Hong Kong: fragrant harbor & odorous skyline

I didn’t smell any fragrant at the harbor but I believed it was Hong Kong when I see the skyline. As I read from Wikipedia the name "Hong Kong" is an approximate phonetic rendering of the pronunciation of the spoken Cantonese or Hakka name "香港" (Heung and Gong), meaning "fragrant harbour" . But then I wonder why they called it "fragrant  harbour" ?. Some historians suggest that Hong Kong's Chinese name was inspired by its export of fragrant incense as I also read from here.   Nowaday, I would rather to name Hong Kong as an odourous skyline if we see the fact that there is 7,650 skycrapers in here.  Thirty-six of the world's 100 tallest residential buildings are in Hong Kong. More people in Hong Kong live or work above the 14th floor than anywhere else on Earth, making it the world's most vertical city not a fragrant harbour anymore.

We arrived in Hong Kong - Macau Ferry Terminal at Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, then we take MTR to Tsim Tsa Sui toward our hostel at Chung King Mansion near the Nathan Road. It was around 12 at midnight and the MTR is still operating. Just at the gate near the building called Chungking Mansion, an old lady is come to us and she bring her name plate written : Sukma Wahyuningsih. It was my friend name who books the room for us. The old lady said that she has been waiting us for hours and she is little bit worry since we didn’t show up until 12 midnight. She then take us to our hostel passing through the corridor of that building up into the 12 floor when we see that the room is too small as we also already now. It’s Hong Kong, one of the most expensive city in the world. We know that.

Lantau Island : To Ngong Village through Cable Car
The Next day we go to our first destination in Lantau Island. We go there using the MTR through one transit station and then we arrived at the Tung Chung station. From Tung Chung station we go to the cable car terminal toward the Ngong ping village to see the Tian Tan Buddha. 

How to get there:
Assuming that you're taking the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, take the MTR Tsuen Wan Line going towards Tsuen Wan and get off at Lai King station - interchange trains to the MTR Tung Chung Line towards Tung Chung and get off to that last station. Take the Exit B and look for signs going to the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car Terminal.

Fare : Adult 13.8 (Octopus), 15.5 (Single Ticket)

MTR Station

Arrived in Tung Chung Station

Welcome in Ngong Ping

The Ngong  Ping Village

Wish you luck

It was foggy. We cannot see the panoramic view as promises at the www.np360.com.hk. We already book the cable car through the website, but we should exchange the booking print out with the ticket at the counter. There were no que.

The Cable Car

 

Inside the cable car

The Route
This ride is from Tung Chung Town Centre down to Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. Encompassing bird's eye views of the South China Sea and Tung Chung Bay, Scenic Mountains, the Hong Kong International Airport, and the whole North Lantau Country Park.

We arrived at final station in Ngong Ping Village after 20 minutes journey through the cable car. It was disappointing since we cannot see anything from the cable car window. Then we walk toward the Buddha statue. It was quite an effort to get to the Buddha statue since we should walk the thousand of stepladder ( I think it was thousand, more or less).

Having excited walking upward and downward the stairs then we have a meal at one of the Halal restorant at the Ngong Ping Village . It was a middle east restaurant so we feel more comfortable with the food.

We pass the monastery and we go directly back to the Tung Chung station via the cable car (again). But the view was quite good rather than the first ride. At the Tung Chung station we stop by to City gate factory Outlet which famous for it big discount for quality goods.

Citygate Factory Outlet

 

Ngon Ping Station

Hong Kong Island : Victoria Tram, Victoria Peak, Madame Tussaud
The next destination is the Victoria Peak at the Hong Kong island. From Tung Chung station we go back to the hostel first since we cannot find any mosque around the street (at the next day we found that there is a mosque near the Hostel). Then we go toward Victoria peak.

How to get there:

Take the MTR >> Central Station >>The Peak Lower Station, at Garden Road >> Victoria Peak. From Central ke The Peak Lower Terminus.

Fare :
Tram ticket price as follows: Adult = HK$ 28 - one way, HK$ 40 - round trip; Child (age 3 - 11) or Senior (age 65 or above) = HK$ 11 - one way, HK$ 18 - round trip

Madame Tussaud
When we arrived, it was around 09 pm and the Madame Tussaud is closed at 10 pm. So we only have less than an hour to get around the museum while also taking picture with the figures from Kung Fu star (Andy Lau, Jet Li to name a few) to the world leaders (Obama, Hu Jiantao & mahatma Gandhi ). They also have a scream room where they will try to scare us with all the tools they have while we walk through the corridor.

