HONG KONG Day 1: Mongkok, Yau Ma Tei & Tsim Shar Tsui.

ST and I arrived in the afternoon, and by far, Cathay Pacific is the best airline I've ever flown with. The service and comfort and quality of food were really good, even for us plebs in Economy Class. On the other hand, the airport was a little disappointing, after hearing so much about it (Norman Foster design and all). Proud to say that KLIA is a much prettier airport, heh!

So we hopped onto our Airport Coach to our hotel (Metropark Hotel at Waterloo Road). And by the time we checked in, rested abit and went out again, it was evening. The plan was to walk around Mongkok and Yau Ma Tei, then on and around the spine of Nathan Road.



We went with the flow, stopping to buy some local nibbles, and walked through Temple St. Night Market. Nothing much to shout about here, really. It was very much like Petaling St back home.

Then we saw this quaint little corner shop selling Gwai Ling Gou (Herbal Turtle Jelly) at HKD27 each (which we discovered later was cheap by HK standards, but still double the KL price). The jelly was refreshing, with a strong taste of herbs. Perfect to cool down with after a long walk.

One strange thing about the market - there were stalls selling dildos. DILDOS! In all shapes and sizes and even blinking lights. Makes me wonder if little Xiao Mei were to ask mommy what those colourful plastic things were, what would mommy say? "Now when daddy is away..."

Anyway. We resumed walking, went by some delicious smelling bakeries (but sad to report that some of the breads looked better than they tasted) and ended up at Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard. That's where we discovered the shoe shop that would be the bane of our credit cards. Well, ST's credit card.

Staccato had some of the most loveliest leather shoes. From strappies to pumps to heels to stilettos to boots. I fell in love with a pair of brown rustic-looking peep toes. ST bought a nice pair of dark red leather sporty looking shoes.

Unfortunately for me, the peep toes, lovely as they were, looked horrible on me. My broad feet looked like they were gonna explode out of them. And the strap wasn't very flattering on my thick ankles. They looked great on ST though. She came back to the shop the following day and bought them. Along with two other pairs. A sexy strappy black number, and a hot pair of red pumps with ribbon detail. Four pairs. Sigh.

Anyway, we made it to the end of Nathan Road, down the subway and to the Arena of the Stars. Just in time for the light and sound show. It was a beautiful sight. The skyline of Hong Kong island across the harbour and the iconic landmarks of Hong Kong were beautifully lit up. The lights danced to the music, audible only from this side of the harbour. This show happens every day at 8pm. Talk about WOW factor. Hats off to the HK Tourism Board for this one.



After all that bling, we sat around to enjoy the gentle harbour breeze before making our way to Haiphong Road. We tracked down Gold Lake Restaurant, recommended by my boss for its Beef Brisket Noodles. Gosh. It was a hole in the wall and hard to find. But the noodles, oh, amazingly worth the effort. The beef was so tender (I ordered mine with some yummy tripe). The soup, delicious. And it felt so good to dig into such comforting food.



At HKD24 a bowl, it was actually quite worth it, especially if you think about how generous they were with the meat. The wantans Serena had with her beef were fantastic as well. The first of many wantans we had. All juicy, tasty, meaty, prawny parcels the size of ping pong balls.

We finally made our way back to Yau Ma Tei via MTR and bought the super convenient Octopus card, kinda like our Touch N Go card in KL. It was HKD150 (HKD100 credit + HKD50 refundable deposit. HKD7 is deducted as processing fee when you return the card).

We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. And this was just the beginning.

>> NEXT: HK Island - Central, Escalator & The Peak.