Lost in Hong Kong : City of Ingenuity

I woke up with a bad case of allergic rhinitis, Sunday morning and the 2nd Day of our tour. I'm often prone to be sick if I haven't slept well. The aircon was too cold I guess and I kept on waking up having liquid dreams of walking in Disneyland and programming in the office. Anyway, we were outside the hotel by 8:30AM waiting for Erik. I managed to pop a Benadryl AH and took it in for the stuffy nose and to stop the incessant sneezing. By 8:50, Erik hasn't arrived yet and 20 minutes more, tourists started complaining. Later on, Zeny arrived. She was our tour guide for that day. She was speaking in her harried English and haphazardly pointed us to the bus. Tourists glared at her with irritated looks, and to add the fact the she didn't apologize for her lateness. How we wished Erik could have been with us instead.

I myself was carried away with all the grumbling and annoyed with my nose at the same time. I tried to concentrate on what Zeny was saying because her English is incomprehensible. We were along Aberdeen road at that time going to Ocean Park while having a meeting with my family on what time we would leave Ocean Park. About 9:30, we arrived at Ocean Park and at first, I wasn't like 'wow' it was like OK, fine. Anyway, we got inside and grabbed our brochures. Something that looked like Oishi Manju caught my attention and I bought one. It costs like 17HK$ and had 30+ pieces. FYI, Ocean Park was divided into two areas, the lowland and the headland. The main entrance was by the lowland while headland is located on the other side of the mountain behind the lowland area. You have to travel through cable car to go to headland or from headland to lowland. There is also an entrance in the headland named as Tai Shue Wan entrance and that's where we are going to meet by 5PM before going to Victoria Peak for the night tour.

Jack Black in Cage

It was pretty boring in lowland because most of the rides were kids stuff however we got to see the 4 pandas, An-An, Jia-Jia, Ying-Ying and Le-Le. It was funny because I just thought at that timke that only Visayans are fond of making repeating nicknames. However seeing the pandas for me was quite sad because I felt some kind of conviction that they're supposed to be in the wild and here they are pointed at and have their pictures taken, not to mention that they are disturbed in their sleep. Anyway we didin't lingered that long, so we pored over our maps again. My parents wanted to see the dolphin show and we wasted another hour looking for it all over the lowland.

Cable Cars

We were informed that dolphin shows will be at the headland at about 3:30PM. So we boarded by the cable car and we went up up and away . The ride was quite long and I was expecting that the headland would be just at the other side of the mountain. Instead, a valley stretched before our eyes and on the other side of the next mountain, we saw the rides located in headland. The view from the cable car would have been majestic if the smog density isn't that heavy. From the cable car you can see the vast expanse of South China sea as well as Hong Kong's surrounding minor islands.

The whole view

When we get to the headland, it was swarming with lots of people. I guess this is where the action is. Down below are the rides like "The Dragon", a huge roller coaster with three loops, "The Abyss", a 550-ft tower where riders are taken up with only steel brace and a small seat supporting your body and then the platform where you're at will be released and you will fall 9.81 m/s² for like 2-3 seconds. There are also the other rides like Crazy Galleon (similar to Anchor's Aweigh in Enchanted), the classic Ferris Wheel, the rotating swing, etc. It was 11:30 when we started walking and felt out stomachs grumbling so went to the nearest food stall we can find.

Seal!

We managed to get a huge sausage, a fish tofu and fries and they don't tasted well. Anyway, my father insisted that we should look first for the Ocean Park theater for the dolphin show, however we entered the oceanarium of the seals we get to take close up views of those amicable creatures. Unlike pandas, seals definitely love attention and they would do their hilarious antics especially if you cheer them on. After the oceanarium we went on the other side of the mountain, the one facing the lowland to look forward to ride the "Mine Mountain". The ride didn't looked safe so we dismissed the thought of riding them and went down further. We found the "Raging River", much like the same with Jungle Log Jam in EK but much shorter and there was only 1 drop. I was feeling feverish and sleepy by that (that was the work of the Benadryl) so I quickly queued with my bro and sis for the ride. I guess you know all the drill on what's gonna happen in "Raging River" but what was surprising to me was that the rain coat, which was like similar only to a transparent garbage bag costs 25HK$. Talk about huge business. Good thing the Indians who were before us gave us their coats while some riders managed to grab some inside the trash can. The staff quickly noticed what was happening, so she immediately got all the coats from the gabage bin and shredded them to pieces.

The Raging River ride took away my sleepiness as well the fever. My brother, feeling more courageous now, queued next to Space Wheel, where a wheel rotates while moving upward to 90 degree angle.

