Monday, October 24, 2011

HongKong: Asia's World City, and So Much More!




Day One: Checked in to Empire Hotel in Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui.

Good choice of hotel. The tourism board arranged for our stay in this "Affordable Luxury" hotel along Kimberley Road, Tsim Tsa Tsui. It's a nice hotel with nice amenities i.e. a swimming pool, a business lounge and good service.

We were given Empire Club Rooms, which also means we had full access to the Empire Club Lounge.

Pool. Looks indoor but is actually open-air. Kudos to good design!
The Empire Club Lounge is an exclusive area in all Empire Hotels in Hong Kong where guests can make use to sort out their business dealings and relax afterwards on their business trips. Guests will find this facility a real privilege offering superior hospitality, the best convenience and affordable luxury to them. Each Empire Club Lounge provides a wide range of personalized services mostly complimentary to select guests, including: 
Bespoke Business Services
  • Personalized check-in and check-out service
  • Complimentary broadband internet access on a desktop computer
  • Complimentary 2-hour usage of a conference area per visit (subject to availability)
  • Conference rooms – 30% discount on conference room rentals
  • Business centre service
Complimentary Food and Beverages
  • Afternoon tea (2 pm – 5:30 pm daily)
  • Evening refreshments including soft drinks, beer & house wine (6 pm – 8:30 pm daily)
  • All-day coffee and tea
Additional Complimentary In-room Benefits
  • Welcome salver containing refreshing drinks  upon arrival
  • Daily newspaper
  • Unlimited broadband internet access or wireless internet access
  • Local calls and faxes (except toll-free calls and calling card calls)
  • 30% discount on food and beverages in coffee shop and lounge (if applicable)
Empire Club Lounge
Yeap! I appreciated that the HongKong Tourism Board was giving us the top class treatment that we deserve! We're flying high, baby!

Speaking of flying high. That day, we went and checked out HongKong, Bird's Eye View. 
View from Sky 100.

Note: This is how awesome the 14x Optical Zoom on my Canon Powershot is.

Zoomed in. I can see how many people are in the pool, what they're doing, and even what colour swimwear the lady on the top right corner of the pool is wearing.
Zoomed out. This is how far away I actually am from them. This photo is taken from the exact same spot. Not moving at all, except for the zoom.
A little more about sky100.
It is the highest indoor observation deck in HongKong! Soaring high above the city on the 100th floor of the International Commerce Centre, 393 metres above sea level, this tallest building in town offers visitors an unbeatable 360o panoramic view of HongKong.

Beyond the best Hong Kong city panoramic view and magical sceneries, sky100 is also home to a large-scale interactive multi-media exhibit and a fully-fledged guest centre. Offering fascinating insights on local history and culture, the state-of-the-art exhibit enriches visitors with a thorough understanding of Hong Kong.
Wow. That's some big ass dim sum!
Gotcha!
Guess what we're doing here!
In addition, the comprehensive sky100 guest centre is also a convenient spot for gathering local tourist information, helping visitors custom-make holidays through the well-informed sky100 ambassadors and the itinerary planning devices. If you intend to drop by the best of Hong Kong landmarks, make sky100 your first! That's what we did! And we were to find out, later in our holiday, that so many of the things we saw there came alive in the rest of our journey.

I'm poking her with my GIANT stick of BALLS!
Next, we headed over a little lower down, but still damn flippin' high up to Ozone, rooftop bar of The Ritz Carlton.
View from Private Dining Room in Ozone.
Private Dining Room, Ozone. Lovely innit?
Open-air Roof Terrace. Nothing beats the nice cool night wind.
Almost like stepping into another world.
Ok, I've got my dancing shoes on. Let's Party!
But alas, the night was still young. In HongKong, the city never sleeps, and that's why we charged on for some shopping!
Very easy to miss. You'd never guess all the wonderful things they have in here.
That same night, we took a walk around and found this place. RISE SHOPPING ARCADE that is kind of like Bugis Village, but they sell some really nice good quality stuff. At OK prices. Most of the kind of clothes you wouldn't find in Singapore so I guess it's worth the buy! Darren had a ball of a time.

This shop sells Vans, Vans, and more Vans. I loved the giant shoe! Unfortunately, it wasn't for sale.
Coco!!! This dog bears such an uncanny resemblance to my darling and the shop owner was very nice to let me play with him. Most of these shops are self-owned and open about 4pm - 11pm. I'm assuming they come by after a day in the office. Many of the shops also sell self-made leather jackets, bags and what nots.
Alright, ‘nuff said. How do you get there?


This is the route we took from our hotel. Do NOT take this route if you are NOT staying at The Empire Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Please figure out a route from the nearest MTR, Tsim Sha Tsui. (DUH.) We actually took the longcut, if you notice. I only figured out the shortcut on my second last night.

Random Snapshot.

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