The departure from Hong Kong....

Well! Well!

Who wants to leave the place when you have just started to enjoy it!


But that's how it ends; you feel dejected; hoping this vacation never ends.


The day we departed, we opted for a taxi to the airport since it was 4 and half of us with all our 4 luggage and a baby pram. The taxis in Hong Kong are really spacious; don't be deceived by the old looks of them.



The leaving formalities:-

1. Remember to return all the MTR cards that have deposits and electronic cash.

So we returned the octopus cards that we had to the MTR station just next to the departure hall.

2. Spend all the coins as much as possible as they cant be converted. Best way is to ask a local to provide you with notes in exchange. I prefer buying coffees or snacks before departure....

Very convenient! Headed back to the departure gate and soon flew back to the reality that was awaiting us!


Back to Work!



Some Random shots which didn't find mention in the posts before.

Random Indian restaurant menu

The Dream Disney Castle

The local snack shop

The back alleys

The meat shop, fresh meat early in the morning!

The HK skyline, bit hazy at that moment.

The Mody road Christmas decorations

Beauty and the beast at Disneyland, HK.

The harbour, the ships, the sailors!

The path to salvation, not! Just a regular site seeing. Lantau Buddha.

Hey Did you call me! No!

Outside Casino Lisboa!

Pink, Windows, Tram, Hong Kong!

The skyline and the starlet....

The decor of best western, fit for Royalty...

Aptly called the ladies market, Mongkok.

Thats all folks!

Date with Donald @ Hong Kong Disneyland!

On 2nd Jan, we got up early and headed to Hongkong Central Station for our MTR ride to Sunny bay.
This time time we took Tram from our hotel directly to Central....


From Central one needs to take the Tung Chung Line. Then Change over at Sunny bay for the Disney line.
Take a look at the MTR Map here.

Disney has its own separate line to take all us adults to the childhood dreamland, the land of Disney!

Once inside, make sure you chart your whole days plan! There are lots of parades, shows and rides to look out for.

The queue at the ticket counter was not that long considering it was holiday times.

We started off in the anticlockwise section once inside.... 

We did Tomorrow land ride and Space Mountain by lunch.

Space mountain was a stomach-churning, neck crunching ride in the black-void space like setup...

Beware ones with Migraines and neck ailments!  

It has option of Disney fast-pass. 

We had lunch at the food court near to the TomorrowLand! We later found an Indian outlet at the Adventure land.
There were few shows we took notice of while walking from one section to the other.

Post lunch, we moved towards the Grizzly Gulch..

 and then moved towards Toy Story land...

The Parachute ride was not that exciting, but may be fine to ride with your young ones. 
Since we were only 2 persons, we opted to ride single riders. The queue otherwise was expected to be 2 hours + long....

The RC Racer ride is worth the wait time.... more like a giant see-saw.

In the adventure land the river safari is highly recommended.

By the time we finished the Mystic point it was evening

We ran to catch the Disney's "The Golden Mickeys".

And now it was time for the famous Disney Fireworks. Fireworks were dreamlike.... Absolutely amazing! Exactly how we expected.

One day is never enough! It was too crowded on holidays and still more we wanted the dream to never end! 

The park closes shortly after fireworks!

After a tiring a day at Disney we headed back to Central. It was already too late and we headed to midlevel escalators to have a sumptuous dinner at a Turkish restaurant.



We called it a day after a short taxi ride to our hotel.

Tip:- 1. Always get your hotel name written down in Chinese by the  Tourism Board person at the Airport.
The Chinese name will help the local taxi driver decipher your hotel name.

        2. 7-Eleven near your hotel should be able to provide you with fresh milk and bread/butter for next day breakfast. If your hotel doesnt provide you free breakfast then you should stock the juices and milkshakes for next day.



Next Day... Macau....

The day we traveled to Hongkong

Hong Kong was on my minds for months and years...

Firstly I had a visited there before for a short 8 hours transit trip and had made up my mind to come back again. 

Secondly it was perfect location for celebrating my Marriage anniversary. 

Hong Kong is mildly cold in January and has a perfect festive atmosphere around New year. 

So we booked a Jetstar flight for 1st Jan, which I boarded from Singapore.

Indians dont need a visa for Hong Kong, so immigration was a like a breeze.

Once out of the terminal exit we bought the reliable octopus card from the Tourism Board queue.

The Tourism department at the exit provides you free maps and helpful advice of which airport bus to ride upon, and which is the nearest alighting/boarding point for the bus.

Shortly after that we bought a CMHK sim card with a week long data plan.
Airport is nice to spend 20-30 min.

The ride to the city by bus was comfortable. During my last visit I had used the airport express which is twice as costly as the bus journey. 

The bus journey took us over many tall bridges and also had a nice view of the ports scenery of Hong Kong

We had booked our stay at Hotel best Western and it was a sea facing room.  

MTR is the metro system of Hong Kong.

So we had to first travel by tram to nearest MTR station. The tram gives you the feeling of a century old mode of transport. The tram is not that spacious but its double decker in HK and you can pay using the trusty Octopus card.

Below is a video of our first encounter with a tram in real life. 

We took the MTR from Central station to the TST or Tsim sha Tsui east station. 
The Modi road was decorated with hugh christmas decorations.

 The air was cold and we opted for a hot coffee and a stroll around the Modi street.
Then we turned towards the Esplanade heading to Avenue of stars.

The laser show was a bit dull but it is ok if you are watching it for the first time.

The synchronized show of laser lights and music introduces you with the important tall skyscrapers of  Hk skyline and then keeps doing random flashing of lasers. We left just in time for dinner.

We had dinner at a Indian restaurant on Nathan road.

Was too excited to visit Disney Land the next day.......