Unique Architecture of Bryggen in Bergen

When we arrived in Bergen at 5th May 2013, we welcome by a light rain. Bergen - The City of The Seven Mountains experiences plentiful rainfall, almost everyday is raining. In recent years, precipitation and winds have increased in the city. From the bus we could see the hilly scenery of Bergen, we went directly for lunch to the most expensive hotel in town, called Terminus. While waiting for the lunch, I took some pictures in some beautiful corners of the hotel. The set menu lunch was provided in the continental Brasserie red room with its small gallery. The menu was simply, anyway the taste was quite delicious e.g. crème soup, chicken with rice, plum sorbet with watermelon.

After lunch the local guide brought us to go around the city, explaining each building history. Most of the building was still maintained with the original design. The bus dropped us in front of the Fløibanen funicular station. The train would bring us through the steep railway around 6 minutes to the top of the mount Fløyen. The seat was limited, so most passengers would be standing, the roof was made of glass, so you still could see clearly the sky and the scenery during the trip.

Just went down from the train, you could reach the wonderful viewing platform, known as Fløytrappene (320m above the sea)just with a few steps. It's very crowded, where you could enjoy the magnificent view of Bergen surrounding by mountains and fjord. It's very windy and cold. There was a small outdoor playground for children entertainment, also some souvenir shops where we could warm our body and protect from the wind while also doing the shopping. Two members of our group was left on the top when we returned to the bus, so the local tour leader volunteer to go back and ask the bus driver to bring us to the hotel. He had to wait for the train which would depart every 30 minutes.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the downtown, just next to the main tourism place. The tour leader asked us to gather in the lobby just around an hour after check in to walk together to the restaurant. Our restaurant just across the fjord, it's nice to walk in Bergen, the weather was clean and fresh, also the scenery was beautiful. The tour leader kept reminding us to hurry as we often stopped taking picture. He said that there would be a free time after dinner, so everyone could go wherever they preferred.

That's why we asked the restaurant to accelerate the service, as we didn't want to loose our time. We would like to enjoy the scenery before getting dark. A few steps from the restaurant, we approached the edge of the fjord. The picturesque & charming scenery could be captured from the heart of the city between the fjords and Bergen's 7 mountains. Beautiful yachts with houses on the hilly as the background, while the cloud was covering the top of the mountains.

From the same location, we also could see panorama of the old Hanseatic wharf buildings of Bryggen along side of the harbor, which has been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites since 1979. Bergen founded at 1070, has experienced many fires since, traditionally most houses were made from wood. Bryggen has been the nerve centre of the city for hundreds of years and the silhouette of its ancient gables is perhaps the most familiar image in all of Norway.

As our tour guide was busy with himself accompanying his favourite team member, we had to find the way by ourselves. Strolling on Bryggen area, enjoy the views and the peace & quiet environment while gazing down at the city. Narrow streets are a common sight in older parts of Bergen. We stopped by at 711 store as one of the Hanseatic buildings, it's interesting. The spectacular wooden architecture shelter painted white as the 711's interior, all the walls and windows' frame including the roof. It's still preserved and protected. They were not allowed to paint the wall with their own color, so they had to ask permission first from the government to ensure it matches with their neighbours.

Getting dark, we walked back to our hotel, Radisson Blu Royal, Bryggen 5835 Bergen, Norway, phone: 47-55-543000. We loved the room with its huge window to peep the fjord, also the beautiful modern interior of the lobby. It's around 7 degree Celcius at that night, so we had to wear our coat as it's very windy and cold. I loved the scenery in Bergen, it's worthy to stay a few days there, just remember to bring umbrella or rain coat, as rain could fall unexpectedly anytime.

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Spectacular Flamsbana Ride, Norway

After staying just for a night in the very beautiful city, Flam, we'll continue the journey to another city using train. After breakfast we went to the station that's closed to the hotel. While walking we enjoyed the weather and beautiful scenery surrounding by lake and mountains decorating with snow. The building near to the train was painted yellow made of wood looked beautiful, contrast with the mountains as the background.

Our tour leader had bought the ticket, while waiting for the train's departure, we took some pictures with other tour's participants. A monument in front of the station was built to honor the workers who had built the magnificent Flamsbana railway which was going through mountains with very difficult position and environment. They built the railway without any helps of modern equipments. It took years to finish the railway to enjoy Norwegian fjord landscape.

