Celebrating Christmas @ Rio Vista 2009

It has been a Culture for us to celebrate Christmas @ my uncle place who have been a Catholic for a while. Since then, we have been celebrating this occasion. It is also a good time where the family gathers and catchup with each other having last seen each other during the Chinese New Year Period

Mum, sis and Baby Getting ready for the Party

The Place where the Christmas Party is held, Rio Vista, If u have not known, during the time when this Condo was bulid, it is consider a more valuable property as this is a "private" Property by private Developer. There is another Condo just next to it, Florida, which is a Government Condo unit - EC.

Look at the Spread of Food. Courtesy of a Caterer hired. 
Fried Rice!!! My Favourite, though did not have high expectation of Catered food though..lol 
Smoked Ham!!with a small pressie..wonder what happen to it in the end

"Zi Cha" Quality Stir Fried Vege.

We have Chicken !!!

Spring Rolls...forgotten what was wrap inside...lol

Nugget!!??

Sushi!!! Japanese mixed

Fried Dumplings...Yummy!!

Probably the most expensive among all, Swenson's Ice Cream Cake.

Got an opportunity to Try out my cousin, Gary Lens Collection, The Sigma F1.8 50mm Lens. Below are some sample shots. Motivated to get something similar though, less expensive, This Sigma Lens cost 500+

Was amazed by the "depth of Field" Feel of the photos taken
Portraits shot are extremely Natural.

Focus on the Subject is so sharp, it make the photo jump out.

Granny in Deep thought, looking at the kids having Fun

Baby Xuan warmed up to the company and played until she forgotten where she is

It was an enjoyable evening of catching up and also pressie collection, as what Christmas is always like

Lighting up The Street of Orchard Road - 2009

Wanted to give my new buy, The Canon S90 a night Tryout, Christmas Lit-up. But it is a rather disappointing trip as Din manage to find any interesting shots. Tiredness is also part of the reason, wasn't in the mood to think...

Centerpoint Decor seem interesting. A small display in front of their new extension with raindeer and Christmas tree.

The Newest and most unique shop arrange must belong to Orchard Central. Design with by An Australian Designer. The interior look more like a condo than a shopping center. But their Christmas design is rather unique. The Long Escalator up is brightly lighted up.

The building itself though not decorated as part of the Christmas light-up competition. It is still pretty amazing to watch the walk change color

Walk toward Plaza Singapore and manage to catch a shot of the Orchard Road street light up. Honestly, having seen the light-up in Singapore for years, still feel the organiser just save cost and reuse the decor over and over again, changing just the color of the lights and add a few more accessories....not impressed

Ended the photo-journey with S90 along Plaza Singapura. Did not find any fantastic shots to gaze at. Rather un-fruitful night.....Will be going for the Countdown with my Friend, YK. Hope it will be good. Fireworks installed for that night. But also lots of heads around as most folks would head down Marina Bay for the countdown.

Pearl of the Orient Day 4 : Leaving for Home

As our flight is in the evening at around 8pm. We find our self with some time to spare to do some last minute shopping.

Spend the morning enjoying Hong Kong Famous Dim Sum Breakfast at federal Palace just a short walk from our hotel. Order their Porridge and a couple of others which was recommended by their staff.

Their Menu for ordering, We just tick what we like.

Though it is the last day in HK, we are still in rather high spirits, probably due to the relative all right dim sum, though we have yet to find Dim Sum that we find it to be really good..lol

Baby Xuan have a first taste of HK's Dim Sum, she love it....

Here is the Map of Federal Palace
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After Breakfast, we decided to spend the day at CityGate Outlets to try to complete our shopping for next Year Chinese New Year. City Gate is located near the airport @ Tung Chung MTR Station

HongKong's MTR Ticket is very similar to the one use in Singapore. They have our Version of EZlink as well, They called it Octopus Card, cost around HK150

It was quite a long ride as it is very near the Airport and include a change at Tsing Yi. Took us close to an hours to get to the outlet

City Gate Outlets is deck in Christmas Decor, From Shoes to Christmas tree. Can really feel the Christmas mood in HK.

Photos we took @ CityGate

Our Home-grown Singapore Company can be found here as well. Sadly we choose not to eat here but....

At MacDonald instead. Price were a little pricier than Singapore's though

Everyone feel happy after a fulfilling Lunch. It is rather crowded here as well..

