Macau/ Hongkong/Zhuhai/ Shenzhen (Part 2)
Back at HK, the tour guide offered an optional package for breakfast + seafood lunch ( which was not included in the itinerary) at approximately S$50+ ( Hk$200+).
I was offered the same thing in my last HK trip in 2009. I dun find the meals so fantastic then, therefore I was really skeptical when the tour guide boosted about how worthwhile the package was, the breakfast consisted of 8 items and the lunch contained seafood spread and blah blah blah... I guess, if you are new in HK, you will be pretty tempted. But really, you can get good food in HK without spending so much, anytime. Anyway,I confirmed the venue of the breakfast with my tour guide and viola! It was the same resturant again (at least for the breakfast)!
I was no fool to pay S$50+ for such spread. The food was passable, but obviously overpriced. I guess all the half day tour will bring you to the standard dining places if you choose to take up the option. If you are lazy & rich, please go ahead with it. If not, I strongly suggest FIND YOUR OWN FOOD! =p
The breakfast venue
Well, you can look at the spread in my HK trip 2009, and then tell me whether you are willing to spend S$50 on it mah...
So we opted out and went to look for food on our own, before rejoining the group for the half day city tour. We went to this place called Mei Xin, which seemed to be a popular breakfast place based on the crowd. They have many breakfast sets to choose, each ranging around HK20.
Set 1: Tea + Cha Siew Buns + Porridge
Set 2: Tea + Carrot Cake + Porridge
Super cheap lor! Of coz the porridge and the side dish were of a smaller portion, but still it was filling as a set for one pax! This is what I called "Worth it" with a thumb up!
After breakfast, we still went for egg tarts again..Keke
As for lunch, we settled for wanton mee which was priced at HK13, which was simple and good! And we still had some time to shop around while we waited for the rest to finish their "seafood" lunch.. =)
Total, we spent only HK30 - HK40, about S$7 for both meals... Can you see the difference now?
Sight visiting in HK:
1) Golden Bauhinia Square
2) Repulse Bay
This is where all the damn rich people staying, apparently with super good fengshui.
The 2 "islands" ~ the one on the left is like a tortoise, the one on the right is like the dragon head.. so good fengshui wor...
The red bunglow on top of the dragon head is owned by Jacky Chan lor...
3) Aberdeen Fishing Village
Another irritating part of the trip was, they kept bringing us to those souvenir shop, jewellary shop etc, shops whereby the agents can earn commission just by bringing us there...
We went to 1 silk shop, 2 medicinal shop, 1 jade shop, 1 jewellery shop in our 5 days trip. We spent at least 1.5hour - 2 hour in the stupid silk shop. The staff would crowd and pester until you buy something. So most of the time, we "hide" in the toilet.. Can you imagine how much time is wasted in such places?
OK la, I guess it's standard practice to go to such places, but then 5 shops in a only 5 days trip, less away custom clearance time, less away time wasted in optional tour, we dun really have much time to shop. We had choose this itinerary because it seemed to have a lot of F&E time to shop. Little did we know that the time was filled up with commission-paying shops visiting, optional tours, custom clearance etc..
So guess what, I ended up buying 3 T shirt and a pair of boots nia... =_=
This was my 2nd trip in this year, when I missed home during the trip and really wanted to go back to Singapore.... Thanks to ASA for making this trip so "memorable"... argh..
4 comments:
What a pity... Seems like you didn't really enjoy the trip with so many "compulsory shopping" included in the itinerary. Next time go F&E better :)
Hi Miso,
It was the waiting on the coach that really pissed me.. I paid $1k for the 5 days trip and ASA made me waste time waiting on the coach! Argh...
Ya lor, I will go on my own next time since from HK can easily travel to Macau & Shenzhen. =)
Have a great weekend!
xoxo
Hullo. That's why it's better to just DIY (do-it-yourself) when you go on a trip. No need to hire a travel agent. Less hassle.
Yup agreed!F&E is definitely better.. at least you get to choose where you wanna go.. =)
Then again, it also means a lot of planning work to do.. LOL
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