Holiday Inn Express SOHO, Hongkong

I was on business trip to Hong Kong end of September.  Originally, I was thinking to extend over the weekend and go to Shenzhen.  However, as it is too close to Golden week, I decided not to go to Shenzhen as I was worry to be caught into the jam in the traffic crossing the causeway.

After searching high and low for "cheap" hotel in HKG, as I cannot manage to get a flight back home on Friday night, as I was not aware that 1-Oct is also a holiday in HKG, which make it that Friday as a extended weekend for people taking Monday off, I decided to stay in Holiday Inn Express SOHO as it has agood review.

Holiday Inn Express (HIX) SOHO is located in Sheung Wan area.   Actually the location is about 5 minutes walk to Sheung Wan MTR station (exit A2).  It is also quite a walking distance to Central (about 15 minutes walk).

The hotel is rather tall, 38 floor if I remember correctly.  The room is typical HIX style and it is quite comfortable for Hong Kong standard.

The bath room is rather small (well what you expect as it is HIX), but interestingly, the bath room door is also served as the shower area door.  If you close the shower are door, you cannnot close the bath room area, if you close the bath room area, then it means you open the shower area.  It is quite intersting.

Here is the view from my room on the 25th floor.

Not so bad view, as you can see the Kowloon side although a little bit bloced by some buildings closer to the water.

Internet connection is free and also breakfast.  The breakfast is served on the 2nd floor in the Moon Thai restaurant.  You can see in the lift that it has been highlighted that the restaurant is run by independent operator rather than the hotel, hence HIX or IHG is not responsible for anyting related to the restaurant.   You are given the coupon upon check-in which you need to show every time you go for breakfast.  I guess at the end of the day, the restaurant will need to submit the coupon to get paid by the hotel.

Breakfast is OK.   However, I saw the exact same items for both days I stayed there.

I am a IHG Platinum, however, as this is HIX, I did not expect anything.  But surprisingly, the housekeeping came to my room and gave me 3 cans of drinks and 1 oreo biscuit!!!

Overall, it is decent hotel in Hong Kong.

Airlines Special Meals

-- Updated 16-May-2018 --

See my other post about airlines meals  (updated 5-Sep-2018)

 If you travel to certain route quite frequently, you will find out that you may get bored with the normal meal as it tends to be "similar" and perhaps they change the meat (from pork to beef to chicken to fish) but with pretty much same style. If you get sick and tired of normal meal, you may want to venture into special meals. Typically people will choose Seafood meal, but again, you can pretty much predict what you get on Seafood meal. It is mostly either mesh potatoes / spaghetti with creamy sauce with seafood. Again, you may get scallops and prawn this time and cod fish or dory the next time, but it is pretty much same style of cooking. Recently I decided to opt for Moslem meal; with I found it quite interesting and nice. I will try to update this page to show the different Moslem meal that served. Perhaps soon, I will venture into Non-Veg Hindu special meal also. Enjoy!!!

SQ002, SIN - HKG, 25-Sep-2013, Dinner.

Muslim Meal.  I believe the meat is mutton (rather than beef).  The carbo part interestingly is not rice (as per expected) but rather mesh potatoe.  The intersting thing, the sauce in the mutton is not really rendang/curry, I cannot really tell what it is, but it is nice.


SQ861, HKG - SIN, 29-Sep-2013, Dinner.

Muslim Meal. I read someone mentioned that SQ Muslim Meal ex-SIN is the nicest.  So I do not expect much for the catering ex-HKG.  But actually the food is not that bad.  But it is rather like Indian food.  The rice is like briyani rice but white in color and the meat is mutton curry.  Not as nice as ex-SIN but still good.


SQ866, SIN - HKG, 3-Nov-2013, Lunch.

Muslim Meal.  Looks very similar to my dinner on SQ002.  It seems not much variation like people said.  But I like the side dish.  Prawn salad with Thai chilly dressing.  Not so fancy about the mutton, although it is not bad.

SQ865, HKG - SIN, 5-Nov-2013, Dinner.

Hindu Non-Veg Meal.  As some one said the Hindu Non-Veg meal is quite nice, I tried to venture into it.  Well, I do not really like the side dish.  It is a chicken cube with some herb.  The chicken is very dry.    The main dish is almost similar to the muslim meal I had before ex-HKG but the veg is spinach which is nice and you get extra naan.

Overall not so fancy about the Hindu Non-Veg for now.


SQ866, SIN - HKG, 18-Nov-2013, Lunch

Seafood Meal.  Forget to change my default meal from Seafood meal to something else.   The side dish is Tuna salad (I still prefer prawn salad with Thai sauce which normally provided in Moslem meal).  Main dish.   Some fish (cod fish?) with kind of sauces and potatoes and brocollies and pumpkins?  The fish is as bit too dry in my opinion.   My special meal came only after every one else got their own meal.  Not sure what went wrong.  The water also came still have some ice.  I guess they put the trey in the freezer?


