Lost in Hong Kong (Day 2)

Aug 28, 2015 - Friday

Started our day by going to the supermarket to buy breakfast. It was already 9am and surprisingly, only a few stores like bakeries were opened. I guess they were still tired from the night market so we just bought some bread to eat on the way to the supermarket.

Welcome to Wellcome! hahaha

Good thing Wellcome was already open when we got there. And since we're not in the Philippines, there was no retail! Di ako sanay. We got broccoli, rice, dim sum, and water, which was very expensive outside and not all restaurants served them cold and free of charge. I was also looking for pasalubong when I saw these Hello Kitty noodles! I wasn't really a fan but when it's like this, 'tis too cute not to give in.

cutie Hello Kitty noodles

dami kong napamili hahaha

After eating breakfast, my sisters and I explored around the area of Ladies Market wherein several shoe stores lined up such as Nike and Adidas. Walking to the main road, I think we already passed by three big nike stores. Most, if not all, were on sale! And I also noticed that almost everyone wore Nike irregardless of age and social status.

1 of n Nike stores

There were street food vendors already set up. We bought their famous egg waffles($15) and I must say, they're the best! They're like little pancakes that were crispy around the edges, designed for our convenience while strolling around Hong Kong. Lucky us, they'd just finish making this matcha egg waffle.

Matcha egg waffle ($15)

H&M was also nearby and on sale. I bought a high waist patterned shorts for only $49 and a jersey jumpsuit for $70! Bargain! My sister bought the same back home but they were more expensive.

On the way back, we saw an ice cream truck! This was their version of our dirty ice cream, I think. A sundae cone costed $9. The ice cream was sooo creamy(sorry, Family Mart), mixed with just the right amount of sweetness. Ah, basta, sobrang sarap!

ice cream truck, just like the one from Power Puff Girls

Egg waffles topped with ice cream, yuuumm

Everyone was prepared when we got home. It was time for the real itinerary for the day: Ocean Park!

Ocean Park
To get there, we took the Tuen Wan Line and got off at Admiralty Station. There was a stall for tourist services that sold cheaper park tickets to Ocean Park and Disneyland. However, we were short of cash and there were no money exchange services nearby so we only bought Ocean Park tickets for $345 each. We walked to the bus station, just outside of the MTR, and rode the CBT 629 bus that took us directly to Ocean Park.

waiting for CBT 629

!!!

ang hangin pls

Ocean Park guide map

The first thing we did when we arrived was, of course, kodakan! Then proceeded to line up for the roller coasters!

Hair Raiser

Floorless ride to make you feel helpless. Well done, Ocean Park.

Hair Raiser was the most thrilling ride I experienced at Ocean Park! Imagine being in a floorless roller coaster that makes sharp turns and multiple loops while overlooking the sea! My golly, di ko kinaya! De joke lang, kinaya ko syempre. Pero this was truly a hair raiser! Hong Kong's fastest roller coaster, btw.

The Dragon

Next, we tried The Dragon. This ride also made sharp turns like the Hair Raiser. However, I was a bit underwhelmed because Hair Raiser was far better. hahaha. Also, my ears hurt because my head kept banging to the side of my seat!!! 

After that painful ride, we wandered around toward the Crazy Galleon and found the Marine World Game Zone. We were pretty tired from walking and falling in line anyway so we played here for a while first.

Classic bean bag toss

There was this target toss using bean bags. Each game costed $20. If we could knock over the cubes at least twice out of three attempts, we'd get a stuff toy. Other stalls also offered classic games like Basketball and shooting games for the same amount. Expensive, right? But we had so much fun, I think we spent more than $400 on them. I guess it was worth it because we won a lot of stuff toys! hahaha

kobe

shooting game

Pabebe with the stuff toys

Pabebe part 2

The Abyss Turbo Drop was also my favorite! It was a tower, standing 62m high, built to take our souls away. I thought this was just gonna be like EKstreme Tower but I was sooo wrong. 

extremely hiiigh

The Abyss Turbo Drop

It ascended slowly, mainly to build up fear, and stopped at the top. Once it did, we got a spectacular view of the park and the sea. I was in awe. My feet were dangling while I appreciated the view when suddenly NAHULOG NA KAMI! GRABE JUSKO, WALANG COUNTDOWN. The descent was faster than gravity because we were actually forced down, so that wasn't just free fall. The rapid drop seemed too long that I ran out of breath shouting for my life and my tummy felt weird and I wanted to hold my body but I couldn't so I was really helpless. But the torture/ride didn't stop there, it snapped back to the top and dropped again. It went on for at least five more times until our mouths went dry from all the screaming. So ayun nga, this was by far the scariest ride for me.

