Finally Hong Kong Day 4: Rainy Day, Space Museum and Cat Cafe

We seriously all woke up with muscle ache in our calves. Obviously we had done some hard work from yday's descend from the Peak. I am quite sure I had burnt yday's food intake. Haha.

The plan was to go to the Lamma island. According to weather forecast, there will be patches of rain but I was hanging on to thin hope. Patches of rain is an understatement, we stepped out of the hotel to find a light drizzle that turned heavy when we were done.

We went back to hotel room for the bathroom. It was still raining when we were all ready. It didnt feel like a good plan to stick to Lamma island. I don't think it would be fun to be stuck outdoor with the rain even though we had packed raincoat for the kids. Moreover, we don't know how chilly or tough it would be in the wet weather condition. See how wet or was from our hotel window.

Eventually, we decided to go shopping. Seriously, I didn't plan for any shopping in our itinerary and didn't research where to shop. Daddy Lim suggested Haborcity and we were on our way. Since we missed Space Musuem yday, we thought it would be a good idea to do so on this rainy day. The Space Museum is located near to the Haborcity but opens at 1pm. The plan was to linger in the mall and have lunch before we head to the Space Museum.

It was drizzling the entire way from our hotel to Haborcity. We were too lazy to dress the kids in raincoat and we put them in our water resistant jacket instead.

The mall crawl was painful until Lil Shauna saw and fell in love with an Adidas jacket. This is my Christmas present to her. She couldn't wait to don it.

We had lunch at 大家乐.

I remembered eating at this chain of restaurants whenever I was in HKG. The food was really good, value for price. I especially love the salted egg and rice. It had been such a long time ago that I had salted egg with rice. Yummy.

Finally, it was 1pm and we walked to the Space Museum. We walked past the Victoria Habor and were reminded of our last trip here with the SHSS gang. The kids were babies then. Looked at the dark sky. It was a great choice to skip the Lamma island.

We reached the Space Museum only to find that the exhibitions were closed for upgrading.

What the.... Luckily, the omnitheatre was still opened and we caught the show "Wonders of the Arctic" at 1.30pm.

It was a good show. We were provided with headphone that gave us instant translation. I found the documentary educational and interesting. Zaky was moving nonstop; Lil Shauna complained of headache after the 42 mins show bcos of the globe screen and Daddy Lim actually dozed off. Zzzzzz. It must be the lunch.

The show ended at 2ish. With no other plan in mind, we decided to go to a Cat's cafe. Daddy Lim Googled and found the Ah Meow Cafe. We had to take the MTR and walked but nobody complained.

The cafe was located in some really old residential building. We did find the cat cafe and there was a minimum order of a drink/ desert per person. It was crowded and we were told that we could only stay max 1.5 hr. The cafe was nicely done up like many of the cat cafes that we had been to.

There are not many cats in the cafe actually. There was also too little space and too many people. Most of the cats were inactive, not very people friendly and chose to sleep the afternoon away. The staff were also eager to remind the visitors to let the cats have their way, not to disturb the cats if they were sleeping and not to chase after the cats. Zaky got too excited at times and was gently told off by the staff.

Lil Shauna hid under table to play with a cat sitting/ napping on one of our chairs.

There was not enough activities to entertain the kids. We didn't managed to stay 1.5hr. The last part, the kids went aeound snapping pictures.

I think this is a different kind of cat cafe. The customers were supposed to sit/ chit chat and spend quiet time while the cats roam freely or nap by your side. Unfortunately, this kind of cat cafe doesn't suit the suits very well.

It was still early when we headed back to the hotel. We lazed around, watched TV and went for dinner nearby.

We found a Korean restaurant that serves a variety of chicken dishes and were very much reminded of Korea. We ordered fried chicken in cream sauce.

It was a little too cheesy for my liking but you can tell that Daddy Lim and Lil Shauna tolerated the cheesy chicken better than me.

We had to buy KFC back to the hotel to "top up" bcos the cheesy fried chicken was slightly spicy and kids didn't eat much.

