Travelling History

Just a thought to post on what are the different places that I had travelled so far... Hopefully I can add 1-2 more the list next year! Haha...

1) Australia - Brisbane/ Gold Coast
2) Hong Kong (2 times)
3) Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca, Genting Highland
4) Thailand - Bangkok (3 times)
5) Thailand - Phuket
6) Thailand - Krabi
7) Taiwan - Taipei (4 times)
8) South Korea, Seoul

I hope to add on Japan, New York and other Europe countries! I am aiming not to travel back to those places that I had been already. Would really love to explore other Asian and Europe countries!

Signing off with some friends that I made in Krabi trip from Malaysia and Taiwan (",)

Hong Kong - Ocean Park & Stanley Market

Wherever we travel, we usually take their local transportation rather than taxi thou it will be faster but yet expensive. Usually Dear will do his research and plan the route. So for Hong Kong, he was hardworking to do his homework. The day we went to Ocean Park and Stanley Market, we also took the public transport.

We took the city bus route 629 from Central (Ferry Pier) and paid in cash. I remember it was a double-deck bus and I enjoyed watching the scenaries of landscapes and buildings along the streets of Hong Kong.

You can get more information on how to get there http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/plan-your-visit/transportation/

Finally about 40 minutes ride, we arrived at Ocean Park. The first thing you need to do is to purchase the entry ticket and get their park map!



A partial view of Ocean Park theme area... They have quite a bit of rides and many animal show schedules which you can find the schedule timing on the park map. Me and Dear only took a few rides and watch the animal shows.

 

Everytime we go to a theme park and if there is game stall, I would always ask Dear to play the shooting game and try our luck to see if we can win a prize. Anyway Dear loves shooting game and he is quite good at it too! The tiger you see in the photo is the prize he won! A souvenir from Ocean Park for us to take home!

They also have this mini-cable car ride which take you from the upper to lower part of the park which is about 10 minutes ride? I cannot remember how long the ride was but it was enjoyable.

At the other end of the park, there were the homes of a few panda. One of it, the female panda named "Ying Ying" if I remember correctly was happily eating her bamboo meal...

After spending 3/4 day at Ocean Park, we headed to our next destination. For more information on Ocean Park, check out their website ahttp://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/home/

We took the mini bus outside Ocean Park to Stanley Market. It was sunset when we reached there and I managed to take this sunset shot! Lovely sunset...

At Stanley Market, there are shop houses and small shops that sells local/other types of food. I remember we bought a take away fries served with honey mustard sauce similar to Ireland's Potato in Taiwan. Yummy! Enjoying the food and walking along the sideways watching sunset! There is also some chill out places around there so you may wanna check it out and enjoy the sound of sea waves.

The ride is a very winding road as there is much turning involved in going up. For those who get car sick easily should prepare themselves and even standby some sweets! Also, bus 6, 6A, 6X or 260 that are air-conditioned and more comfortable from Exchange Square bus terminus in Central will take you there.


An alternative way would be to take the MTR to Chai Wan station, leave the station via Exit C and catch green minibus 16M which will also take you to the Stanley market. Otherwise, the fastest and most comfortable way is to take a taxi which most drivers will know the English name "Stanley"

For more information, you can check out: http://www.hk-stanley-market.com/

Hong Kong - Macau

Macau is just an hour ride from Hong Kong which you take the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Ferry Terminal. We made our way there and when we arrived at Macau Ferry Terminal, don't be shocked when you stepped out as you would see a lot of local drivers touting for "business" with the streams of visitors coming out.

We were also stopped by them and the price that they offered is "Chop Head" which means expensive! Definitely not worth the money. Dear and me went to the tourist counter where they offer local maps and routes on how to go to the tourists' spots. Pretty easy so we went over to the bus terminal which is opposite the ferry terminal.

You just need to take the escalator down and walk through the underground to the other side. We went to look for the bus that can take us to St Paul Ruins and the bus fare was cheap. I cannot remember what bus and exact cost but it is really worth to take a ride in the bus and enjoy the journey as they drive through the streets of Macau.

When we alighted the bus, we were welcome by the beautiful Portugal structures which you never get to see in Singapore.

We slowly explored around and came to a church building and saw this bridal car!

Of cos, as a KPO aka busybody, we went into the church and there and there was a on-going church wedding! Oh..I loved the stained glass window! It is such a beautiful scene to get married in a church.

Looking back, actually the church that I got married was also built with beautiful stained glass! Haha...

 

Ruins of St Paul... which remains one of Macau's famous landmarks.

Empty tomb....

You may want to check out my other Hong Kong - Macau blog at http://jastanyy.blogspot.com/2011/02/hong-kong-day-3.html  which I went in year 2011. In that particular blog, I shared how you can make your way from Kong Hong to go to Macau and how you can take the free shuttle bus to The Venetian. I also included on some pricing that you may want to take note too! Have fun reading... (",)

Hong Kong 2009 - Disney Land

Disneyland was the main highlight for my first trip to Hong Kong as I have not been to Disneyland before. Also like I had mentioned in the previous that this is when Hubby proposed to me after the fireworks display.

