Always a joy it is, I tell you, whenever I get to have a buffet for breakfast at whichever hotel I happen to be staying in.
So, yes, delighted I was when told that this morning we'd be adding breakfast for two at the hotel restaurant downstairs.
And because we were forking out 220HKD a person, I decided to make the most of it with not one, but two egg white omelets, two espressos (I was tired!) and some of my favorite foods.
You might think that an egg white omelet is no big deal- why is it so important- but when you're hungry, and when you haven't had it for a while, it makes a difference even just standing there watching the chef flip it all around the pan for you.
Eggs done plain scrambled are one of my favorites, but for omelets, I like them to have everything inside.
So both this morning's omelets had chopped onion, chopped peppers, chopped ham, chopped tomatoes, chopped mushrooms and cheese.
But one can't come to breakfast buffet at the hotel and have nothing but just two egg white omelets, can they, so on one plate I had a very cute looking round waffle, a chonk of a sausage and a cute triangular shaped hash brown.
On the other plate, with the egg I chose watermelon, cantaloupe, with a cup of yogurt on the side.
I think I took some sweet corn and some sweet potato from the salad side as well.
A nice, leisurely breakfast it was, and then when we were done, back it was to the room for a quick shower, and out the door we were again.
Today we were going to Ocean Park, and I didn't want to be late.
It's been 26 years.
And I was eager to see what had changed, what had stayed and what it were like now since 1998 when I first went, and 2024 today.
The cab took us from Mody Road on the Tsim Sha Tsui side across the harbor tunnel towards Hong Kong Island, then down the highway it went, first going past the area near Times Square on Causeway Bay- I thought I recognized some of the buildings- then the area known as Wanchai- which I completely didn't recognize- before going further down towards what I think might have been Morrison Hill then perhaps (through) Mount Cameron (I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention!) then out into a housing estate that I think might have been Shouson Hill, or Wong Chuk Hang- I'm afraid I can't recall, and the cab drove so fast I wasn't able to catch sight of any road signs.
Still it was a memorable ride.
I remember passing by the water, then onto a highway, following which I can't recall because for some reason I'd gotten distracted by that time, but not long after I know the cab turned out into a residential estate and this, I was particularly fascinated by, because I had hoped to visit Kennedy Town and Sai Wan but hadn't had the time to go. After that the cab turned into some sort of a highway stretch that seemed to run along the side of a mountain looking out towards the water, and then all of a sudden we'd arrived.
It wasn't just us who were excited to come to this 47 year old theme park.
The cab driver seemed just as excited that we had come.
"Good weather to come," he said, as we stepped out of his cab, thanking him as we did so.
We got our pre-booked tickets from the entrance, got a cute-looking game style of map, and went inside.
There was much to do.
There was also much to see.
But we had come here for something- and that something we would right away do.
So we went to the cable car station where, to my surprise, all it took was a mere of ten minutes before we were assigned our very own cable car.
Perhaps you might be wondering just what it is about this cable car ride that makes one wish they can ride it again and again.
Maybe it is the fact that for eight minutes over a distance of 1.5km you get to traverse over the (sides of the) mountain between the Waterfront and the Summit.
Maybe it is because of this view.
This view.
This view.
And all these views.
It's one thing to be in a suspended cable car riding over ground or a body of water.
It's another thing to be in a suspended cable car riding over the side of a mountain that rises above the body of water called the South China Sea.
I had not known where this place was.
I had also not known where it was I was looking at.
As it turned out, it wasn't Aberdeen (as I had mistakenly assumed) but Deep Water Bay.
What's funny is that I hadn't realized that the ride was so short.
Up there it felt much longer, and had we not been required to alight I might have wanted to sit it all the way back down.
But get down the cabin we did, and right away it was to some of the enclosures we went.
For some reason one of the first creatures we saw was a monitor lizard.
Don't ask me why.
Either because the enclosure was right next to the station on the Summit, or it were the very first thing we happened to go to.
I was fascinated by the animals there, of course, like the colorful, handsome macaws in their open-air enclosure on the Summit this side of the park.
It was a joy seeing this red and blue feathered one wake up from his early afternoon nap and do a jiggle with his head.
It was also a joy seeing this pair of green and yellowed feathered ones perch side by side on top a branch above our heads.
Amongst the attractions there were on the Summit, we went to the Marine World, the Thrill Mountain, the Polar Adventure and the Rainforest.
We did go to the Grand Aquarium in the Aqua City.
And we attempted to watch the dolphin show but then it unfortunately got canceled due to possible rain.
I'm not sure what we saw in the Marine World- the Internet tells me that there were sealions but for the life of me, I dont' seem to remember us seeing any!
At the Polar Adventure we got to see penguins at the South Pole Spectacular.
At the Rainforest we got to see little poisonous frogs and a couple of snakes and maybe the anaconda.
But my memory's strongest with the rides that we took.
Like the Arctic Blast- a steel "roller coaster" in the Polar Adventure that had dips and side turns.
Like the Rev Booster, the Whirly Bird ride, and the Rapids, which I most enjoyed.
