20111112/13 Hong Kong Day 0 & 1 - Dolphin and Symphony of Lights

Daddy, mommy and Kathleen went on a trip to Hong Kong.

We took the midnight (ok, 1.15am) Cathay flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. It is Kathleen's first non-budget flight (and 3rd trip out of SG).

At the airport while waiting for the flight, a funny thing happen.  We saw a fat lady trying out the weighing machines for luggage, and so asked K to try too.  The first one she tried said 14.5kg.  500meters later, on the 2nd machine, it said 15kg! Wow...first time heard of putting on weight by walking :P

The soles of K's shoe came out at the airport.  Luckily Daddy is able to find super glue at the Cheers outlet at T3 which is open 24 hours and glue it back, and the shoe held for the rest of the trip (did not bring extra shoes for her)

On the flight, K was 'loaned' child size head piece, and she was also given a children's kit which contains Mickey Mouse stickers, paper game, coloring booklet etc.

Not sure if its due to the bigger plane or weather or skill of the pilot, but this time round, there is no pressure on the ears when the plane take off, and K exclaimed in her usual dramatic voice 'Mommy! My ears are not painful!' several times.

posing with children's headset and cathay's kit for children

Cathay actually served dinner on board at 2am+!!!!! Which everyone is not prepared for.  After that, everyone tried to sleep only to have the pilot interrupting our sleep by announcing 40minutes before ETA that we are going to reach Hong Kong!!!! Grumpy mommy swore that she will never travel midnight flight again (she used to travel midnight flight without any problem).  So end up mommy only has 30minutes of sleep and K and daddy a little bit more.

After reaching the Hong Kong International Airport, everyone from the flight queued for the Airport Express ticketing counter to open to get the tickets.  We got the group ticket for 3 at $210 (else 2A1C will be $250) and took the Airport Express to Hong Kong station, to switch to the Central station and then onwards to North Point where our hotel is.

Kathleen with the group tickets in the Airport Express train

The journey indicator for the Airport Express.  Only 3 stations from airport but took quite some time.

We only found out at the Hong Kong/Central station that group tickets are not entitled to the free travel to another station within the hour (only valid for people using Octopus cards to pay the full rate for Airport Express).  So had to rush to buy Octopus cards.

After dropping off the luggage (yes, only 1 checked in luggage because mommy think that it will be easier to handle if K fell asleep and one parent had to carry her), we rushed off to Tsim Sai Tsui MTR station, where Kowloon Hotel is.  The reason? A trip out to sea to view the Hong Kong pink dolphins (yes, I hear laughter, but it has been mommy's dream to see the pink dolphins in the wild since she heard that Hong Kong has them).

After reaching TST, we found the hotel, and then proceed to the nearby Cafe De Coral 大家乐 (their local fast food restaurant) for breakfast.  Daddy has yummy porridge with tea, while K has toasted bread with condensed and mommy had your typical boring tuna sandwich.

At Cafe De Coral

After that, we waited at Kowloon Hotel for the tour guide (in pink dolphin T shirt no less) from Hong Kong Dolphin Watch to appear.  On the way to Tung Chung Pier, they told us about the living habits of the pink dolphins.  The dolphins are suspected to be actually white (because the dead ones they found are white) and the pinkness are due to them flushing when they 'exercise (aka swim)'.  The guide also told us about the dangers that they face from passing ships, and from sewage discharged into the seas. Despite having the pink dolphins as the mascot during the handover of Hong Kong, there was nothing much done to clean up the environment for the dolphins.  And with the rapid expansion of the Hong Kong International Airport, another large part of the dolphins' habitats are being destroyed.

Boarding the yacht

Mommy, expecting cold airplane air, and cold sea winds, dressed K up in sweater, but the weather was super hot, and there is no other clothes to wear!

At the upper deck of the yacht

At the lower deck of the yacht

The yacht that we are on, and another boat carrying kids from a birthday party, coordinated to find the dolphins.  We first encounter a mother-child pair (young pink dolphins are grey in colour who gradually turned pink as they grow up), then after some more searching, encounter a pod of about 5 or 6 dolphins.

The 2 boats would stop their engines when they are approaching the dolphins to prevent scaring the dolphins away and also to prevent hurting the dolphins.

The dolphins can be seen swimming out and diving back into waters, and some (or the same one) dolphins also like to poke its top half of the body out of the water (see picture below).

K kept asking why we cannot catch the dolphin which makes the caucasian tourists laughed. 

Seen! Pink dolphins at sea!

Mommy asking K to pretend that its her personal yacht :P

The trip lasted the morning and we were later sent back to TST/Central area via the coach.


After that, we checked in into our hotel - Ibis North Point.  It is a small room, with a small bed, and overly cold aircon that feels like 15 degrees when it says 30 degree.  This room, is the coldest part of the whole trip (which is exactly what K told popo too when she was back in SG).

K and her bolster in the hotel room.

During the evening,we took the MTR to TST (alot of retracing on this trip), and took some Christmas photos before going for the Symphony of Lights performance at the sea area.

After the symphony of lights, we had wanted to go to Ladies' Street/Market but K said that she is tired and so we took the Star Ferry back to Wan Chai before going back to the hotel.

So ends day 1 of our trip.