Friday, March 27, 2009

Hong Kong - Day 1

More than a week has passed since we got back from Hong Kong. When you go away for a vacation, what awaits you when you get back is a ton of work. I had to catch up on work which is why I haven't gotten around to posting anything about our highly enjoyable Hong Kong & Macau trip. And yeah, I was feeling lazy too.

Date: 03-18-2007, Wednesday
The day of our much awaited and well planned Hong Kong-Macau trip has finally arrived. We met up at the airport around 6am, checked in our baggage, paid an enormous travel tax(P2000! it's a robbery!), went through immigration, grabbed a quick bite, boarded the plane around 7:30 and was off the ground by 8:15.

We arrived at the Hong Kong airport at around 10am. We met up with Pete and Aims there who were coming from Singapore. From the airport, we needed to go to the Dragon Hostel in Mong Kok, where we were going to stay. To get there we took the A21 bus and got off at the corner of Nathan Rd and Argyle St. The Hostel is located about a block away from the bus stop.


This here is the only picture of
the Dragon Hostel
that
I have.. hehehe



After checking in and leaving our baggage at Dragon Hostel, we proceeded to grab something to eat. We were really hungry and time was precious. So we ended up eating at McDonald's.

On top of our itinerary for the day was a trip to Ngong Ping and see the Giant Buddha. So after eating it was off to Mong Kok Train Station.




To get to Ngong Ping, we rode the train and got off Tung Chung station.




Upon exiting the Tung Chung train station, you'll immediately see the Citygate mall. This is number two on our days itinerary. So more on this later.




Now comes the exciting part in going to Ngong Ping. In order to get there, we get to ride on a Cable Car.


Staircase heading to the Cable Cars
which welcomes you in
various languages.


In front of the Cable Car ticket Booth.


The Sanity Keepers

Eliza & Cza

Aims & Pete

Sean & Kai

My Dear admiring the view..
and by view I mean ME, the dashing photographer..
bwahahahahaha.. =p


Cable Car view of The Giant Buddha

Ngong Ping Cable Car... duh!


We have arrived at Ngong Ping. We took a little walk at Ngong Ping village to try and get closer to the Giant Buddha.





This is the closest we got to the Giant Buddha. We would have gone further. But it was hot and we were tired of walking. Plus, next on our itinerary was to do some shopping at Citygate. We definitely need more time and energy for that.




And so ends our journey to Ngong Ping. We waved goodbye to the Giant Buddha and headed back the same way we came.


Here we are again at Citygate. If you happen to be in Hong Kong and is looking to do some shopping. You should definitely come here. Items are sold at 50% off and above. I never intended to do any shopping in Hong Kong. My sole purpose for our trip was just to do some site seeing. But I ended up buying myself a couple of Giordano jeans for P600 a piece.

We didn't take any pictures inside Citygate. Everyone was busy shopping. We also had early dinner at the food court here. Cza & I ate some noodle soup. The food court is really nice. But again, no pictures because at this point we were so hungry. Nothing on our minds except food.

After we've filled our tummies. We rushed back to Tung Chung station to get to our last destination for the day, the Avenue of Stars. We needed to get there by 7:30pm so that we could watch the Symphony of Lights. And so we got on the train and got off at Central Station. From there we briskly walked to the Avenue Of Stars. We got there just in the nick of time. The Symphony of lights had just started.

The lights show was really nice. I was able to capture a bit of it on video. It's not too good however. But you can watch it here if you want.

After the light show we walked around the avenue of stars and, what else, took more pictures.













The one thing I was determined to get here in the Avenue of Stars was a picture in front Bruce Lee's statue. And sure enough, we were able to find it and get a picture.



After this we just headed back to the Dragon Hostel and called it a nght. It was a long, tiring and highly enjoyable first day in Hong Kong.

More of our Day 1 pics here.


Monday, March 16, 2009

Excited for Hong Kong!

It's Monday again and the weeks off to a good start so far. Not much email on work yet. I hope it stays that way, particularly because I have only 2 days of work. The week of our Hong Kong trip has finally arrived. We'll depart for Hong Kong on Wednesday and come back on Sunday. Cza's sanity keepers have been taking care of our itinerary. It's only now that I've taken a look at it. Just so I wouldn't be too clueless with the places in Hong Kong that we're planning to see. I did a quick google image search. I copied some of the image search results and pasted them below.

I'm a whole lot more excited for our trip now! Wohooooooooo!


Hong Kong Airport

(Image from here)


City Gate


(Image from here)


Symphony Of Lights

(Image from here)

Avenue of Stars

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

Night Market

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

Central Station

(Image from here)

(Image from here)

The Peak Tram

(Image from here)

View From the Peak

(Image from here)

The Sky Terrace

(Image from here)

The Ocean Park

(Image from here)

Ngong Ping, Giant Buddha

(Image from here)

Hong Kong Disneyland

(Image from here)

(Image from here)


Macau Tower

(Image from here)

Senado Square

(Image from here)

Macau Venetian

(Image from here)

Cotai Strip


(Image from here)