[Hong Kong May Day Vacation] Day 01/02: Exploring around the city + Hong Kong Disneyland

Finally, Hong Kong has opened their borders to travelers, who will now not have any restrictions for entry into Hong Kong! Baby and I love visiting HK, mainly because we were able to taste some of the best foods in HKG, in short, we are ultimate food lovers, especially of Hong Kong cuisine!

 

This was a special holiday, as there were 4 more travellers joining us on this trip. We met up with the respective travellers at the Changi Airport Terminal 4. We took a photo before checking in.

As usual, I took Cathay Pacific Airways to Hong Kong, and I did my normal routine onboard, and that was to browse through the list of newly released movies from the in-flight entertainment guide selection. I selected 'Megan' to keep me entertained for my entire flight journey.

After 3hrs 55mins of flying, I finally landed at Hong Kong International Airport, as usual, once I cleared the immigration customs/checks. Prior to our departure, we got to know that they had stopped the Airport Express Travel Pass which included 2-way Airport Express ride + 3-days unlimited MTR rides. We purchased our round trip for the Airport Express from KLOOK.

I stayed at The Mira Hong Kong, as our usual hotel, Shamrock Hotel which was used to located at the Jordan MTR Station has closed down for good during the pandemic. The Mira Hong Kong is located at about 3-4 minutes away from the Tsim Sha Tsui station. 

The room looked perfectly beautiful and pretty spacious. 

We took the train down to Sham Shui Po for brekkie, and we settled at Michelin 1-star Restaurant - Tim Ho Wan some dim sum indulgence. For a Michelin star restaurant, Tim Ho Wan is definitely very affordable. Sharing of tables in Hong Kong with strangers is usually the norm, but as we had a group of 6, we had a large table to ourselves!

Our orders were served up in a jiff and surprisingly, the staff were pretty friendly and helpful.

The number 1 irresistible and irreplaceable Baked BBQ pork bun (char siew bao) by Tim Ho Wan. Each bite is heavenly for me, and I loved that although the bun was crispy, it was still fluffy and had a juicy filling of meat inside. The savory taste from the filling of the bun combined well with the sweetness of the outer pastry, and it was a perfect balance taste. The signature Char Siew Bao is a signature of Tim Ho Wan that is rather unique, and I doubt anyone can replicate the originality of this dish!

The Glutinous Rice from Tim Ho Wan comes in a generous portion of ingredients and it is wrapped in lotus leaves. The rice absorbed the fragrance of the lotus leaves which made it even tastier!

The Chee Cheong Fun (rice noodle roll) filled with BBQ pork tasted great!

Century Egg Congee

The Pan-fried Turnip Cake tasted totally awesome!

The damage was about HKD539-ish for 6pax, whereby after conversion it amounted to about SGD 16++ per pax. It was a great meal for everyone, but most importantly it was affordable!

Ladies' Market is situated in the street of Tung Choi (Mong Kok MTR Station) and it is crowded with shops selling bargain souvenirs, clothing, cosmetics, bags, and etc. The items sold are mostly essential items for ladies!

During our visit, there was a ‘Keung To charity pop-up’ at The One Shopping Mall, and there were various Instagrammable photo spots. We took many random photos against them. I love the colorful decorations very much.

Who is Keung To? I was wondering who this person was when I was in Hong Kong as he was unfamiliar to me, and after a search on Google, I discovered that Keung To is a Hong Kong singer and actor, as well as a member of the Hong Kong boy band group 'Mirror'.

Disclaimer: The heartthrob Keung To turned 23 on April/30, and his fans hoped to celebrate it with everyone in Hong Kong by setting up free tram rides for all, charity pop-up shops and Instagrammable spots.

Both Baby and I brought our travel-mates to the Avenue of Comic Stars which is located at the Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui. The best part was the park was literally opposite the hotel that we were staying during our trip here in Hong Kong.

