thebackpackdiaries

Holla! I know that most of you (especially those who are across the globe) just visited Hongkong many times, but for me it is one of the greatest experience I have there! As a first time blogger, just wanna share with all of you some of the reason why (for me) Hongkong is my number 1 unforgettable out of the country experience.

It was early December of 2010 when we visited Hongkong with my co-workers and my (generous) boss (very grateful and lucky being part of the company). Because we just visited first Macau, we travelled Hongkong via ferry. It was a 45 minutes ride to a first class ferry namely: Star Ferry but seated in an economy class hahaha!

Tip: If you will cross at Hongkong via Macau, be sure that you get or buy your tickets early because sometimes tickets are fast selling (specifically the time). So that you will not get crammed looking for ticket station. As for us,because we didn’t buy early tickets,that’s why we bought our ticket to other person.( We are very lucky because that person was a Filipino and been honest to us.)

Just as we reached the Immigration of Hongkong via Star Ferry Pier,queuing for passport check I thought I cannot enter because the person whose assessing with me is very strict (I don’t know what the problem about myself that they even ask my co-workers that I am with them.),It nearly took me to cry but well I tried to compose myself and let them know that I am only a tourist and will not work as a Domestic Helper. Anyways, after that scene from the Immigration, we drop off at KFC  at the mall just below the Immigration. Heading off to our apartelle ( we didn’t take a hotel because that too expensive for us who have only a small budget).

Tip: If you are going to HK in package tour,well hotel would be the number factor you should consider,but if your budget is a bit tight and didn’t take package tour, I can say hostel/apartelle  is the best for you.

We rode off to train and alight at Tsim Sha Tsiu, one of the busiest place because of malls around there. Immediately, after we reached our hostel  we just put down our baggage and starting to explore the busy night of Hongkong.

Here in this picture: We can’t get rid of taking pictures even we are tired from a 45 minute travel from Macau.

After an hour of walking and exploring Tsim Sha Tsiu Promenade . And being too tired for it,we already got back to our hostel and take a good sleep. Here in this pictures: We still got a time to pose before sleeping time.Hehehehe

Day 2: Waking up is hard to do because of still exhausted to last night’s exploration and because it’s too cold and lazy to wake up (December already) we still managed to do it because we want to catch the sunrise in Hongkong. And because we only stayed in a hostel we didn’t have free breakfast but for us it’s okay because we want to try the authentic  Hongkong style breakfast. Having a HK  milk tea and a slice of pinapple bun plus scramble egg wraps up our breakfast (Chan-Chang Tang set)!

Moving on…After our sumptuous breakfast, we walked towards Clock Tower, while heading to it we passed by HongKong Space Museum and Hongkong Museum of Art,yet it’s still close. We take only pictures outside of it.

And opps! I forgot, because it’s our first timers in another country and first time to see bus that’s with upper deck on it. We rushed to take pictures in front of a moving bus.Here it is:

Reaching the Clock Tower while walking was successful as we expected. The view is very nice! Breathtaking and the  area was just as quiet as you expected for an early morning walk. Facing the other side of Hongkong, another tourist spot to see in front of it is the A Symphony of Lights were every night there is some performance of Dancing Lights and some fireworks that’s nice to see.

The first picture is the Clock Tower and in the second picture is a view of Central part of Hongkong, and A Symphony of Lights. ( It is more breathtaking to see during night.)

To continue our exploration, my boss decided to cross the Central part of Hongkong and visit the Lucky Plaza (a Filipino Mall, where most of the sellers are Filipino based in Hongkong and most of OFW’s  are here to send money to their loved ones.). We alight at Central Station and take a walk. It’s already 10 am so the area was as just busy like Makati, Philippines. The itinerary is that we would visit the Lucky Plaza,visit the radio station there for OFW’s (sorry, I forgot the name), buy tickets for tomorrows itinerary which is Hongkong Disneyland and Ocean Adventure Hongkong.

After that, we headed to visit the Lantau Island, rode off to a ferry, we reached the island. But not only the Island itself that we visited, we explore what was beneath the Lantau Island. Again..to reach the Ngong Ping Village, you need to ride a bus # 23 (if im not mistaken).

This picture was taken in Ngong Ping Piazza, Buddhist Themed squared links to Lantau Island.

On the first picture: Before entering the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, there are stores that sells traditional Chinese Charms and Crystals and the famous Incense (correct my spelling if it’s wrong) that you can buy. On the second picture: the view of the famous Great Big Buddha from a far. Well, you can visit the area itself but you need to pay the entrance for how many bucks.(in Hongkong Dollar). Sitting in 34 meters high,facing north of Mainland China. You can reach it by climbing into 268 steps for a closer look. (Great Exercise is it?!) Third Picture and Fourth Picture: The Po Lin Monastery,just opposite of Big Buddha. Depicts the manifestation of Buddhist iconography and sanctum of the Monks.

Because it is lunch time already, we take the chance to try one of the popular vegetarian food in Po Lin Monastery. From the word “vegetarian”,it consist of vegetables and home-made noodles that’s typical food of the monks.(Mind you,that some of the cooks are monks.)

