Day 2 in Hong Kong: Ngong Ping

It was our second day and the weather was a bit drizzling. After having our Filet-O-Fish from the Mcdonalds, we moved on to Yau Ma Tei station and departed to Tung Chung Station for Ngong Ping Trip.

Our train stopped in a mall called City Gate Outlet (Twice huge than Johor Premium Outlet). It is famous for their branded stuff at a very  low prices. Once we stepped out of the train, we saw a signage saying 'Cable Car to Ngong Ping is currently under maintanence'. Whaaaatttttttttt? That was one of the purpose we want to go to Ngong Ping! Everybody was sooo frustrated at that point in time. So, I decided to go to the cable car terminal to get some details. The terminal was located exactly next to the outlet. Once we reached there, They told us that we can go up there by bus instead since they did not know when the cable car will be running again due to heavy mist. We quickly decided to take the bus as we do not want to waste our time shopping in a mall which we can do the same thing back in Kuala Lumpur.

Our journey to the hilltop took about 1 hour. Some of us fall asleep along the way while others admiring the view of Lantau Island.

Entrance of Ngong Ping Village (Heavy mist with visibility less than 15m)

There are lots of this kind of statue up here..

Behind the mist there was actually the world's largest outdoor Buddha bronze statue..

 The world's largest wooden column.. There were 38 of them! They call this place Wisdom Path..

 One of the encryption on one of the column..Its a wisdom i think..

After severe walking and climbing, our stomachs started to grumble asking for lunch.. We went to Ngong Ping Theme Village (Outside the temple area) for some food. Found Ebeneezer's Kebab, a halal chain restaurant in Hong Kong..

One of the tastiest lamb briyani in the house!

The pizza look plain, right? Wait until u pull off one slice! Cheesy-ly amazing!

Once we were done with lunch, we went out the restaurant and saw the cable car was up & running! We quickly went to the ticket counter, booked one-way trip in a crystal cabin for all 9 of us (including baby Uzzy).

The crystal cabin waiting time was not that long as it was considered as VIP cabin.. hehe.. Once we got into the cabin, we were amazed by the glass we were stepping on it. Let the pictures below tell the story..

It was forest underneath our feet!

The cable car passed through mountain tops..

Look how baby Uzzy was chilling out~ Underneath him was actually a view when we move from the forest to cross the ocean..

View from the cable car,, It was almost raining!

Some souvenirs for us to take home..

We then went down and got on the train to our next destination, Disneyland.. Stay Tuned!

Lots of luv,
eLLe

Day 1 in Hong Kong

On 28th April 2012, my friends and I went to Hong Kong for a 4 days 3 nights trip. Yeah, i know it was so late to update.. (cerita basi) as only after a month i can only manage to sit down at update this blog after a long long holiday..

We departed from KLIA on Saturday morning. I was sooooo surprised that the queueing lines for Malaysian Airlines was very loooooooooooonggg! Probably it was because it was long holiday for Malaysia due to Labor Day. I was so lucky that i've done my check-in online so i just need to queue up for bag drop.

Our flight was delayed for almost 30 minutes (i guess due to delay of previous flight). Though we were among the last passengers to board the plane, we still need to wait in for departure. Imagine those who have been lining up waaayyy earlier to get a space of overhead luggage storage. Pity them..

Anyway, we safely reached Hong Kong International Airport at around 2pm. From there, we took a shuttle to take us to our hotel which was located in Kowloon. The shuttle drove around Hong Kong City drop passengers here and there, passed by Disneyland where i got a glimpse of their magnificent castle cum hotel (if i am to go again to Disneyland, i'll definitely stay there!).

It was weekend, and again it was Hong Kong, hence traffic jams were everywhere. We reached our Hotel YWCA Anne Black Guest House after touring with the shuttle bus for almost an hour. After resting and some unpacking done, we move straight to our next location Victoria Peak.

To go to the peak, we got on a train from Yau Ma Tei station which was 15 mins walk from our  hotel. We took off at Central Station, take exit J2 and walk towards, Charter Garden where you can see the gorgeous architecture of Bank of China. We stopped by to enjoy the view and then walk along Garden Read (uphill to the peak tram terminus.

An evening view of Hong Kong buildings from Charter Garden

When we reach the terminus, the queue was d*** long!!!! at the line marking we were standing, it said 'Waiting time 45 minutes!'. We have no choice and to tired to move anywhere, so we just wait in the line. Lucky for us, the line was moving quite fast, so we reached the ticket counter in less than 20 minutes. 

The Peak Lower Terminus

While waiting in the snaking line..

Our choo - choo train!

View of Hong Kong from the Peak!!! Breath-taking~

It was drizzling so we didnt stay long outside. Plus we were very hungry and we moved on trying to look for food. It was so hard to find a halal restaurant, hence we end up dining seafood at Bubba Gump..

Our just fine dinner...

