Hong Kong: Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car, Tian Tan Buddha 天壇大佛 & Po Lin Monastery 寶蓮禪寺

From my room at Novotel Citygate Hong Kong, I had a really nice view of the Ngong Ping Cable Car. For the longest time, I had wanted to visit the Big Buddha known as the Tian Tan Buddha 天壇大佛 which is at the end of the cable car ride. With the Ngong Ping Cable Car Platform just a ten-minute walk away, this was the perfect chance. So for my free day in Hong Kong, I decided to visit Ngong Ping 360, the Tian Tan Buddha 天壇大佛 and Po Lin Monastery 寶蓮禪寺, plus the Tai O Fishing Village 大澳 which you can access by bus from Ngong Ping Village.

There are two kinds of cable car cabins - the Standard Cabin (round trip ticket is HK$107 for adults) which is your usual cable car ride, and the Crystal Cabin (round trip ticket is HK$157) which has a glass floor. So better make sure you are not afraid of heights if you take the Crystal Cabin. You can also do the one way Standard Cabin and Crystal Cabin combination (HK$142). I was given the Journey of Enlightenment Package which included entrance to the presentations at Ngong Ping Village namely Walking with Buddha and Monkey's Tale Theatre (HK$219 for Crystal Cabin).


Anyway, the views from the Ngong Ping Cable Car are amazingly stunning. Again, be sure you are not afraid of heights since this ride will give you the scare! I enjoyed grand views of the Hong Kong International Airport, Tung Chung where Novotel Citygate is located, and the mountains of Lantau Island 大嶼山. Below you could see the hiking trail for those who like to reach the Big Buddha and Ngong Ping Village on foot.


As soon as I got there, I proceeded to the Tian Tan Buddha. The bronze Buddha statue is 112-feet tall and weighs 250 metric tons. From 1993, the year it was completed, until 2007, it was the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha.

To reach the top, visitors have to climb 268 steps. Access to the Buddha is free. But you will have to pay HK$20 to enter the Buddha. If you decide to avail of their vegetarian meals (HK$60 for general and HK$100 for de luxe), entrance to the Buddha is included.


Beside the Big Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery which was founded in 1906. The Tian Tan Buddha is actually an extension of the monastery.


I proceeded back to Ngong Ping Village to catch the bus to Tai O Fishing Village which I will talk about in another post. Ngong Ping Village has a lot of restaurants so you can have lunch there. But if you're after fresh seafood, then Tai O is the place for a meal.

How to get to Ngong Ping 360
Take the MTR to Tung Chung. The platform is right beside the Tung Chung MTR Station. From Tung Chung, you could also take Bus No. 23 to get to Ngong Ping Village.

Hong Kong: HK Wine & Dine Festival 2010

After that wine overload in Portugal's Douro Valley last June, I was yearning for another wine binge of sorts. And the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival was it! After a few hours of settling in, we proceeded to the Kowloon Waterfront Promenade to attend the exclusive opening and gala night of the event organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.


As soon as we arrived, we were given our IDs, Stölzle wine glasses and tokens to exchange for wine and food. Among the wines featured at the festival were personal choices of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama. I got to try a wide-array of wines from all over the world including France, Australia, the U.S. and even Macedonia.


Special mention goes to the booth of Adelaide Cellardoor in the Grand Tasting Pavilion where I got pampered with over a dozen of their featured Australian wines at the festival including several from Mosquito Hill and Tim Adams. From France, a total of 300 chateaus were featured at the festival including a large number from Bordeaux. It made me miss Bordeaux and reminded me of my night at the train station!


I got to try some really sweet wines from Bordeaux. Plus we got to sit in at a wine tasting session of two Bordeaux wines. I wonder how much wine I had that night? The organizers were very particular about reminding visitors that if you drink, don't drive. Anyway, I was taking the MTR back to the hotel.

The food was also quite good with some Michelin-starred chefs from Hong Kong and France preparing some of their award-winning dishes and delicacies. Too bad my food and wine tokens ran out since I still wanted more!

