My Dollie Baby

Subject: Hong Kong - Day 7 - Dim Sum + Shopping at Mong Kok
Date: 24 December 2008 (Wednesday)
Racia is 1 year, 9 months, 2 weeks and 6 days old today

Weather: Warm and slightly Hazy
Temperature: back at 20 plus degrees

Its Christmas even today!

We had a late night last night and as a result, we all woke up late today. As i know we will be busy packing up to leave tomorrow, today is the last chance for us to go for a leisurely Dim Sum branch.

We went to the recommended Serenade Restaurant at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre - Level 1. This classic traditional Chinese restaurant came highly recommend in all the Hong Kong Travel websites as well as our local forum sites for their inexpensive and delicious Dim Sum.

It was surprising crowded for a weekday branch and i guess it could be because it was Christmas eve.

We were soon seated at a table with a fantastic view of the harbour on level 3 of the restaurant.
We ordered the following:
1. Steamed northern mushroom (bei3 gu1) and chicken rice - For Racia
2. Steamed Chee Cheong fun with prawns
3. Char Siew Pao
4. Siew Mai
5. Har Kao
6. Cha Siew Soh
7. Carrot Cake
8. Fried Prawn dumpling
9. Ka Lan Veggie

Total of 9 dishes for the 3 of us - aren't we greedy!

The food was not too bad (Des thinks the food is overrated!) and Racia loves the steamed chicken /mushroom rice. She even managed to ate a whole big bowl of it. Total cost approx SGD$60 for the the meal - not exactly cheap~!

After our brunch, we headed to the promenade for some shots of the Hong Kong Skyline. We had a quick tour around the "Avenue of Stars" before heading to Sogo. We went back to the hotel for Racia's afternoon nap after that.

While Racia and daddy napped, i headed out for some quick shopping along Granville Road and also to Mirama Hotel for Agnes B and Uniqlo.. sadly, nothing caught my eye and i went back to the hotel empty handed!

In the late afternoon, we went back to Mong Kok for a last round of shopping - the crowd was scary! i guess it was because it was Christmas eve and everyone was out in the street. after a quick stop at Langham Place - For H&M and Lesportsac, we headed to the other side of Mong Kok as Desmond wanted to go to his modelling and Air gun shop. Racia and I waited for him at a nearby supermarket where i stocked up on more instant noodles.

We tried to take a bus back and realised that they have closed a long stretch of Nathan Road (At Tsim Tsa Tsui side) for the Christmas party later that night/. We had to alight 2 bus stop away from our usual stop and walk the rest of the way back to the hotel.

On the way, we brought Racia and Christmas present - her first Hello Kitty Plush toy - a black and white one too!

Back at the hotel, i requested for the local specialty of instant noodles and luncheon meat... heheh..this made up our Christmas dinner in our hotel room. Racia had macaroni instead.

We will be busy packing up tonight and tomorrow morning in preparation for our flight back home. Can't wait to get back home!

We all woke up late this morning!

Too lazy to move off from the bed!

Dressed and exploring the corridoor while waiting for mummy!

With Daddy in front of the Hong Kong Cultural Center.

Entrance of Serenade Restaurant

Seated and ready to order!

Racia eyeing the char siew bun hungrily!

Digging in!

Table full of food...

...and more food!

Racia trying the fried carrot cake!

Hong Kong Harbour View

With Daddy!

Family Potrait!

At SOGO - With the Paul Frank Monkey!

Trying to play dress up!

Uniqlo at Hotel Mirama.

Langham Place

Street of Mong Kok.

The Christmas Eve Crowd!

Waiting for Daddy in the supermarket!

Racia says: "My Christmas Pressie!"

Racia says: "This is exciting, i can't wait to open it!"

"Wow! Its a Hello Kitty!"

"I love this Kitty!"

Racia and her Kitty - Watching TV!

Late Dinner time - Macaroni!

A picture with Mummy!

On the dressing table having her dinner!

Finally - Dessert - Mango Pomelo Overload!

Subject: Hong Kong - Day 6 - Ngong Ping 360 + Lantau Island - Part 1
Date: 23 December 2008 (Tuesday)
Racia is 1 year, 9 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old today

Weather: Clear and Cold
Temperature: approx 10 plus degrees

We took the Ngong Ping 360 degrees to Lantau Island today~!

The day was cold and sunny, temperature really dropped these two days.
We were up and early as we wanted to get to Tung Chung early. After a quick breakfast at the Cha Chan Ting next to the hotel ( I shared the breakfast set with Racia, she gets the macaroni and i get the eggs, ham and sausage. Desmond had toast, Po Lo Bun and hot tea) we were off to take the MTR to Tung Chung.