We haven’t tried to ride in Ngong Ping 360. It was a 25 minute cable car ride that let’s you see the bird’s-eye view of Lantau Island itself (the deep blue sea and lush green mountainside). Aside from ferry ride, you can also reach the Lantau Island by riding on it. From MTR Tung Chung Station, a five-minute walk to reach the Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal. Other attractions that can be found in the Island is Tai O and Lantau Peak.You can also reach Hongkong Disneyland thru it , but for us we decided to reach it via train. Hehehe

After the visitation of Monasteries, another place that we want to visit is The Peak. The highest point of Hongkong Island, with an altitude of 552 meters. You can see here views of spectacular skyscrapers and Victoria Harbour all the way to green hills of New Territory in morning and in  early evening you can see panorama of pink and orange hue dazzling and shimmering beneath you . To enjoy the view more you need to visit the large viewing point known as The Sky Terrace 428,found in The Peak Tower which is designed as anvil-shaped. Other than that, The Peak Galleria has a free observatory deck in which you can see the view. apart from restaurants and shopping malls. And before I forgot you can also find in this place are some of Madame Tussauds.

To reach for this you need to ride in The Peak Tram, one of the best experience in viewing the impossible angles that slides passed on your window.(mind you,it’s an open air tram).

You can see on the 1st picture is the image of Bruce Lee in Madame Tussauds. On the 2nd picture,the entrance of The Peak Tram. On the third one, skyscrapers at night and 4th one skyscrapers on the afternoon time. 5th one,The Sky Terrace 428 was behind us. Last Picture was taken at The Peak Galleria.

It was already a tiring day for us. So we decided to pull off and want to get back to our hostel. But because we haven’t taken dinner, our boss said we need to try the authentic cuisines of Hongkong. And mind you, he said that to feel the authenticity of the Hongkong foods he brought us to Banchetto style restaurant. Here, you can choose different variety of Hongkong foods (from noodles to the main dish itself, fish, clams,prawns and deep-fried squid was served). Because we are very hungry we didn’t mind our diet!Hahahaha (sorry, I didn’t take some pictures of it.)

(And oh I forgot! The rest room of the Banchetto restaurant was just as the rest room here in the provinces of the Philippines (ancient times I think).)

Because of too full from the sumptous food we had. We agree to take a walk and do midnight shopping. (We don’t have time to go to Kowloon area).We’re just so lucky that in Tsim Sha Tsui  there’s this place known for  a midnight shopping.

Day 3: Still exhausted last day and night exploration,we woke up late.(too bad). But we didn’t mind it. Because our itinerary for this day is to spend the whole day of being a kid!Yes! We’re going to HONGKONG DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!

To reach Hongkong Disneyland you need to take train that will be alighting at the MTR Disneyland Resort Station. As I’ve said awhile ago, Disneyland Hongkong can be found in the reclaimed area of Penny Bay, Lantau Island.So you can reach it also when you are at the Lantau Island itself.

We are so excited to reach the Disneyland Hongkong. For me, I only imagining myself that I can visit HK Disneyland after my 40th year of age but look! I just visited it by the age of 26.Hahahaha (Apart from visiting also the Hollywood in US, Universal Studio in US also and in Singapore and Disneyland in US and Tokyo.) On that day, we just got back for being a kid. Hahahaha Nah ah ah HK Disneyland is not just for kids,this amusement park was for all ages!!!! I will not elaborate the things that we did there! We just enjoyed the day! Here are some of the pictures.Enjoy browsing!

 

Sorry for the flooding of photos! There’s more of our moments to cherish photos but I cannot post it all! It was one of the happiest day in Hong Kong. So nice for being a kid that day! Too tired after what we had and what we did that day but the smiles on our face has never been removed.

Day 4: It was our last day at Hongkong. So sad but happy at the same time because of what we explored in Hongkong. By afternoon we will be leaving Hongkong and go back to Macau for our flight back in the Philippines. But before our day ends, we visited another theme park, the Ocean Park.

To reach you need to alight at MTR Admiralty Station and ride the bus #629.

Ocean Park is a marine life themed park located at the southern part of Hongkong Island, covering more than 870,000 square meters. The Waterfront and The Summit is connected by the Cable Car and Ocean Express Train. For us who are animated by marine life and animal exhibits enjoyed the ambiance and the place while exploring it. Here are some of our pics.

On this pictures are the entrance of The Ocean Park. Experienced riding in the ballon kite. View while riding on it. And (Finally!!!!) tried to ride in Cable Car which is open air (mind you) with 25 minute ride (if I’m not mistaken) and the view while on the cable car. And lastly while we were going back to Central Station we saw there cemetery..Too small eh?!

We would like to extend our trip here in Hongkong but unfortuantely we need to go back to Philippines because of our work. Sad to say that I think we haven’t fully explore the beauty of Hongkong but it’s okay because we decided to come back again some other time to explore another things that we haven’t tried in Hongkong. Indeed it was a great exploration! First time to explore out of the country experiences and memorable experiences I encountered in HongKong. And I must say that for sure I will come back to this place over and over again! Thanking my boss for letting me experience this!

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If you have any comments, questions and suggestions, feel free to write it down! Hope you have a wonderful explorations with me as I blogged my experiences. Thank You!