hong kong day 2

When I woke up, it was already 10am. Seems like I am not the only one who forget to set alarm for today. I guess there is change of plans, we decided to go Landau Island which I kind of regret upon arrival.  We took MTR train from Qing Yi to Tung Chung for the cable car and were greatly discouraged by the long queue just to purchase the tickets.

 

The queue lasted for 2 hours plus. Luckily I bought the crystal cable car where we got into the cable car instantly.

 Upon arrival at Lantau island, I realize the place was foggy.

 With a hungry stomach, we purchased meal tickets(98 hkd per pax for normal meal) at Polin Monastery and proceed to relieve our hungry stomach.

The vegetarian food was good and comes in big portion.

After the meal, I feel so full.  Realizing that we had not much time left, climbed the stairs to see the big Buddha. Due to the bad weather, the big Buddha was covered with fog. Luckily for me,  I managed to take a few clear shots.

After that, we rush back to the cable car station as the last ride of the day is at 6.30 pm. To further challenge our patience, the queue back from Lantau island was an hour plus. After that we went to Australia dairy company off Jordan street via e23 bus .

 We ordered the dinner set and the egg white pudding ($64)  The scrambled egg was superb and the pudding is soft. The waiter are always looking and rushing you from seating to finishing the food.  The food arrived less than 2 min.We finished in less than 20 min.
Next we went to the nearby" temple street".  We had light snack with beer at one of the restaurants there.

We did some shopping and realize we had plenty of room for improvement in our bargaining skills. Lastly, we head back to Dorsett Mongkok using 2e bus .

Hong Kong day 1

After struggling with the pilling pressure of work and new tax implementation, I am off to my long awaited holiday at Hong Kong. Upon arrival, we bought tickets for airport train express (HKD 90 to 青衣)as well as the multi-purpose prepaid card known as "八达通” (HKD150 with 100 HKDto use).

We took the train express to Qing Yi and took MTR train to Olympic station (奥运） where we walk for around 15 min to our hotel " Dorsett Mongkok .  The hotel was nice and and affordable  if book early.

 After we check in and take a rest, time for us to go stroll around Hong Kong.
We went in Espirit as there were 50 percent discount and if you bought 5 items and above you get extra 10 percent discount. Next we had roasted goose for lunch at "深井陈记烧鹅.

The roasted goose taste good especially the marination with spices.

We continued walking around after that.  We passed by a shop and decided to have pancakes there for dessert.

 The food presentation was pretty and tasty too. Price was 51 HKD for a pancake. Kind of costly.

As we were quite full,  we decided to skip dinner and head towards "Tsim Sha Zhui " to look at "the arena of stars .  The area was cooling and relaxing.  There were plenty of flooring with famous people signature as well as hand print.

There were even street performers and stalls selling food and photography services. You can even by Disney land tickets there. We stayed for the 8pm lighting cum musical performances. The performance was great and free of charge.  After chilling there for awhile, we headed back to our hotel and that's the end of day 1.

Journey to the lands of the Khmer empire - Cambodia -day 3 and 4

We woke up early morning and left hotel around 5 pm local time to leave for Angkor watt just to watched the sunrise.We inform the hotel staff to pack breakfast the night before. We waited for the sun to rise but the sun was covered by the clouds.

Anyway, we proceeded to have our packed breakfast at the restaurant near the lotus lake in front of the main Angkor Wat entrance.

Angkor watt has north, south, east and west entrance (roughly pronounce by locals as ta Rik, talek, tako, tapit). We visited the third level where our efforts to climb the stairways to " Heaven" with the majestic view of the scenery and building structure.

We learned that thank you means "aw-koon" while" kit luy" means bill. The local favorite noodle was called " num banh chok".
 After that we headed to  Banteay Strei, also known as the women's temple.

According to our tour guide, the temple was mainly built from pink sandstone, which contributes to its long lasting sculpture pattern.

Before heading back to the hotel for a long rest, we had lunch at Rom Chong Angkor.

The chicken together with the famous fermented fish cheese know as "prahok" taste perfect.  The soups and the amok is very good.

After that is rest time to pay our sleep debt for waking up early in the morning. We stop by the stall back to get some palm sugar and their famous khmer palm wine.

Next is dinner time at 5pm local time at Rosana.

 We had dinner at Rosana Chinese restaurant before heading upstairs for the opera show at he same building.

The show was good. Then back to the hotel before we call it a day.
The next day (Day 4) , we manage to grab a blue pumpkin ice-cream before we board the plane. Farewell Cambodia, we shall visit again next time.

Journey to the lands of the Khmer empire - Cambodia -day 2

We had a nice and simple breakfast at the hotel before leaving the place at around 9 am Cambodia local time. Firstly,we headed to buy Angkor watt pass before heading to our destination. Angkor watt was packed with people.  We heard from Guan, our tour guide that the locals called  "tuk tuk" ( mostly used in Thailand) "remork".

Angkor watt is also known as" City of Temples".

It seems that the large statutes that serve as guardians are know as naga . The female naga are called nagi. According to our tour guide, most of the nagas are without head as the Siamese cut it down claiming that interfere with their religious practice.

The odd numbers are lucky number to Cambodian. Angkor watt is impressive, especially the sculpture pattern. Most of the heritage site at or near Angkor watt are under recover by various government from around the world under the observation of UNESCO.

People in traditional clothes and the" Apsara" dancers in white. According to our tour guide Guan, the beauty of the Apsara dancers are well known in legends.

We had lunch Khmer cooking empire.

From the restaurant, you can see a nice view of the lake.

My favorite food is still the fish amok and the mango shake.

Our next destination was the Ta Phrom temple, also known as the tomb raider temple, it was dedicated by the king to his mother.The place was famous for having trees with large roots that slowly destroy the temple's structure.

 The place has many big trees where the big roots are covering the structure .

Next we headed to the temple dedicated by the king to himself, the Bayon temple.

The most impressive part is there is one area where you hit your chest seven times for good luck. Each time you hit your own chest near middle right, the echo created a very loud and sound voice. Next we had buffet dinner while watching cultural performance at Koulen authentic khmer and international cuisine.

We got to see the "apsara"dancers performing .

 Lastly we headed to the night market, pub street and bought some souvenirs.