Thursday, November 25, 2010

Holiday in Hong Kong with Hubby and Baby --- Day 3

Day 3.... we were so tired that we slept all the way through till the hotel woke us up asking for laundry.  Anyway,  the plan was to go to Apliu Street.  According to the travel book that we bought this street was supposely well known for second hand items as well as electronics.  So we took the Mtr to Sham Sui Poh and decided to look for breakfast first. 

We started walking looking for food and finally this 'Char Chan Teng' caught our eye because they were selling pastries outside.  So we decided to try it and the waitress was nice enough to explain what was written on the wall which is their set meals.  Hubby choose to have noodles and I choose the baked spaghetti.  The set also comes with drink and soup.  I must say their borsch soup is very tasty! I wanted to finish the whole bowl but hubby stopped me by whispering the word ajinomoto.  As for the main meal I quite like the spaghetti but not so much on the beef.  Didn't like the noodles that hubby ordered though.


The soups that comes with our set meals


The fried noodles


My baked spagetti with beef and scallop
 Any brunch, we commence our walking around Apliu street and I must say it is an eye opener! We were expecting second hand items but not to the extend of selling TV remote controls or used Woks! After we got enough of exploring we decided to go to Wong Tai Sin temple. 

I was expecting a grand temple like how we see it on the TVB dramas but I was kind of dissapointed when I saw the temple.  Somehow it doesn't look as grand as what's being shown on TVB.  On top of that the temple is doing some renovation so we can't get a closer look at the altars.  Nevertheless, we still spend some time there as the whole area is very peaceful. 



After that we walked into a shopping mall next to the temple to get a drink and adjourned back to Kwong Wa street which hubby saw a row of shops selling adult toys and what I meant by adult toys is like remote control cars, BB guns etc.. 

Because my feet was already aching and I saw a dessert shop we decided to have a break and have some dessert.  Erm... I would say the good thing is they are not sweet but the bad thing is they are kind of tasteless!  

Honey Dew with basil seeds


Mango with LOTS of Sago

After walking around the "hobby street" we couldn't decide where to go.  So we decided to look for Langham Place which was supposed to be a tourist shopping mall.  We were walking in circles trying to locate this mall and finally just when we were about to give up and return back to the hotel it was right infront of us! So we went in anyway just to see what's it all about and the only thing that we were very facinated about is the escalators! They have escalators that runs non stop up and down 4 floors! 

The 4 stories high escalator

The view from the top after taking 2 sets of 4 stories high escalator
After all that, we decided to return to our hotel and I bought a pair of Scholl insoles for my shoes as the pain on my heel is getting unbearable.  Even when I walked barefoot in the room it is very painful. 

I decided that we should return to Temple street for dinner as I saw one of the restaurants that have occupy many shops within the same vicinity and it was crowded when we first went there.  So after checking the map we took the Mtr to Jordan and started walking towards Temple street.  We walked from one end to the other and the street doesn't seem familiar to us! We walked back to the main road and looked for the tourist signage that shows Temple Street and it pointed us back to the same street that we were walking! Honestly we were so puzzled at that time! Then I tried to recall the Mtr stop that we came out from the first day when we had the beef noodles it hit me that we were at the wrong station! We were suppose to stop at Yau Ma Tei! While we walked back to the Mtr station we were discussing if there are 2 Temple Street in HK??  We are still puzzled till now because when we look at the map it is not linked.... Anyway, we went back to the Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei and I finally had my porridge and hubby ate Beef Pot Rice and we also ordered a plate of vegie.  I would say the chicken porridge is very very tasty!! I think is the chicken fats that makes it so tasty hahaha
On the way back to the hotel we take away Yau Char Kuai and another fried dough that is huge but is just made out of flour nothing else and also a bowl of "copy" sharkfin soup. 

See the reason why I used the word "Copy" is because as we walked along Ladies Market or Temple Street all we can hear is people shouting "Copy bags" meaning they are selling imitation branded goods.  So I don't know how to describe my bowl of sharkfin which is not made from real sharkfin I decided to call it "copy" sharkfin soup.  Unfortunately, this "copy" sharkfin soup is so salty that it is impossible to drink more than one quarter of a bowl.  We end up wasting it.  After all that supper baby and I were so tired that we just knocked out and slept........
  

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Holiday in Hong Kong with Hubby and Baby --- Day 2

We had a very early start for Day 2 because of the free half day tour.  Anyway, we were very lucky with this tour as initially, we were suppose to meet at another hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.. but we got a message that the tour company will come and pick us up from our hotel instead.  So yay we don't need to wake up so early afterall. 

