shopping & cafe de coral

next HK morning, september 4

a visit to the ocean park was in my itinerary for the day & mom & myself were obviously filled with excitement that we woke up at 7am & prepared really early despite our still quite sore feet from all the fun & travelling we did the day before.

having a room-with-a-view, i peeked outside & saw the road was wet & rain was drizzling. i watched students & folks crossing roads rushing to school & work w/ their umbrellas. i prayed that the rain would stop. who wouldn't? when you only have 3 days left to tour abroad, that would make you pray hard for good weather. *:)

we never saw a single house in the city. only residential buildings

i recharged our cellphones, video camera & digital camera overnight. all of hongkong's power outlets has 3 holes. good thing my uncle lent me his universal adaptor.

we organized our things in our room a bit, bathed, then left.

we rode the subway to the central station.

mom still fresh. mom infront of mrs. fields cookie shop at the central subway station & another shot across louis vuitton at central

my mom was itching to shop at the 'tiangges'. seemed that she was already satisfied by the disneyland experience yesterday but i insisted on going to ocean park which is #2 on the "top 5 'must-go' places in HK". since it's still early, we shopped!

you can find great length of shops along nathan road (main road in the city). we stopped by bonjour w/c was still on-sale on perfumes, cosmetics etc. we didn't purchase anything yet coz about 2 blocks away, is one of the tiangges in HK. it's located at Li Yuan St. East & West in central. we feasted on good cheap sightings & ended up stringing along 4 plastic bags. got myself slippers, rayne's chinese dress, wallets, notebooks, HK shirts etc. along the way, there were filipinas calling out on fellow pinoys while handing out flyers for a haircut or pedicure at the salons they work at. they are pretty generous in helping out with directions & do add tips as well.

googled image of li yuen tiangge

we took a break by lunch & sighted for the cafe de coral restaurant w/c is only found in HK. forums i read HK rated this restaurant topnotch so i made sure we had lunch there the 2nd day.

it was a mid-range fastfood but surely piles up hungry guests during lunch & dinner. i used the octopus card there, so very convenient. we shared a burger steak + sausage + pork + vegetable rice meal w/c costs about HKD30 & iced tea for drinks. they are famous for their iced tea w/ milk drink w/c i was able to taste before leaving HK at their branch inside HKIA. we finished up at the other side of the tiangge at Li Yuen before 3pm & thought it was too late already to go to the ocean park w/c closes at 6pm. we decided to shuffle our itinerary & proceed to the peak. i had to set the ocean park adventure the next day.

we walked to the peak station at admiralty.

already exhausted half of the day. we even hadn't reached the peak yet!

hongkong disneyland

my first disneyland experience was in LA & perhaps the loneliest place i'd been to. ironic because one should get amused in disneyland & yes it was superb but seeing those kids, missing my toddler, overcame all the excitement. i actually even called it quits by 9pm even if we haven't been to the other half of disneyland LA. it's so big!

having not able to bring my daughter the 2nd time, which i promise to do next year, i shared the experience w/ my mom.

my mom & i had no intention to waste any minute of our stay in HK so we boarded a train after lunch to disneyland!

the entrance to disney

we got to disneyland by 3pm, right on time for the disney parade. didn't have much pictures coz i took a video of the whole event. also, as expected, we got wet. characters sprinkled every audience at the sidewalks w/ hoses so i had to avoid everytime i see 'em approach so the video cam wouldn't get wet. mom brought an umbrella & so lucky she did.

before & during the parade; the child in mom alighted & i am glad she enjoyed every bit of it

after the parade, we walked ahead & entered adventureland.

at my back is a tree house

had time to ride a few rides & eventually followed a stream of people entering a podium for the lion king performance & we were again right on time. they waited til the arena filled up then began the musical. geared w/ my video cam, i only managed to take 1 shot (flash photography was prohibited).

i read somewhere in a forum to have a taste of disney's very own turkey leg w/c i found right at adventureland. i thought it would be sold in a dinner plate, w/ rice. it was simply a leg of a turkey, roasted, 5x bigger than a chicken's, on a plastic plate. i think it was HKD50 so i didn not allow myself to indulge in it & instead looked for a resto somewhere & opted for a heavier early dinner for mom & myself. the meals were pricey but we had to consider where we were & deal with our hunger immediately. a mineral water costs HKD25 when in fact it's only less than HKD5 at 7-11. we had dinner at tomorrowland & ordered a single sweet & sour pork meal for both of us for a price of HKD45.

we strolled the entire tomorrowland, w/c proved to be more entertaining than at adventureland. we rode the famous 'space mountain' ride & had the scariest & funniest experience. most amusement rides in disneyland take pictures of the passengers unexpectedly during the screaming & horror & post them at the exits. my mom & myself looked so funny my mom when we saw ours she couldn't contain her laugh! i took a picture from that picture but am too embarrassed to post it here hehe.