Dolphin show

When my brother was finished with the Space Wheel, he was now irking to ride the dangerous ones like the Dragon and the Abyss but it was 2:30 by then and we have to get some seats for the Dolphin show. A series of arguments followed, with us, kids, determined to skip the show and went for the rides. Eventually, mom and dad won and we waited for another hour before the show started. We were quite early and we got ourselves some very good seats, just in front of the stage. There were four musicians already playing some latino beats to entertain the crowd and was quite surprised to hear later on, when they played and sang, "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar. My goodness, these guys are Filipinos! Eventually the dolphin show started. The dolphins are smart but I like the seals more because they are playful. Anyway, fastforward, it was all an antic show by these smart sea creatures.

It was about 4 when the show ended and we only got an hour to get to the rides before we meet the whole touring group at Tai Shue Entrance. My sister and I managed to ride the Crazy Galleon (similar to Anchor's Aweigh in EK), but we made sure that we sit by the end part to get the most of the ride. My brother managed to ride both the Dragon and The Abyss - and he was non-stop telling his feeling all about it as were all climbing up and down the Tai Shue entrance.

There was a commotion at the entrance as several touring groups were now merged and splitted depending on the next destination. Some who were with us originally but did not opt to join the night tour were grouped in another bus. Some of us were now joined with other tour groups (which includes a family of noisy Indians) and our tour guide by then was Henry, who was with Erik on the first day. Henry is very good. He communicates very clearly and he ushers everyone. When we got to the Peak Tramway Station, which will take us to Victoria Peak, he was the one who lined up to get the tickets for us.

It was a slow ride going to the peak and as advised by Henry, we got seated by the right side to get a better view of the HK metropolis. Unfortunately, it was very foggy, so there wasn't that much to see. When we got to the top we gathered round by the outside of the Peak Mall near Haagen Dasz and were handed with tickets to Madamme Tussaud's Wax Museum. We were only given an hour for the tour and to buy souvenirs.

Who the she is? But she's cute though

We had a great time inside the wax museum. It was a showcase of wax statues from Asian superstars like Michelle Yeoh, Andy Lau, and those guys featured in those sappy korea/chino/novelas (I don't watch them so I don't know their names); sports figures like Yao Ming, David Beckham, Hollywood superstars like Thomas Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, etc; Famous national figures like George Bush, Saddam Hussein, Mao Zedong, Mikhail Gorbachev; famous artists and scientists like Einstein and Pablo Picasso. There was even a figure of the wax maker herself, Madamme Tussaud and of course who can miss Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.

It was fun. I had a really good time in there and I bought HK ref magnets as pasalubong for my officemates. By 7, all of us were gathered in front of Haagen Dasz and proceeded to our bus. Our next stop was on the Night Market along Yau Ma Tei back in downtown Kowloon. While it too us only around 8 minutes to go up Victoria Peak, it took us about 30 minutes to go down. We have to go round in circles downward along the side of Victoria Peak. The view was breathtaking as HK buildings start loom large and the lights were just spectacular. Good for moonshell moments.

Anyway, after about 30 minutes, we arrived at the Night Market. It was 7:30 and all of us were starving. We scouted the entire length of Yau Ma Tei and we found a Chinese restaurant. God, the food was delicious! After dinner, we found out that we only had 30 minutes to shop around until we go back to the bus.

Along the way, the group split and I was with my sister. My bro was with my Nanay and Tatay so I texted them twice (while grieving over 40 pesos worth of text) to see them in the bus. I looked over some stuff and saw this cute figurine that looked like anime spirits. Upon closer inspection, they are two separate figurines, similar in look and joined together to appear that they are hugging. Much later on, I discovered that are salt and pepper vials. Cool, huh!

Anyway, my sister wasn't finished shopping and she hasn't picked anything when 9 came. We have to go back to the bus so we ran and despite the blisters on my feet we made it on time. We are the only ones that they have been waiting for but something inside me to go back so I asked Henry where Nathan Road is so that we could just trace our back to the hotel on our own. I happily tagged my sister back out from the bus and said to mom and dad to see them at the hotel. My brother went along with us.

We went back to the night market and decided to splurge all the HK dollars left in my pocket.. I bought two shirts and long sleeves for my office and gave the rest of my money to my brother. Anyway we finished shopping at about 10:30 PM so we started looking for Nathan Road which is fortunately just on the other side of the alley.

It was a relief to see the familiar "Babila" sign which means that we're just near our hotel so we walked a bit expecting after a block we could see the familiar aquarium and the magazine stand beside the hotel entrance. But after two or three blocks, we didn't find any sign so I began scrummaging over my map but I couldn't find any symbol or name of our hotel. So we walked again and after a block, my feet hurts from the blister made by the fake crocs that I bought in Manila, so we took a rest. I felt a desperation inside and the three of us looking like abandoned kids as people don't care to notice us and the shopping bags that we have seemed to look like garbage bags that beggars use. We felt so pitiful.

