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First trip of the year
posted : Saturday, March 15, 2025
First proper post about events of this year and surprise, it’s another trip post hahah.
Few things aligned for this trip - first, random discussion with BFF duo about going for another trip together since it’s been a while we traveled in this combination, figured that New Year PH seems like a good time for us to utilize. Then we landed on HK on a possible destination because it’s good for a short getaway, it’s not extremely cold and in fact an excellent weather for traveling. And despite me having been to HK not too long ago I was all for it because I came to realize that HK food is right up my alley and I do quite like the vibes there. Still, discussions like this don’t usually make it out of a group chat and so there’s still a bit of push needed, but we eventually bought our tickets and yes we’re on our way! So definitely starting the year right by going on a trip on the very first day. Ladies (Stel’s sister Vivien joined) and KH flew directly from Bru and my SQ flight (was hoping to fly Cathay but they are dirt expensive, not that SQ was very much cheaper but oh well) landed about half an hour later. Since we’re traveling in a group we decided to just save the hassle of train travel and just Uber-ed to our hotel at Tsim Sha Tsui. There’s been a bit of talk about accommodation prior to the trip with a budget of not more than $75 per night per pax, which landed us here (after eliminating a few others due to reasons like transparent bathroom lol). And here’s a first hiccup of the trip - KH, for some reason, double booked our accom - he had spotted a cheaper price a few days after he first booked and re-booked, but somehow forgot to cancel the first one and never realized that his credit card was charged twice. So imagine our surprise when the hotel told us we had 4 rooms instead of 2, and couldn’t cancel one of the bookings on their end because we booked through Agoda so we had to honour our booking - they quite bluntly told us even if we don’t take the two extra rooms they would be left empty anyway coz they can’t resell it hmm. So KH and I ended up having a room each, the ladies continued to share one room, and KH managed to get a friend who was also traveling in HK at that time to come in and take the 4th room from the second night onwards. And actually as usual photos to tell the story of the trip, and injecting in some snippets as we go along. (Good luck then this is going to be a long post)  Mandatory passport boarding pass shot  Christmas deco still in place.  Seated next to this couple who I believe are PPS because IFM came over to greet them, gave them a bottle of water each, take their food orders, and they also got served first. Oh I was at the bulkhead seat not that it matters much for Econ. Breakfast-ish item was decent.  Cathay, one day.  青馬大橋  Cheap room no more because I take up a room on my own.  View is standard city view in such a dense part of town  First meal! 茶餐廳 near our place, vaguely recall it to have some fame so in we go. And standard CCT fare too  瑞士雞翼  Roaming around TST area and ladies decided to go Bakehouse since there’s one nearby, egg tarts are OOS though so other bakes will do  Peninsula hotel nicely dressed up for the festive season  Us  Back at the walk of fame  Oh I miss you  Went into K11 to see see look look (also for toilet and water break)  Decided to go back to have dinner somewhere near our hotel and ended with…Korean. Okayyy  Walked all the way to Jordan to reunite with my love, 湯圓from 佳佳  Day 2 started with a walk to TST for coffee  My cup of dirty. Reversed latte if you will  Then off to get our dim sum fix at this place called 點點心, was a bit meh actually  I think this is my first time on a 小巴 actually, I don’t rmbr if I took it in 2011.  M+ Art Museum was on the ladies agenda, not quite my thing but ok to go along.  So I just focus on taking artsy photos in an artsy place.  View from the museum  Artsy shot  This reminded me of the artwork at Promenade station  Yes it’s art. Dun understand then just follow  KH went back to hotel after dimsum to settle a bit of work and also pass room key card to his friend who is taking over a room. Then tapao-ed this over.  More art  HSBC is obviously from HK  Golden Mile spotted  This will give some people anxiety  Had a bit of fun making weird sentences haha  There’s dinner plans already (it’s Vivien’s birthday!) so we went back to hotel to rest a bit, then Uber-ed over to Wan Chai  Trattoria Felino. Rather new I suppose coz can’t find location tag.  I actually think this pasta was one of our favorites of the night. Anyway service was our main gripe with the place - yes I know we only have a two hour slot, but to chase us out unceremoniously when a big part of the delay is due to your expediting (there were long gaps between some dishes) is just a big no.  I think Viv brought Polaroid to use up the last few film she had?  Hung out around Wan Chai for a bit after dinner since it was early, like 8pm. It’s a cool spot actually, listed in one of the rankings as a must visit neighborhood (though Robinson Rd made the same list so I don’t know how legit that was)  傳說中的囍帖街  Made our way on ding ding to Causeway Bay where we fooled around a bit in Hysan Place (a shopping mall)  Somehow still had energy for supper coz we just had to one up our previous experiences  Day 3! This cup is recognizable everywhere. At 紅茶 which I still like their polo buns  Revisiting Ngong Ping and this time it’s good weather!  Yes don’t have to use imagination  Village looked so much better  HK Tennis Open was ongoing when we were there. Still I wasn’t expecting to run into players, certainly not at Ngong Ping. So I was kinda excited, the rest egged me on to go take a picture. And he was SO SURLY. Maybe bad mood from losing the day before (which explained why he was free to roam around) but still…very different from the nice guy persona media had made him out to be. Looking at this his frequent outbursts on court made a lot of sense. Hahah on my shitlist now.  