Hong Kong Experience Day 1

May 9, 2014. My mom and I went on a free trip to Hong Kong together with her office mates and co-workers as a prize they won for meeting their quota in work. It was such a memorable experience for me as it was my first time to travel abroad. I was so excited and giddy that day! I cannot wait ‘til we reach Hong Kong, enjoy the place, go on shopping and have fun!

Unfortunately, our 8:35 am flight is two-hours delayed due to the inclement weather in Hong Kong. So we decided to eat breakfast while waiting for our departure time. When we arrived at the restaurant the waiters have told us that Cathay Pacific Airlines, the airline we will be using, will be providing us with a complimentary meal due to the delay. (Yey for the delay! :P) After our meal, we sat down in the waiting lounge, took some pictures and finally boarded the plane.

Train platform from the airport's terminal to the immigration

We arrived a little late after 1:00 pm in Hong Kong International Airport. I was really amazed when I first stepped in to the airport. I was so surprised how large the place is! The airport is so big that we still have to ride a bullet train from the terminal to get to the immigration and get our luggage after. We stopped by the Hong Kong tourism board area in the airport to get some brochures and maps of Hong Kong to check places that are good to visit and other local attractions. After that, we gathered around Hall A of Terminal 1 to meet our tour guides and went to our hotel.

We stayed at The Royal Garden Hotel; a 5-star hotel located at Tsim Sha Tsui East Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was really cool staying there because their service is really good, the hotel itself is beautiful and the coolest part is that they provided us with free wi-fi connection! (Hooray for the wi-fi!) The hotel is also near to commercial places like boutiques, restaurants, money changer, shopping malls, etc. that guests and tourists could visit. When my mom and I entered our room, a big flat screened television welcomed us with warm greetings with our surnames flashing on it. (How cool is this hotel gonna get?) 

This was flashed on the TV screen

Moving on, after unpacking our things and changing our clothes we went out to grab some dinner nearby. We decided to eat noodle soup at the Yuen Kee Restaurant because of the rainy weather. I ordered the shrimp wonton noodle soup and tita Cecil, my mom’s friend, ordered their bestselling beef brisket noodle soup. I think that our food is so delicious; it has the authentic taste of Chinese flavor in it.

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup from Yuen Kee Restaurant

After eating, we wanted to go to the Ladies Market for some shopping so we used the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) as a mode of our transportation. It was good to experience riding the rapid transit because (1.) it is not that crowded, (2.) trains arrive after only 2 minutes of waiting, (3.) it’s easy to buy tickets from the vending machines, and (4.) its really fast and convenient to use. Plus, the train is underground so it prevents heavy traffic congestion in Hong Kong. The MTR stations looks like an underground mall with some boutiques and food stores around. Walking through the place, Maxim’s Cake Shop catches my attention with all the appetizing cakes and pastries displayed on the counter. So I bought two slices of cakes and took it to the hotel for my midnight snack.

My first day in Hong Kong is pretty impressive except for the fact that it was raining and our flight was delayed because of that. Anyway, I still enjoyed my first day in Hong Kong and I think that's all that really matters. I'm quite prepared for the rain actually 'cos I brought with me some sweater. So the next time I come to Hong Kong (yes, I'm claiming it!), I will definitely be more prepared than ever! Haha! I am so excited to tell more of my experiences in Hong Kong so please do wait for my next blogs!

Here are some snapshots we took on our first day in Hong Kong.