Going to Disneyland in Hong Kong is easy as it is accessible by MTR. Just look at the MTR map and you will know how to go there. Dear in the only MTR which is customised to Mickey Mouse icons!

I was thrilled to see the train and it makes me more excited to visit Disneyland...

Entrance at Disneyland...

If I remember, I paid about HK$350 per pax when I first went. Now it is HK$399. For more information, check out their website at  http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/ticketsAndReservations/overview?name=OneDayTicketPage

Inside... Not sure if it had changed since then...

We started exploring around and shortly after, there was the Disney on Parade show going on. You need to check on their screens/bill boards to see the daily activities if you want to catch the different performances/appearance of the characters to take photo with.

After the parade, we went to take some easy rides , watch the 3D mickey mouse show which I recommend you to go watch and spent quite some time queuing to take photos with the cartoon characters especially with Mr Mickey and Ms Minnie!

My favourite Eeyore!

The daily fireworks display starts at 7pm that time but now it had changed to 8pm. I remembered Dear mistaken the timing wrongly and when they sound the music of the start of fireworks, we quickly ran over to the viewing area of the palace. By the time we reached there, it was so packed especially with the china tourists. Thus, I suggest going there earlier to get better standing views.

Our camera battery died on us just when the fireworks started so no photos to share... Well probably I will go back soon! Anyway after the fireworks ended, Dear popped the question in the midst of the crowd leaving. I said "yes" thou he was not kneeling down! Something that I been pestering him until he kneeled down on our wedding day when he came in after the gatecrashing! haha...

Happy us to end this post before my next one comes! Cheers (",)

Hong Kong 2009- Ngong Ping360 & Symphony of Lights

Recently I got a friend asking me on Hong Kong as he is planning to go end May. This became a conversation between hubby and me which hubby say that I should blog about our first Hong Kong trip that we went in 2009. Further more, I have not started my blog yet so I should share... That trip was also when he popped the question!

Looking back, it was 3 years ago and as I retrieved the photos from facebook, I was taken back as I saw myself being slimmer that time! Gosh...faint... it was not that bad thou I didn't grew extremely bigger/fatter. But this reminds me to keep myself in shape!

Me and hubby at Hong Kong airport!

Us taking the bullet train down to town which is about 30-40 minutes ride.

 

During that time when we went, there was this popular movie called "Ponyo" and we found the advertisement at one of the bus stop. I recalled I was excited to take photo with it.

We went to Avenue of Star which features different handprints of movie celebrities, descriptive milestones, a towering Hong Kong Film Awards statuette, and a life-size statue of Bruce Lee. The location is on the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade offers incredible panoramic views of the famed Victoria Harbour and the memorable Hong Kong skyline. It is also a good place to watch the Symphony of Light which I will share a little in this post too.

After spending half a day walking, we settled for dinner at Temple Street where you must eat claypot rice when you are there! Cheap and nice! See the big piece of salted fish... Hubby loves salted fish!

The next day, we made our way to Ngong Ping 360 which is highly accessible is located in Tung Chung. Ngong Ping is on Lantau Island in Hong Kong and close to Hong Kong International Airport. The Ngong Ping Cable Car has two terminals, one in Tung Chung Town Centre and one in Ngong Ping on Lantau Island. Ngong Ping Village is adjacent to the cable car terminal in Ngong Ping and is a convenient five-minute walk from the Tian Tan Buddha Statue.

We took the cable car ride there which is about 20 minutes...

Nice scenary!

You can even see the airport...

When we reached there, we have to go through Ngong Ping Village first before going to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue.

We made our way up to Tian Tan Buddha Statue which is a very long walk. You definitely need energy and determination. Seeing those Hong Kong elderly climbing all the way up to offer their prayers impressed me.


Finally we are here...

This is the stairway that we had to climb up and down. Cannot remember the numbers of steps thou we tried counting. We lost count as we stopped several times to catch our breath.

Find out more if you are planning to go: http://www.np360.com.hk/html/eng/visitor/gethere.html

Hubby back then brought me to see the symphony of lights. It starts every night at 8pm and all visitors should not miss this laser display. It includes more than 40 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour.  The show creates an all-round vision of coloured lights, laser beams, spotlights etc... which leads to a unforgettable view that is synchronised to music.

I didn't have much photos on the laser display but some suggestions on where you can have a good view:
- Along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront between the Avenue of Stars and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

- On the waterfront promenade outside the Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai
- Aboard a harbour cruise (Must be pre-arranged)

Anyway give me some time to do up the other posts on places in Hong Kong that I went! Cheers!