SQ871, HKG - SIN, 20-Nov-2013, Dinner

Moslem meal.  The side dish is a slides of salmon salad.  there is only 1 slice of salmon.  The main dish is Lamb meat with kind of rendang (but not spicy) sauce and sweet potatoes and some veggies.   Not really nice.   Lucky I have already had the wanton soup and laksa in the lounge earlier.


TG404, SIN-BKK, 9-April-2014, Lunch
TG606, BKK-HKG, 9-April-2014, Dinner

Seafood meal.   No, I did not make a typo on the title.  They served exactly the same meal on both flight.  Indeed, I think all Seafood meal ex-BKK you will probably the same stuff as this pictures.  I saw the same meal on my SIN-BKK-SIN late March-2014.  It seems SIN-BKK meal is also ex-SIN


TG639, HKG-BKK-HKG, 11-April-2014, Dinner

Seafood meal.   I almost decline the special meal that I reserved when the FA confirmed my special meal as I was afraid to see the same stuff again.  interesting, TG is actually get the catering ex-HKG.   Well it does not seems any better.   I really do not know what it was.  It tastes something like fried prawn paste.  The rice was also more like risotto type rather than Asian rice.



TG401, BKK-SIN-BKK, 14-April-2014, Dinner

Songkran meal.  This is a truly special meal.  It was Songkran special served by TG, I think 15-days since Songkran.   The meal is chicken with some sauce.  It is quite nice. There was a white chocolate withy Happy Songkran on the top of banana cake.

SQ866, SIN - HKG, 27-May-2014, Lunch

Moslem meal.   The worst Moslem meal that I ever had ex-SIN.   The salad was not bad.  The main course is really bad.  It was chicken breast in tomatoes sauce and spaghetti.  The spaghetti was so dry that I cannot eat.  The sauce is too little and the chicken is too dry.   The dessert is nice thought.



SQ871, HKG - SIN, 29-May-2014, Dinner

Seafood meal.  The meal is ex-HKG.  A typical seafood pasta with creamy sauce.  The pasta is very dried.  The appetizer is quite nice slice Tuna.   One of the worst meal.   I am not sure why the Seafood meal cannot come in Asian flavor.


TG410, SIN - BKK, 29-Jan-2015, Dinner

Standard seafood meal by TG.  Fish with tomatoes sauces and potatoes and veggie


TG4107 KUL - BKK, 13-Mar-2015, Dinner

Exactly the same meal as TG410 on 29-Jan.   This is very standard seafood meal from BKK catering.

TK69, BKK - IST, 1-Nov-2015, Supper/Breakfast

I was quite reluctent to order seafood meal, as most of the time I will get somekind of seafood in white creamy sauce.   So I called TK Office in Singapore and only requested the Seafood meal for my outbound flights.

I am not sure why there are 2 appetizerd but both are quite nice.   When I open the wrap, again I saw white cramy sauce type of seafood meal.   However, this dish is much better compare to what I had with TG (ex BKK) and even SQ.

I also like the way Turkish presented the culinary.  It is very neat and look a bit "high class"  (ok, some may disagree, but you know what I mean), make it very presentable even in economy class!!!

When they served the breakfast, no special tray was delivered.   I was thinking "oh well, it is just a breakfast, may be they onlly serve omelete and hence no seafood meal".   And turned out I was wrong.   When the crew was come to my row, he tried to confirmed my name and he said "this is seafood meal for you".   And this is what Ihad for breakfast

What I should have been taken was the picture of the ommelete broken into two part to show that the omelet was stuffed with salmon.   Again, the taste was very good.

Actually I quite impress with the food served by Turkish Airlines considering that this catering is not from their home base.   This should be either ex-BKK or ex-SGN.

SQ946, SIN-DPS, 14-July-2017,  "Late" Lunch (?)

This is the first time that I got "Asian" style Seafood meal in any airlines.   It is fish fillet with some sauce.   SQ also celebrating 70 years with serving Ete ice cream with "70 years A Great Way to Fly"

GA825, SIN-CGK, 29-April-2018,  Brunch

I requested Seafood meal on this trip.   It was fish fillet with sweet and sour sauce and some veggies.   The presentation is standard GA presentation which is less "glamour" compare to SQ, as it has less appetizer and dessert but the taste is OK.

Shwedagon and Golden Rock Pagoda - Trip to Land of Golden Pagoda (Final)

Mingalabar...   Sorry for the long delay for the final installment as I have been travelling.   I will just conclude this epsiode of my first ever trip to the Land of Golden Pagoda.

At the first night, we decided to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda.  We decided to walk as we were told it is nearby.  Well, later on we found out, the Shedagon Pagoda is not really that near from our hotel.  It is like 15-20 minutes good walk in not so good condition of the road pavement and badly lid street also.

