#TravelTips | Hong Kong/Kowloon FREE Shuttle to selected hotel/street

I took the same shuttle in Kowloon before and just realised during my recent trip that they provide the same service in Hong Kong Island as well. Since this is a cheaper mode than taking a cab and obviously a much easier option than hopping from train to train, I thought I should share with you travelers and readers. I will try to make it as easy as possible, so stay with me yah.


1. For those taking Air Asia, you will exit from Terminal 2 and for Malaysia Airline, Terminal 1. The Airport Express Rail stops at the same station for both terminals, passenger to enter or exit via different train door. 

2. There are signages for those that are unsure of where to board the airline, information counters are located at strategic places to assist you as well.

3. It is advisable to purchase the Octopus card (similar to Malaysia Touch & Go) for you to commute easily and everywhere in Hong Kong. Octopus card can be used in selected fast food chain, 7-Evelen, K-Mart etc; very convenient.

The cost from Hong Kong International Airport to Hong Kong Island Station is HKD100 and to Kowloon Station, HKD90.

4. The Airport Express Rail looks similar to Malaysia ERL; baggage area, seats and etc. The journey takes approximately 30mins.

The blue light indicates the current journey. 

5. Upon reaching the Hong Kong Island/Kowloon Station, look for the below signage - FREE Shuttle Bus. There are 2 types or options; (i) Airport Express Rail and (ii) hotel. Choose wisely.

6. My hotel was not in the participating FREE Shuttle Bus list, it is however located across the street to the bus stop. If unsure, just ask the information counter, they will advise you which bus number to take. 

For hotels that are not listed (like mine), the lady at the information counter will be able to advise you on which bus to take and the distance you have to walk from that specific bus stop.

7. Participating hotels and the bus numbers.

8. Hong Kong Island FREE Shuttle Bus Stop.

9. FREE Shuttle Bus

Luggage area. 

Hardly in full capacity.

10. FREE Shuttle Bus Stop at hotel street.

11. For those planning to do a reverse trip ie from hotel to the airport, it is the same process EXCEPT that you can do your flight check-in at Hong Kong Station. Having said that, I think for Air Asia passenger, you guys will have to check-in at the airport itself. Do double check and reconfirm.

Hong Kong : A British Empire Colony

Hong Kong was the last significant colony to leave the British Empire. To date; Hong Kong has drawn many investors and tourist alike. Aside from being the hub of many multinational companies, Hong Kong also offers good shopping options, international standard theme parks and cross culture attractions. Not only that, it provides convenient access to neighbouring countries such as Macau and China thus feeding business & holiday travelers reason to choose Hong Kong as their next holiday destination. The practice of bilingual signage on their roads and maps makes it painless for you to travel on your own. Thus; you can simply reserve your Hong Kong flights with Dial A Flight and start your East meets West holiday.

Hong Kong was a group of fishing villages, one of the famous and biggest being Aberdeen; a floating village and where most floating seafood restaurants are located. Back in Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong was the original name for Aberdeen village. However in 19th century; foreigners mistakenly thought Hong Kong was the name for the whole island. By then, the name Hong Kong was widely use to refer to the whole island. Thus, Aberdeen fishing village was later named after the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen.

The Peak Tower Sky Terrace

View of Hong Kong from The Peak

If you want to experience a diverse culture of East Meets West then this is the right place to be. Starting with The Peak where you can view the whole Victoria Harbour and Kowloon from the The Peak Tower Sky Terrace. A unique way of visiting The Peak is either taking the double deck public bus or the funicular Peak Tram pulled by steel cables; leftover from British occupation. The view is said to be one of the most recognizable in the world.

Madame Tussauds Hong Kong

The Peak is also home to the latest British wonder - Madame Tussauds; located in the The Peak Tower Sky Terrace, where you can catch a glimpse of your favourite past & present actors.

Disneyland Hong Kong

Two main attractions for childrens would be the Ocean Park and Disneyland Hong Kong. The earlier is consist of a marine mammal park, oceanarium, animal theme park and amusement park. Two unique “rides” here would be the 1.5km cable car ride where you will be going around or up the mountains and sea. Second would be the world's second longest funicular outdoor escalator. Those who have fear of heights, this two would be a no-no.

Kowloon Mosque

For Muslim travelers, have no fear as there is a big Kowloon Mosque situated on Nathan Road in the centre of Kownloon itself. Muslims can get Halal (Muslim) food easily as there are an estimation of 250,000 Muslim population here.

