Hong Kong + Guangzhou Trip, March 2014 – Part 1

HK Mar2014_Cover

[in Hong Kong] Am finally going to blog about my Hong Kong trip. Came back on Monday, back to work on Tuesday. Was busy with work… As usual, lotsa proposals to be done…dot dot dot… Anyways, it’s weekend! Shall not think about work

My trip was great but a bit cold though. Weather was about 15 – 18 degrees and the jackets I brought were not thick enough. Was shivering here and there, thankfully, LY lent me her Uniqlo Heat Tech wear (I think that’s what she called that) and saved me from the cold weather. We also made a trip to Guangzhou and finally got to meet up with my ex-colleagues. Great time catching up with them… Glad to be back but bad news is, I’ve lost all the pictures I’ve took during the trip. *Bang* * Pull Hair* *URGHHHH* On one fateful night, i meant to delete a photo, but accidentally deleted the entire camera album. *Bang* * Bang* Luckily, I’ve sent some to JL and boyfriend, posted some on Facebook and Instagram. Or else, I’m really left with zero!

It was a last minute trip when LY saw the Scoot’s promotion, so why not! It was my first time travelling with Scoot, a Singapore-based low-cost long-haul airline. Read some bad reviews online previously and was quite hesistant when friends wanna fly by Scoot. Then again, I shouldn’t jump into conclusions. Boyfriend flew to Bangkok with Scoot before and no issues. Hm…overall quite ok, even the greetings message were different from the norm – “Let’s scoot out of here or Let’s get out of here…” (cannot remember if it’s scoot out or get out). Love the leg space, at least more spacious than other budget airlines. If were to ask me if there’s anything I don’t like, that will be the timing of the HK flight. There’s only 1 timing to and fro HK, ie:
SIN – HK: 150am – 545am
HK – SIN: 655am – 1055am

You will reach HK at about 6 in the morning, most of the shops opens at 7am. Unless you know which prepaid sim card to get, else, I always find it stressful when getting a sim card from 7-11. The staffs wouldn’t have time to recommend and wait for you to decide which one to take. We ended having breakfast at Delifrance while waiting for the shops to open…tired. By the time you settle down in the hotel, it’s probably 8. First day will probably be tired. Flight back to Singapore at 655am, meaning we have to reach airport at about about 5. Flight to HK at 150am, reaching HK at 5+ in the morning. Shack. Flight back to Singapore at 710am, gotta reach HK airport by 510am… Shack big time! They do have early check-in option, but only for flights departing from Singapore only.

Then again, it’s quite cheap…so gotta deal with it…

Here’s some highlights of the trip:

Day 1 in Hong Kong
Woke up at around 2plus, had lunch, went to Hung Hom MTR station to get our train tickets to Guangzhou, went to Tsim Sha Tsui to get our Disneyland tickets from a local travel agent and spent the rest of the day in Mongkok. Gotten my pinky luggage there too! Rest early to prepare for the long day in Disneyland 😀

Luggage

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Day 2 in Hong Kong – Disneyland
Woke up at about 9plus, head out for breakfast and off we go to Disneyland! Probably it’s a Tuesday, not so crowded with tour groups, no need to get the fast pass then. LY combed I think almost every part of the park, took rides on her own, while I was walking around at my own pace separately. Hm…he he he…I’m basically not a rides person. We met at intervals for meals or drinks, parade (330pm) and at night for fireworks.

Was actually looking forward to have a close up pic with Eeyore during the Character meeting session. But…sigh…he’s only out during Parade 🙁 According to the friendly staff “Eeyore is pretty lazy. He’s only out twice or thrice a year…” dot dot dot…best answer award…ha ha ha…

I took quite a few pictures in Disneyland but GONE!!!! I’m only left with these… Sigh…better than nothing!

Hong Kong Disneyland

See Eeyore in action:

The Fireworks Video:

Some tips:
– Always remember to get a copy of the Disneyland Guide Map and the Time Guide, so that you know the time of certain shows and parades.
– Go to the Guest Information booth and check with the friendly staffs all about the Characters and their whereabouts, so that you can plan your time and route efficiently. I think there’s some characters appearing in certain places which we won’t know unless we happen to go there.
– Fast Pass can save some time queuing.

About our Disneyland tickets
Admission tickets to the park is HK$450. You can search online for travel agents selling the tickets at a lower price. LY managed to the cheapest rate from Holiday World Tours. They are selling at HK$400 + option to purchase a meal voucher at HK$92. Only HK$50 savings, but since we will be in that area, so why not? You can go to their website to find out more.

I remember paying HK$375 for the admission tickets during their first few years of operation and it’s now HK$450…

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Day 3 in Guangzhou
Took the Intercity train (HK$190/RMB$150) to Guangzhou and arrived at about 11am at Guangzhou East Station. Almost late for our train. He he he… Oh, you can even get your breakfast/meals in the train. The staff will walk up and down taking your orders if you want. Here’s mine!

Hong Kong Intercity Train to Guangzhou

Guangzhou East Station is sort of located at their business area (that’s what my friends said) and it’s just diagonally opposite my ex-office. We booked a night’s stay at Shanshui Hotel, conveniently located at the train station. Met up with the group for meals. Since they have to go back to work, we went shopping on our own.

Erm…advised by friends, always pay attention to your personal belongings. I went to check the map in the station and somehow noticed that the 2 guys standing there were following us out of the station. We stopped at the nearest news stand outside the station. The guys stopped at a distance behind us. We looked back and they pretended to look somewhere else. Think they noticed that we knew they were following us, they walked away and kept looking back. We stayed till they were totally out of sight then we left. Well, then again, we may not recognise them if they walked back without their luminous jacket. Along the way from the station to the shopping mall at 上下九, we walked into shops, spent awhile there to make sure we weren’t followed again. OMG, kinda freaked me out…

Spent the rest of the day shopping and bought some clothes, shoes, mobile accessories, etc. Met ZH at 8 for dinner. He brought us to this Japanese restaurant which he frequents alot. I always saw him posting their yummy salmon sashimi. It’s CHEAP!!!! This portion is only RMB$68!!!!

广州 - 八千代

What else we’ve ordered? Tadah!!! All for about RMB$285 and we’ve ordered the salmon sashimi twice.

广州 - 八千代

Not forgetting to take some shots while waiting for the train at 410pm to return to HK.

Multi-shotsPhoto credit: LY

Erm…rest of the trips just eat and eat, shop and shop and catching up with friends and families, maybe will summarise that in another post. This post is quite long I think, worried that I may bore you with texts since there’s not much pictures to share 🙁

Am still waiting for boyfriend to help to recover deleted photos 🙁

 

Read about Part 2 here

 

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