Jet Set, GO!

OVERTURE

The skyline was purely majestic, it was incomparable to anything I have seen. in my entire life, I have never appreciated glowing lights over the dark sky this much. the view was a treasure, something that I would keep for the rest of my being. This is my travel blog, what I have seen, tasted and experienced in Hong Kong for four days.

This vacation was monumental for me since there were a lot of ‘firsts’ on my list—my first plane ride, my first overseas travel, my first major travel with friends and also my first navigation of a city with only a map in hand. When we arrived at the Hong Kong international airport at around 1:30 in the morning, my head felt a little buzzy especially when we were checked in the immigrations and customs. When I saw the whole array of what the airport has to offer me, I admit I was quite astounded—never have I imagined in my entire life that an edifice so big and white could be an airport. You see, I did enjoy the airport, it seemed like a place where different nationalities meet. The people come from different places and their destinations different also, but one thing’s common and it is that we are heading somewhere. For us three, we were heading to Kowloon.

Ladies' Market, January 2011

Shopping

Hong Kong is a buzzing metropolis. Everywhere there is activity. Everywhere there is life. It was my first time seeing double deckers in person and I think it is the closest I could get in feeling that I was in London. Walking in its streets made me feel like a true cosmopolitan, one with the busy world. For a small city girl like me, this is entertainment enough. Nathan Road was, I think, Hong Kong’s most exciting street with its endless shops of varying natures, it sure is one hell of a tourist spot. Kowloon is pretty famous for its street markets like the Ladies market and the night market in Temple street. Here in these streets you will find things ranging from fashion finds to the unexpected taboos like dildos and anal beads. There is also a street fully dedicated to only things jade—it is a staple in Chinese tradition and my mother loves this gem. Someone once told me back in the Philippines that the lighter the shade of green the jade has, the more expensive it is. True enough, I found that the greener ones could go for as low as HKD40 per bangle or per bracelet. The Ladies’ market is definitely a shopper’s paradise. You can do tawad for as low as half of the original price given for the article without feeling guilty about it. Oh, those sneaky Chinese merchants are really good! Anyways, when I went there they were having this huge end-of-season sale and Chinese new year sale on every mall that I have passed by. I hear their sales are really crazy that it actually competes with the US’s infamous black friday where people line up in the entrances of malls and department stores as early as four in the morning or UK’s boxing day where people go gaga and lala over cheap, cheap sales. Oh, what a dreamland! This is one of those moments where I really wish I had heaps and buckets and truckloads of money. If you are, on the other hand, far from being a cheapstead like me, then you might as well go to Tsim Sha Tsui or Times Square at Causeway Bay and do a little shopping for jewelries at Cartier or Swarovski; clothes at Dolce & Gabbana or Dior; perfumes and scented spirits at Chanel; watches at Omega and Piaget; bags at Hermes or Louis Vuitton… well it’s your money, so you choose.

eat, eat, eat!

Gastronomic Adventure
FOOD. CANTONESE FOOD. Let me tell you something that our tour guide told us, it is that Cantonese food is healthy. People, as in the locals, the real HongKongers are healthy eaters. Unlike me and the rest or the majority of the Filipino people who love anything stir-fried and flavorful. The local food here in Hong Kong is rather different from what I am used to. I actually tried eating at a local KFC and there’s really this difference with their taste. Their chicken lacked flavor, specifically it lacked salt. They also don’t serve gravy with chicken. Same with other fast food chains in the rest of the islands. There is also no option of going large for drinks. How tricky is that, huh?! So, the solution to that problem is to go with the flow. As what the cliché always say… ‘when you’re in Rome, do as the Romans do’. Well, in my case, I had to go a little bit Cantonese. Every supper here in Hong Kong was a gastronomic adventure for me, a new twist to my boring, old Probleme de Gastronomique as I would say… in French that is. RESOUDRE! I loved eating out and staying up late eating steamed vegetables and delicious and positively bland noodles with chopsticks. I bought two 750ml bottles of water at a local 7Eleven at ten dollars. I love noodles. I love them. Cooked. Instant. Fried. Whatever. You name it, I’ll eat it. As long as it’s noodles. There’s nothing more than a high carbohydrate content meal can do to me than temporary happiness. Those fried noodles with mushrooms on them were the best I ever had. Sure they left me constipated but the flavor that brought tiny embers of happiness in my palate left me coming back to the restaurant for more. The restaurant, which name I choose not to remember because it was a little complicated, was like a hole-in-the wall type with seats both on the inside and on the outside extending towards the night market at Temple street. I knew at first glance that they were serving the safest and the best food in the area because the place was swarming with foreigners. I knew I had to try their food. After struggling on speaking ‘Cantonese’ english and practicing our basic human sign language, we had finally set our orders and went on to feast on something delicious. It was local and flavorful and I loved it. Very, very much.

