Stars, a Muse-y side quest, and so long, Hong Kong (Day Four and Five)

Bye-bye and see you soon, Hong Kong & Macau! 拜拜,再见香港澳門! (I hope my Google translate Chinese grammar is alright)

DAY FOUR

It’s been months since this adventure took place. Thanks to school work, I’ve been going at George R R Martin’s writing pace. But regardless, I remember it like it was only yesterday…

Day Four was the last proper day for sightseeing & other activities and to me, it was my last chance to get my own side quest done.

First thing we did was to catch a cab to the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui. It’s like the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, but with this you get the additional bonus of a beautiful waterfront view.

And this is the waterfront view I was referring to. It was just a bit foggy then, but the view which you can make out through the fog still looks great.

I must admit, I’m not very updated on Hong Kong celebrities, so I only recognized a couple of names on the Avenue of Stars. One of them was this guy:

Bruce Lee and his fists of fury.

And there was also one of Jackie Chan’s name, but I haven’t got a picture. D’oh! Instead, here are other photos of the Avenue of Stars and the area surrounding it.

Ooh, tall buildings.

Perfect for a romantic stroll with your honey bunny or for solitary walks whilst contemplating on the complexities of life.

In hindsight, it might’ve been better to visit the Avenue of Stars at night for a better view of Hong Kong’s skyline and also for the laser show. But alas, the nuisances of travel, you never have enough time to see everything in one trip.

After enjoying the waterfront, we made our way to the Hong Kong MTR to get to Tung Chung station where nearby was the Citygate Outlet Mall, where we could do more shopping. Yes! More shopping! But double d’oh! I also haven’t got photos of the mall, in compensation, here are other photos instead.

The road near the East Tsim Sha Tsui station. So few cars. So different from the huge traffic jam which is where I live.

The road to the MTR

The Hong Kong MTR.

So ends our fourth day in Hong Kong. I know it isn’t as action-packed as the other days, sorry about that. But anyway, before I move on to the fifth day, let me tell you about my side quest.

It might not seem very significant to others, but before we went on this trip I made a promise to myself. You see, I’m a supermassive fan of this British rock band called Muse. You may know them, you may not. I promised to myself that when I got to Hong Kong, since Muse stuff wasn’t available where I’m from, I was going to get my hands on as much Muse stuff as possible.

And so I did. My preciousss.

I made a promise to myself, and by George! I was going to do it. It didn’t matter if it took me almost an hour of walking, at 10:30 at night, in a completely unfamiliar place, on my first trip abroad, on my own. Because that’s what it took me to get these. (But despite that I’m still missing one album. Triple d’oh!)

Anyway, back to the main adventure. For the fifth day, well, it wasn’t really a proper fifth day. Our flight home was around noon I think, and so we had to be at the airport in the morning. Therefore I present to you, photos of the Hong Kong airport.

Cool ceiling, bro.

One last look at Hong Kong. It might be a while yet.

With an airport like that, why would you want to go?

And in similar fashion to how I started this series, I shall end it with a collage of clouds and aerial shots from our flight home.

Thus ends the first chapter in my lifelong travel adventure. I felt there was still so much I wasn’t able to see and we had too short a time to fully experience Hong Kong and Macau, but I’m happy. For my first ever trip abroad, it was pretty great. I got to fulfill my promise to myself, I got to eat food I don’t normally get to eat, I got to see sights I only saw in photos before, and I felt what it was like to be immersed for the first time in a world outside my own.

And now, I’m ready for even more.

P.S. I’ll make another blog post with nothing but more pictures of Hong Kong & Macau. I’ve realized I missed putting up a lot of good photos in my previous blog posts. Quadruple d’oh!

Facing my greatest fear in Hong Kong (Day Three)

I love you, Hong Kong & Macau! 我愛香港澳門! (Again, I apologize if my Chinese grammar is off.)

DAY THREE

It’s been a long time since I updated this series of posts, it’s actually been over two months since we went to Hong Kong, it’s just that school has started in this part of the world, and I’ve been extremely busy.

Also, the following takes place between 11 April 2013 and 15 April 2013, and this post is about Day Three, so it takes place at 13 April.

Hello, Ocean Park!