Adelaide Cellardoor
Room 801, 8/F Tai Yau Building
181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, HK
+852 2526 0151

Hong Kong: Back in Hong Kong with Novotel Hotels

Hong Kong has always been one of the most popular destinations for Filipino tourists. I was happy to have been invited by Novotel Hotels Hong Kong to visit Hong Kong again this year. Earlier this year, I was in Hong Kong for a family trip and I got to witness the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and Tam Kung Festival, visit Victoria Peak and Victoria Harbour, and try out really good dim sum and Hong Kong street food.

There are three Novotel hotels in Hong Kong. And I was billeted at the Novotel Citygate Hong Kong on Lantau Island which is just 10 minutes away from the Hong Kong International Airport. It was a good thing since the hotel is also walking distance from the Ngong Ping Cable Car which I had been wanting to try out for the longest time. What's also good about the location is that it's conveniently located right above the Tung Chung MTR Station (easy access to the rest of Hong Kong) and the Citygate Outlets. So you can simply walk down to shop at all the outlet stores. The hotel is also just two stations away from Hong Kong Disneyland.


As soon as I arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport of the Chek Lap Kok Airport 赤鱲角機場, I was met by the staff of Novotel Citygate and was chauffeured to the hotel. We went straight to the Premiere Floor where I checked-in. From the room, I got a really nice view of the Nong Ping Cable Car and the HKIA. One good thing about the Premiere Floor is that they serve afternoon tea and evening cocktails to their guests. So after settling down, I had some cookies, cakes and fruits.


Dinner was at the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival which I will talk about in another post. The next morning, I had a sumptuous breakfast at Essence Restaurant at the ground floor of the hotel. The breakfast buffet spread had a wide selection to choose from. For the day, I explored parts of Lantau Island.


Novotel Citygate has a really nice swimming pool. But since the water temperature that day was at 20 degrees Celsius, it was bit too cold for me to take a dip.



In the evening, we all proceeded to Novotel Century Hong Kong for a reception dinner and poolside barbecue organizes for all the bloggers they invited. There were nine bloggers from nine countries in the Asia-Pacific - Australia (Minh Giang of Eat Show & Tell), New Zealand (Family Travels with Deborah Dickson-Smith), India (Ajay Jain of Kunzum), Indonesia (Budi Sutomo of Gizi Dan Kuliner), Malaysia (Lee Khang Yi of Masak-Masak), China (Zhao Yun Yi), Singapore (Brad Lau of Lady Ironchef), Japan (Owen Shaefer of Tokyo Weekender) and me for the Philippines, plus several local Hong Kong food and travel bloggers - Fabrice Lau, Lo Yan, Jason Tse, Razlan Manjaji and Kelvin Ho.

Great food! I had the (1) Beef Carpaccio for starters, followed by the (2) BBQ Angus Tenderloin, and (3) Chocolate Mousse that was encased in a light sponge biscuit for dessert!


After the dinner, the foreign bloggers were treated to a foot massage at Dragonfly Spa of Novotel Century which I really enjoyed. After the really relaxing massage, we were driven back to Novotel Citygate on one of Novotel's Mercedes Benz service cars. Too bad I had to cut my trip short but it was definitely a fun stay.

To those visiting Hong Kong, I'm giving out a special code for Novotel hotels in Hong Kong. Simply quote 'Novotel blgr' when you make a direct booking with any Novotel hotel in Hong Kong, and you will be given a free upgrade to the next room category. It's valid until end of August 2011. E-mail the following for reservations - Novotel Century Hong Kong: booking@novotelcenturyhk.com; Novotel Nathan Road Kowloon: h6771-re1@accor.com; or Novotel Citygate Hong Kong: H6239-RE1@accor.com.

Hong Kong: Victoria Harbour & Hong Kong skyline from Avenue of the Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong Island skyline is best viewed from Avenue of the Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. So if you want a photo representative of modern Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui is the place to get it.


In the evening, the lights of the buildings make the panoramic views even more stunning. I remember way back in 2005, the buildings were part of a light and sounds show viewed from Avenue of the Stars. I wonder if it's still done now.


Another grand view of Victoria Harbour is of course from the top of Victoria Peak. So when you visit Hong Kong, make sure to have photos taken from those two places for memorable pictures!

