My Trip to Hong Kong and Macau

Victoria Harbour

Like what I said in the preceding post, I treated myself for four days vacation trip to Hong Kong and Macau. I left Singapore in the afternoon of Saturday and supposed to arrived Hong Kong at around 8 in the evening but because of the airline re-timing, I arrived way past 10 in the evening at the Y-Loft Hotel where I was billeted for the duration of my trip. Because of that I decided to stay in the hotel for the night instead of the initial plan of a night tour at the Central district that include the famous Temple Street night market.

A Birthday Trip to Hong Kong

I have never been out of the country for months now, three months to be exact. So I decided to treat myself a birthday trip. I'll be going to Hong Kong, Macau, and hopefully Shenzhen this weekend. It sounds like a long vacation, but it's not since will cover only four days more or less. I'll be arriving Hong Kong in the evening of Saturday until late afternoon of Wednesday. I am not sure how much I can cover the number of places I want to see and check during these four days but I am pretty sure I can maximize my time. 

I have a hard time finding a hotel to stay in Hong Kong. It was only last night that I finally find one. I didn't realize that hotels in Hong Kong is quite expensive even those nice few budget hotels. Should I have known beforehand that this would be the case, I have had booked a room on the same day I booked the flight. Though I have already found two hotels with reasonable rates, I waited until a week before the departure that I decided  to book a room, so the result was that the rooms that I have selected were no longer available. So I have no recourse but to book an expensive hotel since I don't want to stay in the infamous hostels at Tsim Sha Tsui area. Though the hotel room is pricey but it is located beside a mtr station somewhere in Kowloon area. This is the most expensive hotel so far that i'll be staying. I hope that the room and the service will be proportionate to their rate.

During the trip I want the see the following attractions in Hong Kong; The Peak, Giant Buddha, Noah's Ark, either Ocean Park or DisneyLand, the Avenue of Stars for the Symphony of Lights, temple night market, all in two days! A day in Macau and another day in Shenzhen but it is only I still have time.

This trip is not on my task list this year, but what the heck :).

Gunung Kawi Temple, Bali Indonesia

Another Bali's ancient temple complex is the Gunung Kawi temple situated in a hidden deep valley surrounded by rice fields. The complex uniqueness from the other temples is its carved shrines and royal tombs on a solid rock hill. It is believed that the shrines were dedicated to a king ruler, his queen and sons, and his concubines. 

Exploring Corregidor Island, Philippines (Part 2)

Gen. McArthur Park and the Lorcha Dock

After the hefty lunch our tour guide brought us to the Bottomside, the lower part of the island. The island has an interesting outline that shaped into a tadpole.  The head rises prominently to a large flat area which coined Topside, the center of activities of the island. The plateau that interrupts the upward slope from Bottomside to Topside is the Middleside.

The Bottomside part of the island was our first stop after having lunch. Gen. Douglas McArthur Park, South Dock, Lorcha Dock, North Dock, Barrio San Jose, Administration building, San Jose Chapel, and the Gen. Wainwright Memorial are all can be found here. At the Lorcha Dock is where Gen McArthur boarded a ship leaving the island to Australia and made a promised "I shall return".  A statue has been erected at the spot where he bid his goodbye and turned into a park named after him. His famous remark is inscribed at the foot of the statue. Another park nearby is the Gen Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial. Constructed in honor of his determined leadership, courage, and resolution to the very end during the war.

My Trip to Penang Malaysia

My first travel this year happened last weekend to Penang Island, Malaysia. For four days I got to explore and experience the island's unique cultural, historical, and natural scenery. Penang has plenty of sightseeing opportunities scattered around the island. Aside from the attractions they have their on unique food not to be miss while in Penang.

This year's list of task

Last year, I skip this habit of making a list of task to do for the whole year. But this time I decided to have one, but unlike in previous years, this year's list of task will be concentrating on places I want to visit, things related to travel, and photography. As my resources is limited, I can travel only as far as the neighboring countries or just within the southeast asian countries where I don't need to secure a visit visa to enter one's country.

Places I have visited in 2010

Five countries, eight new places, three times in one place, in one whole year.

2010 is almost over, and at this time of the year we usually  review things that we have set to do the entire year  whatever task that we set and planned. In my case I would be like to look back the year on my travels. I set goal of traveling once in a month to any Asean destination. Thank you Jetstar and Agoda for being instrumental in achieving this goal.

Galungan Festival of Bali

The time I was on holiday to Bali, I got the opportunity to observed first hand Bali's most important festival which is the Galungan Festival. The festival is a holiday period throughout the island and the most important as it symbolizes the victory of Dharma ( virtue) over Adharma (all that is evil). It is believed that during the festival period all Balinese gods descended to earth for the festivities.

The festivities are made evident by the fitting of penjor (brightly decorated very tall bamboo poles with woven young coconut leaves, cakes, fruits, and flowers) on the right side of the entrance to every house which arch over the roads. It was a delight to watched these nicely decorated bamboo poles bending over along the villages roads.