When the train was ready to depart, we rushed to get in to the lorry. Surprising, only our tour group was in the wagon as if our private carriage. Although the train was old (open in 1940), but the condition was very excellent, comfortable and clean. We started to enjoy the journey by seeing through the big windows at the right and left side. Taking pictures would not be good if we took from behind the window's glass, lucky that we could open top part of the window which was near to the door.

The train took us from Sognefjord at ocean level to the top of the mountain. During the journey, the scenery was very magnificent, we could see the steep mountain, fjord, and also the unbreathable waterfalls, sometimes we went through tunnels. Flamsbana did not run fast, only 30-40 kms/hours to give the passengers a chance enjoying the fantastic nature. Its track was quite steep, around 5.5% gradient for almost 80% of the journey using a normal railway.

We stopped by at the biggest waterfall, Kjosfossen, unfortunately it's still frozen at that time, so we could not see the enormity water splash of the fall. Snow was still everywhere although it's already May, maybe it's because of the global warming, so the climate was rather changed :-) We had to be careful walking on the slippery snow. Kjosfossen, an hourglass-shaped waterfall, with total falls around 225 metres (738 ft), is used to power the Flåm Line railway. If it's not frozen we would be able to see as if a woman dancing in the middle of the falls. In the summer some ballerina often dance and sing, dressed as a legendary Huldra, seductive forest creature in Scandinavian folklore.

After a few minutes stop, we continued the journey to Myrdal, more and more snow on the panoramic view. Near to the station we went through a tunnel with railing which was enable us to see the scenery through it. Arriving at Myrdal mountain station on Hardangervidda, 863 meters over the ocean, where we could take a break, to go to the toilet, having a cup of coffee or snack, or buying souvenirs. A pile of clean snow was piling on the edge of the station's building. I asked my sister's to take my picture playing with snow as I could not have it in Indonesia :-) Although my trousers were getting wet, I didn't care, I kept enjoying playing with the snow until my hands got numb. To warm my body, I went inside the station's building, then going out again to take pictures after I could feel my hands again:-)

We continue the journey to Voss with another train, while our bus would pick up us there. The houses look like "lego" toys, so cute. I could not imagine how people could stay there in the middle of the snow, while the road could not be seen as it's covered by snow. The Flamsbana journey was very unforgettable experience to enjoy picturesque nature, it's the most beautiful train journeys in the world and the leading tourist attraction in Norway, you should not miss it.

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Shopping Paradise, Woodbury New York

On the 12th Oct 2013, our friendly Indonesian friend was kind enough to bring us around New York together with his cute daughters, Jolene & Carice. As we stayed in Sheraton Edison in New Jersey, he brought us to the lovely "Evergreen Farm", 1023 Yardville Allentown Rd, Hamilton Township, NJ 08620, to have a Korean pear picking, it's quite far from our hotel, more than an hour drive, because there was a bazaar on the street, they closed the way, so we had to go around. We passed by some fruit markets decorated with big orange pumpkins to celebrate Halloween.

When we arrived at the farm, some cars had parked there. We directly went to the garden brought a big plastic bucket for the fruits. It's a "pick-your-own" method, you could pick the fruits directly from the trees, then weighing them to know the price. If we could not reach the tree, we could brought the ladder near to the fruits those we would like to pick. The children love it, Carice was enthusiastic to get the best fruit, she's strong enough to bring the ladder then climbing on it. Jolene, her elder sister was calmer, but she also tried to find the best one to give to us. The farm put an arch metal frame for the trees to grow, taking picture under the arch full of pear was very awesome.

Finally we bought quite a lot, more than 7 pounds. The pear was very fresh and sweet. Actually the farm has many kind of fruit plantation, such as grape and apple, but it's seasonal for each fruit, depends on the month. It also had a beautiful garden, full of colorful flower, some of them were very big. Mom was excited to see it, and asked me to take her picture with the wonderful flowers.

Woodbury Common Premium Outlets was our main destination on that day. It took another hour to get there, our friend was kind enough to bring Indonesian snack, even he cooked by himself some of the snack. Very delicious moon cake he made, could help to fill our stomach before lunch. He was so good in cooking, he also made very delicious sushi, he was able to serve party for sushi by making directly the fresh sushi in front of the guests.

It's very difficult to find the parking lot, although there was a very huge parking area. Lucky finally we could find one empty parking lot, then our friend brought the lunch meal. We had lunch in the shopping areas, sit on the traps under a flag pool surrounding with beautiful flowers in the pots under the sun shine, as all benches were occupied and the food court was very crowded during lunch time. After finishing lunch, we were very excited to visit the various branded shops.