Baby enjoying her French Fries

After Lunch, We took the MTR back to our hotel @ Dorsett Seaview to wait for our bus to fetch us to the Airport. As we were still early, Some of us (me, my Sister and my bro-in-law) went out to have our dessert across the street.

The Ever Famous, cannot be found in Singapore -  許留山 

It was a relative mad rush at the airport as we din expect the walking distance from the Dining area to the gate to be so far. Was running all the way as our flight were on last call.

Lucky, we manage to make it on time

Here, end our first trip with Baby Xuan, it is a very interesting and tiring experience but it is priceless for sure.

Got to enjoy our Cathay Pacific Dinner before landing in the Wee hours in Singapore. And I got to work the  next Morning. Looking forward to our next Trip together

Pearl of the Orient Day 3 : Disneyland at Night

Weather turn a little chilly during the night in HongKong. It was like 30+C in the Afternoon, and drop to close to 20C in the night. Welcome to the Sub-Tropic Region where they have what we call Winter.

The Motive of staying till night fall, is to view the night Parade at Disneyland which are a display of people (Disney Characters) and floats light up to their full Beauty

There is really a huge crowd lining up along the street of Disneyland even hours before the parade were to being. I resign to the fact that I won't get good photos as I was unable to get close to the Parade.

Spend a little time at the gift shops along the street while waiting for the Parade to start since we can't get very good view, it doesn't matter whether we shop.

Little Baby still wide awake after a good nap in the afternoon. The Parade lasted about 30mins. Was too lazy to take photos as there are too many "heads" around.

The crowd die down after the show. 

Spend a little time around the park enjoying the weather before deciding to take the MTR back to our hotel

The Huge Christmas Tree at the Entrance of the park really bring in the Christmas mood. It is one of the biggest Tree I ever seen. Very comparable to the one back in Singapore @ Orchard and Vivo, but I think this one is taller.

It is a rather long journey back to our hotel and by the time we reached, the baby is fast asleep and me and my brother in law are taking turn to carry her back..lol

Tomorrow is our last day in Hongkong, Travel time seem to past very fast. We plan to visit City gate Outlets in the morning before heading back to our hotel for our bus to the Airport.

Pearl of the Orient Day 3 : Disneyland

Day 3 is a trip to the happiest place on Earth, The only one outside Japan and probably the Cheapest among all location. DISNEYLAND and also the smallest.

We brought the tickets for about HKD375, which works out to about S$65. Mum and Dad decide not to tag along and prefer to visit their Friends in HK. 

We have our Breakfast at this Congee cafe near our hotel called 海皇粥店. I t is located @ Lai Shing Building, 497A Nathan Road, Kowloon, just about 5mins walk from our hotel.

Ordered You Tiao, Their Version with You tiao wrap by flour. This version can also be found in Restaurant in Singapore, though is may not be as widely available in our coffeeshops.

A Bowl of Hua Shen Porridge, Yummy!!. I prefer Cantonese Porridge to the Teochew Version. Their Rices is so much smoother.

and a Cup of Soya Bean Drink

Porridge is a standard breakfast staple in the Hong Kong Menu, but it hard to find a good one without spending time to look for one....luckily we manage to find one so near to our hotel which is off a reasonable standard.

One thing I notice in this cafe is the amount of sauce they have for their porridge. Usually it is just Soya sauce in Singapore. Here in HK, we even have Peanut, BBQ, Sweet and sour. I personally like Peanut sauce.

Typical practice in HK is that, the waitress will come over and take order, and put a piece of paper like the one above @ your table. Once u finish your meal, proceed to the counter for your bill....(Similar to singapore in some ways..lol but alot Louder and might be ruder in someways)

It's a rather big contrast in terms of the amount of activities on this street in the daytime as compare to the night time. Gone now are all the stores being setup selling from toys to food much like our Pasar Malam.

We took the MTR, which is the more econmical way to reach Disneyland them to go by their shuttle bus provided by the Tour desk which charges a surcharge for a one way trip there. Took from Yau Ma Tei and change at Lai King towards Sunny Bay for the Disneyland line to Disney Resort

The Train (MTR) at Disneyland line is a very special Train. It really depict the Happiest Place on Earth Feeling, all their train have mickey Mouse Windows Design and even their Handle Bar are of a Mickey Mouse shape. No wonder this is the happiest places..in the World...I use to have this dream to visit Disneyland when I was a kid...those day coming here is so far-fetch....Kid nowadays are so fortunate.

