HONG KONG trip – Air Asia, overnight stay at YouniQ Hotel

Since I am in government service, I need to submit my application for overseas holidays 1-2 months earlier, including proof of insurance. Initially, we wanted to fly with Cathay Pacific. However, we missed our flight at 8 a.m. I did have a bad feeling about this. After all, early morning flights are never a good idea if you are commuting from Melaka at 430 a.m.


We missed our flight for Cathay Pacific

I was fuming silently when Mr Husband decided to return to Melaka and forfeit the whole trip. I tried to get my leaves signed and the suitcases packed nicely. He cited reasons for wanting to spend the holidays with his mother instead, and that our daughter was just unlucky for not being able to go overseas. The universe must have heard my silent screams, as it turns out that my MIL already has a holiday planned with her eldest son.

Now, if it were me, I’d probably book another flight to at least Langkawi or Kuching the same day. Some sort of trip to soothe the heartache. It did not happen initially. But the final innocent laments of the daughter to say, “What a waste to get all dressed up and not go for a trip!” did the trick. And just like that, another flight was booked using Air Asia to HK the following day.

The blessing in disguise is that, instead of lugging 2 big suitcases in HK, we repacked our luggage and brought only one. We later learned that it was easier to travel in the city that way.

The YouniQ Hotel

We stayed overnight at YouniQ Hotel near KLIA. Pretty comfortable and sufficient for travellers. There is a mamak nearby and plenty of kedai runcit. I believe the room rate is an average of less than RM100 per night, depending on room size. There’s a water dispenser, an iron and a laundry area on every floor. I also saw other budget hotels nearby – Sky Star Hotel, Qlassic Hotel and Sri Langit Hotel.

After a mamak breakfast, we checked out at 8am so that we wouldn’t miss the 1pm flight to HK.

Air Asia Flight

It was a 4-hour flight. Mr Husband ordered in-flight meals that consisted of roasted chicken, biryani, nasi lemak and chicken rice. Unfortunately, the only beverage available is an Americano. Haneem slept throughout the flight.

This time we were early and ready

Hello Hong Kong

The weather in HK is like Malaysia. So is the GMT. Just that the prayer times are similar to Sarawak, an hour earlier compared to Semenanjung Malaysia. Below is our basic itinerary for the week-long trip. Some people love a packed one, but given our budget and family stamina, this is what we came up with.

I will be writing separately on the hotels we stayed at, the food, Disneyland, Ocean Park, Kowloon and Madame Tussauds. So, keep a lookout for the posts for the coming few days. Maybe weeks. I don’t think I could write about it fast enough, considering my work commitments. ha ha.

Minci travels Macao 2019. Tickets and the start.

This is Part 1.

I am a Malaysian. I am a Muslimah and is traveling with my two young children. Let’s face it Macao is expensive. So it is very hard to create a budget itinerary when you want to be comfortable. Or maybe there is a way but I have yet to find how. We shall learn from other bloggers. I am not going to lie. I felt a bit anxious wearing a hijab there but thankfully nothing bad happened.

Short clip Video

Edit by googlephotos

Here are our preparations for the trip. It is a 4D3N trip using Air Asia. Mr Husband was very generous as he ordered in flight meals for the  direct 3 hours 45 mins trip from KLIA to Macao. Perhaps he did not want Ninie to be irritable and hungry. Yes, young girls need to be fed before she starts rolling on the floor like a mop. The ticket was booked in less than a month prior to the trip. We went there on the 29th of March. The ticket was booked on the 13th of March. Very last minute. Geram pun ada. Tak sempat nak inform boss. 

Packing the suitcase

  1. Brahims instant meals. While Mr Husband and I are adventurous when it comes to trying new food – we were just worried that both Ninie and Ee being unaccustomed to new dishes may not be able to stomach their meal very well. So we brought something more familiar to their tongue from home. A few other instant meal options I discovered out there was the delicious Sharifah (Nasi Briyani GAm) which I ate before the trip and Kembara Meal that was a bit over my budget. The latter is sold at selected petrol stations. In Melaka, they have it at MITCs Petronas station.
  2. Medicine and ointments
  3. A simple notebook. For me to document anecdotes for my blog and hobominci
  4. Extra coffee and hot chocolate beverages with snacks
  5. Entertainment for the kids in the hotel. In our case, the ultramans and raksasa. 
  6. Socks and light jackets
  7. BABY WIPES!!! Very useful for easy, effective, quick sanitation. Basically to wipe everything from bums to food and stuff.
  8. My doTERRA oils – I handpicked Peppermint, Wild orange & Forgive Roller Blend to bring with me. And since we will be doing a lot of walking – the deep blue rub.

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Currency

I exchanged RM500 of spending money into HKD. In Macao, we can use HKD but the change will almost all the time be given back in their own currency, the Macanese Pataca (MOP). I made my husband keep my money and basically spent it on souvenirs like magnets, food and taxi fares.

Since coming back from the trip I have yet to receive any change, so I guess we have spent it all. Ha ha ha.

