Hong Kong Rewind: My Second Time

So I just got back home from my Cebu to Hong Kong flight courtesy of Airphil Express. I was planning to write random stories between the six-day vacation but whenever I got back to the place we stayed for the night, I’d usually doze off, tired from the daily activities. So in true blue backlog … Read more

Cebu to Hong Kong Flight Courtesy of Airphil Express

Note: This post was drafted and the blog owner is already in Hong Kong for the second time around. In an unexpected turn of events, I suddenly had to go through a pile of maps inside a brown envelope I kept and familiarize myself with the MTR. I’ll be going on a sponsored trip for … Read more

One Vacation after Another

You just came from a long vacation and now you’re leaving again?

The expression on his face was priceless. There was no need to answer as I understood that it was a rhetorical question. I just had to smile to eliminate the moment of silence between his eyes and my smirk.

Hong Kong – Macau – Cebu – Boracay

After a trip to Hong Kong and Macau, I spent one day working at the office, and then headed to the airport to catch a flight to Boracay.

September 1-8, 2010 – Hong Kong-Macau
September 9, 2010 – Cebu (working at the office)
September 10-12, 2010 – Boracay

Thailand – Cambodia – Cebu – Davao

After a trip to Thailand and Cambodia, I spent one day working at the office, and then headed to the airport to catch a flight to Davao.

January 18-26, 2011 – Thailand-Cambodia
January 27, 2011 – Cebu (working at the office)
January 28-31, 2011 – Davao

hongkong street macau fisherman boracay beach
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong | Fisherman’s Wharf, Macau | Station 2, Boracay

khao san road bangkok angkor thom south gate isla reta davao
Khao San Road, Bangkok | South Angkor Thom Gate, Siem Reap | Isla Reta, Samal

History repeated itself and recalling these two scenarios crack me up. It’s such a crazy situation that even my manager asked me if I was alright.

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How to Travel to Four Countries Within Four Months

…and still maintain your full-time job.

No, I didn’t take my job with me when traveling in those months but I filed for vacation leaves in between. From October of last year to January of this year, I visited four countries within four months; all of which happened in different times. It was no easy feat considering that I have a day job in a BPO industry. I was apprehensive too, if all my plans would push through considering the number of vacation leaves that I had.

Hong Kong, Macau (Ok, Macau is not a country but just a region of China along with HK, but my passport was still stamped), Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand. I visited these five places which makes me wonder if what I did was a rare opportunity to achieve or if everybody can do it as well.

Friends would ask me if I’m still working in my current company due to my constant travelling. I tell them I’m just lucky to also have a boss that understands my needs to get away from the office environment once in a while. Sure, you may not be able to choose your manager but there are other circumstances that you can control.

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KL Monorail, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Here are four basic tips that you can take note of so you can travel while keeping your job.

  • Book Ahead – Check out budget airline websites for dirt-cheap promotions which they hold regularly. You’ll be able to save a ton of money because of booking in advance at ridiculously low prices.

My trip to Hong Kong cost me 1200 Php and those are round trip tickets already. (Cebu to Hongkong)
My trip to Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia cost me 850 Php; and that’s riding four planes! (Cebu to Clark to Kuala Lumpur and back)
My trip to Bangkok cost me 6000 Php; actually it’s 5200 bucks more because of a huge mistake of being late at the airport but you understand the point of booking during promo fares.

Suggested websites are CebuPacificAirlines.com and AirAsia.com once in a while to what they’re offering. Better yet, subscribe to their feeds to notify you on their next big airline ticket sales.

venetian hotel macau
Venetian Hotel, Macau

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2010 Highlights: A Year-Ender Blog Post

2010 in general, has been a blast for me. Although there were times where I got lost figuratively, it’s always nice to look back at the positive things that happened. This has actually been my mantra every time the year ends.

I can’t remember everything but what I do to recall memories is browse through photos in my hard drive that are neatly arranged. Putting them all in this entry would just be too much. Hence I’ll just list a few points that made the whole year worthwhile.

Trips

soloflighted trips
some trips

Apo Island in Negros Oriental, Boljoon in Cebu, Adventure Café  in Balamban, Wordcamp in Manila, Nalusuan Island in Mactan, Alona Beach in Bohol, Shopping in Hong Kong, Bungy in Macau, Petronas Towers in Kuala LumpurSeair and Microtel Tour in Boracay, Blog Summit in Iloilo, Island Tour in Guimaras — I think this rounds up my trips this year.

I had my first trip outside the country! It took me a year to prepare it but I was really hyped up when it did happen! Considering that the prices for the round fare tickets were really cheap (1200 Php from Cebu to Hong Kong and 850 Php from Cebu to Kuala Lumpur), I was able to save a lot of money while getting my first stamps on my passport!

bungy jump

I also bungy jumped from the world’s highest platform during this trip which made the whole event really worthwhile. That alone is already an experience to remember.

