melt: Hong Kong - Introducing the fabulous Octopus

To those who are looking forward to detailed description of Hong Kong's top tourist attractions, I fear you might be a bit disappointed. Whenever my family goes, it's really just to be out of town, to enjoy different food, and to relax. As we know our ins and outs of the place, we did not sign up for any 12-hour day tours which starts with a complimentary 6am morning call. However, we did make it a point to visit a few places we've never been to on this trip.

Day 1. Thursday, Jan 26
Get yourself an Octopus card. This is one of the most efficient and helpful thing to have as a traveler in Hong Kong. You can use it on all of Hong Kong's transport systems - MTR, buses, ferries; fast food restaurants, supermarkets, 7-11, cinemas, vending machines, etc.. You can reload your card at any time should you run out of money on it. It will save you a lot of time from having to buy single tickets every time you travel on the MTR (which you will be doing a few times a day). The MTR is connected to practically every and any main buildings/hot spots you need to get to. Everything is just a few minutes walk away. Ocassionally you may have to take a bus or taxi, but it's cheap enough that you won't mind the extra cost. The underground connections between the entrances to these stations from the buildings/streets are really clean and cool (they're mostly air conditioned). Also there are bakeries, 7-11s, and lots of shopping that can be done while you walk from the station to your destination. Do not fret if you don't speak Chinese, everything is written and translated into English as well. There is no way you will get lost.

Arrived in the evening so we didn't do much but have dinner and walked along Victoria harbour on our way back to the hotel.