Hong Kong - Day 1 (Tsim Sha Tsui - Jordan - Yau Ma Tei - Mong Kok

Hong Kong is one of the places that I would like to visit and we managed to booked a round trip ticket from Kota Kinabalu to Hong Kong for only RM 249.77 per person via Air Asia Big. It's only a 3 hours flight and we departed early in the morning around 6.40am. It's autumn in Hong Kong with plenty of sunshine. Temperature feels like 30'C on our first day.

We were famished for breakfast and ordered in-flight meal. I ordered Shepherd's pie consists of minced chicken, vegetables filling seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, thyme and Worcestershire sauce topped with a layer of creamy mashed potatoes, sprinkled with chopped parsley. My partner ordered Nasi Dagang with Curry Chicken. Both were good. No photo taken for Nasi Dagang because he was too hungry and started eating before I managed to snap a photo of it!

(Total bill: RM 40 including 1 bottle of mineral water and 1 cup of coffee)

My in-flight meal - Shepherd's pie

We reached Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) before 9.30am and the first thing we did was to book a hotel through agoda.com. Yes... we made a huge mistake by making a last minute hotel booking. You can read more about it here. Next thing we did was to get an Octopus card from MTR Customer Service Center located at the arrival hall. We bought an on-loan Octopus card. You are required to pay a HKD 50 refundable deposit that covers the card lost and possible negative value. If you no longer wish to use your Octopus card, return it to any MTR station and get the refund of the deposit and remaining value if any of the Octopus card. A refund handling fee of HKD 9 will be levied if it is returned within 90 days after the date of issue.

On-loan Octopus card - HKD 50 refundable deposit with HKD 100 value

Public buses are the cheapest way to get to and from HKIA. Route A21 is the most popular with tourists. Since we have plenty of time and wanted some sightseeing, we decided to take the public bus. We walked to the Airport Ground Transportation Centre (just follow the signs for buses) and took Citybus A21 (HKD 33 per person) a double-decked bus with air-conditioning. The large luggage racks allow you to store your luggage while you enjoy a bus ride. The journey took approximately 1 hour to reach bus stop no.13, Cameron Road, Nathan Road. This is the nearest stop, just 5 minutes walk to Mirador Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui. Our hotel, 3D Inn Hong Kong is located in Mirador Mansion.

Walking towards Airport Ground Transportation Centre direction

Citybus

We were so hungry after we have completed our hotel check in and decided to have our lunch at Tsui Wah Restaurant just less than 1 minute walk from our hotel stay. The restaurant was almost full when we entered. We ordered 1 cup of hot milk tea and a bowl of their signature dishes - fish balls & fish cakes with flat rice noodles in fish soup.

I like their milk tea. It's not too sweet, creamy and smooth. However, I couldn't find anything special in their fish balls & fish cakes noodles. Even though I'm a fish ball lover, I don't really fancy their fish balls and fish cakes. Besides that, one of the waitress was quite rude when I asked whether they sell pineapple buns. She responded in a harsh, emotionless tone "you can just refer to the menu!"

Tsui Wah Restaurant (Tsim Sha Tsui branch)

Milk tea (hot) - HKD 20

Fish balls & fish cakes with flat rice noodles in fish soup - HKD 36

Address:

Tsui Wah Restaurant

2 Carnarvon Road,

Tsim Sha Tsui,

Hong Kong

Opening hours: Sun - Thu - 7am to 2am, Fri & Sat - 7am to 3am

A trip to Hong Kong is never complete without having a bowl of wanton noodles. So, our next stop is Mak's Noodle. We took MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Jordan (HKD 4.5 per person) and Mak's Noodle is just 1 minute walk from Jordan MTR station. Restaurant was quite empty when we entered. We just ordered 1 bowl of shrimp wanton noodles. The shrimp wantons were buried underneath the noodles when served. Soup base was good and noodles were springy, served with fresh shrimp wanton. However, wanton skin was a bit thick.

Mak's Noodle

Shrimp wanton noodles - HKD 36

Address:
Mak's Noodle
G/F 55 Parkes Street,
Jordan, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm

Few doors away from Mak's Noodle is Australia Dairy Co. This restaurant specializing in steamed milk pudding, scramble eggs, toast and custard dishes. It has the best scrambled eggs that I had so far and love the toast with butter too. However, egg white & milk custard stewed in Chinese style was a bit too sweet for my liking. It's very crowded and noisy inside the restaurant. Be prepared to queue outside the restaurant and share tables with others if you are alone or in a small group.

Australia Dairy Co.

Tea set : Toast with butter, scramble eggs and fresh milk - HKD 36

Fresh milk

Egg white & milk custard stewed in Chinese style - HKD 28

Address:

Australia Dairy Co.

No. 47-49 Parkes Street,

Jordan, Hong Kong

Opening hours: 7.30am to 11pm daily. Close on Thursday.