Can’t remember how many steps to reach the top alr. I was so bored the last time round so I counted.  But we went to the temple first  Ladies say we should eat vegetarian. And duly bought tickets for it. In the end the portion was too much and we couldn’t finish so I duno if that’s a greater sin. It tasted great though, just couldn’t finish.  What we came for  山泉豆腐花. Also meh, and the black sesame paste had a burnt taste  I can’t rmbr alr but someone had a voucher for something? And so we ended up in the souvenir shop for a photo op and of course KH bought one  Sunset on our way down  Panda themed car and this sleepy one was occupying a seat on its own.  Hung out a bit at the Citygate outlet mall before heading back to town, and bought Bakehouse finally.  And McDonalds to fill stomach a bit  Continuing with non-HK food items, this time Taiwan’s 春水堂  Day 4, we walked past this congee store the other day in Jordan and thought we would come back coz reviews are okay, turned out to be poor, rice cooked in water. Only the 豉油皇炒麵 passed.  We decided to remake this photo from 2011. Chun Hong summed it up best - “talk about a glow up”  中環上環 area is just full of stairs  Le me  Coffee stop of the day, another dirty for me  PMQ opposite and we shopped a bit…ladies were convincing me to get this but I think it can be cheaper la, but taking a photo for future reference  Bumped into a good boy up for adoption  Off towards 中環  Central Market and this 鸡蛋仔was apparently very very good? Idk I can’t differentiate it from a random street stall to be honest  Stopping by for mandatory 燒臘meal of the trip and wow this 乳豬 was fattt  Going on the escalator  Gelato stop, interesting flavors  We were actually back at 上環  Took a ding ding ride to Peak Tram station  Vintage snacks display at the peak and it’s been a while since I had 咖喱魚蛋  Third time here and finally can see something  Went to Lan Kwai Fong and the only thing we did was to eat 翠華 lolol and it was well worth the time coz it was a lot better than SG  Ambience, I think we are too early still despite this being a Saturday night  Walking to take boat cruise across the sea  Didn’t know it’s so cheap and can use octopus card, why have I not taken this before  Still trying to find a good one to round off our trip and unfortunately this was the worst of the lot lol  Final day! Ladies have an early afternoon flight back home so it’s just breakfast on the agenda. Cafe fare again and this wasn’t memorable again oh well.  KH had other plans and people to entertain and he is also staying for a couple more days so it’s a solo trip day for me. Went back to 中環 again  Vission Bakery. Didn’t get their pistachio tarts which I thought was too big for me, but got a pistachio cruffin instead and some other bakes for breakfast tmr, which didn’t end up in my stomach unfortunately.  Decided to get a couple of boxes of egg tarts to bring to office tmr, which didn’t end up in colleagues’ stomach either, more on that later  I kinda like this corner of Lyndhurst Terrace  I was wowed by this the last time round, so I went back. And I was wondering why the portions were so big and was sort of thinking it was expensive, until i checked my bill again and realized I ordered two of each zzzz. Which meant I had no space for 生煎包, oh well next time then  Back to a favorite from my last trip  And that’s about it for the day! Back to grab my luggage, a couple of food souvenirs and even more breakfast items in polo bun from 红茶, then it’s off to airport and budgeted some time for the free visit to Chase Sapphire Lounge courtesy of priority pass again.  And got a cocktail again, still couldn’t make it to a second glass coz of time constraints  No rush this time but bye for now  Dinner catering ex-HKG was decent too. WiFi was shit though. Anddd story time. Landed in SG a bit late as expected. Cleared immigration, went home without Grab price hike, thinking all was fine, mentally preparing myself for first workday of the year, actually preparing for it too by packing my laptop and souvenirs, thinking how come I only got these few boxes, wondering what is off, and it came to me. I left a whole bag of hand carried goodies in the place. Placed them underneath the seat in front of me, the whole trip I was very conscious of it shifting around and when I finally landed I completely forgot about it. It was all perishables - two boxes of egg tarts, a bread item from Vission, polo bun from 紅茶, I think there’s a 老婆餅 from 奇華 too. Immediately live chatted SQ, was redirected to SATS lost and found instead and duly left my details in a report. I was somehow hoping that since it can be easily found by the crew and the owner is easily identifiable, I can get it back the next morning and maybe they can even send it over to office and I can still have my egg tarts! Omg such wishful thinking hahaha the next day I called and they said it will take a few days to process the case and I told them to just cancel the report altogether because by the time the report was processed the egg tarts would probably have fermented or something. So that was literally a sour end to the trip and I was very bothered by it to the extent that I had to fight off an urge to book another ticket to HKG lolol. But that aside, to be frank I enjoyed the trip and most of all the company. I was revisiting a lot of places that I’ve been to in my last trip, but with the benefit of significantly nicer weather this time round so I no longer have to use my imagination. The weather was so so enjoyable - sunny, cool - that I almost wanted to make it a point to travel at this time of the year from now on. And there’s more mouths to share food lol so can try more. And these few are always good company! So yes, that was a really solid trip to start the year with. Plotting a next trip at this time of next year as we speak - but haha looks like quite a bit of push needed. |
