please watch the drama to understand more about the culture. Food posts will be up soon as I don't want to ruin this relaxing post with food.