It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the Rev Booster.
It was just a tad more frightening than I assumed it would be.
Called a spinner ride, what you had to do was to get in the two-seater seat that had been constructed to lean towards the right. Once in, safety bar came down, and the ride brought you in a very, very rapid circle that had you going up and down and up and down, all the while leaning about 45 degrees to the right.
I didn't like the ups and downs.
They scared me.
The Whirly Bird ride was, i would say, a tad less adventurous.
A chair swing ride, you simply got into the chair that you were assigned to, and then the ride began, bringing you up 30m into the air. You didn't feel much in terms of adrenaline, but the winds at that altitude made the ride feel thrilling all the same.
Plus, there was the view.
Which, sad to say, I don't have a picture of, because I had left my phone in my bag on the ground.
I guess I'm someone who likes easy, comfortable, manageable rides, and The Rapids is a ride just this way.
A family friendly ride in The Rainforest, you simply got into the boat, raft, and then let the rapids of the river rush you along.
Some people got wet.
I didn't.
The animals that I saw this afternoon were remarkably memorable.
Maybe because I knew they were part of research and conservation efforts (whatever efforts those might be).
Or maybe it was just magical to see king penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and gentoo penguins in their enclosure on the summit of a mountain XX meters above the sea.
It weren't just these that I found interesting.
In the Grand Aquarium, there were so many species of fish, including the hammerhead shark and the graceful manta ray.
I'd like to know what species this is though.
That afternoon I only watched it swim around- and never took notice of its name.
Come to think of it, it weren't just the attractions and the theme park rides that we saw and rode.
We actually went on the Ocean Express too.
I don't have pictures, but it is a tunnel funicular system that runs through Brick Hill and which has two trains that run uphill and downhill simultaneously. The trains were themed to resemble submarines, with oval-shaped porthole windows but there were dimmed lights and animations on ceiling panels running throughout the journey to make you feel like you were underwater.
Was it an interesting ride?
Yes, if you consider that the train was running through a real mountain near Wong Chuk Hang and Aberdeen, pitch dark on both sides outside, and the (now familiar) engineering that had been involved building it.
Perhaps I might have understood better had I been able to marvel at the engineering.
I, after all, come from a place where hills and mountains are but few and I don't have opportunity to appreciate what tunnels and mountain transport of such are like.
We ended the day with a quick peek into the panda enclosure at the Waterfront side- honestly I wish we could have seen more- I hadn't even known that there was another side of the Park where The Fullerton Ocean Park was- but not before having a quick snack up at The Summit, and not before buying a very cute stuffie otter from the shop for HKD170.
I had assumed that after the afternoon's adventures we wouldn't be doing anything else.
Well, I thought wrong.
There was dinner to be had.
And so we found our way to this place called Yung Kee Roast Goose- at Kimberly Road- where the menu for this evening included a (very) huge portion of roast goose, a huge portion of roast pork belly, and a huge plate of fried tofu.
It wasn't just the size of the platters that made me gasp.
The marination, and the way the goose had been roasted took me quite by surprise too.
I'm not sure if different places marinate their goose differently, or if they use a different technique in the way they roast the bird, but this one here seemed to look darker on the skin (more sauce maybe), the meat seemed to have a little less fat and was slightly tougher, and there seemed to have a wee bit more oil and spice than the roast birds I was used to.
Not to say that it wasn't good.
It was.
Just a little different, that's all.
It was the same with the siew yok.
The meat here felt a little bit more gamey, more 'porkish', with the distinctive scent that one gets when you're eating pork dishes, particularly the braised and stewed and soupy ones.
To be honest, I was a little surprised that there was such and such a scent when their roast pork was in fact well done with crispy, tasty skin, and soft, chewy, gently warmed fat, but maybe that's their style, and I don't know enough to say whether it's a good thing or otherwise.
But they do their dishes well.
Doesn't matter how simple those dishes might appear to be.
We fell in love with their fried tofu.
Cute little squares they were!
And so well done, lightly battered and crisp on the outside, warm and soft and boing boing on the inside.
It's a pity we weren't able to finish it all, but between the goose and the roast pork, the tofu was the easiest to tapao back, so that's what we did )and in the end we carried it all the way back to Singapore)
Dinner over I had (again) assumed that I'd be going back to sleep, but I got reminded that this evening was our last evening here in Hong Kong and wouldn't it be a waste if it were spent just snoozing in the room?
So we went to the night market on Temple Street.
Which, and I don't know if it's just me, seemed to be quieter than I had thought it might be. Perhaps I had been too used to the crowds at other night markets, so much so that the one here- for some reason- seemed to have less of a footfall presence than my mind had thought it would be.
That didn't stop us from taking a jaunt around the place though.
And since we're the kind to do something (since) we're already there, we opted for a herbal dessert of Guilingao at this shop by the corner near the entrance of the night market.
After that we thought we might return back to the hotel on foot, which we did, for a while, along Austin Road, Nathan Road, even Jordan Road, but by that time most of the shops were closed, the road was getting a little dark, I was getting a little tired, and so we took a cab back to Mody Road instead.