Last Day in Hong Kong

Last day in Hong Kong and we haven't really bought anything for Mama and Tessie, nor managed to do anything on Papa's "to do" list like visit the street where relative Jose Basa used to live (Arbuthnot Rd.) and find monuments or markers related to the Philippine revolution against Spain.

Shops at Causeway open at 10 AM. We had planned on buying Mama a coat/jacket and buying Tessie a wallet. Thing is, I didn't really find the jackets or wallets I had in mind in Mongkok. Jon said that compared to Causeway, it's easier to shop in Mongkok where every shop is on one street. But Mongkok stalls open AFTER office hours. If we want to make it back in time to check out of the hotel by 12:00 noon and check in our baggages at the IFC 2 terminal of the Airport express, we would have to rush our shopping once we got to Causeway.

It was 8AM and we were still full from our McDonald's midnight snack and didn't want to stay in the hotel till it was time to go to Causeway. Jon had always wanted to ride the tram since we got there, so we decided to go to the Peak. Looking at the map of Hong Kong we got from the airport, we figured that the Tram station was near the hotel but didn't know what way to take to get there. We decided to ask directions at the lobby where the concierge pulled out a map and highlighted a path through the Hong Kong Gardens. Once we got to a fork, I was already heading left when Jon told me the map says we turn right. After a few blocks we figured we took the wrong road and we should really have turned left.

When we did get to the Tram station, we realized that a shorter route would be to go through the MTR tunnels. Which ofcourse made us wonder if the concierge just wanted us to pass through - and see - the Hong Kong gardens. At the tram station, we bought the tourist tickets but were told the tour also starts at 10AM. It was 9:30AM, so instead of waiting for the 10AM tour, we hopped on to the next tram.

At the Peak Tower, most of the shops were still closed, so we went outside and went to the viewing deck I saw from the Cafe Deco Balcony the other night. We took a lot of pictures there:

We then decided to check the Peak Galleria. Two busloads of schoolchildren lined up outside the Galleria as we were getting in, and we ran into the kids now and then.

More pictures taken on the Peak in these albums:

Jing and Jon's HK pictures - The Peak	Jon's Misc. HK Trip photos 28-Nov-2007

Note: The last picture in the second album was taken from the Hong Kong International Airport.

We browsed the stores at the Galleria and were happy to find that souvenir items there were more than half-price cheaper than similar items being peddled in Mongkok. I bought some stuff I could give my officemates and a baseball cap embroidered with a dragon and the words Hong Kong on it. Papa actually wanted us to buy an umbrella that could be converted into a walking stick. Couldn't find anything like it. Almost considered buying him a wooden cane but decided a hat is easier to bring home than a cane ... and he collects caps just as much as he collects canes.

At the Baleno shop, we saw a nice jacket which we bought for Mama. Jon saw some slacks and bought two. Our total purchases at Baleno were enough to earn us a free tote bag worth more than HK$100, which we decided later was just the right kind of bag that Tessie prefers.

We were delighted to find that we had bought everything on our list and we didn't have to go to Causeway. We planned to go back to the hotel around 11:30AM and it was past 11AM when I saw the 9:18 AM text message from Milette that we should check out of the hotel just in time to catch the 11:30AM shuttle to IFC2. I totally forgot that we had a lunch meeting with Societe Generale guys at Harlan's.

Since Jon and I were still at the Peak, there was no way we could make it to the 11:30AM shuttle and so I told Milette to go ahead. She texted back that she would wait for us ... which made me remember that with the amount of shopping she has done, her total baggage exceeds the 20kg ceiling and the only way to circumvent paying extra for that was to share with her with my baggage limit - as the total weight of the luggages carried by the three of us would not exceed 60kg. But that meant checking in the baggages together. Told Jon we should hurry back to the hotel, and we almost made it to the 11:15 tram trip if we didn't go to the wrong platform. We had to wait for about 15 - 20 minutes for the Tram to return.

