Destination Hong Kong (Day 4)

Sadly, it is the last day of our Hong Kong Trip. I woke up around 6am because we intend to go to the Haiphong Market near our area. My parents want to buy some fruits so we can have a check in baggage. They are craving for oranges, grapes, kiwi, and grapefruit we head to the market but the vendors offered that we buy the fruits in Wellcome supermarket near the area because they are still closed. So we stop by a bakery eat some delicious bread and then entered the supermarket. I did my own grocery and they did too. We head back to the hotel around 9:30am and started packing our things as we are going to check out around 11:30. Because our flight back to Manila is still at 7:30pm, we left our things in the hotel after checking out and ate lunch in Yoshinoya. Afterwards, my dad craved for this deep fried squid he saw in Haiphong road so they went back there but my sister and I did our quick shopping in Granville road. We decided to meet at the hotel around 3pm but we are late by 15minutes. An unexpected event happened which I won’t disclose here but that is the reason that we ran out of time and rode the bus around 5pm going to the airport. We arrived at the airport around 5:45pm Terminal 2. But my friend advised me the wrong terminal as I chat with him in the bus, it is supposed to be at Terminal 1. So we ran up to Terminal 1 because we are going late already. We finally checked in by 6:15pm. We are supposed to be in the boarding area by 6:50 but my parents insists of getting the refund in our Octopus card so my dad and I ran to the Customer Service Area to the MTR Express Service Station to get the refunds. I checked my clock and it is 6:45 already. But I really want to use the refund to buy my favorite chocolate in Okashi Land so I literally was running in the airport. I spend the HKD200 refund to buy 2 boxes of Meltykiss. Then I ran again and we are off to the Immigration area. We are glad that we didn’t experienced hassle there like checking what’s inside the bags because we are really late. We are running going to the Boarding area and yes it is 7:05 already and we are still waiting for the train that will get us to Gate 50. After riding the train, it is like a 1 kilometer walk to get to the last Gate in that floor and at exactly 7:15, we saw the final call for our flight and boarded the plane. We are not the last passengers are some went to shopping before boarding the area. We didn’t have the time to do that. Jus like that! We are back to the Philippines by 9:30 pm and went to Paranaque, eat dinner, and went to Bulacan by 1:30am. We are all exhausted and tired. We have some sort of phobia to the rain after what happened to us. But as we looked at the pictures the day after, all mishaps were outweighed of the beautiful experiences that remained in our memories. Good bye Hong Kong. Until next time???

Destination Hong Kong (Day 3)

Day 3 is Ocean Park and The Peak day. It is still signal #3 in Hong Kong. We went to MTR Admiralty where we bought the tickets and rode the bus route 629 to Ocean Park around 10am. The Park is just 30minutes ride. It’s a very cloudy day. Even if it’s just 10am, it seems like it is already 5:30pm. Then we arrived the Ocean Park, took pictures in the entrance then kaboom! - the massive rain showers poured. As we are entering, the staff told us that the rides are closed. But we have no choice as I already entered the park. We just hoped that we can enjoy the tour and the shows. We entered the Atoll Reef where we stayed the most time as we are all fond of watching the different kinds of fishes in the huge aquarium. We all enjoyed them. My most favorite is the Stingray which killed Steve Irwin last 2006. I also saw the ugliest fish I've ever seen in my life. I don't know what its called but it's in the picture. Fortunately, at around 1pm, the storm signal was lowered to signal #1 so some of the rides were re-opened. I rode the mine train. Well, it looks like a small roller coaster for me. But wow, it made me cry to thrill. It’s like as if I will be thrown to the ocean underneath the train. After that, I didn’t ride anything again. While my sister and brother enjoyed the rides such as the Dragon Roller Coaster, Raging River, and the Space Wheel, I just ate lunch with my parents. Seriously, Ocean Park offers breathtaking thrills for all those who want to satisfy their adventure needs. But to do that, other than a good fine weather, you also need to be prepared in a long walk around the park. It’s really tiring because you have to go up and down. Around 3:30pm, we finally rode the cable car going back to the Bus. Ocean Park is really not complete without the ride of cable car so we really took the chance before the signal #3 is hoisted again. The downhill of Ocean Park is for the kids so we just walk around and find this How to Train a Dragon Set. Because we love the movie, we entered and saw the wax of the characters and dragon inside. It’s fun but after that the rain shower hit us again so we have to put our raincoats again. Finally, we rode the 629 Bus going to Admiralty Station and we head back to our hotel. My dad is insisting of going to the Peak but we are all wet and cold. I told him that all we can see is fog on our way up. It is really not worth it (If I can only capture the heavy rain showers and show it here). Well, maybe next time. So, we change our clothes, eat noodles, and fix our things. We decided to go to MongKok and buy the camera of my sister. Before buying the camera, we went to the Ladies Market to buy some HK T-shirt souvenirs. I never expected that the vendors here are a little crazy literally. One lady vendor just grabbed my arm and told me, “Give me money! Give me money!”, so my sister and I just ran off and I heard her with other vendors laughing out loud. Oh my God! I really won’t ever go back to that place. They’re crazy. Actually all of their products except for the HK souvenirs can be bought in the 168 mall here in Manila so why go there and pay higher. Oh well. After that, we bought the camera in Wing Shing Electronics which I researched as one of the recommended stores to buy digital electronics. Yeah, I think it’s much lower than in Hidalgo, Quiapo. Good choice. We went to the high-end Langham Mall still in MongKok and rode the MTR going back to TST. It’s around 11pm and I am eager to go to Granville and buy clothes but my sister is already tired and I don’t want to go alone after that MongKok experience. So I chat again with my online friends and sleep. I can feel my aching legs..