Starting the Journey

We left Melaka at 0530 in the morning by car and stopped at Seremban RnR for Subuh prayers. This time we parked at Salak Tinggi instead of the Long Term Car Park centre. From Salak Tinggi we took the KLIA Transit train and hopped off at KLIA2. Since we are traveling with an infant, we have to check in at the counter which was a breeze that morning. We bought a 25 kg baggage and ours was already a freaking 19Kg. macam heran ada jugak.. bawak apa lah.. LOL.

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We had a light breakfast and it did not take us long to board the plane. Our flight was at 1005AM and e.t.a was 1355PM. There is no time difference between Malaysia and Macao. Only the prayer times are slightly early. I did have a bit of difficulty to locate the baby changing room once we’re in the departure hall. I did find one at the L2 area. It had a water dispenser in the room hence easy to prep Ninies milk. It also had a small curtained area for privacy in case a mom needs to breastfeed or do some pumping.

Ninie amazingly behave throughout the flight. The in flight meals were delicious. The prebooked meals we had were Potato salad, choc banana muffin (highly recommended),  milk coffee, chicken teriyaki with rice, bukhara chicken briyani and uncle chins chicken rice. We had a similar menu on our flight back home.

2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant : Return tickets + in-flight meals + tax = RM 1595.00

With Air Asia, everybody can fly.

Our plane landed 15 minutes early. There is no prayer room at Macao airport but it is okay, we can perform our jamak prayers at the hotel.

Immigration was simple. Because we have no hidden agenda of course. No questions. They check your passport, look at your face and soon you are on the way. Not even a Hello was exchanged. We then took a cab to our hotel which was located in the city itself. The Metropole Hotel.

Medan 2014 : Food-tourism on a budget

I daresay eating or makan-makan in Indonesia as a tourist is affordable and clean at most places. We are able to have our meals at decent air-conditioned restaurants with a price tag way cheaper than in Malaysia. Imagine a meal set for two in a fast food chain, TEXAS CHICKEN for instance, only costs us MYR 12.

And our most hefty meal at AYAM GORENG KALASAN which included a dessert even, later amounts to only MYR 25. Alhamdulilah.. kenyang. 

AIR ASIA PRE-BOOKED MEAL

We were off to a happy start when our pre-booked meal of Nasi Padang  (MYR12/meal) on the Air Asia flight proved to be delicious. Like pure chewy daging rendang on board the plane! We underestimated how quick the journey could be because as soon as we opened the aromatic, piping hot packaging.. the flight attendants were already bringing the black plastic bag around to collect the rubbish. Argh.. panik. I blom makan.. 

Mr Husband ate, well …  swallowed it all in a jiff. I chose to pack it for dinner later at the hotel. There wasn’t enough time for a quick photo too but we did have a snap of our meals during the return flight from Medan to KLIA2. This time it was Nasi Lemak Pak Naseer and Nasi Tomato with Ayam Percik. The latter dish was Hazeeq’s favourite. He kept asking for more ‘matik’ [read=nasi] throughout the flight. The percik was a bit spicy for the boy but he liked the rice anyway.

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NASI LEMAK AIR ASIA

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And if I heard it correctly.. I think Air Asia is introducing a Kids Meal on board soon.

Great.“With Air Asia, every kid can eat”

Cafe Bang Memeng,

Komplek Istana Maimun

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This was an impromptu breakfast meal. We were secretly scouting for the Halal logo from the few eateries (gerai) available within the grounds of Istana Maimun. Then, jeng jeng jeng.. we spotted one of the cooks in a hijab. So in the spirit of InsyaAllah Halal.. we ordered simple nasi goreng with jus durian belanda.

 

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Fried Rice with Durian Belanda juice

 

JO’S FAMOUS TEA HOUSE,

SUN PLAZA

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Perhaps this is not a tourist-y destination, but we were willing to try anything for lunch. Especially since we don’t have a proper tour guide to consult. Plus we couldn’t find the famous Restoran Garuda most bloggers went to during their trip to Medan. Still, Jo’s Tea House was not disappointing. A very pretty lady came to take our order. Prettier than Bunga Cinta Lestari, I have to say.

Mr Husband tried the Mee Udon Medan. As for myself, I went for the Rawon Setan.Which is beef broth with bits of beansprouts and an egg. For a while, i thought the Rawon looked like brewed Jamu  – pretty spicy looking. Rawon was to be eaten with rice but well.. I just had rice for breakfast. Diet konon. Though I ended up nicking Hazeeqs Monte Cristo Banana Chocolate Bread. He was too busy posing for the camera in sipping the iced lemon tea.

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To be honest, Rumah Hijau’s Banana Chocolate Cake lagik nyaman. And this Rumah Hijau is in Kuching, Sarawak. One of our must eat places when go back Kuching.

77 ES TELER,

SUN PLAZA

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Dessert does not come any sweeter than the Es Nangka we had at this joint. Nangka is Jackfruit. It was overwhelmingly sweet thus we were glad we shared the bowl of Es (ICE). And to wash it down – another sweet coconut drink.

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