Hong Kong: Hawker food and dim sum 點心 in Hong Kong

When in Hong Kong, make sure to try the hawker food and dim sum 點心! Near our hotel in Mongkok, there was this really attractive hawker stall right beside Langham Place which sold steamed and fried dim sum.

You basically bought it per stick which included siomai, beef balls, fish balls, fried tofu, sausages wrapped in bacon, and even fried pig intestine. It was served to you in a styrofoam container and you can choose which sauce to put. The price per stick was between HK$7 to 12. They had this really delicious dark brown shrimp sauce which we liked a lot. Which is why we had this for a midnight snack for two consecutive nights!


Another midnight snack we had was noodle toppings. But I wasn't really to delighted with it.


During our last day, my SSEAYP friend from Singapore, Joy Lim, took us for some dim sum in the Central area. She even had to call her friends to make sure that we had some of the best dim sum in town! (I'll post the address when I get back to Manila)



We had among others, siumai 燒賣 (Chinese dumplings), har gow 蝦餃 (shrimp dumplings), char siu bau 叉燒包 (barbecue pork buns), char siu sou 叉燒酥 (baked pork buns), cheong fun 豬腸粉 (steamed rice roll), paigu 排骨 (pork spareribs), sin jyut gyun 鮮竹捲 (tofu skin roll) and lo mai gai 糯米雞 (glutinous rice chicken).

What's your favorite Hong Kong food experience?

Tsui Hang Village
2/F New World Tower, 16-18 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong
Tel No. 25242012

Hong Kong: Getting up Victoria Peak 太平山 and the Peak Tram

Despite being to Hong Kong several times, I've never gone up Victoria Peak until now. Victoria Peak is the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island and provides spectacular views of Hong Kong and Kowloon, its harbor and skyscrapers.

There are several ways to get up Victoria Peak. The more popular, faster and direct route is the Peak Tram 山頂纜車, a funicular railway that started operations in 1888. Tickets cost HK$36 for round-trip and HK$25 for one way. Children from 3 to 11, and seniors pay HK$16 & HK$9 respectively. The Peak Tram operates from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight everyday.

They have a new viewing deck up Victoria Peak called the Sky Terrace which offers the highest and undisturbed views of Hong Kong. If you plan to visit, make sure you get the Peak Tram Sky Pass which is HK$56 for round-trip (inclusive of Peak Tram and Sky Terrace entrance) and HK$45 for one way. Kids and seniors pay HK$26 and HK$19 respectively. Entrance to the Sky Terrace alone is HK$25.


Up Victoria Peak, we got to enjoy the view at Lions Pavilion. Unfortunately, it was foggy so we didn't get to see the clear view.

Another way up Victoria Peak is by bus. Actually, it's a good idea to take the Peak Tram up and a bus down since the views during the bus ride are nice too. This is what we did. The bus down costs HK$8.40. The buses stop by entrance D1 of the Central MTR Station.

Taxis and private cars are also another way to drive up and down the Peak Road. For those with the energy, walking up the steep Old Peak Road from the Zoological Botanical Gardens is also an option.

Hong Kong: Cheung Chau Bun Festival 長洲太平清醮

I've been fascinated by the Cheung Chau Bun Festival 長洲太平清醮 ever since my first visit to Hong Kong in 1991. It was one of the festivals Hong Kong promoted in their brochures which I read intently after that trip. But I was too young to explore on my own then. Plus I had to coincide a trip with the festival if I wanted to see it since it happens only once a year, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month.

So it was a pleasant surprise, after gathering brochures at the HK airport upon our arrival last week, that the Cheung Chau Bun Festival was the next day! There was another festival parade in the morning celebrating the Birthday of Tam Kung 譚公誕. The parade in Cheung Chau was right after lunch so I decided to visit both.


After Shau Kei Wan, I rushed over to Central to catch the ferry to Cheung Chau from Central Pier 5. The ferry terminals are quite a walk from the MTR station. Anyway, when I got there, I was shocked to see literally thousands of people in line.

What the heck! I was already there. And I didn't know when I would have the chance to visit again on the festival day. So I joined the line which was moving inch by inch. It was a mad rush of visitors to Cheung Chau! That's why the tourist information desk advised me to be in Cheung Chau before 11 a.m.

