Hong Kong Adventures 2012: Day 1 - The Rush for Warmth

It was this foggy when we arrived at the HKIA.  

Yes, it was cold.

     I went to Hong Kong for the third time earlier this month.  I travelled with my friends this time around.  We didn't get to do anything, except for shopping on the first day for warmer clothes and comfortable shoes, and going to Disneyland.  But since it was almost closing time, we just took photos outside the park.

    Why did we need to buy warmer clothes in Hong Kong on our first day?  You see, my friends were not appropriately dressed for the weather even though they knew that it was going to be cold in Hong Kong.  It was around 15C when we got to Hong Kong but most of my friends were wearing summer clothes; one was even wearing flip flops!  When we were on the plane,we were amused with our co-passengers on full winter gear.  One friend quipped, "Exag[gerated]! May fur-fur pa!"  I laughed along with them since I also thought that bubble jackets weren't necessary.  But when we boarded down the plane, guess who the laughing stock was.  Yup, us!

It was so foggy HK was barely visible.

In fact, we only saw the harbor when we were this close already.

    It got worse when we arrived at Hong Kong International Airport's immigration.  We were surrounded by throngs of travellers from Japan, and possibly, Korea, too, (let's just say East Asians to be sure).  And they were all dressed to impress, in full winter garb!  My friend, as I said, was wearing flip flops, and her toes were turning blue from the cold..  My other friends were wearing high-heeled sandals and stilettos, the ones you wear to the office.  One does not have a jacket on, just a thin blouse, but at least they're wearing pants because my flip flops loving friend was just wearing leggings.  Imagine the bewilderment of the people queued at the immigration.  You can clearly see the shock on their faces, even consternation from some.  All of them were looking at our footwear.  Guess, they were thinking how stupid we were.  

    I came almost adequately prepared; I was even appropriately dressed. But I was really hesitant to wear my rubber shoes because while it provides comfort, it isn't fashionable.  I was aware that people in Hong Kong, locals and travellers alike, are generally well-dressed.  You can even say fashion-conscious.  I wanted to look the part of a posh traveller but I did not want to bring my winter dress coat since it's too heavy.  When I got to see those travellers at the immigration, I wished I brought it along since most were wearing their most fashionable coats, boots, etc.

     Anyway, we rode our coach service going to our hotel and we rested for an hour or two before we headed out to shop.  We went to Tsim Sa Tsui to buy warmer clothes at H&M.  I just bought some bonnets on sale (HKD 10 a piece) and some flats to go with my new shoulder bag I bought back in the Philippines.  My friends rushed to look for winter clothes and shoes but only one did buy a more comfortable footwear.  The rest skimped on spending and braved the cold weather.  One purposely didn't buy anything because she said she had thermal underneath.  But she was shivering nonetheless and had to wash it everyday as she just had one thermal with her.  I even had her use my newly bought flats since she couldn't walk anymore by night time; she was wearing stilettos.

Is this the Silvermine Beach?  

The windows of our coach service is kinda filthy, hence the brown streaks.

I had to tweak the photos to get rid of the fog, but the color of the sea is real. 

So pretty!

K-11 Mall is very near Mirador Mansion, just beside Holiday Inn if I remember correctly.

This dude was sleeping at the open-space area at K-11 Mall.

 Tsim Sha Tsui

     Then we went to Mongkok and browsed the camera shops there and ate our super late lunch/early dinner at Cafe de Coral, a food chain I see almost everywhere in Hong Kong.  As we squandered our time shopping, we barely had time to go to Disneyland so we just took photos outside.  We were supposed to watch the fireworks but it was damn cold and we were all shivering. I was shivering the least.  My friends quipped that they now know how Nelo felt as he dies in the snow with Patrasche. And it was only about 13C!  Can I just say that every time I remember the anime "My Patrasche" tears well-up in my eyes?  Damn.

 Sunny Bay.  All Disney!

Sorry for the crappy night shots.

I didn't know I could adjust the ISO.

