it's time for me to update my blog with my recent trip to hong kong. it was all started when my friend asked me to join her on GATF.. this would mean that she asked me to acompany her sightseeing in hk, lol.. (well actually, i didn't have huge interest in hk, but since i haven't been there yet, so why not?!)
we bought tickets for dec 2016, even i'm not so sure my boss will approved my office leave, but lets give it a try! unfortunatelly bad thing happened along the way, we didn't managed to go there on dec 2016.. and i felt really bad about it!
long story short, a week later, i tried to find another promo, and god blessed us! SQ was having a great deal at that time, so we decided to buy another ticket for early jan 2017, and our trip began....
our holiday was, well, i might say quite productive, we left on 9 or 10 am in the morning and went home around 10 pm.
some tips, you guys better check the weather, 'coz sometimes the smog came out and this smog may disturb you for a whole day!
when the 1st time we experienced this smog, i didn't realized that it will disturb you A LOT, i think it was just a common fog or pollution. but hey, guess i've made a huge mistake here.
on our 1st day we went to our hostel in nathan road. this place is quite famous in id travellers, budget friendly and strategic location.. after we put our luggagge, we went to the garden of the star (replacement of the avenue of the star), the promenade, and watched the laser show. after that we went back to the hostel 'coz tommorow we're heading to lantau island and schenzen. WAIT A MOMENT. how come we made such sloppy itin?
well actually, it all happened 'coz an accident. i'm quite familiar that you are able to applied VOA on the border of lo wu port but none can guarantee that you'll passed. (unless you already hold china entry permit from your hometown). so it would be wiser if you didn't made ANY resevation yet. but, because of that guilty feeling i had, i just follow her request to made a hotel reservation near louhu port. we agree that we will heading to schenzen on our 3rd day. but, just couple days before our departure from id, i read that the cable car in lantau will stopped their operational service for 6 months ahead, because of the ropes replcement issue. and their last operational service was the same day with our schedule to schenzen. zonk!
thats why, we decided to went to both places on the same day, crybaby..
the thing is, we had to bring our bags to lantau island, 'coz after finished exploring lantau we will be heading to schenzen. WHAT A LIFE. the trip to lantau island went fine, we enjoyed every second of it. our cable car ride when we got back feels like a private ones *biggrin
the management provide a storage room on ground level (near taxi queueing), it will cost you just the same price for any size of luggagges, and you can keep it there for a whole day. after finished sightseeing, we had lunch then heading to lo wu port.
i keep had this in mind, "guess i'm not going to enter schenzen". long story short, the immigration officer didn't inform us why they rejected our VOA application. they really has this problematic issue of communication, lack of english.
well, maybe part of it was my fault too, i'm the one who didn't filled the visa aplication completely? nevermind!
after the incident, we got back to the hotel, put our bag then went to ladies market to buy some souvenirs and had some dinner near there. i will say that ladies market is NOT that cheap!! so, if you are not good in bargining, it will be better not to shop there.
the next day we went to chi lin nunnery, and nan lian garden. I will say that both are highlight places of this trip. this places are really good, a hidden gem with zen touch, and less crowded and well managed. 3 hours were well spend here, lol..
hk has so many monastery, a tip for you is please choose it wisely. i choose the monastery quite strict, i'm not interested with low rated places, lol. i'm pretty sure we didn't managed our time well that day. actually there is another area which offer a zen monastery in tsuen wan, but we didn't went there. from what i read, not many people visit this monastery and its rating on tripadvisor is quite low, but actually this monasery complex is quite huge, and it has a beautiful view and architechture. another minus of this monastery are some people might find this place is hard to find, not strategic, and only has limited transportation option.
so this is what we missed: western monastery!
next day, we are heading to macau and stay there for a night. i really reccommend you to stay on best western sunsun macau. i got room with harbour view, fair price (definitely cheaper than hong kong), newly renovated lifestyle room type (equipt with cofee machine) and quite near to senado square, money changer and atm. in macau we went to senado, ruins st paul, macau fortess, casinos and fisherman drawf.
we went bck to hk on 8pm in a bumpy ferry rides, then having dinner near our 2nd hotel, holiday inn express soho. i like this hotel 'coz its strategic location, near to the station, mall and stores, and the most important is near alladin nest, a halal resto which located just in the corner. the food are really tasty, it has a good rating too! please have a try, even locals come to this resto.
for our family, we decided to bought some souvenirs on citygate outlet, brand le sports arc is quite affordable there.
hk disneyland and the peak are located on hk island, so we managed to go there too. this is the peak's view on a foggy night.
disneyland provide 2 halal food, 1 of them is located in mistique manner area and please be notice that most of the attraction will have their last attraction BEFORE 6PM!!! please keep this in mind ladies and gentlements.. i missed some of the attraction including tarzan house. again! because of we arrived there way way way too late on 12PM, zztt, yawn, a bit dissapointed but lets just forget about it!, lol.. #negativemoodpleasegoaway #positivevibes
another sad story, ididn't got a chance to visit hk park and had my morning run there, sigh..
overall, i kept my promise to go to hk and this trip is ok.
adios people!!
