HongKong 2010 Day 4

So, finally I am blogging about Day 4.

Before I start, I have to say that I really took plenty of pictures! So much that I took ages to upload them one by one haha.

Alright back to Day 4, it was a meaningful and fun day for us as we got to visit a place of interest and yet did some shopping. We had been traveling to alot of places in one day for the past few days and Day 4 was a day where we can slow down our pace and enjoy the view that accompanied. 

And we were going to Tung Chung to take the 30min cable car ride to see the Giant Buddha, shop at the factory outlets at citygate and roam around the streets of the Mongkok!

Outfit of the day...

My eyes have been so dry that I decided to ditch the contact lenses for my new spectacles!

Mr Heng

A fast food shop opposite my hotel! Too dirty to try but they do sell western food for takeaway.

Taking the train to Tung Chung...

their very efficient train system

Tung Chung is located at Lantau Island. I would say it's like the outskirts of Hongkong where the air is fresher and the scenery is definitely different from all that city view that we have been seeing for the past few days!

We can even have close views of the airplanes taking off from the airport! More about that later!

Yes, that's the place we shopped!

Apartment next to the MTR station and shopping mall.

Ngong Ping 360 is the name of the cable car and it is just a short walking distance away from the station. Btw, it was pretty cold that morning! We reached around 10am and the sky was foggy and windy, definitely different from the weather of the past few days. I was lucky that I brought my winter jacket.

Mountains! Pretty nervous! If you read my past posts, you would know I have a fear of height. Especially so if I'm taking a cable car with a see-through floor! It will totally freaked me out! In addition, this ride was supposed to be 30-min long and I was scared that I may not dare to take the ride! The alternative would be a 1hr long bus journey up the mountains!

Decided to just buy the tickets for that once-in-a-lifetime 'freaked out' experience! LOL. If I want to back out last minute, I have to think of the $ that I waste. Smart huh?

Anyway... I did back out last minute LOLOLOLOL. The weather was too cold and we were both hungry! So I told Des that it will be wiser if we had our breakfast first and waited till it was noon before we took the cable car. Noon means sun right? So we won't be frozen to death in the cable car!

Searching for an ideal restaurant for dim sum...

We went to this grand restaurant, called Federal Palace which is located at the corner of the 2nd floor for dim sum. It was already quite packed when we reached. So, I supposed the food is good? Plus, on Day 5, I saw the same restaurant at another shopping mall so this restaurant has many branches like Crystal Jade.

Hungry hungry...

Spring rolls

Chee cheong fun with pork, prawns and char siew

Har Gao

Egg yolk custard bun which they are famous for

 See the filling... yum yum

Glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf

Siew mai

Fu Pi Juan

Hong Yiu Cao Shou

Fried Eggplant (too huge to bite lor)

Fried carrot cake in XO sauce

My verdict: Singapore's dim sum tastes better! Maybe, this restaurant was not the best out of the lot but I think the quality of the food is only average. Some dishes were served cold like the har gao. We still prefer Yan Palace to everything we ate here! But the only plus point is that the total bill of this meal only amounts to around S$20 which was not too expensive.

We then walked around the mall and saw the Espirit outlet. I spent quite alot there as I found some tshirts and pants that are pretty affordable and in good condition. When the sky cleared, we then head over to Ngong Ping 360.

Fake smile!

We were lucky to buy the tickets first as the queue for the ticket was sooooooooo long that they have to cordon the area to prevent more people from going up. Cutting the queue was shiok but when you see so many people on a holiday, I can't help but think of my future holiday will also be like this! Hate traveling during June and Dec!

Their cable car can take 8 people sitting and 4 more standing! Crazy!

The following pics were taken by Des. I just sat and be quiet.

That's the airport in the background!

it was really highhhhhh

Can you believe it? It was so high and there were people hiking in this weather!

the hiking path below

Giant buddha in sight

the whole journey is like a roller coaster ride. we went up and down, up and down.

Look at the no. of stairs hikers have to climb to go up the mountain!

Like little lanterns hanging on a line! Instead of just one candle, there are many people in that cable car!