Woodbury Common itself is also located in the beautiful big green hills, the shops were decorated beautifully. White wooden houses that line the squares and streets and are very nice inside with a nice atmosphere. We didn't plan to buy anything, but when we realized the price was quite cheap comparing to Indonesia, my sisters and I were bought some bags for working and leisure. Some discount sale was available in some shops such as Furla, Coach, GAP, Oakley, and others. It's getting dark, so we had to stop our hunting, closing with having dinner together with our kind friend's family. The children was tired and boring as they had gone there many times, so they only waited for us to shop, poor them.

We were very satisfied with shopping on the day, it's very worthy to go there. Regret that we didn't have enough time to explore the whole areas, someday we'll go back there. Thank you to our friend's big favour to entertain us during our stay in New York, it's very worthy for us. Your hospitality made us feeling home, wait for your visit to Indonesia Ham.

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Delicious Food in Bandung

I went with my mom and sisters to Bandung, one of the goal was enjoying the food. After driving more than 3 hours from Jakarta because of the traffic jam, we decided to have lunch at Mie Naripan at Jl. Naripan 108 which opens from 07:30-20:00. The location was at the corner of the street, always full of people, lucky that we could get the parking lot. The restaurant was so simple since 1963, still in old fashion home model, no aircon, just using the ordinary fan. The taste was so good especially for the fried meat ball. You could order the original noodle or the sweet noodle called "mie yamin", fried wonton also available to accompany your main menu.

Next destination for afternoon tea was Cisangkuy yogurt at Jl. Cisangkuy 85 was opened since 1976 at 06:30-20:30. It's next to "Pasar Cisangkuy", it's very crowded, difficult to get the parking lot. We had to park on the edge of the street under big trees, it's rather far from the restaurant. The restaurant atmosphere was nice, an old Dutch building with shady trees, so many food-stalls at the front of the restaurant sold many kind of food. My mom and sisters ordered the famous lychee yoghurt and fried sausages accompanied by French fries. I don't like milk or yoghurt except the frozen one such as ice cream, so I ordered strawberry juice. While waiting for the order, I checked the food-stall and interested in trying "serabi" similar to pancake, it's made of rice flour not wheat flour. I ordered two flavor for the topping, one was banana chocolate, while the other one was choco cheese. We were allowed to eat them inside the restaurant, you even could order it through the waitress's of the restaurant.

For dinner we went up to "The Valley" restaurant, where we could see the city lights from above. We got lost for a while as the signage was not too clear, and it's quite dark already. The road was quite narrow and steep, especially when we arrived at the restaurant Jl. Lembah Pakar Timur 28 (Dago), Bandung, phone 62-22-2511450, we had to park at the top parking area with quite steep road right after almost 180 degree U-turn. I was quite afraid, lucky that my sister was quite calm and she could manage it well guidance by the parking man. The evenings at The Valley Bistro Garden was very amazing, there was indoor and outdoor table, unfortunately the one at the edge of the cliff already reserved. The restaurant was decorated with many lights, it's very beautiful especially when you have dinner there. Some people even use it for pre-wedding photos. The restaurant was quite dark, only a candle in the middle of the table became the light when you read the menu. If you have an SLR camera, you could get an amazing view. I only had pocket camera and iphone, I didn't know how to set manually for the pocket camera, so I only used the automatic setting. The result was not too good, too many noise, and the detail it's not clear. The waiter was so nice, they didn't mind helping us to take our picture.

The food menu was very various from European, Japanese & Oriental cuisines, filled with flavour and elegance. As we were still quite full, we ordered some menu to be shared. We ordered spaghetti and meat platter, we also ordered the dessert, poffertjes, chocolate cake (contain cashew nut) with ice cream and banana cake with ice cream. The food presentation was very beautiful, the portion was quite big too. The spaghetti came complete with small lasagna and other condiment, while the platter was including the big grill shrimp. A live music was accompanying the guests to eat, it's quite warm & relaxed ambience. The weather was nice, it's quite mild and clean, far beyond the crowded traffic in the city. The food price was rather expensive, but it's worthy with the service and view they'd offered.

