Monday, September 20, 2010

Back from HK Vacation III

Fri: Determined to get a better breakfast, this time we set out for a real Char Chan Ting. We went to this place directly opposite Langham Place called Chan Kei 陈记. I ate oatmeal for the first time in many years because we didn't know that is oatmeal in Cantonese. All the rest of the stuff taste like what you can get in Singapore. Ham steak is Luncheon meat.

Then we took a cab to Ocean Park while some of the ladies went shopping in Prada outlet shops. It was a long taxi trip, plus a long cable car trip. I thought surely that we cannot get to see the dolphin show. (side note: the last time I went to see the animal show in Singapore Zoo, I was 20min early. Guess what? Only standing space available) This one, we arrived on the dot, and there is still lots of ample space. Why? Hong Kong has LOTS of room for their shows (Disney or Ocean park). Singapore has only 10% of its sitting capacity.

After the show we broke into 2 groups. I brought the oldest girl along for the more exciting rides while the rest headed for the sea world. The review from the rest was that the sea world was really good. On my side, I tried the Eagle, Mine Train, Space Wheel. The latter 2 was fun. I had to miss the Dragon because the girl is below height limit :(

We ate lunch at Bayview Restaurant. Horrible food.

We then took the train (Ocean Express) back to the more kiddy side. We went to see the Pandas. Personally I enjoyed the air-con more than anything. Good life, these creatures. We then played some lame Funfair type games before heading back to the hotel.

We left the kids with some others and went shopping at the street stalls. This is what Mongkok is mainly famous for. I bought a couple of T-shirts at Ladies Street, but we didn't shop much as the place was much too crowded. It's not a pity for me as I'm never much of a shopper anyway.

Dinner was at Yung Kee. This is one of the top restaurants in Asia, expectations were naturally high. First off, the century egg is as good as its reputation. If you eat nothing else, you must at least try this. Secondly, a very important announcement: Avoid ordering too much. I didn't do any online research before going HK, but if I had, this would be the number 1 advice from all the online reviews of this restaurant. The waiter just keep prodding us to order, when clearly the food is WAY too much. Not only that, the portions are HUGE! In this way, the place is indeed a tourist trap. But other than that, I am already prepared to pay for what is expected to be an expensive meal: S$250 per family (2 adults 2 kids).
Goose: not bad but not as good as reputation. A well done duck would be comparable.
Roast pigeon: Good. But unexpectedly large. We ordered 3 when 2 is more than enough.
Roast pig and Charsiew: Good. But they should have combined this instead of serving this in 2 big plates.
Slice fish with Choisim: Good fish. HUGE plate.
Melon soup: Good. I knew this would be expensive (served out of a melon), but the waiter pushed this on us.
Toufu: ok. But what is the deal with 20-30 pieces of BIG toufu on a HUGE plate? We had only 8 adults (and 7 small kids).

After this, we took the bus to the peak. Highly recommended over the tram. Nice view along the way. The last time I was there it was 10+ years ago. I remember the peak is quite empty, with perhaps some shops. Now there are 2 huge shopping malls. The place feels commercialized and tacky. But the worse part is that it started to rain. So we hurried back to the bus interchange. We had hoped to ride a cab back, but none would take us (something about not going from HK island to Kowloon). So we took the bus back to Admiralty and take the MTR back to the hotel.

Sat: The next morning, we tried a dim sum breakfast at Guangzhou Garden at the Langham Place mall. Recommended for good food for decent prices. I especially like the Zhar Leong. We did some shopping in the mall before going to the airport.

Overall, it was a good and fun trip. For me, the highlight is still Disneyland. Since I've seen it all, I probably wouldn't be back anytime soon.

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