the disney castle & tomorrowland

we took a break near the space mountain after that very horrifying ride (w/c was so cool by the way!). after a few, i checked every stall & store checking out anything i could bring to my daughter as a memorabilia from disneyland HK (i got her a mickey hat from disneyland US). sadly, the prices were way out of my budget so i got out of disneyland empty handed. :(

during our strolls, we passed by the kiddy section of disneyland (forgot what it's called) & looked for the "philharmagic" show. gladly enough, we were there 2 mins before the show! we took our 3d glasses & scrambled for seats like everybody else. the 3d movie went on for 10 minutes, w/ all the effects (water sprinkles, seats shaking, donald duck thrown offstage through a wall at our backs, etc etc, stuff that LA's universal studios' 3d movies soups up for their audience w/ better sophistication & ingenuity. ( i so miss that experience! it had always been the best!)

right before the curtains opened for the show

getting exhausted from all the walking & all the frenzy, we were so ready to go home. but we had to wait minutes more to see the fireworks by 8pm. we strolled at the main street & went inside a gallery containing arts & writings of disneyland's history.

at the front door of the gallery

a few minutes before 8pm, we looked for the best view of the disney castle for the fireworks & seated on the cement amongst all the other disneyland guests. i got teary-eyed during the fireworks display, which ran for 20 mins, missing nicole most especially & my daughter, & how they would so love to be in our place. i video taped the whole thing.

a very blurry shot of the disney castle prior to the fireworks display

by 8:30, most of the crowd was flowing to the exists & all our energy's drenched (remember we just flew to HK the same day), so we went back to our hotel.

a very tired me

to the train station!; lining up for the train w/ all the other perspired chinese(s) :)

next post, shopping & the peak!

familiar sights

the rain miraculously stopped when we stepped out of the airport so we stuck w/ our itinerary. mom simply had to follow my plans. i was her official tour guide to practically everything even though landing in HK's my first as well.

we reached our hotel at lunch time. we went out immediately & looked for a nearby mcdonalds restaurant to make use of the HKD10 mcdo coupons the travel agency gave for free. surprisingly, mcdo meals in HK costs more or less HKD20 so it sure wasn't enough. excitement exceeded our hunger so we just shared a burger meal and sped off.

the spicy grilled chicken burger only in HK mcdo combo'd with an american sized large fries

there's a watsons store just around the corner (practically found everywhere in the city)

next agenda was to get a few more american dollars exchanged. we rode the subway, called MTR in HK, just across watsons to tsim tsam tsui (TST for short). jealous that their subway's way too neat & safe! too safe that no single urban police is around & no guards to check on your bags. there are stores strewn side by side w/c one will pass by as soon as alighting the train. all stations have 7-11 & varied bakeshops which one of 'em is mrs. fields, okashi land & more. the train's 3x faster than our MRT. the doors have this route map which signals to everyone the train's destinations & stops. subway tickets are bought electronically (if you're not an octopus card holder). for octopus card holders, the card just needs to be waived at the terminals' card reader prior to descending to the train. we reloaded our cards once only, HKD50 minimum reload amount.

next stop, disneyland. we already have the HK money to pay at the entrance. HKD285 per person on weekdays, HKD350 on weekends. going to disneyland was actually routing back to where we'd been, at the airport. both are located at the lantau island, islands apart from the city. it took us 3 MTR transfers to get to the disney train from the sunny bay MTR station. ride was 1 1/2 hrs approx.

here we are waiting for the train to disney; did a close up afterwards curious 'bout those students seated next to mom

funny pic of mom inside the train; me at the sunny bay station waiting for the disney train

inside the disney train

next post, disneyland!

on our way to hong kong!

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.

surviving it all

nicole

on her 3rd year she developed muscle cancer at her right thigh. her hospital at PCMC almost became her home. she had to undergo chemotherapy, hence, all her hair fell off, stamina lost. on & off her treatment, the whole family brings her to tagaytay. there's a small monastery there, often visited by those families who bring a sick relative for prayer & healing. we brought nicole there hundreds of time, praying for a miracle to happen.

a miracle did happen. nicole got healed. that took her a year to recover, to grow all her hair back, to return to good health.

on the night of nicole's 6th birthday, her father benjo went to the 'select' store which was just a few minute walk from their home. in a few hours, a rumble came about involving my 'bayaw', 2 of his other friends & some bystanders. i was just departing a fraternity anniversary that night when i received a text message from my sister anna. she informed me that kuya benjo got stabbed & that we got to hurry & check on the kids so she can go to him at the hospital. that was around 3 to 4am in the morning past nick's birthday last january 21st. we came to their house at don antonio, w/o a smell of panic, anna took some clothes & sheets for kuya benjo then left. ryan drove her to the hospital & myself & a sorority sister were left to make sure their 2 kids were safe sleeping alone in their home. after an hour, i got a call from ryan & said, w/c i distinctly remembered him saying, 'genna, wag kang mabibigla, patay na si benjo' - "genna, don't get shocked, benjo just died". i couldn't say anything to him so i just dropped the phone, looked at my sleeping nieces & cried. that was already almost 6am in the morning of january 22nd. i went out, kids still asleep, looked for his relatives (they live in a compound). i couldn't find anyone for awhile until his grandfather walked out to the garage so i told him immediately what happened. he was shocked as well. kuya's parents were already at the hospital so he got no one else to send the news to but simply sat & moaned. i went inside again & called my parents. a few hours later when the sun rose, my parents picked us up & we all went to the hospital. cause of death, kuya benjo got stabbed in the abdomen causing pints & pints of blood to ooze out of his body & particularly due to the resident doctors' neglicence. no one, for hours, could attend to him. when we came, his body was already covered in white sheet from head to toe. my sister anna & kuya benjo's mom couldn't contain their sorrow. everybody was mourning.