Back in the Tram
Other tourists were having fun taking pictures of the city while standing on a tram that's tilted 45 degrees:


Going dooooown from the Peak:


Jon and I were almost running the moment we got off the Tram and we sped to the Pacific Place via the MTR tunnels. Jon was heading down towards the Marriott entrance near the Zen Restaurant when I told him there's another entrance at the 3rd level. Once we got to our rooms, we slammed our shopping bags into our luggages, made sure we didn't leave anything (we already packed most of our stuff last night), then ran out to the elevator to get to the lobby. We were already checked out by the time the 12:15 PM shuttle was ready to leave.

On the trip to the Airport Express terminal, I mentioned to Milette that my brother and I did end up eating McDonald's last night, or rather, early this morning. Milette told me she was hungry last night and was wishing we would call up to suggest eating at McDo even if it was midnight. I sheepishly told her that I didn't think she'd want another midnight call. When I began telling her which food can be bought at McDo HK but not at McDo Phils., she told me to shut up. She didn't want to hear I was munching potato wedges and eating sundae while she was making do with the complimentary fruits on the side table. Ha ha ha!

It was 12:40 when we checked into the IFC2 terminal of the airport, and 1:00 PM when we finally got to Harlan's. Ofcourse, Milette pointe to as the cause of the delay because I forgot we had a lunch meeting... but contrary to what she told them, I did not get lost ... I was just missing from the hotel when she was looking for me.

Lunch was over by 2:30 PM. We got onto the Airport express and were in the airport by 3:30. Odd how I was waved through immigration fast while Milette was stopped for a body search. I guess they do body searches randomly. In a few minutes we were at the Duty Free area, shopping - again. Milette separated from us and we agreed to just meet at the gate where we are supposed to board the plane.

I bought additional items from the Disney store, two pairs of health balls, and a package of teabags for Sam. Milette was looking for Polo cologne for her husband when we ran into her ... we pointed her to the section selling fragrances but she told us she only saw women's perfume/cologne there. Jon and I agreed to go back and help her find her Polo. By some stroke of luck, I ended up stopping on the aisle where the Polo colognes were displayed. Happy that she finally got something for her husband, Milette waved goodbye and we didn't see her again till boarding time. We were sitting at the boarding gate by 5PM and it wasn't long before passengers were told to start lining up. We were in line but got out when it was apparent that Milette wasn't yet in sight. At 5:30Pm she was running to the boarding area with the DBP traders ... all of them lugging huge shopping bags. They probably wouldn't know it's boarding time if I hadn't texted Milette.

To Milette's relief, we weren't the last to board the plane... Ymae was. She got on the plane when just about every passenger had already settled in their seats.

We flew out of Hong Kong at 6PM and were in NAIA Philippines at 8PM. Milette was going to be picked up by her husband Fred and she offered to drop us off at SM South Mall which was near her house. Fred was coming from PNB where their eldest daughter also works (for Philippine Airlines). Traffic was heavy since it was Wednesday (devotees flock to Baclaran church on this day), so we were standing outside the airport for quite a long time.

We passed by Fred and Milette's house first to drop off their daughter and Milette's luggages, before the couple dropped us off at the FX Terminal at SM South Mall.

After giving our thanks for the lift and saying goodbye, Jon and I got onto a van headed for Pacita... home sweet home.

BNP Paribas Workshop: Day 2

As we were looking down the window of our hotel room last night, I thought that it would be nice to take a picture of the skyline as seen from our room. This is exactly what I asked Jon to do this morning before I went down to catch the shuttle bus to IFC2.



When I left, he took a picture of himself in the same seat but from a different angle:


Jon spent the day checking out Causeway and bought Papa an electric razor. He didn't take many pictures.

When I met Milette, she told me that Buddy's brother in law, who lives in Hong Kong and to whom she delivered a document from Buddy, called her up midnight for "small talk" that actually lasted for almost an hour. I was chuckling and chided her that it was a very long chat considering that she barely knows the person. She told me that the guy was rather talkative and she found it hard to end the conversation without being rude. He was nice though.

At the workshop, found out that most of the participants also brought their cameras, and one session break was devoted to taking group shots like this:


Same pose, this picture from Nicole's camera:


We all trooped to IFC 2's Lumiere restaurant for lunch ... most dishes were spicy and I was reminded of my DLSU classmate from China who said people from Southern China loved putting a certain type of chili pepper into their dishes ... he even had his folks send him those dried chili peppers from China so he could cook his favorite meals in the Philippines.