Clock tower at Kowloon harbour front

Nigh view of Hong Kong island from Kowloon

An evening stroll at Kowloon harbour front to watch the splendid sun set and it’s beautiful night view makes a perfect day in Hong Kong.

Japan Tsunami - Close Escape

Quick updates :

1. I am still base in Malaysia, I went to Japan for a short holidays for a week since last week.

2. I left Tokyo for Hong Kong on Wednesday.

3. Tsunami hits Japan on Friday (close "escape").

4. No, did not feel the tremor in Hong Kong

5. News all over Hong Kong as Hong Hong have one of the highest tourist visiting Japan.

6. Thank you to whose who SMS-ed and check on me in Facebook, highly appreciate it. Felt the LOVE.

7. Pray for my safe journey home this Sunday back home in Malaysia.

VISA Approved and JAPAN I GO!!!

Yeah I know! I have not been a good girl to my darling blog. Sigh... I have absolutely valid reasons (excuses) here.

1. I got "promoted" to a regional role - now I manage Asia Pacific & Japan country (YIPPEE!)

2. They haven't gotten the new hire to take over my role - hence am doing double role

3. Another Business Unit (BU) manager move to sales role - guess what!?!! I agreed to stand in (YUP! 3 role NOW! SUCKERRRR!)

Can anyone be more stupid and silly then me? But strangely.... the busier I am, the more efficient I be. Is this even normal?

I think it's that thing in our brain that pump that natural drug in our body.... I can't remember what's it is called. Endorphine or something... if this is; then GOD is prettttty SMART! Hehheheh....

Guess what????? I received MVP award (Most Valuable Person), the prize is a FREEEEE trip (Yes! You heard me right!) to Hong Kong. Staying in Disney Resort, free Disney passes AND I can bring a friends FREE of charge. Of which got me thinking....

Hemmm.... I heard a HongKee friend of mine said that Japan package is cheaper from Hong Kong then Malaysia by HALF!!! (SIOU!!). You can guess it by now right... I google (what else mah) and got myself an RM2,000 return flight + 6 nights hotel stay departing from Hong Kong. WOW! That's darn CHEAP!

Due to my stupid busy schedule (by choice), we applied the the Japan visa kinda late, and it got rejected last week... PANIC giler... but eventually it went thru and we got back our passport on Monday. PHEW!!! (A bit worrying as we have booked our flight and hotel!).

Anyways... all when well. Am flying off on Wednesday morning and arriving in Japan in the evening. This will be the FIRST and MOST unprepared trip I ever experienced as I DID NOT do any research whatsoever.

Pray me good luck!

Watery Wednesday | The Red Junk

Hong Kong famous junk
cruising the harbour

From floating village

of Aberdeen shire

With it's red sail

And it's red flag

It's dup dup sound

... breaks the night

How I wish

that I could

ride on this

old school boat

Yeah! HK is a shopping heaven (after BKK. OPS!)

Day 3 (25 December 2009). HK NOT gonna be happy with me :D

Despite that it is Christmas, it proves to be boring; reason being we dedicated today for shopping and as a non-great-fan-of-shopping…. (really, I SWEAR, please re-ask me for the truth). I feel aimless, lack of motivation, zilch inspiration.. Totally na-da.

It started with boring shopping at Citygate Factory Outlet, I ONLY have ONE mission - HANDBAG, COACH in particular as I learnt that they carry them there other then Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Max Mara, Laura Ashley, Guess, Nike, Adidas, Swatch, UCB, CK, AIX.. yeah… about 80 branded goods. THUS, jeng jeng jeng…. I DID manage to get meself a handbag… YES! Ergo model! WOOHOO! Been wanting this since Coach launching it end last year… wanted the blue/green but they only have one colour - PINK! YUK!!!! Sigh…. Despite I dislike pink (YUP! I HATE PINK!), I succumb to it all for the liking of an Ergo model (SUCKER!!!). How much will be the next question right? I knew it! Around RM1k… which I thought was reasonable as in Malaysia it cost more then RM2k, might even be close to RM3k… I thought it was kinda good deal…. DONE! BOUGHT! I DO FEEL SMART with this purchase and ofcos I think I look good lor…. VERY PRETTY until the “newness” feel faded and am back to reality. But till then…. SMART & PRETTY!

