HK Actual Itinerary

Day 0 March 3 (Thu)

• Landed in HK around 12am. Long immigration queue.
• Took the last Airport bus A11 direction Causeway Bay at 1230am (actual 30 mins)

Day 1 March 4 (Fri)
Big Buddha and Lantau Island

• Breakfast at Hotel Holiday Inn Express Causeway Bay
• Set off at 930am, towards Tung Chung MTR station: City Gate, Lantau Island.
• Took NP360 Crystal Cabin at 1030am  after a long queue.
• Big Buddha, and Vegetarian lunch at Po Lin Monastery, and followed by Wisdom Path
• Shopping @ Citygate Outlets and supermarket. The brand names were having big sale (Armani, Samsonite, Brooks Brothers, Tommy) - better than Singapore, not as good as USA.
• Alight at Central
• Dinner at Mak's Noodle at Wellington Street
• Journey at Mid-level Central and escalators with beautiful scenery of HK Night life and Lan Kwai Fong
• Bus 23 back to Causeway Bay Sogo
• Times Square

Day 2 March 5 (Sat)
TST Kowloon and Sham Shui Po https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sham_Shui_Po

• Set off at 10am, took bus 961 towards Tsim Tsa Tsui
• Arrived at Shan Shui Po, flea market sightseeing at Pei Ho Street and Apliu
• Brunch at General dim sum (very local)
• Wong Tai Sin temple (Bus 2F passing dense housing estate)
• Street seeing at Nathan Road (Bus 3C passing busy Nathan Road and Mongkok, Jordan, and TST area)
• Dinner at Tai Ping Koon Restaurant 太平館餐廳 changed to HK Cafe Kai Kee  
• Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
• Star Ferry to Wan Chai (great view of HK bay)

Day 3 March 6 (Sun)
Ocean Park

• Set off at 830am, Tung Chung then bus 629 towards Ocean Park (arrived 930)
• Krisflyer 12% discount at ticket counter (you have to ask)
• Lunch at theme park fare (corn on cob and spare ribs)
• Dinner at Tim Ho Wan @Fortress Hill, North Point (super tasty)
• Food souvenir shopping at Kee Wah Bakery Wan Chai branch (pineapple tarts, Phoenix rolls, wintermelon pastries) 

Day 4 March 7 (Mon)
SQ857 Flight on 905am. Bus A11 from Elizabeth House at 545, reach airport 625am

Wishlist for next time
- Breakfast @ Lin Heung Tea house
- Breakfast @ Australia Dairy Company
- Lei Yue Mun (seafood)
- Dinner @ Yat Lok Roast Goose, Yat Lok (一樂食館), Central.
- The place at Wellington street opposite Mak's Tsim Chai Kee
- Breakfast @ Capital Cafe, Wan Chai (opens at 7am). 華星冰室
- Cafe at Wan Chai area...
- Cafe de Coral
- Dinner @ TST Speing Deer or Good Satay / Sun Kee Pork Cheek
- Jenny Bakery

Appreciation to Singapore Airlines crew

A good service and experience is hard to such but the appreciation leave deep understanding. I thus wrote a letter for a great service experience I had today on my flight SQ857 from Hong Kong back to Singapore. Thank you to the crew. It is the people matter.

Hello I would like to compliment Singapore Airlines staff members, the in-flight crew, as well as ground crew in HK for my flight earlier today SQ857 returning from HKG to Singapore on 7th of March. 

There was some mishaps with my pre-order shopping items and the SIA attended and resolved my items with graciousness, high customer service attitude and consideration that save me much hassle of later follow-up. First of all I would like to compliment SQ857 flight In-flight supervisor, a lovely lady in burgundy kebaya, who was very gracious and attentive. She took the leadership of the situation, frequently checked on issue, and dispatched her staff effectively. She also took the matter at hand and resolved it swiftly by giving me the missing items from my pre-order. I sincerely appreciate that since the items were bought and paid for since December, and the disconnection happens because of missing information and lack of follow up from Krisshop. I also compliment the gentleman at the gate 22 in Hong Kong airport who attended to me and even liased with onboard member during pre-boarding time. 

I had flown SIA for years for business and leisure. During my trips there were inconsistent minor service (such as forgotten green tea order during service), this crew in general were pretty good but the 2 individuals exemplify the Singapore Airlines brand with excellence. And with that, restore my faith as a Singapore on the Singapore Airlines brand. Please pass my compliments to the management team and in particular the outstanding individuals whom interacted with me today.

Thank you.