Egg tarts = Heaven

Fab street food

Macau, on the other hand, had fabulous street food. I found myself lingering to the smell of something wonderful and heavenly on the foot of the Ruinas de San Paolo and I found myself standing in front of this lovely array of edible balls. STREET FOOD! Thanks you Lord! I loved their beef balls and their spicy sauce… well… all I can say is… their spicy was REALLY spicy. It nearly burned my larynx away! Their varieties-in-a-stick were pretty much convenient for me, their large servings were the just the right stuff. Their beef balls were phenomenal, it made my gastrointestinal tract really happy. Really happy indeed. Then there’s this other story, about heaven in a small pastry. Something eggy. Something wonderful. Something warm in your mouth. The Portuguese egg tarts were the primary reason why I have taken myself on a one hour nauseated journey from Hong Kong to Macau. Was it worth it? OH YES. DEFINITELY. WITHOUT A DOUBT. When I took my first bite, I had one of those Makino Tsukushi moments where I just wanted to cry out of happiness. Without undue exaggeration, this was heaven in a bite. I also bought  a box of those famous Portuguese almond cookies. I thought they were delicious. And I also loved peanuts. And they reminded me of Cebu’s masareals. Seemed rational, right? Oh never mind.

Scenic Panorama/

Panoramic Scene

Victoria harbour on a hazy day

Hong Kong is gifted with views, manmade or natural. I personally loved the view of the harbor in Tsim Sha Tsui. The skyscrapers far across the Hong Kong island looked majestic to me even with a gray sky to compliment it. When I came here, it was awfully windy and cold and for a girl born in the tropical country of the Philippines, I kept on shivering and chattering so hard. But the shivering and chattering was all worth it just to see this beautiful view of the Victoria Harbour. In the morning, the Avenue of the Stars is filled with tourists from all over the world. Somebody even came up to me and started talking to me in Cantonese which left me confused and bewildered. That was the world talking to me! So the view of the harbour is spectacular in the morning, yes, but what about in the evening where the dark sky dominates the atmosphere? Oh yes, the view is just so stupendous and breathtaking. The lights were perfect against a dark backdrop. Since I came here near the Chinese New Year (Kung Hei Fat Choi!) neon lights were a new addition to the skyscrapers in the harbour. At night this place is visited by metropolitans and cosmopolitans and inhabitants of the near hotels like people from the posh Harbour Plaza, the Intercontinental and the Hotel Nikko. There were also foreigners with their Single Lens Reflex cameras taking the best shots of the harbour sans the perfect lighting of the sunlight.

Aberdeen

Aberdeen, the fishing village, is pretty picturesque with its old fishing boats and some new yachts. Hong Kong island, especially near the Victoria mountain lies the most rich in Hong Kong. Here I caught a glimpse of sunlight and it was all bright and sunny again. A boat ride that would take you around this area would cost HKD50. Too expensive, I know, but it was definitely worth it for me since I learned a little part of the Hong Kong history through this. “Hong Kong” means ‘Fragrant Harbour’ since in the past the harbour was densely inhabited by fishermen living on boats. Families actually live in boats! So every little garbage they had went down to the sea… which reminds me of our nearby beach in Bonbon. It is not advised to swim in the sea here in Hong Kong since the water is already polluted. So the people wearing bikinis around Repulse bay are only sunbathers. Tsk Tsk indeed.

