My Dollie Baby

Date: 8 December 2012 (Saturday)
Subject: Hong Kong Day 5 - Sky100
Temperature: 1 degrees
Tricia is 1 year 6 months, 2 weeks old and 3 days old
Racia is 5 years 9 months and 4 days old

Its our fifth day in Hong Kong today!

I woke up at 8am and headed out to get us some breakfast from the famous Australian Dairy Company (located just behind our hotel). I am been craving for their scramble eggs since the day we landed in Hong Kong. I had planned to head down there with the entire family for breakfast but hubby reminded me that it might be extremely challenging to queue with Tricia and eat in the tiny packed restaurant while stopping her from swipping everything off the table! And so the best option was for me to dabao back!

So at 8:30am, i headed over to dabao. And look at that queue!! I was so glad we decided to dabao instead!! Its so much faster to order take aways, I only waited about 5 minutes and my food was ready.
As it was take away, they do not allow us to order the setbreakfast set. I had to make do with scramble egg on toast with separate order of macaroni soup! I ordered milk tea to go as well.

When I came back with breakfast, the girls were still fast asleep! We only woke them up after we were done with our breakfast!
After our yummy breakfast, we changed and headed out.

Today, we are going to sky100 at the ICC tower. One of Hong Kong's newest tourist attraction. From the map it looks really close to us. But as the building sits above the other MTR line (Kowloon Tong station), we will need to go to central to change the train to head over. The entire journey could take more than 1 hr. After studying the map, Hb suggested that we take a taxi. It was an excellent option. We reached in 15 minutes and the taxi fare was just HK$26!(comparable if we were to take the train).

The taxi dropped us off at the main office tower of the ICC building and we had a hard time figuring out how to go over to the mall side to get to the entrance.

It was a short walk over. I picked up the tickets, a family combo (2 adults + 1 kid - Tricia gets in for free) at HK$365. We entered and what we saw first was a small exhibit area titled "Memory Lane", it shows brief history of HK. Next, we boarded the special lift that will bring us all the up to the 100th floor - the observatory deck! The lift ride was so fast and I think it only took about 1-2 minutes before we reached. The view up there was fantastic. It was slightly foggy but we could see all the way across the harbour. I understand that on clear days, you can even see shen zhen!
I was glad we went up in the morning, there was hardly any crowd even though it was a Saturday. We had so much free space for the girls to run about. There were exhibits along the path. I only realised that we missed the "highest Postal office in Hong Kong" after we left! Apparently you can post a letter to yourself from the gift corner! Next time, I want to go for the night view.

We stayed up there till about 11am and head down after. I had wanted to walk to Kowloon (As the distance from ICC to BP International looks so near from up there). But after speaking to a staff, we learned that there is a mini bus that goes to Mong Kok. It was located at the basement bus terminal of Elements mall. We headed towards the mall and after checking with the concierge, they pointed us to the correct direction. It was quite a long walk to the bus terminal and I also found out that you could walk to Elements mall from the Austin MTR station (Austin station connects directly to the Jordan MTR line so its much nearer compared to the Kowloon tong station located right below ICC). Its a 15mins walk from Austin station though.

We managed to find the bus terminal and saw the mini bus that we need to take - no. 74 which will bring us to Mong Kong. The Mini bus passes by Yau Ma Tei MTR station too. I didn't realised that it was a different fare for different locations. Apparently you need to inform the driver to adjust the fare meter if you are alighting at Yau Ma Tei as the fare is cheaper compared to taking all the way to Mong Kok side.

The mini bus do not stop at Mong Kok MTR station but at Kwong Wah Street(Mong Kok area). It sounded unfamiliar to me until we reached the street (I had asked the driver to alert me when we arrive). And when we alighted, Hb was so pleased that we were right smack in the middle of his toys/guns shop! In fact, the mini bus stop was just directly facing the famous Mong Kok branch of Tim Hou Wan and where all Hb's toys shops were located!
Next to the mini bus stop was a 7Eleven and I had popped in to check out the Sanrio redemption items. It was my lucky day as I spotted 2 boxes of the elusive Hello Kitty Dessert tray on the rack! I grabbed it immediately. It was HK$128 per box but I needed to spend HK$20 before I could purchase them. I also grabbed one of the Hello Kitty carrier bags (also OOS in the other outlets). And all in all, we spent close to HK$700 at the 7Eleven that day!! Hb commented in shock on the amount we spent at a 7Eleven store!!

We moved on to the toy shops next. I brought the girls to the super market nearby to wait while Hb go check out his toys and model aircrafts. After that we headed to Maxim for a really late lunch! As it was actually tea time, we had selections from their tea time menu.It was a simple and fast lunch.

After lunch, we moved on to the other shops at Mong Kok, first stop CTMA for toy mart. It was super crowded that day and we saw lots of interesting toys on display. After that, we headed back to the hotel for the girls to nap. On the way back, I packed the yummy cold noodles as snack and also bought dinner back to the hotel.Our dinner included the famous wanton noodles from Maks. Hb and I tasted it and thought it was ok only! The fried veggie street snack I bought tasted much better. The noodles were not fantastic and I do not think we are keen to try it again! After that, Hb went out to hunt down his car shops while I stayed and looked after the girls in the room.

We are flying back tomorrow and will need to stay up late tonight to pack out luggage. It will be free and easily for us tomorrow and we may head over to Harbour City one more time before we head down to the airport at 5pm!

One of my most fav places in Hong Kong for breakfast!

Look at the queue, its barely 9am on a Saturday morning!

The Australia Dairy Company!

