Lily Lee

Hong Kong Day 1

Arrived at Hong Kong at 7am, ending our 12N cruise onboard Celebrity Solstice.

Took a taxi from the cruise terminal to our hotel, Kowloon Shangri-la，but it was too early to check-in so we left the luggage with the hotel. The hotel is just next to the entrance of both the East Tsim Sha Tsui and Tsim Sha Tsui train station. Very convenient to access both the red and yellow lines. The hotel is excellent in location, room and service rendered. Highly recommended.

Walked to Haiphong avenue as there is a well known food centre there. The concierge was so good as to gave us direction and even gave us a map and also the hotel name card in case we want to take a taxi.

Tried the famous pork chop noodle and bun. It's next to the wet market at Haiphong Street Temporary Food centre.

Tried the famous beef ball noodle next. The beef ball is very sweet, juicy and bouncy. A lot of stalls but they don't share table. So hop over to another table for this though it's in the same place.

The Kowloon Park is just opposite the food centre. The park is so serene. There is a pond with water lilies and even a waterfall. There are many birds there too.

The Avenue of Comics Stars at Kowloon park.

Beautiful ficus trees along Nathan road

The police station at Nathan road.

What a coincidence. Their district election day today. They even ask us to vote 😅

We continued to walk to Temple street. We were too early and many of the stalls were not opened yet.

Passed by Shanghai street and saw a market.

One of the stops was to Yau Mai Tei police station often featured in TVB drama series. We even met a friendly group of police who took a wefie with us.

Our next stop was Yau Mai Tei fruit wholesale market featured in a TVB drama show. Bought the strawberry which looks very big but not as sweet as they advertised.

Took a break from the walking at a restaurant in Mongkok 四宝. The dessert osmanthus wine milk pudding is so good. Hubby have their peanut butter honey toast. Their ice ovaltine and ice lemon drinks are good too.

Decided to get a foot massage as most of the stalls at ladies market are not opened yet.

Finally gotten a bag from Ladies market.

Took a taxi to Jordan Victorian era. Ordered the hotpot set. Think this set is for 4 people and we could not finish all. 😅

There is a flower crab, some baby abalone, scallops, clams, prawns, bowls of beef, lamb and pork. The soup base is honey dew with chicken feet. We also ordered egg white fried rice. The peach drink is visually and tastefully awesome.

Gotten a taxi back to the hotel. As we had already registered, we just had to collect our room card. The other line for checking-in was so long.

What an awesome room with harbour view. They even gotten a bottle of white wine and chocolates for our anniversary celebration. Fruits and traditional tea were also given. Thankful and gratitude to the hotel.

The binoculars are much better than the one on the ship.

There is a kettle and coffee machine in the room. The fridge is just below it and it is big. There are two big bottles of water complimentary and replenished daily. So are the coffee capsules and tea bags.

Wardrobe is not big but it has the iron and ironing board.

The room is very spacious.

The toilet is also big with a shower area and a bath tub.

Bath gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and shower caps are provided and replenished daily.

The view from the room is amazing both in the day and night.

We could see Celebrity Solstice from our room. We were on the ship from Singapore to Hong Kong for 12 nights. https://mrslilylee.blogspot.com/2023/11/celebrity-solstice-day-1-embarkation.html?m=1

There were so many different types of boats on the water. Awesome view.

This Santa Claus balloon was just near to our room

Hubby is so grateful the hotel gave us a room with such a great view.

A nice luxury to have the view of the harbour and boats from the comfort of the room. There are so many buses parked along the roads with hundreds of tourists.

Spectacular light and sound show at the harbour taken from our room. They actually have a app which you can download to synchronise the music with the light show.

We took our dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant Nadaman. Both the food and ambience in the restaurant were excellent. Hubby said the sashimi is one of the best he has eaten. So fresh. The sea urchin is so sweet. Ordered another sea urchin roll because it is so nice. Love the duck liver with raspberry sauce. Hubby loves his eel.

Love the duck liver with raspberry sauce.

The location of the hotel is good. Other than the MRT station, there is Wellcome, a convenient store, across the street at Moody road after you cross the bus interchange. Next to the MRT station is a plaza with many eateries and shops.

Hubby's shirt is so matching with this purple car parked in front of the hotel. 😅

Hong Kong Day 2

Beautiful sunrise from the room.

The hotel foyer is so grand.

We crossed the bridge to the promenade.

