Our flight to Hong Kong was around 3 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to pack in the morning. We took our time, had our breakfast, took shower… Aina managed to practice some violin and did some ballet exercises. But still, Koda was sad and worried all morning. This is how she is whenever she sees the suitcase packed. She knew we were going away for a while. I’ve always wished we could bring Koda with us, but oh well. So, we said goodbye to her and got into the cab that would take us to the airport.
In the airport, Aina played some games on Changi’s Social Tree. I think it’s been her routine to visit the Social Tree whenever she gets to visit Terminal 1 and started making silly things like this.
We also went to visit the one of the gardens in T1. Aina and I took some photos and warmed ourselves up (Changi is COLD!), while Ari took a smoke break. Changi’s gardens are usually small, but very pretty… And since we got a new camera, we thought we could use the time to try it out. We decided to take pictures of our stuffed animals! Yeah, kinda random. But they don’t get to pose outdoors that much lately, that Aina has grown out the need to take Snowy everywhere she goes.
The flight was around 3-4 hours. Long enough for us to sleep, short enough for us not to be bored. We took Jetstar, so no entertainment system on the plane. Aina brought along her books to keep her entertained in flight, while Ari and I chose to sleep.
We arrived at Hong Kong Airport around 7:30PM. The new Hong Kong Airport is rather huge, and it took us a while to get to the immigration area from our gate. But the line for the immigration was much shorter than I anticipated. Probably because it wasn’t a high season for Hong Kong.
Aina said she was starving, so as soon as we cleared the immigration and custom, we bought an onigiri for her from 7-11.
I had never been to the Hong Kong Airport, but since Ari had been going to Hong Kong for work lately, he led the way. We took the airport express to the city. When we got to Hong Kong Station, we bought the Octopus Card there, because apparently, you can’t buy the Octopus card in the airport. Octopus card is like the EZ Link card in Singapore; You can use it for all transport network in Hong Kong, and meals in McDonalds… and I think in some convenient stores, too.
While waiting for the Airport Express to arrive.
We were thinking of having our dinner around Hong Kong station, but then we decided to get to our hotel and check in first before we get our dinner. We walked from to the Central Station to catch the blue MTR line, and got off one stop at Sheung Wan Station. Our hotel is only a few blocks away from the station.
We stayed at iClub Hotel at Sheung Wan, a business hotel with tiny, tiny rooms (it’s still enough for the three of us, though). But we really like it. We spent most of our time outside, and only used the hotel at night to shower and sleep. So the size is perfect for us. The room was clean and quiet (we’re on the 16th floor), the bed was fluffy, the check-in was very quick, AND the free WIFI was quite fast!
But I think the best part is the location. We could walk to not only Sheung Wan MTR Station, but also to Central and Hong Kong Station comfortably. It’s only 2 blocks away from Macau Ferry terminal, a few blocks up to Soho and Lan Kway Fong. 7-11 was nearby (but I think, 7-11 is everywhere in Hong Kong), there is a grocery store next door. And Aina’s favorite, the Hong Kong Tram line was just behind the hotel. She tried to take the tram as much as possible.
Anyway, after we dropped our luggage in our room, we went down again to find something to eat. It was around 9PM by then, and we were exhausted. Then, we found Sai Yung Kee, a noodle restaurant a block away from the hotel… Perfect! We ordered a simple wonton noodle for each of us. It was nice and warm… and Aina looooved the wonton. By the way, this is new and was a surprised for us: Aina had never liked wonton and shrimp, but the wonton on this joint is shrimp wonton, and she loved it!
After finished our bowls, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed right away. Tomorrow would be a looooong Disney Day…
The rest of the stories of this trip is in Hong Kong and Macau 2018 Trip entry, and photos from this trip is in Hong Kong 2017 photo album in Flickr.
