Hongkong Trip – Day 1 at Ocean Park

Two of my childhood dreams finally came true!

When I was a child, I never often stayed in a place for too long. I think it became a habit and became one of my wish – to travel the world or atleast visit 1 country other than Philippines. With only a very limited budget, Gerold and I went on a 5-day adventure trip to Hongkong last Dec 4! Memories are still fresh in my head.

Day 1

Arrived at 9am in the Hongkong airport. The area was cloudy so I did not get to see how we landed. I was thinking that we were in Hongkong mainland all that time until we sat down to settle our itinerary for that day. We did not get any travel agency because we wanted it to be a real adventure wherein we can decide everything on our own, plus the fact that we were traveling on a very limited budget . After some discussion on where we really were (was it Hongkong Mainland or Lantau Island?) over breakfast, we finally decided to just get a hotel first and then we’ll talk again (whew, so much talking for 2 undecided couples in a foreign island). The maps and brochures were also very helpful, there were many free available brochures and maps in the airport.

(For the record, the Hongkong Airport we were in was in Lantau Island – a few minutes away to Disneyland)

Hostel search

We went for a ride to Tsim Sha Tsui in a double-decker mini bus (first time). It probably took us 30-45minutes to get there. Finding the hostel as described in our google search wasn’t easy. We were looking for Cosmic guest house at Mirador Mansion but we couldn’t find the block. Luckily we saw Garden hostel (written in English) so we tried that. The place wasn’t really that great but the price was excellent. For 2 people and 1 night and shared bathroom, the cost is only HKD180.00 – it’s the cheapest! The bathrooms were unacceptable but my feet were already tired from going up to 4th floor and down only by foot – thrice! Imagine that. So I won’t recommend the place unless you are on a tight budget. We stayed there for 2 nights which was ok.

To Ocean Park

It was already lunch time that we decided to go to Ocean Park first. Did I tell you that it was cold? Really cold? Totally cold? I remember it was only 18 deg. Celsius, probably almost same temperature in Baguio City. Matatakutin lang ako sa lamig so if you’re like me, I suggest bring a thicker jacket.

We traveled by MTR (MRT in Philippines) and another bus ride. The fare was in MTR was higher than in a bus but it was safer for newbies like us. Buses are only recommended if you are already familiar with the place or there are no other choice. In bus going to Ocean park, we saw so many Pinoys there. Parang nasa Pinas nga lang kami that time because I heard people talk in Tagalog and some local dialects here and there and then more Pinoys when we were inside the amusement park. Pretty comforting for the first day.

At the Ocean Park

I expected ocean park to be near and/or under the water. To my surprise, it is on a mountain (and near the water still). It is located in the southern part of Hongkong. Entrance fee was HKD350.00 each. The place was huge and there were so many rides. It was open from 10am – 6pm only and we were down around 1pm already. We had only only 5 hours to roam around so we decided to check out as many places as we can and no rides (sad). Luckily, there was a dolphin show at 3pm so we were able to watch. That was the highlight of our day. And then with the air balloon, we got another view of the whole adventure park.

We went home around 7pm. We arrived at the hostel around 8pm and looked for restaurant.

Things I learned

• Travel tax in Philippines is expensive. 1600+ each individual. Terminal fee is also expensive (200 each) while in Hongkong, there is no terminal fee.
• Hongkong people are called Honkers(not sure if I got that correctly, I think I read that somewhere in Hongkong)
• Not all Honkers can speak English, so better learn atleast sign language
• Airport Express are so expensive. Arriving at the Lantau Airport, check out the buses. They have routes and the drivers can be trusted to drop you off at your destination as long as you ask them nicely. They might not understand English though.
• Octupus is a type of card just like the MRT cards we have. But these cards can be reloaded and used in restaurants or any establishment too. Very convenient than cash. The cash can be refunded within 3 months after purchase so you can actually reload it as much as you want if you’ll stay there and get a refund after your visit.
• MTRs are so cool. They actually tells you where exactly you are. They have also connecting trains so you can get to any station without having to walk many miles.
• Allot whole day when visiting Ocean park
• Hongkong only have 2 seasons, summer and winter. Best place to go there starts in March. Weather can be unpredictable during winter season. It doesn’t snow though even it’s called winter.