nicole has been fatherless since.

a year ago, nicole suffered a stroke. numbed her right body for a while & recovered in weeks. her heart was detected to be enlarged so she was prescribed medicines to sustain the abnormality, & of what that can do to her fragile little body. months passed, meds still in place, she suffered another stroke. this happend this year, a few days after her birthday, yet again. at first there was no panic since she recovered quick & checked out the hospital after just a few days. on her first day home, she lied down her bed & slept. after awhile we heard her loud cry for help. she wet the bed, couldn't move & open her eyes. it was her 3rd major stroke. she couldn't move the full left side of her body including her eyelid & limbs. we rushed her to the hospital while everybody including her were painfully crying. her veins developed several blood clots cutting off the oxygen supply from travelling normally in cycles to her brain & heart. she was confined for several weeks at the intensive care unit.

more than a month later, she went home healed in a wheelchair w/ therapies scheduled every other day of the week. she started to walk months earlier but we still had to bring the wheelchair every time we go out on anticipated long walks at the mall. it's crucial that her body's always well-rested. ate anna even enrolled her at a school nearby where our cousin studies. she looked so excited on her first day! after a few weeks she got exhausted she had to stop schooling again.

she recently checked out the hospital. not due to her disability but due to a minor accident they, with her mom, a friend and trish, encountered just a few blocks away from home. they were avoiding a cab as they entered our subdivision & one wheel plunged in a very huge hole in the cemented street powerfully jolting everyone inside the SUV. nicole's right face hit the back of the front passenger seat. she cried instantly. my sister & the rest had minor concussions. ate anna & trish walked the few blocks to get home & left nick & her friend at the car to get some help. i drove our SUV & took nicole to the hospital. by the time we got there, the surroundings of her right eye started to blacken & swell. the doctor, by phone, advised confinement due to the complications the bruise my cause w/ the medicines she's taking to clot/unclot the blood in her body. she checked out after 4 days, gladly recovered for the nth time. the inside of her right eye still displaying a huge smear of blood clot but the swelling & darkened skin are gone.

how much more can this fragile little girl endure in her life? how many more pain staking, life threatening events does she have to recover from?

prayers...just a lot of prayers for our baby nick. whatever bad's still ahead, lemme catch 'em. i will willfully take 'em.

ending july

continuation...

july 22

day out w/ dada & rayne. we went to sm fairview, ate at the conggo grill at the 2nd floor & ordered steak & baked mussels. our daughter, as usual, couldn't sit straight for half an hour so we had to take turns looking after her. at her age, she can eat anything we eat so choosing a restaurant or food chain has been easy unlike before when we always had to choose ones who has mashed potatoes, fries or noodles in their menu. i took some photos while we wait for our orders.

complete fam'ly picture

after lunch we headed to the ace hardware to get rayne's bathroom rubber mats. she slipped in that bathroom floor before while i was bathing her. she suddenly disliked taking a bath in her inflatable 'duck' bath tub. she wouldn't sit & if forced, will make her cry non-stop. anyhow, after we got the mats, we strolled a bit in the mall, got starbucks & donuts from go-nuts then drove home. back home, we had a dvd marathon. ryan bought several movies which we watched together that day. we watched 'three', 'vacancy' & 'the prestige' 'til the wee hours of the morning.

july 28

brought my nieces to the trinoma mall for early dinner & shopping! i brought along my darling daughter ofcourse plus mom & sister. we ate at chef de angelo at the small food court located inside the mall. i was craving for their tuna pesto but unfortunately they don't have it on their menu at that branch. after meals i brought my daughter to the play library at the 3rd floor. mom looked after her while my sister & niece nicole shopped at the toys 'r us. myself & trish went to another store to shop for her toy gadget & ended up buying an electronic scheduler/calendar w/ phone set. we went back to rayne after an hour. nicole wanted to play as well so we stayed & strolled the mall for another hour.

rayne's kakulitan shots:

july 31

i felt extreme body pain during the night i didn't go to work this day. i had mild fever & could barely get out of bet so i filed a sick leave. ryan brought me 2 slices of different cakes from mocha blends after work. we watched an anime/manga series which he discovered from a workmate. titled 'death note', apparently popular, so out of curiosity, i watched it with him as well. it's a story of a 'shinagami', japanese for 'death god', who accidentally dropped his notebook, called a 'death note', on earth. it's ownership landed in the hands of a student who eventually used its powers to 'kill' all criminals by writing their names in the notebook, to make the world a 'better place' to live in. creppy huh?

ryan mentioned there was a film about it which we are yet to know where to find. i browsed the internet & apparently there's already a part 2!