The past four days I spent in this little island became a moment for me to take a step back and relax after dealing with the reality of paradigm shift. It was a time for me to have fun and enjoy the little (but, damn, really expensive!) things in life that only come once in a while.
The first day, after arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport, was spent for rest and "feeling" the place. A bus took us to the Rambler Garden Hotel, which is near the Tsing Yi area of Hong Kong. The place where we stayed not that elegant (as they were just offering simple apartment-style rooms) and is far from the city. But then, I did not really care, as long as we have a place to stay and there are definite directions which tell us how to go to the city. As long as we could sleep comfortably, everything's good.
Later that night, we had our dinner at one of the Chinese restaurants along Granville Square, and then proceeded to different sites around Hong Kong, from the underground subway going to Hong Kong island up to The Peak. We also had time to pass by Madame Tussaud's and took pictures with the famous wax figures inside the museum. And then, as we returned to Tsim Sha Tsui, the center of Hong Kong's city life (as I see it), we passed by and took a quick walk at HK's very own Avenue of the Stars, the place of handprints and footprints of various Western and Chinese celebrities and public figures. Of course, as Filipinos, we could not get off a place without having fifty or so pictures at different sites.
Our last stop for the day was at the Ladies' Market at Mong Kok, which is equivalent to our very own Divisoria… just much more expensive. We wandered around its streets and searched for different stuff. Apparently, we were not able to find a nice outlet store that sells ORIGINAL kicks (where our savings were supposed to be used), but we were able to haggle our way to some good finds. My brother Aaron was able to buy good Cobra Starship glasses at about 40 HK dollars (about 280 pesos), while I was able to find a Class A Vans slip-on at only 130 HK dollars (just about 900 pesos). We went back to the Hotel at about 12:30, and rested to prepare for the busy day ahead.
The next morning, we had the second segment of our city tour, where we returned to the Peak and went to Aberdeen, the not-so-fishing town of Hong Kong (because there are no more fishermen in the area, just some stalls and a few Chinese businesses). Going around the city could have felt much better if not for the extremely cold and rainy weather in the city during that day (I only wore a shirt and a pair of shorts, and did I literally froze at the coldness that is 27 degrees Celsius).
During the afternoon, we just had a short stop and immediately boarded our ferry trip to what I dub as "Asia's City of Sin," Macau. We went a look at the different sights, the casinos among many of them (a quick trivia: most of them are owned by China's top businessman, Stanley Ho, who has four wives and eighteen children who will inherit his multi-billion property in the whole of Macau). Among the many sights in this Chinese-Portuguese island was the ruins of the St. Paul Cathedral, which has a museum of sacred art which goes together with the crypt. It was amazing, as I was able to see one of their chalices having bells hanging around it, and a boat that is shaped like a REAL boat, mind you. Oh, by the way, the bones of the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese martyrs of Japan were there, preserved.
Our last stop in Macau before going home was the Venetian Hotel, which mirrors that of its Las Vegas franchise, only a bit smaller. Although I did not bet (due to saving money), I checked out the different games in the casino, and boy was I amazed by all of them. Too bad I was not able to take pictures in the casino area itself. We went back home through ferry, just in time to stay awhile at Seven Eleven and then rest.
Third day was the biggest, as we were headed to one of the best amusement parks of Asia: Hong Kong Disneyland. The whole park was available for us for the whole day, but we just had a bad start because of the strong rain, which in turn forced us to purchase adult ponchos for us to roam around.
Nevertheless, the whole day was spent going around, riding and watching the different attractions in this small park. We've had the Golden Mickeys, Philharmagica (the 3D theater), and the Legend of the Lion King, together with other attractions like the River Adventure, Stitch Encounter (interactive simulation at its near-best), and the Buzz Lightyear Star Command (laser shooting, point-racking ride). There were a lot of funny moments, too, like the shows being featured in Cantonese (with subtitles!), and the "It's A Small World After All," of which my brother and I were able to find some racist connotations (or this is just us). Fortunately, we were also able to attend the once-in-a-while events in the park: the 1pm and 330pm parade, and, of course, the fireworks, which closed the day for us.
And finally, there is Friday, our free day as well as our "spend-it-all" day. We went around Kowloon and Granville searching for , what else, cheap kicks! After waiting 'til 12 for the shops to open up, we went straight to the Nike and Adidas outlet stores to check out the cheap kicks, and proceeded to Doublebay to take a look at Puma Suedes and Chuck Taylor Classics. Unfortunately, Ohio, the only store which sells cheap Vans slip-ons and skate shoes, was not open during that day. Nevertheless, I spent my 900 HK dollars quite well, as I was able to buy a Puma NY Style Basket (blue-orange-light green colorway, together with extra laces and velcro), Adidas BTB Print, and an Admiral skate shoe from chapel', with cool colors, mind you. We went back to the hotel at around three in the afternoon, eating lunch and waiting for our flight home.
We were about to take the flight back to Manila at about 9:30pm, but due to air traffic, our flight was moved to 11:45pm, so the airport gave us dinner passes as part of their services (I used up mine on Popeye's Chicken and loaded myself with carbs). As the plane landed on Manila, I closed out another vacation, and prepared myself for the real world that awaits me.
And with all that has happened in Hong Kong, yes, it was worth going again.
I loooove Disneyland!! <3
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