Saturday, February 22, 2014 | 5:43 AM | 0 comments

Travelogue: Hong Kong (Jan 2014)

Air tickets

Every time I see an airline sale, I'm very prompted to travel. First few countries in mind will be Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It's been two years since I went to Hong Kong, and the boy & I have been talking about going over soon because we wanted to buy our favourite brand of Porter bags.

So this Jetstar e-mailer came, which had a promotion for buying one way and getting home free. Asked the boy immediately, he just answered:" Okay, anything." This time, I asked my mom too, because she been wanting to travel with me for quite some time, so she was agreeable as well and it was a great period to be in Hong Kong with the colder weather and sales coming on.

It cost us about $250 per pax (okay lah, not that cheap) including the best flight timings, our baggage weight, taxes and all.

Hotel

So because we booked about 4 months before the travelling date, I went on to search for our accommodation, hoping to get good deals as well. But oh so silly me, forgotten that January is CNY period, and all hotels and B&B will be costing more.

I went online to research quite abit before deciding to stay at the Royal Plaza Hotel located just above the Mongkok East MTR, and it is connected to the Grand Century Place shopping mall where I got my kicks at such good prices! I will also be updating shortcuts, routes and places to go around this area. (More on that later!)

I booked the Deluxe family room, which has of 2 Queen-sized beds (up to 4 pax) for 4 nights. I used Zuji's Mastercard Promotion and paid around $220 per night, which to me at this peak season, is truly worth it! I totally love the size of the room, the comfort level and how convenient it is to almost everywhere we wanted to go!

Duty-free products at the Airport

My favourite place to be after checking in our baggages is the Duty Free Cosmetics & Perfume section at the Airport, items are at least 30% to 60% off the city prices and I usually get my facial supplies and make-up refills here.

Always buying enough till the next trip here!

This time round, the boy's mommy also wanted to get some facial products, so we went shopping crazy. These are some of the items we bought and I will do a review on them next time!

We shopped until we forgot time, and literately ran for the plane which caused me to suffer a very bad shin cramp at night.

Data Plan in Hong Kong

It is no use asking any airport or 7-11 staffs at the arrival halls, no one cares or bother if you would like to get a data plan, they will just tell you it is not there, well if you ask me, I do not know why either. It is available at the departure halls of the HKIA.

We just got lucky when the boy just asked me if I want to check out the departure halls area if there is any data plans outlet.

1010 outlet has the best plans! We got the 128 HKD (S$21.30) for 7 days of unlimited data plan and were able to contact each other locally easily! The plans are defined by the size of the SIM card, so mom got the 98HKD (S$16.30) for 7 days for the bigger SIM card.

Also, literately every single shop except Banks and Departmental Stalls refused to accept our $1000HKD due to their country recent frauds on the 1000 dollars note, so we had some issue purchasing items. Luckily we have some broken notes to pay for our plans.

Travelling to Hotel

Both the Airport Express tickets and Octopus Cards can be purchased at a counter available when you exit the area after collecting your baggages.

We made use of the 3 in a group promotion and got our Airport Express tickets, where you will stop at the Kowloon interchange and switch to mini buses that provides free shuttles to your hotel or switch to the local MTR.

We took the K5 that goes to Royal Plaza Hotel, and along the way there are a few other hotels' stop as well, picking up and letting down passengers who are going to the hotel or the airport.

We took about 45mins to reach our hotel.

The view from the express train!

Royal Plaza Hotel

Check-in was quick and front desk people were very nice. Room was huge with two beds, ample spaces for 3 luggages or more. Lucky me, got to see their final product of the new gym and pool.

Our dinner and supper on the first night

Mom made us walk to Fa Yuen Street (walking the entire street) to search for her favourite porridge stall which she could not remember the name! So finally we found it, and thought that the search was totally worth it.

It seems so long since I last ate a CHOK(porridge) that was so smooth and just glides through your mouth, through your throat with all the fresh ingredients ( an extensive list of different ingredients for the porridge)

Other recommended food items such as the Bean Dumplings, you tiao, zha liang and red bean soup here were damn good! We could easily settle all our meals here. DAMN GOOD, I tell you! Order and eat or you will regret! We have them for breakfast for three days too!

My porridge: Century eggs, slice fish and lean meat

I want more!

Sea View Congee Shop 海景粥店
G/F, 103, Argyle Street,
Mong Kok, Kowloon
(九龙亚皆老街103号地下)
Tel: 852-2787-7330
Nearest MTR: Mong Kok Station
Operating Hours: 24 HOURS

This was the night I suffered a severe shin cramp while walking back to the hotel after shopping. So after resting for an hour or two in the hotel, we decided to venture out at night to see what's available for supper.

I do have 一點心 in my mind to visit for this trip, and who knows we managed to found one outlet near our hotel without effortand it closes at 1 am. So lucky us! The quality of the dim sum are great, we had most of our suppers here as well! Besides the siew mai being meh, the others are quite good! Oh try the black pepper venison and chicken feet (feng jiao), its really delicious!

I also heard that during the day peak hours, there will be about a 15 to 30 minutes queue before you can get a seat in this 40 seater restaurant.
There is no reservations available and only cash payment.

One Dim Sum一點心

Shop 1&2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion

15 Playing Field Road

Mong Kok, Kowloon

Tel no: 27892280

Nearest MTR: Prince Edward Station

Operating Hours: 11am to 1am (Mon to Fri), 10am to 1am (Sat to Sun)

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