香港少年領袖: Hong Kong Adventure

"THIS IS IT!" -- My heart was in a state of ecstatic palpitation when I saw the from above the bright and vibrant night lights of Hong Kong. The emotion heightened since I was able to travel abroad for the first time after several instances which might have hindered the trip and I'm with a good friend. It also gave me a feeling of sudden independence as soon as I step foot on the soil of the City of Life, which was quite overwhelming.

Photo before the plane took off from Iloilo to Hong Kong with Ate Chesca

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Before I start writing about our travel in Hong Kong here some some things you might need to know about the acclaimed "City of Life"

(1) HK is an autonomous region of China (Mainland). With the slogan, “One China, Two government”, HK has its separate set of laws and an independent type of government and this autonomous system is in charge of the economic aspect of the region and any external or internal affairs of Hong Kong while the responsibility of the mainland China is to provide defense and foreign affairs.

(2) There are 3 Main Islands and 18 districts in Hong Kong Region. Three main island of the region are New Territories, Kowloon, and Hong Kong Island.

(2) The language being used in Hong Kong is CANTONESE and NOT Mandarin. Though they may understand some Mandarin but they prefer Cantonese.

(3) There are several transport systems in the region but basically, people use their MTR (train) and they have this “octopus card” which can be used in ALL (yes, ALL) modes of public transport.

(4) If you're a Filipino, you should know that there’s no time difference between Hong Kong and Philippines.

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We arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at around 1:30 in the morning and waited for 8 hours because our tour guide fetched us at around 9:30 in the morning. It's a good thing that the airport has a free WiFi. I was able to check out my Facebook and post some photos of mine in Instagram. It is definitely undeniable that Hong Kong International Airport is one of the BEST airports in the world. The place was really clean plus, the toilet rooms have high-tech utilities which made me feel like I was pampered well. The airport has various food chains and some are open for 24-hours (just like McDonald's) so passengers won't starve.

A glimpse of Hong Kong International Airport's interior. If I'm not wrong, I think the Iloilo International Airport (IIA) was patterned to this one but IIA is smaller.

Before our tour guide picked us up, we decided to have breakfast at McDonald's located inside the airport. I was stunned and amazed with their breakfast meals. It was a corn and carrot macaroni soup with a ham and egg on top paired with a piece of hash brown. At first I thought it was quite odd for a breakfast but when I had my first bite, it was a good tasty meal to start up one's day.

We checked-in at Rambler Oasis Hotel located at Tsing Yi (a part of New Territories). Upon entering our hotel room, our initial reaction was "WOW" the interior design of our room was so cozy and inviting. Not to mention we were on the 27th floor of the hotel and we had a great view of cargo and the Hong Kong Island. Since it was cozy and we were tired, we slept before we start roaming around the place.

This one is our room's cabinet with a small fridge inside

The translucent glass walls of our bathroom

Our bed with cool lighting design and mirror over.

After which, Ate Chesca (my travel buddy) and I decided to roam around the central Hong Kong by ourselves using the octopus card that we purchased in the airport. Since our first day is our free day.

When we arrived at Central Hong Kong, I can’t help but be awestruck with the skyscraper establishments and the cleanliness of the place, the people walking busily to their destinations and everything was so fast-paced. The atmosphere was so on the go that I felt like I belong. 

Upon roaming around, we found a nature-filled park in the middle of the metro. Surely, these people did not forget about keeping nature while on progress.

This park was filled with trees and plants that are also found in the Philippines and what’s not. Amazing is the word that I can say upon seeing this park because there were no traces of trash (seriously) and the park is well-maintained. I've seen older people who’d walk here to have a breather in the busy city.

We definitely had nowhere to go. We just let things flow that time so we decided to take the TRAMS and randomly decided to search for authentic Hong Kong restaurants at a cheap price down at O'Brien Street.

I must be savoring the Tram ride. It was the first time in my entire life to ride this one that I had to go on the second floor of the Tramp to have that 'I'm abroad' feeling.

People inside the Tram ride. The lady in blue got nice boots.

This my travel buddy, Ate Chesca. We’re both singers in the church and she loves to do the Mariah Carey style of singing. She also loves to travel and I can attest that she's a good travel buddy. 

And we together with us were Nanay and Tatay ( I forgot their names). They’re from Nueva Viscaya. Lovely couple having a trip together. For me, they are the epitome of true love. Despite their age, they still can manage to keep with us especially when it come to walking fast around the city. Nanay was supposed to find some place to eat nearby the hotel but since she (and even us) didn't have any idea as to where the restos were, they decided to join us on our wander at Central Hong Kong. I hope they had fun too.

When we reached the O’Brien Street, we decided to look for some place to eat dinner. It may look a bit early in the photo but seriously it was already 5-6 in the evening that time. Usually, the sun sets at around past 7 going 8 in the evening. I find it quite advantageous for someone who comes home at around past 8 at least you'll have an excuse that it's not that dark outside yet. While we were walking along the streets of O'Brien and the street whose name I forgot, we found the Wai Chi restaurant. Wai Chi serves authentic Asian dishes and it is very affordable. One meal (serving that's almost good for 2) costs at around 45 HK$. Plus, the taste of their dishes were very pleasing to our palate. They also have free WiFi which is nice since our hotel doesn't have any.

My dinner: Beef Brisket Curry...something. Can't help but to dig in! 

Tatay and Nanay enjoying their noodles

It was a hunger mission accomplished for us. And so after we had dinner, we went to the nearest MTR station and we headed back to our hotel at Tsing Yi. We all had a hectic day ahead of us that time and we needed to charge our energies. 

Since the lighting in our room was great for selfies, I can't help but to have one. Well, I had several shots

Yep, that's good lighting for selfies

Selfie with the night view of our room and... Oh look! I can see Ate Chesca's reflection taking selfie too! 

Just as what other friends do, we also had long conversations before going to sleep. Ate Chesca and I talked about life, love, career, and our goals in life. I was also glad that she gave me advice about a man’s sincerity towards the woman he has feelings for and how to identify if they’re just another ‘come and go’ guy. While talking about life, we shared a box of milk we bought from 7/11 which only costs at around HK$ 5.00 and trust me it’s tastes so great that we gulped in another box of it (talk about pigging out at night).

Since we're on the 27th floor, here's a photo of our night view

Cargo below and the Famous buildings of Hong Kong across our Island. 

That concludes our first day in Hong Kong.