See how artistic I am! I took this picture! 

We reached HK's "cameron highlands" lol.

You will be amazed to find tourists wearing very little here cos the weather was not that cold. The two on the right are my mum's friends who wore three-quarter pants with socks and shoes! lol

Angmohs who made us feel like we are suagus...

walking towards the buddha

the old cable car. I would die of claustrophobia and fear of height if I were put into one like this!

So, before I start sharing with you on my unforgettable experience, please look at the no. of flights of stairs that I have to climb to reach the top. This is because in the following story, Des and I climbed up TWICE!!!!!

So, we were pretty excited to do some exercising. Well, it's not like we did not walk enough for the past few days but this climb is a meaningful one. I often watched in some hk dramas that after the climb, one will feel enlightened or refreshed in a certain way. Erm, it's like your heart is purified and furthermore, there's always a saying 先苦后甜. The view up there will be spectacular right?

halfway there. It wasn't easy as we were wearing such thick and heavy clothing. 

so hot as I was perspiring already!

isn't this picture gorgeous?

almost there! doesn't it look like the buddha is spreading light on us!

see, i was so glad we finally made it!

If I was not wrong, the Giant Buddha is the largest bronze buddha in the world.

So, continuing from where I stopped, we walked around the buddha and saw many souvenirs. I thought it would be appropriate for me to buy a buddha pendant for my brother as I owed him a lot of presents. Anyway, he had a buddha pendant which cracked when he dropped it so I was pretty full of myself that I can think of such a gift for him and he will definitely like it!

So I spent around S$25 buying this which comes in an ang pao.

I even prayed to the buddha for good luck and good health for my brother. It's a laughing buddha.

Not bad right?

Happy with my buy and the pictures we took, we made our way down.

Here comes the drama part, it seemed like it as all fated when we reached the bottom and des asked me how I knew if the quality of the jade was good. So, I took out the necklace and wanted to show him that as long as there was no crack and impurities when you look at the jade against sunlight, the jade should be ok (I learnt this from my China trip). Just when I was showing him, I found lose threads from the necklace! It looked like a part of the necklace was breaking and it certainly broke my heart at that moment. Imagine spending so much $ (IMO) on this and here I bought a defective piece, abit unlucky lor! I felt so sad!

Then it occurred to me that there was a similar souvenir shop near me and I could give it a try asking for a new piece. I quickly walked towards the lady who was tending the shop alone and in my most polite tone, I asked her for an exchange. Without a doubt, she asked me to get a new piece.

Probably I was affected by the incident that I just took another piece without checking it. When I left the shop, I suddenly remembered about it and guess what!!!!!!!! *cue thunderstorm and lightning*

The new piece has a crack on the buddha's face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why like this??????????

I think I went crazy because I ran back to the shop within split second and uhoh! The lady had another staff with her and she said I had to change it at the shop located inside the buddha! 

So, it began our second journey up the buddha and both of us were tired beat at the end of the trip. It was really fated. It just seemed like the buddha wanted us to climb twice. If not, I could have just gotten a good piece and skipped the climbing. Anyway, I told my brother that I was such a good sister to go all the way to get that right souvenir for him and he was happy as well!

dessert time

I ordered red bean soup.

Des's almond tea with rice dumplings

After that, we went back to citygate for more shopping before returning to the hotel to unload our buys and rest a little. Then, we headed to Mongkok for some more shopping and dinner.

We had dinner at this chinese fast food restaurant, yes you head it right, it's chinese! It's called Cafe de coral or 大家乐 and is popular among the locals. Well, they have traditional roast meat rice, japanese steamboat (shabu shabu), and even western. Just order and pay at the counter, look for a seat and wait for your number to be called before you collect at the respective counter. The food is good, I can assure you!

My steamboat which is so-so. 

Des's order which is delicious!!!!!!! It comes with a soup, fries, fried fish, fried prawn, sausage and pork chop! The pork chop was so tender that I kept eating it! I think it's less than S$10 and definitely worth the price as the soup was good as well!