Life's Journey of Lakwatserang Makikay

This is the third entry dedicated to our Hongkong Trip last March 2012. After our Disney Tour, we try on a different adventure in Hongkong. We visited the Ngong Ping Monastery and check out free tours on Hongkong parks and malls. Since we don't have high end phones and gadgets with us (except for our handy digi cams), we rely on the free tourist maps which suggests areas of interests and with our unlimited passes on MTR we tried to visit free tourist sites.

Ngong Ping

Ngong Ping is one of the known Hongkong tourist spot which hosts Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha which sits atop of the mountain. It is always packed with visitors and pilgrims of Buddhism. Transportation going to Ngong Ping requires cable car or bus.  We started our trip to Ngong Ping by riding MTR to Tung Chung. Prior to our trip we were advised that the cable car services to Ngong Ping is not working and was suspended due to technical improvement so we availed the bus trip. The one hour bus ride is enjoyable too since there are so many picturesque views along the way.

Upon arriving at Ngong Ping we went to Tian Tan Buddha by climbing its steep concrete ladders going to the Buddha. It is said that it is one of the world's largest sitting Buddha and it can be seen as far as in Macau on a sunny clear day. The experience was exhilarating and it was worth visiting since you'll witness a lot of pilgrims who is devoted to Buddhism.

After our visit to Tian Tan Buddha we went to Po Lin Monastery. Since it was already lunch time, we decided to take our lunch break on a nearby restaurant and we found out that they don't serve meat and it was forbidden to bring any foods with meat in it. We discover this because my friend brought a left over Mcdonalds breakfast on our way to Ngong Ping. After our lunch and pictorials we went to different souvenir shops to buy refrigerator magnets and other adorable trinkets. I also bought a goodluck charm made from jade stone.

Here are some of our pictures in Ngong Ping:

Tung Chung - Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car Services

Tian Tan Buddha

One of adorable dogs we found in Po Lin Monastery

Ngong Ping Map

Going to Tian Tan

The  Arch

Hongkong Park - Central, Hongkong

After our half day tour at Ngong Ping, we decided to visit the other side of Hongkong in Central. This is where the famous tramway to the Peak and double-decker buses ply their routes to different parts of Hongkong. Since the line in the tramway is impossible to conquer in few minutes (it was weekend and jampacked with tourists), we decided to visit the free tourist attractions in Hongkong. We went to Hongkong Park where we visited the Museum of Teaware where all interesting tea wares used during earlier times in China was exhibited and the art of making tea was showcased. We also went to the Edward Yourde's aviary and Hongkong Zoo where we saw one-hundred year old tortoise, chimpanzees and lemur. The park is easily accessible by walking through Pacific Plaza which includes high-end boutiques and jewelry store.

Here are some of snapshots of Hongkong Park:

Turtles in Hongkong Park pond

The sloth in HK Park

The 100 years old tortoise

Skyscrapers and flats in Central

Hongkong Park

Bank of China Tower

Beautiful Flowers

Our second day in Hongkong was really a fun one. Since we are all kids at heart, we dedicate the one whole day to our dream destination: HONGKONG DISNEYLAND!!! We bought our tickets at Hongkong Agency at China Travel Services in Tsim Sha Tsui with free lunch. We are sooo excited that we have to leave early and took our breakfast while commuting to Disneyland. I love the trains going to Disneyland because it is customized with Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Chipmunks and a whole lot more. We started early so we have to wait for the gates to open. One of the perks of being early in the theme park is that you will be able to capture pictures with few distractions and get to fall in line with the cartoon characters you wished to take pictures.

This is how we spent our day at Hongkong Disneyland:

8:00 AM - Have a quick breakfast and rode MTR going to Disneyland

Our Passes to Disneyland

9:00 AM - Already waiting at the main gate of the theme park. Since we are still waiting, we kill the time by posing for pictures. It was a chilly day and it was quite raining.

Welcome to Disneyland

10:00 AM - Started our adventure at Disneyland. We went in line to have a photo ops with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
   - Watched Filipino band performing in the park

Filipino Marching Band in Disneyland

   - Went to watch the Mickey's 4D show :)
   - Photo op with Rapunzel and Tinkerbell
   - Went to Toy Story theme park

Newly opened Toy Story park

Cool characters you will meet in Toy Story Land

   - Went to River Cruising with Tarzan's Theme Park

Views in our River Cruise

Another view in the River Cruise

Lunch :)

1:00 PM - After lunch we went to visit the Galactic Theme park and had a photo op with Buzz Lightyear. We also went to ride the race cars and bought souvenirs along the way.

