Hong Kong Trip Day 1 ( with Review of Eaton Hotel)

Haiiiiii!!!

Yes, you've seen right, i finally am starting on our Hong Kong trip's post! LOL. Finally managed to forced my lazy ass to sit and resize the pictures T.T i hate that part. Anyway, in this first day entry... you won't be seeing a lot of Hong Kong *LOL* *what's new* because we arrived in Hong Kong pretty late  (8 PM?) and had to travel pretty far from the airport to the hotel (in Nathan Road, quite near the center of HK) so we're pretty tired by the time we arrived in the hotel.

Look how happy Baby Boy looked!

This was Baby Boy's very first medium (long-ish) length flight, before this the longest he's ever been on an airplane was for 2 hours or so (to SG and KL). He's doing really really well on the 6 hours+ flight (combined, we had to transit for a bit in Singapore), in fact he's doing really really well on the trip as a whole (just once we saw a waterwork and it wasn't for long either)! I'm so proud! He is such a good boy :D! He did bug his dad for a bit asking "Are we there yet?" like your usual kiddos under 8 *LOL*. But maybe the 18 hours drives to and from Jakarta he often took with his grandparents are good training for his travel-patience!

Let's start with my OOTD, shall we? I often see "airport fashion" posted everywhere now *LOL*. While i'm never overly fashionable in my flight attires, i also refuse to look fugly! But comfort is definitely a must for flight outfits, especially the longer ones!

I almost always opt for leggings and loose tops for my flights. And i wore sneakers because SG airport security's too fussy, they might ask me to remove my boots and it'd be such a hassle so sneakers' the only sensible option! I actually wore a security shorts that i hiked up to stop the legging from rolling down (am i the only one who suffer from this???) but it kept on peeking out under my not-too-long top, so in the end i pulled it down and wear it like it's supposed to be visible. I should've opted for a black one (instead of a baby pink one that i actually wore) but by the time i realized that of course it was way too late already :p

Soft and natural make up for the long day of traveling (the flights might only be 6 hours in total, but the traveling time's more like 12 in total!)

Toting my dinosaur jacket (with "spikes!", you'll see more of the jacket in details in next day's entry) and my super spacious new Stradivarius bag. 
NY Tee : New Look, Grey legging with fake pockets : free from buying stick on bras *LOL*, Grey striped knee socks : i don't remember T.T, Sneakers : Nike

Speaking of the Stradivarius, G told me it looked so roomy (it is! It's super huge! One of my biggest bag, actually, perfect for traveling) and sturdy yet still classy and fashionable. Well, not long after that convo via BBM, i found one end of the strap actually hanging on by the thread (literally)! Thank God it was on the last day!!! I've got them repaired by now so it's all good (but it doesn't look like it's gonna last for long. The bag, i mean. LOL. I did get it on a pretty huge discount so i guess it served its time).

We took some pics in Changi Airport during our transit. It was a 4 hours transit and i thought it was very long, i'd get to shop and all, but apparently with the slight delay (they were having the Air Show or whatever so planes approaching Changi on earlier flights mostly had to be on hold in the sky for 15-20 minutes, or more! My family-who went to Singapore to attend my cousin's wedding-also experienced the same thing), having to go to the transit booth to get our next boarding pass and Singapore's early and prompt boarding time-we only had enough time for lunch and had to rush to the next gate! (i did manage to shop at Accessorize for a bit though, read about my haul here)

Changi now has Nature Trail, a series of various kind of gardens in the airport itself. Brilliant concept! We only managed to see this Enchanted Garden (at least i THINK this is the Enchanted Garden!) but on our second transit back to Indonesia we also got to see the Sunflower Garden

Baby Boy, who's totally obsessed with tossing coins into ponds/fountains/etc, saw some of coins inside the pond and insisted on tossing one too. I was pretty freaked out as i'm not sure we're allowed to do that #criminalalert, but seriously... it's so hard saying no to that face!

Can you see the coins?

No, i'm not interested in the kois, hunny took all these pictures and i thought i'd just feature it here :p

90% of the time he can't focus his eyes on the camera, even though he's the one who asked for a picture to be taken! It's so annoying! He has his daddy's darting eyes, grrrrrr

One mo

Aish, got photo-bombed by the Pak Cik -___-

Baby Boy, being a good boy and feed himself like he's supposed to in the entire trip. If only his grandma can see that this is a good thing, especially for a big boy (he's already 6.5 years old, grandma, please!!!) like him! *sigh* It's something that needs to be done, not a punishment! He loves that (expensive) chicken rice btw!

