Lets keep this blog rolling with some ‘brief’ travel photos from one of my last trips.. back in June 2013, to Hong Kong!

I have made several short visits to Hong Kong in the recent years, as a result of tagging along on Daddy’s business trips however our main agenda tends to be eat and shop, and often found myself choosing shopping over taking photos (can’t go hand in hand unfortunately!). Those trips, I came back with several photos on my chunky dslr and a few instagram worthy photos on the iPhone.

This recent trip was different, it was Alfred’s & my first trip to Hong Kong together as a couple. It is also the first time putting my knowledge of traveling around Hong Kong to the test (usually I just follow parents’ directions), and hopefully I have helped Alfred familiarise himself to a few areas since this lucky boy will get to travel to Hong Kong for his business trips.

I had always wanted to give ‘street photography’ a go especially in a busy environment such as Hong Kong… so this is the trip where I attempted a little more holiday snaps (and trying not to refuse my chunky ‘work’ dslr).

Photos in this post are taken with Canon 5DMkIII, 35mm f1.4 or 50mm 5.12.

*I should mention that I didn’t take photos through out the day, but made sure I captured the food we ate (we’re foodies ok!)… just incase you thought we had 10meals a day 🙂

Day Zero

We flew on Qantas from Sydney to Hong Kong, and boarded the train to Kowloon city where we met up with our friend, Jeff who recently moved back to Hong Kong permanently. He helped us find our hotel, (We stayed at Lodgewood Hotel) which was hidden away in a quiet street of Mongkok. Unfortunately I didn’t take proper pics of the hotel as by the time we returned to the hotel that night, we just wanted to sleep!

My family usually stays in Mongkok, so I know my way around here… about 70% of the time (the rest is up to Google maps and road signs)

We were in Hong Kong just a few weeks after the outbreak of H7N1 bird flu, we had our fingers cross prior to the trip that the situation isn’t as bad as in previous years and luckily we didn’t have to cancel our trip……and we still ate chicken anyways.

Day One

As per our family tradition, we love beginning the first day of our Hong Kong trip with congee. There is a little congee shop we discovered many years ago in Mongkok, 海皇粥店 (Ocean Empire Congee Shop) just under the foot bridge and still go there today. I’m not sure how this rates to the other congee places, but it satisfies a hungry tummy in the morning. 
We’re the kind of travellers who get hungry easily along the way, luckily street food isn’t too hard to find in Hong Kong. Well this time I particularly wanted to get some egg waffles from “Lee Keung Kee North Point egg waffles”, their branch in Tsim Tsa Tsui. They apparently make the best waffles, hence its popularity and the collage of photos featuring Asian celebrities who have visited the shop. This seems like the Asian way of telling people that they are amazeballs.

Day Two

Whoever thought it was possible to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant for less than AU$15/pp? Tim Ho Wan has got to be the master of all dim sim restaurants as a majority of the dishes we tried left a lasting impression on our tastebuds. The standout dish was definitely the Pork Buns. The texture of the bun itself was made to perfect, not too soggy and just a slight crunch as you bite into it to discover the pork flavoured fillings inside. I’m not usually a ‘bun’ eater when it comes to Yum Cha, but I easily made an exception at Tim Ho Wan. We walked away from the shop feeling like… maybe we should’ve gotten take away. Fortunately the Sham Shui Po branch wasn’t too far away from our hotel, so we returned at a later date during our trip. I’m starving just thinking of it right now.

After doing some shopping at Causeway Bay, we were getting hungry already. I’m not too sure of what are the must haves in this area, but have been recommended before by a friend that there is an awesome wonton noodles shop. Ho Hung Kee has a long history of wonton making and is also a Michelin Star rated restaurant! It is affordable too costing just a few dollars (I think it worked out to be around AU$6-7? I love wonton noodles in Hong Kong, it has a type of flavour and texture that you can’t seem to get here in Sydney.

This is a regular sized bowl of wonton noodles, half the size of what we would be served up in Sydney. 2 bowls for me please! It is unlikely that you would feel the consequences of ‘too much msg’ afterwards, which is a plus! especially when you’re traveling.

Day Three

Hong Kong Disneyland was my first Disney experience back in 2009, and returning 4years later with Alfred. Fortunately it didn’t feel the same as they had a few new additions to the park and back then, I did not go on as many rides. It was a hot summer’s day in Hong Kong, but we tried to see/ride what we can… and took photos with as many mascots as we can. That day I also learnt what Alferd’s favourite Disney character is 🙂 Anyone want to take a guess?
I loved Toy Story Land! Felt like an ant in this space 😛

We were there just after the opening of their latest attraction, Mystic Manor!

Hoping we’ll get to see the real Neuschwanstein castle in Germany in the near future!

Day 4

Morning breakfast at Aberdeen Fish Ball & Noodle restaurant. I love freshly made fish balls!

Going to Ocean Park the day after Disneyland, and on the hottest day of our entire trip was the worst idea – we didn’t enjoy it as much as we were just not in the mood to queue in the heat for rides. Nonetheless it was still nice to walk around the theme park and there is lots to see. I vaguely remember my first trip to Ocean Park when I was a little tot, so we made some new memories here today. I discovered that Walruses are pretty cute, Alfred bought me a cute walrus magnet to remember it.

Walking through Central, the business district of Hong Kong to visit The Peak. We probably queued for about 1.5-2hrs until we got to the top.

The dreaded waiting time aside, it was well worth it to see such an amazing night view of Hong Kong.. and it wasn’t foggy!

This isn’t the ‘end of the trip’, we certainly did more (eating) in our last 2 days in HK, but decided to give the dslr a break and resorted back to iphone/instagram photos (@clarzzique).

Coming up will be a separate blogpost about our mini getaway to Cheung Chau Island!

Watch this space.