We (the girls) have been talking about traveling together for don’t know how many years. But never get to do it due to our own busy schedule, budget, and whatsoever. So last year when J asked about going to HK, I thought why not. One thing leads to another, the trip is on!

Gotta thanks technology, we get to discuss and plan the HK trip without having to meet up face to face. Facebook message is our discussion room. From booking the ticket half year ago to choosing accommodation (backpacker hostel in HK and splurge for Venetian Hotel in Macao) and planning the schedule. The real excitement struck us like one month before the departure.

Flight ticket

We took Airasia, return ticket for Kuala Lumpur – Hongkong with 15kg check-in baggage is around RM600. Pretty good deal consider it’s a 4 hour flight. Anyway, no flight delay.

Accommodation in HK

It’s no secret that HK hotels are quite pricey. So we scrapped that idea off since we will be exploring the city most of the time and just need a decent place to sleep. Airbnb came in recommendation but I was lazy to look around.

Friend found a few guesthouse/hostels, email them and settled for Cosmic Guesthouse {link} located at Nathan road, Tsim Sha Tsui area, lots of shops along the road.

Room for two is at HK$ 350/night, while room for four is at HK$ 480/night, both with window. That’s HK$ 120 which around RM50 per night for me, good deal! It has free wifi somemore.

The room is, well, small with limited space as expected. I stayed in the four-person-room, the only space is in between the two twin beds and walk to the bathroom. Smallest room I’ve ever stayed I suppose, as if it has shrunk after apidextra intake. The room isn’t as great as what pictured in the website, but pretty clean oh well, you get what you pay for. Most importantly I got to sleep soundly.

Accommodation in Macao

We decided to splurge a bit for Macao’s stay and go for the famous Venetian Hotel {link}. They actually have a promotion, get 20% off if you book 30 days in advance. But for whatever reason their online booking s*cks to the max, the reservation staffs replied promptly and tried to assist but none worked.

In the end we booked through Agoda, which is around US$ 247 per night for Bella Suites with two-queen-sized-beds. The site stated that the room size is 755 sq ft, while our three-bedrooms-apartment is 850 sq ft, so yea, the room is very spacious.

When we headed back to HK the next day, we were like the Cinderella after 12 midnight – from the fabulous Venetian hotel back to the small guesthouse. Hehe.

Transportation

It’s a combination of 60% taking MTR, 30% walk, and 10% taking bus. Yes, the MTR is very convenient just like in Singapore; beloved Malaysia is definitely far behind the two countries; but must walk a lot.

Buying Octopus Card is a must; HK$ 150, where HK$ 50 is the deposit that you can get back after returning the card and the HK$ 100 is the amount that you can spend. The card comes in handy as well cause you can use it like debit card in many places like McD, no need to count coins and notes.

For direction, either do online research or just find the tourism section at the airport. They have lots of brochures about HK tourism places along with how to go.

Talk about budget

Total spend for me is around RM2100, include flight ticket, accommodation, transportation, meals, etc.

People says HK is all about shopping, but it didn’t really appeal to me. Most of the branded shop (Uniqlo, Giordano, Bossini, etc) can be found in KL except different stocks I guess. Besides, the thinking of having to carry the shopping spree all by myself scared me out, so no, I gave it a pass.

The biggest spending went to the entrance tickets of Disneyland, Madam Tussaud, ferry to Macao, and a bit of Disney merchandise (you can’t miss this!).

For the next visit

If we ever decide to pay a visit to HK in the future:

1. It will be a culinary trip, talk about hunting for famous dimsum, have Portugese egg tart, etc.
2. Have a more relaxing trip instead of sleeping at 12 midnight and wake up at 6.30am, gotta have 8 hour sleep. Enjoy the other part of HK, like museum, vintage market, take more picture of the surroundings.
3. For shopping: Staccato shoes – they have oh-so-chic spring/summer collection, H&M, and Sasa.