Hunny's nasi lemak

My fave Singaporean food : Char kuey teow! This one in terminal 2 is quite nice (but hunny forgot to ask the uncle to make it spicy zzzz) but totally inconsistent! I only found two cockles in this portion (i ate the same thing on the way back and it's got quite a lot of cockles while hunny's only got one!) and that's so sad coz i love cockles!

Why so stiff, Boy?

The beauty of bringing a little kid on travels, i get to snap pictures everywhere like a total tourist and don't have to be (too) embarrassed about it!

Soon we had to go to the gate to board our next plane

Baby Boy's always acting like a total big kid, i keep on forgetting how young he still is. We were unsure if we're qualified as the "passengers traveling with little children can board the aircraft first" *LOL*, of course we are! The perk of having your kid with you on your flights!

About 4 hours later, we finally arrive in Hong Kong! I consulted with Alison (a friend who's a native Hong Kong-er and the one who got me the Collection project) about this trip months ago, she's super helpful (we stayed in Eaton Hotel with her advise, thank you Alison!) but when i asked her about the weather she was like "It's probably 15-18 celsius. It's never that cold anyway in Hong Kong" SERIOUSLY Alison? It was FREEZING!!!! The lowest temperature we got on this trip was 2 celsius (and the hottest was about 10 *___*), people were still wearing padded and furry winter coat! We packed like it was spring -___-. 

We first experience the bitter wind when boarding a bus to take us to the arrival hall BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, shaking immediately!

Bundled up Baby Boy ASAP

Getting Airport Express pass

If you're traveling in groups (all i know is the group of 3, they might have bigger group packages as well, just ask) it's much better to get this kind of package. Only HKD 190 for three persons (it'd be more expensive if your hotel's in Hong Kong central area). After you alight the train, they also provide shuttle bus (for free, as long as you have the pass, but they never even checked *LOL*) to take you to your hotel! Taking taxi can easily cost you HKD 300-400 (and they charge extra for every luggage you put in their trunk), plus you'll get more experience with this!

It was getting late and we're not sure if our it'll be easy to get food around out hotel (It's REALLY easy. So if you're staying at Eaton Nathan Road, don't worry) so we decided to buy some McDonnald's at the airport so we can eat (and more importantly, feed Baby Boy!) as soon as we arrived at the hotel. Shouldn't worry so much, they also have McD just round the corner from the hotel *LOL* better safe than sorry, right!

The comfortable, clean and fast Airport Express

Baby Boy was really excited

The Big Boy was also pretty excited haha

Waiting for the shuttle bus

I must admit, i was... really taken aback when i see the shuttle bus! After seeing the high-tech Airport Shuttle, i expected something errrr... newer for the shuttle bus as well. But the shuttle bus is actually a very old, rickety mini bus, just as old as the uncles driving them *LOL*. Btw, Hong Kong bus drivers, not any better than Taiwan's! Super scary OMG, i kept on having to hang on for dear life or else i might be thrown around whenever the uncle's making a turn, just like our poor purple luggage! It actually flew around wildly, in the end hunny had to hold it with his legs! Super scary WTF.

Didn't have time to snap picture of the bus (it's acually quite similar with the bus we took to and from Taipei airport that i also didn't get to snap a pic of! LOL)

After a pretty long (and scary) drive, we finally arrived at Eaton Hotel (Nathan Road, we stayed in another Eaton on the last two days). We were very confused at first because the first reception-looking area was outside! Apparently it was the concierge and the reception's on the second floor! Something new for us haha.

The lobby. Very elegant looking, i immediately felt happy when we entered, this hotel must be not bad! Haha (i was right)

Lots of statues on exhibition on the lobby, Baby Boy-the museum lover-went round and checked out every single one of them (and i had to follow because i'm afraid he might touch something!)

The hall in our floor

Our room for the next 2 days!

The room itself was quite small (but bigger than the hotels we stayed in Taipei) but very comfortable, clean and homey. I loved it!

Asked for twin beds

Reasonably sized bathroom (not big but not ridiculously small either, just enough)

Cute trash bins haha

Can't. See. Mirrors. Must. Do. Selfie.

As it's quite small, they had to be creative and put stuffs in sort of hidden style. I totally thought they didn't provide any coffee/tea and the kettle to boil water, but hunny showed me right away :

Can you see it?

Down there hahaha. I also had difficulties finding the hair dryer that hunny had to call the receptionist, it's in a hidden drawer under the sink! Will show you on the next entry

Baby Boy and i are quite taken with the cute little lights!