Oh yah! If you need to get here, take the train heading to Tung Chung, get down at the last stop (Tung Chung lar…), it’s the same stop that offers 360 Ngo Ping Cable Car ride plus the sitting Buddha. Everyone asked how to get to Citygate from Tung Chung…. Welllll……. The MTR station IS IN THE OUTLET ie building itself, can’t miss it. EASY PEASY! You have to be duh to miss it.

Food? There’s food court there (located at 2nd floor) - Food Republic just like the one in Pavilion KL. The great thing is that it have 2 halal stalls. YEAY!

After lunch which is about 3ish, Tina wanted to take the cable car, the rest doesn’t mind going with her, my sis and I requested to split as she wants to jalan jalan at the harbour, Danny decided to join us. The more fun and energetic group…. (this is until you reach few para below, I do have a weakness, after all am only a human being....sob sob).

We head back to our hostel to dump our shopping goods and unanimously agreed to walk from Jordan to Harbour City. Far? YES!!!! TIRED! But it was worth it, we took few pics along the way. Checked out my so called DREAM WATCH… Tissot - white face/strap with baby blue needle…. Dreammmmmmy. I thought it might be cheaper here…. Apparently NOT! Can get it few hundred RM cheaper in Malaysia….argh….. This is what I found from this blog and only 4,999 pcs in the world!

“Women of style will love The T-Race Danica Patrick white color, with design details in the blue of her team. A white mother-of-pearl dial and a sculptured, white rubber strap complete the look. Reflecting the spirit of the racetrack is a sporty, stainless steel case with a chequered flag marked on the rotating bezel. The chequered flag also finds its way on to the white case back, where it underlines Danica’s lightening-bolt logo.”
Am still contemplating! Advice anyone?

The hand of god? Or an earlier Gong Xi, Gong Xi wish… or Pui Fok, Pui Fok…… Hemm….. Whatever it is, obviously my sis not bothered… am still wondering what is she fiddling there!??!

Ahh…!!! We also passed by a mosque, very excited indeed. Apparently if you wish to source for Halal Muslim food, you can come here and eat at the canteen and also found out that there are few Indian/Pakistani halal food located near the mosque. Oh yah! Am a Muslim so that you know….bet you didn’t realize neh…

We finally reach Harbour City Mall, it is SUPER HUGE! Or perhaps mammoth is of a right word, or king kong or WTH!!!??! I was tired like hell just by walking across the mall, and it’s not helping with my injured knee either…sigh… we cut through the mall (walking slooooowly) to get to the harbour front and find our way to Avenue of The Star. At the exit (which I can’t remember which one [I did mentioned huge right? Right! Right!], there was this BEEAAUUUTIFUL Christmas decorated arch…. It’s amazing that everyone one and I mean absolutely everyone stopped to take pics, so much so that it causes human traffic jam! Security have to request pedestrian NOT to stop at the staircase to avoid jam and accident as everyone is busy snapping and looking upwards. Hehhehehe….. Traffic light should be placed during Christmas season… ;p but then again; people might think it’s a decorative item and start taking pics of the traffic light pulak…. HAHAHAHH….HOOHOHHO….

Alas we reached the HK Clock Tower what seems to indicate that we are nearing the Avenue of the Star, phew…. Apa lagi, snappy snap lar as I always say.

We then waited for the sun to set a little bit more to take pics of Hong Kong island, the boats, the sampan, the tongkang…. and whateverlar in our sight…. Sad though, the weather was MISTY! We were hoping clear sharp pics…. Sigh… guess need to revisit HK for the 4th time, who knows, 4th time a charm, right?!?!

We lepak for awhile hoping and HOPING the mist will go away…. Like real lar it will…. Dream on Lily! We settled for junk boat pics before heading back to Jordan (not the country). Need to rest well as tomorrow departing to Macau!

Cirque du Soleil, here we come!

Credits : Wikipedia, Venitian Resort, Cirque du soleil, Watch Happening, Ngo Ping 360, Citygate, Harbourcity, MTR, Tissot, Dania Car Racing

Disneyland HK - Where Dreams Come True

Day 2 (24th December 2009). Wakey. Wakey. It’s time for Minnie & Mickey.


Hemmm... strange how so suddenly am out of ideas to blog, I find this weird as I never have NO IDEA to talk...ehehheh shouldn’t this go hand-in-hand. Anywaysss… I will still try to finish this trip’s blog and hopefully my train of thought still choo-choo-ing and my mood & style still maintain the momentum.