After buying souvenirs from the peak, we went back down via the tram and went straight back to the hotel...

YWCA ANNE BLACK GUEST HOUSE rating (out of 5): 

1) Room & Bed – 3/5 (Room and bed was decent for the price we have to pay- well, its HK~ )

2) Toilet – 4/5 (It was clean and spacey enough. Water heater ran well J )

3) Service - 3/5 (Nothing special..Just OK)

4) Overall rating – 3.3/5

Lots of luv,
eLLe

Soya Drive-Thru!

I went back to Perak last weekend for my April's melody (read previous post). As we hang out in Ipoh, i was brought for lunch in Ipoh town. I had my 'Nasi Ganja' (google it yourself, hihi) and soybean drinks (which i'm going to share here) for dessert.

The soybean shop is located at the corner of the road. I was actually at first, pissed off with those line-up cars parking right at the corner of junction. I almost started to curse, but in a few minutes time, we were already in front of the shop. It was a typical old Chinese shop located just by the busy street. A young man (the waiter) moved from car to car and took order. I was totally blur on what to order, so i ended up soybean with grass jelly which my friend ordered for me.

Funny Name!

The waiter taking order from the car window.

The drink was so refreshing! We can finish the drink in just 5 minutes. After paying the drinks, we drove off to give way to the next line-up cars. It was worth the experience!

Lots of luv,
eLLe

USS, small yet fun!

Been keeping these pictures for quite some time.. Let see how was my trip to Universal Studio Singapore..

Once you reached the entrance area of USS, the 'UNIVERSE' is now just behind you!

Once i got in, i realized when i get older, i want to be as pretty as Julie Andrew..

I wish i can have a carousel in my garden..

Went for vacation on board Enchanted Airways to mystical Faraway Land

Have a pit stop at New York..

And say hi when I met a Transformer on my way...

And finally.. TADAAAAAA!!! Its Far Far Away Land!

Shrek & Fiona asked us to be their friends and invited us to their swamp~ Ugh!

But the best part among all, I have PO as my tour guide and got a chance to dance with him!

Thank you PO, for the warm welcome. Bear Hugsssssss!!!

USS is all about magics, dreams & future.. Would love to be there again if someone bought me the tickets (both entry & flight!). Oh, did i mentioned went here on free ticket too? :P


Lots of luv,
eLLe

Business Trip To Pasir Gudang..

My lunch view at Kedai Makan Rahmat, Pasir Putih, Johor.They have the freshest fried fish in town! And prawns too!

Day 4: Seoul (Nami Island)

This was the day I waited for so long.. Travel to Nami Island!!!

Nami Island is very popular after the shooting of Winter Sonata. I was so excited though I did not watch the whole full series, but I know for sure that this place is going to be beautiful (learning from the pictures I’ve seen in the internet.

We departed by bus at Tapgol Park around 0930hrs. We were the last 3 people to board the bus (the bus was actually waiting for us! Hehhe..) The journey to Nami Island took around 1 hour 30 minutes, so we dozed off along the way~ Price for the tour bus roundtrip is W 15,000.

Once we arrived at the jetty, we gave our entry visa to the immigration officer (price for visa W 8,000). Nami Island is a republic by itself (kinda funny to me since it is just a tiny island). We travelled across by a nice, clean boat. It only took 10 minutes to reach Nami Island. Once arrived, we took out a map, and walk around the island. 

Walkway around Nami Island

Bumped into numerous chipmunks & squirrels

A famous general tomb

Sorry, no leaves yet. It was just after winter.

Found an amazing tree to lie down~

A cute dustbin with a bear head carved as the opening~

Winter Sonata’s First Kiss

On Lover’s Bridge

Nami Island is all about love~

See, simple but pretty~

Saranghae.. Mr Pinocchio!

Our lunch for the day

 Plain rice with sunny side egg and kimchi underneath. There is a way to eat this: Put on the gloves, shake the tin box, then only open it. You can see a well-mixed kimchi-rice :)

Found Malaysian ads in Nami. Proud to be Malaysian!

Back from Nami Island, we went to Itaewon  for our kebab moment. Next, we went to collect our luggage left at Friend’s House and travel straight to NAMU guest house by cab. The rate was W 27,000per person per night.

NAMU GUESTHOUSE rating (out of 5): 

1) Bed – 4/5 (Room and bed was very clean, but without heater like previous houses!)

2) Toilet – 4.5/5 (It was clean and spacey enough. Water heater ran well J )

3) Service - 5/5 (The 2 managers named Jina and HJ were very friendly. They speak English really well. They were resourceful too!)

4) Overall rating – 4.5/5

Tired from Nami Island tour, we dozed off dreaming of our own Winter Sonata~ ;)

Tips for day 4:

1)      Be punctual if you are following any tour. It is embarrassing enough to be the last person boarding the bus.