The next day after visiting Kawah Putih tourism place, you could find the story in another article in this blog, we had dinner at the delicious "Sate Maulana Yusuf", at Jl. Maulana Yusuf 21. The lamb satay was very tender, there was also chicken satay, we ordered it with rice cake. While waiting for the seller grilled the satay, we ordered fried tofu called "tahu pletok" and "tahu aci", it's fried with starch and onion. You could eat it with its special sauce, but I prefer to eat them with the satay peanut sauce :-)

Ma Uneh was also visited, it's a Sundanese restaurant at Jl. Pajajaran Gg. Terasana No.132 Bandung, phone: 022-4202568. We had to go through a narrow path to reach the restaurant, I don't think I could find it by myself, no signage. The restaurant providing all cooked food displayed for the guests. We only need to order by pointing the finger to the food, then they would cut in small pieces and serve it in the small plate to be delivered to our table. The rice was served inside a bamboo basket, the plain tea was served free of charge. I like the tongue stew and fried lung, you need to go to the cashier to pay after meal. I heard that they started from small stall, now it becomes bigger, cleaner and more modern with ceramic floor. Although the place inside the alley, so many visitors come, it's already popular for the delicious food taste, so people don't mind walking to reach it. The service was quite professional, no need to wait for a long time to be served although it's crowded.

Kingsley Batagor Jl. Veteran 25 Bandung, phone: 022-4207104, was also one of the place we visited. Batagor stands for "Bakso Tahu Goreng", meat ball and fried tofu and dumpling with peanut sauce. The complete portion was quite big, as we've just had lunch, I could not finish mine. The restaurant was quite big and new, unfortunately the service was not too good because it's too crowded. We had to remind the waiter many times and still wait for a long time to get our order. The other table who came later than us even served earlier than us. I also ordered the popular mix ice called "es Bungsu" contains of young coconut, fermented cassava, fermented black sticky rice, and pomegranate seeds.

The last place we visited for culinary was D'Jadul Restaurant at Jadul Village resort & spa, Jl. Terusan Sersan Bajuri no. 45 Lembang. Although it's near Bandung, to go there at weekend really needs a big effort. Anyway the place was very an exotic relaxation amidst rich heritage atmosphere, the food was also very delicious. Interior was decorated with antique collection, the signage for female & male at the toilet was unique. The 2 levels restaurant had a bar at the first floor with some couches. We took the second level to enjoy the scenery while having lunch. The stairs were made of wood while the railing was from bamboo. We ordered different menu, then trying to taste each other, the chicken teriyaki was nice. D'Jadul also had 21 villas and a museum, the lush garden around the villas were very amazing, ponds full of lotus. There were also beautiful ponds contained many Koi, another pond contained the alligator fish. To go around the big areas, they provide a golf cart, so old people still could enjoy it.

To buy snack, we also stopped by at Ny. Yong, Jl. Setiabudi 144 to buy the very delicious Gepuk (sweet & savory beef), it's quite expensive cost Rp. 14.000,-/pcs. You could ask them to pack 5 pcs/box or 10 pcs/box, it's included the sauce in the package. It's frozen, so you could bring it home safely, just fried a while when you would like to eat it later. Prima Rasa bakery & cake shop, Jl. Kemuning 20, the big snack shops in Bandung was full of people. It's very fun to shop here, so many variety snacks, from cake, chocolate to cracker. They also provide some tester for some snacks to be tasted before buying. If you go by flight, don't worry how to carry it, they would help to pack your shopping in the cartoon box. Bawean was the next cake shop we visited, it's popular for its Nougat Roll. As the oldest bakery restaurant since 1946, they still kept maintaining the high quality with traditional recipe. The shop was very nice, including small café inside to eat the cake or gelato. The snack packaging was very nice, anyway the price was quite premium. The guests were not as crowded as Prima Rasa, and less variety of snacks.

That's my culinary in Bandung, it's quite a lot I think. Just remind myself not to go to Bandung too often unless my diet would fail :-)

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Splendid Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

Visited one of the oldest and largest museums in the world, e.g. Hermitage Museum made me excited. Founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as the winter palace, became the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Now it's as art and culture museum contained over 2.7 million collection items in Saint Petersburg, Russia, unfortunately some of the building was under renovation during my visit. It's very windy, so we wore our coat, the bus stopped at the edge of the big square in front of the museum, let us walk and take picture at the square with the background buildings surrounding it including the huge museum.

