KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

floppy wrote:

floppy wrote:

Sun_2010 wrote: Hi Floppy,
Are you back from Hkg?
Waiting for your review

Not really, I'm across the sea at Macau
But I can give a quick review of Holiday Inn Golden Mile

Pros
1. Great location - close to the MTR, lots of food options nearby, 2 nice shopping malls (K11 and iSquare) only a stone's throw away, Jenny's Bakery next door (and Cookie's Quartet slightly further away)
2. Price - one of the better option (for a hotel) that I found

Cons
1. Old - unfortunately, I got one of the yet-to renovate rooms (higher up). The wear and tear is showing. If you are concern about the state of the room, may have to look elsewhere.

Ok. A litte belated but a more detailed review of the Holiday Inn Golden Mile.

Got my booking directly from IHG as they were running a promotion for members. Hence, my earlier comment about their price (and given the location, it really is a fantastic price). Everything is nearby and within walking distance - MTR, supermarket, convenience store, 茶餐厅, etc. One of the consideration for my choice of hotel this time round is that it must be on the red line (Tsuen Wan / Central) as I would be relying on the MTR a lot. Plus, if you are into Jenny Bakery, their main outlet is just next door (very short queue when I was there).

I had considered airbnb but price wise, this hotel is still competitive and lower than some of the better lodgings on airbnb. My room had two double beds, thus, it sleeps 4 comfortably. No real concerns about the sleep quality. The room is rather spacious (by Hong Kong standards). If you are into hotel breakfast (err...), they have a Kids Stay & Eat Free guarantee. Kids aged 12 and under eat free at breakfast when dining with an adult.

Something that I like about the hotel is that they provide a Handy smartphone inside the room (which you can also bring out). Apart from surfing, calling local numbers, etc (things that you expect from a smartphone), you can also turn it into a personal mobile hotspot. Therefore, it saves you the money from renting a ChangiWiFi (SGD 5 per day). However, if you really must rent a mobile router, I recommend getting the one from klook.com instead. You can collect and drop off your device at Hong Kong airport and it only cost SGD 2 per day.

Unfortunately, the hotel is not all positive. As per comments above, I had one of the un-renovated room and the wear and tear is showing. The decor is also so 80s but that didn't really bother my family. If you prefer something nicer / newer, you should highlight to IHG when booking that you would prefer a renovated room.

Thanks floppy,

Just in time, flying tomorrow .
Didnt book Holiday Inn, though. We looked at airbnb but didnt find anything that worthy. So settled for Hotel.

Did you try the iventure card? Is it worth it?

hquek wrote:Seems handy phones are everywhere. I had one to use from Royal Plaza HK and a friend who stays at boutique hotels (nathan hotel?) also had such phones in her room. Btw i could use it to call sg (gratis)

Hquek, I have booked at Royal Plaza.How is the place, and accessibility?

any suggestions for Airport to Hotel transport?

Glad to know about the Handy phones.

Did you try the iventure card? Is it worth it?

Sun_2010 wrote: Did you try the iventure card? Is it worth it?

I didn't buy the iVenture card but I've used similar cards in other destinations before. I believe it is worth it if the attractions that you are visiting are included in the card and you are planning to spend 3 or 5 consecutive days (for HK) covering those attractions. It should save you quite a bit of money. For me, due to the age of my travelling companions, I have to be extremely flexibility and can't be locked down into any kind of fixed itinerary. The iVenture card won't work for me.

P/S: If you are buying the iVenture card, don't get it from the official website. Resellers / retailers / travel agencies like klook.com can offer you a lower price. Actually, they can offer you a lower price for almost everything, including Disneyland tickets (SGD96), Ocean Park tickets (SGD66), etc.

Sun_2010 wrote:

hquek wrote:Seems handy phones are everywhere. I had one to use from Royal Plaza HK and a friend who stays at boutique hotels (nathan hotel?) also had such phones in her room. Btw i could use it to call sg (gratis)

Hquek, I have booked at Royal Plaza.How is the place, and accessibility?

any suggestions for Airport to Hotel transport?

Glad to know about the Handy phones.

Did you try the iventure card? Is it worth it?

Hi Sun_2010,

I have stayed there a couple of times. Place is still nice (renovated few years back), definitely accessible since it's linked to a mall and Mongkok East station. If your party can walk, do walk down to Prince Edward station area - a lot of convenience stores (Wellcome, ParknShop etc), loads of food (we went to Mui Kee - the famed porridge place, it's located in a market building pretty near from an elevated walkway...google for better directions), night shopping (pet street, flower street etc).

