PART 1: HONGKONG-MACAU DAY 1 - FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRIP - GETTING TO HONGKONG

Hi! Grabe ang tagal ko na palang hindi nakakapag sulat ulit. After our Hongkong Trip kasi naging super busy na coping up with deadlines sa work. 

So eto na ang long overdue kwento ko about our trip in Hongkong. 

The day before we left Laguna for Hongkong, the weather is not that good. May bagyo plus sa Hongkong nakataas ang signal no. 8. Kamusta naman un! Every now and then i kept on texting hubby kung anong lagay ng panahon dun. I was praying na sana naman maging ok ang first out of the country tour namin. 

Come, August 15, 2013, we arrived at CLARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT at around 4 a.m., our flight is at 7:45 A.M. The usual processed we checked-in, paid our travel tax and terminal fee. 

Alam niyo ba na sa dinami dami ng binasa kong blogs I was caught unaware na kapag beneficiary ka pala ng OFW you are entitled to almost 50% discount of travel tax. So, instead of paying P1,650.00 dapat yata P550.00 na lang ung babayaran ko. (lekat na yan, bakit ba kasi di ko inisip na iresearch yan. sayang tuloy ung almost P2,000.00 na madidiscount ko sana)


We arrived Hongkong International Airport at exactly 9:45A.M. Mix emotion ang lola niyo. Kinakabahan ako kasi hindi ko alam kung anong dapat namin iexpect sa bagong lugar na yun plus makikita ko na si hubby after more than one (1) year. 

I wasn't able to take our picture sa airport kasi nga diba bawal siya. Ayoko naman mahuli ang lola niyo sa airport. hahaha. so wala na lang picture picture there. Aside from this picture at the train that will lead you to the arrival hall: 

As stated in the blogs, pag dating namin ng arrival hall, bumili agad ako ng octopus card. It is worth 150HKD. 100HKD ung load niya and 50HKD ang deposit which you can refund upon returning the card. (photocredit: google) 

Anyway, walang bayad sa MTR ang bata. Di ko sigurado if dahil 3yrs old lang si baby ko o dahil sa height niya. (pero di naman siya sinukat. hahahaha.) Hindi ko sigurado kung anong basis nila ha. Si hubby ko lang ang nagsabi sa akin na wala pa nga daw bayad si baby namin, pero dahil iba ang nabasa ko sa website ng MTR at sa mga blogs tinanong ko pa din yung customer service kung need ko pa bumili ng isa pang card para kay baby ko. Tinanong lang naman niya yung age then viola di na niya ko pinabili. hehehehe. 

Our first family picture after one and one half (1 1/2) years of not seeing each other: 

From the airport, my original plan was to take A21 bus to Nathan Road but hubby insisted na mag Airport Express Train daw kami. No choice ang lola niyo so pumayag na lang ako. They are not lying when they said that it is express. Express talaga mga lola, in 20mins yata andun na kami sa Kowloon Station and took the cab going to XI HOTEL at Minden Avenue. Since maaga pa kami to check-in, we just left our  baggage sa Hotel Lobby and go straight to Cafe de Coral at Chungking Mansion. 

Here's what I and Nate have for lunch: (hindi siya mukhang lunch. para siyang breakfast. hihihihi!!)

The food was good. Ok na din sa taong nagugutom. Imagine ang last na kain pa namin was at 2:00 a.m. of that day pa at 11:30 A.M. na nung kumain kami ulit. 

After our lunch, hubby have to go back to his work at New Territory. Me, my mom and my son were left in Nathan Road. Initially the plan was to go to Nan Lian Garden, however, since the weather was not that fine (malakas ang hangin at parang uulan) We decided to just roam around Nathan Road habang hinihintay namin mag check-in time. 

At 2:00 p.m. we were able to check-in. After taking some rest we went to my hubby's place of work at New Territory. From East Tsim Sha Tsui Station we have to take the train going to Teun Mun. We alighted at Tin Shui Wai and tranferred to Light Rail going to Tin Shui. 

We had a funny and embarrassing  experienced sa pag lipat namin from MTR to Light Rail.All the while, I thought when i swipe our octopus card sa pag labas sa Tin Shui Wai Station we need not do anything. Kaya pag baba namin ng station going to Train 705 sumakay kami agad, when we arrived at Tin Shui lumabas lang kami na parang walang nangyari, only to find out pag hatid sa amin ni hubby sa Tin Shui na need pala ulit iswipe ung card bago pumasok ng light rail at ganun din bago kami mag exit paakyat sa MTR station. Nakakatawa na ang akala ko eh nag check lang un lalaki sa unahan namin ng balance ng card niya nung nagswipe siya ng card niya, yun pala may purpose un. 

Isa pang experienced ko. A chinese woman was in front of the line papasok ng MTR, when she swipe her card the door opens, i was waiting na magsara siya ulit before i swipe mine but another chinese at my back was telling me i swipe ko na daw, so i did, pero sa tingin ko hindi binasa ng system yung card, pero sabi nung chinese na nasa likod ko go na daw so go naman ang lola mo, pagdating namin gn East TST station, hindi na ko makakalabas. hahahaha. Lekat na yan bakit pa kasi ako nakinig sa kanila. I end up talking to the customer service agent to let me get out of the station. 

To make sure we make use of our time, kahit pagod na kami dumiretso na kami nung araw na yun sa AVENUE OF STARS. Ang kwento see it on my next post.