Cameron Highlands (26 - 28 Aug)

The husband's friend, who was from Cameron Highlands, suggested the few of us to take a trip up for a short break. It had been years since I been to Cameron Highlands, and there was barely any memory of it.

And so the 7 of us set off, in 4 separate cars, on a 6-7 hours (excluding stopover breaks) journey up to the highlands. It was our first road trip and it was quite an experience. It was also great fun travelling with a group of friends, chatting, joking, eating. :)

To sidetrack a little, I had learnt to add annotations to photos from a friend... and I loved the idea. So here they are, my first batch of "self-explanatory" photos. :)

Bangkok (17 - 20 Mar)

It's been almost 7 years since the husband and I went to Bangkok... and that was also how long we had been married. :) So, when one of our friend suggested for the four of us, together with her husband, to go for a short trip, we also took it as an opportunity to have a short getaway break.

It was really a relaxing trip... nothing much to do, just walk around, eat, and hang out with one another in the evenings. 

 Crab with vermicelli *yums*

 Walking through Chinatown area

At the weekend Chatuchak market

(the husband and I found that it wasn't as exciting compared to when we first came in year 2005. There wasn't much things to buy)

 The view from our 35th-floor hotel room

We didn't know there was a zoo, Safari World, in Bangkok until our friends recommended it. We realised it was a place more for animal shows rather than walking around to look at animals. There were about 7 - 8 shows from around 11am all the way to 4:30pm, after which the zoo would close for the day.

We only caught the orang-utan show, elephant show and dolphin show. The rest of the time were spent wondering around the almost people-free zoo, which was actually a good thing coz we could take photos of animals, and look at them closer without people jostling around.

The "empty" zoo. We suspected everyone was there just for the animal shows.

 The orang-utan show

 The elephant show

 The most number of giraffes I've ever seen

In the car, driving through the safari park

The most fun part of this trip was the drive through the open safari park. Of course we had to stay in the vehicle for the whole time, but it was really an experience and great fun. (the driver must be thinking we had never seen tigers, lions or rhinos before.. haha) However, the weather was too hot and most animals were just lazing in the shade rather than walking around so we didn't get many photos taken. But it was a really fun and memorable day. :)

Hong Kong Day 4 (31 Aug 2011)

So after finding out where Sweet Dynasty was, we decided to go back for breakfast since we didn't have the appetite for its dim sum yesterday.

Since this was our last day in Hong Kong, there was nothing much on the agenda and we took our time to eat. 

And since there was still some time left after breakfast before we had to return to the hotel to pack up, I managed to drag the husband for a walk (under the very hot late morning sun) at Avenue of Stars. Because...

And I just realised that the metal plate on the barrier was kind-of "strategically placed"... 

Hong Kong Day 3 (30 Aug 2011)

"I forgot when was the first time we met. But I know from the moment I laid eyes on you, the attraction was instant. There was no turning back from then on."

Isn't he the cutest and silliest looking thing ever? Haha. Meet McDull.

To be honest, one of the reason I wanted to go to Hong Kong at this time is because McDull was in Madame Tussards! Look at the Peak Tram ticket.

Before that, we had a delicious late breakfast at Mak's Noodles, a small restaurant that was Michelin recommended. We both agreed that this was much better than the one we had the previous night at the more high-class restaurant.

As for Madame Tussards, compared to the time we were here about 3 years ago, there were some new additions...

... and of course, not forgetting my favourite... hehe...

Before we left the peak, we managed to have sort of a tea break at one of the restaurants there. The husband had the fried pork bun, and I had the noodles with luncheon meat and egg. Nothing spectacular about those... and I forgot where I put the photos of them.

Oh, and look this picture. Can you see that this was taken from a wall in the peak's shopping gallery? ;p

Ok, now back to food. Maybe it was due to the disappointment of the carrot cakes we had the previous night, the husband suggested we go look for Sweet Dynasty. I didn't take note of the address prior to the trip and we had to walk around the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui to look for it, based on our memories few years ago. 

I forgot how long we were walking, coming out from almost all of the exits from the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. I remembered it was opposite this row of branded boutiques but forgot the name of the building. (now I know it's Harbour City) So imagine our delight when the familiar sight finally appeared in front of us!

Ah... yummy dessert as reward...

Hong Kong Day 2 (29 Aug 2011)

As we didn't managed to get to see the Giant Buddha during our previous trips, I made this a must this time. And I was praying hard for good weather coz when my sister went at end July, the cable car was closed due to strong winds.

Before that, we enjoyed some very smooth and delicious congee at a restaurant near our hotel.

Lucky for us, the weather was good that day. Too good in fact, that it was extremely hot and humid during the long wait for the purchase of the cable car tickets, and the long walk to the Giant Buddha, and not the mention the 280+ steps of stairs up to see it. 

We took the new crystal cabin, whereby the bottom was glass and could see through all the way. It wasn't really that scary until I tried to sit down on the glass to take a picture.

Martial arts display by Shaolin Temple

On our way back on the crystal cable car, we saw something very interesting. See those white specks? They were people milling around the sea at low tide, with a sytrofoam box tied to their bodies. We guessed they were catching some sort of sea food during the low tide.

And guess where we had our lunch... 

There was something very special about their noodles (米线). It was kind of like the laksa noodles we had here, but more flavourful and cooked totally al dente.

After shopping around Citygates outlets (where there was not a lot to buy, much to my disappointment), we decided to leave the area and go hunt for food. Again, I referred to the recommendations from the Hong Kong tourism website, and decided to go to a restaurant for some highly recommended wonton noodles.

The noodles was kind of normal, and disappointing for us, coz we expected much more at a restaurant. The chee cheong fun and the carrot cakes were equally disappointing. And no shopping done was disappointing too... 

Oh, and that reminds me... Now that we had gone to see the Giant Buddha, we had basically covered most of the main attractions in Hong Kong. What other excuses could I use to get us another trip to Hong Kong again??!

Hong Kong Day 1 (28 Aug 2011)

Our flight got slightly delayed for take-off so we arrived at HK airport about almost an hour later than the scheduled time. Once we cleared the very very long custom queue, we bought an Octopus card (with Airport Express services) and was on our way to the hotel. 

 The Airport Express offers a very comfortable and convenient ride

When we reached Kowloon MTR station for the transfer to the shuttle bus, the bus was just about to leave. How lucky for us! Or else we would have to wait for another 12-15 minutes for the next shuttle bus.

During the drive to our hotel, we felt like we were on the F1 track, except that we were in a shuttle bus, and there were other vehicles around for the bus to weave in and out. 

Our hotel room

View from the hotel window

Late tea break @ 4 pm

Lok Yuen Beef Balls

After a walk around Yau Ma Tei area to help the husband's friend look for a shop, we made our way back to Temple Street near our hotel. After walking through half of the street, we decided we were hungry and stopped at a random wonton noodle stall for dinner.

 

Dinner @ 7 pm

Wonton noodles + iced milk tea