#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.

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

Hiatus in Hong Kong

Day 1 (23 December 2009). The long awaited break.



Been mind-drafting a lot on how to start this blog, not that easy it seems as this is not the normal trip whereby I either travel with Anna, Andrea, Grace or darling sis. This time around is with 9 other folks; basically my relatives and dearest sis ofcos (mana boleh tinggal dia kan). Yup! All 10 of us, it felt strange as the last time I traveled with relatives this big (Kak Za) with kids (me babysitter to them) was about 10 years ago and I was a mere follower, NOW; am arranging it... so to speak. A tiring task as there’s expectation to be met (macam keje kat office pulak, hehehehe....); a tough one as I was trying to enjoy my own holiday too, oh well… you can’t win them all lor hor I suppose.

Basically I have my cousins; Uni Sham with her 2 kids - Amira & Bang Cik, Uni Armi with her son - Danny, Tina with her 2 darling girls - Maira & Misha, then there’s Fatin (my sis) and MOI. Am quite thankful that all my cousins are independent, understanding AND a traveler thus making it easy peasy to coordinate… PHEW! Thanks guys!

We met up in LCCT at 4:30am in the morning, ate breakfast at McDonald (pancake yeay!), surfed and chatted - it is our first far away trip together gether (by plane pulak tuh and oversea!). We board the flight and 4 hours later we arrived in HONG KONG! First thing first - cold weather, KIDS LIKE! Adults also like very much! Hehhehe…. Felt very Mat Salleh minus the snow and asap keluar dari mulut. Secondly, HOW TO GET TO hotel? Hem…. Searched and tertanya tanya… a lady at a transport counter asked us whether we needed help, we enquired and she offered, and mini bus from airport to Embassy Hostel (guesthouse like) at HKD800 - 45mins ride. We figure it’s reasonable since we have HUGE luggage and there’s 10 of us, not that wise to take cab. All settled and we followed (obediently) to the bus station. We got a bus alright! A HUGE 30 SEATER BUS! Crazy shit! We were like 20 pax short! Hahhaha…. Told the kids we have to turn back home as I finished our “funding allocation” to charter this HUGE bus… YUP! Got the BAMBI eye look form them, hahahah….. Uni acah aje lar guys, hehheheh…..

Our (or more precisely 8 pax) hotel was located on Nathan Road (YEAY!), 2 shop lots to Jordan MTR Station (perfect!), 7-11 everywhere (even better!). Checking-in was tough and DRAMA, the lady that oversees it doesn’t speak a word of English, luckily I can converse well in Mandarin (studied them from Kindie to Form 5) and they don’t accept credit card or more like she don’t accept credit card. We managed to help, the machine not that hard to use as Fatin uses it often while working with Tix Access as a temp. Agreed to meet up 1 hour after (as I need to check in at “our hostel” pulak) to plan our journey to THE PEAK!

Timing perfecto mundo, reached Central MTR Station between 3-4pm, took plenty of pics along the way (macam tak penah tengok bangunan and buses), went up via The Peak Tram (very steep I must say); queued for 30 mins at least before getting the first taste of The Peak air.

WAX! WAX! WAX! Madame Tussaud! Took funny pics of us, weird, wacky, silly yadda yadda yadda… ehheheh…. We had a BLAST there!

Next - Viewing Terrace. Ahh…… As most people know, am GAYAT = SCARED OF HEIGHT; and the there escalator DOESN’T HELP. At 3rd last floor I chickened out (almost in tears), Fatin was nice enough to offer to walk down with me and give it a miss, but that wouldn’t be fair right. RIGHT! I asked her to proceed and I'll wait for her at the tiny platform WHERE all the passerby looked at me weirdly as I was half bending and REFUSE to look down or stand close to the railing. After about 15mins, I gather enough courage to take the escalator down (waited for large crowd to ease the fear) but not without half squatting on it. REALLY! That scared I was, kid you not! Now that I think about it, I must have looked SILLY!

I waited for a while downstairs and was bored like hell before I decided to go shop at Hard Rock Café Merchandise Shop (they closed the one in Kow Loon). Hello new HRC shirt - bye-bye old HRC shirt. The rest came down soon after, more snappy snap time. Took some of Hong Kong night shots…. BEAUTIFUL - to me at least.
:D

Took the tram down, MTR-ed back to Embassy Hostel. Sis and me continued our journey to Ladies Market in Mongkok to get her a new pair of sneakers (she’s been complaining and wanting a new pair since FOREVER!) Took 1 hour to find one she liked, well…. She originally wanted a high-cut Reebok but the colours are not available in her size (sob sob), after much contemplating, she settled for Adidas black with colorful stripe. You’ll get to see in the next entry - DEFINITELY as it is ALL ABOUT her SHOE! I got me-self a Nike cross-training shoe, needed one for my brisk-walking activity.

Conclusion….

Hong Kong = ecstatic
The Tram = great experience
Madame Tussaud = real
The Peak = fantastic view
Weather = cool
Shoes = perfect fit
Company = LOVE

Need we say more?

Tomorrow…. Disneyland!!!

Credits : Wikipedia, Adidas, Nike, Reebook, Lonely Planet, The Peak, Madame Tussauds