Next, I’ll share our second day – the Disneyland Adventure! See yah!

State of Ecommerce in PH – 2009

I have a lot to tell but I was too lazy to write anything. The whole November and first half of December is probably my busiest days in 2009. Only 2 more weeks left and it’s already 2010 so I’m pushing myself a little harder this week.

I went to the Ecommerce Summit last Nov. 12 & 13 to understand the state of ecommerce in our country. According to the CEO of Yehey, the state of the ecommerce is not totally 100% transactional ecommerce but more on social commerce. Social commerce, the way I understand it is adding some social networking features in the whole ecommerce process rather than just buying and selling directly. As a proof, Multiple has dominated the “online store” over ebay because of some social behaviors Filipinos have. Some of the limiting reasons why we can’t have full transactional ecommerce:

• lack of trust
• limited credit card ownership
• limited internet and PC penetration

In my point of view — technology and government support must advance first.

Trust – it is only not our issue, it has been always the biggest issue. But the sad thing is, we have no particular law that provides standards and protocols. We have ecommerce law, but not everybody are aware of it. There are probably less than 1% of the Filipino internet population that has heard of it. That is one of my reasons why I also do not trust doing everything online.

Credit cards – it is hard getting credit card here unless you have 10k and above salary and that’s not even a guarantee. It is also too expensive for a small shop owner to even accept credit cards. Gcash might be a good option but there is still no simple and direct way to use it and connect it to outside applications. I haven’t verified how much but my latest info I have is that one has to pay 100k just to get access. I’d rather use Paypal for all my online transactions.

Limited internet and PC? One can avail a PC for only 10k nowadays. Internet access is the bigger issue here. I visited Hongkong and the difference is too great that I think we need 10 years or more. Their rates is .0 something per call and surf. I went on top of a mountain and the signal was still so strong. I guess our geography also comes into play but the point is, my homeplace is only a few kilometers away from the city and only SmartBro is available with very slow connection. When you go to cafe(s), their per hour rate is already at 100 PHP! That’s way TOO MUCH! The good news is, SM malls have free wifis already and that’s quite a relief. I hope Globe, Smart and Sun expands more and upgrade their facilities even more.

My knowledge is probably still too little to understand everything that is happening but the situation is clear enough for me to understand that we are too far from reaching a certain level of transactional ecommerce (I describe it to some as automated ecommerce) in the country.

Zend Studio 5.5 – Windows 7 Fix

Installed Windows 7 and unfortunately zend studio 5.5 won’t start. Here is a quick fix from xlim5 that worked for me:

1. After install Zend studio, right click to shortcut and choose:
2. Troubleshoot compatibility > troubleshoot program > The program worked in earlier versions of Windows but won’t install or run now.
3. Click next and choose “Window Vista” and click Next.

Now Zend can run normally.

May ecommerce law pala tayo!

I attended the webinar of DigitalFilipino about ecommerce yesterday because I’m curious up to what extent it covers. I’m still in awe even though I read it before because the Philippines actually have ecommerce law! Can you believe that?! LOL

It was a long discussion but I noted a few points from the webinar:

• The ecommerce law is a broad regulation for many industries — banks, telco, web
• DTI is the gov’t agency responsible for everything electronic.
• Debit transactions are considered REAL transactions. May advantage ang may account online just incase a company declared bankruptcy (mahabang kwento).
• The law is customizable! Biruin mo un!!! Anyone can create their own rules and in case walang nabanggit ang company or service provider, default value ang Ecommerce Law of the Philippines. Parang configuration yan, may default value!
• Walang clear protection for consumers. Kailangan ng total awareness and best practices when dealing transactions electronically. Your safety is in your hands.
• Did you know kapag walang acknowledgement from the other party, they can deny the transactions you had kahit complete na or khit nabasa nila? I simple reply in email saying “Yes I read that” is already a form of acknowledgment pero kapag walang ganun, it’s not valid.