The fast craft takes about 30 minutes and costs HK$32.20 on public holidays. When I arrived in Cheung Chau, the parade-in-the-air was making its way down the main road. But with so many people, it was really difficult to navigate the parade route or even take decent photos for that matter.

It is said that the festival traces its origins to a plague on the island hundreds of years ago. The villagers of Cheung Chau disguised themselves as deities to scare away the evil spirits responsible for the plague.



Aside from the staple lion dances and dragon dances we see in many Chinese celebrations, this parade is called parade-in-the-air because of the heavily made up children dressed as mythological figures and modern Chinese heroes who are suspended above the crowd on the tips of swords, paper fans and other items. It's actually an illusion because the children are secured by steel frames, an intricate system of rod and wires underneath their clothing, making it appear that they are gliding through the air. It is said that parents consider it a great honor for their kids to be part of the parade.


Kung fu club members, Taoist priests in traditional attire and ensembles with gongs, drums and other musical instruments join the parade that makes its way around the narrow streets of the island.

Of course, my visit would not be complete if I did not see the bun towers. So I walked towards the Pak Tai Temple where the bun mountains or bun towers were located. There are three giant 60-feet bamboo towers covered with buns. One of the events of the festival is the bun-snatching race at midnight. Young men would race up the towers and get as many buns as they could. The higher the buns, the better fortune for the participant's family.


After an accident in 1978 where one of the bun towers collapsed, the government stopped the bun-snatching tradition. It was reintroduced in 2005 with safety measures put into place including a separate steel bun mountain structure and mountain-climbing equipment for the 12 well-trained athletes selected for the activity.

Anyway, I didn't stay too long since I knew that the crowd would all rush back to Central after the parade. So I wiggled my way back to the ferry terminal. I was in line for quite a while. As I boarded the ferry, I could see the line outside the building stretch back really far. Thank God I decided to leave early or I would have missed catching up with my family in Hong Kong Disneyland.

If you do plan to visit the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, here are some tips:
1. With the mammoth crowd that visits Cheung Chau during the festival, it's best to join a guided tour since they take the group on a private boat (so no lines at the ferry terminal) and you get to watch the parade at the official grandstand. Contact the Hong Kong Tourism Board to inquire about the tours. It's not cheap at HK$640 (2010 tour fee). But you basically pay for comfort and convenience.
2. If you want to explore on your own and have time and funds to spare, then book a stay for a night or two in Cheung Chau. At least you also get to witness the bun-snatching competition at midnight and don't join the crowds on the ferry.
3. But if you're on a tight budget or schedule, just make sure you're in Cheung Chau as early as possible (before lunch) to avoid the crowds. It's a good thing the Hong Kong Tourism Board prepares a Hong Kong Cultural Celebrations Activities Guide which lists down the schedule of events and activities of the various festivals held in May.

Hong Kong: Birthday of Tam Kung Festival 譚公誕 at Shau Kei Wan

Speaking of festivals, I was lucky that three major Hong Kong festivals coincided with our trip. The Cheung Chau Bun Festival 長洲太平清醮, Birthday of Lord Buddha 佛誕, and the Birthday of Tam Kung 譚公誕 all fall on the same day, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, which was May 21 this year. I was able to visit two of them.

While my family was making their way to Hong Kong Disneyland, I took the MTR to Shau Kei Wan, where the Tam Kung Temple is located, to watch the procession that celebrates the Birthday of Tam Kung 譚公誕.



Tam Kung is a very respected deity among the fishermen and boat people of Hong Kong. He is associated with safety at sea. He was said to have blessed seafarers during the Yuan Dynasty and was known for his weather forecasting and curing diseases.



The procession to the temple, which lasts from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, includes people dressed as gods in Chinese fairy tales, drums and gongs, lion, unicorn and dragon dances, food offerings and fa pau (or paper floral shrines).

Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau: making the right choices for your trip

I just came from a family trip to Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau. We took my niece to Hong Kong Disneyland for her birthday and tried to find the cheapest package not realizing its hidden costs and problems. There were thus many forgettable experiences. Here are the top 10 things to remember to help you pick the right package tour to these Chinese cities:

1. You get what you pay for
If it's too cheap, be wary since these tour organizers will definitely make money from you some other way. You'll find out how as you read on. We wanted to save but the hassle and hidden costs were not worth the savings. Trust me!