Mummy Lim

Finally Hong Kong Day 3: The Peak

The plan of the day was to go to the Space Museum in the morning and the Peak in the afternoon. However, we Googled and realised that the Space Museum is closed on every Tuesday. Zzzzzz. We decided to take our time and only go to the Peak.

There was no hurry but Daddy Lim woke up at 7am and he offered to go to buy bfast. So rare. He came back with you tiao and porridge. It was yummy. We packed up and checked out thereafter and headed to the new hotel - Hotel Benito in TST, that will house us for the rest of the trip.

The hotel that we spent a night appeared to be in some industrial/ wholesale market area. There are quite some old buildings in the area.

Our new hotel is conveniently located next to the TST MTR. We found the hotel easily and were thrilled to know that the room was ready. It was a fairly decent sized (HKG's standard) triple room with a super single bed and a single bed.

The bfast was definitely not enough and we had a quick lunch at KFC before we headed to the Peak. As per the Liow family's instruction, we took the MTR to Admiralty and then bus 12A for 1 stop. That brought us really near to the tram station, with clear signage showing where to go.

When we saw the q for the tram, our jaw dropped again; we got reminded of the cable car Q. Ended up, Daddy Lim had to Q for the tram tickets in the hot sun (what winter?) while I brought the kids to the shade and enjoy ice cream.

It was another Q for the tram after the tickets were bought. Look at the crowd. The only comfort is that they packed a lot of people into each tram.

Finally at the Peak!

Just as how I remembered, other than the amazing view and cool weather, there arent much else. There is a new Trick Eye Musuem and the kids were bugging to go. We had 20% discount with the coupons from the Liow family. We paid HK$200 only to realise that it was a tiny musuem. It wasnt worth the entry fees.

It was about 5pm when we felt that we were so done with the Peak. There was a long Q for tram and we had a crazy idea -  to walk down the Peak. We Googled and saw that it is about 3km and 1 hour walk. We made toilet break and to 7-11 for snacks before we start our expenditure. The kids were bursting with excitement at the suggestion. They were more thrilled at the idea of walk down the Peak than going to the Peak itself. Haha.

There are apparently many ways to walk down the Peak. We opted for the most visible road.

At the start of our descend.

It was a proper walking path and while on the way down, we were amazed at the number of people hiking up to the peak. Some parts were so steep that our knee and toes hurt bcos of the constant braking with every step. We had to constantly yell at the kids not to run or risk tumbling down the steep road.

Many people were walking their dogs, including many maids. I think the maids must be very healthy with all the exercise. It took us abour 25 mins when we arrived at the Mid-Levels, where the quite rich live.

By then, most of the enthusiasm had burnt off and the kids self-entertained were beginning to complain about beingredients tired.

Half hour into our descend, the kids were distracted by a huge golden retriever. Her friendly owner educated us on how to approach a new dog and we were delayed for a good 10 mins.

We walked for another 15 mins and found ourselves in front of the zoological and botanic garden. It was small but free. We took a break, used the free toilets and then cut through the park.

We finally arrived at the bottom of the Peak after almost 1.5hr with all the distractions. Super proud and alive.

We had Yoshinoya for dinner back at TST. The menu variety was amazing. I had steamboat and Daddy Lim even ordered sake. It must be to celebrate the descend down the Peak. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Finally Hong Kong Day 2: Disneyland!

Our hostel room doesnt have a TV and so we can forget about air conditioner. Luckily it is winter and we had natural aircon. There was heater provided though, we preferred to feel cold instead and had the fan to circulate the cold air. Shiok ah!

Though it was thin mattress, most of us slept well. I woke up a couple of times. In the middle of the night, it was very cold. Then at 4ish, Zaky woke me up bcos he needed to use the toilet. It was freaking cold, we had to run to the toilet and back. It was then that I decided to turn off the fan. It was so quiet without the fan; I can hear buzzing sound in my ear.

I heard that we can catch fantastic sunrise even from our hostel but nobody was keen. Lol. Sleeping was definitely more important. The alarm woke us up at 7ish where we started to get ready for the day and packed.