We got on the Crazy Galleon eventually. It was just a more extreme version of EK's Anchors Away and I forgot to take a picture, just like the other so-so rides we had. haha.

There were other fun rides, too, but it was getting late. Again. So for the last stop, we went to the Giant Panda Adventure. It was my first time to see pandas!

plotting a murder for 10 minutes

panda poop haha

Ocean Park houses four giant pandas. They were really huge and cute but extremely laaazy. I think I stared at this one for about 10 minutes, waiting for it to move or impress the people but it just didn't seem to care. There were also these red pandas, which were actually reddish-brown. They also had bushy tails and were much smaller than giant pandas that I'd mistaken them for raccoons at first.

a red panda

ayaw nila humarap huhu

Other animals such as giant koi carps and sea otters can also be found inside. :)

We could ride the cable car back to the exit but the line was looong and we'd been to Ngong Ping already so we got on the Ocean Express train again instead.

Ocean Park cable car and its famous sea horse logo

We were very hungry and exhausted when we got back to the Admiralty Station. We didn't eat inside the park because the food there were so overpriced! Ayun, so we had dinner at Mcdonald's nearby the MTR station(also wanted to compare the taste kasi hahaha).

Cookie monster wanted a burger

Hello Kitty Secret Garden Cafe

meow!

This was really hard to find. Maybe that's why it had 'Secret' in its name. hahaha. The Hello Kitty Secret Garden Cafe is located in Tai Hang, near Tin Hau Station, quite walkable, only 550m away. This is a Hello Kitty fan's dream because everything inside screams Hello Kitty!  So if you're a fan, you better visit this place!

Hello Kitty

and her bike

Since we just had dinner, We only had waffles and cups coffee and green tea latte. We just went to check the place out at ako talaga nagyaya kasi nga di naman ako fan hahahaha. Also, everything was kitty size so I guess their food's a bit pricey.

latte ($40)

Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel green tea latte ($36)

strawberry waffles ($78)

Walking back to the MTR station, there was a gacha-gacha hub and Jeran couldn't resist trying to get characters from his favorite anime show. Each play costed $20. After 4 attempts, trying to get his target character, he told me, "Dito lang ako nag-aksaya ng pera." To which I replied, "Hindi ba kanina pa sa Ocean Park(game zone)?" He did get the character eventually.

Jeran playing the Gacha Gacha machine

Ladies Market was jam-packed when we got back. I didn't even roam around because my feet were hurting from the day's activity. When I got to our unit, I lied down the bed but fell asleep right away, as in no toothbrush and palit ng damit. TMI hahaha. Sorry, I was tired.

Janel and the busy streets of Mongkok
ang galing, blurred.

PS. I'll write about Disneyland and other things soon.

Lost in Hong Kong (Day 1)

The last time I visited Hong Kong, I was still in high school, which was about eight years ago. It was a tour package so we really had no control over our time. I did enjoy it for the fact that I'd been to Disneyland and Ocean Park.

Ate Naji and I booked piso-fare flights to Hong Kong via Cebu Pacific, November of last year. We really wanted to maximize our time so we didn't opt for tour packages. Planning our itinerary for five days, we scheduled trips to famous tourist spots in Hong Kong and some free time in between.

Aug 27, 2015 - Thursday

goodbye muna, work

We arrived at HKIA by 7:40am. Our accommodation was in Ladies Market, Mongkok so we had to ride the A21 bus. When the bus arrived, they didn't accept cash (which we were not aware of) so Ate Naji and I had to run back to purchase bus tickets for $33. We also didn't know that we could purchase Octopus cards inside HKIA.

A21 to Mongkok

We got off at Bank Centre Station to meet AC, our host for the accommodation. I found her unit through Airbnb and instantly fell in love with the place. Also, the room was cheap for a family of seven. It had a sofa bed in the living room(see picture) and 3 bedrooms that fitted 2 persons each.

sofa bed by the living room, image via Airbnb

bedroom with AC unit, image via Airbnb

The unit looked small but it really was just enough for a family of seven. We were always out anyway and staying in a big, cozy, hotel room would only be a waste. Plus, the beds and pillows were so soft and comfy that even after a day of strolling around, we managed to have a good sleep. Click here for the Airbnb listing.

We were very fortunate to be able to stay in one of the liveliest districts in Hong Kong that is Mongkok. We were situated just above Ladies market! Think Divisoria! (Also, they didn't call it Ladies Market for nothing which I found out from a friend when I came back to the Philippines.)

