♥18 Decâ♥
After breakfast and some dilly dallying, we went to Shau Kei Wan (筲箕灣) to meet my colleagues for lunch at On Lei (安利魚蛋粉). It didn’t taste as nice this round, however, the girls used their toilet, and Zaria claimed, “So clean, like hotel.” Mind you this is a very small shop, and not a fancy restaurant.

After lunch, my colleague suggested we go Festival Walk at Kowloon Tong for shopping. A bit disappointed as it’s a very small shopping mall, and the Christmas deco wasn’t that great. Daddy managed to get a jacket from Uniqlo, so I guess it was fruitful; but because of this, we have to go back to hotel to drop off the things.

We then took the ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon, and spent sometime at Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront to catch the 8pm Symphony of Light show. Can’t complain since it’s free, but the Hong Kong skyline in the dark was beautiful. Since both Daddy & I were not familiar with Tsim Sha Tsui, we just had dinner in the first decent looking restaurant we came across. Food was disappointing.

♥19 Dec♥
After breakfast, we took a taxi to Ocean Park. My colleague got me 4 discounted tickets to enter the park. As Zaria didn’t need a ticket to enter, I had to sell hers at the ticketing counter. Some people just ignored me and thought I was a scammer when I offered the ticket to them at HKD80 (usual price : HKD103). Grrrr..

I visited Ocean Park about 20years ago, and I remembered I was so impressed. This round, I wasn’t at all. I find it wasn’t as organised as Disney; the attractions are too spaced out on the hilly terrain (by then, Zaria was very clingy and wanted me to carry her all the time if she wasn’t walking); there was some major renovation going on; the thrill rides were not my cup of tea and the show (@ Ocean Theatre) wasn’t that great, and boy was the place crowded (on a Friday)!

What we like most was the Jelly Fish Spectacular and Atoll Reef, girls were also enjoying themselves since they are great fans of The Little Mermaid movie, and they were trying to relate what they saw there with the characters in the cartoon (i.e. Murray eels == Flotsam and Jetsam; Garden eels == what the merpeople turned into when they can’t pay Ursula).

Our last stop at Ocean Park was the Kids’ World, the girls loved it! They spent a lot of time playing at the play ground and got on some of the mini-rides. When it was time to leave, they refused to go, or tried to make us promise to bring them there again.

Dinner that night was at Keung Kee (强记) at Wanchai, a small restaurant popular among locals recommended by my colleague. We had roast goose (good but it was cold) and double boiled fish soup (yummy!), while the girls were very happy to get fried egg.

We came across this interesting market place on our way back to the Hotel in Causeway Bay

That night, after bathing the girls, I went out to shop alone. When I got back the hotel at ~12am, Zara and Daddy were at the window. Daddy claimed Zara was waiting up for me (and trying to spot me from the window)! Zaria tried to stay up too, but fell asleep half way. Zara even made a few calls to my mobile checking on me (but I didn’t hear the phone ringing). o.O” Can’t even be out of sight for 2hrs!

♥20 Dec♥
We spent the whole day shopping, mainly at Timesquare, where the Christmas theme is “Wonderland” by Carrie Chao. We spent a lot of time checking our her art work / statues, and even the girls loved them.

Models on display

Zara was very interested in one of the painting, she thought Carrie Chao painted Ruppenzel.

They claimed they were picking the nose of the model.

While I spent my money cautiously (working out the exchange rate etc), I see the Mainland Chinese dragging their trolley bag to the mall. While I bought 1 set of Fancl skin care, I saw not just one but 2 Chinese bought them in dozens and stuffed the whole bag full. I paid in credit, while they paid in their big wads of cash. Are they rich or what?

I wanted to bring Daddy to a very nice restaurant, Tai Woo (太湖海鲜城), which my friend brought me the last trip. However, there was a long queue, and we were told we had to wait more than 40mins. Every body was hungry, so we moved on to Chi Kee (池记) which also has a long queue but it was faster moving. Regret! The noodle is not as good as Mak Kee’s (麥奀記).

That night, I went shopping again, but this time Zara insisted she came along.

♥21 Dec♥
We checked out and went to Time Square to have our breakfast, then finished off with more shopping.

At about 1pm, we went back to the hotel to collect our bags and left Hong Kong; Taking the Turbo Jet to Macau. All of us knocked off on the jet (for me, it was mainly due to motion sickness).

Our hotel in Macau was Rio Hotel, rooms are big, but facilities basic. Immediately after we dropped off our bags, we took a cab to the famous Ruins of St. Paul’s (大三巴牌坊). The surrounding area has a lot of shops, some international brands and also a lot of biscuit shops selling the famous almond biscuit. Although it’s a busy street, it doesn’t seem as crowded or rush as Hong Kong. Too bad, we only had less than a day spent in Macau.

The beautiful Ruins of St. Paul’s

The extravagance Hotel Lisboa.

Macau Skyline

When the Christmas lights were turned on… beautiful.

Dinner was again a disappointment.

♥22 Dec♥
We checked with the hotel and had a leisurely dim sum breakfast at a recommended restaurant. That was probably our best meal on this trip.

We took so long to eat by the time we’re done, it was noon time. I had my last round of shopping in a nearby supermarket before we headed to the airport.

Thus ends our 8D/7N, 4 hotels trip.

~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~

Is travelling with 2 young kids easy?
It wasn’t, we were dead tired every night. However, we’re amazed with their capabilities and understanding.
We were worried about Zaria running away from us, but she only did that once at the Kids’ World in Ocean Park. She stayed closed to us all times, and allowed us to use the leash on her.
Zara too was amazing, she could just go on walking. Her whistle was very handy, a few times some one came in between us and she thought she’s lost us, she quickly blew her whistle.

Zaria is at this stage where she likes to throw tantrum or refuse to corporate. In Hong Kong, when she didn’t get what she wanted, she would lie flat on the floor, embarrassing Daddy. She did this in the mall, at the MTR station, and even a few times in the toilet. o.O”

Look at her here : Throwing tantrum on the floor at Time Square and at The Ruins of St Paul’s. Covering her face when we wanted to take photos of her in Disney. o.O”

That’s my girl.