Day 1 of exciting Hong Kong!!

Day one was off to a FLYING start! (note the tone of sarcasm here...) Jetstar left on time and actually landed in Hong Kong ahead of schedule. Which was fabulous but I had a nagging feeling that they would have stuffed up my luggage and it would not be here waiting for me. And I was right.

I saw Mom's plane get in. If all goes well, I would collect my luggage and meet her at her carousel, but alas, my luggage never arrived. How could one airline be so GODDAMN USELESS????? Jetstar, I daresay I'm never going to fly with you again!!! I had a sneaky suspicion that my luggage was on its merry way to Beijing.

Yes, Mom was quite insistent that we take a few photos with the Christmas decorations!

Anyway, after complaining and asked that they will deliver my luggage to my hotel, I met up with mom and took a shuttle bus to our hotel, Harbor Plaza Resort City. As advised by many, it was quite far away (like a 45 minute drive from the airport) but I was pleasantly surprised with the hotel. The room was spacious and fairly modern but I didn't pay much for it, so no complaints here!

Mom and I were starving so after check in we headed to the shopping mall next door (Kingswood Ginza) to seek out a food court. There wasn't one per se, but we found this little cafe that served roast duck and pork and a variety of chicken dishes. As there was an outbreak of bird flu, mom and I have sworn off chicken this trip and so we settled on a pork chop and baked rice kind of dish. Buying it was an experience in itself as it took me all of two minutes to order, pay, be swept into a mini queue to get my food and have my food served to me. Before I knew it, I was spat out of the other end of the queue with my food in hand and not quite sure how I got there in the first place! I didn't even have time to put my change back in my wallet!

Mom and the snowmen...

No photo as we were way too hungry and it really didn't look that good. However, it tasted GREAT! the pork chop was lovely and tender, and it sat on a bed of rice and completely doused in tomato sauce. Not just any tomato sauce, but a homey, not too overpowering, sauce made out of actual tomatoes (they had heaps of tomato pieces in them). Beautiful! Luckily mom and I had the good sense to stake out someone else's food before ordering so we just ordered one to share as it was huge! I couldn't walk after eating my half! At the cost of HKD$33 a serve, it worked out to be AUD$4.40, an absolute steal considering mom and I had to share, so it worked out to be AUD$2.20 per person. Lunch DONE.

We walked around a bit more and scoped out a handbag for me, some clothes that I may need to buy if my luggage doesn't show up and HK SIM card for my phone. What I have found rampant in this shopping mall were Japanese food shops, electronics and gifts!

After going back to the hotel to make some phonecalls (hello Claudia! And FREAKING Jetstar who didn't have any news of my luggage,) mom and I headed out again to buy the Octopus card, just to be organised. But we were informed that they did not sell them at the convenience stores, nor the train station across from our hotel. Apparently this train station was Light Rail and was completely different from the MTR. No matter, I'm sure we'll be able to get one tomorrow.

Upon receiving that information, mom and I decided to head to the supermarket to see how the people of HK live. It was an amazing experience (well, for me at least- plus I love supermarkets anyway in general, I am my mother's daughter after all...) It was at the top of a shopping mall and was massive! The produce was beautiful and so cheap! The green Chinese veggies were to die for and there were many islands which housed food for steamboats. There were fishballs galore, beautiful stuffed veggies (kinda like yong tau foo but with beef), seasoned beef mince, all sorts of dumplings, the list was endless! I even joked with mom that we should get a pot and have steamboat in our room. Half joked. I'm kinda digging the idea. But not tonight.

For dinner mom and I settled on a box of unagi sushi which was only HKD$42 which equates to AUD$5.6. It was another massive meal which we shared, there were twelve bits of sushi there all with grilled eel cooked to perfection with a beautiful sweet sauce. Yum yum!!! And as HK is famous for it's "wife" biscuits, we bought a packet for dessert. I think it might be an acquired taste .... really, nothing to write home about. **

"Wife" biscuits, unagi sushi and an assortment of fruits... cheap as chips!

What we also did was to buy a couple of cup noodles for brekkie tomorrow because when in Rome... :)

That's all for Day one. I need to start prepping for day 2 now! Hasta la vista!

Xoxo