Istighasah, boleh ke tak?
2 days ago
OMG!!! It was a year ago when I made the trip to Hong Kong. And I only got to write about it now?? Really pathetic. The trip was made soon after my UK trip (Part I and Part II) last year. I was equally excited because I have never been to Hong Kong before. And when I checked the weather forecast, it was quite cold. Temperature between 15-20 degrees. Had to standby thick clothing. But not as freezing as London.
So, to Hong Kong I went. I made the trip with another colleague. When we arrived at the HK airport, we had to make our way on foot to the bus stop. One of the cheapest ways to get to the hotel is by bus. We had to know the exact bus number that travels via the correct route though.
The ride on the bus was comfortable enough and uneventful. It has a spacious luggage compartment.
We had moments of uncertainty and were not sure where to get off from the bus. We stopped at one of the bus stops and were disoriented for a while and had to figure out where the hotel is. We had to walk for some distance before reaching the hotel. Luckily, I didn't have lots of luggage.
Finally, after some foot work, we arrived at the hotel. The Harbourview Hotel. Not to be confused with Renaissance Harbour View which is also close by. The hotel that we stayed in, besides quite cheap, it is also close to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for the conference.
The room is quite small. And the view from the window is dismal. I can only see the wall of the next building.
Besides listening to the talks during the conference, we managed to go for sight seeing. But since the weather is foggy, and at times raining, we were not able to enjoy the scenery as much as we can. One good reason to visit Hong Kong again in future.:)
The conference:
One of the attractions were the booths. The organizer arranged for booths that display the Chinese culture and crafts.
We bought a travel package which includes train trip to airport and unlimited MTR rides for 3 days. Saved us some money, I am sure. Because we fully utilized the MTR. And I like how organized the MTR is. Lots of people but the ride was smooth because the trains are punctual and very frequent. Waiting time was less than 5 minutes. I don't mind if I don't own a car with the excellent MTR service.
We took the ferry to mainland and walked around the area of Tsim Sha Tsui.
We walked along the avenue of stars. And saw lots of names on the stars and did not recognize most of them. And we only took pictures near the few names that we recognized.
Jackie Chan is a must la. Dia legend.
And of course Bruce Lee.
We also went to Ladies Market. Twice. It was full of people and the rain made it worse. However, macam-macam ada kat situ. Shoppers' heaven.
We also stopped by the Kowloon Mosque.
And walked through the Kowloon Park. In fact, we did a lot of walking. Kalau lama lagi duduk HK, sure selim melim dah...:)
Night view along the waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui is amazing. With the symphony of lights displayed on the buildings.
Food is no problem. There are several middle east halal restaurants.
On another day, we left early to board the Ngong Ping 360 cable car. We bought the package ticket which included the cable car ride, bus and boat ride. It was raining and foggy thus we could not appreciate the scenery during the ride up.
The scenery and the buildings at the top (Ngong Ping village) are very nice. There is a halal restaurant there, so no worries about food. There is also a huge Buddha statue on the top of the hill. Lots of visitors climbed up the hill to get a closer look of the statue. We didn't think it was worth while to climb so we just took pics from far. With that kind of foggy weather, we can barely made out the silhouette of the statue. Jadi la daripada tak nampak langsung. :)
We went down the hill by bus. Stopped at Tai O, a fishing village, for a short boat ride. And boarded the bus again back to where we started.
Using the MTR pass, we also took the MTR to Disneyland. There is a special train that travels to Disneyland station. The coach is decorated with Disney's designs and characters. Very nice. The station is equally decorated. 
We decided that it will be no fun going into Disneyland without our family thus we just walked outside the gate and took pictures outside.
Macam rugi je kan tak masuk Disneyland? Well, not really. Let's call it a strategy to inspire us to visit HK again some other time. Until next time, lu tunggu wa datang lagi... InshaAllah...:)
