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Motormouth From Ipoh

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Hong Kong/Macau 2008 - Star-Struck @ Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, The Peak

With the bowl of Curry Lamb Noodles still lingering in my bowels, we walked to Causeway Bay MTR station and took a train to Admiralty (HKD3.60/RM1.60), where buses to The Peak and Ocean Park are in service.

Sleek, and stylish architecture
From Admiralty MTR station, follow the signs in order to exit accordingly. Another plus point about Hong Kong's MTR stations is that the various exits branching from one station complements your journey on foot so well, as you're protected from the forces of nature while trying to reach your destination. And yet till now, there is NO LRT service DIRECTLY to Midvalley/1Utama/The Curve. Kudos?

The Tram to the Peak

A short walk from the station, we followed the signs and took a bus No 12A (HKD4.30/RM1.95)in order to reach Hong Kong Park, where the tram station to The Peak is within its vicinity. Two-way tram ride, including entrance to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum cost HKD150/RM67.50 per person. For an additional HKD20/RM9 per person, you're entitled to reach Sky Terrace, the erm, PEAK-most portion of the Peak, for a 270 degrees view of Hong Kong's skyline. However, the weather was terribly hazy, thus we omitted this option.

Sit on the right side of the tram, if you want to view the skyline while on your way up

Colourful tiles on the wall

Of course, The Peak does not consist of only the wax museum and sky terrace. There are two adjacent shopping complexes, "imaginatively" named Peak Tower and Peak Galleria, housing several restaurants, and cater to your shopping needs, albeit more for souvenirs-scavenging frenzy.

Smile. Pose. Touch. The closest you can ever get to so many superstars.

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Hong Kong originated from London, and thus far has few branches all over the world, appeasing our lust for some starfest, a child-like nature embedded within each and everyone of us. Seriously, who doesn't experience a rush when bumping into a movie star on the road? Though throughout our journey in Hong Kong, the closest brush with some superstars happened only at the museum. =)

Fancy shaking hands with Mel Gibson, Eddie Murphy or the models?

Or stroking Aaron's bare chest, or even picking on Leo's blue hair?

The living Brangelina and the late Leslie Cheung ... Somehow Cecilia's statue did not hit the spot, unlike Andy's Infernal Affairs set up.

The Royalties - The good guys, and the moustache-y villain

Bae's arm is cradling (craving) for some lurve ... while Leon's been falling off his bike for some time now. Sport stars are equally worshipped as well.

The DIVAS of Canto-pop. Miriam Yeung, Joey Yung, TWINS and Anita Mui.

Of course, there are a whole bunch of wax statues on display, and you can easily spend an hour or two posing all you want and snap lotsa pics to your heart's content. After all, the nearest wax museum would have to be Shanghai, and the rest in Western countries. After the tiresome ordeal (hehe) we proceeded for dinner at Hong Kong Day, a 'char chaan teng' outlet in the same building.

The Stir-fried Spaghetti, Fried Rice with Shredded Chicken, and Wanton Flat Rice Noodles

Dinner's a meagre affair. Most (if not all) did not hit the spot. And pricier than your average HK meal to boot. But this being a designated tourist spot, the quality : price ratio is understandable. Wait till you read bout the Ocean's Park's disastrous lunch.

Dinner for four : HKD167/RM75. Not recommended, but then again, the other restaurants around the area are posh options and definitely higher-end, in terms of pricing.

The beautiful, yet hazy skyline view from the top

After hanging around for a while at the top, we descended the hill and took bus No 15C to Central MTR station. The bus caters to passengers from The Peak, and ferries them to Star ferry terminal at Central pier. But we chose to alight at the MTR instead and took a train back to Mong Kok (HKD9.50/RM4.30).

Once back at Dragon Hostel, we embraced our well-deserved rest and nursed our fatigued limbs. Oh, all the while watching Moonlight Resonance for free. Hehe ... The TVB drama's been gaining ground in Malaysia, and at that moment I've watched 30 episodes of them. In Hong Kong, the drama's popularity soared sky-high as well, as the residents in Hong Kong and Macau watch the nightly 9.30pm drama with great anticipation.

