More about Hong Kong

Hong Kong is an all-year-round destination. It enjoys a mild climate from the middle of September to the end of February, while the weather from May to mid-September is rather warm and humid.
Hong Kong is geographically compact, so visitors are never too far from shopping and major sights. Hong Kong also boasts one of the world's most efficient, safe, affordable and frequent public transport systems. Whether by taxi, ferry, rail, bus or tram, you can get around easily and catch wonderful glimpses of the city along the way. Most hotels are located in the heart of the city, in Central, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island and in Tsim Sha Tsui and Tsim Sha Tsui East in Kowloon.

When it comes to shopping experience, Hong Kong has everything in abundance. Hong Kong's street markets are always full of excitement. The market stalls are where Hong Kong's dedicated shoppers display their bargaining skills. This is where you go if you are looking for cheap bargains. Hong Kong's well-designed shopping mega-malls cater to every taste and budget. These vast emporiums combine boutiques of brand names from every corner of the world. Enjoy the fine dining and gourmet food outlets in Hong Kong's malls, offering everything you could ever desire under a single air-conditioned roof.

Hong Kong's cuisine is renowned for its exotic fusion of Eastern and Western flavours along with a wide variety of culinary delights. Its cultural blend, proximity to mainland China and reputation for quality have made Hong Kong a Gourmet Paradise. Many of Hong Kong's districts brag a unique ambience and selection of food. There are more than 9,000 restaurants offering almost every cuisine under the sun, so each dining experience in Hong Kong is vastly different. No trip to Hong Kong would be complete without trying dim sum. These are delightful, mouth-watering snacks served in steaming bamboo baskets and eaten with pots and pots of Chinese tea for breakfast or lunch. Steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, beef balls and pan-fried squid with spicy salt are just some of the local favourites.

Other then tons of shopping and food, there's also many other attractions to keep yourselves occupied. Places like the Peak, Giant Buddha, Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland will ensure your fun filled trip in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

December 2006

I had a great time in Hong Kong during 2006 Christmas Season. The mood was quite different as compared to Singapore. Although it was only a short weekend, but I manage to visit quite a few places in Hong Kong. Definitely Hong Kong's Disney Land was one of them.




These are some of the rides you can find in there. Generally, the theme park has less exciting rides compared to others thus it is a good place to go to if you have young kids.



I would say this indoor roller coaster is the most exciting ride you can find in the whole area.






Hong Kong's Disney Land has many interesting shows like what you see above. This is their Disney parade just like Singapore's Chingay. This parade will bring all our familiar childhood characters back to live.



This was the Christmas tree light up on Christmas eve. Quite a grand lighting followed by continuous snow long one of the streets. Many people gathered to watch the light up and hang around there to soak up the Christmas mood.



This is the reason why many people stayed till 9pm in Disney Land. The fire works! Is was really fantastic. You will not regret staying to watch it. It is a 10-15mins show using "I can show you the world" song with the castle as the background. The fireworks was simply amazing. I've got some videos but just too big to be uploaded.



After a long day in here, its time to say good bye.....



The very next day we were at Ocean Park. This place was so crowded almost every ride had a queue for over an hour. Here you will be able to find more fun and exciting rides. Maybe thats why it is so crowded.





This rotating tower gives a good view to the park and the sea.



I was there just in time for the sea lion's feeding time follwed by the dolphin and sea lion show.




Since its Christmas season, they made their divers doing the feeds to dress up in Santa Claus suits.



One of the many sharks in the Shark's aquarium. It's teeth was really horrible to look at.



I manage to catch a sun set view in Ocean Park before leaving.






And yes, this is the view and crowd in Hong Kong on Cristmas eve. The Christmas lighting view was captured at xing guang da dao.

More about Perth City

The centre of the Perth metropolitan area is the Perth CBD located on the Swan River around 10 km inland. The CBD is the premier business and shopping centre together with the adjacent Northbridge as well as the entertainment centre.

Positioned on the south west of the continent, the city experiences a mediterranean climate with wet, mild winters from June to August (daily maximums around 15C) and hot, dry summers from December to January (daily maximums around 35C). The best times to visit are during spring between September and November and autumn between March and May.
There are a lot of restaurants in Northbridge just across the railway line north of the CBD. Mainly Southern European (Greek, Italian etc) and Asian (especially Indonesian and Vietnamese) restaurants. The seafood restaurants are also recommended. Northbridge gets very busy Friday and Saturday night.

