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On our last day in Hong Kong, we decided to tour the city ourselves. We had to cancel the Shenzhen part of the trip coz I heard from other people that it was kinda boring, and we really, really wanted to explore Hong Kong one more time before we leave. So with our maps and compass handy, and with our Octupus cards of course, we went out roaming around the city, taking pictures here and there and did some shopping as well.

Not much can be said here since the pictures speak for themselves. We just went mall-hopping and visited the night market again for some last minute shopping before our early morning flight back to Manila the next day.

Will definitely be back here in HK. I miss the place and the cold weather. Imagine yourself underneath the sun at around 2pm and you feel the light breeze of cold air around you. The sun literally felt just like a plain night light there. The weather there is really amazing. Not too cold and definitely not hot at all. Compared to the burning summer heat we are experiencing in the Philippines.

Day Two was all about the happiest place on Earth. Where else? Disneyland! Even though it’s my 2nd time there already, I always feel like it’s my first time. Well, nothing beats the first time. I still remember that feeling when I was finally able to reach this childhood dream destination.

We woke up really early, yeah we were THAT excited. Our tour guide arrived to pick us from our hotel and it was about a 1-2 hour drive to Disneyland. When we arrived there, the camera-whoring began. And we were not even inside Disneyland yet! Haha! Once inside, we took the maps at the entrance, paid the tickets and off we went. Ticket price was around P2000 per person, I think. Not sure. You guys better double check.

Disneyland won’t be that fun without the crazy rides. Well, most of the rides are actually kid-friendly compared to the death-defying rides from Ocean Park. We skipped Ocean Park, by the way, been there a few years back, tried the rollercoasters and the abyss (the ride that made me feel like I literally died for 3 seconds), and I thought one theme park would be enough for now. You guys should definitely try and ride Space Mountain. Definitely the best ride there is in Disneyland! I love the way that it has this kid-friendly, adventure-type, harmless vibe. But once you enter inside, you are off for a spin. It’s an indoor rollercoaster, for God’s sake! Imagine being inside a really dark place, you sit and then baaaam. Surprise! It’s a rollercoaster, 3-D animated with comets and stars and whatever other effects there was there and your insides going up and down like crazy. But yeah, we did it twice because it was, as Aaron and Joyjoy described it, “uber- cool!”

Hong Kong Disneyland is not that big though compared to Ocean Park, and I’m pretty sure the other Disneyland sites are bigger, but it was definitely a fun experience. Joyjoy had to search through the crowds to go get a picture with Sleeping Beauty and Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), and had a Chinese guy sniff out some snot into her hair! Eeeeyuck!

The highlight of every Disney trip is the finale. At exactly 9pm, the entire place will be dimmed and everyone gets ready for the amazing fireworks show, facing the Disneyland castle. Since it’s my second time here already, I knew where the perfect spot is. As early as 8:20pm, I dragged my friends on that area to prepare ourselves. Aside from the irritating people blocking your view (we were all sitting, by the way), we had to fight for our spots since people are already crowding as the show was nearing.

And once it starts, the goosebumps offically begins. It’s that strange feeling (even though I’ve been here before), with all the amazing fireworks display and the music itself, that hit me hard every time. When the first few bars of “Beauty And The Beast” played, I got a little emotional. I felt like my childhood flashed back before me. Wishing that I would return back to the days of being young and being carefree. I really felt like I was a kid again. No worries whatsoever,and your only concern was making sure you memorize every line of that song, starting with the line:”Tale as old as time…”

The fireworks display lasted for about 15 minutes or so. I didn’t get to shoot some pics since I was videoing the entire spectacle (which, by the way, I accidentally DELETED from my cam!). Oh well, I’ll be back here again this November, so I’ll make sure I’ll save that vid next time.

At around 10pm, we left that magical place back to our hotel. Our tour bus was waiting for us outside and when we arrived back at the Shamrock, we just took a quick shower and explored the city some more, before we retreated back to our beds to prepare for our Macau trip the next day.

I was actually comtemplating how to backpost here since I’ve been through a lot of places for the past 4 years or so. I’ll skip the really old ones for 2 reasons (specifically HK and Singapore) : Too farout and I’ve had much more recent travels in those countries AND I was waaaay too fat on those pics then that I can’t understand how in the world I even had the guts to go out of the house, much more decide to go out of the country! Wait till you hear the experience I had with a Singaporean immigration officer when he wouldn’t believe it was me on my passport pic a few months ago, right before I actually renewed it last January.

So I’m starting with Hongkong 2010! It’s my 2nd time back in HK and that was around February. Went with a couple of friends and was pretty much excited because it was Joyjoy’s first out of the country trip, and we decided to go to HK since we wanted to bring her to Disneyland. Well, HK is usually the country for a person to go to for a 1st out of the country experience. And oh yeah, my boss paid for this trip! So that’s a another plus!

Hong Kong always gives me this warm feeling inside. I guess I would always have a special place for every country I’ve been to. We took the earliest flight from Philippine Airlines to Hong Kong, after staying overnight at Marian’s house, because we wanted to get the most out of the trip. Thank God there were no flight delays for us then. I am not sure if I would fly PAL again though, after hearing a bunch of horror stories from flight delays and cancellations recently.

We arrived around 9am, and by the time that we stepped out of the airplane, you can easily see the joy on Joyjoy’s face, all filled with glee. It’s like being a kid inside a candy store for the first time. So we did a whole lot of camera-whoring. I think the only time we stopped clicking our cams was when we passed immigration.

When we arrived at the hotel, there was no stopping us. We just washed our faces and stepped out into the city. We stayed at the Shamrock Hotel in Nathan Road, which I believe was the perfect spot for us. It was right in the center of the shopping scene and about a 30-second walk into the nearest MTR station! Yeah, it was that close and convenient. We bought ourselves the famous Octopus Card for the MTR, had our maps and the compass ready and just roamed around the streets.

At around 5pm, we went to the famous night market. Definitely one of the best places to shop in HK. And we haggled like crazy! Well, it was more of me haggling like crazy. Every time my friends wanted to buy something, they always run to me for negotiation. While dealing with a vendor, I try to change the sound of my voice and talk in broken English with a crazy Chinese accent. I know how to count in Chinese and know a few Chinese words, but that didn’t stop me from making my own Chinese words haha! My friends had to step away from me because they were shocked at how I sounded trying to argue with the vendor in Chinese jibberish while communicating with the calculator at the same time, pressing the amount we wanted for the price until we agreed on the value.

The Hong Kong street market scene is one of the chaotic places I’ve been through. We actually lost our way back to the hotel amidst the sounds of people talking, some teenagers screaming (I think there was a TV star having her hair done inside a parlor across the street), some road construction work, and people yelling in Chinese here and there. We were so hungry that we went inside this Chinese restaurant and did it like the locals did. Nobody spoke English. The menu was in Chinese, and all we had to order were pictures to choose from. At least, we knew what we were eating! (Or I think I did).

We went home around 10:45pm, I think the MTR stops operating at around 11pm. And yeah we bought a whole lot of stuff. From shirts to sunglasses to the usual souvenirs, the Night Market in Hong Kong is definitely a must for all HK travelers.