Photos taken at Lumiere:





After the last session, we all took a peak at BNP Paribas' dealing room. These are photos of us waiting for the go signal to enter the said room, and basically loitering in the halls. He he he!





After the Dealing room tour we passed by the Fanda store in the Worldwide Shopping Center where I realized any Filipino would feel welcome ... because apart from the remittance centers and shops selling cellphone cards, one could actually buy Filipino food there "turo-turo" style. Fanda sells perfumes at very low prices and some of the ladies bought their favorite scents.

Milette and I planned to shop in the Mongkok flea market so I texted Jon to meet me at the hotel around 6PM. Milette bought a club sandwich and a salad from a stall at the MTR's Admiralty station, which she ate in her room. Jon and I took a quick bite at the nearby KFC - which has the criss-cut fries. You can't find criss-cut fries in KFC Philippines although Jollibee used to have them in their menu. KFC HK also has an odd version of coleslaw ... and remembering the lunch at Watermark, I decided that Hong Kong locals loved to put the coleslaw dressing on any fruit/vegetable mix.

Met Milette outside Zen Restaurant, then the three of us headed to the MTR station. At Mongkok, Milette and I went our separate ways and agreed to meet at a street corner at 9PM.

Mongkok has an area where one can find street stalls selling cheap items - clothes, wrist watches, leather goods, toys and souvenirs. If you are good at bargaining, you'd probably get the items at a cheaper price. A lot, if not all, of the "branded" items were knock-offs or imitations though. Jon found some decent polo shirts and bought a couple of them. Wandering off the flea market, we saw a mall where one of Jon's friends asked him to buy a certain toy. We went through the 7 floors of that mall and didn't find the particular model he was looking for.


At ten to 9:00, we started walking to the street corner where we were supposed to meet Milette and realized that the volume of people has doubled. It was hard getting through the pedestrian traffic, and from the way some people stuck together, it looked like a lot of them came there in tour groups. We got to the meeting place around 9:10PM!

Jon and I were still full when we got back to the Admiralty station, so instead of going to McDonald's, we all headed back to our rooms at the Marriott.

Around 11:30 PM, I started to feel hungry and asked Jon if he wanted to eat. He said yes. I had thought of calling Milette to ask if she wanted to go to McDonald's, but remembering her complain about Buddy's brother in law calling her at midnight, and looking at my watch that says it is almost midnight, I decided not to.

Jon didn't mind going to McDonald's and ordering food to go. I just wanted to stay in bed and keep my feet up... I was wearing the shoes I bought at the Peak when we were shopping in Mongkok. Since it wasn't really quality shoes, my feet hurt even though I spent less time walking in Mongkok than I did at Disneyland. The difference was that my Rusty Lopez shoes had padding and the new shoes did not.

Told Jon I generally wanted a salad, a sundae, and fries ... but to buy something that we couldn't buy in McDonald's restaurant in the Philippines. Which is why I had potato wedges instead of fries, and my strawberry sundae had walnut toppings. I got a burger and softdrink because McDonald's Hong Kong does not sell salads and one can't buy potato wedges without buying the burger meal.

BNP Paribas Workshop: Day 1

Learned from Milette that breakfast is not included in the package, so I told Jon to find a place to eat as I rushed to get to the hotel lobby by 8:00 am so I could take the shuttle bus going to the IFC tower where the BNP Paribas offices are. Met the other participants to the workshop at the lobby.

On the trip to IFC, learned from Milette that had she not left a message for me yesterday, I would probably have a hard time when I checked in because I was actually booked under a different surname. She was initially told that no "Reyes" was booked in the hotel. When she tried my first name, she was told that someone with my name was indeed booked there, but her surname was "F". Milette said that it was a good thing she remembered my "motherfucker" joke, so she remembered my middle initial. The hotel then changed my name details when they discovered the error.

Boyet and Reena, Filipino traders working in BNP Paribas HK and handling Philippine based banks, greeted us at the lobby of the IFC2 and handed out our visitor IDs. We then proceeded to the 63rd floor where the workshop is going to be held.

The room has a nice view of the harbor so we took pictures.

