Hong Kong Dollar and Pacata

Like most people, my friends and I had planned a semi DIY 4D3N trip to Hong Kong and Macau. It is relatively cheap to go here, if you would go on a tight budget I suggest going to this place as the hotels are affordable except for the Venetian. We availed a package here which includes 1 Night accomodation at the Venetian Hotel in Macau, and 2 Nights stay in HK. Details below:

Travel Agency: Airlite Int'l Travels & Tours Inc.

Tour Price: $700 USD (Actually it's less but because we bought tickets on our own for Oceanpark, The Peak Tram and Madam Tussauds so it'll eventually add to this amount. Our tour package consist only of 2 Royal Suite Rooms at the Venetian Hotel plus Ice World tickets, buffet lunch at Bamboo and one way trip back to Hong Kong via Cotaijet. Hong Kong compulsary half day city tour, Disneyland tickets and 2 nights accommodation at Silkawest Kowloon Hotel. It's just a 3 Star hotel. :) )

Not Included: Food allowance, Travel tax, airport fees and $50 HKD tip per day and per head to the tour guide.

SM Mall of Asia Office Tel: 632 -  8460262

Macau, City of Dreams

From Hong Kong, it's only a 1 hr ferry ride. It is absolutely pointless to exchange your money for Pacatas as HKD is widely accepted here, however your Pacatas are worthless when you leave Macau. I did NOT enjoy my trip here personally as the Venetian Hotel is too huge! There's just soo much walking done, I didn't have the mood and energy around 5PM. BUT the architecture is superb. The Venetian Hotel has the illusion you truly are in Italy. :) There are gondola rides inside the hotel, bunch of casinos (from what I know the Venetian is the largest casino in the world) and the ceiling is painted like the sky and looks surreal! Just see for yourself. :)

View from Outside

The hotel lobby.

Surreal. Renaissance Venice Themed Infrastructure

San Luca Canal where you can ride the Gondola around. The painted sky ceiling reflects on water. :)

Senado Square

A-Ma Temple

I don't think I'd ever check in here again! The Venetian's just too huge for my taste, I'm wasting energy, time and money from just walking around places. Our room is nice but I still preferred Xiangda Hotel in Beijing. SAME room size as the Venetian without the walking! Btw we went to Ice World too, the tickets came with the package along with buffet lunch at Bamboo Resto yummm! Just check photos in my fb.

Hongkong, Hong Kong

First thing I noticed in HK, is there are a lot of filipinos here and the population... hmm let's just say that there are few kids and most are older people. Our tour guide, Mr. Lee (who is around 50 yrs old) said that most couples don't like having kids as schooling is expensive. You have to send your 2 yr old kid to kindergarten ( yes at 2 yrs old) and pay tuition fee of $2000 HKD per month! Can you imagine that and that's just in pre school. I know that Singapore and Japan are declining in population too, most people don't want to get married and have kids as it's too much responsibility and I suppose expensive. I guess it's the same case in HK. In the Philippines though, we multiply like amoebas. Lol ok maybe not that but I am PRO RH Bill. Family planning is important, especially if you're poor, your kids will suffer the same fate as you. Don't involve them. Not to mention other more important factors. ALTHOUGH it is not your fault if you're born poor but IT IS your fault if you die poor. :P Anyway that's another topic which will probably lead me to my religious beliefs that are no longer existing. I'm still Agnostic though.

So Hong Kong, I enjoyed Disneyland! That's it! lol..The key to enjoying Disneyland (because most prefer Oceanpark) is to watch the shows! I suppose the performers here are from Mickey Mouse Club wherein Britney Spears, Cristina Aguilera, NSYNC etc all came from. The shows are amazing, goosebumps all over! I feel like a kid again, all these Disney movies I grew up with came back to me with a smile. I guess Walt's mission which is to make people happy, worked for me! Oceanpark... hmm we came in late because we got lost looking for our hotel (which was just around the corner!) so I didn't get to watch the Dolphin show. :( I was looking forward to the shows too unfortunately I only watched the Birds of the Sky I think, which is just.. trained birds. Anyways in HK we went to Oceanpark, Peak Tram, Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum, Avenue of the Stars, Aberdeen Fishing Village and Disneyland. 

Inside the Airport Express train

We missed the Dolphin and Penguin shows. :(

Cool. Manta rays are like planes in water. :)

With Brangelina :P

Avenue of the Stars

Inside Disneyland

Flights of Fantasy Parade

The Golden Mickeys Show

Festival of the Lion King Show

Don't miss the shows and the fireworks! If you don't have time, forget the rides just go to the shows. :)

Shanghai still tops my list as my favorite city, Hong Kong is nothing compared to their night lights and infrastructure. Next year we'll probably go to Malaysia and Singapore. And I'd probably add 1 more. I actually want to try to travel by myself, just once so I could experience it. Your own house rules and itinerary. But I think someone will get mad. :p