Hong Kong Trip 2011

I had the opportunity to go to Hong Kong for holiday last year. I wanted to go somewhere new, I wanted a holiday, so my parents decided that we visit Hong Kong as they have not been there for more than 20 years after they went there when they got married, and even so they were stucked in the hotel last time due to typhoon, how unfortunate.

It was a... hmm, I would say good trip, but not great. We went at the end of November, so it was quite cold for me. Well, around 14'c - 17'c but to me it was freaking cold already. We followed tour, there were free and easy time for us so I thought it was good as we would be able to have more free time to ourselves rather than following those full time tours.

I would say that you wouldn't need a tour to go to Hong Kong. Transportation and directions around Hong Kong are very, very clear and convenient. There is the monorail that is so convenient and on time and it has stops at almost every part of Hong Kong.

I always thought that Hong Kong is a one-piece-land-country but until then only I know that there's two parts. There's like a tunnel that links both sides.

The tour includes 2 days passes to Disneyland (If you don't have kids/time, one full day would be enough), one-day pass to Ocean Park, passes to Ngong Ping hill which include tour on the hill (dai yu san), and a half day Hong Kong city tour. We went Disneyland for the fireworks of course, twice, it's presented daily, it was beautiful of course, but should have just spent one day there. On the day of the free and easy, we had to use it to go to Ocean Park, so wasted another day there. It was my first time seeing dolphins, but my parents said that it's still the same as 20 years ago, nothing special.

The half day city tour just bring you around to the harbour, taking group photos and end up acting pity faces asking you to buy the photo from them, bring you to feng shui jewellery shop and herbs shop and giving you an 'optional' tour where you fork out more money to continue the day with another half day tour. So then we went to Women's Street (for just one hour), Madame Tussaud wax museum & The Peak, Avenue of Stars, and a meal which includes the famous dry roasted goose.

I didn't enjoy myself eating Hong Kong delicacies because I was scolded for taking styrofoam for just buying a stick of curry fish ball, I didn't get to eat stinky tofu as I didn't manage to search for it, I didn't manage to eat a lot of Hong Kong snacks. I didn't had the chance to explore those famous streets like Mongkok or Tsim Tsa Tsui or Causeway Bay. I did manage to eat at few char chan tengs, well, they're just like our coffee shops here, some are nice, some are not, but no doubt their milk teas are awesome everywhere. Just like their egg tarts, roasted goose/duck, dim sums, some are nice some are not.It was overall ok, just not as enjoyable as I expect it would be. Definitely would go back again, free and easy of course, just to eat my stinky tofu and all other goodies. My friend suggested a must-try called "Aussie Dairy" at Jordan Road. Hmm, curiousity kills.

Bidor 190709

It was an eye opening, stomach filling, sweaty hot trip. Dad's friend decided to bing us for a day trip to Bidor to look around. I have not gone into a plantation before, and I've not seen sooooooooo many mango trees, tapioca plants in my life before. Fantastic trip indeed. Learnt a lot, and even plucked our own ciku and nangka to eat!

Started our trip at 8am, slept all the way in the car. Dad used the old road to go to Bidor, passing by Sungkai and Trolak. Reach Bidor town around 10am and stopped by at Pusat Makanan Mee Wah for wan tan mee.





Uncle Yap (dad's friend) told us that the lady works non-stop cooking the mee from the time the stall opens until closing. As we sat down and order and eat, it was true that she did not stop down at all. One hand cooking and flipping the noodles in the boiling water, the other hand arranging the plates.


Slightly different from KL wan tan mee. Less dark soy sauce. The serving size is not that big, so it's just right for breakfast/brunch portion. And the wan tan is good!

Saw a pomelo plant and some different chili plant outside the food court. Cute! First time seeing these plants.


Next, we proceed to a new village called "Cold River New Village" 冷水河新村. Don't ask me why the name, but there must be some interesting stories behind :) Heard it used to be a very lively town, with a beautiful landscaped park at the entrance of the village, but now not being taken care of. It's situated about 5km away from the Bidor town.


Makan time again! "Thunder Tea" (lui char 擂茶) at Restoran Sui Lee 水利茶餐室.

The 'mortar' used in olden days to make the 'tea' paste. Modern use blender.

Curry chicken... so so...

The condiments for the thunder tea.

This is thus the best best BEST lui char I've ever eaten. The vege smell is not strong, not like some. Healthy, pleasant taste, fragrant, lovely, DELICIOUS!!!

Then we head to Uncle Yap's parents house. They have some tapioca plants, papaya tree and potato plants at their residence. So cool!

Pineapples at Uncle Yap's friend's house.

I think most of them really make full use of empty lands... planting veges, food, fruits and even making own detergents!


Then, he brought us to visit the plantations nearby. It was the first time that I actually see plantations. There were abundance of tapioca plants, mango trees, long beans, lady's fingers, kedondong, bittergourd etc.

I think this was long bean.

Mango trees!

Can you see the bird nests on the tree. Plenty of it. Uncle Yap told us that the nest is weaved by the male birds to attract female birds to mate. If it's a nest of a tear-drop shape, means the male bird is still looking for a mate. If there's a protuding nest underneath means it has succeeded in finding a partner. That hollow space is for the female to lay eggs.

Kedondong (sah-lei)

Tapioca plants

Can you see the lady's finger? Next to the flower in the center.

Wild nangka tree. We plucked a huge one from here!

I don't know what gourd is this called... all I know it's often used in indian cuisine.

We then visited Mrs. Yap's sister's plantation, which was quite run down, I think it was left there without anyone taking care of it. Many of the plantations were the same, weeds metres tall, fruits rotting, what a waste.

At first glance it looked like white rocks, but they're actually spoiled melons... Not sure what, but looked like winter melon.

The flower of the above melon.

Ciku tree!

Basil

Dragon fruit

Limau purut

Rambutan tree

House for the swallows to make birds nest!

So hot and sweaty! We then went back to Uncle Yap's house again to eat nangka! HUGE nangka! but yummy!


To end our trip, we head to Pun Chun for the famous wu kok and duck leg noodles... Kinda disappointed with the noodles, jatuh standard kao kao... but the wu kok is yummy stuff!



Interesting trip indeed. If only we went to Teluk Intan for chee cheong fun at night. That would be superbly perfect.

I heart traveling! I heart seeing new things! Heart heart heart. Any trip in the future please include me ya? Hehehe...