our stint at high school musical live

my other career!

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hong kong adventure – day 3

september 24 – we are tireless. today, we are going to visit ocean park hong kong.

after a train ride, we took the bus which will stop at our next destination, ocean park. like in disneyland, we had our tickets purchased through our hostel, so we did not have to line up.

since we did not had the time to eat breakfast, we decided to eat brunch first before roaming the park. we went to the panda cafe, where we met lele, the panda mascot. we had lots of pictures with the panda, and then ate our brunch of steamed chicken, roast pork and roasted duck.

after having our fill, we went to the location of asia’s animals. we saw alligators, red fox (it is a bear), and a real life panda bear. unfortunately, the panda was sleeping. we also got to see various breeds of goldfish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ocean park was huge. to get to the upper part of the park, we had to ride cable cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

we also got to watch a show at the ocean theater which featured dolphins and seals. the animals were great at their tricks, and it is amazing how well they work with their trainors.

 

 

we entered a jellyfish sanctuary where we saw different species of jellyfish. it was nice since the jellyfish changed their color with the lights.

 

 

the rides at ocean park were more thrilling. we rode the raging river, space wheel, flying swing, the dragon, and the abyss.

 

after ocean park, we went to the ladies’ market at mong kok (where the acid throwing incident happened). there we shopped for various souvenirs and pasalubongs. after walking around, we ate at a japanese restaurant. my niece ordered ramen, and to our surprise, it had a naruto! =)

 

 

end of day 3.

 

 

day four was spent going to harbour city mall, where we got royce chocolates and some stuff. then some shopping again, until we checked out of the hotel.

 

we rode the train to kowloon, where we rode the airport express. at this station, you could already check in your baggages, unfortunately for cebu pacific, we were only allowed to check in our bags at the airport itself.

 

our hong kong adventure was a great experience. i want to come back sometime in the future. i wonder to what asian country should we go next? =)

hong kong adventure – day 2

september 23 – today is my birthday, and i am going to spend it in hong kong disneyland!

after having breakfast and all our morning rituals, we left the hostel to travel to lantau island where disneyland was located. after two train interchanges, we arrived at sunny bay, where we would ride a disney themed train which will bring us to disneyland.

after a few minutes, we arrived at disneyland! since we already got our tickets beforehand, there was no need to queue for tickets, and we headed straight to the entrance.

we got our maps, copy of the show schedule, and then stopped by the city hall. there, i told one of the staff, that it was my birthday, and he gave me a disney pin (with minnie mouse in it) saying that it is my birthday today. i pinned it in the strap of my bag, and most of the staff who noticed the pin, wished me me a happy birthday. we also had an oppurtunity to have our photos taken with mickey and minnie mouse.

after the picture taking, we had lunch, and then proceeded to the “lion king festival” show. it was a short play narrating the story of how simba became the king of pride rock. the show was amazing… the performers and the effects. we really enjoyed it.

after the show, we all went into the demon jungle, one of the halloween offerings of the park. it was a little bit scary, but fortunately, we made it out. =)

the next show that we watched was “the golden mickeys” which was a parody of the golden globes. there were performances given my the disney characters based on categories such as friendship, heroism, and romance.

after the show, we tried the “it’s a small world” ride. it features dolls representing different locations, and singing the it’s a small world song in their native language. of course, we waited for the Filipino dolls. they were two Filipinas accompanied by a tarsier.

we also rode the “winnie the pooh adventures” ride, which is a storybook ride through the “it’s a blustery day” story of winnie the pooh and his friends.

at 3pm, we found our place outside, where the disney parade would pass by. we were in the front lines, and we were able to see all of the characters on the parade.

cinderalla even greeted me a happy birthday since she saw the badge in my bag. =)

other rides we tried out were the space mountain (we rode this twice), buzz lightyear astro blasters (where we had to shoot emperor zorg’s minions), stitch adventure (this was fun since we were able to interact with stitch who was on the screen. we also rode the electric cars (sponsored by honda) wherein i got to drive.

at around 5pm, we gathered in front of cinderella’s castle to watch “high school musical live” where most of the cast were filipinos. my niece and i were even called to stage when they asked for volunteers to dance with them to the tune of… we’re all in this together. it was our five seconds of fame.

next in line was disney’s philharmagic. it was a 4d theater where we got to experience what was happening on the film we were watching which was on 3d. we got to smell the pie and the champagne, get wet with water and feel the wind rushing past us.

since disney was already celebrating halloween, there was a glow in the dark parade at night which was headed by jack skellington and the characters from “a nightmare before christmas.” also in the parade were various villains like jafar and maleficent. but of course in the end, there is mickey mouse and the gang wearing their halloween costumes.

to cap off our disney adventure, we watched the fireworks display at cinderella’s castle. it was wonderful to behold. the fireworks were synchronized with the music, and there was even a story to it.

i enjoyed celebrating my birthday at disneyland together with my family. i think i have made closure to my childhood because of this. =)

end of day 2.

hong kong adventure – day 1

september 22 – at around 4am, we left cavite to go to NAIA terminal 3 for our flight to HKG. There was a little drizzle, but we arrived at the airport on time.

we checked in to our flight, paid the philippine travel tax (Php 1620.00), ate a little at the food court, paid the terminal fee (Php 750.00), went to immigration. at the last checkpoint before the gates, the people checking our passports, sang “happy birthday” for me.

the flight to HKG was uneventful; there was the on-board game of bring me, some turbulence, and after around 2 hours, we landed at Chek Lap Kok airport. this airport is huge! after disembarking from the plane, getting maps, we had to ride a train to the other terminal where the immigration and our luggages are.

interview at immigration went well, got our luggages, and went to exchange some of our US dollars to local currency. tip: do not exchange a large amount of your money at airport forex, their rates are low. just exchange enough money for your transportation to the hotel, and hotel deposit if needed.

after buying our octopus card, we rode the A21 bus which will take us to our hostel located at tsim sha tsui. we had a little difficulty finding our bus stop, but we made it to mirador mansion in nathan road.

we stayed at usa hostel. the hostel was a good catch since it was located at the center of kowloon where a lot of stores and establishments are. the hostel also provided the basic ammenities that one needs, and it even offered discounted tickets for disneyland and ocean park.

we checked in to our rooms, had lunch, and started our travels around hong kong. our first stop was at Victoria Peak. from Central, we took the Peak Tram which will transport us to The Peak. at the top, there are a lot of shops. also located there was the wax museum and the sky terrace. we entered the sky terrace where you can see a bird’s eyeview of hong kong and all its skyscrapers.

our next stop was at the avenue of stars. this is hong kong’s homage to its stars. you can see various hand prints of movie stars, and a status of bruce lee. we were supposed to take the star ferry cruise for the symphony of lights, but unfortunately tickets have been sold out. we watched this show from the harbour, which was equally nice. the show featured a synchronized show of lights and sounds at the hong kong skyline.

after walking back to nathan road, we had our dinner in one of the chinese restaurants, went back to our hostel, cleaned up, and went to bed.

end of day 1.