Hongkong Trip - Day 3 - Mongkok and Victoria’s Peak

Day 3
After a long day and a long walk yesterday in Disneyland, I woke up still tired and my feet still felt sensitive and hurt. Our plan for that day was to move to Mongkok to a find a new place to stay. We wanted to explore Hongkong. So we went on and found the Dragon Hostel. The price was a little higher than Garden hostel but it was so much better. If given a choice, I would still pick Dragon Hostel. The night was HKD220.00 with shared bathroom. If I’m not mistaken, the rate for non-shared bathroom ranges from HKD250.00-280.00 per night. The room and bathroom are very clean and the attendants are very friendly and hospitable even though most of them could not speak English. So I highly recommend this to any travelers. You can also ask them for discounts to Disneyland and Ocean park. I wish I knew earlier.

A Domestic Helper’s Story

After we’re settled in our new place, we visited Gerold’s aunt. She is a domestic helper there and they had a small gathering just near our place. We had our lunch there (thank you!). We also heard some good and sad stories about DH workers. I actually met one who was fired after only a few days of work and she was really helpless so she sought help from the older ladies. Some good news were that some of them really found loving people who respects their helpers and are earning really good. Luck plays hard and most of our kabababayans had to face cruelty at times. Then I met another one and asked if she was given a chance to go back home if there was available jobs, it surprised me when she answered “no”. This lady had been to many places already as a DH and she already got used to living abroad. She’s only been a few weeks in Hongkong and her condition wasn’t that great. She had to endure her situation for at least 7 more months to be able to pay her agency’s placement fee before she get the courage to transfer somewhere else. It was a sad story but there are still some lucky ones like Gerold’s aunt.

After some long storytelling and getting to know each other talk, we finally said goodbye. Our next destination was Victoria’s Peak. One of the best recommended places.

Ferry Boat

Before that, we decided to take the ferry boat to Victoria’s Peak. So we went off to Tsim Sha Tsui. I had the chance to check out the place in the morning and I was so happy. Tsim Sha Tsui is the place for expensive shopping! Stores like Gucci, Chanel, Victoria’s Secret and all big names line up block by block. I did not dare to go inside though, I’ll just feel helpless and weak! hehe. We reached the ferry after a few minutes of walk (again - so much walking!). Tsim Sha Tsui to Central was only more or less 5 minutes to get there and you’ll see another great view of Hongkong. It’s very cheap too! I think we only spent HKD5.00 (not too sure but it was very cheap compared to MTR)! It is a must try experience too.

After the ferry boat, there are available buses that goes straight to Victoria’s peak. We chose this instead of the tram. The tram was a little far from where we are already. According to some sites, the tram experience is also a must try.

Victoria’s Peak

This is second coldest place we’ve visited. This is the highest place in Hongkong. You can have a great view of the whole city of Hongkong. Guess who I met? It was only Jet Li! Hehe. There were life size mannequin of famous actors and actresses. The best time to go there when the sun is out to see the beautiful city lights. There were also some shopping malls to dine in and shop! I bought some on sale (can’t resist!)

Mongkok

After the sight seeing, we went back to Mongkok. One of the tourist attraction in Mongkok is the Ladies market. Just right for me! My thriftiness was put into test. You can haggle as much as 50% off on any product. I suggest to do that to get the best deal.

Another must try in Mongkok are their street foods. We bought all possible street food available to try, they actually tastes good! Thank God we did not experience any stomach ache after that

That was all for that day. Here are some pics:

Till next time!

Also check out:

1. Day 1 at Ocean Park
2. Day 2 in Disneyland

Hongkong Trip - Day 2 in Disneyland

Happy new year! This is going to be my first post for 2010 so bless this post! Hehe. I’m already sleepy but I just want to accomplish something today. I am already finished marketing the PHP conference 2010 so now, I’m gonna continue my long story about my Hongkong Trip. Today is Day 2!

Day 2

We woke up early. I’m the most excited! I always dreamed of this day, this is the main attraction for me so I guess you have an idea how excited I am. We skipped breakfast because it was already almost 9am when we left the hostel. We took the MTR again from Tsim Sha Tsui to Lantau Island. The MTR have direct path to Disneyland so the way there wasn’t that difficult. We used our octopus card so I wasn’t sure how much to go there but my guess is that it is more or less HKD30.00. The last station going to disneyland has the disney feel already. Made me more excited

The place opens at 10am and closes at 8pm. In a big day like one of saturdays of December, a one day visit is probably not enough. It was not enough for us, we weren’t able to take the all the rides. The queue on each attraction would take us 30 - 45 minutes. But we only had 1 day to enjoy the most out of it.

For first timers, I would suggest to make schedule of activities that are only played once on that day. Example is the parade and pyro show. Some attractions on the other hand are played only a few times a day so that was 2nd on our list. The only thing that I regretted was that I wasn’t able to take a pic with Mickey and Minnie The line was soo long that it will probably take us more than 45 minutes. I should have done it in the morning when there were still few people. I already had that chance but I was too excited to go around

The day was full of adventures. My top lists to visit are as follows:

• Picture taking with Disney celebs - need I say more?
• the Parade at 3:30PM - see all the characters. Position in the best place early. We were already late so did not get the perfect view of all characters.
• Lion King theater show - I enjoyed this show the most
• Space mountain - love this specially the picture!
• Tarzan’s treehouse - I want that treehouse in our backyard! It is very beautiful. I even thought the tree was for real!
• Buzz lightyear Astro Blasters - an interactive adventure
• It’s a small world - very beautiful dolls dressed in different national costumes. See if you can spot Philippines

Here are some pictures

The night ended with magical fireworks display and sore feet! Imagine walking and standing for 10hours and the intervals that we sat was only 5-15minutes. Anyway, I don’t mind because it was a fun day. We even had the energy to find a restaurant and an internet shop (to check emails - err - work). Luckily, there wasn’t much pressure at work so we went off and prepared for our next big day!

See you again!

Also check out:

1. Day 1 at Ocean Park

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 :D. 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!