The guide distributed the entrance ticket, we had to wait for the completeness of the group member, as the museum is so huge, the tour leader was afraid of losing the member as the time was very tight, only 3 hours for exploring it. The museum build with Baroque architecture style with green-and-white three-storey building. Entering the aisle we welcome by some souvenir stores, we had to take off our coat and leave it in the deposit counter. Some tour members were attempted to shop, but our guide prohibited and suggested to do it after exploring the museum. The elegantly aisle with the white arches and pillars were very beautiful decorated with yellow light. Some huge marble statues were decorated at the side of the aisle, we're not allowed to touch them.

Guidance by the local guide, we explored the ground floor which was designed by German architect Leo von Klenze using painted polished stucco, while the columns made of natural marble and granite. The first room we visited was the Egyptian hall in the eastern part of the Winter Palace, contained of classical modest antiquities collection. The most interesting one was the mummy including its coffin which was formed as a human and carved beautifully to save the dead body. Inside the coffin was carved Anubis, an incredibly ancient God, as the original God of the dead.

After going through red aisle, full of carved stone as the wall decoration on the left and right side, we arrived in a hall made of marble from floor, wall, up to the ceiling. No plain surface, all of them were carved and painted elegantly with soft colour, although no air conditioner it's cold because of the natural marble. We entered The Cabinet of Sculpture room which were full of white sculpture with Roman mosaic floor from the late 3rd century A.D. We passed through a small hall with an immense "Tsarina of Vases", weighing 19.2 tonnes, made of grey marble. It is a symbol of the extremely high professionalism of the stone-cutters of the Altai to work on the single five-metre block of Revnev jasper.

Continue to The Hall of Graeco-Etruscan Vases, a room with two rows of pillars made of gray granites. Some ancient vases kept in this hall provide a picture of the different centres of ceramic production in Greece and Italy. The wall and the ceiling were covered with painting inspired by the decoration of ancient pottery. Acanthus ornament and a meander pattern were embellished museum's mosaic floor. I didn't hear the local guide explanation, but busy to take some photos.

From ground floor we went up to the first floor via stairs on the red carpet, no escalator or lift here :-) Some senior people had difficulty to go up, they had to walk slowly climbing the stairs. A huge green Malachite Medici-shape vase enhanced by the gilded bronze elements - massive handles in the form of snake tails and hoops was put right beside of the end of the stairs. The Russian craftsmen who worked with malachite produced their pieces using "Russian mosaic" technique. They cut the malachite into thin slices and stuck them onto a base following the natural grain of the mineral so as to create the impression of a single piece of stone.

We also visited a room displaying Armour Set for Horse and Rider. Some armour clothes style including the helmet from 15th-17th centuries were displayed inside a glass cupboard. You could imagine how heavy the clothes, and how strong the army's physic during the ancient war, unfortunately we could not touch it unless it would ruin because of the age. We also explored porcelain collection, some of them were kept in a pyramid glasses with made of glass with golden frame.

Entered the central room of the New Hermitage called Italian School room, which was full of paintings and malachite creation. The room was guided by some persons to remind and warn the visitors not to touch the painting or sat on the furniture. The immense size, the striking ceiling decoration, the combination of rich red walls and the gleam of gilded frames and furniture, magnificent vases and lighting devices made of coloured stone together create an impression of truly palatial luxury. The display covers a period from the twilight of the great age of the Renaissance to the time when Rome became the school for the entire artistic world. Presented here are large-format works by artists of the Venetian, Roman, Bolognese and Florentine schools from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The most area I like was The Raphael Loggias as a copy of the famous Gallery created in the 16th century in the Vatican Palace by the architect Donato Bramante. Its walls and vaults were painted by Raphael's pupils with Bible stories. The decoration of the gallery embodies a typical Renaissance tendency to reveal connection between Classical Antiquity and Christianity. It's very colorful and beautiful pictures surrounding with golden frame. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the painting one by one, also a guide was definitely needed to tell the story. Anyway the full painting on the wall and arches created a beautiful picture on the photo.

Last room visited was the Pavilion Hall, to admire James Cox’s Peacock Clock. The Golden Peacock Clock was a present from Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin to Catherine the Great. It is the only large 18th-century automaton in the world to still be functioning in its original unaltered condition. The room was full of visitors from various group tours who would like to see the peacock closer around the big glass cupboard, it's really hard to get a full picture of the peacock, as the glass was full of golden frame.