Same row as Australia Dairy Co., Hui Lau Shan is just few steps away. There's outlet in Malaysia too but my partner wanted to try it here. The shop was empty when we walked in. Owner was very friendly and we ordered a bowl of Mango Pomelo Sago. My verdict - refreshing to have a bowl of cold dessert on a hot sunny day but too expensive for a small portion.

Hui Lau Shan's Mango pomelo sago - HKD 46

Address:
Hui Lau Shan

No. 43 Parkes Street,

Jordan, Hong Kong

We were too full to eat anymore. So it's time to burn some calories. We walked to Jade Market, 9 minutes from Hui Lau Shan. Dozens of small stalls selling jade and colourful beads. Both of us didn't really into jade or beads, so we just walked past.

Jade Market

Address:

Jade Market

Jade Street, Yau Ma Tei,

Hong Kong

Opening hours: 10am to 4pm (Monday to Saturday)

Located in Yau Ma Tei, Tin Hau temple is within 4 minutes walk from Jade Market. There's a park in front of Tin Hau Temple and it's well maintained. Great place to sit down, take a rest and plan for our next destination.

Tin Hau Temple

Park in front of Tin Hau Temple

Address:

Tin Hau Temple

Yau Ma Tei,

Hong Kong

Opening hours: 8am to 5pm (free admission)

King of Coconut is just 12 minutes walk from Tin Hau Temple. We walked all the way here just to try their fresh coconut juice. It's a mixture of ice blended milk and coconut water. Not very impressive. Milk taste was a bit too strong for me.

Nathan Road

Fresh coconut juice (small) - HKD 18

Address:

King of Coconut

G/F, Dundas Square,

43H Dundas Street, Mong Kok,

Hong Kong

Opening hours: 10am - 9.00pm

Few stalls away from King of Coconut is curry fish balls. This is a very popular street food in Hong Kong. Lady stall owner was arrogant and rude when we asked her what is the minimum order of the fish balls because we were unable to read Chinese characters. The curry fish balls doesn't taste good at all and we were forcing ourselves to finish it. In the end, we gave up on our last 4pcs of fish balls.

Curry fish ball stall

Curry fish balls - HKD 20 for 16pcs (minimum order quantity)

Next destination - Ladies Market, 10 minutes walk from Dundas Square. One of the well known street markets in Hong Kong. Stalls selling clothing, accessories, souvenirs, handbags, watches, shoes and ladies lingerie. We just took a quick walk and decided to head back to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. We were all sweaty and sticky after a long walk. We decided to take MTR from Mong Kok to Tsim Sha Tsui (HKD 4.70 per person)

Ladies market

Address:

Ladies Market

Tung Choi Street,

Mong Kok, Kowloon

Hong Kong

Opening hours: Noon till 11.30pm

This was my first time trying Peking duck and I really like it. The Peking duck was perfect. Meat were soft and moist with crispy skin. Restaurant staff were very friendly and warm. She helped me to wrap the sliced Peking duck with steamed pancake, stuffed with cucumber and spring onions. In fact, she even taught me how to hold the wrapped pancake before eating it.

Hot pot on the other hand was served in a traditional coal-heated way. We only ordered fish balls and pork slices for our hot pot. There's varieties of condiments for you to mix and match yourself. We decided to let the restaurant staff to help us with the mixture of condiments. Turned out the sauce was nice with a unique taste. End of our meal, they gave us a complimentary dessert - doughnut filled with red bean paste.

(Total bill: HKD 420)

Tai Fung Lau Peking Restaurant

Side dishes (It's included in the bill)

Condiments for hot pot sauce

Final product of the sauce after mixing all the condiments

Hot pot served in a traditional coal-heated way

Frozen fish balls

Pork slices

Steamed pancakes

Cucumber, spring onions and sweet bean sauce

Half portion of Peking duck

Nicely wrapped - Peking duck, cucumber, spring onions and sweet bean sauce

Complimentary dessert - doughnut filled with red bean paste

Chef slicing the Peking duck

Address:

Tai Fung Lau Peking Restaurant

No. 29-31 Chatham Rd,

Windsor Mansion, Tsim Sha Tsui,

Hong Kong

Opening hours: Mon-Sun: 11.30am to 2pm & 6pm to 11pm

Hong Kong Cultural Centre (best view to watch the Symphony of Lights) is within 12 minutes walk from Tai Fung Lau Peking Restaurant. We were rushing to watch the Symphony of Lights right after our dinner. Show starts at 8pm everyday and we're just in time to watch it. A Symphony of Light is the spectacular light and laser show synchronized to music and staged. Somehow, I felt that the show was not that spectacular. I was expecting spectacular display of laser beam but sadly I only saw a few. We were unable to visit Hong Kong Space Museum, Museum of Art and Avenue of Stars this trip because it's close for major renovation.