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. 

Am I bad?

Haist, I feel so guilty. Minsan na nga lang kaming magkasama ng baby ko pero feeling ko di ko pa din napaparamdam sa kanya kung gaano ko siya kalove. Paano ba naman kasi mga mothers, ang kulit ng anak ko as in to the highest level ang pagiging terrible niya to the point na talagang kahit pigilan ko eh di ko na magawa na di siya masabihan at mapalo. 

Yes, mga mothers mapalo, pero not to the point naman na masakit talaga ha. As in mahinang palo lang everytime may mali siyang gagawin. Like for example, bigla na lang siyang mamalo ng ibang tao kapag naiinis siya or hindi niya makuha ang gusto niya. 

Hindi ko alam if tama ba ang ginagawa ko pero kasi pag kinakausap ko lang siya nag sosorry lang siya pero paulit-ulit lang niya pa din ginagawa ung sinabi kong hindi magandang gawin niya. 

Gusto ko sana maging ok ang weekends namin. Yun tipong hindi ko siya pagagalitan or kung ano pa man. Pero ewan ko ba, siguro i have to learn na pahabain din talaga ang patience ko sa kanya. 

Kaloka kaya mga mothers kahapon sa mall, umiyak siya dalhin hindi namin binili ung gusto niyang toys. Haist, nakakahiya talaga na may kasama kang bata na nagwawala. Aarte pa siya na nasusuka kunwari para kaawaan mo siya. 

Ako lang ba ang ganito? Anu ba ginagawa niyo mga mothers para mahandle ang pagiging terrible ng mga babies niyo. 

HONG KONG PLANNING. EXCITED FOR THIS VACATION

Last November 2012, when Cebu Pacific celebrated its 7th year Anniversary, they sell their ticket for PHP 7.00.. Yes mga lola as in 7.00 pesos kahit saang destinasyon. Upon seeing that Fare Sale siempre ang lola ninyo nag palpitate at nag hanap agad ng dates kung saan merong seat sale pa Hong Kong..

My husband is working as a private care in Hong Kong. His contract is for 2 years and to date 1 yr and 4 months na siyang andoon. When my husband told me na mukhang di siya mabibigyan ng bakasyon after ng contract niya. Pinagplanuhan na agad namin ang pagpunta namin sa Hong Kong and ang sale fare na un ang talagang sagot sa plano namin. (calling it really a blessing. hehehee.) 

So after kong makakita ng date na pede akong mag leave. I immediately booked our tickets. My mom will join us in this trip. Imagine I only paid P7,000+ para sa roundtrip ticket naming tatlo. (so happy) 

Grabe para akong bata na di na mapakali sa nalalapit na bakasyon namin. Ang dami kong binabasa na blogs and reviews tungkol sa country na pupuntahan namin. 

Fast forward to today. In less than one (1) month, hello Hong Kong na. Sobrang occupied ang isip ko ng mga dapat at hindi dapat gawin sa Hong Kong. At this point may accommodation na kami. After almost two (2) months of searching.... hahahahaa (ang tagal anoh) nakapagdecide na din ako kung saan kami mag stay.

Mahal daw ang mga accommodation sa pupuntahan namin and talagang malilit daw ang mga space dun kaya the searching was indeed a challenge. Ang dami ko kasing dapat iconsider.. May kasama akong bata and the place should be convenient sa kanya.

Nag check ako sa Agoda.com; booking.com; hostelworld.com; airbnb.com. At first, the plan is to stay in a hostel, katwiran ko kasi matutulog lang naman kami but unfortunately ung mga hostel na ok ang reviews based sa tripadvisory wala na available sa dates ng travel namin.

Buti na lang i found a 3 stars hotel according to tripadvisory na may promo rates for August. I immediately went to its website and viola... they have rooms available for my travel date. After discussing with hubby and reading all the reviews I decided to book that hotel na. 

We will be staying at XI HOTEL. Price wise hindi siya ganun kamahal because of the 20% Early Bird Promotions that they have. I will just be adding a few bucks of penny in our original budget for hostel. I booked a Superior Twin Room for us. According to its website XI Hotel is just six (6) minutes walk from the A21 14th bus stop (Middle Nathan Road) or two (2) minutes walk from Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hotel. I will be blogging more about the hotel upon my return from Hong Kong. (",)

I have yet to finish our itinerary for that trip although I already have a draft of what we will do for our week long vacation. I'll post it here once i'm done and give you feedback if nagawa namin na sundin ang itinerary na ginawa ko sa pagbabalik ko. Pero to give you ideas on what places are we going to visit at HK, they are as follows: Nan Lian Garden, Disneyland (of course di ko ito kayang palampasin), OceanPark; The Peak; Ngong Ping Village; Maddame Tussauds and will have a short side trip to Macau. 

Super excited na talaga ko, pero siempre bago lumipad ang isip ng lola niyo pa Hongkong kailangan matapos ko muna ang napakadami kong trabaho dito sa office. 

I'm crossing my fingers na sana maging ok ang lahat sa trip namin na ito. 

Tiring Thursday!!

Literally this day is so tiring. I have to go to Gapan, Nueva Ecija to accompany a client in her Mediation proceedings before the DAR Office. We left Quezon City at 8:30A.M. and reached our destination around 11:00 A.M.

The meeting took 4 hours of my life.... and walang nangyari.. haist ang hirap talaga na pilitin minsan ang mga tao na mag-agree sayo but I honestly respect their decision will get back to them on July 16, 2013 hopefully by that time mag OK na sila.

We reached QC at around 7:30P.M. and because the travel was so tiring I felt as sleep and yun I woke up  around 2:00A.M. na in the morning.

How this started?

Teka. Paano nga ba to nagsimula? Honestly, hindi talaga ako masyadong mahilig magsulat. Mahilig lang ako magbasa and I was inspired by this blogger, Mommyfluer. You can see her site here. Tuwang-Tuwa ako sa mga blogs niya simple yet full of nice thoughts. Naging stress reliever ko na ang site and even recommend her site sa mga friends ko. Until one day my bestfriend Angela told me, here it goes..

Angel: mare bakit di ka din magblog? You don't need to write purely in English. Just right from your heart.

Me: naku malay ko sa pag susulat at anu naman iblog ko.

Angel: kahit ano.. basta gawin mo ha!

Naloka naman ako. Angel is very supportive. She's always there when I need a shoulder to cry on.

Months passed by with her still encouraging me to write. Nakulitan na siguro ko. Hahaha!!! Kidding.. Naisip ko lang ok din pala magsulat at least I can share thoughts with you guys too.. 

So eto I am officially starting my blog.