We could see the 3 Santa Claus on the hotel harbour view windows. Quite a waste that these blocked the amazing harbour views for the 6 rooms.

A helicopter flew over. It seemed to have just picked someone from the opposite bank.

The Avenue of Stars.

Collected this from a booth at the ferry terminal. They just needed to see a copy of your passport to register you. Free dining HK100 vouchers but all can only be used after 6pm. Did not use them at the end of our trip.

Took the ferry to cross over to Hong Kong island from Tsim Tsa Tsui. It cost just HK5 per person. I had to buy the tokens from the machine. The ferry ride took just 5 mins.

We wanted to eat breakfast in Central market but it had changed so much and does not have the traditional food stalls which we used to patronise.

Took the mid-levels escalator to Tai Kwun.

Stopped at Tai Kwun, a former police station and prison compound.

The pest control getting rid of a bee hive in the tree.

Tried the vegetarian food at Lock Cha inside Tai Kwun. The vegetarian noodle and carrot cake are nice. The rest are average and not to my liking. The latte was too foamy. Iced bottle rose red tea is good. The bottle is unique as you flip over to let the tea bag turn over.

A former prison and court at Tai Kwun. The prison cell is so small.

The upper storey is cordoned off.

They have converted this part of the former prison to a cafe. Very strong fragrance from the coffee.

They were playing an animation of a court case.

What a small world. A former colleague, Guanghan Wang, was also in HK and sent me this picture. Was pretty lost as the Google map is confusing as some of the shops were on the slopes next to the escalator like Bake house. Hubby was getting a bit impatient with me as I made him took a few wrong turns. 😬

Quite disappointed as we finally found the bakehouse but the egg tarts were sold out and the next batch only available at 4pm.

We saw this food stall as we were moving down the mid-levels escalator.

Hubby took the three treasure with sunny side up and he loved it.

I loved my scrambled egg with Chinese sausage too!

Took a taxi to the peak tram station.

Took some pictures at the sky terrace.

Paid a hefty price of HK2000 for the 10 digital photos taken at the Victoria peak sky terrace. Was totally shocked. Almost doubled what I paid for the 100 plus photo taken on Celebrity Solstice.

Photos from photographers at Madness Adventure also at HKD 200 each.

Took some photos ourselves.

It's even more crowded when we left at 3 plus.

Hubby came all the way to Sha Tin just to eat the roasted pigeon. It's really big and juicy. The dou miao vegetable and salted pepper squid are nice too but the potion were too big.

Hubby was so happy that he finally gotten to eat the roasted quail.

Very nice salted mandarin drink.

Took a taxi back to our hotel. So sweet of the room attendant to leave a bookmark on our bed.

The police came to chase away the buses parked at the side causing a traffic jam.

Beautiful harbour view.

Symphony of lights on day 2 of our stay at Kowloon Shangri-la. The view was amazing. As mentioned the music can be sync from the app.

Hong Kong/Macau Day 3

Visiting Macau today. Took the 8.30am ferry to Cotai

On our way to Cotai Macau.

Took a cab to Lord Stow's Cafe at Coloane. It did not disappoint us. The egg tarts has buttery flakey crust and the filling is so flavourful. The breakfast did not disappoint either.

They have very interesting road signs. 15th of October featured in a TV show. One of the alley is salted shrimp alley. T-boy is the mascot for Macau.

Took a cab to Long Wah tea house next to the Red market. A bit disappointed with the food quality though service and ambience is still as good. The beef hor fun is average. The tea is very good.

Massage in four countries for this trip. Most comfortable here as acupressure is used. On level 3

of the Sofitel hotel in Macau. There is bath facilities and a toilet in the body massage room . They prepared a change of clothings for us to have our foot massage in another room.

There is a angry bird play centre next to the massage parlour.

Took a taxi to Fisherman's wharf as hubby wanted to eat the lamb stew at 强记。

Took coffee, tea and light snacks here as 强记is only opened at 6pm.

Excellent lamb stew 羊肉㷛 in claypot cooked over charcoal. Back in 10 years and not disappointed. The lamb meat is so tender. The beancurd sheets 腐竹 soaked up the broth and is so delicious. Added a vegetable watercress.

Hubby waited 10 years to be back in Macau just for this!

Awaiting departure from Macau Taipa ferry terminal.

On the ferry back to Hong Kong

The hotel is so nice to provide another fruit platter complimentary. Another bookmark is left the bed again.

Day 4 Hong Kong

It looked very cloudy today.