2. Go for the tried and tested travel agencies
Although I've seen tried and tested travel agencies advertising in newspapers, many others could be in the category of fly-by-night. Don't be fooled by the rates they publish since there are more hidden charges. Our tour was a little over US$150 in the newspapers but ended up close to US$350 when all the costs were added in. It's best that you get recognized names or ask referrals from friends before booking.

3. Low-fare carriers are book and buy
Another modus operandi of travel agencies is delaying the release of the ticket. For Tiger Air, Air Asia and Cebu Pacific, these airlines are book and buy. So if your travel agency says it can't release the tickets as soon as you pay, that's bullshit! We were set to leave on the 18th, but a few days before, the agency said they were not able to book our tickets reasoning out that the organizer in Hong Kong canceled that date. So we ended up leaving a week later.

4. Make sure you have travel tax receipts
If you pay your travel tax through the agency, make sure they give you a Philippine government receipt amounting to PHP1,620 per person. We paid for the travel tax through the agency but they didn't give us a receipt. So when questioned about it, they could not answer. We therefore demanded that they return the money to us. You could easily pay the travel tax at Terminal 3 or DMIA. So to be safe, just pay it there.

5. Ask for a detailed itinerary
Travel agencies usually have standard itineraries which they fax. Details are scarce: half-day city tour, shopping tour in the morning, free time in the afternoon but no approximate times. Don't be content with that. Make sure to get more details. Will we get to go around on our own? What sights will we visit? What hotel will we be staying in? If the agency can't give you more details, find another one.

6. Watch out for "shopping tours"
These shopping tours are often compulsory and a waste of time. In a good tour package, there should be no compulsory items in it. The reason why some tour packages are cheap is because of these compulsory tours. These are traps for tourists. Instead of seeing the sights, the group is brought to select outlets such as jewelry stores, souvenir stores in office buildings, and other shops. The organizer or tour guide usually earns commissions from the purchases of the group which is why they can afford to make the tour package cheap. In really bad tours, you don't have a choice but to buy since they will not take you to any other place to buy souvenirs where you could choose stores or bargain for items.

If there are compulsory shopping tours, find another agency, since in the end, you'll end up seeing nothing. You should be given an option to choose not to join the shopping tour and meet up with the group at a designated place and time.

We wasted half a day in Hong Kong because of the shopping tour. The only attraction we saw was Victoria Harbour. And it was just a ten-minute stopover so they could take our photos. They say it's for the China group visa which was bullshit since they could easily scan our passport photos. Later in the morning, our photos appeared on souvenir plates which they tried to sell to us at outrageously high prices - HK$150 for a medium plate!

Our guide also said the Hong Kong Disneyland tickets were still on the way but I'm sure they were with her already. If I had my way, I would have gotten the Disneyland tickets from the guide, taken my family to Kowloon or Hong Kong Island for some quality sightseeing first, or slept a bit more and gone straight to Disneyland in time for the 10 a.m. opening, meeting the group at 6:30 p.m. for our trip to Shenzhen.

In Shenzhen, it was worse. We literally saw nothing except the jade and pearl outlet stores. We had 10 minutes for photos at the entrance of Windows of the World, obviously so they could put them on plates again.

7. Watch out for "free time" or "optional tours"
This was really bad. In the faxed itinerary, it said our afternoon in Shenzhen was free time. But lo and behold, our tour guide, knowing Filipinos can be easily fooled by the word shopping, tells us that there was an optional tour to the Divisoria of Shezhen in the afternoon, and that we had to pay RMB100 per head since it was far and they had to do overtime. The other option was she could take us straight to Macau. She almost got the group to say yes but when others like myself said no knowing that it was all free time in Macau, she reasoned out that we will arrive in Macau at 1:30 p.m. and had to wait for the Macau guide to arrive at 7 p.m. So the "optional" tour wasn't optional at all.

When we demanded she call the Macau guide to come earlier, she said they had other appointments. Yeah right! She then made another offer, RMB80 includes lunch and free time to shop at a mall. We were all tired and said yes. But on hindsight, I should have forced the issue that we be taken to place where we could pick where to eat.

