HK & Macau Day II - Countdown to Xmas at Tsim Sha Tsui

Did not have a comfortable sleep at the airport on the previous night. I was very tired and exhausted.

We left the airport on a coach to Hung Hom Station on bus A21 at 6am. This bus was 10x better than the airport coach we have back in Malaysia....

We arrived at Tai Wan Hotel at 7am. The condition of the hostel was alright but the environment of the walkway was a little scary as there were lots of Africans and Indians around...trying to sell their hostels and hotels to us...And at the reception counter, it was worse. They claimed to have 24-hours check in service but when we arrived, the counter was closed. We was so hungry and tired. All we wanted was hot shower and warm bed.

After waiting for sometime, finally the unhelpful Assistant Manager appeared. Puzzled with why we were there at such an hour. We asked for the room but was told that the earliest check in time was 12.00pm. Damn it...worse when the Asst. manager asked us to pay the full amount inclusive of the other 3 nights at Li's Hostel. We were reluctant to make the payment as we thought of surveying around first before we finalized with that hostel...as we still have 4 days to go before checking in into that hostel. The damn asst manager threaten us that saying that it was peak season in HK, we will not be able to get any room in HK and moreover he has my friend's credit card detail. Even if we did not check in into his hostel, he will still charge it on her credit card....darn!

Leaving us with no choice, we made the payment and left our luggage at the hotel and headed for hot and filling breakfast at McD. McD here provided more variety but taste the same as in Malaysia at a higher price.

over a hundred years of history...this is Star Ferry of Hong Kong...

After the meal, we started to explore the city. We started walking down South along Nathan Road towards the Tsim Sha Tsui Pier. For the first time, we saw the Hong Kong Island, the Central and Wan Chai across the sea. We spent a lot of time in front of Harbour City taking photo and window shopping.

in front of Harbour City Hong Kong

it was so Christmas feel here...Santa Claus is coming to town

Then we walked into the Hong Kong tourist center in Tsim Sha Tsui ferry terminal to grab more brochures and made reservation for Duk Ling on the coming Thursday...
Then we walked around the terminal, passing the Former KCR (Kowloon Canton Railway) Clock Tower. :-( no photos here as it was under maintainace. Next to the tower was the Hong Kong Cultural Center. We continued walking along the seaside and arrived at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Free admission fees for it was Wednesday. The collection was marvellous and my favourite was 'Looking For Antonia Mak'.

We then continued on to the Hong Kong Space Museum. I found that HongKis love museum and they really have quality time with family members. Many parents brought their children to museum and museums here were so visitor friendly....so much of interaction and activities for visitors.

that was Wan Chai on the background

the iconic trophy...the symbol of fame and success

what are they busy with...I don't seem to see any actors or actresses around

at Avenue of Star

Then we walked to the Avenue of Stars, 星光大道...seaching for my favourites and idols...It was so exciting to see both Jackie's handprint there....Jet Li and of course Andy Lau's print there. We have also came across other senior celebrities' prints there...Josephine Siao, Patrick Tse, Sam Hui, Michael and Sam Hui and many more which were too senior for me to know....haha...There was Bruce Lee's too but without his handprint. Anyway, it was indeed a great spot to enjoy the great scene of Hong Kong Island...sky scrappers everywhere and the seagull mimic of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

with Patrick Tse print

my favourite....And Lau...arrrrr

半只马 with Jet Li...actually I was too tired for any other post....

yes...that's Jackie Chan

the heroic icon of Cantonese File Industry....Mr Bruce Lee

Lay Fang and got back to the hostel at about 3pm. After a cold shower, we took a nap till 6pm when we were awakened by the noisy crowd downstairs. Everyone seem to flood Nathan Road, waiting for the countdown. Nathan Road along Tsim Sha Tsui was closed from traffice in waiting for the countdown to Christmas.

We were back on our feet at 7pm. First we walked along the Peking Street and got out first stick of 魚旦 and 燒賣. Then we had a superb dinner...our first time in 茶餐廳. The fried spagetthi was delicious with the tender meet....yummy! And the milk tea was so smooth and great aroma. The egg tart's crust was crispy with the just right sweetness level filling.

After one great meal, we continued walking and shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui. Though there was not much clothing suitable for Malaysian weather, I still managed to get 3 very nice T-shirt from Bossini. There were extremely cheap however limited choices available...visited Espirit outlet, Adidas and Nike shop too...and Sasa, Mannings, Watson and 7-eleven were everywhere...almost at every 1 or 2 streets away....

see...there were thousands of people along Nathan Road....so happening here

By 10.30pm, we was walking towards the pier. Many police officers were deployed to maintained the traffic and crowd. Roads were blocked and divided...all pedestrians were moving in 1 same direction. We walked along Salisbury Road, passing many nicely lid building....

That was Duk Ling...the ancient trade symbol of Hong Kong

Mr Bruce Lee looks so macho under the light of stars

We finally stopped at Avenue of Star in hope to be able to catch the countdown and firework show on the island but left with regrets as there was no firework performance for Christmas eve on the HK island. I just could not understand why the locals were packing up the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui just to have a very dry and plain countdown. If we were aware of this we would op to countdown at some other more interesting places may be Lan Kwai Fong or SOHO...
Anyway it was great to be able to witness such a lively and nice city of Hong Kong.
Merry Christmas!

at Avenue of Stars...looking at Wan Chai Hong Kong