Mong Kok, Ocean Park, Sai Kung, Karaoke, Lantau Island, Ping Shek Estate!

Helloooooo!!

Finally I have time for a new update! It has been soo mad crazy busy that I come home dead tired every evening, so I wasn't able to update the blog sooner. :( Even today I am super tired, but I have to update the blog or otherwise I will forget everything I have done so far. So here it goes (sorry for my bad English, but I'm too tired to think straight now)!

I met up with Ketty last Tuesday, so we can have some MAD shopping spree in Mong Kok. We shopped and shopped and shopped, but still we are totally not done with shopping so I'll go do some more extreme shopping with Ketty upcoming Tuesday haha. In the evening I met up with Ken, and we had dinner in a friggin delicious "Dai Pai Dong"-styled restaurant in Hung Hom. It was so busy we had to share tables with some other people, but OH MY GOD it was delicious. After dinner we went to Tsim Sha Tsui and had a drink at Lulu Bar. 

On Wednesday we went to Lantau Island to ride on the Ngong Ping cable car and visit the Big Buddha. Lana went crazy on the cable car, she is so not afraid of heights. After Ngong Ping we went to some outlet to have dinner and took the bus to have some sight seeing. 

Thursday we went to Ocean Park. Everything has changed so much! A lot of new attractions has been added and overall it looks a lot better then the old Ocean Park. The cable car was the same though, and the panda's also. Still sleeping or eating haha. The dolphin show in Ocean Park is really boring, but the new aquarium is GIGANTIC. I really think that Ocean Park is a lot better than Disneyland Hong Kong, which is so friggin tiny. 

The next day I decided to not go to the Science Museum with my family and had my own shopping spree in Tsim Sha Tsui. I bought a lot at Lowry's Farm and Emoda. Aside from Aland and a few other things from Mong Kok, I've only bought clothing from Japanese brands haha. I think I will go back to Lowry's Farm and buy some more, really love the clothing there. I also went to the Liz Lisa store, but I didn't see anything that I liked. In the evening we had sushi at Genki Sushi and met up with Ken again to have a drink at Lulu. 

Saturday was family day. We met with a whole lot of family members from Hong Kong and had some Dim Sum in Jordan. Afterwards we went to Festival Walk (mall in Kowloon) and walked around for a bit. In the evening I went to Mong Kok to meet up with Ketty, KC and Calvin to have some karaoke at Neway, which was awesome since we sang a lot of old nostalgic Cantonese songs haha. 

Today we went to Sai Kung to participate in the Volcano Boat Tour. I really hate boat rides, I was so sick today. The tour was 3 hours long, in the open sea, and the sea was so rough today. They want to go to Macau tomorrow to meet up with some family, but I'm not coming along as I definitely do not want to ride on a speed boat again tomorrow (and Macau is too boring). Still need to recover from today. 

In the evening we went to Ping Shek Estate, where I have lived until I was 5 years old. Even though I left there when I was very young, I still have some memories of the place. I remember the kindergarten I went to for example. There was also a toy store where I always buy collectable cards (Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball) from the machines, but now the machines are selling K-pop stars cards haha. I bought a Gundam at that toy store, so it will always remind me of the place I have lived when I was young. 

6 more days to go until I have to go back to Europe, SO DO NOT WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT UGH. D:

Drop it like a bomb

Just a quick picture, will update this blog with a new post on Friday! :)

Jordan, Tsim Sha Tsui, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay!

Hellooooo!

I'm already 3 days in Hong Kong, time sure flies when you're having fun! :O I'm still very much jet lagged though, yesterday I slept for one hour I think? XD

The flight to Hong Kong was super comfortable, I think this is the most easiest flight I had so far. No turbulences and I think there are more leg space in this (new?) plane from Cathay Pacific. Only downside was that when we arrived in Hong Kong, we had to wait for hours at the airport since we arrived there at 7AM and we were allowed to get into our Apartment from 3PM onwards. Since we had a baby and many luggage, we could not stroll around town so we had to wait at the airport, which was really exhausting after a 11 hour flight.

After we finally arrived in our Apartment we went scouting around the area (our Apartment is in Jordan) for a little bit, and we ate at Tsui Wah. Afterwards we walked around Temple Street to buy some necessities.