Unlike Japan’s manga and anime heroes (eg: Sailor Moon, One Piece, Pokémon or Demon Slayer), Hong Kong’s comic and cartoon figures are largely unknown to others outside of Hong Kong.

The exhibit of statue characters is to promote and give recognition to their local comic industry, as well as pay tribute to the Hong Kong comic artists who have contributed to the local art scene.

I do have to admit that my knowledge about Hong Kong comic characters is quite limited but I found them pretty awesome.

If you visit Hong Kong, which I highly encourage, don’t miss out on the Avenue of the Comic Stars!

Although I have been to Hong Kong in the past many times, I still love going to Victoria Harbour for a stroll, as it is also located near to Tsim Tsa Tsui.

From the Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront Promenade, you can find breath-taking scenery and a nice view of the other side, Wan Chai Waterfront Promenade.

We took some random photos at the harbour before heading to our dinner at Yau Ma Tai.

We settled at Hing Kee Restaurant (興記煲仔飯) which was recommended by the Michelin Guide.

While the restaurant primarily sells Claypot Rice, they do have many other options. The claypot rice sold here are cooked to order, and there is an average waiting time of about 20 minutes.

I would definitely come back again, as the rice was skillfully cooked as well as being extremely delicious. The total damage was about HKD600 for all the claypot rice and assorted dishes we had for a group of 6 pax.

After our dinner, we walked around the Temple Street night market which is located between Jordan and Yau Ma Tei MTR station. It is a popular bazaar among tourists and locals, and has quite a rustic charm to it. The things sold here are also slightly cheaper than at Ladies Market.

 

We made our way back to our hotel after some shopping at the night market as we were quite tired after our flight the night before from Singapore. We needed to charge up our energy levels in order to explore Hong Kong Disneyland the very next day!

On day 2, we went to Café De Coral for a quick brekkie before we visited 'The Happiest Place on Earth.'

During this Hong Kong holiday, Little Rena was with us, so we decided to make a trip to Disneyland. On reflection, my last visit to Hong Kong Disneyland was way back in 2013, so it was a good opportunity to visit the Park again.

 

We bought the tickets prior to our visit to Disneyland from KLOOK, as this ensured that we did not have to queue up to purchase our tickets at the park itself. Doing this will ensure one saves on a lot of time to get into the park!

We took the MTR to Sunny Bay to transfer to Disney train to Disneyland Resort Station.

I was very excited to enter the magical kingdom of Disneyland again, especially since I had friends with me!

TOY STORY LAND is a gigantic world where visitors are the size of toys! This playland's design is to 'shrink the guests' down to being the size of a toy, and to play in Andy's Backyard with his toys from the movies.

We headed down to Adventureland and we sat on the Jungle Cruise.

We watched the Live Musical of the Festival of the Lion King.

We also entered Fantasyland where this was usually for kids. However, this should not deter adults from enjoying it as we are all Children at heart!

Upon stepping into ‘it’s a small world’, I felt that I had entered a whimsical world. It looked so beautiful and colorful as the boat-ride brought us to explore different cultures around the world.

It is a World of Laughter, as we sailed off to view different cultures, scenes and listened to to many familiar Disney music pieces that I was familiar with during my childhood.

Before the park closed, we rode on the HyperSpace Mountain in Tomorrowland, and I totally enjoyed the ride!

Remember to catch the all-new show - ‘Momentous’, it is a spectacular light show/performance against the backdrop of the castle, in conjunction with fireworks. It's a worthwhile event that all guests to the park will wait for before leaving the park at the end of the day.

We left Disneyland Hong Kong with a light heart as we knew that we will be back again.

Before we ended our night, we went over to have Wanton Mee for ‘Dinper’ (dinner+supper). We shared some greenies as well. True enough, the noodles were served in a standard rice bowl, and it hardly filled up our stomach at all. The guys went over to eat more at the nearby McDonald’s.

Stay tuned for more updates on our travel experiences in Hong Kong!