Day 5 Hong Kong

We started our day by taking the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay. We had to switch to the Island Line at Admiralty in order to get to Causeway Bay. 

Our aim was to go to Times Square first so we should have chosen Exit A and exit from there before we tapped the Octopus card at the automated turnstile. However, we made a mistake by exiting from the automated turnstile first then tried looking for Exit A. Sadly, that was a mistake and we could only exit via Exits D, E or F. So we took exit F1. We went to Sogo. Along the way, we saw the baricaded area for the HK protest group. No one was in sight but we did see some tents and policemen.

Got myself a Marc Jacobs bracelet for HKD 437 at Sogo. Saw a pretty wallet from Samatha Thavasa in Tiffany Blue retailing for HKD 1200. Contemplated on buying but did not buy it in the end (regretting it now :/ ). It is a Japanese brand and has stores in US too.

We met a nice and friendly Malaysian diplomat and chatted for a while.

We then made our way to Times Square. Along the way, hubby entered a three-storey Nike store. We did not get anything from there nor at Times Square.

Christmas decorations outside Times Square

It was already 3 p.m. and our stomachs have started to rumble. However, a look at our Samsung Handy showed that some of the halal restaurants were quite a walking distance away. Since we wanted to go to Ladies Market, we decided to have our meal there instead. So we took the MTR. There is a link to the MTR from Times Square itself. 

We took the MTR from Causeway Bay, switched to the Tsuen Wan Line (red) heading towards Central and stopped at Mongkok. Made our way to Argyle Street, better known as Ladies Market. We bought a small bag for Ulfa and a leather bag for hubby. We did not get anything much. The things sold were not that cheap. Do bargain a lot if you want to buy an item. I normally quote half the price of what the stallholder offers. From there we decide on the appropriate price.

We then had our meal at Ottoman Mediterranean Cuisine at Ladies Market itself. This is a halal-certified restaurant by the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong. The owner is a very nice Turkish man named Jameel. The restaurant has free Wi-fi (thumbs up for that!) and the owner gave us the password. We ordered Lamb and Cheese Pide, Chicken Doner Roll, Beef Kebab with Rice, Marinated Chicken Wings, Baklava and Potato Wedges. Hubby also ordered the Turkish Mint Tea (green in colour) which was pretty nice and refreshing. The beef for the Beef Kebab was very soft and goes very well with the rice. The Lamb and Cheese Pide was delicious! The bread was soft and the cheese goes very well with the sweet and juicy lamb.

View from inside the restaurant

I love that yellow HOT chili sauce. Really HOT!

The best pide I ever had. The kids agreed.

After the meal, the sun had started to set. So we headed back to our hotel, The Mira, at Tsim Sha Tsui using the MTR. It was very crowded. At Tsim Sha Tsui station, we returned the Octopus Card at the counter and was refunded the unused amount together with the deposit, minus the admin fee of HKD9. We got back to our hotel, informed the hotel to book for us a taxi to the airport the next morning and started packing for Korea. 

Hong Kong has very nice shopping areas but the prices are not extremely cheap either. Some brands are cheaper though because there is no tax on the goods. Overall, halal food is on the pricey side in Hong Kong seeing that it is not as readily available as it is in Singapore.

Do wait for my next blog post on our trip to Seoul, South Korea.

Day 1 Hong Kong

For the trip to Hong Kong, I booked a flight with Scoot. The flight was scheduled at 0155 HOURS. However, about 6 hours before the departure time, I received an SMS and an e-mail that the flight was delayed. The flight was now due to depart at 0520 HOURS from Singapore and will arrive in Hong Kong at 0900 HOURS. We did not fret much about that as it worked to our advantage. Our original flight was to reach Hong Kong at 0535 HOURS. What were we supposed to do in Hong Kong that early?

Anyway, I prefer night flight or early morning flight when travelling with the kids they will fall asleep during the flight. Whenever we take the aeroplane, I normally have lollipops with me. I will give them to the kids during take-off. I will also bring extra just in case their ears get blocked during the flight. When that happens, I will offer them the lollipops again.

Fluffy white clouds

When we arrived at Hong Kong Airport, we took the maps and the brochures just past the immigration. Mira Hotel provides shuttle service from the airport to their hotel but it was rather expensive. There are many ways to get from the airport to your hotel.  You can take the Airport Express, the airport bus service or the taxi. You can find out more about all these on this TripAdvisor site (click here). 

We chose to take the taxi instead and proceeded to the taxi waiting area. There are staff there to guide you if you are unsure on which taxi to take. In Hong Kong, there are 3 types of taxi to choose from. Which one to take will depend on the area that you choose to go to. 

Red taxisRed taxis operate throughout most of Hong Kong, except for Tung Chung Road on Lantau Island and on the entire south side of Lantau Island.

Green taxisGreen taxis only service the New Territories.

