This trip was not just a normal vacation but also to celebrate our grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was scheduled since early this year and it has been one of my most anticipated events of the year.
We went there from Dec. 16-19, 2013. Since it was the winter season, the weather was very cold so I suggest bringing in your jackets to keep you warm especially if you're going out a lot. We also experienced some rain but that didn't stop us from moving around.
Day 1
We were a big group so we had separate flights. Ours were scheduled at around 8 in the morning so we had to be at the airport early.We were already there by 5am. Thankfully, I didn't feel so sleepy despite getting inadequate amount of sleep the previous night and waking up at around 3 am. It seems all of us were quite excited. I only had one small check-in luggage and a backpack for my handcarry. I didn't bring a lot of items as I prepared to save some space for things I'm going to buy if there were any. I know it's not so cheap in HK but my mom gave us some pocket money for shopping which turned out not enough for my own needs. Our flight was delayed for a few minutes which is so typical of the airline but I don't care as long as it wasn't cancelled. We arrived in the rainy atmosphere of Hong Kong at around 10 am and met up with the other groups. We purchased octopus cards which is used to pay for public transpo and 7/11 purchases. It's a good idea to have the same system here.
We took the bus going to our hotel, which is located in Kowloon area. Our room had a good view of the city which looked lovely.
For our first day, we didn't do a lot aside from going around the area and the mall as well. I made my first set of purchases from buying some cds at the local music store. I was glad to find albums that I have been looking for quite some time that were unavailable here in Manila. We ate in a deli restaurant with a special friend/business partner of our grandparents. We were supposed to go to the night market in Mongkok but we ended dinner late so we jsut decided to head back to the hotel.
The hotel room was quite big to accommodate all of us. Too bad the wifi was not for free and only one device can use it at a time. There were only a few channels on the cable TV as well. We were also fighting over the adaptor since our batteries for our gadgets were drained already and we didn't bring any.
Day 2
This day was dedicated for Disneyland! I though it was getting cancelled since everyone was late and the rain continued to pour but I'm glad it wasn't. We ate breakfast in McDonalds while waiting for everyone to get ready.
We took several trains before arriving at the place. Before arriving, visitors have to ride a train designed with a Disney theme with Mickey mouse shaped windows and railings which was really nice. I'm not sure about the price but I heard it was expensive but it was worth it.
The place was quite big but enough to go around in one day. We arrived just in time for the parade featuring a lot of Disney characters. We decided to eat lunch first in one of the diners. There are a lot of eating places to choose from so visitors won't have be hungry. There are also plenty of gift shops.I bought a magnet so we can put it up in our home.
The rides were great!Some of them were already familiar since it was the same that was in the US but I still enjoyed them anyway.We were not able to go on every ride but we rode all the major ones such as the Space Mountain, Autopia, It's A Small World and many others. There were a lot of people but the waiting time for the rides were not so long. The place actually seemed to be like Enchanted Kingdom. In fact, some rides on EK seem to be more extreme than in Disneyland which is understandable since Disneyland is more child-oriented.
We ended the day by watching the firework display which showcased Disney songs as well as a spectacular display in the sky.
Day 3
I started the day by shopping at Giordano which is near our hotel. Everyone was still dressing up so I took the chance to go by myself instead of wasting time.I got 4 shirts which were on sale for 199 HK dollars for 4 pieces of plain muscle shirts. It has been my current goal to buy plain shirts in different colors so this was a good deal for me. Unfortunately, that left me with a few money left.
We went to the "Hong Kong side" and had lunch at the Maxim's place in the city hall. We went to the IFC mall right after to kill time and go around as well since we were going to the church right after.
We took a cab going to a church where most of the people who attended were also Filipino. After the quick mass, our grandparents were blessed as well as my cousin who turned 1 year old on the same day. The priest shared that he also stayed in the Philippines for a long time before moving to HK as well as the hundreds of Filipino domestic workers who flock the church every Sunday.
We walked towards our next destination which was at a fancy restaurant. We almost got lost but we were able to find the right way. It was hard to move around because the air was so cold.
We arrived early before our reservation so we had time to go around. I was so glad to find an HMV store so I looked around and got myself new cds again with most of the money I had left.
I got back in time for dinner which was sponsored by my grandparents' business partners so we just splurged on a lot of food! We had a good time considering it's our final night. After the meal, I found out our bill reached up to 20K HK dollars or equivalent to P69,000! It's probably the most expensive meal I've ever had for a single night. As expected, we didn't have enough time to go around after since it was late already so we went back to the hotel right after.
Day 4
It was our last day and we didn't have enough time to go around anymore since we had to leave earlier than the others. We couldn't book a flight back to Manila so we had to ride a ferry to Macau and book a flight to Manila. The ferry ride took approximately an hour long. The boat was quite nice and had comfy seats.
Upon arrival at Macau, the place didn't really seem much different. I guess it's because we were still far from the actual city so there weren't a lot of sights to see except for the pier and a couple of buildings under construction. We took a cab directly to the airport and we passed this long bridge where we could see some of the buildings and hotels including the popular one, the Venetian.
We immediately ate lunch in Mcdonalds before getting inside the boarding area. Our flight was delayed two times so we had a long waiting period. I used that time to buy some souvenir such as another magnet for our home and some food as pasalubong for my friends.
We finally arrived in Manila at around 7:30pm so it almost took us a whole day just to get back home.
Overall, I really had a good time in Hong Kong. Though I wish we could have done more, the whole trip was still exciting and it's so great to have some time to relax and enjoy. The culture in their country is quite different and more organized in a way which is admirable
I'm keeping my hopes up that I can return there before the visa applies in 2015.
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