The luxurious main staircase of the Winter Palace, known as the Ambassadors' Staircase or Jordan Staircase (a celebration of Christ's baptism in the Jordan River), was led us to end of the journey. Two broad flights of marble steps lead up to a landing embellished with grey granite columns. The 18th-century ceiling painting by Gasparo Diziani depicting Mount Olympus visually enlarges the interior that is transfused with light, gleaming gold and mirrors. The staircase (retaining the original 18th-century style) was adorned with statues, some of which were brought from Italy in Peter the Great's reign. It's very magnificent, imagine you could see the guest who would go for dancing ballroom through this staircase. It's really like the palace that we could imagine the grandeur and the beauty.

One could spend days in the labyrinthine rooms and anterooms and never see all the art on display, we had to rush, some rooms were skipped, anyway we had seen many great exhibits. The palace building was awesome, the collection was plentiful and the history was fascinating. It's a must visit when you travel to St. Petersburg. If you don't join a group tour, it would be better to rent an audio tour, so you'll understand what you see and enjoy the exhibits.

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Sunset at the Peak, the Highest Place in Hongkong

One of the must visit tourism place in Hongkong is the Peak located at Victoria Gap. I had been there a few years ago, now I accompanied my mom. It's a pity I've just realized after queuing at the tram terminal that I forgot to bring the ticket that we've bought, so I had to go back to the apartment. We left the queue, I asked my mom to wait in front of the office building, there was no chairs, until she had to sit on the stone. She experienced the pain as she's just felt down from the escalator, it seemed that her bone was fractured, so she had to eat the painkiller pill to release her pain to continue the trip.

The way to apartment was climbing the hill, it's very tiring, so I could not walk fast, even I had to walk reverse as I finished my energy. After taking the e-ticket I almost run back to my mom, at that time the queue was much longer, so we had to stand longer. I used regular Octopus card to ride the peak-tram, while my mom used the senior Octopus card. The price different was quite significant. It's almost an hour to reach our turn to go to the peak, we didn't buy the ticket to the observatory deck. It's the world's oldest and most famous funicular railways, the tram rises to 396 metres (about 1,300 feet) above sea level, so steep that the buildings we passed look like they were leaning a gradient of between 4 to 27 degrees!

Lucky it's still not sunset when we arrived at the top. Mom and I had a chance to take pictures under the observatory deck. The Peak Tower, with its iconic wok-like top, offers a dazzling array of shops and sure to make for many happy hours of great dining with a view experience, leisurely shopping and souvenir hunting. There was a square among the buildings with fountain, some backdrops displayed miniatures of old Hongkong were also good objects. We entered the other shopping mall building across the tram station, we found that we could see Hongkong from top of its mall free of charge. We enjoyed the sunset from there.

My sister's friend informed that the Vietnamnesse restaurant, Pho Yummee, was delicious, so my mom and I decided to taste it for dinner. It's a casual yet contemporary Vietnamese restaurant that offers a quick respite. No other guest at that time, we ordered the warm and delicious pho noodles and the yummy Vietnam crepes. It had an exceptional warm with very friendly waiters, relaxed and convivial atmosphere, with comfy mustard-colored sofas and white-washed seats complemented with round top dining.

Madame Tussauds was our next destination, a unique celebrity-inspired attraction that connects guests with famous people, famous events and famous times. Featuring six themed areas, provided guests with the opportunity to meet their idols and did the things that famous people do! Mom was really admired the natural beauty of the legendary British actress Audrey Hepburn. She also took a picture with her favourite rock & roll musician, Elvis Presley.

The attraction features over 100 local and international celebrity wax figures with exciting audiovisual effects and interactive experiences to create truly magical moments for all guests. Although we're tired, we were so excited to take pictures with the wax statue from Hongkong celebrities, royal family, musician, athletes, and fantasy kingdom.

The last destination was the peak market, the perfect place to buy something special for friends or relatives. The market features a modern reinterpretation of traditional Hong Kong venues, such as Temple Street and the Ladies Market with vendors selling Chinese artwork, silk collectibles and curios. For sheer variety of products and brands in all price ranges, The Peak Tower offers a unique shopping experience. From street markets style to traditional Chinese product stores, you can find everything from watches and jewelry, electronic gadgets to best-value antiques and collectibles.

We had to join a very long queue to go down by tram, it took almost 2 hours, standing on a really really long queue as all people also would like to go home at that time. The weather was quite cold and it's windy. Reaching the end of the station after riding the tram, we didn't have any energy to walk back to the apartment, lucky that we could get a taxi to go back. It's very tiring, but the peak was worthy to visit with its environment, food, scenery and shopping venues.

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