Buzz Lightyear's Station - To infinity and beyond

Racing!

2:30 PM - Waited on the sidewalk of the theme park for their Disney Parade. I swear, I had so much fun watching my childhood favorite cartoon characters came to life.

Hordes of watchers waiting for the parade to start

And the parade begins

The magical float

Disney Princesses

Another beautiful float

4:00 PM - We went to explore the whole theme park again. We rode a train that gives a 360 degree tour of the park and we also went inside It's a Small World display which shows different dolls from different countries dancing and singing while you are riding a boat.

Adorable dolls from around the world

5:00 PM - Another photo ops with our favorite cartoon character Tigger and Pluto :)
6:00 PM - Dinner again
7:00 PM - We waited for the final closing of theme park which shows a grand fiesta of fireworks with music and lights and it was indeed magical! For a grown up like me who enjoyed watching Disney videos, it was really a blast.

I am back!

Pardon me for not being able to post some of my travel accounts due to my busy schedule at work and home. I've been planning for months to update this blog for some time but unfortunately wasn't able to do so...

To make up for the lost entries, I would like to share our Hongkong Trip last March 2012 with my BFF and BF (now ex-bf since he is my husband now). I would say we really had a blast touring the Hongkong and mind you the six(6) days trip is too short to enjoy the gastronomic and panoramic experience in Hongkong.

Prior on going to Hongkong, we availed our tickets via Cebu Pacific promo. I only paid 3,900++ php for each person. We got the promo six months ahead of our planned trip. It should be a trip for four of us but unfortunately one of our friend bailed out since the date coincide with her mom's birthday.

First Day:
Our flight is scheduled at 6:00AM for departure and we were in the airport at around 3:00AM in the morning. Unfortunately, we haven't noticed that one of our baggage allowance is named after our friend who bailed out. That left us to scurry and transfer our stuff in our bags in order to fit our maximum 15 kgs baggage allowance. Upon going to immigration, we didn't encounter problems after answering their questions with no hassle. To be honest, we even enjoyed answering their Q&A especially on the part if we were really friends since High School! The thing with immigration is, as long as you know that you are going out of the country in a legitimate way, there is no need to get nervous while answering questions. It is just a 5-10 minutes Q&A which also depends on how you answer their questions.

We arrived at Hongkong International airport at around 8:00AM in the morning. We spent a few minutes inside the airport to get free maps and tourist information guides in their lounge. Just to warn others, I noticed that some Pinoys tend to fool other Pinoy tourists (Not that I am generalizing everyone, we just encountered few in the airport). Call us paranoid, praning or whatever terms applied to us but it is always better to be safe than sorry. If someone asks you to join your group, say no and go to your planned itinerary. As much as possible if you are looking for direction, just use GPS or if you don't have Iphones, Ipods and Android gadgets with you, ask the tourist information officer inside the airport for guides in traversing the city. Always remember not to talk to strangers no matter how nice they are.

 What we didn't know is that we're not prepared that the temperature in Hongkong during March is around 13 degrees! It was freezing cold and we only brought one jacket each! We didn't notice the temperature. We felt the chill early in the morning after we disembark from the train and bus going to our reserved hotel. Another snafu we encountered is that the hotel reservation we had was a hoax! Thank God that we didn't paid anything but we encountered a hard time looking for a cheap accomodation for the three of us. We went to YMCA hotel (a bit pricey if you're not a member) and Langham Hotel (pricey also for a one night stay). We tried Hop Inn in Tsim Sha Tsui and they are already fully booked for the next three weeks. I promised to go back in Hongkong and would try the Hop Inn Hotel. The receptionist referred us to a nearby Hangkow Hotel. Good thing there are vacancies in Hangkow Hotel and it's prices are reasonable for a six days worth of stay. The accomodation is not bad since we will be out most of our stay in Hongkong.

On our first day we walk through the area of Tsim Sha Tsui and took pictures. The landmarks and places we visited are:

1. Hongkong Museum of Science and Arts

2. Coach Store (because of me! hahaha)
3. Victoria Harbour
4. Walk of Fame in Hongkong
5. Kowloon Park
6. H&M store (because of me again!)
7. Food trip at TST streets (take note: literally street food which is very delicious such as chicken feet, fish balls and authentic Gong Cha milk tea)

Also, since we were already discovering places in TST, we already booked a reservation for our HK Disneyland trip the next day... That would be on my second blog item... a specific blog entry on our magical trip at Hongkong Disneyland.

Pictures of our first day trip are here!

Our Early Morning Flight - going to Hongkong

The busy street of Tsim Sha Tsui or TST