September 5, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 4: City Gate Outlets and Disney Land
We woke up late because of our trip yesterday in Macau. We covered a lot of areas and despite having to walk for four days straight already, we still had a couple more tourist spots in Hong Kong to check out.
Disneyland in Hong Kong
The weather was way better now so it was good to go to a theme park. We already purchased our tickets from Ate Yolly (of the Tai San Guesthouse) so we planned on dropping by Hong Kong Disneyland. However by this time, we already needed to shop as we didn’t have any extra clothes left and I was reusing my shirt. We decided to head first to City Gate Outlets first.
Had breakfast at Maxim’s (not the male mag) Restaurant as it was one of the recommended places to eat in Hong Kong according to PinoyExchange.com. I ate a sandwich because I didn’t want to spend on food knowing that I can always eat in hordes back in the Philippines.
inside Maxims restaurant in Hong Kong
Had a bit of a difficulty locating the food shop because we were looking for the word ‘Maxim’ around town, only then did we realize that Maxim’s restaurant is displayed with the initials MX on their store.
12 HKD – Ham & Egg Sandwich for me
24 HKD – Fish Fillet Sausage Breakfast with drinks for Logan
24 HKD – Bacon & Egg Breakfast with drinks for Cindy
We rode the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central Station; and then Central to Tung Chung which led us directly to the Citygate Outlet mall.
Places Mentioned:
Maxim’s Restaurant
Citygate Outlets Shopping Center
Food Republic
Disneyland Resort
Modern Toilet
CityGate Outlets is Hong Kong’s first—and only—outlet mall. Outlets in the mall currently offer year-round discounts of 30-70% on all merchandise. (CityGate – Wikipedia).
We made sure that we would at least buy some clothes after a couple of days in order to maximize our stay and check out which place we could buy the cheapest stuff. When I saw the mall, I immediatetly dropped by the Puma Outlet shop to see what I could get my hands on. What’s great is they really have a wide selection and the goods are cheaper! How cheap? I bought shoes that cost me 2100 Php but back in Cebu, it’s around 3,400 Php. For sure 2000 bucks is still expensive but when you have plans of buying quality branded shoes, you’d rather buy in Hong Kong because it’s a lot cheaper.
Puma outlet – I’m a Puma fan
I didn’t have to worry if these were Class A imitations because they’re definitely not. The prices are cheaper because again, these are from the factory outlets of known brands such as Giordano, Adidas, Esprit, Quiksilver, Nike, Calvin Klein, Burberry and so much more.
Food Republic at CityGate Outlets Hong Kong
It was already time for lunch and instead of going to the usual fastfood store in HK, we ate at the Food Republic which is a food court chain with mini restaurant stations. What I liked best was that the food was cheap! For the entire meal, we only paid 38 HKD which in most places we’ve eaten, is equivalent to one meal alone. We ordered braised pork and the meat was so tender, we didn’t feel guilty eating the fat portions. Logan wanted to use a fork but we couldn’t find one available. We made do with chopsticks and used another spork (combination of a spoon and fork) as our utensils.
Mickey train
Anyway, after shopping for some items at Citygate outlets, I changed clothes and we rode the MTR going to Sunny Bay Area. We also rode another MTR line going to Hong Kong Disneyland. Mickey Mouse logos already greeted us at our transportation point and Cindy was already happy at the sight of these.
disney park
After we passed by the Entrance and took some jump shots at the Disneyland Resort sign, we were greeted with a parade of the Disney stars. From Toy Story to Alice in Wonderland, from Cinderella to Mickey Mouse and the gang; the performers were dancing and singing to entertain. I saw a number of Filipinos too who greeted us and wanted to give their regards to our fellow kababayans.
locker, drinks for sale
After the parade, we proceeded to the locker booth so we could deposit our items for safekeeping. We were already thirsty because it was a sunny afternoon at that time but we didn’t bother buying at the food and snack stations as we had our bottled water from our Macau trip to keep us hydrated for the next couple of hours.
our first ride – Tarzan’s Tree House
Most of the rides in Disneyland are really good for kids. I was hoping to hop on at least a rollercoaster or something extreme but I was unsuccessful because I didn’t see any available. Since the temperature was humid, we decided to check out whatever ride that offered us cold and comfort. Along came “It’s a Small World” which is a ride that features 400 brightly costumed audio-animatronic dolls in the style of children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing the ride’s title track, which has a theme of global peace. (It’s A Small World – Wikipedia)
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All the while, we we were glad that we could sit for a little while.
sights at Disneyland
We could see a number of children extremely happy knowing that they were at Mickey Mouse land. For sure this is a place for family to bond and enjoy. I can’t recall how many children were excited and full of energy on that day.
feeding the birds and ice cream
dances, balloons and bubbles
When night came, we waited for the fireworks at around 7:30pm. I didn’t like that I was unprepared in changing the settings of my camera in order to make the most of the fireworks. I can’t recall how many wasted shots I took just to find the right balance of the picture. In the end, I grew tired and frustrated knowing that I still wasn’t able to take some decent shots.
fireworks at Disney
After Hong Kong Disneyland, it was time for dinner and wandered at our favorite stop which is in Mongkok just because the place was so alive at night. We tried to check out some more shopping areas but thought otherwise when we saw our shopping bags in our hands.
Had dinner at Modern Toilet (had a bit of time searching for it as it was located on the 3rd floor of a building). I used to see this in forwarded emails so I was really surprised when we were able to eat at one of the actual locations. I will be creating a separate entry about this soon as this was a fun dining experience.