                                                                      

 

Then we go back by the same route to the hotels to take a nap and charging our energy for tomorrow adventure.

Waiting

 

 
Kowloon : Harbor City, Avenue of Stars and Masjid Kowloon
The next day we start the journey to go to the Harbor city near the Star Ferry Terminal. The view is good with the foggy around.   Then we go straight back to Kowloon, near the hostel to visit the Avenue of Stars. Here are the photos :

Action

Bruce Lee

Becoming a movie stars

One of my friends should go back to Jakarta and cannot continue to Macau for the reason of duty calling. So we take her to the Central station so she can continue to the airport by Airport Express from Central station.

After that we go to Mongkok station to look around the famous ladies market which actually sell all goods for all gender not only for ladies as It name. I have not taken any picture there, since I am busy bargaining with the seller.

In the afternoon, we stop by to the Kowloon Mosque near the Nathan road. It is said that although the current building dates from the eighties, the first mosque on the site was erected in 1896 as a place of worship for Muslims in the British Arm according to this site.
 

Kowloon Mosque

Hong Kong after 5 @Kowloon

We have count all the expense that we have made. If you interested to review our budget and itinerary please feel free to download the doc here.

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Macau : a bit of Europe & a bit of Vegas in Asia

The night when I arrived in Macau, I feel like in Europe and Vegas at one time. The classic roman architecture in Fisherman Wharf reminds me of the roman style building and the glittering light from the Casino gave me the atmosphere of Vegas. Then, my dreams of Europe and Vegas that night suddenly gone when I talk to the Taxi driver. None of them can spoke English or read the English map.

This time, I am travelling with my friends using AirAsia from Jakarta to Macau (via KL) and we go directly crossing the straits to Hong Kong using the Turbojet. We skip Macau at the first day for Hong Kong experience and we put Macau for the last day before we depart back to Jakarta (again, via KL). We spent 2 days for Hong Kong and 2 days for Macau. We arrived in Macau International at around 8 PM and we take some times for taking picture around the Fisherman Wharf and Sands Casino. The night scenery is stunning with the lights from each Casino that make the City so beautiful as in Vegas.


The first night here, we only spend several hours for taking picture around Fisherman Wharf where I feel very much in classic roman story. Then we should catch up for a ferry to Hong Kong. The next two days after, we go back to Macau and here is the story of a blending experience between European style architecture and Vegas taste of entertainment from the casino. Before you go through this post, please take your time to see the big picture below.

Courtesy of Google Map

The Building Architecture : The Ruin of St Pauls Catedral, Penha Church, Senado Square

I start the sightseeing at the night after we arrived back from Hong Kong. One of my friends got to go back to Jakarta and skip Macau for the sake of her office calling for workshop that she finally realized doesn’t worth enough. So we are now four left. Three guys and one lady.

We start from one of the popular destination. The Ruins of St pauls but this time we try with the unpopular way : at night. The hotel we stayed (Guia Hotel) is located at Guia Hills and we only needs to walk around 20 minutes from the hotel to Ruin of St Pauls.

I am really enjoying walking through the street with the view of an old building which taste doo European. In here, they named the streets using the Portuguese name: Avenida, Estrada, Rua and Travessa. Avenida and Estrada refer to the main road which usually have two lines while Rua is smaller road which usually one way line. Travessa is a narrow street which can only be access by bicycle, motorcycle or pedestrian

European Style Building

St Paul ruins at night

The day after we go to the next destination for sightseeing An Ma temple and Penha Church. This time we should take a cab and continue by walking for several km. It takes around half an hour from Guia Hotel to An Ma Temple . It is quit effort for us to walk to Penha Hill, but the astonishing view can pay for that effort

An Ma Temple

Penha Church

Macau Tower-view from Penha Hill

From Penha hill, we go to Senado square while also walk over the St Dominic Church and St Augustine Church. We are having brunch at Mc Caffe around the Senado Square where I am having trouble to get the chilli sauce from the servant since they cannot speak English until finally a nice lady help me translating what I want to the servant.

Toward the Senado Square-My Friend Riri wearing a hat.

In front of St Dominique Church

Senado Square-MOP 100

Senado crowd

Senado crowd

The Gambling Industry  and the Migrant Worker.