HK Itinerary Planning

Coming back, I am now planning for my 4-day HK trip. We are going to be taking late night flight after work on Thursday, on SQ

3rd Day 0 (Thu)
-touch down HK around 12am
-airport bus A11 direction Causeway Bay (approx 70mins) alternative Taxi 300HKD
-sky100 (cheaper ticket after 6pm)

4th Day 1 (Fri)
City Gate, Lamma Island and Causeway Bay

-BF at Capital Cafe, Wan Chai (opens at 7am). 華星冰室

Shop B1, G/F, Kwong Sang Hong Building, 6 Heard Street, Wan Chai 
-NP360 and Tai-O Village (MTR Tung Chung 45 mins)
-Buddha Monastery and Wisdom Path (Vegetarian lunch)
-Shopping @ Citygate Outlets
- Lei Yue Mun (seafood)
- Causeway bay (Times sq & Sogo)
- Dinner at Yat Lok Roast Goose, Yat Lok (一樂食館), Central. Blog here compare Yung Kee vs Yat Lok

5th Day 2 (Sat)
Victoria's Peak and TST Kowloon
- BF @ Tim Ho Wan (Fortress Hill branch or Wan Chai or Sham Shui Po branch)
- Golden Computer Arcade
- lunch @ wai kee noddle cafe
- the peak (3in1 combo)
- dinner at Mak's Noddle (@ The Peak Galleria)

-(TST)Tsim Sha Tsui (Jenny Bakery)
-Dinner @ TST Speing Deer or Good Satay / Sun Kee Pork Cheek
-Graville Road (clothes factory outlet)***********OPTIONAL
-The gardens of star
-COUNTDOWN to new year along Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront (other idea?)
- TST LIGHT SHOW AND 3D LIGHTSHOW
- ladies street & Mongkok Centre

6th Day 3 (Sun)
Mongkok and Wanchai

- BF @ Lin Heung Tea house
- Wong Tai Sin Temple
- Nan Lian Garden & Chi Lin Nunnery
- Mak's Noodle at Jordan / Australia Dairy Company


7th Day 4 (Mon)
*Flight on 905am. SQ857. Reach airport 7am


--- suggestions- BF @ Sheung wan Lin Heung Kui / Sang Kee Congee shop
Link to HK many Michelin's stars
https://www.finedininglovers.com/stories/best-food-hong-kong/

Hung’s Delicacies (1-Michelin Star)
Shop 4 GF, Ngan Fai Building

84-94 Warf Road, North Point

Sang Kee Congee Shop
7-9 Burd St., Sheung Wan  

Phone: +852 2541 1099 

Mongkok Market

Maxims City Hall
City Hall, Low Block,
2nd floor (Edinburgh Pl.) Hong Kong
Phone: 2521-1303

Dimdim Sum Specialty Store
7 Tin Lok Lane, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Phone: 28 91 7677

First Post of 2016

I've just finished watching the life lesson youtube video from Stamford MBA lecture. One of the lesson is :"Don't stop renewing yourself".

Here is remembering some good moments of New York in 2015:

New York, Bryant Park in July 2015 

Random shot of a stranger at Central Station.

Playing with water cooler at the Line.

Wall Street Bull.

Empire State Building.

The Liberty Park

 

Sixth Avenue.

The Liberty torch.

Rockefeller Plaza 

St. Thomas Church altar (or St. Patrick's Cathedral). I'm pretty sure it's St. Thomas'.

2015 Reminiscence

2.0.1.5

A year passed, that will never be repeated again. Like a fleeting ghost of time, we'll never grasp again the moment that has passed.

If I recollect, what a year 2015. A year of change. I finally changed my job, after a long-long time running. A year I break free from my heartburn, and start a new. A year of discovery as I started fresh-eyed into a new job in Enterprise Group. And fighting different type of battle, and know new type of people. A year where I have felt been on unstable ground. Exciting, yet, scary, uncomfortable, and so frustrating. A year when I lost my old manager and cherish her good qualities. A year when I meet new manager and discovered aspects of the new role.

And yet, many of the parallel is so true for my personal life; I break free from the old mould, and liberate myself. A relief, and yet filled with a sense of longing and hope of things not so belated.

This year has been a year when I connected back to my ancestry, joining a simple ritual of cing ming at home, Jakarta, revisited grandma's burial place. It is so scary to think how much time has passed and how the burial ground is totally unfamiliar to me. And yet I still remember grandma's face, her hair, her shape, and her dresses. Those memory burned to the mind of the young me. Remembering her last message to study hard and be a good student. With my adult mind, I am trying to fathom her last message that she was trying to pass to her young grandchildren, probably one among many, when we filed to the room to say goodbye. I wonder what came across her mind then, what message and hope she carried that she was trying to convey during that precious time. Yet with her simple message she probably had already fulfilled the biggest dream of human kind, to be a good member of the family, a good member of society, be someone useful, learned, and smart, and not to be a burden to family, and someday contribute back to this clan.

At the end of year 2015, I also get to know more people. People I shouldn't have otherwise know. Also heard about the fortune teller, whose words weigh consciously and unconsciously in my mind. This is also the year when Henry went to UK to pursue his MBA. And home in Singapore is different, the same, but subtly different. What i felt so acutely this moment, probably is just a grain in the tremendous sand of time. How strange and yet how trivial. and yet so potent to my individual heart and mind.

Law of Gravitation

I have forgotten most of my childhood and colleagues lectures. And today I am again delighted by the joy of learning and lectures thru a lecture series published by Bill Gates under Project Tuva with Microsoft Research. This is a lecture by a wonderful professor Dr. Richard Feynman about the Characteristic of Physical Law, using the Law of Gravitation as an example.


