2 weeks before our flight to HK, i purchased from cebu pacific a trip package composed of hotel accommodation, free daily breakfast & transfers to & from the airport. it took me awhile to decide whether to travel HK "DIY" style (do-it-yourself) or via a tour guide. well, i didn't really need anyone to tour us. after several readings in local forums, best experiences come along when you are discovering HK alone. i just thought that the bus transfers was essential considering the heavy baggages we brought along.
anyway, 2 days before our flight, we shopped for groceries. i read in one forum that mineral water in HK was expensive so i bought 2 liters which i eventually left at home fearing it would burst inside my luggage & drench everything inside. by the end of the day, i finalized our itinerary in HK & activated roaming in our cellphones.
on sunday night, myself & rye brought our daughter to their house in retiro so she'll be in good hands while myself & my mom were away. i gave her yaya an extended day off, in other words, i didn't trust her alone w/ my only daughter. back home, we continued packing & slept after midnight. having had only 2 hours sleep, we woke up at 4am & bid our farewells at 5am. the family driver brought us to the airport & right on time. inside the airport, we paid for the taxes & fees, lined up for baggage & immigration checks. at past 6am, we had breakfast & coffee inside the airport.
coffee inside NAIA
we started to wait with the rest of the cebu pacific passengers at the terminal past 7am. we boarded the plane 30 mins after. it was mom's first time & she was jittery but yet gave the brightest smile for the photo below.
aboard cebu pacific
we landed in the HKIA after 2 hours. rain was pouring at the island where the airport of HK is & unfortunately where disneyland is also located. disneyland was at the top of our itinerary. we might've had to change our plans.
back to the HK airport, we had a few USD exchanged to HKD, took our luggage, then to immigration. i bought ourselves an 'octopus card' for all the road travelling we'll need. the octopus card is very flexible. it can be used on buses, trains, trams, 7-11 & several other restaurants. cool ha! it's reloadable as well & expires in 3 years.
here's where we got our octopus card
here's a picture of mom waiting for the travel agency to fetch us from the airport
during our bus ride from the aiport to the hotel
travel from airport to our hotel in kowloon took us for about an hour of sight seeing through the huge window frames of the bus windows.
i booked for the mayfair garden hotel at jordan. i wouldn't recommend this hotel if it weren't for the very close proximity to the subway from there. to enumerate, i had a hard time conversing with the front desk officers in english; i had to pay HKD300 as a 'secured payment' just in case we turn on the TV, or use the phone for local or international outgoing calls or get any item from their mini-fridge; internet at the lobby charges per minute; they charge a minimum of HKD50 for breakfast per guest (almost P300); the concierge could only offer assistance by opening the doors!; no one helped guests in bringing luggage to their rooms; no one checked us during our entire stay; the janitors do not understand a single english word; the room & bathroom is small; the aircon temperature is so cold we always had to turn it off; we booked for a smoking room but there wasn't a single exhaust inside the room nor in the bathroom to extinguish the smoke so the room would still smell overnight from 1 lit cigarette.
we had our room by the window though so that was something and the hotel is only 2 mins away from the subway! that was the coolest part.
our room
it wasn't important anyway...to have reserved a better hotel. we only used to the room to sleep, shower & stow our things. and to say it again, 2 mins away from the subway! what else could a tourist ask for! there are 2 7-11 stores in the vicinity, bakeshops & noodle houses so it was awesome nevertheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment