Dianne's Nook

I went to Hong Kong with my boyfriend. Both first-timers in Hong Kong, we braved the thought of getting lost in a foreign country. It was our first time to travel together as well. I haven't been with him in my previous travels in the Philippines. It was his first time to ride an airplane, too. So imagine the excitement and the nerves he experienced.

As the one who proposed the trip, I was assigned to do all the research and bookings. Yes, I want this trip to be really special so I researched and planned ahead. We booked the flight last August 2011 through Cebu Pacific's promo fare at P999. It was a 3 days/2 nights trip from December 11-13, 2011. Sure, it was too short and bitin. We paid a roundtrip airfare of P38++ pesos per person. Not bad.

Thanks to Pinoyexchange.com and Girltalk for the tips and recommendations for our HK trip. Along with these tips, I brought along something that should be packed every single time you go out to travel and that is, common sense.

We booked our hostel at Golden Crown Guesthouse located along Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. It was a highly recommended hostel aside from Taisan Guesthouse. We chose this because of the location and the price which is not too high to eat up all our budgeted money.

For the 3 days/2 nights trip, we tried to squeeze in everything that shouldn't be missed out in Hong Kong, particularly Hong Kong Disneyland. Hong Kong Disneyland is the cheapest Disneyland we can afford right now so we didn't want to miss going there. We bought our tickets at China Travel Services(CTS) located at the Hong Kong International Airport for HKD 458 including a 3-in-1 voucher for a lunch and dinner meal plus a drink or popcorn. It was only HKD 413 before they raise the price in December. Tsk.

We also roamed around Tsim Sha Tsui to get the feel of the city on our first day. This is my favorite thing to do when I travel. I usually watch people and get the feel of how the lifestyle is in a particular place. It was winter in Hong Kong so everyone is in their fashionable winter clothes. I noticed that people are also into brands; I cannot anymore count the number of times I saw Nike rubber shoes worn by Hong Kongers. They also love vibrant colors like Neon pink, green, yellow and the likes. It was like a K-pop fashion show. And the boots, they are of different styles and colors. When I look at myself, I became an instant dork wearing something that is the usual in the Philippines.

We also went that same day to Mong Kok since my boyfriend is into shoes. We checked out the shops at Fa Yuen Street, also known as Sneaker Street. There are A LOT of stores selling Adidas, Nike, Puma, Reebok rubber shoes. My boyfriend was able to haul 4 rubber shoes for only P10,000! In fact, we we returned the next day before going to Hong Kong Disneyland. I was able to buy 2 shoes for my brother and father; one of which only costs HKD 299. What a steal! 

We also checked out the shops along Tsim Sha Tsui; particularly Harbour City, Silvercord Mall and Miramar Shopping Center. We weren't able to buy a lot of clothes because they only sell winter clothes and I don't think I can wear them in the Philippines.

On our second day in Hong Kong, we went to Mong Kok in the morning and Disneyland in the afternoon. We boarded the MTR Tsuen Wan line to Lai King station then interchanged to the Tung Chung Line to Sunny Bay station. At the Sunny Bay station, there's another train, the Disneyland train, that took us to the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! The train is so nice, with Mickey Mouse shapes all over including the train handles. Not to mention the velvety seats which makes the trip to Disneyland extra special. The train is filled with kids and kids at heart like us.



When we reached Disneyland, we became more excited. The music played all over the place - an orchestra playing an instrumental version of "A Whole New World" made my heart pounding out of excitement and happiness.

Of course, we did not forget to take pictures in some of the iconic places in Disneyland.



Our third and last day in Hong Kong, we decided to try out the dishes of Tim Ho Wan, one of the cheapest Michelin star restaurants in the world. But before that, we checked out from the guesthouse at around 11am. Since our flight is still at 7:30 pm, we decided to leave our luggages there for safekeeping. We waited 2 hours just to be seated at Tim Ho Wan. To kill time, we decided to roam around Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei. We saw a pet shop and bought clothes for my puppy, Ham.



We went to Avenue of Stars at around 3 pm. We just did some photo ops, of course.



We returned to the hostel, got our luggages and waited for the bus across the street in Tsim Sha Tsui. We reached the airport at around 5pm. We checked in at the Cebu Pacific counter. We met an OFW who's returning to the Philippines for the holidays. His wife who's staying in Hong Kong asked us to accompany him because he doesn't know the ins and outs of the airport. We waited for our flight at Boarding Gate 48 (really far!) and returned safely and on-time to Manila.

Stay tuned for my Hong Kong Travel Series!

Now I'm missing Hong Kong. :/