Bfast was available for purchased or we could cook our own bfast. We opted the former since we have nothing to cook. Daddy Lim must be super hungry and ordered 4 sets at HK$35 each. While checking out, I saw the staff busily pouring orange juice and I thought that they were having a nice bfast. They were actually preparing the bfast that we purchased. Haha. The kids were busy playing and checking out some half dead butterfly.

Of course we couldnt finish all the bfast. We quickly cleared up to go to the waiting point for the booked cab that was supposed to come at 8.30am. We were heading to Disneyland to meet the Liow family. They happened to be in HKG and so coincidently to be going to DL on the same day. One last picture before we leave the hostel for good.

I actually expected the condition of the hostel given that it is a hostal. I also didn't mind the bunk bed or no TV/ aircon and even shared bathroom. It is really no frills. We had to put own bedding and returned themlp at checkout. We also had to wash the plates and cutlery, even after the bfast that we bought. To me, everything was ok except for the TOILET! The water level seems to be always low, which will mean that the flush doesn't work, especially when everybody uses the toilet in the morning. Can cry. Bcos of that, I was glad that it was only 1 night. Daddy Lim even took a dump and had to leave the wonderful sight to the next person who uses the toilet. Poor soul.

The taxi was 30 mins late and the kids decided to build a stone tower.

Finally, we were in the cab.

Bye bye to Lantau island that we didn't really explore bcos we didn't have much time and were very tired after getting lost for 3 hours. Look at the pretty sky on the way down.

Hello Disneyland and the Liow family! The taxi fare was about HK$220. We deposited the luggage at the Guest Service at HK$100 per piece. The kids were escatic to have playmates.

There was not much crowd in beginning and we headed to the new Star Wars ride. It wasn't too bad and even saw the storm troopers. They were really living the character and asking people to get out if the way, even kids who wanted to Hi-5. So funny.

Right after the Star Wars ride, we got the fast pass for Space mountain. It turned out to be the same Star Wars ride; the Space mountain ride had been replaced by Star Wars ride. Haha.

The crowd turned up soon after and there were some Q to most of the rides. Luckily the park wasnt too big and we took quite a few rides, including the Grizzle Bear roller coaster that went backwards at some point. That was the kids' favorite. We also went to the Mystic Manor that Zaky refused to take when we were in Disneyland 2 years back.

We also took the racing car ride that we never took before. The kids were not tall enough then. We waited for 50 mins for that ride and it was my personal favorite. Throughout the Q, Zaky was whining that he was scare. It was super irrtating. It was like a huge viking and it was not scary at all bcos we were so firmly secured. The kids loved viking so they handled the ride well. The ride were so fast and this was what Daddy Lim caught. He wasn't keen on the ride. Haha.

We caught 2 shows and they were both super good. I like the 1st one better - about Mickey Mouse and the Disney Princesses. I think I enjoyed the show as much as the kids. Daddy Lim said that he almost dozed off only to be awaken by my now and then exclamation and request to take pictures. Haha. See, Else! Else!

We missed the parade but found some water mist fountain and the kids had fun. I think it was the companion.

Then, we caught the 2nd show about Simba. This one is slightly less interesting and there was a lot of singing, not very good after a long day. Even I almost fell asleep at some point.

The sky was turning dark after the show and we headed back to the Toystory land to catch the parachute ride and last race car ride. We were really the last one and had the entire car to ourselves. Woohoo!

We parted ways after the last ride. The kids did some last minute shopping before we took the MTR to hotel. Bye bye Disneyland. We skipped the fireworks to avoid the crowd.

Bcos the Disneyland hotel was so freaking expensive, I booked a hotel to the nearest convenient MTR station.

Poor Zaky dozed off on the train but obediently agreed to walk to the hotel, which is about 10 mins walk away. Thank God for Google map and we didn't lost our way.

Though Zaky walked to the hotel, he did fall asleep on the lobby couch while we were checking in. He didn't even had dinner. We ordered delivery and went to bed at almost 11pm after settling down. It had been a wonderful and tiring day. I like theme park.

Mummy Lim