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Tips and Things to Know about Hong Kong

Hong Kong is the first country that I’ve been to outside the Philippines. So you can imagine how excited we were to step on foreign soil. We booked a flight for 1200 Php thru Cebu Pacific’s Piso Fare promo and it took us a almost a year to prepare for the trip. Hongkong busy Here’s … Read more

Hong Kong: Modern Toilet Restaurant in Mongkok

UPDATE: One of my blog readers said that this Modern Toilet branch in Mongkok is already closed. I was also surprised to hear the news. However, I believe that there is another branch of this concept restaurant in Causeway Bay. In Hong Kong, most of our time spent eating were composed of hanging out in … Read more

Total Budget Expense in Our Hongkong and Macau Trips

I wanted to tally up the total costs and expenses of our trip to Hongkong so I can help out other people who are scouting for resources online on the approximate budget if they want to go to the places I’ve been. So here I am, after two months, counting numbers and costs. After adding … Read more

Hong Kong Trip: Hong Kong to Cebu

The last day of our trip. Our flight wouldn’t be until 12:45am the next day so that meant we had to be at the airport before that time. Since this was our last day, we did some more shopping on items that a couple of colleagues requested for us to buy. Check out time at … Read more

Hong Kong Trip: Victoria Peak

September 06, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 5: Victoria Peak

Part two of our Day 5 in Hong Kong, we went to Victoria Peak and I wasn’t really sure what’s there as we just relied on Cindy to tell us that it’s a great tourist attraction especially at night. Boy was I foolish to just shrug this destination.

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view from the Victoria Peak

After our Ocean Park adventure, we proceeded to Admiralty and took the 12A bus to Victoria Peak. Cindy told me that we needed to get down after one stop alone. However, we didn’t get to because we were so preoccupied with the scenes outside our bus window — so many buildings and pubs and establishments around. We stepped down after the next stop and we were figuring out how we could go back to the previous station in order to start over.

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bus and at the stop for the peak Tram

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Hong Kong Trip: Ocean Park

September 06, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 5: Ocean Park

This was our second to the last day in Hong Kong and we planned on going to Ocean Park for it. We already bought tickets ahead through Ate Yolly the other day. It was convenient for us because we didn’t have to wait in line or scout through other booths in order to get an entrance pass. What’s also nice is that we got a discount since we purchased it from her.

ocean park nemoclownfishes

Woke up and then headed to the Marketplace by Jasons in iSQUARE (a mall near our hostel) in order to buy some snacks which already served as our breakfast for the day. I bought a sandwich and some cranberry juice and ate along the way.

breakfast hongkong
juice and sandwich (13 HKD)

We took the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Admiralty and rode a bus (629 route) that went directly to Ocean Park. It took us some time to locate the bus since we didn’t know which side we had to take. After a couple of questions from the people nearby, we were able to settle in. I think the ride took about 45 minutes so I still had some time to rest and take a nap. I was tired from the activities we did the previous day in Hong Kong Disneyland.

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bus terminal and 629 bus

We arrived at Ocean Park and one of their staff took my camera and told us to pose. I was surprised by how intrusive the staff was of our space but he said that he only wanted to take our picture using my camera. He also took a picture using his camera and gave us tickets to claim it at the booth near the entrance.

When we got to the booth, another staff offered us key chains with our pictures on it. We were amazed at how fast the processing of the key chain and pictures were. But we didn’t bother asking for the price because we knew how theme parks are when it comes to prices of their souvenir items.

ocean park picture
Ocean Park!

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Hong Kong Trip: Citygate Outlets and Disneyland

September 5, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 4: City Gate Outlets and Disney Land

We woke up late because of our trip yesterday in Macau. We covered a lot of areas and despite having to walk for four days straight already, we still had a couple more tourist spots in Hong Kong to check out.

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Mickeys – not hidden

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Disneyland in Hong Kong

The weather was way better now so it was good to go to a theme park. We already purchased our tickets from Ate Yolly (of the Tai San Guesthouse) so we planned on dropping by Hong Kong Disneyland. However by this time, we already needed to shop as we didn’t have any extra clothes left and I was reusing my shirt. We decided to head first to City Gate Outlets first.

Had breakfast at Maxim’s (not the male mag) Restaurant as it was one of the recommended places to eat in Hong Kong according to PinoyExchange.com. I ate a sandwich because I didn’t want to spend on food knowing that I can always eat in hordes back in the Philippines.


inside Maxims restaurant in Hong Kong

Had a bit of a difficulty locating the food shop because we were looking for the word ‘Maxim’ around town, only then did we realize that Maxim’s restaurant is displayed with the initials MX on their store.

12 HKD – Ham & Egg Sandwich for me
24 HKD – Fish Fillet Sausage Breakfast with drinks for Logan
24 HKD – Bacon & Egg Breakfast with drinks for Cindy

We rode the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central Station; and then Central to Tung Chung which led us directly to the Citygate Outlet mall.

city gate hong kong

Places Mentioned:
Maxim’s Restaurant
Citygate Outlets Shopping Center
Food Republic
Disneyland Resort
Modern Toilet

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