Apparently it's Eaton's signature because they have the same lights on Eaton House (where we stayed for two days in the last days in Hong Kong) even though their concept's totally different

I'd ask hunny every day "Should we bathe Baby Boy? If not i'm afraid he'll be itchy, if we do... it's kinda coldd!!!" to which hunny stopped me from asking after a few days (Because i kept on asking and he kept on bathing him anyway :p)

All in all i am very satisfied with this hotel! The only reservation i got (throughout the trip actually) was the heater. I Googled and they supposed to have a self-controlling AC/heater, but the AC in our room only reached 26 (usually you change it to 30 to turn it into a heater) and it was COOOLLLDDD!!!! But it was not so cold that i couldn't sleep (that's later), but it was pretty disturbing. Wonder if we're being stupid or the heater really doesn't work in our room? (i Googled some more and lots of people seems to be voicing the same thing, though!)

As for the price, it's not exactly cheap but i guess hotels in Hong Kong are not the cheapest (but it's okay compared to Singapore and their CRAZY hotel rates) but i got this hotel for around IDR 1.500.000 for the second night-which is the price with a 20% discount (early bird price), but the first night which we booked only about a week before the d day (due to our flight's cancellation and change of plan) so we had to pay the full price which is pretty high, around IDR 1.700.000. So i'd recommend booking in advance (like, months before if possible) instead. It's quite nice for a 4 stars hotel and the price's not too bad compared to the room we got.

It's quite suitable for families and couples so quite recommended. Speaking of which, i just discovered Airbnb.com where you can find hundreds of accommodations fit for every budget! I want to try staying at people's rented rooms now! I think Japan is suddenly very affordable when i see people renting their rooms in Shibuya/etc for RM 30 per night!

Oh yeah, i also went on a little scare of (again) a double charge since i booked the room via two different agents (Agoda and Asiatravel), both i thought already charged upon reservation (which is not the case with Asiatravel, even though i already purposefully asked them if they're going to charge my credit card upon reservation or arrival, to which they replied reservation-but it's totally wrong!) but charged again on my newest bill (Lola Box all over again), but the hotel, Asiatravel (even though i'm still holding a  grudge over the wrong answer they gave me before zzz) and Agoda (that ended up got nothing to do with this whole confusion) were all very helpful and the whole thing's solved in less than 24 hours! The hotel also patiently replied my every e-mail, even though they didn't bother to reply my last e-mail thanking them for the assistance :p (so maybe that's something to work on, hospitality's #1 for hotels after all!).

Anyway!

Here's our McD dinner!

There was a time when the only McD that serves rice is Indonesia's, you know? Those days are long gone. Now Asian countries seems to race each other to come up with yummy rice based meals!

The curry chicken rice

Errrr....Chicken something2, that i liked better than the curry. Baby Boy quite liked it too and ate quite a lot. Portions in Hong Kong's pretty big so i usually avoid ordering food for myself, most of the time Baby Boy cannot finish his portion!

Red bean pie, which is yummy-but hunny didn't like it (he prefers Singapore BK's taro pie!)

After dinner and washing Baby Boy, it was almost 10 but hunny wanted to explore the area for a bit, especially to see where the nearest MTR station (Jordan Station) is located, the receptionist said it was about 5 minutes walk.

I'm getting so fond of taking their backs pictures, hand in hand. It'd be so cute to see Baby Boy getting taller and taller beside his (quite tall for an Asian guy) daddy. Wonder if he'll ever be as tall (or even taller) than his daddy?

The front of Eaton Hotel

We ended our short adventure with shopping for snacks (and some temaki sushi for breakfast, which ended up to MY breakfast, not that i'm complaining, i love their temaki sushi and onigiri!) at 7 Eleven just opposite our hotel. We ended up getting a lot of meals in 7 Eleven (every morning because we're too lazy to get out before we're ready and we need to feed Baby Boy first! Also some nights when we're simply too tired already), is it really weird that i really love all those pre-packed meals they have? LOL. Kinda miss them now! And so cheap too, perfect for travelers on a budget. As for us, our mealtime's severely bipolar, either at very expensive restaurants or super cheap pre-packed meals in 7-Eleven *LOL*.

And that's all for our first day in Hong Kong! Leaving you with a picture of my two boys sleeping soundly (i took it in the next morning, mommies are always the first to rise, yea?).

Actually Baby Boy started the night right next to his daddy but daddy's scary LOUD snores drove him away! LOL

We went to Ocean Park (for a whole day!) on the second day, please look forward for it :D!

#Pink

PS : Have a great weekend! Mine's shaping up real good!