     To give ourselves another chance to buy warmer clothes, we went to City Gate.  But no luck!  We headed back to Panda Hotel via cab.  It cost HKD 170.00 or thereabouts from City Gate including toll fare.  And there goes our first day in Hong Kong!

    

Hotels and Accommodations: Courtyard @ Heeren, Melaka, Malaysia

     As you may have probably noticed, I only have good words for Courtyard @ Heeren, which is not surprising given the quality of the service it provided to us.  It was clearly superb.

     Our trip to Melaka would not have been possible were it not for the suggestion of the Courtyard @ Heeren staff, the affable Amar, to buy us bus tickets for an earlier departure for a return journey to Singapore.  It was really unexpected for the staff to go out of their way just to make our plans push through.  Imagine, the staff had to reserve and buy the tickets for us and the hotel paid for it in the meantime.   When we arrived, we paid for the tickets.  I was thoroughly impressed!  So, to Amar, Audrey and the rest of the Courtyard @ Heeren staff, thank you very, very much!

   

Location

    It is located along Heeren Street, a few feet away from the Heeren Guesthouse, almost in front of the Baba House, and a very short walking distance from the famous Jonker Street. It's centrally located so the places of interest in Melaka are within comfortable walking distance from the Courtyard.  Here's the map they sent me via email so I would not get lost.

Reception

     Courtyard @ Heeren is one of the many heritage homes-turned-boutique hotels in Melaka. But I assure you that this one is a gem.  Their rates are quite reasonable, and I dare say, cheaper than what I expected to pay for, and their rooms are just divine.

     Anyway, when we arrived at the Courtyard @ Heeren, the staff, including Amar, promptly gave us some welcome drinks, cold pomelo juice, and helped us settle in. The room was not yet ready since we arrived earlier than the check-in time but we had no problems with it since we needed to go out immediately to withdraw some cash at an ATM machine (Amar told us how to go there in detail).  Amar gave me the tickets, which I paid for, and gave me a receipt of our room booking which I previously paid for by credit card.

The door to the left leads to the rooms on the ground floor.

Reception area (main door on the left side)

Stairs leading to the breakfast area.

 Superior Room

     This is the first room that you'll see and surprisingly, it was not noisy at all.  This, despite the fact that everyone has to pass by our room to get into the other rooms.

     The superior room has twin beds and the bathroom is just so cute with colored glass.  The bathroom has an illusion that it is bigger than it is (although it is quite at a comfortable size) because of the mirrors obscured by the wooden bars.  I love the rain shower and I should say, the bathroom is really clean.

     I should say that the superior room is definitely a bargain at RM 200 I paid for, and that includes breakfast for two, too.  The colored glass on the windows gives the room a certain warmth and undeniable charm.  Over all, the room is just so pretty.

 Breakfast area

     Accessible through the stairs at the main entrance.  Breakfast is basic but tasty.  There's an omelet station, too. 

Around the Hotel

     There is a small courtyard inside with seating area and furniture reminiscent of those I usually see visiting old homes in the Philippines.  It evokes a feeling of nostalgia, really.  The mortars and pestles on the garden are a nice touch; and old iron (is it?) for cooking/baking are so cute I wanted to just stare at them all day.  There was even a old blade fan from a ceiling fan converted into a deco piece.

 This is the small space outside our room (window-side).

 I know the photo is crappy, really blurred.  But I like it, and its the only one I have. 

 That's the upstairs room above.

Melaka Adventures: Day 2 - From Melaka Sentral to Changi Airport, Singapore

     

FROM MELAKA, MALAYSIA

     The Courtyard @ Hereen arranged a coach service for us going to the Melaka Sentral bus station.  I was surprised to see the roads deserted and it only took around 10 minutes for the coach to reach the bus station.  The driver said there's no traffic during weekdays; only on weekends.

No traffic!

     Anyway, we got a little early for our departure, in fact, an hour early, considering that there was no traffic.  Probably, that is the reason why the very helpful staff at the Courtyard @ Hereen kept on insisting that we leave 30 minutes later.  Oh well, next time, I should listen to the counsel of the locals.