2)      Booked for the tour online, or through your guesthouse. It was easier.

3)      Do not start thinking of buying one-way ticket to Nami Island. Just buy the return ticket for tour bus. Though the tour said to be half-day (which sounds too long), you will definitely ran out of time when you start taking pictures of every inches of Nami Island.

4)      If you are moving to another guesthouse/hotel within the trip, just stop the cab anywhere at the roadside and show them the address. Don’t try to be a cheapskate here. The cab driver will definitely send you straight to the doorstep (or at the end of the right alley). You will save your energy and time, for sure!

Lots of luv,
 eLLe

Day 3 in Korea: Seoul

Woke up in the morning just to find out that our breakfast was rice with chicken curry. Too bad, the chicken was not halal, so we told the ajhumma we were going off without breakfast. Koreans are very respectful for food especially when it comes to rice. However, after further explanation (by Nad of course), we went out and stop by at a coffee chop called Caffé Bene for breakfast. 

Interior of Caffé Bene. Almost all Korean cafés we went have splendid interior designs!

The used pager to tell their customers their order is done. 

After munching some sandwich and sipping some coffee, we went out to find Ihwa-dong art project. Based on the review, the project is about some artworks crafted on the wall. We went to Naksan park (where the arts are) and looked all over the park. We went up and down the hill, turn at every corner of the park and houses, climb up and down the stairs and after 1 hour, we reached the top of Naksan Park. But somehow, we could not find the art project at all!

View from Naksan Park

Since I don’t have any pictures, let me share a blog which has the pictures here

We went down the hill and moved on to our next location, Changdeokgung Palace. I didn’t really bother on the history behind anything, so I just went there to enjoy the beauty of the palace. Paid W3,000, we went into the palace and snap a few shots. Met a few groups of student wandering around the palace for school trips. 

Entrance of ChangDeokGung Palace

Inside the palace

Main building for the king

Interior of the palace

Using a map of the palace, we moved around the palace easily. We decided to go to the secret garden located in the heart of this palace.  There was a schedule for entrance to the garden because it is a requirement to have a tour guide (for translation purpose too). We bought a ticket at W5,000 for 1230hrs trip (which was supposed to be with Chinese translator; but we cannot wait for English session at 1430hrs as we have some other places to go). 

History of Secret garden

Pond area

Another shot..

The tour took 2 hours and it was kinda tiring. Done with it, we went out of the palace, rest for a while, munched our leftover donuts and moved on to Insadong.

Insadong is one of our favourite places in Seoul. There we lots of souvenir you can buy and can even bargain! The whole street actually sells almost same things so watch for the smallest shop, so you can bargain more~!

A shop in Insadong

Insadong Street

When we walked down the street we found a small ‘mall’ called Ssamziegil.The mall was built strangely that you can move from floor to floor without using any stairs or elevator. It kinda built like a swirl slides in playground.

Ssamziegil Entrance

Main attraction of Ssamziegil, red bean pancakes shaped like a s***

Done having fun shopping in Insadong, we went up to Namsan Mountain to Namsan Tower. We took a small elevator to the ticket counter, then purchase a ticket of W6,300 (round trip)to go up to the top of the hill by cable car. We reached the top at 1745hrs as we were told that a beautiful light show will start sharp at 1800hrs.

View from top of mountain

N Seoul Tower

As we enjoy the view from all the angles from the tower, we found massive amount of locks all over the place.

I’m not kidding.. They are uncountable!

Couple will have 2 padlocks and tie them together at the fence/tree with a note tied to it. You are free to use ANY kind of padlocks :)

They also have restaurant inside the tower, but it was kinda expensive. It would be best if you could bring something from the ground..

The menu & price.. They even have menu for proposing! Ahahahaha

When the clock stroke 1800hrs, to our surprise, the lights didn’t show up. We thought, ‘ah, maybe they are working on it’. Then we waited, and waited, and waited until it was dark and freezing cold (colder than Jeju!), but there was still no signs of light. We gave up waiting, and went to the information counter asking about it. The lady said, ‘I’m sorry, no light shows today. We have some problem’. Whaatttttttt???????? We have been waiting for almost 2 hours for nothing! With broken heart, we went down the mountain and went off to find our dinner (kebab) in Itaewon

Tiredly, we went back to Friend’s House for a good night sleep…

Tips for day 3:

1)    Tell the House owner beforehand on your meal preferences

2)      Do not bargain too much while buying souvenir. The owner might get a little bit uneasy.

3)      To go to Namsan Park, Take Subway to Myeong-dong and follow exit number 3 (I think) or just follow the exit showing anything with word ‘Namsan’. The tower can be easily found though.

4)      Ask the information counter on the lightshow beforehand. You do not want to waste your precious time in Seoul just for waiting!

5)      If you plan to do the locks, you might want to bring your own padlocks since the shops there sold them expensively.

Lots of luv, eLLe