This is my 3rd trip to HK (the first 2 was with company) thus am more or less know what to do/expect as well as knowledge of Hongkies culture (which helped a lot so to speak). On 2nd day we have nothing much planned except DISNEY DISNEY and more DISNEY! I "entrust" both my sis and my nephew (Danny or Dani) to enquire from the MTR on howabout to get there, it's pretty easy in HK as they only have that few lines unlike some other big cities ie London & Paris (PENGSAN!!!!). By the way, Danny kept "volunteering" to do the enquiring, I thought "hemm... good....pro-active, senang kerja", aside from the fact them kept asking how to say "how much does this cost in Canto", they tested their skill a few times and resulted to the 7-11 lady replying in full long sentences in Canto, and they KANTOI, hahhha…..

I think I say this for those who have been to Disneyland before this, the excitement starts when you saw the Disney train from Sunny Bay, you know this is for definite a DISNEY DAY. Yup! It’s all M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E awww…….. We snap pics like nobodies’ business, and mind you; this is only the train, we haven’t even reached the theme park. Hahhahaha….. No worries, we were not alone, so many others did the same.

Let me start by telling you that we took every single thing we see that amuses us, include people's shoes…. Seriously! This happens everywhere, even at the point where we took a “trip” to the wash room. And ofcos, my sis and her new colorful shoe was not spared… and obviously she gladfully AND gleeeeefully allowed and asked her to take her pics (yup! I created a monster!).

Aaahhh…. Then there’s the classic pics in front of the entrance, I believed it’s a must have pics… all with diff style, mood, angle…. And me? Taking pics for them lar.

Not to forget, the sock & shoe girl! Cute huh!

Argh.... Our biggest problem of the day, WHERE TO GO FIRST? WHAT TO DO FIRST? WHICH RIDE TO ATTACK FIRST? WHICH SHOW TO SEE FIRST? WHICH CHARACTER TO TAKE PIC FIRST? DECISION! DECISION! DECISION!

Prime and first target - Main Street USA. Snap-whatever-you-can-see, be as silly as possible so that your album won’t look boring was our aim. We definitely had our fun there.

Since we were there, we kinda surveyed what to bring home as a souvenir… oh boy! That wasn’t easy, I must say. I wanted a STITCH something… but what!??!?! Hem… Uni Armi already know what she wants, how about me…??

Decided… well… Danny and my sis actually decided to attack Tomorrowland first, tried this ride which I forgetten the name as well as my all time favourite - SPACE MOUNTAIN. And me, well… Uni Armi and me decides to chill out with a drink on our left hand and popcorn on our right… sigh…. And ofcos took great pics with little blue Stitch.

Am such a kid at heart which I think those that knows me well would definitely agree, and this is my heartfelt recommendation. MUST MUST MUST go to see “It’s A Small World”…. somehow it will make you sing-a-long and be happy! By the way, love the centre pic of Danny and his mom, CHARMING!

Heheh… they wanted to try the Teacup next, all I can say is DIZZY! DIZZY! Kau buat ku berpusing, berpusing pusing, macam gasing gasing.

We also tried the PhilharMagic, a 3D thingy….love it! You’ll get the breeze, the water sprinkling, and the object coming to life… just like Shrek 3D. An yah! You need to wear the funny glasses.

Amazon time!!! You might get wet! Errr… I do sometimes, wonder what’s up with my sis… public pooh pooh??!?
:p

The last show that we manage to catch was The Lion King… I have always ABSOLUTELY LOVE LION KING, love the song, music score, the story line, the humour… basically everything lar… one of the must watch sequel is the 1 ½… or was it 2 ½… hemm… anyways…. It’s hilarious as it shows WHY everyone bowed to Simba, apparently Pumba farted, thus causing one of the animal to faint, and the rest thought he was bowing hence everyone bows…hahahhaha…. Go watch!

We waited for the Christmas Light and small/short fireworks before walking back to Main Street USA where we supposedly to regroup.

Well…. We waited a long while for Tina before she decided to stay back for the 9pm fireworks, we snap some silly photos during that period. Then took our Mickey train back to Jordon.

Tired. Nighty-nite.

It's a world of laughter, a world or tears
Its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
There’s so much that we share, that its time we're aware
Its a small world after all

Hyperlink Credits : WIkipedia, HK Disneyland, 7-11, MTR