It’s a Friday and we went to a mosque for Friday praying. It was in the Islamic Association Head Office, Muslim Community Centre. The location is at the area of muslim cemetery. We met an Indonesian worker here. I forgot his name, he tell us the story of several migrant workers from Indonesia who have been tricked by some institution who promises them a job in other country (Japan,South Korea, Taiwan) but ended up by leaving them here in Macau.

It was so sad to hear their story that ended up like this, working in one of the casino, spa, or other entertaiment industry in Macau. Those man are moslem which is forbiden for those kind of things as gambling , but they didnt have any other choice rather than to work in that industry. The man whom I talk to also said that this mosque is a place for a person like him to find some help. The people here are very friendly and they share the spirit of muslim brotherhood. They hope that none of other migrant worker from Indonesia get tricked by those institution.It so sad to hear that story. 

The next agenda is an invitation from Sofitel for an afternoon tea. I will gave the full report of our once in a life time experience in Sofitel Macau here. Thanks to Sofitel and our new friend, Jay Lee who let us look around the rooms in Sofitel Ponte 16. Here are some of the picture of Macau from above which I have taken from one of the room in Sofitel.

Macau from above Sofitel Ponte 16

Macau from above Sofitel Ponte 16

Venetian Macau dan City of Dreams

Having satisfied looking around the Sofitel we continue the journey to the Casino Spot using the shuttle bus from Sofitel to Macau Ferry Terminal and take the other Shuttle from the Ferry Terminal to Venetian Resort and Hotel. Our first destination here is the Venetian Macau Gondola which cost MOP 108. 

Meet Sofia, the Gondoliers

City of Dreams

The Bubble show. The nest destination is watching the bubble show at the City of Dreams which now cost for MOP 30. Several travel blog as I read from the internet said that it was free of charge but now they charge a ticket of MOP 30 for each person. You may look at the video here.

So that the story of 2 days in Macau where I and my froends are exploring the European style building and vegas at one time. If you would like to smell the frangrant of Hong Kong harbor and odorous skyline you may read it here.

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A Day in Museum

My friends are coming to town. They are hold a meeting between a group of a traveling community called Banten Backpacker (BB). They met up in Semanggi on Saturday to watch a movie, having some lunch and the next day they went to several museum in Kota Tua Area. I didnt came to the saturday meeting but I came on sunday for a tour de musee : Monumen Nasional, Museum Bank Mandiri, Museum Bank Indonesia, Museum Fatahilah and Museum Wayang (Puppet Museum). Dont tell anyone..This is my first time to get to the Monumen Nasional in my life.


I am not lieying. this is my very first time to come up to the top on Monas at arounf 115 m from the ground. It was so hillaious to be in the top of Jakarta. I can see almost the tallest building in Jakarta Pusat from Monas. But I was so crowded. We have to queue for abaout one hour just to get to the top.

This is the photos..Enjoy...

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Taking Pieces of India: A golden Triangle Journey with friends

Finally we got some pieces of India. India is one of the largest country in the world with its population over 1.18 billion people ranked for the second most populous country in the world. It also ranked as the seventh-largest country by geographical area. India has a lot to offer with its large geographical area and its people. They have a lot of beautiful landscape, popular heritage sites, and foods. India is also unique with its cultural and religion in its people. There are lot of things that we could get from India. Something that we could take home. At least some pieces of India that we could bring as s souvenir. A piece of smile, a piece of beautiful landscape, a piece of culinary, a piece of surprise, a piece of heritage. And the most important piece…..is a piece of story about India that I want to share with you…dear my lovely reader.


I took the India trip with friends in college. Sukma, Zahra, Aris and Afdal are my friends in college. AirAsia and the traveling issue has brought us back together. We decide to travel to India because we agree India have something to offer. Something unique compare to other destination in the world. Then we plan to go with this route: New Delhi-Jaipur-Agra. The golden triangle route. We took AirAsia (AA) flight from Jakarta to KL then New Delhi. We have to take the flight to KL first since AA have no direct flight from Jakarta to New Delhi. The flight from Jakarta-KL took around 2 hours then after having some rest, lunch and praying we continue the flight to Delhi that took another 6 hours from KL. So in total we have to spent more than 10 hours just to get to India for the sake of the cheap ticket.