The Shenzhen leg was very forgettable since the guide didn't care less whether we enjoyed or not. She was after the amount of money she could earn from the group. When we thought it was all over, we were roused from our sleep in Zhuhai City thinking we were about to go down the bus to enter Immigration. But then, the guide says, there was one last stop, a Chinese medicine store!

Prices were as always, exorbitantly high! They tried to invite my family to a VIP room for "consultation" but we refused. Others who went in were being pressured to buy. The answers from the consultations of the "professors" were so generic. And the medicine they recommended were from a select list of products. So I sensed it was a scam.

8. Selling on the bus
I already mentioned the souvenir plates and the "optional" tours which aren't optional at all. But there could be more such as souvenir items. The guides are blatant when they say it's for them or the bus drivers. First they will start by saying that the drivers are paid low and to help ends meet, they have to sell souvenir items such as key chains on the bus. They add to their appeal to pity that to show your appreciation to the driver, you could buy from them. Our guide went as far as saying no tawad (bargaining) since the price was already good. Talk about sales talk! And you had no choice since you had no other opportunity to buy key chains for pasalubong.

9. Each city has a different tour organizer
The bad part about this is that the guide in one city plays dumb that they do not know the plans of the other guide. So you are left clueless as to where you will stay, what you will do, etc. in the next city. This doesn't give you enough time to detect their modus operandi if any. You would later realize that they know each other and are constantly in contact.

10. Border crossings and group visas
If you think border crossings are made convenient in these package tours, think again. From Hong Kong to Shenzen, we had to change buses three times with all our luggage! We got off our Hong Kong bus and boarded a shuttle to Hong Kong Immigration. After that, we board another bus which took us to China Immigration. We waited for over for an hour for our Shenzhen guide to arrive since she had our group visas.

Then it was a long walk to the Shenzhen bus. We even had to cross the street via a pedestrian overpass. Aside from our luggage being heavy, we had my five-year old niece and 84-year old grandmother with us. I had to push her wheelchair up the pedestrian overpass. And we had to walk her down the other side! Our guide could have made it more convenient by asking the bus to pick us up in front of the exit.

If you are entering on a group visa to China, your passport will not be stamped when you enter and when you exit. In other words, there's no proof on your passport that you entered China. You will also have to enter as a group and leave as a group which means, you're stuck!

Conclusion
It was a good thing it was all free time in Macau. And the hotel accommodations were great! So the tour ended on a happy note. But I hope this experience of mine helps you pick the right tour package for you or at least prepare for it. I personally hate tour groups since you have to deal with different personalities. If someone is late for example, the whole group waits. My parents know better now and we'll travel on our own next time, which is my kind of travel. I'll talk about our trip highlights in my next post.

Technorati Tags: hong kong, shenzhen, macau, travel, package tours, travel advisory, travel blog

Hong Kong: Zipidee do dah... zipidee ay!

My oh my, what a wonderful day! Hehe! I'll tell you more about the photo on the left later. But you've guessed it, I was in Hong Kong today.

Anyway, I woke up this morning two hours behind schedule. My body was just too exhausted. As soon as I was able to muster enough energy to get up, it was off to the Red Market to look for some local products. Finding what I needed, it was back walking again to complete my rounds of the UNESCO structures in Macau. From the market, the first stop was the Protestant Cemetery. It was a very plain, nondescript place. I wonder why it was included in the inscribed sites when St. Michael's was more impressive. Beside it was supposedly the Casa Garden, but it was also being restored. Schmuck!

So it was back to my regular route, from St. Anthony to St. Paul. This time, I took time out to check out their museum. It's the same religious art we have here in the Philippines. But I was struck by the crypt where the remains of the martyrs of Japan and Vietnam are enshrined. However, what appalled me was the fact the center of the crypt had been converted into a virtual wishing well. And the sad part is that most tourists, usually Chinese or Japanese, didn't know any better and threw their coins as if it were target practice, which I feel desecrates the sanctity of the crypt area. So much for the calls for respect outside.