My Trip to Bali Indonesia

I went out of Singapore again last weekend for four days this time to Bali, Indonesia. I booked this trip 2 months ago after a good deal from Jetstar came out and matches to my long weekend off. I filed one day leave to make the most of my trip to Bali as I was looking forward for this trip. I did enjoy the trip and I have to admit that indeed it was one of the planned trips I got the chance to experience a different culture, but there are some disappointments actually and could be avoided should I not rely much on the internet.

Fatahillah Square Jakarta

One of the places I have visited when I went to Jakarta is the Fatahillah Square in Old Batavia, formerly the center of trade and business activities during the Dutch colonial era. The Kota district as known today has significant number of grand colonial buildings, many are abandoned or dilapidated but still standing.

My Trip to Batam, Indonesia

I was pretty much occupied by my work after Easter so I don't have time to compose an entry for the blog. Though its not physically draining work but more on the mental aspect. There are a lot to attend to like answering all the complaints received that requires immediate attention and do follow ups so as it will not appear to be that we were not doing our job at all.

While you guys, you who are in pinas enjoys long break during Holy Week, we pinoys here, the less mortal, enjoys only Good Friday as holiday. As I have work the following day but off on Monday, I got Sunday and Monday for holiday trip. As I have only two days to spare, I went to Batam, Indonesia.

My Trip to Bukit Tinggi, Malaysia

I spent three days during the chinese new year holidays in Kuala Lumpur and Bukit Tinggi in Malaysia. As the trip was not a planned one, I was having difficulty booking for a trip ticket and the hotel room.  The trip is to check the Colmar Tropicale in Bukit Tinggi in Pahang Malaysia, I bite the price for the late booking, and the land travel. The resort online booking site says there were no more available rooms for the holidays, but when I checked Agoda, where I usually book hotel rooms for my travel overseas, I was able to get a one bedroom room. I might consider myself lucky to be able to book a room on the last minute and be able to secure a bus ticket. I travelled in the morning of Sunday and arrived Kuala Lumpur at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Spend the afternoon at Bukit Bintang, and KLCC until the evening. I purposely waited until the evening at the KLCC to take night shoots of the Petronas Twin Towers. I was literally entertained by the kabayans who were there doing pose well for me is entertaining. Then I went back to the hotel to refresh and spend the rest of the evening at a bar in Bukit Bintang.

My Trip to Phuket, Thailand

I went out of Singapore again last weekend, my second for the month, this time to Phuket, Thailand. It was short weekend holiday but I have a wonderful time. I arrived Phuket Saturday night and after checking in I immediately went out to experience nightlife. I managed to try three bars and by 1am I finally called it a night since I have a booked island tour the next day. There are so many choices online for the Phi Phi island tour and though they're offering the same itinerary, the price varies which ranges from 800 baht to as high as 3000 baht. If you choose the cheaper rate you will be spending more time on traveling than in the islands. I booked for the tour which uses speedboat as it is faster, less passengers and more time in the islands. In the evening, I explored the nightlife vicinity of

Side trip to Battambang, Cambodia

My third day of my trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia was spent in nearby province of Battambang. I have been invited by a Filipino friend working there. He was hired by a non government organization based in Europe to assist and provide training to one local agency run by the government. There is nothing much to do there nor have any place of interest to speak of, so the only thing you can do there is to observe and feel the daily life of the locals. it's pretty laid-back provencial town. On thing I observed though is that there were hotels scattered with in town center though I spotted only a few tourists during the day I was there, and mostly backpackers.

My Trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia

My first oversea travel for this year happened last thursday. I went to Siem Reap Cambodia to explore one of the seven wonders of the world. I booked the ticket months ago and supposed to be there last November but because it coincides with the unannounced company in-house training, I have to postpone the trip and rescheduled the trip. By the time I booked the ticket I imagined myself to be doing an Indiana Jones in Angkor Wat and be doing what Lara Croft did in Ta Prohm and expected to be sighting a girl keep popping up from inside the ruined temple.

Monas of Jakarta

My Jakarta trip last November includes the visit to the national monument, Monas to local. It is a Jakarta landmark and a national pride which stand 129m tall in the middle of open square. This concrete candle like structure has a 35 kg gold plated flame on top of it and a viewing level where the entire Jakarta can be viewed from here.

I came here on my second day of my holiday to this city. I read beforehand that this place can be crowded on weekend and queue to the view deck is long, so since I did visit the place on a weekend, I made up my mind not to go up the view deck and instead just explore the vicinity. But that day I found that the queue was tolerable so I decided to go up instead.

Looking back

In three days, another year will become into past year. No matter what was the outcome to us of the year that was, we always look back and review the events that shaped our life. I myself has never given it a thought in the past, its not my habit of assessing the things that I have done in my life in the year that past. But I make an exemption this time, but I have nothing interesting to share personally so instead I concentrate on the trips I have made the whole year.

It was this year that I become active traveling that I have been to different places some of them first time. I went back to thePhilippines in April as my birthday gift to myself and visited Guimaras and Iloilo in the visayas, and to Manila

Arriving Jakarta

This is my late post on my holiday to Jakarta Indonesia for the first time.

I managed to arrive at Changi terminal quite early as planned since I only took the mrt on the way there. Since it was my first time to take the train as I always took a cab to the airport. Arriving at the airport