Hong Kong Family Trip (March 2017) Part 1 Tim Ho Wan, Kai Kee Noodles and Mammy Pancake

It was the very first out of the country travel we did as a family aside from the annual vacation to the Philippines we do.

The first time I read the news that Hong Kong Disneyland is opening their new attraction which is the "Iron Man Experience", I knew that it would be a hit among my boys... well, mine too. Our family, yes including myself LOL, are crazy about anything Marvel and superheroes in general. 

We thought of it late December of last year... since we were planning to go for our annual vacation to the Philippines on their spring break, I thought we could squeeze-in a few days in Hong Kong before we fly to Manila. I planned it for days... the budget mainly... because I didn't want to splurge and spend all of our vacation budget on a 4 day trip to Hong Kong tapos nganga na sa Pinas  for the next three weeks hahaha.

First would be the Air Ticket. 

Well, working in Admin Dept. and dealing with a travel agency daily for official business gives me the perk of getting extra discount on air tickets whenever I need one. My company pays for my annual vacation ticket so I only had to shoulder the fare for the husband and the boys. The moment we decided that we were pushing through the "Hong Kong plan", I scouted for the dates with the cheapest fare and requested the travel agent to give me extra discount, which they did, so ang laking tulong talaga. Oh my dear Lord, He really made this trip happen. 

This is my husband and me at Hong Kong Airport when we arrived. Haggardo Versoza from the 8 hour flight pero very excited. I am actually super excited for the kids because they have been talking about it almost everyday for the last 3 months. 


The next thing we did was bought Octopus Cards for the bus and MTR na malaking bagay talaga kesa mag taxi papunta kung saan saan.

 Second is the accommodation.

I searched for reviews on accommodations which would be ideal for the family, accessible to the attractions we planned to go to and the MTR pero dapat swak sa budget.  I found on most of the travel blogs na nabasa ko, a popular guesthouse which was Golden Crown Guest House just along Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. It is a few minutes away from the MTR and walking distance to malls, restaurants and some tourist attractions. It was also very easy to book and the transaction was very quick and efficient. I booked for a Quadruple room for three nights. It has two double beds just enough for us. The gentleman on the reception was very helpful with our luggage and assisted us to our room right away. Ang daming mga pinoy na dun din nag stay while we were there. Wais talaga ang mga pinoy, lalo na para sa mga travellers na hindi naman choosy since ligo, tulog at pahinga lang naman ang gagawin sa accommodation. Pero if can afford ka din naman, wala ding masama mag splurge kung prefer mo na mag stay sa medyo mas bonggang hotel. 

  They also sell discounted tickets to Disneyland, Ocean Park etc. Just make sure to book ahead of time (3-4 months ahead of the travel date would be ideal), as they get fully booked really fast specially during peak season.

photo from tripadvisor

Food.

Right after we checked-in at our accommodation, we rested for a few hours and off we go food hunting LOL.   

The first thing that came to my mind was Tim Ho Wan.  I have been dreaming of it for a few nights already and my husband watching reviews of it in YouTube made my cravings worse. So we rode the MTR from TST station to Prince Edward station, walked a few blocks and I swear I could hear the angels sing once I saw the restaurant facade. 

Gab (my eldest) 

It was about 4PM but the restaurant was almost packed already.

These were some of the food that we ordered.

Steam Fresh Shrimp Dumpling (Ha Jiao)
Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce
and
Baked Bun with BBQ Pork
Steamed Dumplings in Chiu chow Style
Glutinous Rice Dumpling
and
Steamed Rice with Beef and Pan-fried Egg
Everything was good but not as great as I though it would be. My husband shared the same sentiments. I loved their baked bun and the spare ribs the most, the service was okay and the prices are just fine too. Looking back, maybe we did not enjoy it as much since we were still jet-lagged then and we were not used to eating next to strangers (sharing table), which is common in Hong Kong restaurants because of space constraints.

After that, we went back to the guesthouse to rest and put the kids to bed for a short nap. 

At 8 pm, we were hungry again hahaha. I checked the internet for some good restaurants around the area para di na lumayo pa and we just walked to Carnarvon Road to a tiny restaurant, Kai Kee Noodles. 

Curry Beef Brisket Noodles
Deep Fried Cuttlefish Balls with Seaweed in Dark Soy Noodles
Deep Fried Shrimp Wonton
Shrimp Wonton Noodles
Iced Lemon Tea
The food trip just did not stop there. As we were on our way back to the guesthouse, we saw a small store with a lot of people waiting for their orders. We got curious and checked, it was Mammy Pancake, they sell different flavored eggettes. Since we just ate, I only ordered one for us to share. 
Green Tea and Chocolate Eggetes
I almost gave up waiting for more than 30 minutes for our number to be called but it was so yummy that made the waiting worth it. If only I hadn't eaten, I could have more of it, as in. This is actually one of the things I am missing about Hong Kong. Writing this made me crave for it now waahhhh.

People waiting for their Eggettes
And if all that wasn't enough.... my youngest just had to have his McDonalds McFlurry. 

Mac enjoying his Oreo McFlurry
We were so tired that we just had to take-out a McFlurry for him to devour. Oh, and on our way back from Tim Ho Wan, we passed by the Ladies Market in Mong Kok and bought a Minecraft Builder Lego for this young fellow and some ref magnets as souvenir.

Watch out for the Part 2 of our Hong Kong trip on my next blog... 

♥♥♥
Marie

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