Ruinas de San Paolo

So anyways, just a little side trip. We went for a daytrip to Macau on our last day. Macau was not as remarkable as Hong Kong except for the downtown area, or as locals may call it, “/Samalo/”, though I am not sure how it is surely spelled but it sounded like this. Samalo is full of beautiful buildings and the highlight was the Hotel Lisboa which was a casino shaped like a Lotus leaf. In the morning it glimmers against the rays of the sun, at night it glows with neon colored lights. Senado Square is this perfectly restored European square now filled with modern boutiques like Giordano and Bossini and fast food like McDonalds. The downtown is dominated by hotels and casinos and just a few meters away from this faux Las Vegas is the real Macau influenced by the Portuguese but with Cantonese roots. The rest of Macau, from behind the window of the tour bus, is a mix of Cantonese and Portuguese heritage which is just like the Philippines.Macau is, I think, the perfect example of “Carmina Burana”—a small place, a speck of the mainland fighting against fate and fortune, poverty and power… oh I’m turning poetic already! The Ruinas de San Paolo is the most famous infrastructure of Macau and the most iconic since it clearly signifies and materializes the Portuguese influence bestowed upon the Macanese. Now, the façade is only thing left of the once-chapel and is a thriving tourist spot. Count me in!

Senado Square

We went to a temple, the A-Ma temple which was the temple for the fishermen who once lived near here. Now, it is also a great tourist spot and the place is just swarming with people unknowingly praying to someone different from what their culture dictates. But I guess there’s no foul in such belief. I prayed to A-Ma and asked her for a 100% passing rate for Xavier University at the Nursing Licensure Examinations. And also a love life this year. Twenty years and I’m still single! Our guide told us that the way to determine if a temple is really great is that of the amount of smoke that comes out vertically from where it is situated. Meaning, a lot of incense is used, hence a lot of people are inside the temple.Light Bulb moment!

Childlike Giddiness

a wink and a thumbs up!

They glow!

Have you ever had a time travel? Have you traveled back to your youth where everything just seemed so carefree? I had a little time travel back to my childhood with two places in Hong Kong that are forever dear to my heart. Ocean Park at Aberdeen really was an adventure. My feet were terribly tired at the end of the day because we started our little adventure on the summit. From the waterfront, without a little sightseeing, we rode the cable car to the summit. the cable car ride was long and it gave me a perfect panoramic view of the whole Aberdeen area. Ocean Park was all about rides, some were pleasant but mostly scary, definitely bad for my weak heart. Their rides did look very scary as hell and as much as I want to take the challenge, my companions were unnerved with the idea of being up in the air at at fast speed. In the end we only fell in line for the Ocean Park tower which revolved in a perfect three hundred sixty degrees, rendering us breathless with the spectacular views right before us. The pacific pier was also one of the highlights of the summit since it houses the sea lions of the park. They were enormous and adorable. They were like little dolphins, playful and exciting. The ocean park theater featured an afternoon show which starred four dolphins and two sea lions. I must say, they were really impressive and they were trained very well. They jumped, leaped and tumbled over springs of shooting water. This show really made me smile. I also saw the glowing illuminated jellyfishes at Sea Jelly which reminded me of Ai Otsuka’s Kurage Nagareboshi (Jellyfish, Shooting Star). See My poetry on Kurage, Nagareboshi. They were really beautiful and I loved how they glowed red, blue, green against the dark backdrop. We then went back to the waterfront via train. This train ride was my first train ride ever in my life! Well, except when I was in Disneyland. At the waterfront, we were greeted by this large floating balloon and a few more stationary at the ground. I loved skyfair, it was as if I was really on a hot air balloon. Every afternoon, they hold a circus extravaganza and exhibition here at this area, somewhat like a closing program of some sort. We also visited two giant pandas—the first one was eating bark after bark of bamboo and the other taking a dump right in front of us. The red panda was also very cute and it looked like a stuffed animal. Then we went off to the wishing wall where I , again, wished for a love life. Then we saw goldfishes in all Chinese varieties. To tell you honestly, I think they had little cancerous tumors on their faces. Haha. Since I and my two friends were faint-hearted, we decided to hang out instead in the children’s area and rode the only ride that contented us—the pediatric Ferris wheel. So yeah, we were losers in this area, but what the heck?

I want to stay here forever!