I had three more sites to go to complete the twenty five, the Fortaleza do Monte, Lou Kau Mansion and the Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple. Just check out my photos or this website to read all about these sites. Now that I had that done, it was time to think of what to do for the afternoon. After much reflecting, I decided that I didn't want to shop and thus save money. So it was a trip to Hong Kong for some sightseeing!

I got to the ferry terminal at about 2 p.m. just in time for the 2:30 p.m. ferry to the former British colony. The trip to HK is approximately an hour so I got there at about 3:30 p.m. But I wasn't able to start going around immediately since there were no maps or brochures in sight! That was the start of a bad afternoon since I didn't know where to go and what to do. Plus my feet were still killing me!

Since I had been to HK in 1993, my first instinct was to take the MTR to somewhere hoping to see a map. And good thing I asked about the unlimited 24-hour passes for tourists since I remembered we used those before. It costed me HK$50 but it proved to be a good investment. It turns out one ride to Hong Kong Disneyland is already HK$26! So a round trip costs more than the day pass.

With the day pass came suggestions of where to go. Since I've been to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon already, I decided to visit Lantau Island which was now connected to Hong Kong by MTR and bridges. One of the suggested sites was the Lantau Link Visitors Centre where one could view the Tsing Ma and Ting Kau bridges, among the longest in the world. But alas, it proved to be a waste of time since when I got out of the Tsing Yi station, no one could point me to the right bus! So I got back on the MTR to rush to the Big Buddha in Lantau. By the time I arrived, it was 5:20 p.m. The last bus had departed at 5:10 p.m. since the Po Lin monastery closes at 6 p.m. Damn! By this time, it was getting dark so obviously, it was useless to try to see other sites.

Hong Kong Disneyland was on Lantau as well. So I decided to check it out, but only if they had special night tickets. I remembered that during my last visit to Tokyo Disneyland in 2002, we purchased tickets at a reduced price since we entered late in the afternoon. So the photo you see is the entrance to the park. But I didn't enter since I received a shock when I made it to the ticket counter. The lady said HK$295! I asked whether it was the night rate... Oh sorry sir, only one price. I could not fathom the thought that it was the same price for three hours of doing nothing much? Nevermind! It's the same Disney banana anyway. And I'm sure it's nothing compared to Disneyworld! Hehe! But at least I got a feel of the place which GMA and her family had visited just a day earlier. And I liked the dedicated Disney MTR which had mouse shaped windows and was designed like a lounge inside. Good thing I had the unlimited MTR ticket or else I would have thrown away close to HK$100 on wasted travel!

So now what? Maybe I could check out the night market in Mongkok. Never made it. I saw a smaller night market in Yau Ma Tei but nothing much. So I decided to head to Tsim Sha Tsui, another place which was familiar to me since the Toys'R'Us there was heaven to me in 1993. It was there that I saw Hong Kong harbour, and just in time for an astounding lights and sounds show. Imagine the famous Hong Kong skyline, dancing to music, lights in every building, in one big interplay of color! This coordinated feat was a sight to behold and I salute the Hong Kong Tourism Association for it.

The difficult thing about travelling alone is having your picture taken. I've actually mastered the art of taking my own photos using only coins and the timer (about 90 percent of my photos were done on my own) Hehe! But getting a photo of myself with the Hong Kong skyline in the evening was a different story. After several tries by hapless bystanders whom I coerced to take my photo, it was no use. I didn't know how to manipulate the settings to show the lights of the skyline properly. Plus a tripod was essential for such shots. So I gave in to those pesky photographers who had professional digital cameras and who printed photos in 5 minutes. The photo you see costed me HK$30 (P210) for a 3R copy. Damn! But it's the only way I could have gotten a good shot. Hehe!

Before I left Tsim Sha Tsui, I passed by Hard Rock to get my shot glasses. But instead of taking the MTR back to Hong Kong, I took the Star Ferry. You haven't been to HK if you haven't used the Star Ferry to cross the strait at least once. Hehe! By this time, walking was agonizing and I was simply forcing myself to keep on going. After a quick dinner, I decided it was time to call it a day. And I'm back in Macau!

Tomorrow, I fly back to the Philippines. But I'll try to pass by Coloane Island to check out the St. Francis Xavier Chapel. I have to pack now.