Modern Toilet in Mongkok, Hong Kong
Modern toilet food dishes
We capped the night off at around 11pm as we still strolled at the Mongkok District to scout whatever goods we could find. Still spent a couple of hours awake back at the Tai San Guesthouse updating our accounts, checking our emails and transferring pictures.
Expenses:
Food: 60 HKD – Breakfast at Maxim’s Restaurant
50 HKD – Lunch at Food Republic
237 HKD – Dinner at Modern Toilet Restaurant
Entrance: 335 HKD – Disneyland
Shopping:
749 HKD – Clothes and Shoes
Miscellaneous: 60 HKD – Disneyland Locker (big) (divided by 3 so 20 HKD each)
* 1 Hong Kong Dollar at 6 Philippine Pesos
Check out my blog posts about my Cebu to Hongkong trip here:
- Hong Kong Trip: From Cebu to Hongkong
- Hongkong Trip: Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok Computer Center
- Hong Kong Trip: World Trade Center & Times Square in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai
- Hong Kong Trip: City Gate Outlets and Disneyland
- Hong Kong Trip: Ocean Park
- Hong Kong Trip: Victoria Peak
- HongKong to Cebu
- Modern Toilet Restaurant in Mongkok
- Tips and Things to Know about Hong Kong
- Total Budget Expense of our Hong Kong Macau Trips
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soloflightEd.com is a travel blog by Edcel Suyo. He enjoys performing headstands and crazy stunts during his trips in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Now based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and working to earn a living, he takes time to enjoy the city and travel during weekends.
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For questions, advertising, and other concerns, shoot an email to ed@soloflighted.com.
i super like the Modern Toilet! haha and the cutey kiddos! 🙂 nice Ed, aabangan ko tong series kahet pa nakita ko na at nakwento mu na ang mga to. haha. 😀 sayang d ako naka-attend ng WP, andun kayo ni Mica. See you nlng in Iloilo!
@pinaysolobackpacker: haha, thanks for reading my entries kahit paulit-ulit nato. hehe. disneyland is truly great for kiddos! will see you soon in Iloilo! next month na yun! 😀
the happiest place on earth! i super love It's A Small World, dinownload ko pa yung Tagalog version nyan.. hihi
@chyng: haha. we loved the ride kasi malamig at nakapagpahinga talaga kami. naaliw kami sa Philippines part. dalawang babae lang. hehe. tsaka may tarsier pa. hehe
how much is the entrance in Hongkong Disneyland and is this already ride-all-you-can?
around 350 HKD — yes, ride all you can na sya. you can check their website for more updated rates ause it also depends on the season.
hi edcel. i've been following your blog for quite sometime na. just want to ask regarding the modern toilet meals. good for 1 person lang ba un? kasi we're going to HK on november, gusto k sana itry pero parang mejo mahal kasi more than 1k na agad per order.. pwede b siya ishare like ng 3 persons? thanks 🙂
OMG edz!! im so jelizzz…
bena! how are you? don’t be jealous woi., hehe
hi jinkay, 59 HKD ang meal na inorder namin (di pa kasali ang drinks — nagtubig na lang kami, hehe) — we paid around 1,400 Php good for 3 meals and one ice cream dessert. that would be around 354 pesos ang per meal. about sharing, i don't think you can share the meals kasi good for one lang talaga. maybe kung konte lang kakainin nyo pero good for one lang sya. thanks for dropping by my blog. will post my other entries soon! 😀
hi again. really, its for 60 HKD only? i saw in their website that a meal would cost 200 HKD. Anyway, i can't wait for your post regarding this restaurant! thanks edcel!
hi jinkay: yeah, 59 HKD lang yung meal. we ordered a la carte lang kasi mahal. hehe. i mean di sya masyadong special yung meal, it’s more on the dining experience. we ate at the Mongkok branch, in front of Langham Place. 😀
hi ed! just wondering..sa sobrang cool ng mall na 2, i think pocket money won't be enough..so i case i've drown myself shopping in this place..does citygate accepts HSBC credit card when you go shop there?:)
@ana: yeah, i think hsbc is accepted. good luck to your credit card! hehe. i used a BPI and citibank account, most likely HSBC will be accepted. also, do call your bank first to make sure that they take note of the dates that you’re going to use your card abroad. This is to prevent issues that may arise because of using your card outside the country. They say that you can still use it, but just to be sure, have them note in you’re account that you will be out of the country on the dates of your trip! happy shopping! and hopefully you won’t splurge as I did. hehe
halo Ed, just wanna ask if we r allowed to bring laptop and tripod inside sa disney? unsay may ilang gi consider nga excess baggage and should be deposited sa lockers? 🙂
@ann: i think we can bring our laptops inside. I left my laptop sa guesthouse, but I brought my tripod. Actually the lockers are for your convenience if you don't want to bring things while your stroll around Disneyland. We brought a lot of stuff since we did some shopping in CityGate that's why we needed a locker.
ahh ok, thnk u thnk u Ed!! 🙂
hi, is HKD 60 the biggest locker they have?
5 of us are planning to go directly to Disneyland from airport.
does 1 locker fit 5 backpacks and/or roller bags? or only 1 backpack/roller bag will fit in 1 locker?
please provide locker sizes? fee (is it hourly or wholeday fee)?, how many bags will fit in 1 locker?