I tabao because it is impossible to queue and eat there with BB2!

Our yummy breakfast, scramble eggs sandwiches, milk tea, macaroni soup and fresh milk

Typical HK breakfast, Ham Macaroni Soup!

Looks yummy right!

Star of the set - the super yummy fluffly scramble eggs!

Still fast asleep!

Our first destination today - ICC building

Our taxi fare from Shamrock to ICC - HK$26! (If we took the train, we will need to do 2 transfers going to Hong Kong island and back!)

Lobby of ICC building - Office building wing with lovely Christmas deco!

The girls

Inside Elements Mall - Moving towards out intended destination

We are here!

The sky100 Observatory Tower!

Opening hours! (We should try coming up at night the next time!)

Got to go down one level to the ticketing counter.

Ticketing centre

Entrance fee, we took the HK$365 Family Combo (2 Adults + 1 Kid)

Screens showing temperature and whether condition on top

Ready to enter

First stop, Memory Lane exhibit

Beautiful neon light tunnel!

Mini exhibit showing history of HK

Getting ready to go up

Inside the lift

A quick family pic (no one is looking at the camera except me!)

Going up 100 floors! The lift went up so fast!

On the 100th floor! An interesting floor panel display!

Fascinated bye the view

BB2 love the cloud chair and see what BB1 is doing!

The view - Star Ferry Terminal TST

The other side of TST

TST

That's Hong Island island the other side

The underground tunnel connecting the two island

Photo op time - Main signage of the sky100

Cutie BB2

The girls

She got to try the binoculars!

Even BB2 is fascinated by the view

Daddy and BB2

See the fantastic view below

Spotted a cutie on a cloud!

Mini art gallery/exhibit

Super cute character (That is a tart on top of this character)

Bean Cake

Family pic in front of the Christmas setup

More Christmas deco

sky100 Ferris Wheel

See BB2 at the corner

With daddy!

Caught on camera trying to climb up the railing

Arty shot by BB1

sky100 cafe

We decided to take a break here

Such a cute photo!

Our snacks, OJ, Yuen Yang, Polo butter bun and Egg Tart!

BB1 getting ready to eat!

Look at the size of this bun!

Love the wooden disposable fork! And this was my one and only egg tart in HK!

BB1 self portrait

Self portrait 2

Grumpy looking BB2

BB1 started to get upset and cried

Love this shot - BB1 consoled by daddy...

..While mummy snaps aways

Finally settled down for some food!

After the light snack, we moved on to see the other areas

Super big paus on display on the wall

BB2 wants to touch the Paus!

BB1 pretend to eat them!

The  2 girls

With another exhibit on the wall

And now they want to roll around on the sofas!

This is a funny shot, BB2 nearly fell off the sofa!

See how big the area is!

We are 393m up!

More pics of BB2

Looking at the view

Its so difficult to take a pic of the 2 girls - See what BB1 is doing to her mei mei here!

Nice shot

I love this pic, she seem to be float on the cloud!

BB1's turn to roll on the sofa

We visited the toilet too

And saw this really nice wash basin!

Scene from "Cold War" the movie!

Can you see Racia?

Planking?!

With daddy

One last look before we head down

I call this the blue tunnel

End of our tour!

Now a quick look at Elements Mall

Funny faces!

Enjoying a sister moment together!

And now pose for the camera

The beautiful deco on display, its an enchanted garden theme

She looks like a little fairy in this enchanted garden

One more with the beautiful tree

Taken by BB1

See the giant horses!

we headed to the bus terminal to take a mini bus back to Mong Kok.

Mini bus no. 74, also stops by Yau Ma Tei MTR before heading towards Mong Kok area

Us queuing!

Daddy carrying BB1

We could not board the first mini bus so we had to wait for the next one.

Bus fare, HK$4.20

Hb and BB1 on one seat!

Our destination - Kwong Wah Street

Right opposite the stop is the famous Mong Kok branch of Tim Hou Wan!

I was lucky to spot the Hello Kitty Dessert tray at this 7Eleven branch!

This is Hb's toy street, so he decided to go shopping

All the toys model shops

And hobby shops

Whole street full of toy models and air guns

Posing in front of another air gun shop!

Model shop

We decided to go to the supermarket while Hb goes through his shops!

The elusive Chu Hou paste, I was told its not available in Singapore.

Calbee in different flavours - Only found in Hong Kong!

Racia says - Smelly Tofu is stinky!

We settled down at Maxim for our really late lunch

Its still tea time and they serve chicken wings with fries

Look at Tricia!

Looking so hard at something on her fingers

Happy feeding!

After dinner, we headed to CTMA - ToyMart

Toy shops all around us

I was looking at all the new and super cute sanrio iPhone 5 covers!

Rilakkumas!

Bought cold noodles back as snack!

For dinner, Wanton noodles from the famous Mak Noodles Shop

The famous Mak wanton noodles - so so only!

My box of mixed fried veggies (like yong tau fu)..yum!

Fish fillet udon for BB2

Fried dumplings

Happy girls watching TV

Bath time before tucking in to bed!

My loot for today - For the girls

Sanrio Nick Knacks for my colleagues

My 7 Eleven Hello Kitty Bag and Hello Kitty iPhone5 cover

Such a cute cover even though I do not have a iphone 5 phone yet!

My loot

Finally found my dessert tray after combing 4 7Elevens!

Super adorable 3 trays of cuteness

HK$128 for the Kitty Dessert Tray and HK$78 for the Kitty bag!

6 stamps ready to exchange for a figurine

Such pretty stamps

My redeemed collection!