It's a rather hot day in HK for this time of the year (Dec), temperature is like in Singapore, just less humid. 30C....unexpected really.

There is quite a crowd, took some photos before we cross the gate into Disneyland.

The Landmark Monument from the Cartoon Fantasia.

Even before entering the park, Xuan already feeling tired. At her age...afternoon nap is a must...Let see how long she can last here..lol

The Entrance to the Disneyland Park Resort. There are a couple of Hotels within the Vicinity, We didn't choose to stay here mainly due to the cost of paying for a 5star hotel....

I have been to a number of Disneyland Park, mainly in the States, must say...the model is all the same..it is only a matter of the size of the park. It was say HK's version is the smallest....Baby Xuan is really excited by her first visit to the Park.. Afterall, Disneyland is definitely more Child-friendly than Universal Studio which will open in Singapore next Year.

This First Place when we entered the park is the Main Street, USA, here various building  depict a typical Street in USA.

We went into this place called " Art of Animation" and was treated with a surprise by this Toy-Story illusion display. Pretty interesting, about your eyes play tricks on you. The Idea is that the turning of the stage cause the whole animation to come alive. Got to see it live to really explained...it...basically, everyone inside this picture comes alive...

Photo of me with Baby Xuan before proceeding to take the DisneyLand RailRoad.

With Mummy and Daddy, child at this age always have problem looking at the camera. She must be wonder what is there to look @...lol

The First Ride in the Park, To take the Train for a round the Park Ride. This Excursion stlye train will bring you for a grand tour of the Park into the 3 lands, namely Adventureland, FantasyLand and TomorrowLand.

It wasn't really a very long queue though....but thought it is a good way to see what to expect from the park.

Frequency of the Train Arrival is pretty fast, didn't wait for a long time, the next train arrived.

It is quite a long wait to departure as the staff confirm every single one is seated properly. There are a couple of "China people" who refuse to heek their advise...resulting in the long delay.

Xuan starting to feel cranky as the afternoon nap time is near.

As expected, Xuan need her afternoon nap afterall, she fell asleep shortly after we alighted. As it is around Lunch time already, We decided to stopby this Fast Food Restaurant to settle our Dinner. It look like the Disney's version of Macdonald....

There is quite a Crowd inside the Air-conditioned Restaurant, but we managed to find a seat @ the non-Air con area outside the resturant though.

This must be one of the most unsatisfying meal I have so far in HK, The food tasted bland. But there is really nothing much to expect from a Theme Park Fast Food Restaurant. Wonder Why MacDonald din want to setup a outlet here...(Must be due to the copyright or Disney's high rental rate)

But there is really nothing much to expect from Fast food as how good can they get....lol Their Fish Burger though really need improving ...

Xuan Rested for a while just in time for us to enjoy our lunch and rest for a while. Rented out this stroller for small fee or about 45HKD. She can be lazy to walk if she is tired. Anyway...she wasn't very good at it yet....so Renting this is a definite Need.

Wonder what is the big occasion that have the Local TV station Presenter, likely from their News Department at Disneyland Reporting news...!!!

The Queue at Disneyland can be quite long, though they are comparable to everywhere else in Other Disneyland, Lucky, most of the rides in Disneyland are child-friendly. Got on the "merry Go Round" Ride.

Got on the Flying Elephant Ride as well.

After going on a couple of rides...the baby is hungry for her milk...

There is this mobile Shop selling Buzz lightyear bubble gun that spray out bubbles. Baby have a fun time catching the bubble.

We later went over to The Ride " It is a small small world" boat ride. It is a really kidish ride, with lot of puppets singing. Below are some shots during the ride.

  

The Ride is basically a Visual Spectacular. Lot of moving puppets singing. 

Took a rest after the ride watching the World gone by. 


Got an Ice-cream for the kid to enjoy!!!

A photo @ the Castle.

As this is a Weekend, there will be a Disney Parade and Fireworks and there is this super talk Christmas Tree at the Entrance of the park and I am sure it will be magical at night when all the lights are lighted up..