For our Day Three adventure in Hong Kong, we were to go to one of the most popular attractions, the Hong Kong Ocean Park! We went for a tour package, so we left around 7AM and we rode a coach to get there. It took around 30~45 minutes and there were a LOT of people there already.

For the first time since our trip, the weather was on our side and it was a bright sunny day. Perfect for the day planned ahead.

We rode the cable car to get to the other side of the Ocean Park because that’s where the more extreme rides were (’cause, you know, we’re extreme type of people) When riding the cable car, you get spectacular views of Hong Kong and the lake/ocean near that area.

Before getting to ride the Cable Car, we passed through an area which looks like a Chinatown (well technically, we were IN a part of China, so do you still call it Chinatown?)

Festive banners and signs all around.

How the cable car looks.

Some of the views you can see from the Cable Car.

We first headed to the Ocean Theatre to make sure we could catch the show with dolphins and sea lions performing tricks and dances, because the show had specific times throughout the day, and so don’t barge in the theatre willy-nilly and expect dolphins to jump for you.

A panoramic view of the Ocean Theatre I took before the show started.

There were four guys singing & performing before the show started. They were great.

After the show, we all had a light lunch (just a tip, bring your own water/drinks/etc there if you can, because the price of food and drinks in there is a bit expensive) and we got ourselves to get on with the fun part, going on the amusement rides!

The first one we went on was the Flying Swing, which is, as the name suggests, a ride where you sit on a swing and as you go, the swing goes higher and faster. It was really fun, but I kept thinking that my shoes might fly off my feet to God knows where.

A view of the ocean near where we were that time.

The next one was The Dragon, which was a roller coaster with steep falls and a couple of loops. Okay, I might not be as extreme as I’d like to say I am, which is why I just kept my eyes closed. I also kept screaming like a person being set on fire. I know, I’m a sissy.

As for the next ride, I had to face my long-time mortal enemy–heights. We went on this ride called The Abyss, which was basically the representation of my greatest fear. But, I thought I might as well get my greatest fear over with.

And this, this is the representation of my greatest fear.

Cue Beethoven’s ‘5th Symphony’. Dun dun dun dun.

Well, as I remember, it wasn’t actually that scary after all. I might’ve been screaming a little bit, but it’s not the death-defying ride I thought it was. So if you’re a scaredy-cat like me, and hesitant to get on the rides, trust me, it’s nothing but fun and it’s not all that scary.

On to the next attraction! We went to go on to the Ocean Park Tower. Now this is wonderful. There was a bit of a queue though, and for good reason. It’s a ride which takes you to the top and gives you a 360° view of Ocean Park and some of the surrounding areas of Hong Kong.

The Ocean Park Tower from afar.

Here’s a video my dad took of some of what you’ll be seeing when you get on there, but don’t just rely on this video, get on the actual ride and see the breathtaking views yourself.

The next one we got on was The Rapids. You ride on this circular boat thing to go through a splashy river, so expect to get wet. But the place is called Ocean Park after all, so you should’ve expected to get wet right from the start.

Then, we took a really long escalator and got on to the Waterfront Station to get back to the other side of the Ocean Park. By the way, try the Cable Car for the nice views and the Waterfront Station train for the nice steampunk-ish theme inside.

Since the meeting time before leaving set by our tour guide from the coach was nearing, we decided to end with the Grand Aquarium. There were a many types of sea creatures on display, from the tiny to the big, and there was also a huge aquarium with different fishes inside, so it’s like you’re peeking into the ocean.

The Grand Aquarium from the outside.

Another picture of the Grand Aquarium.

And so ends our day in the Hong Kong Ocean Park.

And here’s one final picture of a stunning view to end my Hong Kong Ocean Park blog post.

If you’re headed to Hong Kong, and have kids with you, or you’re a kid-at-heart, I recommend going to the Ocean Park. I regret that we had a limited time to get on more rides, so if you will be going, you should save a whole day if you intend to fully enjoy it.

And just on a helpful note, if you’re planning to head there, you can check this out for more info: http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/plan-your-visit/overview/

As usual, 謝謝! Xie xie! Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I appreciate it! And read on to the next blog post for this series, where I write about our last couple of days in Hong Kong and I share with you the small adventure I had on my own.