It was already a little past lunch time when we're finally settled in so we asked our host, AC, where we could have a cheap, good Chinese lunch for our first meal. She recommended London Restaurant(this was Chinese, I swear) just along Nathan Road. The menu was written in Chinese and we really didn't understand any of it. Plus, the waitress did not speak English but we could tell that she was nice. We only relied on the pictures so we pointed to lots of dim sum!

pork buns and hakaw

buchi and noodles

gyozaaaa!

Our first destination was at Ngong Ping 360. To get there, we got inside Mongkok Station and bought Octopus cards first. This card was very convenient because it offered discounted fares and could also be used in buses. We were also able to use it when purchasing from selected establishments like 7-11. Initially, the card costed $150 which had $100 as credit and $50 as deposit. Don't worry, it's refundable.

Ate naji, holding her octopus card. Image by Naji

The fare was $16.50. (To know the fares to and from different stations, click here.) We got off at Tung Chung Station and walked toward Ngong Ping 360.

Ngong Ping 360

Ngong Ping 360 is one of Hong Kong's famous attractions, which included a cable car ride to the themed village. We rode the standard cabin which costed $165 per head, roundtrip.

a standard cabin | didn't look scary at first

cabins coming from the first checkpoint

a picture with Jeran who rarely smiled

From the first station, we traveled upward onto the next. We saw the huge airport, the highways we traversed earlier, the skyscrapers from the city, the calm, calm sea, and the other cabins that made me estimate the tension held by the rope that held us all which sort of triggered a panic in me. It took us about twenty-five minutes to reach the Ngong Ping Village but when you're inside a cabin suspended hundreds of feet above the sea, you'd really lose track of time.

Ngong Ping Village is a culturally-themed site designed to showcase the culture of the whole Ngong Ping area. Since Hong Kong is modernizing fast, you won't see many traditional infrastructures like the ones in this village. This should be on everyone's itinerary when in Hong Kong!

Ngong Ping Village

Ate Rayji as Donnie Yen

Pavement that leads to the Big Buddha

Tian Tan Buddha

a closer view under the sun

Upon reaching the Ngong Ping Village, we already saw the big Buddha which got us excited! After exploring the vicinity, we headed right for the Buddha and found a flight of 268 steps that led to it. It's okay since we needed to burn all the dim sum we had earlier. haha!

"The Offering of the Six Devas"

Tian Tan Buddha is the bronze, seated Buddha which represents Sakyamuni, who meditated under the Bodhi tree and attained awakening to true reality. Surrounding it were six other statues that posed offering necessary for enlightenment.

Reaching the top on a sunny day was not easy. That's why we rewarded ourselves with ice cream ($12) as we rested by the shade around the temple. It was also summer in Hong Kong, very hot! Good thing we were given fans upon purchasing cable car tickets. At the top, we could see the panoramic view of the mountains and the whole village, very niiiice.

Jeran and Ate Naji

Me and Nanay

time to go down 268 steps

We didn't have much time to explore the whole village because we also planned to visit the Victoria Peak by evening. Also, the queue to the cable car might build up since it was already 4pm and we wouldn't risk it.

Tired from walking and sleepy from the early flight, we rode the train once again to our next destination: The Peak Tram.

knocked out sibs inside the train | L-R: Ate Rayji, Jeran, Ate Naji, me

We're excited to get off Central Station to recreate an old photo we took when we first visited Hong Kong!

2007 vs 2015

The Peak Tram and Victoria Peak

The peak tram!

From central station, we walked to the Peak Tram. It started raining and we didn't have umbrellas with us while we waited in line outside of the station. Good thing we pursued because the rain eventually stopped when we're already soaked. I think we waited, standing, for almost an hour because of the loooong queue. I hate queues!

Waiting for the train to arrive and save us

One of the oldest funicular railways, the tram carries both the tourists and locals to the upper levels of Hong Kong. When the train arrived for our batch, we rushed in to save ourselves seats. I didn't know back then that it would go steeply upward and was in for so much surprise when it started going. The buildings seemed to lean sideways to 30 degrees! Totally worth the long wait!

going so fast at approx. 30 degrees!

We headed to the Sky Terraces upon alighting the tram, excited to see the famous Hong Kong skyline. We got there just in time as the city buildings started to light up one by one! How spectacular the view was, surely a scenic spot not to be missed!

We we're very hungry after a day's adventure so we decided to eat at Hong Kong Day inside Victoria Peak. Their servings were huuuuge! We had crispy noodles, laksa, curry, and beef teriyaki. I think we spent $300 for this dinner.

Laksa for Ate Naji

We got back to Mongkok at 9pm. Slept right away because the next day's set for Ocean Park! It was just the first day and we've done (and spent) so much already! You, guys, must really visit these places to complete your Hong Kong experience. I really encourage you to plan your own trips for the sake of adventures just like ours!