The entire MTR journey was about 45 minutes, Racia behaved herself really well throughout the trip. We reach Tung Chung at about 10 plus am and headed straight for the Ngong Ping 360 Cable car tower. There was already a small queue for the tickets. We got our tickets after queueing for 10 mins (HKD107 per adult for a pair of return tickets). The queue for the cable car was longer and we had to wit approx 15 to 20 minutes for our turn. We shared the cable care with 2 other families (total 9 of us), each cable car;s capacity is 17!

The ride was great and terrifying at the same time. The most terrifying part of the journey was the ride across the ocean.. gosh that was scary. We ride past the ocean and up the cliffs and mountains. The cable car went through 5 connecting stations. Total ride duration is 25 minutes.

Once we reach Ngong Ping station, we could see the Big Buddha. We headed straight for the Buddha via a short walk through the Ngong Ping village. Ngong Ping village is a quaint little olden village with lots of craft and souvenirs shop. We didn't stop at any of the shops as our main purpose was to go to the Buddha. The walk to the Buddha took only 15 mins.

Upon reaching the Buddha, we headed straight for the steps to take some photos. Both Desmond and I declined to climb up the thousand steps as we are not keep to carry Racia all the way up :P. Next, we went to purchased meal tickets for our vegetarian meal at the monastery. We opted for the deluxe meal tickets at HKD100 (regular vegetarian meal ticket cost is HKD60) and headed straight for lunch. By then, it was already close to 11am. Before lunch, we had a bowl of famous cold spring water bean curd. The ginger taste in the syrup was too strong for our liking (maybe it was winter and ginger is known to expel wind).

Racia was given a special "throne" child seat in the restaurant..hehe, she looks like a princess perched up on her throne for her meal. Racia enjoyed the meal tremendously, the helping was large for the 3 of us and all the dishes was delicious. We had soup, spring roll, fired bean curd skin, mixed vegetable with cashew nuts, cabbage and huge Chinese mushroom + free refill of white rice and Chinese tea.

After this big satisfactory lunch, we headed back to Tung Chung for shopping at City Gate. Racia was crying for milk on the way out and she actually fell asleep by the time we packed up and ready to go. we took turns carrying her through the village to the station.

There were not many people heading back to Tung Chung at this time and we were given an entire cabin to ourselves. Its a pity Racia was sleeping and could not enjoy the view. The ride down was equally exciting, we had a clear view of the airport and the surrounding scenery. I was busy snapping photos while Racia slept in daddy's arms.

We headed straight for citygate mall and I managed to shopped at Espirt outlet and the supermarket and some of the sports wear outlet boutique there. I bought 4 tops + 1 pair of pants at Esprit and 4 packets of calbee chips in special flavour of gyoza, grilled octopus etc. The chips was delicious. If only they had these flavours in Singapore.

We headed back to Tsim Tsa Tsui on the MTR at 4:30 pm ( to beat to peak hour traffic).
after a late nap in the hotel, we headed out to the famous Macau Restaurant (Cha Chan Ting) for dinner. There was a short queue and we only got a table after waiting for 10minutes. We ordered the recommended beef brisket curry and a fired noodle dish. Racia was a terror and she insisted on picking up the thin noodle strands with a tooth pick, we had to order a bowl of macaroni for her in the end. After dinner, we headed over to harbour city for Toys R Us.

Racia had fun at Toys R Us.. she tried on all the toy on display while we waiting for daddy to look at his toys.
We finally got back to the hotel close to 10pm!


Racia enjoying her MTR ride to Tung Chung.

Posing with Daddy.

Aunty QQ - I love the gloves!

Racia says: "My gloves are really cute!"

With Monkey Clever at Tung Chung MTR Station

Can you see the cable car station behind?

Getting ready to go for our cable car ride.

At th Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car Station.

Look at the queue to board the cable car!

Photo Op while waiting for our turn.

Cutie Racia with daddy again.

A shot with the cable car!

Now its mummy's turn - see how big the cable car is!

A kind soul offered to take this family shot for us.

Racia and daddy in the cable car.

Now a picture with Mummy.

We are going over the ocean - Scary!

Racia enjoying the ride!

Breath-taking views!

We can see the HKIA - Airport.

Racia having fun on the ride.

Sayang Daddy!

We are finally at Ngong Ping!

Can you see the Buddha behind us?

The walk through Ngong Ping Village.

Having fun with the photo pros along the way.

One more shot - Can you see tiny Racia?

Photo with Daddy at Ngong Ping Village.

We got side tracked by a stall selling drums and crafts.

Finally we reached the Buddha.

Family shot with the Buddha.

Shot 1 - Happy that we are going for lunch!
We got our lunch meal tickets at the counter behind.

Shot 2 - Cheeky and getting excited about lunch.

Shot 3 - Racia says:"Can we go for lunch now?"

More shots with the Buddha before heading for lunch.

Now its mummy's turn.

One more picture.

Daddy and Racia.

Last shot with the Buddha.