I feel astonished when I arrived in Indhira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi. The Airport was beyond my expectation. In point of fact I am ready to see the dirtiest airport in the world as mentioned in several review on the internet. But what I saw there was great. It has capacity of 34 million people per year in compare with 55 million for Harthrow-London, 70 million Changi-Singapore, 78 million for Beijing Airport-China. This airport turn my view about India. I thought that the Government had renovated the airport just before the commonwealth Olympic game that was held on October 2010.



As promised the Hotel sent a driver to pick up us at the airport. It was Kwality Hotel. A kind of hostel with a good price and located at the heart of New Delhi. Off course they have minimum facilities in the room. But price is our major concern, plus they offer a pick up from the airport to Hotel. That is enough for us.



We have to canceled the first activity on our schedule to visit India Gate at night. I read from the internet that it was closed after 9 PM and its only a slight from our arrival time plus the ride from airport to the center of New Delhi. So after check in we go direct to find restaurant near the Hotel. As an explorer we want to taste the local food although with a little bit of anxiety about the hygiene. We walk around the hotel, looking around the neighborhood, sightseeing while looking for dinner. The first restaurant we go in, then blocked our exploring soul.


I don’t want to be harsh about this, but the unpleasant smell inside the local restaurant is really made us sick. We go out just a few second after we open the door. Then my friend pointed directly to the modern restaurant across the local restaurant. There’s a lot of foreigner there which made us feels more comfortable to choose that one. We still have the opportunity to taste local food there. Just to mention a few are : briyani rice (I got surprice with this one : a portion of briyanni with two chicken and one egg inside of it….imagine that two chicken, plus an eggs) Parathe breads. Te foods was glorious. I love Indian foods. After full, we go back to the hotel for rest. The next day we started our journey to explore India, start from New Delhi on the first day.

Day one : New Delhi. We go around the city by car we rent from the local rental. Our destinations are : (1) Gandhi Fire (2) Houses of Parliament, (3) India Gate (4) Qutb Minar (5) Humayun thombs (5) Janthar Market, but we have to remove the schedule to Bahai Worships House since the drivers have some private mission to drop us to the souvenirs store. You should have know this trick, every travel guide has a connection with the souvenir store which will gave them some tips for every tourist they drop at the store. We have to follow this although we don’t buy any things there. And you know, the drivers looks very disappoint knowing that we don’t bought anything from the store. Our last destination in the first day is the Janthar market for shopping good souvenirs before we go to the train station where we will take a train to Jaipur. Overall, we quite satisfied with this city tour around New Delhi where we can see lots of Indian structure and heritage sites.

Day two : Jaipur. We arrive in Jaipur around 10 PM and the hotel already sent the driver to pick up us at the station. Arrived in Jaipur I feel that this Is what they often told about India, poverty everywhere. But I would call this city as a spiritual city where I feels lot of atmosphere of devotion. As written in many books some people are traveling to India in search of something. They called it as search for devotion or some kind of religious fervor. I heard some talk about this when we are holding a dinner at the roof top restaurant in our hotel Khrisna Palace. Some travelers are talking about their reason for traveling. One of them talks about their previous life where she feels uncomfortable with the world she have. Others talk about havier things about religion. I remembered that one of the girl said “Religion is something in our mind. That’s why we can create it”. I don’t have a comments for this, but this talks are quite common in India. People are coming to India to search somethings, one of it is the search for devotion.

The destination in Jaipur are : (1) Albert Hall (2) The Pink city (3) Observatory (4) Amber Fort & Amber City- the ancient capital of the state until 1728. In Khrisna Palace where we stay we also met our Indonesian friends that we met at the airport on the first day arrived in New Delhi. They have the same schedule to go to Agra the next day by train.




Day three : Agra. This is our ultimate destination: Taj Mahal. We arrived in Agra in the middle of the night without hotel facilities to pick us. The problems is not that we could not find taxi to the hotel but there are to much of them that offering us with pushing. We have to argue with the those several taxi drivers that come around us and made us confuse with the information about the distance from the station to hotel related to the price that we should pay. Finally we hold a white flag. OK they won this time.

The next day, or actually a few hours after we slept we go to the Taj Mahal in the morning but we fail to catch up the sun rise in Taj Mahal.



We took lots of picture while also amazed by the construction built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653. I heard that there are lots of  people died in construction of this building. Then we are heading back to New Delhi to catch the night plane to KL then go back to Jakarta the next day.

READ MORE - Taking Pieces of India: A golden Triangle Journey with friends