On Sunday we met up with some of our family here in Hong Kong, and we walked around Harbour City (Tsim Sha Tsui) and watched the light shows at the harbour while eating Cha Sieuw Faan. They had a new 3D light show which was pretty awesome. Lana (my little niece) was amazed at the show haha.

Today we went to Wan Chai early in the morning so my mom could apply for her HK ID at the Immigration Center and Lana for her HK citizenship. I was exhausted since I've only slept for 1 hour and I had to wait for my mom and my sis for hours. Afterwards we went to Central and walked around for a bit. At first we wanted to go to the Peak but the weather wasn't that great, so we decided to go to Causeway Bay since that was also in the vicinity. I went crazy at Aland, a Korean clothing store. Their clothing are so super awesome, so totally my taste and style.

There were still barricades from the Umbrella Demonstration in Causeway Bay. People were still camping there.

Oh man, I ate so much already, it's insane. I will return to Europe being a super fatty haha. Insane training mode will commence when I'm back.

Tomorrow I'll go shopping with Ketty (I think? Ket, call me back!) and have dinner with Ken in the evening.

Until the next post! :D
Gigi

I am off to Hong Kong!! :D

Goooood morning!

I am currently sitting in the Starbucks at Frankfurt International Airport, sipping on my Chai Tea Latte while typing on my MacBook Pro like a boss!

My flight will take off in 2 hours, and my next update will be when I am in Hong Kong, whoopwhoop! :D

Talk to you then,
Gigi

6 more days until Hong Kong 2014! :D

Hi all!

Wow, I totally forgot to update my Hong Kong & Japan trip last year, I only wrote about the first week there hehe whoops. But that's because we had an EXTREME busy vacation, I have never walked so far and done so many things in a vacation like last year's. I will update the rest of that trip with pictures later, if I don't forget. :P

But no matters, 'cause I will be going to Hong Kong AGAIN this year, and I'll be going there in 6 days! I'll stay there for a little over 2 weeks, and it's time to chill, eat, shop and eat some more again!!

My flight is upcoming Friday and it will actually be my first time flying alone, as my family will fly from The Netherlands and I will fly from Frankfurt. This is also the first time since me and my family moved from Hong Kong to The Netherlands that I will go back to Hong Kong with my family. ^-^

I haven't packed my suitcase yet, but I'll pretty much leave it quite empty so I can fill it up in HK haha.

Anyways, I'll update this blog on Friday, October 31st (wooohh Halloween!) again. Then I will be slurping a Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks and typing on my fancy MacBook Pro at Frankfurt International Airport while waiting for my Cathay Pacific flight to take off (wow, that's a lot of advertising in one sentence). :D

Until then!
Gigi

Macauuuu

Hola!

Wow, only 8 days has passed but it feels like weeks since we have done and seen soooo many things!

On Wednesday we went to a Cat Cafe called "Ah Meow" in Causeway Bay for lunch. The cafe is filled with cats picked up from the streets and given a good home in the restaurant. Some are so fat haha. It was a very cute restaurant and a good chilling place for youngsters.

After the cafe we walked a lot around town and went to chill with Ken in the evening (Korean BBQ, yumyum!).
On day 5 we went to Sham Shui Po to the Games Mall where we bought some cheap Vita games. Consoles are soooo cheap there, very tempting to buy a new PS3. After that we went to the gigantic mall in Shatin and spend the rest of the day there.

Day 6 and 7: Macau!
On Friday we packed our bags and went to the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui to get on the boat to Macau! The boat ride was so awful, the sea was very rough that day. A lot of people had to puke, I felt so sick too... :S
When we finally arrived in Macau, the first thing I noticed was that it is so much quieter than Hong Kong! And it is funny that everything is in Chinese and Portuguese. We took the shuttle bus to our hotel (Sheraton Hotel), Cotai Strip (the place with all the gigantic hotels and casino's) looks cool.
There are super luxurious shops inside the hotels and large casino's. Especially the Venetian Hotel was very awesome to see.