One of the drawbacks of Perth is the lack of late night dining. Very few places will serve food after 10pm at night, with the notable exception of some excellent out-of-the-way Asian eateries and the other cafes in Northbridge.

Fremantle is a good option for getting out. It's easy to get to by train and has enough restaurants, bars and coffee shops to keep you well fed and watered. South Ice has a coffee strip that is popular from the morning and on through the day; about the only place around Perth that's alive from dawn to dawn.

Fremantle, about 20km south-west of Perth CBD is the original port and still supports a major maritime industry. Although part of the continuous built up area that is "Perth," it is considered by most locals to be a different city. Small enough to walk around comfortably with attractions that include the Maritime Museum. Popular with the locals as a place to go for a coffee and even more laid back than Perth.

Kings Park is a large beautiful park full of native flora located in the middle of the city. The best views of Perth can be found here. Visit the modest but beautiful war memorial. (Bus 37 from St Georges Terrace. Also 39 on Sundays. Within Free Transit Zone)

Australia - Perth

Magaret River (2006)

We arrived in Perth's International airport after a 4hr flight from our hometown. The cool breeze outside was refreshing for people like us who came from a warm climate. After clearing the customs, we were transferred to a van which brought us to magaret river where we were supposed to stay for the next 5 days. This is where our adventure begins....

This is where we call our home during our stay in magaret river, Wharncliffe Mill. The environment is pretty nice and peaceful. At least it is a break from the hectic routine for most of us who are working. The climate there is rather dry but cool even when it is 12noon. However, we never expected to be wearing many layers and still freezing in the night.

This is the one of the caves we visited. When we were told that we will be exploring this, some of us were excited but of cause some will be quite worried. We never get to see caves like this in Singapore so its some new for all of us.

My group was brought to this cave on the 2nd day in Magaret river, Calgardup Cave. This is a tourist cave open to the public. As we entered, it looks less scary as there were proper platforms for tourist to walk on. All we needed were torches to lite our way but never did we expect to stop at this area where we were being brief on what to look out for while climb up. Yes, our overalls were not just to keep us warm, we climb and crawl our way through the cramp, dark and damp cave. All of us moved in a single file using any part of our body to cling on to anything we can find along the way just to maneuver our way through. It was a little tough at difficult areas but all was worth while as we will never get such an experience back home.

We did a little bit of kayaking too. It wasn't a very long expedition but we got a taste of Australia's water condition. That experience made me feel that Singapore's waters is actually very clam. We paddled to the island across and disembark to explore a bit. All of us climb to the peak where we got a fantastic view of the ocean behind us. The initial plan was to paddle around the island but was called off as the waves in front were too dangerous for non season kayakers like us. However, we were still brought to the edge of the island to take a peep at the waves which convinced all of us not to go any further.

We camped over night at a beach where we will start our trekking the very next morning. As the sun sets rather late, we got some free time to hang around after our tents were pitched. This is my group of crazy buddies who were with me thoughout the trip. Some of us wanted to go for a swim but decided not to after the kayaking where we found out how icy cold the water is. Sun set was pretty nice but the sky at night was fantastic with the stars shining right above us.

Our next adventure is to embark on our 14km trekking route by the beach. 14km seems quite fine just by looking at the number but when we start to feel the soft sand under our feet, we knew life won't be so easy. We will be trekking on the cape to cape walk track which lies along the coast. The scenery was unbelievable, the group had difficulties moving on as many people just wanted to capture the breath taking view in their cameras. Below are some of the views along the track.

This is the final and most exciting activity for us in Magaret river. We are at the abseil and natural rock wall. This abseil site is a challenge for many of us but an unforgettable experience. When we our way down to the half way mark, a turn of our heads will open us to the blue ocean with waves hitting the rocks right beneath us.

This vertical wall with only a few cracks where we can put our fingers into was almost impossible for any of us to keep our body hanging, not to mention pulling ourselves up there. However, many of us made an attempt to challenge the wall on the right hand side where there was a gap for us to squeeze our way up. :p

Well, a five days adventure in Magaret river was indeed a very memorable experience for all of us. It will be nice if we could get a break like this every year! All good things have to come to an end. As we were making our way back to Perth city, we stop by the chocolate factory where many people bought tons of chocolates. This is my first time seeing my friends paying more then a hundred dollars for chocolates!

We had some time at the winery too. Fans of alcohol enjoyed themselves at the bar tasting a variety of wine.

After all the fun we had, and yes, it is back to reality....