Hong Kong Macao Travelogue March 2016 -Day 4

April 06, 2016

Today is our last full day in Hong Kong and as mention earlier, I will be sharing our fun half day trip to Cheng Chau Island which is highly highly recommended by my cousin who stays in Hong Kong.

Cheng Chau is famous for its fishing village and also a weekend getaway for locals. Quaint and peaceful, it is a perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong city area.

If you do have extra time during your trip, this highly recommended. You can either go for half day trip, full day trip or even at overnight trip.

In the morning, dad had a quick fix breakfast opposite the hotel while mum and me just munch some bread that we bought yesterday from the Open Kitchen, so yummy and soft.

After breakfast, we took a bus from Nathan Road to the Victoria Harbour Pier (Bus 1,1A,2 or 6). It is a double decker bus and excitedly, we sat on the second floor as our stop is the final stop.

Looking fresh in the morning.

Today's weather is so much warmer and sunny that it put a smile in everyone's face. Mum finally got her chance to wear her dress that she bring for the trip :)

Again, we took a ferry across Victoria Harbour, enjoying the view.

Sweet couple :)

Us :)))

When we reach the Central Ferry Terminal, we alighted at Pier 7 and then we walked to Pier 5 to take the ferry to Cheng Chao Island. There are two types of ferry to the island (Ordinary or Fast). Ordinary cost HKD$13.20 and the fast ferry cost HKD$25.80. The fast ferry takes 30 mins while the ordinary one takes 1 hour.

We took the ordinary ferry on the way to Cheng Chao as it is the earliest to depart while we are there and the fast ferry will have to wait for another 30 mins before the boat depart. Surprisingly, it only took 30 minutes for us to reach the island despite taking the ordinary ferry.

We reached at 11am and it is indeed quaint and nice. Totally didn't feel like I am in Hong Kong at all.

Nice fishing village..

Dad started to feed fishes with the bread he bought yesterday

There are a lot of nice little shops selling souvenirs, clothes, toys etc. So nice to just browse around...

We are a bit hungry as we didn't eat a proper breakfast and yes, my stomach has 80% recover so I am kinda famished after not eating much for the whole day yesterday.

Along San Hing Praya Street, there is a stretch of seafood restaurant. I read some reviews online and settle for the one at the end of the road (New Barracat Seafood Restaurant)

All the seafood shop has this similar promo... 3 dishes for $xxx , 4 dishes for $yyy etc. So basically, you just choose the amount of dishes you wanted, and go for the promotion. Any dishes in the list can be chosen and it includes prawn, crab, etc.

Seafood is all fresh from the tank in the shop, so can just take your pick. These are what we had and they are absolutely yummy! Very fresh and nicely executed by the chef.

Steam prawn

Spring Onion Crab

Scallop with vermicelli and yummy sauce

Baked pigeon

Finger licking good and we are pretty satisfied at the end of the meal. Prices is very reasonable as well. We explored around the little town, walking pass housing area, mini shops. It was fun!

Local resident

German Restaurant

And we found this dessert shop at the back alley. Time for some mango dessert. All mangoes are fresh and the owner is just slicing and slicing the mangoes in the shops. That shows how good their business are...

Mango mochi, mango pomelo sago and mango with jelly.

Time to dig in our dessert ...Yum!

And now, we are officially super full. Cant really eat anymore... So time to walk around to use up some energy.

There is a beach at the back of all the shops with a few guest house and hotel.

Nice flowers which caught mummy's eye...

Close up of the flowers...

A pretty gate with lots of "LOVE"

Lots of "small snacks" as well.. but we are just too full to eat anymore.

We could have spend the whole day here but since I was sick and we haven't conquer The Peak yet, we have to cut our trip short. For those who wants to spend the whole day, you can rent a bicycle and go around cause the island is actually not that small especially if you would like to visit the Pirate Cave which is at one end of the island.

We took the 2.45pm Fast Ferry back and it also took 30 minutes. The difference is the fast ferry have air conditioning while the ordinary ferry is open air. Seats are more comfortable as well. But to me, both are equally nice, and I would suggest to choose based on the departure time. Whichever leave first, just go for that :)

Seats in the fast ferry...

Upon reaching Central Pier, we are again back to Hong Kong Island. We took bus 15 from a bus stop just in front of the Pier and it brings us straight to The Peak (final stop). Fare HKD$11.

It was pretty foggy today so we can hardly see anything but still, a visit to The Peak is a MUST when someone first visiting Hong Kong.

@ The Peak @

Still happy despite the fog :D

Since we can't see the real scenery, lets just take a look at the photo and imagine :)

Cool tram which is now converted into Tourist Centre

It was around 5 plus in the evening when we are done exploring The Peak. We are deciding between Mak's Noodle at The Peak or Tim Ho Wan at IFC Mall. In the end, we decided to go for Tim Ho Wan, to taste and see if the one in HK is really more authentic and nicer than the one in Singapore.

We took the tram down ( the queue is long and moving rather slow). Cost HKD$28 and one can use their Octopus card for it as well.

Tram prices

Waiting for the tram to arrive...

Yay, it has arrived and once the passengers alight, it is our turn to board :)

On the way down... look at the fog!

From the tram station, we walked to IFC mall. It took quite sometime to find the Tim Ho Wan as it is not located in the main shopping mall area and even though we asked quite a few people, they all gives us different direction and we ended up walking here and there on a wild goose chase.

When we finally saw the signboard, we are all alarmed that it is CLOSED! I meant seriously??!!

Luckily, I looked up slightly further and I saw another Tim Ho Wan?? With lots of people q-ing. Erm, they probably move their restaurant few doors down... Phew.... at last, we can have dinner.

Lots of people and we are q-ing for our turn

Happy face!

Nice smile :)

After dinner, we concluded that "Steamed Ma Lai Gao" is nicer in HK, "Crusted Top Cha Siew Bao" is yummier in Spore. The menu also slightly differ and there is this Phoenix Leg in Abalone Sauce which is nice and only available in HK. Mum and dad love it and even order a second serving. So, it is still worth a try!

We took MTR back to hotel. Mum and me wanted to go to Temple Street as it is our last day and we couldn't leave without exploring the famous street which is just a few streets behind our hotel. Dad is tired so he just go downstairs and chit chat/networking with other tourist, something he did quite a bit during the trip. He could just go downstairs and start chatting up with tourist who stays in our hotel, sharing some tips and experience, pretty cool I must say.

So mum and me went to Temple Street and we ended up buying a couple of little things (luggage tag, handphone accessories etc). We walked past the Temple Street with people q-ing and waiting for their turn to have the fate checked out....

And we saw Hui Lau Shan. So, despite pretty full from dinner, we just wanted to try. So we ordered one bowl of steamed milk with durian paste to try...

Hui Lau Shan

So cute....Love this photo!

We went back to hotel to put the things we bought and to put on jacket as the weather is getting chilly at night. Then we came out again, to shop on Nathan Street. Pretty nice to shop without bringing our heavy bag out... just bring a purse and hotel card... light and happy.