My brother pored over our map once again and voila! Just when we felt so desperate, we saw our hotel and we found out that we're 8 blocks away. We found out that we were walking to the opposite direction. All the tireness dissipate away as we know now where we're going. My blisters are hurting but it's okay, I'm gonna rest them on the soft bedsheets and I'll be dozing off. We arrived at the hotel at 11:30 PM. My sister called my parents in their room. They are already asleep. I'm glad that they didn't worry too much about us.

I was taking last photo shoots of the buildings as we were on our bus to the airport. The weekend seemed so long and the place grew on me now. It's quite sad that I'll be going back to Manila and I said to myself that I'll be back here to work perhaps or just plain vacation... and maybe see Erik again.

Lost in Hong Kong : City of Smog

Day 1: The City of Smog

A quarter before 9AM, we were all gathered outside our hotel in Natham Avenue waiting for our tour guide. The weather was perfect. It was cool and partly cloudy. The sidewalk was busy with people going to work. It felt like standing along the sidewalk of Ayala early morning. There was a magazine stand near the hotel entrance and I took a quick glance of the chinese versions of FHM, Maxim, Cosmo... too bad no Men's Health. I will certainly buy it even if I don't understand, y'know just for collection.

Avenue of the Stars, Waterfront

Bitoy arrived five minutes after nine and he led us to the bus. While the bus was rolling he told us our itinerary for the day. Our first stop will be the waterfront by the south bay of Kowloon facing Hong Kong Island. When we got there, it was a breathtaking site. It looked as if you're on Roxas Blvd but unlike it, in front of you is the coastline area of Hong Kong island and the endless stretch of tall buildings from east to west. Unfortunately the view was slightly obscured by a thick, dense fog. Eric corrected us that it wasn't fog but pollution. In addition, Eric told us that in 20 years, this waterfront will be gone since the this bay area we be reclaimed to accomodate more buildings.

Our next stop was the TSL, makers of world-class jewelry. It was a waste of time going here since we don't intend to buy jewelry, not to add that they are too expensive ranging from 50HK$ to 2000HK$. It's good that they have free sodas and tea so that you can have something to sip while oogling over the gold and the diamonds. Next we went to the factory outlet to buy our souvenirs. I bought a set of champoy, 3 boxes of milk tea and a Hong Kong souvenir shirt. They were also selling Disney products at a cheaper price but they don't look that good.

Noon: Disneyland

It was about 12NN when we finished shopping and it's time to go to Disneyland. We were all starving and we asked Eric if we could have lunch first before going to Disneyland but Eric said it would be better if we take our lunch in Disneyland to save time. So we endured 30 minutes of hunger as the bus rolled towards Disneyland back in Lantau Island.

It was really hot and humid, not to mention that we're all too hungry when we arrived in Disneyland. Everyone in the fam was quite in an irky mood so we took pictures quickly by the entrance and by the fountain where the water was blowing up from a whale's blowhole and Mickey Mouse was bobbing up and down on a surfboard. It was really cool. We got quickly inside, grabbed out maps and brochure guides and looked for the nearest fastfood along the Main Street. We found an italian resto and we got quickly inside. The food was quite pricey about 60HK$ and up but since we're too hungry we didn't mind spending a lot. We were entertained by the performers of High School Musical just outside in the Main Street.

Philharmagic

After lunch everyone was quite refreshed and was in the good mood. My sister was poring over her map checking the rides that we're going to take and the shows that we're going to see. We need to budget our time so that we can have time to see the fireworks display behind Sleeping Beauty Castle by 7:30PM. So first we went to the Adventure land and rode the boat for the Jungle River Cruise. It was quite nice seeing the fake elephants spraying us with water and the piranhas, the crocs and the giraffes. I apologize for the sarcasm but the cruise was quite boring. By the end of the cruise I was taken by surprise where we reached this area where there was a huge caved shaped like a giant frog and and the water srated to boil and fire was everywhere on the rocks and the water started to steam. Woah, this is what it should be. I just wish that they will have the earthquake effect that will capsize the boat next time. LOL.