Note that you will have to call the concierge if you wanna make use of their free shuttle from hotel (goes to Prince Edward Station, ICC, TST). Coming back, you can wait at the TST drop off place to take the hotel shuttle (no reservations required) - I think it's at entrance of a duty free store on a small road. We used it mostly cos it was free and saves us that bit of walking.

One handy phone per room. we had 2 rooms so 2 handy phones - can call each other; I didn't use this too much as we were also carrying Starhub prepaid cards - the prices are cheap. I think 1G is like $7 for 7 days. I can use this prepaid card in China and Hong Kong (not Macau though, and HK handy phone didn't work in Macau).

From airport, the easiest is to use Airport express (go to counter and buy group pass if you have more than 2, it's cheaper). Take the train to Kowloon and then find the free bus that goes to RP. Can't use Cityflyer/bus cos the stops are far away.

Sorry, no clue on that card. We go to HK more for the food/shopping. I use OpenRice app for food places - their directions pretty good too.

Too much to say, and you are leaving tomorrow! Have a safe trip and enjoy yourselves!

Back from my trip, thanks for all the info. Sharing my experience.

@hquek, managed to get the Starhub card from Changi after checking in. It was very useful. The Airlines staff was helpful in lending her badge to help change the SIM , as I had to activate before leaving SG

The directions helped in moving around to the MTR. First trip ever where we relied completely on public transport and all our sight seeing were totally on our own. With the children no longer small, handed over the responsibility of checking the routes and exits to DD and DS , i just followed like a little lamb

Got octopus cards at the airport for 200 hkd each, spent around 170+ . Not even one single taxi this trip, hurray. Does say a lot about their transportation system.
One tip, at lot of stores the octopus card can be used to buy stuff , had i known that I would have topped up more and avoided collecting all that change. Anyway the change was put to good use - donated at the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping.

@floppy, Thanks for the tip on klook, saved a bit . Did not take the iVenture card, as DS was having a running nose one day before we left and we wanted to have flexibility.

Checked with the hotel regarding the handy phone. Apparently the contract with them is over so no more handy phone.

but was it hot hot , hot !! Couple of days I only had liquids and and ice-creams the whole day.

For return, used city checkin since our flight was at night , had to pay for the airport express ticket even though we did not use train later.

The Peak tram has been suspended temporarily . They have a bus 315 from the same place instead.
One mistake we made when we went to visit the Ten thousand Buddhas, we walked up the Po Fook Cemetery instead. Apparently it is a mistake many make, as they had a printed sign at the counter giving us directions to the Ten thousand buddhas, but that was after climbing the 100-150 steps. The path is right before the Cemetery when walking from the MTR.

Was a good trip on the whole.

Glad you had fun Sun.

Mr sun really came out in full force true to your nick eh. I think the part where you let DD & DS take responsibility for the directions must have felt really good.

not sure how many days roaming you got. just remember that if the days haven't finished, you can keep using the data on the card.

Glad that you have enjoyed your trip Sun_2010.

Oh I remember last month, towards the end of my journey... the weather was super duper hot also! A big contrast to the first couple of days where I get cooler weather + some rain.

Last autumn, my wife and I decided to fly to Hong Kong for a weekend. We used online service to order tickets, everything was very pretty easy and cheap. Dedicated manager provided the necessary information and helped us to make the order. The trip was very successful, we really enjoyed Hong Kong, I recommend everyone to visit this beautiful city as well as

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I will be going this Nov to HK & Macau, will be staying in Royal Plaza too.

Thinking to do a day trip to Zhuhai from Macau or Shenzhen from HK. Anyone been to both? Do we need a visa?

mummychia wrote:I will be going this Nov to HK & Macau, will be staying in Royal Plaza too.

Thinking to do a day trip to Zhuhai from Macau or Shenzhen from HK. Anyone been to both? Do we need a visa?

If you are a Singaporean, you don't need a visa to visit Zhuhai or Shenzhen if you intend to stay less than 15 days.

I've used the bus option, the train (MTR) option as well as the ferry option to get to Shenzhen from HKG and vice versa. It is fairly straightforward, and you can use any method, depending on where you want to go, how much time you have and how much you want to spend. For a day trip, the MTR would usually be the best choice.