HongKong / Macau

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July 15-25, 2002. Our first family out-of-the-country vacation. Kelvin is just a little over 2 years old. We flew to HongKong via Singapore Airlines (and costed us dearly!, no budget airlines yet) and stayed at The Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay.

Upon arrival, we took a shuttle bus going to HongKong Island. It was roughly an hour trip going there. We checked in, unpacked some of the things and headed out to see what HongKong has to offer. First stop was a park near the hotel. It is located in the middle of the busy streets of Causeway Bay. We let Kelvin play and run around. Then we headed to the Central area via MTR. Had dinner at Jollibee. Yep! it was in our itinerary. We haven't had a dose of chicken joy for almost a year now. So this was a good way to end our first day in HongKong.

Other places we visited during our 2 week trip in HongKong and Macau are as follows:

HongKong
1. HK Exhibition Centre - good architecture... there was even a book fair.. but the books were written in chinese so we didnt buy anything...

2. The Harbour - Kowloon Island... walked around the harbor and took pics of the busy HongKong harbor and the famous boats there.

3. Clock tower - it was already too dark during this time. In our pics, the clock tower is almost unnoticeable hahahaha

4. Space Museum - Kelvin enjoyed pressing the buttons

5. Arts Centre - took photos with sculptures around the building

6. Peak Tram - the furnicular tram ride all the way to the top. We were like on a roller coaster, but slower

7. Victoria Peak - excellent site of the Island from here. It was cold like Tagaytay in the Philippines.

8. HongKong Zoological and Botanical gardens - we walked from the Peak Tram station to this park. Quite a long walk.

9. Snoopy's World - located at New World Plaza at Shatin. Mark likes snoopy so we made sure we were able to go here. Unfortunately, they close quite early. We arrived there at 8pm and it was already closed! We just took photos with the mascots/statues of the characters outside. Trip not wasted at all.

10. Ocean Park - $180 each!!! quite expensive but worth it for one time visit. Since we are tourists, this should definitely be in the itinerary. We had a 360 view of the island while on the Ocean Park Tower. Mark was brave enough to tackle The Abyss ride! Long queue, but short time for the ride. Kelvin enjoyed watching the feeding session for the sealions at the Pacific Pier and also the cable car ride to reach the other parts of the park. The aquarium was definitely better and bigger than that of Underwater Park at Singapore. But is was not stroller-friendly. And it was a bit too crowded. If you are not tall enough or dont know where is the best position to have a good view of the sea creatures, you wouldnt be able to enjoy this place.

Macau
- we took the Turbojet going to Macau from Hongkong. Upon arrival, we booked a tour so we could maximize our one day visit there.
1. A-Ma Temple
2. Maritime Museum
3. Macau Tower - good view from the platform around 60 floors up. The cars parked at the ground floor can be seed thru the glass floors of the viewing deck. They appear to be just small toy cars! That was how high up we were.
4. Ruins of St. Paul Church - it was burned down. Only the facade of the church was left
5. Museum of Macau
6. walk around Senado Square - and had a taste of ba kua (dont know if spelled right)
7. residences of rich people in Macau

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