We were kind of lost for a moment but start noticing there were quite some number of people walking to the direction that we think it will lead us to the Shwedagon Pagoda.  We indeed were right.  As it seems the Yangonese does visit the Pagoda for their leisure time in the evening.

In my imgaination, Shwedagon pagoda is just a one pagoda in the center of thr town.   When we arrived there, I am totally wrong.   The Shwedagon Pagoda is really a huge complex.  There at least 2 entrance to the compound.  We were in one of the entrance (East entrance??).  As like many of the Pagoda complex, the entrance is always guard by the 2 lions creature.

 

 

The entrace looks very grand and we thought this is it.  Well, later on we knows we were indeed very wrong.   As we made our way to the entrace, we found a big halls with escalators.  Indeed it is very high.  No footwear is allowed here.  There is a place for you to leave your footwear behind.   We notice many locals bring a plastic bag and put their footwear there and carry it with them.   Later on, we learn that this is the better way, so that you can exit from the other entrance rather than come back to the same place.   We also learn that it is wise to wear a sandal when you visit Myanmar especially when you will have itenerary to visit Pagoda as you need to take off your footwear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you reached the top part of the compound, you will start seeing so many Pagodas and many other structures.  It is a very huge compound and open space.  It is not recommended to come here in the mid-day as the floor will be hot and you have to be bear footed.   You have to pay a fee to enter as like many other Pagoda in Myanmmar.  Not sure if it is free for local.   When we left, we heard an argument from 2 gentelemens who refused to pay the entrance fee with the staff.  They said they were there in the afternoon and because it was too hot for them to walk bearfooted so they left and they came back again at night.  I really wonder if they realy have to "fight" so hard with the staff as I really think they can afford the entrace fee.

 

Here are some of the pictures within the compound.  It is quite crowded with locals who just hang out there to spend the night and pray.

 

 

 

 

We spend about an hour in the largest Pagoda in the country before we retreated back to hotel for dinner and call it a day.  We thought many Myanmmarese speaks English, however, this is not th case.  So it is still adviseable to bring a hotel name written in local language to give it to the taxi driver.

 

 

 

We need to have an early night as we need to wake up quite early for a trip to the Golden Rock Pagoda.  We have arrange for the car to pick us up at 4:30am.  However, we oversleep and the journey only start about 6:00 am in the morning.   The journey to Kyaikto which is about 180 km from Yangon take about 3-4 hours depending on the traffic conditions.  The journey was quite smooth.   We arrived at the "base camp" where we need to take truck up to the mountains.  Yes, it is a truck and you have to sit on the back of the truck.

 

The road to the top is really very steep.  We were told that during the rainy season there is no jorney to the top allowed as it is quite slippery.  This is why there is local saying if you manage to go up 3 times, whatever praying you ask will be fullfilled.  I do not see why it is a big deal until I realize it on how "challenging" to go up and I do not think I will do this again in my life :)

On the way up for some miscommunication, we decided to just pay the normal K3,000 and sit on the back of the truck.  However, on the way down, after experiencing it, we decided to agreed for K6,000/person to sit on the front (i.e. the proper seat in the truck) and we think it is worth to pay double the amount.  We were even thinking even if we have to pay K10,000/person, we will pay it :)

This is how steeps is the street taken when we went down.

 

And this is our truck that we took on our way down and we decided to pay extra to seat on the front rather at the back of the truck. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Rock Pagoda is quite small however it is hangging by the clift.   This is why the Buddhist believe that this Pagoda has Budha hair that keep it hanging. Again, when you visted the compound you have to take off your shoes and walk in barefoot.  It can be very hot and make your feet dirty. 

Many local normally will stay for a night so that they can pray multiple times in a days.  Hence, you see on the picture above many people carry "luggage".  There are many motels around the compound that you can choose if you decide to stay over night.  Some has even a wifi facilities.

For foreigner, you need to pay for the entrace fee and like other Pagoda in the country, it is administed by the government.

Here are some pictures from the top to give you some appreciation on how "difficult" to get there.

On the way back to Yangon, the driver made a stop on the city of Bago to visit anothe temple.  I guess the temple should be quite famous.   Here are some of the pictures.

 

On the 3rd day, we do not do much.  We visited the Bogyoke (General) Aung San museum which was the former house of him.  Nothing much there, but the insteresting part is that the area seems quite a wealthy area in Yangon.

Here are some of the picture of General Aung San house.

And here are some of his rich neighbours in the area

We later on continue to visit the newest mall in Yangon, Junction Square mall, which does not make you feel like you are in a very close country like Myanmar.  You feel like you are in Malaysia and Thailand town, if you do not see people wear Sarong (longji as the local called it).

At the last night, we decided to hang out at Chinatown which was quite lively.

This will conclude my first trip to Yangon.    I hope you enjoy it.

chei-zu-te  (Thank you)!!!