Visiting Hongkong is always easy for us Filipinos. It’s visa free, YES! Just present a valid passport in the airport immigration then you’re ready to go. You can get 14 days stay in just a minute. But hold your horses, I said easy does not mean you will forget things you need to prepare when traveling? As what you’ve always see on travel blogs, we Filipinos still need a hotel bookings, return ticket and some proof that you can fund yourself in your entire travel to avoid being offloaded. This means you can leave the country without any problem at our own airport immigration.
Secondly, HK is just a short haul flight away from Manila. Cebu Pacific is very famous for people who’s on the budget like me. It is also easy to get a great deal for flights round trip and there is always a lot of choices for a place to stay in without breaking your bank.
I just want to show you how nice HK is and also some reason why I really enjoyed my stay. I had a great time, a whole day in Disneyland and another whole day at the Ocean Park HK is the best, and it’s the highlight of my trip. Well, that’s HK all about right? You didn’t visit the country without going to these places and I can really say, it’s a must!
So, here are the reason why I want to go back to HK and see more of it. The weather during my visit is not that good. My plan is to stay for 4 days to see more tourist spots including cultural sites. The weather in Philippines is good when I leave but apparently, weather is bad in the country when I get there. Uh oh! The first couple of days was good, luckily, but not until the third day which turned out that there’s a typhoon watch and they are expecting a signal #8 so I told myself this is not a good time for me. It rained all around the country so the couple of days remaining was spent just wandering around Tsim Sha Tsui near the hotel where I stay. I was not able to visit Macau, which is also included in my DIY itinerary so my friend Cecile, who is already based there whom I’m able to meet after 7 years told me that I should come back soon which I wanted to do as well, hopefully.
Anyway, a big thanks to her, who welcomed me in her apartment and I was able to meet her husband too. Haha! She also had a chance to tour me around Hongkong Island where I’ve seen a lot of Filipinos, tried to bar hopped a little bit, tasted one of the best dumplings in town and roam me around the city’s souviner shops. Of course, we’re Filipinos and we know where is the cheap places for all that pasalubong right? I will going to show some pictures of HK streets and my fun moments in the country below.
First stop, the very busy HK Disneyland. Who else here doesn’t know any Disney character or doesn’t love any of them? None of us right? Going to this place is so magical for kids and also for young adults like me. Haha. You’ll see how I enjoy this place which I also dreamed to visit during my childhood years. As they say, dreams do come true and yes, it’s right!
It’s so nice, HK Disneyland has it’s own train going to the island. And it’s designed with Disney characters. HAHA!
It’s really one of the happiest place on earth. All you can see here are people who’s faces are just smiling whole day long. What I liked about it, Disneyland is very accessible wherever you plan to stay in HK. Using their MTR is one of the best and convinient way to travel around hassle-free.
My hotel is in Tsim Sha Tsui area and it’s just in front of the MTR. When I travel outside the Philippines, it’s really important for me to plan carefully where to stay, how accessible my hotel to all the tourist spots is and how far it is from restaurants and bus station and many more. I can say it’s a number one thing to consider when booking a hotel, or when booking, at least choose a place that is near the metro for easy access. A good tip as well is try to familiarize the train system of the country you are visiting in if they have one, so you don’t have a chance to get lost. Another thing I usually do, I print out address of my hotel before I travel. I saw a booth of my hotel right after I went out at the airport and what I did is asked a calling card where the address of my hotel is written and gave it to the taxi driver for easy instruction. Always expect that it’s hard to talk to them especially in English like HK or other Chinese speaking countries in Asia.
Here are some of the highlights of Disneyland. I did not able visit all of it since it’s really a huge park and I can tell, you will get tired from walking almost whole day in it. Haha! But what important is you enjoyed your stay right, though feet might hurt.
Again, visiting a park will makes you drained and tired in so many ways. A bottle of water, an extra clothes, a face towel and others would bring umbrella to protect themselves from the sun are some of the things you don’t want to forget when going there. Just enjoy yourself, try to ride everything and don’t be afraid to be a kid once more.
Meanwhile, Ocean Park Hong kong can be a place for you with more of exciting rides from not so fast until to the extreme one. I really enjoyed this compared to Disneyland because it’s more of educational and fun at the same time. The park has a lot of wifi spots for your minute to minute IG or Instagram and Facebook updates. It’s has a bunch of restaurant to choose from as well, toilets are everywhere and even a ice cream stand at some point to cool down for the scorching heat of the sun. It’s a massive park as well so expect to walk the whole day just to see and try all the attractions and rides. Here are some of my favorites.
Above all, aside from visiting the must-visit parks in the country, what more would be awesome to see is the locals. Restaurants, malls, streets, buses and all the people in the city walking with their suit cases. I dont know if that is normal or am I just too observant. Like literally, saw hundred of people walking around the city having suit cases with them. What I like about the city, though it is busy, you can still have a chance to enjoy yourself in so many ways.
The best thing about traveling is that you need to always immerse yourself to local. As much as possible you are able to try their local foods, ride a public transportation, walk around the city and see people and learn from them especially their culture. I am, myself are able to do it in this beautiful country. I was amazed riding a tram and had a little tour around.
And lastly, the very cool Hong Kong MTR. Their metro is one of the best too. It’s so fast and reliable. It’s way to far from the one we have in the Philippines. It is so comfortable, clean, well ventilated and air-conditioned. People are all disciplined when riding it especially on going in and out the train. I was able to get an octopus card that I used in my entire visit. You just need to reload it as much as you want and not only that, you can also use it to all convenience stores all around the city if you want to buy something. How cool is that right? Don’t worry because if you are not able to spend all inside the card, it is refundable at the airport when you leave. That’s the cool thing ever.
I will definitely come back to this country and see more of it. It has everything to offer more than your fingers can count. This post is late though. My trip to Hong kong was last July and school keeps me occupied that is why I was not posted it right away.
And that would be all for now. Wait and see more of my blog soon. Don’t forget to give a comments and share this one.
Peace! 🙂