Tai Leong Pat Kee's bowls of wonderful desserts

Accustomed to Hongkie's favour for desserts, we craved them every night for supper. And even in the late hours of the night, the crowd at Mong Kok was superb. At every corner, people would be crowding the roads, the shops, and especially the cafes for some late-night grubs.

Our second visit to Tai Leong Pat Kee (first visit HERE) revealed a rather interesting fact. Though bearing the same name, different outlets in different areas (our 1st was at Parkes St, near to Temple St) charges different prices. Though this one at Mong Kok was a bit pricier, the 'tong sui' (sweet soups) are refreshing to the palates and appease my sweet tooth nicely. The cold & golden concoction of "Yeong Zhi Kam Lou" (Mango/Pomelo/Sago) was delightful, and every spoonful was heaven. At HKD16/RM7.20 per serving, it was definitely cheaper than Hui Lau Shan's. Mboy had Coconut Milk with Sago (HKD12/RM5.40) while TallGal tried their Walnut Soup (HKD15/RM6.80).

A departing shot of an irreplacable Samaritan ... "Your candle burnt out long before, your legend ever did"

to be continued ....

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did not visit Mdm Tussards but I think I wud like BeiYongJung best. Yah remembered that song from Elton John yah!

Eh u at the Peak until nite fall... that's long.

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

hi there. passed u an award. pls check on my site.

JeromeFo 令狐冲 said...

Ohgod
I love the night view pic
Awesome*

Ciki said...

haven't been up the peak in ages.. how nostalgic !

backStreetGluttons said...

wonder did you indicate to the HK's inimitable copy stylists to remember to model some of our top superlative food bloggers aka

motormouth , drama queen , SS2 princess plus team bsg and then some

in their next groundbreaking Wax relaunch n Expo season of
Spring 2009 ?

shud be a record sellout

Big Boys Oven said...

lovely post! gorgeous Hong Kong! you captured them so well.

SuwEi said...

Finally you have the chance to meet with some superstars.:P Waiting for your next episode from HK.

sc said...

i am simply amazed by the amount sights, sound and food that you managed to squeeze in for that few days! quite a feat!

HairyBerry said...

wow! you stayed on the peak from morning til night? hehehehe....nice pic of HK's skyline at night! i like the cool weather there! :)

Allie said...

It's quite hazy at The Peak huh?
Luckily when I was there the weather is not hazy.

J2Kfm said...

jencooks: haha, we went at around evening, and stayed in the museum for a while. then we went for dinner, and voila! it was dark b4 we knew it! :)

thanks terri for the award. appreciated.

jeromefo : the view was indeed a sight to behold. but had it not been so hazy, the view's even better.

cumi & ciki : in TVB dramas, so often the Peak was shown as THE spot to be for either murder, or dating spot. LOL

bsg : hhahaha ... good one. though the crowd would never appreciate seeing unknown floggers with oily mouth, and bulging tummy (me). :)

BBO : thanks!

suwei : yeah, somehow the episodes seem never-ending huh? but gonna reach the climax liao.

sc : hmm, it was packed, but in some way, still relaxing.

nic : hw i wish it was cool. we were drenched in our sweat that evening. imagine the humidity level.

allie : yeah, I saw your pics, and they are clearer compared to mine. sigh ... guess we went up at the wrong time?

choi yen said...

The pomelo dessert make me salivating~~

Shell (貝殼) said...

i wan the big Wanton ~~ malayisia wanton all in mini size :(

J2Kfm said...

mimid3vils : yeah it still does, to me. spoonful after spoonful of delightable sweet solution.

shell : yeah! the wanton in HK all very big size. with a big, juicy prawn inside. or two.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

you didnt funny pose with the wax statues??? oh wat a waste..or did u hide it all?

J2Kfm said...

joe : haha, of course we did. stupid funky poses, but cannot show here lah. else blog will runtuh. =P