Last July 2015, I finally had my first international trip. Maybe this is part of the so-called quarter-life crisis, isn't it? Hahaha! 😂 It took me several months to finally have the courage and made the decision that I'm going to start travelling outside the country.
The first place that comes in my mind is Hong Kong. I don't know why, but it sounds so sweet in my ears. Me and one of my closest colleague were in the office for almost 12 hours already when I suddenly stumbled on Cebu Pacific website and for some luck, they have seat sale - round trip fare at PHP 3400+ only. Out of nowhere, I told my colleague - "Let's book a flight to Hong Kong, are you in?" and she said, "Sure!" And that's how our adventure started...
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| Victoria Harbour |
Here is our 3D3N Hong Kong story. 😎😎😎
Summary of Itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrival at Hong Kong (We had a late flight from Manila to HK)
Day 2 - HK City Tour, Macau
Day 3 - HK City Tour, Disneyland
Day 4 - Ciao HK :(
Summary of Itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrival at Hong Kong (We had a late flight from Manila to HK)
Day 2 - HK City Tour, Macau
Day 3 - HK City Tour, Disneyland
Day 4 - Ciao HK :(
Estimated Budget: PHP 10k - 15k (excluding shopping Hahaha!)
Since it is both our first time to travel outside the country on our own, we opted to get a travel agency that will organize our trip and accommodation. We came across Crossing Borders Travel Services who made our lives and trip convenient. For only PHP 7000+, they took care of our land transfer (from and to HK International Airport), accommodation for 3 days and 3 nights, daily breakfast, tour guides - HK and Macau and Macau trip tickets. We got what we paid for! :)
Day 1
From the office, (yes - we still went in the office and took a half day leave. Hahahaha!) we took a cab directly to NAIA 3 for our 4:40PM flight. We arrived at the airport around 1PM, straight ahead to the check-in counters, paid the travel tax - PHP 1620 and proceed for the embassy interview. After going through all the due process, we took our lunch at Tapa King and head directly to the waiting gate. We can't contain our excitement. Yey! We are sooooo freeeee!!!
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| Waiting. I can't remember if our flight was delayed, but I guess yes? 😂😂😂 |
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| This will be our plane. |
And while waiting, me and my friend Claire are having some random talks. It's a girl thing anyway. Given. Hahaha!
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| What are we talking about girl? Why am I laughing hard? |
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| Claire Divine, my travel buddy. |
And finally, after two hours of smooth travel, we can see HK from above.
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| Touchdown HK! :) |
We proceed to the airport lobby and we got a lot of freebies! We have some discount coupons for the popular tourist spots such as Ocean Park, Madam Tussaud Museum, Victoria Peak, etc. After a couple of minutes, the tour guide finally found us and gave us some instructions for tomorrow's tour. He gave us the address of our hotel and directed us to the taxi lane. Unfortunately, there is no shuttle available. However, the cab fare was paid by the agency since it is included in our package. The airport is quite far from the heart of the city. From our hotel, it is nearly a 45-minute drive. The traffic is not bad. :) By the way, do not forget to purchase your Octopus Card! It's very convenient if you intend to really tour around HK via MTR. You can also use it in 7-11, K Circle and fast food chains.
This will be our home for the next few days.
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Inn Hotel Hong Kong has just opened, so when we arrived, it is just a three-month old hotel. They are part of the Emperor Hotels Group.The location is an A+ because it's just a 5-minute walk from Yao Ma Tei MTR station and there is a K Plus convenience store nearby. The night market is also near - just a 10-minute walk. There are MCDO and KFC nearby, too. Really a good location! Check their site here: http://hongkong.innhotel.com/index.php/en/
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| Our comfy bed. Zzzz |
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| We were unable to try Starbucks here and for a coffee lover, that was very painful. </3 |
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| Okay, this is not EDSA North Bound. This is Nathan Road. 😜😝😜😝 |
Day 2
The next day, we woke up with this view. 😍 Good morning HK!
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| Lego City? :) |
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| Let's be obedient in following traffic signs. :) |
First stop is the Golden Bauhania Square and HKCEC. Just a little trivia, the Golden Bauhania is a symbol of the handover. The HKCEC or Hong Kong Convention and Exhibtion Center is like the Sydney's Opera House. Both are in Wan Chai.
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| Golden Bauhinia Square |
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Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Center |
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| Time warp. |
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| Some of the floating house.
Within Aberdeen Harbour is the one of the world's most famous floating restaurant - the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. This has become one of Hong Kong's tourist attraction over the years as it continues to develop and now a theme park in the sea. Jumbo Floating Restaurant has been featured several times on Jackie Chan's movies - The Protector, The God of Cookery, Godzilla vs Destroyah and Internal Affairs.
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And since one of the boosting industry in Hong Kong is jewelry-making, our next destination is Hong Kong Jewellery shop. Unfortunately, picture-taking is not allowed inside. :(
Hello Kowloon!
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| The Big Apple |
This ends our half-day Hong Kong city tour. We spent the rest of the day at Macau - read full blog here Macau Adventures.
Day 3
It's our 3rd day in Hong Kong and we are tour guide-less! It's time to explore Hong Kong more with our own strength and courage. Yey! Let's do this girl! 😎
We walked along the street and found our favorite breakfast spot - MCDO. Hahaha! Look at these cute minion-themed breaky!
Some photo ops in the underground pathway. Hihihi! Too beautiful to ignore.
And finally, here we are. Avenue of Stars!
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| Salisbury (steak?) Garden |
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| Lights, camera, action! |
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| Jackie Chan's hands |
There are a lot of stars and prominent figures here but we were not able to take a photo of them all. It's just so overwhelming! The breeze feels good. Yey! After taking a walk, we are bound to our next destination which is DISNEYLAND!!!! 😂😂😂 Sorry, I have to post my HK Disneyland adventure on my next blog. Too much feels, it should be on a different blog. (Pictures overload hahaha!)
After our Disneyland trip, we decided to go back to Victoria Harbor to watch the famous Symphony of Lights. This show involves 40 plus buildings in both sides of the harbor wherein they flashed their lights synchronized with the music and it's for FREE! Yes, it's free! We were unable to take a video of the show because there are a lot of people - locals and tourists, but it was really beautiful!
Since it's our last night at Hong Kong, after watching the Symphony of Lights, we decided to buy souvenirs and pasalubongs along the malls in Tsim Tsa Tsui.
Glad we were able to catch the last MTR trip and it's time to surrender out Octopus card. Whatever amount is left in your card, they will refund it to you. Just go to any MTR station. The nearest station to our hotel is Yau Ma Tei.
After having a full-packed day with all the last minute shopping, we didn't know where we got all those energy but yeah! We enjoyed the day a lot! However, all good thing must come to an end and this HK trip is not exempted. We started packing-up our things and had a good rest.
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| Teaser :) |
Since it's our last night at Hong Kong, after watching the Symphony of Lights, we decided to buy souvenirs and pasalubongs along the malls in Tsim Tsa Tsui.
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| Goodbye Octopus Card |
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| On our way to the airport. |
We had so much fun, HK! I'll surely come back. :)
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