Hubby and I decided to have our breakfast in the hotel itself as the bus will come and pick us up at 8.45am.  Anyway, we went for the buffet breakfast and well.. we have come to a conclusion that any hotel in Malaysia can serve better breakfast. 

The tour starts of by bringing us to visit the Typhoon shelter area where it was optional for us to pay for the boat ride visiting the fishing boats and boathouse.  While we were on the boat ride I was more impressed with the yachts that was docked there! For eg:

Dream Yachts

 
More Dream Yachts

Boat House
So after the boat ride, the tour took us to a Jewellery Factory and as expected like what we went through in China, they have to lock you inside a small room explaining their history blah blah blah before they allow you to walk around the retail area.  Clearly, we were not interested to get any jewellery from there so it took us 10mins and we were out of there.  After the jewellery factory, we adjourned to visit the Tin Hau Temple at Clear Water Bay and also the beach.  The temple was crowded with tourist from all over the world. 

The last stop was at the peak.  We decided not to follow the bus back down to Central as we would like to experience the tram ride.  And also, I was getting hungry and I saw Mak's Noodle and that's one of the restaurants that was highly recommended online... so the more reason to stay longer up on the peak.  So hubby just snap snap a few pics and off we go to the Mak's Noodle for more noodles and wanton!  But after what we had the night before Mak's Noodle seems nothing special anymore.  Even the wantons cannot beat what we had the first night.

View of Central from the Peak

Prawn Roe Noodles

Wanton Noodle

After lunch,we took the tram down to Central and walk and walk and walk towards Lan Kwai Fong to get the famous egg tarts.  After asking for directions and finally we found THE place also highly recommended online for egg tarts.  The bakery is called Tai Cheong  Bakery.  There were also chicken and bbq pork pie so we bought one each and 4 egg tarts.  Guess what we got cheated! We didn't see when they were packing the egg tarts so we assume everything was in order.  And what a surprise when we went back to the hotel for a break we decided to try the egg tarts and guess what there were only 3 in the box! Not going back there anymore!  By the way, the pies taste much better than the egg tarts.



As some of my friends are probably aware, I'm so addicted to watching TVB dramas that I was looking forward to check out Lan Kwai Fong... you know with the steep road with pubs by the side eventhough I can't drink now but just to see what is it like.  Unfortunately, what we found was the street called Lan Kwai Fong flat street with no pubs :( Also, we remember clearly in almost all TVB dramas we see them walking down a very long flight of staircase and finally just when we were about to give up hope we found it!



We didn't do much exploring in Central itself so we decided to leave and went to Citygate Outlet Mall and bought nothing there as things were not as cheap as I thought they will be! After that we decided to go back to the hotel and rest before going out again for dinner.

Of course, while we were resting I took every opportunity to watch some TVB dramas! LOL Anyway, because we had the pies and tarts for tea we had late dinner at Ladies Market.  Again, we will walk from one end to the other end looking for dinner (by the way there were many Japanese Restaurants along Ladies Market) and end up in this restaurant that serves everything under one roof from roast meat to fried rice.  We ordered 'pot rice' with pork and salted fish, a plate of vegie, roast duck & char siew and beef fried rice.  Out of all that I have just mentioned, only the fried rice was good.  The 'pot rice' was the biggest mistake I made for ordering it coz the pork smell was so strong that I couldn't take it so I end up swaping with chris for his lovely beef fried rice.  I told Chris NO MORE PORK in HK! 



Holiday in Hong Kong with Hubby and Baby --- Day 1

One day after dinner hubby gave me an ultimatum about our holiday plans.  Actually, he has been bugging me to plan for a holiday but I was too lazy to plan.  I would rather be the follower instead.  But anyway, since I'm already in my 5th month of my pregnancy hubby said in a stern voice "I don't care we are leaving next month...pick a destination and plan for it" Of course then he continue if we don't go now we won't be able to go till baby is at least 2 years old.  I guess that really hit me coz I love my holidays!! So, me being very worried with getting DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and also worried about being pregnant and on the plane I thought better not go tooooo far... so I decided Hong Kong. 

We took the Cathay Pacific package which includes:-

1. Return air ticket (economy class of course)
2. Hotel (we choose Royal Plaza Hotel in Mong Kok)
3. Return airport transfer
4. Half day city tour

So, anyway the hotel was very good.  Somehow they upgraded us to a deluxe room AND free broadband connection too! Anyway, I was a little dissapointed with the weather in HK as I was expecting winter-ish weather but the temperature was way too high to be in winter.  On top of that it was very hazy!