Blue taxisBlue taxis only operate on Lantau Island.
Source: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/plan-your-trip/practicalities/transport/getting-around/taxi.jsp#ixzz3MGY2kuwQ

View of Hong Kong taken in the cab

We took the Red Taxi (Urban Taxi) as Mira Hotel is situated Tsim Sha Tsui. The total cost of our cab fare is HKD 260. Do ask for a receipt (as informed by the airport staff). Our room was not ready yet when we arrive and check-in is only at 3 p.m. So we left our luggages with the bellhop as was told that our luggages will be placed in our room when it is ready. 

We then walked around our area a little. Mira Hotel is located along Nathan Road, next to Miramar Shopping Mall and Mira Mall. It is very near Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. Mira Hotel is surrounded by shopping malls. You can also walk to Harbour City from Mira.

Opposite of The Mira

We walked around to search for halal restaurants. Heard that there is a lot around the area but we could not find any. Finally saw a sign for a halal Indian restaurant and we settled for that. However, the food was pretty disappointing. We explored the area a bit more. By then it was 2.30 p.m. We returned to Mira Hotel and our room was ready. Our luggages had already been placed in the room when we entered.

We love Mira Hotel so much. We opted for a room with two twin beds. The room comes with a Samsung Handy smartphone. You can make FREE international and local calls with it. It comes with unlimited 3G data connectivity. So we used the Handy around Hong Kong, accessed Google Map, checked out restaurants and promotions and made calls to Singapore with it.

Didn't take a picture of our room but it looked like this. We opted for 2 twin beds.
Source: http://www.themirahotel.com

The room also has a 40 inch LCD TV which you can also use to access the internet. The minibar was free for us. There is a separate bathtub and shower area. I also loved the fact that the sink is outside the washroom!

Since our hotel room was fun, we spent some time in it. Later in the evening, we went out again. Met a guy who gave us a brochure for a halal Western and Mediterranean food. So we checked out the place. It is at Chungking Mansion, the building next to the mosque. There will be someone standing nearby to key in the passcode for you to enter. The restaurant is at level 2. Can't remember the restaurant name thought. Was it Al-Maedah? The waitresses are Filipinos. Very nice ladies. The food was awesome. We had Chicken Pizza and lamb rice. We packed the food back since our girls were already asleep.

So that was the end of our Day 1. Pretty uneventful. 

Trip to Hong Kong & Seoul

I had originally booked a trip to Hong Kong for the family (Hubby, me and the 3 girls) for the year-end school holidays. I was not really interested in going to Hong Kong but I thought that it would be nice to let the kids experience Hong Kong Disneyland since it is the nearest Disneyland to Singapore. 

So the flight was with Scoot since we got the flight at a good deal (or so I thought) during one of the promos. The hotel we booked for our stay there was The Mira as it was situated in Tsim Sha Tsui, along Nathan Road, one of the shopping districts. Our stay in Hong Kong was to be for 6 days.

Thereafter, I started to get the itch to go to South Korea (must be due to all the Korean drama series). I managed to convince Mr Hubby to continue our holiday to South Korea after Hong Kong ( the kids helped with the convincing too). Furthermore, Hong Kong and South Korea are not that far apart. Our flight to Seoul was with Hong Kong Express and our flight will be from Hong Kong Airport. Our stay in Seoul will be with Pacific Hotel as it is located in Myeongdong, one of the shopping areas in Seoul. 

Singapore to Hong Kong via Scoot Airlines. Stay in The Mira hotel in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong to Seoul via Hong Kong Express. Stay in Pacific Hotel in Seoul.

Seoul to Singapore via AirAsia. Transit in KL for 1h 40 min

I normally choose the hotels that have rooms big enough to accommodate the family. I will also tend to select hotels that are in the shopping districts. Travelling with 3 young children with no other helpers can be quite challenging (as most parents would know). Therefore, when the location of the hotel is within the shopping area, we can always go back to the hotel to leave our purchases and continue with the shopping again later on. My girls are now 2, 4 and 7 years old. Nuha and Ulfa are still very young and would definitely not be able to take long hours of shopping (but shopping must still be done... Hehe). Hubby and I agreed that this holiday trip will be a relaxing one and we will not rush. As such we had our itinerary carefully planned out. 

In the next few blog posts, I will share on our trip to Hong Kong and South Korea. Watch out for them! In the meantime, check out below for some tips on getting a cheaper airline fare.

Tips On Getting a Cheaper Fare

When booking for flights, I noticed that there were times when taking a return flight with the same airline can actually cost much more. 

1) I would normally use websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak to compare prices. 

2) I would also sometimes type in one-way to my destination and one-way back as it can be cheaper that way. 

3) Get alerts from the different airlines for promos.

4) Book your flight way in advance as it is cheaper than most last minute bookings.