I guess the issue I have is that we are too slow in adopting changes in the latest technologies. This just tells me that we are on our own. Too sad.

If you want to know more about it, contact DigitalFilipino.com. You should know the law too.

The “em dash” (—)

This info really struck a cord in me because I always use triple dots, double dash or parenthesis in place of the em dash. I guess I need to slowly change that, at least in formal writing if I ever have to.

This is a tip from Daily Writing Tips.

Toinks – today’s blooper

It took me 8 hours to finally give up and ask assistance from my brother for a problem that I have been struggling to figure out. This story of one of the reasons why using framework isn’t always good

I was recreating a facebook app made from cakephp to a bare php coded version. It is a very simple form that saves the data and then proceeds to step 2 and 3. Nothing complex. When it was time to test it in facebook, the form isn’t submitting! The $_POST variable is always blank. Ofcourse, the first intuition is to check why facebook isn’t saving the data to the global variable. I tried to rewrite the app and use both FBML and IFrame! At the end of my day last Friday, I just gave up and took a nap. Today, I revisited again and tried a new approach – ajax call. When I had to test it locally, the $_POST was still empty no matter what I do. I uploaded it to the dev server and still got the same results. I couldn’t find anything unusual in my code – it is just a simple form. Right at that moment I decided that I already have to bug someone to review my code (I try not to as much as I can). Just a few minutes after, I was told that my form action url must end atleast with a slash (/). Just that, a slash! OMG! (then make batok sa sarili – lol) Since I already got used to cakephp and the HTML and FORM helpers, this hasn’t become a problem.

Moral of the story? Ask earlier, I guess? Hehe. The other one is, not to rely too much on a framework! (but probably I still will)

SEO in Plain English

Recently, I joined the 30day Challenge which for me taught me the basics of SEO. The following video summarizes what I learned in the 30day challenge.

The 30day challenge really touched those areas. If you want to dig deeper, I recommend you register for the challenge (I think it is still open).

How to make technical presentations more interesting to non-technical audiences

During the PHP roadshows, I asked this a couple of times to myself. The audience are considered non-technicals so I have probably been too technical for their taste. I think it’s really a tough job and I admire great presenters because they make it look really easy. I googled this just earlier and I found a great resource. I a few steps and I think I found a good starting point for my next presentation. Here are the links:

1. Part 1: five ways to beat stage fright.
2. Part 2: pitfalls in preparation.
3. Part 3: magic questions.
4. Part 4: telling the story in their language.
5. Part 5: a fail-safe structure for your ideas.
6. Part 6: building a strong body and summary.
7. Part 7: essentials of delivery.
8. Part 8: fine points of delivery.

Business Models and the Social Media Revolution

I am not into music but this presentation is very clever in presenting how businesses should think at their business models. It’s not too hard to grasp. I thought to bookmark it but it will be like throwing a great idea in my closet so I’d like to share it here.

Another that catched my eye today is about social media and how it changed history. I am not into the social media thing but seeing most of my friends engaged in them is something.

Study in UK for FREE!

How cool is that? Actually that is possible. There are a lot of scholarship programs available for post grad students. One of them is the Chevening Scholarship program that allows you to select a 1-year master’s degree.

The minimum qualifications are based on their website:

• an applicant is a Filipino, Marshallese, Micronesian, or Palauan national
• has attained a local/international degree
• has two years work experience in your chosen career
• applicant should also be committed to returning to the applicant’s home country after the period of study

I guess the more experience you have, the more qualified you are. The best thing with Chevening is that the scholarship covers all the costs of the period of study. This includes academic fees, monthly stipend and airfares to and from the UK. It ain’t cool right? It’s SUPER cool.

Check out more information here. Take note though that applications must be submitted before 15 October 2009.