2007 July: Hong Kong: Day 2: Macau Excursion

2007 July: Hong Kong: Day 2: Macau Excursion


This time, we join the guided tour handled by Grayline Tours for our Full Day Macau Excursion (http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/index.php).

A Grayline coach will pick up the guests in their respective hotels and will be guided to transfer to Macau Ferry Terminal to take a Turbo Jet for the departure to Macau.


First stop is to take photos of Statue of Kun Lam.



Then we visited Museum of Macau (http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/maineng.htm), where exhibits of Macau's history, people and culture resides. (Cameras are allowed but be sure not to use the flash!)


Ruins of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church - This Church was built in 1602 and burned by fire in 1835. Miraculously, fine art of carvings and statues can be seen on the surviving facade.



Casinos in Macau.
Then we had a short walk on the Europe-like Street in Macau.

Macau Tower (
http://www.macautower.com.mo/eng/tower/index.asp)
10th tallest free-standing tower in the world, 8th tallest in Asia. Tower is 338m high at its highest point; main observation level is 223m above ground.
Look that I’m standing on a clear glass floor, over looking the cars on the roads below.


From the bird's eye view.

2007 July: Hong Kong: Day 1: Going to Ocean Park and The Peak

2007 July: Hong Kong: Day 1: Going to Ocean Park and The Peak


Go to the Admiralty MTR Station, exit in B, take Citybus Bus Route (Feeder) Services: 4, Route: 629 (http://www.citybus.com.hk/eng/RouSer/RouteSearch/busroute_info.asp?route=629+++&routetype=D&company=5&routenumber=629). The Bus Stop in Admiralty (West) Bus Terminus is located in Drake Street outside Lippo Centre. One-way transportation would cost HKD10.6/adult. First trip starts @ 9a and the last trip to Ocean Park is @ 4p. Bus leaves every 10 mins and the journey takes around 25mins.

You can buy the Ocean Park (http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/eng/main/index.html) Tickets in the Admiralty MTR Station, Citybus Service or outside the Ocean Park Entrance. Ticket costs 185HKD. I don’t think I got the special edition tickets from July 1 to August 31, 2007 for guests to keep as souvenir.

We got to meet An An (Male) & Jia Jia (Female) in the Panda Habitat.



Don’t miss the Cable Car! It is located on two different sides of a mountain and is overlooking the sea, connecting “the lowlands” from Lowland Gardens to "the headlands" at Marine Land. It operates @ 11am onwards. You’ll stay at most 12-15 minutes inside the cable car.



Just an hour after we took the Cable Car, it got stuck. Based on the newspaper the following day, nearly 300 people were stranded in midair when the cable car broke down for about 8 minutes due to a faulty belt. Haha! Just don’t forget to have fun!


After Ocean Park, we go back to Admiralty Station to check out the Peak! If you have enough time, try passing by the Hong Kong Park (http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/parks/hkp/en/index.php) and St. John’s Cathedral (open @ 7:00am – 6:00pm daily) along the way. If you plan to check out Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, the cheapest deal you can get is take the 2 in 1 Combo Package (2 way Peak Tram ride + Admission Ticket to the Museum) for only 125HKD.


Go at the top of The Peak to reach the Viewing Terrace.
You can almost experience the 360 degrees view of HK. If you are staying on this area a little late, you can watch the Symphony of Lights (http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/) at 8p-8.20p.

2007 July: Hong Kong: Almost a Year Plan over my HK Trip

2007 July: Hong Kong: Almost a Year Plan over my HK Trip

This is my first time in Hong Kong (August 27 – September 01 2007); actually it took me almost a year to study this trip. Planning from what airline to choose, to the hotel, whether to join in guided tours and to study their food and their culture. Checking out the official and unofficial sites in HK, reading all the pages in multiple forums, threads and blogs, exchanging emails from various representatives of the airline, hotel and theme parks.

Hope I can share with you some helps and tips on your very own trip in Hong Kong and Macau!


What airline to choose?We grabbed the Peso Fare Promo of Cebu Pacific (http://www.cebupacificair.com/). The seat sale usually happens during March or April for the travel period from June to December. You must also be aware of the usual delayed flights from this airline, in our case it is around 6 hours, from the original 10pm it was moved to 4.30am schedule due to the technical problems (radio and queue in NAIA) encountered. Thus, if you are not in a tight budget, just take Philippine Airlines or Cathay Pacific.


Where to stay?There are multiple inexpensive hotels and hostels in Kowloon area. But based on what I read most, it is okay to stay there if you are with some guys. But if you are traveling alone, or you are girls they say it is better to stay in Hong Kong Island, which is a little expensive.

There were two hotels that we study, but we choose South Pacific over Cosmopolitan (http://www.cosmopolitanhotel.com.hk/) because the latter they say is near the cemetery. Cosmo is a lot cheaper than South Pacific, plus it has also good location. So you can consider it also.

I do recommend the South Pacific Hotel (http://www.southpacifichotel.com.hk/) where we stayed, it’s address is in Wan Chai but it is really near Causeway Bay area (just 10-15 minutes walk from Times Square and Lane Crawford). Below is the hotel lobby.