After checking in, we started exploring so the first thing is to figure out how to get to Mongkok MTR station.  Oh yes by the way our hotel is actually situated on top of Mongkok East MTR station which takes us no where! But, we've been told is about 10mins walk to the Mongkok MTR station and our walking holiday begins......

First stop was to go to Mido Cafe for polo buns but unfortunately, I forgot to take down which exit from to get out from once I reach the Yau Ma Tei station... so we just took a guess.  We were walking and walking and walking and guess what we found Temple Street! So we were very proud of ourselves for finding that.  Anyway, we continue walking and walking and finally we found Mido Cafe but by the time we got there the polo buns were all sold out! So we decided to return to the cafe another day.

So we continue walking, and stumble upon this Beef Noodle Shop which looks quite good.  Chris ordered a beef noodle and I ordered their Wanton Soup.  OMG the beef noodle was really good and so is the Wanton!  The noodles was really springy and tasty and the beef is so tender! As for the Wanton they serve one prawn in each Wanton...



Then I thought ooooh HK food is really good!  So with a satisfied meal, we continue strolling on the street and found a stall selling more street food ie. curry fish balls...cheung fun... etc...So we decided to try the curry fish balls and the cheung fun and sigh what a disspointment compared to the noodles that we had! The fish balls were so tiny and the curry well very obvious is just curry powder and water! As for the cheung fun is tasteless..




After that, both of us noticed that we were very thirsty... hmm sign of MSG in the food? Anyway, we continue walking and went to a newly opened dessert shop.  Chris ordered a set of tong sui (almond, red bean and black sesame) and I ordered a mango souffle.  I would rate my dessert 8/10. 




After all that, I told Chris I think we have to stop eating coz I felt like I'm going to explode! Anyway, it's time that we take the Mtr to Tsim Sha Shui for the Symphony of Lights which starts at 8pm every night.  So, we manage to find a spot to see the lights but somehow we didn't manage to see where's the avenue of stars!! It's suppose to be in the same place!  Anyway, after the light show we decided to call it a night as we have an early start for Day 2 and plus after all that walking we were very tired already! But after shower and all we decided to have supper that's when I had my french toast and milk tea and chris ordered pork chop rice.  The french toast was good as they provide us with lots of honey while the pork chop rice was clearly over tenderised.  Overall, is OK. 

Friday, November 12, 2010

22 And A Half Weeks!

Went for my check up this morning with my hubby and amazingly I put on 4 kgs!! Dr said that because I'm catching up what I lost before so it is OK.... hmmmm perhaps 4kgs is too much in one month! Looks like I gotta lay off Mcdonalds for a while now.... :(

Well.. Dr is very happy with my progress as well as baby's growth.  The only thing lacking is my iron level. I need to eat more leafy vegetables which at the current moment is not one of my favourite food! Cos lettuce YES ! But spinach... choy sum... Baby don't like it ;) Hahaha So anyway, I've been on this supplement for iron called Iberet Folic to boost my iron level but the side effect is constipation!

YES I've been complaining about my constipation problem with all my dear galfriends... With this supplement it makes it even worst! I've been taking papaya as per Dr's advice nearly everyday but certain days it helps but certain days it doesn't.  And mind you with my breakfast in the morning which is consist of

1 teaspoon of Lo Hong Ka Bird Nest (Thank you BB--my hubby)
1 glass of Orange Juice (Peel Fresh)
2slices of bread or toastie waffles or bacon with eggs
1 cup of EnfaMama
1 slice of papaya

So judging from the above for a normal person I think logicially thinking OJ+Milk+Papaya = Diarrhoea but not for me! And I heard that constipation will get worst in third trimester! HELP!!

But after looking at the ultrasound this morning ahhhh it's all worth it ! Plus Dr said baby at the moment baby have my features too! I think daddy is abit jealous he said baby face will change.... Can't wait to see my baby...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Hmmm what to blog??

What do I write in a blog? I told myself that I will start a blog to put down happy moments or sad moments or anything that I would like to share throughout my pregnancy.  Well... I am officially 5 months pregnant now and why start only today?

This is how it all started... I was well kinda bored at work today and I saw my msn-buddy online.  She's like my online encylopedia on pregnancy.  Thank you my dear friend! Anyway, everytime we chat on msn she's been asking me whether have I started my exercise routine and I've been giving her the same old answer which is NOPE! Finally, I manage to swim on Deepavali day and the moment I saw her online I msn her and told I finally swam! So again she did some consultation over msn on some little trivial matters that I've asked her and she was encouraging me to blog. 

So here I am with my first entry.....