Took a cab to Sam Shui Po and ate at a small eatery. The Chee Cheong fun is very good. Smooth and flavourful. The wontan noodle and the soup are good. However don't quite fancy the wanton as it's too big and meaty.

Delicious pancake 鸡蛋仔so crispy and flavourful. Nice. A small stall near ladies market and mongkok MTR.

Decided to go to Tai-O at Lantau island. Surprised that the octopus card bought in 2008 can still be used. HK85 left in each card. The journey cost us HK16 from Mong Kok to Tong Chong.

Stopped at Lai king station to change to the yellow line to Tong Chong as Mongkok/Tsim Sha Tsui is on the Red line.

The yellow line is also to the stations to change to the Disneyland and Airport line.

The red taxi goes to the city and the blue taxi to lantau island. We had to take the blue taxi to Taxi O on Lantau island. We came back here to take the red taxi back to our hotel as hubby was afraid that the train will be crowded. But taking the MTR will be faster and cheaper. HKD 20 as compared to HKD 210.

The braised cuttlefish is so gigantic.

The Tai-O rural committee historic and cultural show room

Took our lunch at Good view restaurant in Tai-O.

Hubby love the vegetable stir fried with beef. The beef is so smooth and tender. We both love the grouper fish. So fresh and the meat is so soft! Didnt quite like the shark fin soup as it's too oily

Took a boat ride but didn't see any dolphins.

The puffer fish looked happy.

A kueh with peanuts fillings which did not taste as good as our ang Ku Kueh.

The pan cake is even more crispy here.

Beautiful 3D mural

The dried salted eggs. My brother wanted that but he told me to late.

The manhole cover is so nice

Very fragrant grilled dried Cuttlefish.

The cat loves the cuttlefish!

The police patrolling the area needs to sign at station like this.

Unique history of Tai O. The early residents are descendants of the Yueh tribe and first boat people of Hong Kong. The houses are built on stilts along the river and connected to the land by bridges such as the Sun Ki bridge. Also saw a temple and surprised to see a school inside a chapel.

A temple

A school inside a chapel

Very silky Beancurd by Ah Po. You can add the ginger sugar syrup or the brown sugar.

Last night in this beautiful city.

Not going to post any photos for dinner on our last night at the hotel's cafe Kool. We were tired from the excursion to Tai O and asked hubby whether we should eat at the buffet or Shang Palace in the hotel. We decided on buffet so that we can just try a little of each type of the food. So very disappointed. Still having a headache now. It was so NOISY, worse than the coffeeshop. Can't believe this is is 5 star hotel, I never face anything like this before in Hong Kong nor anywhere else.

I took the lobster and was shocked it stinks! Could not eat that and spoilt my appetite. The crab leg is salty and not fresh too. Luckily there was wrapped roasted duck. Took some salmon sashimi which is average. The prawns tempura was bad but brinjal tempura was ok. Dessert a failure. Hubby just took some Malay and Indian rice.

My experience with the hotel was so awesome as you can see from posts. Can't believe this should spoil my last night here. The juice are not even fresh juice but sweetened drinks. Thank God they could give us hot chocolate.

Unbelievable. Spoilt my holiday. Must apologise to hubby for paying so much for a buffet that is worse than a coffeeshop meal.

The service and amenities offered by Kowloon Shangri-la is excellent. I have nothing but praise for the hotel. What a stark contrast to the experience tonight. I highly recommend Kowloon Shangri-la. Just don't go to Cafe Kool. Not cool at all.

Day 5

Last look out of the window from the hotel room in the early morning.

Check-in 8.10am as our flight is at 11.10am. Luckily we came early as the queue at the custom was long.

The glutinous rice and porridge are surprisingly good at Tsui Wah in the airport. The staff is so warm and polite!

I like the airport's toilet amenities a lot. Each sink will have soap dispenser (right) water dispenser (middle) and dryer (left). And it is very clean.

Awaiting for the gate to open at 10.25am

Wanted to buy a bottle of water and the shop attendant pointed to this. I thought it was milk 😅. And it said inspired by nature technology of Singapore 😅

Our plane has arrived.

What I really love about scootplus are:

Priority embarkation and disembarkation
The very wide leg space
Comfortable chair which recline a lot and foot rest up.
The auto dimmed window.

However, the complimentary 30MB WiFi is bad as you can only see Facebook posts (without comments and pictures) and WhatsApp. The eight treasure rice is not nice too though the biscuits are ok.