“To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” These were the exact words that the great Walt Disney said on the opening of the first Disneyland at Anaheim, California On Sunday, July 17, 1955.

Mickey in red

Hong Kong Disneyland is the second Disneyland in Asia, next to Disneyland Tokyo which is humongous. The first step I took in this beautiful estate, I thought to myself, “This is it. This is really it. This is my childhood. Years and years of watching Disney classics and now it is all coming to life.” I never thought coming to Disneyland was this overwhelming that I cried at the entrance. I did not care about the people watching me at all. It was really time travel and it was…

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Sleeping Beauty castle

It was like a momentary bout of ‘Ode to Joy’ ringing in my ears. A playground, to be exact. A fantasy, materialized. I may be twenty years young but when I came here I found myself all giddy even from just a sight of Mickey Mouse walking around in the park. Words cannot briefly express how I felt, there’s a certain warmth that is just instantly felt right on the moment where you’re holding your ticket and realizing you are revisiting an important part of your life—your childhood. As I am writing about this, I cannot help but get all teary-eyed. It seems that when it comes to my childhood, I can’t help but be emotional about it, the origins and roots unexplainable. When I saw the expanse of the park through the main street train, I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed by seeing Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland materialize right before my eyes. Kids of all ages, even the adults must have felt the same thing—an unexplainable sort of happiness. At main street, my eyes were full or rather ‘busog’ with the numerous shops around filled with memorabilia and accessories that I could not afford. Main street generally reminded me of old America, western to be exact. Tomorrowland reminded me of Buzz Lightyear. Fantasyland reminded me of the Disney princesses and Adventureland reminded me of Tarzan. There was the best of every Disney fantasy and there was a lot to take in. Thank God I did not fidget even one bit. At Fantasyland, we attended the 4D magic, that is the Philharmagic. I was, again, overwhelmed and then I cried. My heart leaped and my mind sang along with the Disney characters in full three dimensional state. During the afternoon parade, I saw every Disney character imaginable, but what I really loved was the swan float which had the Disney princesses on it—Cinderella, Belle, Aurora; the Lilo & Stitch float reminded me of Hawaii; then there’s the Mickey Mouse float. I loved the parade, I loved how it made me smile so much my cheeks would have already burst out of exertion. The adventureland took us into the jungles of the south Americas. There we saw animated Hippos, Elephants and even animals that should’ve belonged to the savanna and not the jungle. Oh well, this is Disneyland after all. Walking along the park was adventure enough. I never wanted to go back to reality again. Ever.

Then eight o’ clock came.

Tinker Bell castle

At first the Sleeping Beauty castle turns into the special fifth anniversary Tinker Bell castle which lights up through lights conducted like an orchestra. Beams encircled the castle and somewhat electronic sequins made the castle glitter like pixie dust.

Then came the most awaited moment… the fireworks.

At first you’ll hear children’s voices singing… “I can show you the world…” and it quickly shifts into the original “Tale as old as time…”

fireworks!!

The fireworks was just too emotional for me. While I was taking some pictures, I was crying like a baby. The fireworks was the perfect ending to a very beautiful day.

Friendship Reminded

United Colors

Me, Chic and Dianne planned this trip since the September of 2010. I never thought I would be allowed to go overseas, surprisingly my mother allowed me to. Thanks to her, I have experienced something so wonderful. This trip is primarily dedicated to my mother. But the real purpose of this trip is to connect the bond that was slightly severed by our rigorous review and our complicated lives back in the city of Golden Friendship. I am thankful that I went on this trip not alone. Having my two other friends made me realize that I am truly living, that I am experiencing something that other people do not. This trip made me realize how much I love these two girls that have been a very big part of my life. Hong Kong was more than an adventure, it was a rekindling trip, a trip that the three of us will always and always remember not because we saw Mickey Mouse or that we shopped till we drop at the street markets, but because this trip made us smile a genuine smile, something that we have not experienced in a while. This trip made us laugh like we were kids again. This trip made us see how much we have fun together even at the most unfortunate and tiresome circumstances. Nothing has changed, after all. We still do, like before, love each other this much.

Until then, when we meet again years from now, when we will travel again…
and I hope to see you, Reader, in one of our travels.


Ciao, Bella.
Nyma