We went next to Fantasy Land and our first stop was at Philharmagic. It was like IMAX but it is 4D since you also get to feel sensation like wind or water sprays. The show was a suite of memorable scenes in Disney Classics like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc. It was nostalgic for me because I grew up watching Disney Classics, memorize the songs like Mickey Mouse Club, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Beauty and the Beast, A Whole New World, etc. It brought me memories of my "unadulterated" childhood. It was like 2:30 PM when the show was finished. Next we went to Mad Hatter's Tea Cups where we went got dizzy spinning and spinning making sure to turn the steering wheel full counterclockwise to spin us very fast. After te ride we went to buy some cotton candies, we met some of our fellow tour mates and asked to join us since they weren't really familiar with the how's and to's. Back in the Main Street, the Disney Parade was already starting, so we hurried to get into our places. It was just in time when we got there, Mickey Mouse through the years float was just looming into view and floats representing themselves came into view like Chip and Dale, The Disney Princesses: Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Little Mermaid (though she's a princess but she doesn't have feet so maybe a separate float was dedicated for her), Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie in Toy Story, and my favorite, experiment 626, aka Stitch, lastly the trail was the float of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto.

After the parade, everyone was tired standing, so it's time to give the oldies (my parents) to sit down and relax so we decided to take a slow ride. So we went to the Fantasy Land Train Station and rode the train that travels around the periphery of Disneyland. I'd expect the ride to be boring (read: not dangerous and heart-stopping) but surprises await you just around the corner: Mickey and Minnie Mouse would just appear and wave hello and those pesky little aliens in Toy Story would pop out and take pictures.

Donald Duck in Disney Parade

After about 20 minutes of train ride, it's time to do the extreme, so went to Tomorrow Land to ride the Space Mountain. When we got there, we were surprised that there was no queue by the entrance. I guess most people were chickened out to go on this ride. My father opted to stay outside because of bad experience riding this in Disneyland Anaheim, CA. He said he almost passed out after riding this one. My mom was quite adventurous so she joined us. When we entered, it was pitch black and there was a lone car waiting for us. So I and my brother jumped in as my mother and sister waited for the next car. As the car wheeled slowly into darkness, lights start to flicker from a distance and it felt as if you're traveling in space. I was mesmerized looking around and didn't quite noticed that we're slowly going up and it was by a jiffy that all go suddenly fast and felt ourselves zooming in every direction. By then, the view started to change and we encountered huge planets, stars and nebulae. The ride's highlight was the downward plunge, as a huge supernova blasted right before our very eyes which we realize later on that it was the flash from the camera to take pictures of us in our ugly expressions of fear and hysteria, for some, epilepsy perhaps... not to mention that they cost 90HK$ each. We bought them anyway.

All were very frantic as we went out from the Space Mountain. We'd like to ride one more time but my mother swore that she would never ride something like this again. For me, this is a less scary version of the roller coaster since you don't get too see if you're already looping up or going sidewards unlike in the "The Dragon", the roller coaster in Ocean Park. Next stop was at "The Golden Mickeys". We only have the slightest idea that it would be a mini production number featuring all Disney Classics through the years. We were just in time for the 5:15PM show as people were now allowed to enter the theater. The production was themed like an awards night as Bebe(one hot Chinese chick) goes onstage presenting awards for heroes like Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan in Tarzan, Mulan in Mulan, and romance scenes like Belle and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. Goofy comes in ruining the show (as he always does) and takes Bebe out from the show and brings her into his adventure. And suites from A Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch gave their huge shots. The show ended with the complete ensemble of the cast.

Lilo and Stitch, The Golden Mickeys

It was about a quarter to six when the show ended. We decided to have dinner early so that we can get good seats early on in the Main Street for Disney in the Stars, a fireworks presentation, making a spectacular backdrop of Sleeping Beauty castle. This also is the last main event in the park. By 7:00PM we got on Main and Street and found good seats. The fireworks display will start on 7:30 so set our cam to fireworks mode but unfortunately the battery was dead by that time.

Everyone was excited as the voice over announced the start of the fireworks display. Sleeping Beauty castle was bathed in colored lights as fireworks start to shoot upwards, orchestrated and in sequence. No words to describe it and I feel like I was back in my childhood, just experiencing this awesome wonder that dates back when my father used to bring Disney VHS every weekend. They could be a Disney Classic movie or cartoon series of Mickey or Donald Duck or The Merrie Melodies, Sing-along Songs. I can't help feeling nostalgic and lost in the memories of my childhood, innocent, wonderful and exciting, devoid of the complications of being an adult. I was in that moment for a while. After 30 minutes, all was over and I wished it would never end but it's time to go home. As we made our way to the exit, my bro and sis sang those old Disney songs and I'm quite surprised myself that I still memorize them, the ones like "Merry Un-Birthday" or "Mickey Mouse Club" and "It's a Small World".

As our bus rolled towards our hotel back in Kowloon, I told myself I will go back here some time in the future.

to be continued: Lost in HongKong : City of Ingenuity