Watch it here: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/#data=4%7C6b89dded-3eb8-4fa4-bbcd-7c69fe78ed0c%7C%7C

Bali ~ Island of Paradise Nov 2015 Day 4

After dophin watch, set back, and started making our way back to Kuta. Before that, we had to visit the hidden secret of Hot Spring Banjar at the Singaraja district. Banjar can be reached from parking lot along 5 mins walk. The hot spring was public swimming area, with multiple pools and streams of hot water piping thru the wall.

Mom posing next to a pool.

The bath was refreshing and relaxing.

A side trip to Buddhist temple, Brahmavihara Arama.

A nice secluded place

Then, ready to set off to the south, we passed the twin lake of Batur, Danau Tambligan and Danau Buyan that are located side-by-side.

Family photo

Then we travelled the city, as we had time to spare, and stopped by Toko Krishna to buy souvenirs for Handy, along the Sunset Road. Then it's time to catch 6pm sunset at Uluwatu Temple.

The temple was filled with people, and it was my first time to visit Uluwatu finally. The sky gave a promising but cloudy outlook for a nice sunrise today. Meanwhile, there was a public announcement to gather people for Kecak dance a traditional group dance in Bali that is commonly danced in a temple and during sunset, inducing trance.

Everyone must wear decent covered clothes, or a gold-cloth belt

Papa

 

Sunset majestic at Uluwatu Temple, Bali.

We finished very satisfied and awed by the natural beauty here. Then we set off for nightcap, by travelling and strolling along Jalan Pantai towards Poppies lane, with a spa at Soma Massage & Spa, and then settled for another dinner at that budget place. Mom had a scary looking pecel lele, which is a deep-fried catfish served with indo chili belacan.

Bali ~ Island of Paradise Nov 2015 Day 3

Day 3 started early at 8, we set off after leaving our big luggage in hotel, to a day stay at Pantai Lovina, North Bali. Lovina beach is known for its fine black sandy beach, near Buleleng which is a township north of Bali, and it was an old capital of Bali.

On our way there, we passed a couple of garden, one is the Royal Garden at Mengwi. The ground was peaceful and well maintained.

 The layout of the garden is it's rectangular square, passing a big aula on the right on the way in, we then encountered the Bali gate, and proceeding, we encountered the garden ground full of the traditional Balinese tower structure. Towards the end of the square, there was a big wild ground with pathways perfect for strolling under the hot sun.

On the way out, I posed with a Balinese structure that looks so prosperous with big tummy.

After that we proceeded up towards Batur Lakes, passing by Ulun Danu which which the sight on which Rupiah currency bill of 50.000,- was derived.

Oh yes, not forgetting lunch, in a Sundanese restaurant, which is tasty with nasi tumpeng, and Sate. The restaurant was totally empty when we ate with a garden pool, surrounded by pondok2x and many waitresses.

  Our tasty Sundanese lunch.

Mom posing with 50,000 rupiah

Me with Ulun Danu pura.

After that we proceeded northward, arriving at Waterfall Gitgit. It was so peaceful, after the rain, we trekked for about 30mins around 2km thru village pathway, lined up with small shops selling souvenir. Mom chatted with one of the storekeeper, who revealed that she rent one of those rustic stall for 150-thousand rupiah (around USD120 per month).

Gitgit waterfall, it was amazing.

Afterthus, we arrived at Lovina Beach. Searched for a motel or inn by roadside. We settled for the first one we encountered, which charge by aircon, having color TV, and 3 beds in a family room. We paid 300-thousand rupiah (approx. USD25). Then off to explore the beach.

Exploring Lovina beach

The beachside when we arrived, we say the group of many people who moved from the coast, to gather around a few speakers who preached peacefulness, religiousity, and character building.

Sunset

Lovina Square

There are also many local and domesticated dogs playing along the beach. The beach is around 70% local and it was non-peak season then.

Dinner at Warung Ayu

After strolling at the beach, we retired to our room, refreshed ourselves, then set off for a sumptous simple dinner at Warung Ayu. A popular place it seems, who charge approx USD2-3 per dish.

The next morning, we were awake by 6am to catch the dophin seeing. The dophins were wild, and live in one or two pods along the coast. Our small, narrow boat was powered by a noisy engine, carried the 3 of us and the captain, who stood by at the back of the boat. We paid Rp. 100rb (US$8 per person) for 2-hour round trip.

Our rickety boat #06

Mom, Dad, and me

Racing in sunrise with other boats

We set off about 30 mins before then the chase game began. The pods were finally discovered and it was almost like a game to locate and then travelled there. Even during this non-peak season there must be around 20 or so boats full of tourists who chase the pods. The dophins were disturbed, poor thing, but it was undescribable feeling to be seeing these group of free mammals travelling carefree in their wild habitat. Our captain was good, he often stayed outside the group and we were rewarded by frequent show of the jumping dophins, before the other boats approached with their urgent engine sounds.

In our final leg, after 20 mins or so, we were rewarded by the sight of dophins swimming underneath our boat, the few dark shapes like a blur before surfacing on the other side.