Had a simple breakfast in Causeway Bay, before setting out for Tai Po. Was accompanied throughout breakfast by classic songs from Beyond, now that's Hong Kong!
That's worth waking up early for
At a small cafe along a back alley (that played a good selection of Beyond tunes!)
This time, instead of cycling from Sha Tin to Tai Po, we reversed the direction, so we took the KCR to Tai Po. Our assumption that neighbourhood towns were relatively empty on a weekday noon was debunked when we saw the huge crowd consisting of the elderly and students in Uptown Plaza (Tai Po's neighbourhood mall), especially in McDees. Made me wonder why the students there were dismissed so early.
Purposely made the trip to Uptown Plaza for the delectable milk tarts from Pie & Tart Specialists. If you were to ask me, I probably could not stop describing how smooth and creamy these tarts are. Their milk tarts have a firmer milky filling (think jelly), while their cheese milk tarts contain liquid milk, set in place by a thin layer of cheese on top.
I do miss this occasionally back home
Slug interrupting my savouring and slurping of the milk
After that snack, we strolled over to Tai Po Waterfront Park, a good 15-minute walk away. Hong Kong really does a great job with the signposting - with the adequate and accurate signposts scattered close to one another, even in neighbourhood towns, it is easy to get to landmarks or places that are not your usual tourist hangouts.
Tai Po District
A busy but peaceful town
We were bowled over by how lovely the park was. It is an ideal setting for a day's relaxation by the water / kite-flying / jog. Singapore should do with more such waterfront parks.
At Tai Po Waterfront Park
The people who hung out there were mainly the elderly, with a few teenagers. The old folks were a bunch of kite-flying enthusiasts, gracing the cloudy skys with a variety of interesting kites - a mermaid kite, an eagle kite, 2 black bat kites and 2 carp kites. Really envied that they had all the time in the world to fly kites.
The mermaid kite with swirling eyes!
We went to the bike kiosk in the park to rent bicycles, and Slug insisted on renting the double bike despite my reluctance. Slug sat in front while I was at the back, and when he rode the bike, I had such poor leg synchronization that the pedals kept knocking the slippers off my feet. Also, the bike was shaking sideways and I was terrified that it would go over the railing and throw us into the river below. We thought switching places would help, but with Slug weighing down on the back wheel, I could hardly move the bike forward. Finally, he could not stand my whining and we exchanged it for two individual bikes, at no extra cost. Yay! Now I was really looking forward to cycling!
Bike kiosk in Tai Po Waterfront Park
Getting ready to cycle!
Sha Tin Park about 11km away
On the road!
Stopped by a nearby estate to get some refreshments
View of the Tolo Harbour
After about 45 mins of cycling, we finally caught sight of a refreshment kiosk. Then we saw the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and we realised that we were near where we stopped the previous time. I was confident we could complete the trail this time!
But first, some cool drinks, curry fishballs, fish siew mai and baked hotdogs
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ahhh ... the houses I wish I could live in
After our tea break, we continued on our journey, cruising through underpasses, cycled with a bunch of young people, passed by what we suspected to be a poultry abattoir or farm (had to hold our breath for 30 seconds), and after a couple more paths, we were finally in Sha Tin. We returned the bikes at the bike kiosk in Sha Tin Park, and boy, we could hardly walk with our hips feeling so sore. Finally, we accomplished the 11km bike track with 3 hours of cycling!
Following the young people
Along Shing Mun River
Finally reached Sha Tin!
At Sha Tin Park
Lek Yuen bridge
Christmas lights came on after a while
Christmas decorations in Sha Tin Park
We walked around in New Town Plaza, but we were so exhausted and aching all over that we decided to just go for dinner and then rest. For dinner, we hunted down a dimsum shop along Shanghai Street that Slug missed dearly.
First dimsum meal ever since we arrived
The dimsum shop along Shanghai Street
After dinner, we had more shopping at Temple Street before going for supper at KFC. This season's creation was the BBQ honey chicken wings set, which consisted of two honey chicken wings, crisscut fries, mushroom rice and a sweet treat: chocolate marshmallow pie. Something new for my palate!
Temple Street
KFC's latest creation
On our way back to our apartment
Another happy day spent relaxing, taking in the sights and eating, but my now-near-empty purse was indicating we were eating too much of our funds away. How to resist the good food here?
6 comments:
I luv the milk & cheese tarts too!!
I must have them always when I was in HK :-)
Somebody should bring the franchise to SG!!!!!
haha, why that time u never bring over! as in buy the recipe and bake urself?
erm recruit I'm a klutz when it comes to cooking..tt's y the dessert stall flunked wahhahaaha
btw i just opened the blueberries chocos..NICE!thanks:-)
haha! no lah, u hired an independent cook for the dessert stall rite? hey bt i think it might be a biz opp leh. do u think i can actually buy the recipe? do u think there's a demand for it?
really! now then open the chocs? arent they melting already? and u still havent go to robin's yet!
hee the cooks were ourselves...haha
many pple love the tarts!! i think that its a good idea to bring them in..but not so sure abt the sale of the recipe thou..
i kept the chocos in gd conditions k!! still have!!
i'm visiting him this fri..finally!
okay, when im free, i will trial and error and bake those milk tarts! hopefully it can be a biz op! CNY is coming soon!
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