Hong Kong Trip 4 Day 1 (13/3/15)

After a hectic term, I flew to the land of dim sum with my parents. The folks had wanted to travel to Shenzhen in Jan, but I told the to wait till my term break so that I can bring them around. Somehow it was worrying when I thought of them making the trip on their own, and I also wanted to seize the chance to bring them around Hong Kong since they had not been there before. I was actually looking forward to this family trip, just me and my parents.

Luckily for me, there was no activities scheduled during the March hols except for Wednesday, so my trip could fit into the schedule perfectly. After a very busy last day of term in school, I rushed home to shower, get my luggage and meet the folks to get to the airport. Although the flight was at 7.50pm, they were already ready to go by 4pm, when I was still waiting for a cab to get home from school. It was still quite early when we got to the airport around 6pm, and we proceeded to check in.

We went into the departure area shortly, and went to the second level for dinner. There was this Singapore Foot Street area, which was basically like a food court selling all the local fare. The troublesome thing about getting food from this area was that we had to get a stored value card just to pay for the food, and it was a hassle as there were many tourists queueing up at the counter to get the card, and the staff just took his/her own sweet time. The card had a minimum value of 10SGD and we had to queue again just to cash out the remaining amount after buying our food, I wonder who came up with such a 'wonderful' idea in our renowned airport.

The folks (contrast with the couple behind?)

It had been quite sometime since we last took SQ flight and I thought it was worth paying a bit more for the folks to enjoy the journey. I could have gotten the tickets during SQ sweet deals at very cheap rate of just $400+ SGD, but after I checked back a few nights later, it was already 500+SGD. Nevertheless, it was still considered quite cheap and after all the aviation mishaps last year, I'm making it a point to travel on the better airlines by paying a bit more.

The folks getting comfortable on the plane

Selfie with mum, this is my favourite picture taken for the whole trip

The SQ craft was comfortable but not as new as the one I took during the trip to Taipei in the previous year, the IFE seemed more extensive and easier to select then. The earphones itself was also different, we were given cheap single use earphones instead of the headphones like the longer flight. There was also no USB port for me to plug my lightning cable for charging my phone. Nevertheless, I still loved the hot towel given to all passengers at the beginning of the flight. I also noted that they've changed the welcome snacks to mixed nuts instead of salted peanuts, I'm never a fan of peanuts that's why.

SQ low caloric meal for me

During my previous trip on SQ from SFO, I actually logged in and chose a low caloric meal during the flight. I felt satisfied with the healthier choice given so I did the same thing again. One good thing about requesting for special meal was that it always came before the normal food trolley came along to serve the rest. I had fish and mashed potatoes for dinner while the rest of the passengers made the choice between chicken noodles or pork with rice. There was also an extra serving of fruits that the normal meals did not include, and I noted that they try to give us fat free canola spread for the bread. Other than that, the ingredients for the salad was also different from the rest, usually without topping. I know its ironic, but when the stewardess came around to serve Magnum ice cream for dessert, I still took one from her. I can never resist an ice cream even when counting calories!

After the hearty dinner, I looked through the IFE to look for movies to watch, but there wasnt many to choose from. I tried watching Gone Girl as my friend W really loved the movie, however I found that the aircraft setting was too noisy and I could not get myself focussed or get past 5 min of the movie after a long and tiring day. I ended listening to Jay's album while I get some closed eyes. I actually wanted to continue watch the Korean series "He who came from the stars" but I realised I've moved them to a portable hard disk and there were not many choices left on my laptop due to limited disk space. 

The plane finally touched down at 11.30pm, it was not a long flight so we did not really get that restless, but we still welcome the feeling of being on ground again. In order to collect our luggage and clear the customs, we had to take the airport monorail, this always happen when I'm in Hong Kong, giving me the impression that the airport is really huge. When we get to the customs, the queue was really long and we took at least 30min to stand in queue before we finally cleared.

I've tried taking MTR to hotel when traveling with P in 2012 and I also took the airport express the previous time with Weiwei. However, I think it is worth the 300HKD taking a cab with the folks since its so late in the night and we have big luggages. In Hong Kong, there's three different colours for the cabs and they 'specialize' in different areas. I was checking out Sha Tin from the map and apparently, it is in the New Territories so we joined the 'green cab' queue. When it was almost our turn, we told the staff our hotel address and we directed us to the red cabs heading to the city area instead.  

The train system within the arrival/departure area of the airport (uniquely HK?)

Grrr... I still cant figure out why this is so as we had to requeue for the cab and the red cab queue was really long as most of the tourists were going to the city. It was already midnight but there were still many people waiting for a cab, the red cabs were also coming one after another but it took sometime waiting for people to board and move off. Dad was happily chatting with the cabbie in Cantonese, its the dialect being spoken within his family but he rarely have a chance to use it in SG. 

The lobby was grand and quiet

When we reached Park Royal hotel, we were quite impressed as the lobby looked grand and definitely a 5*. Mum said that that was the best hotel she had stayed so far, it was quite spacious in the room unlike other Hong Kong hotel rooms I've stayed in previously. I was surely glad that I've booked a triple room for the three of us instead of requesting for an extra bed as it is more comfortable this way. 

Somehow I only managed to take a picture of the toilet 

Even though it was already quite late, we still took our time to unpack, eat noodles that Mum brought from home (I was impressed with the way she cooked it in the water heater) before falling asleep on our comfortable beds.