All the participants ate lunch together. We tried out the Watermark restaurant which was located at the nearby Pier.

When the workshop was over, we all took a ride to The Peak where we ate at Cafe Deco, situated at the Peak Galleria. Since it would take a few minutes to prepare the food we ordered, Milette stepped out of the restaurant to check out the Galleria shops. She ended up buying shoes and a cheap, but genuine Samsonite laptop bag ... it was cheap because it was out of season - but people in Metro Manila don't care about laptop bags being out of season anyway. I saw a pair of shoes which I probably wouldn't buy in Metro Manila if I was looking for quality, but I decided to buy them anyway because the store has a pair in my size ... and it is hard to find cheap comfy shoes in large sizes in the Philippines.

Cafe Deco uses candlelight for illumination, and I only have my phone camera with me, so the pictures I took were dark:


After dinner, we stepped out to the balcony and found it was cold and windy. The balcony offers a great view of the city but my hands were shaky from the wind and cold that my pictures were blurry:


Across the Peak Galleria, we could see the Peak Tower with a lot of tourists lining up at the entrance. I also saw that one level of the tower is occupied by EA games - the makers of SIMS2, which happens to be my favorite video game. Also, we could see that there is a viewing deck just below the balcony we were standing on.

This is a picture of us on the Cafe Deco balcony, taken from Nicole's camera:


Told myself I would bring my camera the next day.

While I was attending the seminar, Jon was touring Hong Kong by himself . He found out where the KFC and McDonald's restaurants are... and they were actually very near the hotel - if only we knew which exits from the Admiralty Station to take yesterday.

He took these pictures using my camera:

Jon's Misc. HK Trip photos 26-Nov-2007

The last 7 photos in the album were taken from our hotel room using his camera.

Yet another midnight stop in a hotel cafe

Milette was eating dinner with some friends in Zen Restaurant at the Pacific Place Sunday night and invited us to join them. Problem was, she sent the text invite 8:15 PM and I saw the message at 8:50PM because 1) I was watching the fireworks display, then 2) I was pre-occupied with taking pictures. Since we were still in Disneyland station at 9:00PM, I replied that we won't join her for dinner.

It was around 10PM when we got back to Pacific Place and passed by Zen Restaurant. Peeked through the restaurant windows and didn't see Milette so Jon and I went back to our room to deposit the Disneyland souvenirs we bought. We went out again to buy dinner but after wandering around the Pacific Place mall we found that most establishments were closed... even Starbucks. Zen was still open, but based on the menu at the entrance, it was an expensive restaurant. Went to Admiralty station, but the food stalls there were also closed. Told Jon my feet were killing so we went back to our hotel room. We ate the chocolate mints room service left on the beds and watched cable TV. Voiced out my disappointment that mall restaurants close earlier in Hong Kong than they do in Metro Manila ... wondered how bored I'll be if I visit Cely in Australia, since shops/malls there close earlier.

Jon actually drifted to sleep. When he woke up around 11PM, I asked him if he wants to eat ... told him I'd rather pay for dinner at the Marriott Cafe than walk around Hong Kong looking for a fastfood restaurant - my feet still hurt from all the walking around Disneyland. Found the Cafe prices reasonable and found out that they were open till early morning.

Ordered a salad and a pizza. The servings were big and could actually feed three people. Which made us remember Sam, who was with us the last time we ended up eating in a hotel cafe. That was January of this year, when we watched the finale of the World Pyro Olympics at the SM Mall of Asia. It was hard to get a ride home then so we passed the time eating at the Heritage Hotel's lobby cafe. There seems to be a pattern developing here ... eating pizza in a hotel cafe at midnight after watching a fireworks display.
This is my blog entry for that night:
http://pinoytourista.blogspot.com/2007/01/sm-mall-of-asia-and-2nd-world.html

Was delighted to find out that I could get a wifi signal at the cafe. First sight I visited? lg.org! Ha ha ha! It wasn't wap friendly though so I got tired of reading the message board after a couple of topics.

Tried paying with my credit card, but found out that my credit was maxxed out so I payed in cash. I thought I still had some credit left, but I figured that the hotel has probably reserved that when I checked in - you know, for additional expenses I might incur during my stay.