In the evening we went to see the "House of the Dancing Water". The show was so amazing... the stage was a gigantic pool in the middle of the theater, a very deep one too. But the entertainers didn't only perform on water, the whole theater was used, even way up high in the ceiling. There were even motorbike stunts. Since we were seated up front we got really wet. The entertainers splashed us with water while jumping down from up the ceiling and they also splashed us with water just for fun haha. I was soaked! Luckily they gave each of us a towel, or otherwise I couldn't have taken any pictures. This show is a must-see for everyone who wants to visit Macau.
After the show we had dinner in Hard Rock Cafe Macau.

On my birthday we went sightseeing in the old part of Macau. We had some traditional Macau street food and I bought some famous Macau Almond Cookies for my parents. In the afternoon we went back to Hong Kong where we had a nice birthday dinner in a fancy Italian restaurant in Wan Chai.

Today we walked around town again (Mong Kok and Kowloon Tong) and in the evening we waited 2 hours in line for the best Tonkatsu Ramen restaurant in town: Ichiran. And I tell you, I have never tasted such an amazing Tonkatsu ramen. The restaurant is also very neat. You are seated in a single table with a small window in front of you. You are given an order sheet where you can chose how you want your Tonkatsu ramen to taste like (strong or soft noodles, strong or mild taste of soup, spicy or not, extra toppings or not etc.). After you have filled in your choice, the window slides open and a waiter will take the order form and then close the window again. After a few minutes of waiting the window slides open again and the waiter passes you the food through the window and close it again. The ramen is sooooo goooood!! You can also request a refill of noodles which I did haha. Definitely worth the 2 hours wait. Will try Ichiran in Japan too!

We have walked (and waited in line) for 10 hours again today so I am very tired, I will finish this post now.

Tomorrow will be some family time! :) 

Hong Kong, chou san!

Hellooooo! :)

The time sure flies when you are on vacation, 4 days has already passed!
I have made tons of pictures, but forgot to bring a SD Card reader, so I will upload the pictures later on. Small recap of my days so far!

Day 1:
After a rather bumpy flight we arrived in Hong Kong at 6:55AM. Since I am a permanent Hong Kong Resident, I could walk right through the customs hehe. :P The first day was a tough day, as we arrived very early but we couldn't get into our Apartment until 1PM, so we had to drag our suitcases all over town in search of a locker where we can store them. It was hot and hectic, so you can imagine that it wasn't fun at all. After we finally found a locker we went to grab a bite at a food court in some mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, where I had some delicious Ajisen Ramen. After that we chilled a bit at an arcade (which wasn't so good, they only got the newest Initial D) and went to our Apartment. It is a very decent Apartment in the center of Tsim Sha Tsui, would definitely recommend to people.

Day 2 and 3:
We mainly walked around town (Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei) and went to eat at two "Cha Chaan Teng" (Hong Kong Style lunchroom), Mido Cafe and Capital Cafe. Mido Cafe was loooooove, their warm Milk Tea's and coconut buns are sooooo delicious. Capital Cafe was alright too.

I went crazy at the Toy Mall in Mong Kok, soooo many One Piece merchandise! I had to hold myself in because I want to buy everything in Tokyo haha. Also authentic Converse shoes for €20,- in Mong Kok, I will definitely buy a few pairs.
On day 3, I went to a hairdresser in Causeway Bay (Mikami Hairsalon) to get rid of my ugly blond hair. It wasn't as cheap as I thought, but they did a nice job. In the evening, we went to a Japanese restaurant with Ken and it was sooooo delicious. They had frozen Kirin beer and it was amazing! After that we went to a cocktail bar at the 28th floor of a building with an amazing view over Hong Kong.

Day 4:
DISNEYLAND HONG KONG!!!!
It is sooooo small, the Sleeping Beauty Castle is so tiny haha. But still it was awesome, I loved the Mystic Manor and the Grizzly Gulch Minecarts (HK version of the Big Thunder Mountain). The Lion King show was awwwweeesome too! But what  I really couldn't stand were the Mainland Chinese visitors. They really have no decency, cutting in line and pushing and shoveling people away. They take their scared children into rollercoaster rides which leads the child to vomit and cry. Ugh.
But that aside, I had an amazing day! But it was super hot and humid, I almost had an heat stroke while waiting in line during Mystic Manor.

As we have walked A LOT the past days with not much sleep, we are starting slower today. We'll go to a Neko (cat) Cafe (with big fat cats) this afternoon in Causeway Bay and tonight we'll be chilling with Ken again!