The size of the room is just okay, plus it has comforters, coffee/tea making facilities, refrigerator and clean bathroom.




Be sure to book your rooms a month before or so to make the cheaper deal.
We did not book directly to the Hotel’s site, we log the reservation through Asia Travel (http://www.asiatravel.com/hongkong/southpacific/index.html) because it much cheaper.


What to expect in the HK Airport?

Arrival gate for Cebu Pacific is just too far, thus you need to follow the directions. You need to find first the Airport Train (not the Express Train), the one without the seats inside to reach the Arrival Area section. Just a reminder to always line-up with the Visitor sign in the Immigration (Cameras are not allowed). Check the baggage carousel number and get the baggage on the specific carousel. Pass the Green Lane in the Customs if you have nothing to declare. You will not miss the Money Changers on this area, but sometimes it is better to have few HKD already before going there. (You can exchange your Peso in BDO or in China Town. For BDO transaction, you need to notify them 3 working days before you can pick up the HKD from the branch which you have an existing account.)


Below is the Customer Service at the Arrival Area.


How to reach your Hotel from the Airport?

You can use of the Airport Express Train (http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/transport.html), which takes only 25 minutes to reach HK Station (near Central). Or you can take the Hotelink Bus (http://www.trans-island.com.hk/eng/index.html) in A1 or B1 Hotelink Counter to reach your Hotel. Please do not pay to the kiosk counter or the driver. The charge will be included in your room bill. Bus driver will load and unload your luggage.

2007 May: Zambales, Philippines

2007 May: Zambales, Philippines

I joined a team building of the group I do not belong to. It was one of the best experience I had. Laughing until 3am, drinking until I can, playing in the sand, listening to the music of the water - it was all fun!

Crystal Beach Resort
San Narciso, Zambales
http://www.crystalbeach.com.ph/index.php

2006 July: Singapore: Day 3: Orchard Road

2006 July: Singapore: Day 3

On our last day, we went on shopping malls (Tang City, Ngee An, Paragon, Wisma, Lucky Plaza, Takashimaya) along Orchard Road to buy gadgets (Sim Lim), clothes, shoes and pasalubongs.



Then after being so tired on shopping, we headed back to our condo and ate our dinner. At almost 9 or 10pm, we go to the Singapore Night Safari.



We came back to the condo by almost midnight. We prepare our luggage, had a nap and go straight to the airport for our 7am flight back to Manila. We were just near the the check-in entrance when our flight was tagged with 'last call' in the display screen, thus we run to reach the last gate which is for Jet Star Asia flights.

Thanks to my sister for this wonderful trip.

Full PDF copy of the SINGAPORE-KL itinerary version July-2006, click here.

2006 July: Singapore: Day 2: Clarke Quay and Sentosa

2006 July: Singapore: Day 2


The following day, we have visited Dhoby Ghaut for the photo-op with big blue LOVE. You can find the red LOVE in New York.

Next stop is the Clark Quay.


We have of course visited Merlion Park by the Esplanade Bridge.


After lunch, we choose to take the cable car from Vivo City to Sentosa. You can also opt to take a bus to see the Sentosa Bridge.

In Sentosa (http://www.sentosa.com.sg/), we have photo-op with Carlsberg Tower, Imbia Outlook, Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom, Siloso Beach and Underwater World.

2006 July: Singapore: Day 1

2006 July: Singapore: Day 1

This is my first out of the country trip and it never came to my mind that I’ll be blogging this trip, thus I have no intentions of getting photos that is worth sharing with this travel. Please accept that the photos below were all cropped from raw pictures where the subject is on people than the place itself.

Last July 2006, we took Jet Star Asia (http://www.jetstarasia.com/) from NAIA to Changi Airport. We (my sister‘s friend and me) stayed at my sister’s condominium at Regentville in Hougang area which is less than 30 minutes away from the airport. You can check this link http://www.getformesingapore.com/Info_accommodation.htm for more ideas on accommodations in Singapore. But you can always ask your friend’s place for the free accommodations, especially that job opening in SG is a boom - of course you know one who works in SG, right?!

On first night that we landed on Singapore, we traveled by bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (http://ruffeecola-in-kualalumpur.blogspot.com/). After 2 days, we return to Singapore to start our SG Adventure.

On our officially first day, we took a cab from Hougang to Singapore Zoo (http://www.zoo.com.sg/). There are too many tourists and group visitors during that time causing us more time before we can get our entrance tickets. To the zoo



After lunch time, we left the zoo and go straight to Suntec. We boarded the Duck Tours (http://www.ducktours.com.sg/) for our city tour. You will also have a different angle of the Merlion on this guided tour.
Note that Suntec Tower was also used in one of the featured challenges in Amazing Race Asia Season 2.

This is the world’s largest fountain - Fountain of Wealth.




We also checked the Koi Garden inside the Suntec Mall.



We have seen Esplanade Mall, St Andrew’s Church, Chimes and Raffles City.