Hong Kong - Day 4

30th July 2009 (Thurs)

Yeah! Meeting Rita! :D

On the other hand, it is Disneyland for Hui Fang and Wei Chen! the happiest place on earth~~

But i wld only be meeting Rita in the afternoon.. so had breakfast with Hui Fang and Wei Chen first~

We went to eat Dim Sum at a cafe near our inn.. (hmm.. thought i took photos of the meal.. but dunno where it went..)

then its off to exploring the streets near our inn after Hui Fang and Wei Chen head off to Disneyland..

I managed to find a place selling 菠萝面包 and egg tarts near our inn.. haha and i discovered their mkt too! well hidden away from the main street.. and then as i was walking back to the inn to rest for a while.. i came across a filming crew from TVB!! haha.. super excited~ hee.. but it wasn't any super big star.. but rather the older stars.. still dunno their names! still finding! :p told the rest abt it.. but they only say 'chey' haha.. but anw i still saw filming in hk~~

after resting at the inn for a while, i pei Jia Wei to have Mac brunch (i ate ice-cream) before she head to shopping at the outlet stores and many other places alone~ so brave! haha.. while i went to buy bak kwa for rita's family at Langham Place.. then off to meet Rita!

Met her back at Jordan cos she had class there in the morning.. :p she missed 2 of her classes that day to meet me!! oppss.. :p:p

the itinery for the day.. a vist to one of HK's new attraction! Noah's Ark! just opened in May! :):) its located at Ma Wan Island (馬灣) under Tsing Ma Bridge and because its new, visitors must buy tickets in advance to go there.. and rita manage to get them at a travel agency! :D

To get there from Jordan, we took MTR to 美孚 (Mei Foo) and from there transfer to another train to take to 荃湾西 (Tsuen Wan West).. at there, we wld be meeting Rita's friend and taking a boat over to the island.. but as we were early, Rita brought me around to look for local hk food.. hahaa.. in the end we ended up at a hk cafe~

-Walking to find food~ look at the blue blue sky~-

I had roast duck with noodles! haha a food item on my to-eat list in hk! yummy~

But after our meal, the sky turned dark :( where did the blue sky go to?? :(

Met up with Rita's friend, Karen.. and took some pictures at the habour before boarding the ferry for a short ferry ride over to the island..

and we went under Kap Shui Mun Bridge (汲水門大橋).. hope i got it right :p

that's rita on the left and karen in the middle :):)
how we converse with each other? i speaks to rita in chinese, rita speaks to karen in canto.. and me to karen in english! loll.. but rita understands english.. hhaaha

Upon reaching the ferry terminal, the Noah's Ark came into view with Tsing Ma Bridge (青馬大橋) as the backdrop! nice! esp with the sky soo blue... (the rain clouds yet to be blown this way..)

Map of Ma Wan Island.. it is mainly consists of Park Island apartment complex, Ma Wan Park and now Noah's Ark..

Had to walk quite a distance from the ferry terminal to reach Noah's Ark.. but finally we have reached!

There are many attractions within this park and rita bought the tickets that allow us to access all of them..

There's the Ark Expo which contains exhibit abt Noah's Ark and where are the possible location of it and they evaluate the significance of it to the world today and in the future.. there was also 2 shows.. one 3-D, another with special effects.. but no photography allowed.. so no photos :(

hee.. the person at the entrance was talking in canto abt no photography and stuff and i guess she realised that i do not understand what she was saying cause the camera was still in my hands when i walk in.. haha.. but the person soon walked over to tell me in chinese.. by then rita had already translated what she said to me.. :p


Then there's also the Ark Education House.. where 'participants are inspired to reflect on life’s indispensable elements, and to help them build up positive, optimistic and enthusiastic life purposes'. There are a few activities where participants are encouraged to use their senses to do the above.. such as being in a totally dark room and having to navigate around, closing ur eyes and having ur friends draw on ur hands and later explaining to them what it means (ours is below), being ask questions which sets u thinking etc etc..

The Treasure House which is like a mini science center with 15 discovery galleries abt different topics like Art, Music, Architecture, Machineries, Culture, Languages etc..

See the bottom left picture above.. haha got singapore on the wall mural!! Esplanade and Marina Barrage~ hahaa..

They also Noah's Adventureland, which is like MOE Rope Courses, but this one is not included in our ticket..

and lastly Ark Garden! where they have on display sculptures of the different animals that were on Noak's Ark and u can learn more abt them.. but it is also at this garden that u can get good view of the 2 bridges! but by then it started drizzling.. :(

Overall, i felt that this theme park is a very good concept.. initially i thought it wld be filled with Christian stuff.. but they did not do that.. yes there was Christian stuff but it was related to Noah's Ark which the whole theme park is based on.. so it was acceptable.. even so.. it was just abt where they thought Noah's Ark landed after the flood.. and the meaning behind the Ark..

from there they linked it to our Earth and how impt it is for us to protect and save it from pollution.. so they are eventually actually teaching visitiors to protect the Earth to prevent another natural disaster like the flood from occurring again! *cool*
Can say the park is more suitable for young children cause most of the exhibitions are very interactive in teaching kids abt values and other educational information..

after that it was quite late liao.. instead of walking back to the ferry terminal, we took a bus from outside the theme park.. also because Karen and Rita wanted me to have a chance to travel via Tsing Ma Bridge :):)
So the bus brought us to Tseun Wan Station and from there off to You Tong Station (油塘).. far far away.. for dinner with Rita's family.. Karen did not join us for dinner though cause it was too far away.. and cause it was quite late.. no time to visit Rita's hse too :p

Met up with Rita's mum and brother at the station and from there we head to this fishing village nearby.. 鯉魚門 to eat seafood~

the village with all the seafood shops..

Great views from there!! hahaha but i dunno of where.. shld be somewhere on HK Island.. :p

Rita mum bought seafood from one of the shop and then we brought it to one of the restaurants there for it to be cooked.. apparently the restaurant is quite famous! top ranking in openrice website (something like singapore's hungrygowhere website)

wow.. Rita mum bought lots of seafood! (i wasn't there when she bought it.. me and rita was figuring out how to play some hop-scotch that was modified.. totally different from what we used to play..)

there was bamboo clam, sweet sour pork, papaya soup (which was unexpectedly delicious!), hk prawn (which is something like our clayfish)...

Abalone!! (each person had one piece!), fish, vege.. fruits anddessert!! (which was yummy.. some jelly with 桂花 inside..)

food was delicious!! haha and was very filling.. cos they keep feeding me food! haha.. and there was a lot of food!

View after dinner.. with the sky darker

That sums up a day with Rita! We cannot believe that we are actually seeing each other in hk! haha she said that it was so weird.. like being in each other company means we are in Seattle but we are actually in HK!! and i totally feel the same way too~

so grateful to their hospitality.. for the whole day.. and everything they bought for me.. :p

don't know when i wld be seeing them and Rita again.. but looking forward to it!

hope we can meet up soon!! :D:D