Destination Hong Kong (Day 2)

It was last May 30 when I booked our family Hong Kong trip for July 20-23. Everything seems fine from the start since booking, planning our 4-days itinerary, choosing the hotel, departing from Manila, and exactly doing out first day in HK. Then came day 2 – what I fear the most in our trip happened – Signal number 3 has been hoisted in HK. One week before, I already checked the 7-day forecast of our trip and yes it has been predicted that July 20-23 has a “cloudy with few rain showers” forecast. It didn’t bother me at all because I thought that it is just “few” rain showers thinking that it is just mild. Well, it turned out to be the “Ondoy-type” of rain with super typhoon wind that will blow you away.. literally if you are like 70 pounds maybe. I put thetrip and Disneyland in our day 2 because it is the most important thing to do. Disneyland has been everyone’s dream to visit in Hong Kong. It is really not complete if this is not accomplished. We woke up early and head to Tung Chung where we can ride the Ngong Ping 360 cable car going to the Golden Buddha. Ticket booth is open by 10:00 am and we arrived by 8:00 am. This is how punctual I can really be. Actually we have a choice of going to Lantau Island by Bus that will take 45 minutes instead of using the cable car that will only take 25 minutes. We decided to wait for the cable car since it is a new experience for us except for my mom and dad. Thankfully, the Citygate mall is just beside the area so we hang out a bit inside even though the boutiques are still closed but the grocery is opened already so we took our time there. By 10am we head back to main entrance of cable car then boom! Due to signal number 1, it is temporarily closed. We decided to go to Disneyland and scrap out the Lantau Island trip because if we will take the bus going to Lantau, our time in Disneyland will be shortened. By this time, I am very anxious already if there will be fireworks in Disneyland. Then we went to Disneyland Resort even if it is signal #1. It was as if the storm is chasing us. Just upon arrival in the resort, heavy rains just poured while we are taking the picture in the main entrance. Notice the dark cloudy skies and dancing trees in the background of our picture. As we went in the ticket booth, the seller told us that all rides have been closed because the signal #3 has just been hoisted. Are you kidding me??? – That is what inside my head when I heard that. Then I stopped for a moment and went beside the booth and we had this sort of brainstorming whether we would come in even if there are no rides or will change the plan. Of course, I have my own do-it-yourself itinerary and this dummy for HK travelers. I browsed it and checked if there are other places to go near the resort. I guess not in that kind of weather, there is really nothing to do besides sleeping in the hotel and hang out in the malls nearby. But I am not convinced of that idea because I really want to explore some tourist destinations in HK. So we have no choice but to take the bus to Lantau Island. Upon arrival in Lantau, heavy rains poured and our umbrella were torn due to strong winds. We have to buy these raincoats that became our best buddy in our entire HK trip. I cannot describe the massive rain showers with strong winds but I really hate it. We took the risk of going to the Golden Buddha wherein we have to take 240 steps up stairs to see the Buddha up close. I really am afraid going up because I sort of have fear with any motion going up. My knees are trembling but step by step I finally conquered the highest point in Lantau Island. Whew. By the way, strong winds made every step up harder. They say that you have to wish in the temple so I did. We hardly took pictures there and went down to eat lunch. As we are looking for the dine in restaurant, we saw the temple inside and fix ourselves. We chat with fellow Filipino (mother and daughter) and took pictures with the Buddhist statues. Afterwards, we rode the bus back to Tung Chung where we decided to eat lunch/dinner in Citygate Mall food court. The food court is very large and it has so many choices of food that comes from different Asian countries.. Well except for the Philippines. I wonder why. I chose the Taiwan cuisine. After eating, we decided to go around the mall. I found an Ice Watch Outlet store and bought this green watch that I fell in love with. Luckily it is on 30% discount sale so I save quite money. We left Citygate around 7:30PM I think then head back to our hotel. It is rush hour in Hong Kong so we are standing in the MTR. After fixing ourselves in the hotel, I decided to go to Harbour City which is on my list of must-go-to-mall. My sister came along with me. There we saw almost all the famous brands along the street. They are huge stores compared to what I saw in the states. Louis Vuitton, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, etc. are all shining along Canton Road in TST. We went to H&M and bought some clothes. After that, we ate in Burger King and head back to the hotel as our legs says stop! And also it is drizzling and we are afraid to get caught up again by the storm. I stayed online to chat with my friends and slept by 2AM. This is just a start of more stormy days to come..