Disappointed that I couldn't get wifi in the hotel room when we got back.

Hong Kong Disneyland

After checking into the JW Marriott, Jon and I walked to the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) station to buy our tickets to Disneyland. Once again, we had to find a way to get smaller bills to even use the ticket machine. Disneyland is nearer to the airport so the trip was almost as long.

Read somewhere that November weather in Hong Kong is ideal: no more rains, and it's cool but not cold since winter doesn't arrive till middle of December. Decided that the coldest it would get in Hong Kong during our stay would be Tagaytay or Baguio cold.

When I got to Hong Kong, I realized I didn't need to wear a jacket over my shirt because it wasn't that cold. I did wear a light jacket when we went to Disneyland as it got colder the nearer evening came. I found it amusing to notice that some locals riding the MTR were wearing thicker sweaters/jackets/coats. The trip to Sunny Bay station was long enough for me to figure out that the people who did wear those thick outerwear simply wanted to look fashionable as they even took time to complete the look - with the women it meant wearing the appropriate high heeled boots.

At Sunny Bay station, we took the MTR line that plies the Disneyland route exclusively. Actually, the Disney experience starts the moment you board that train. All the windows are shaped like Mickey's head, and small figures of disney characters are displayed between seat partitions.

Once we got to the theme park, a big fountain in the middle of a wide promenade area greets visitors. Walk a bit more and you'll find the gates and the ticket booth. It's a Sunday, and therefore we had to pay peak day entrance fees. We saw the train chugging along as we entered the gates.

Hong Kong Disneyland is patterned after the one in California. Jon says the lay-out is the same, only on a smaller scale... driven home by the fact that Main Street, which leads to the Sleeping Beauty Castle, was short.


These crystal works are exquisitely beautiful:


If I ever return to playing Sims2, I'd probably try building this castle in the game:



Had to take this picture because I love Winne the Pooh.


Next stop was Tomorrowland. Wanted to try Space Mountain but the wait was long. Took some pictures there then we walked onto Fantasyland. Wandered into Fantasy Gardens where we found people lining up outside the different gazebos so that they could have their pictures taken with the Disney mascots. We took some pictures in the garden but passed on lining up to meet the "Disney Friends".


Outside the garden, a group of musicians passed by and greeted us in Tagalog ... turns out they were all Filipinos. We later saw them playing music outside the Philharmagic building.
We decided to watch the 3D Mickey's Philharmagic show. Couldn't really take pictures of the show since 1) It's discouraged and 2) my camera could'nt capture 3D anyway. If one took the 3D glasses off, one would only see two images of the same scene being projected.

It was already dark when we walked out of the theater and into Adventureland. We realized that our first stop should have been Adventureland since the place is better seen during the daytime.

We were already in line for the Jungle River Cruise, and trying to take photos of Tarzan's treehouse from the pier when we realized it was almost time for the "Sparkling Castle Lights" show. We got out of line and rushed back to Main Street where most of the people have gathered in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Jon took a video of the show:

I took some still pictures with my phone camera:







After the show, it was back to Adventureland and we got into the boat for the Jungle River Cruise. Tried to take pictures but it was impossible because of the moving boat, so decided to switch to Video mode. Too bad I made the decision too late ... there was little left to film:


We then took the raft to Tarzan's Treehouse which is in the middle of Adventureland's lake. Scenes from the movies were depicted in dioramas to be found at all levels of the treehouse.


The Disneyland staff were rushing us to finish our tour of the Treehouse so that we could catch the "Disney in the Stars" fireworks. It was a subtle way to tell they want to start "closing shop".

The fireworks had already started by the time we got back to Main Street and in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Jon started taking a video once we found a nice spot:


I started to take some still shots at first:


Before deciding to take a video as well:


We took more pictures of the castle after the show:


The Ice Fantasy sculptures didn't look great during daytime, but they sure looked pretty when lit up at night:

These are from a shop window along Main Street:

The Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad station at night:




Leaving Disneyland:


More Pictures in the following Picasa albums:

Jon's Misc. HK Trip photos 25-Nov-2007

Jing and Jon's HK Disneyland pictures