     The Melaka Sentral is quite huge and organized.  Since it was a Monday, there was not much activity and the station was not packed as I expected it to be.  There are a couple of restaurants/eateries serving local food and there are even some stalls selling treats like our very own dried goodies like kiamoy and preserved fruits and dried sweets.  And, like in the Philippines, they sell in small quantities, or by "tingi."  Yay!  I bought my favorite, white kiamoy since I didn't want to have red-tinted fingers.

     My mother and I searched for the correct terminal and the 707 Travel Group (Melaka-SG-Melaka) is quite easy to find.  Speaking of 707 Melaka, no less than 2 strangers, first, our coach driver, and second, a passenger waiting for his bus at the Melaka Sentral, told me good things about 707 Melaka.  Actually, they both gushed that I did the right thing booking my tickets with 707 Travel Group since it is highly reputable and that I can rest assured that I'll arrive in Singapore safe and sound.  It made me a little happy and again, very thankful, to the staff at the Courtyard @ Hereen.  As I've said several posts back, the staff booked our return trip tickets to Singapore.

     So, feeling quite satisfied that I'll be in very good hands, after all, the drive from Melaka to Singapore is about 4 hours, I quickly realized the reason why I was told that I did right by choosing 707 Melaka.  It appears that there are a lot of bus companies plying the route from Melaka to Singapore that you couldn't find on the internet, and they leave almost by the hour.  Moreover, there are a lot of ticket touts loitering the station asking passengers if they want to buy tickets to Melaka, or to Kuala Lumpur or some other places in Malaysia for that matter.  If you go to the station without any particular bus company in mind, you'll probably be confused which bus company to choose. 

     Finally, it was time for boarding, and the bus has comfortable seats and a wide aisle.  There are no individual TVs though and no tour guide.  But it was fast, didn't make any stops, and we left around 12:10 pm based on the bus' clock, and we arrived at the Malaysian immigration by 1:30 pm.  Yes, you read it right.  We only took 1 and 1/2 hours to reach the border.  By the way, it was the other border, not the more popular one.  It was my first time to pass through that border.  And, we also passed by Johor Bahru going to the border immigration.  

     We reached our final stop in Singapore around 2 pm or so.  We alighted at a bus station which I later on learned to be the Queen Street bus terminal (I asked people where the heck we were).  And my gut told me that it was near Mustafa since one of the roads is called Arab Street and I was right (the place looked familiar to me).  We were way too early for our check-in time and perhaps, we'd be better off if we shop some more to while away the time.  But my mother told me we should just go straight to the airport instead.  It was easy to hail a cab at the Queen Street bus terminal maybe because it was not rush hour when we got there.

AT THE CHANGI AIRPORT

     We got to the airport with more than 3 hours to spare before our check-in time.  Had I known that the bus ride will be around 2 hours or thereabouts, I would have ridden the 1:30 pm bus from Melaka to Singapore via the same bus company.  Next time, I'll take that into account.  However, on second thought, I'd rather be early at the airport than arrive there later than expected because of some unforeseen events.  So, it's nonetheless a good thing even if we arrived way earlier than we should.  The first time I went to Malaysia, we had almost no time to spare as we still needed to go to Singapore to catch our flight.  It was what we termed as "one day, one outfit: three countries."  Yup.  We literally hopped from one country (Malaysia) to the other (Singapore) then back home (Philippines), in just one day.  We didn't have the time to change clothes (we left Kuala Lumpur around lunch time and arrived in Singapore 6 hours later, and we landed in the Philippines before 12mn the same day).

     It was a good thing that the Changi Airport has lots of activities to offer impatient people like me.  They have gaming centers, a small movie theater (showing cable movies), lounges, computer terminals and even swimming pools and smoking areas (open areas).

It's fun to "people watch."  I've seen two check-in counters for separate flights going to India while waiting for our counter to open. 

Most of the passengers, if not all, had one tv each for check-in.  

The first group all had the same model Sony Bravia, and the second group, this group, all had Samsung tvs.  By God, I swear!