#got very excited when I saw their stall at the con hehe

[positivelyghastly]

Completed my Papa badge collection at ACME the other weekend :)

The artist is H0lyhandgrenade on twitter!

[kaitemariz]

#BaKaiteList: Hong Kong Day 1 and 2

Lots of Firsts in my 2nd time in Hong Kong

Finally blogging about my (somehow) recent trip to Hong Kong! Let me warn you as early as now that this is going to be one helluva long blog post. To those of you who’ve already visited my blog before, then you know that I always write long posts because I always got lots to say. And to those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time…now you know! HAHA! The K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) principle isn’t very effective to me.

I’ll be doing a series of blog posts for our Hong Kong trip. First is this one, Hong Kong Day 1 and Day 2. Second will be specifically about our budget, itinerary, expenses, and all other details that I think would be helpful when you’re planning your HK trip. I think this is the blog post that would be highly interesting to you since I’ve been receiving a lot of messages already asking me how I booked our hotel, the commute, food, etc.. Third is about Hong Kong Day 3, 4 & 5. Lastly, a blog post dedicated to all my DISNEYLAND photos! I swear this is what I’m really excited about. LOL

It’s only my 2nd time to leave the country. My first was back in 2012 wherein I also went to Hong Kong. I was with my family back then (but went home solo, ahead of everyone) but now I went with my love, his cousin – Ate Karen, and his cousin’s boyfriend – Kuya Mark. It’s by far the fanciest double-date I’ve ever experienced. HAHA!

Fun fact: It was my love’s first time to leave the country! Was he nervous? Well, I could tell that he was but he was really good at hiding it. (LOL Hi, Love!).

I experienced a lot of firsts in my second time out of the country. First in my list is financing my entire trip expenses – from plane tickets to pocket money. I’ve always had my parents pay for everything all my life so you have no idea how fulfilling this trip for me is. 

The main reason why Barry and I decided to go on an out-of-country trip was to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We chose Hong Kong because since it was Barry’s first time flying out, we wanted to go somewhere one of us has already been to and where at least one of us personally know a resident or a local. I’ve already been to HK and my Tito Bobet has been working there for – if I’m not mistaken – a decade now (he’s one of the first dancers in HK Disneyland!! Cool, right?) so obviously, HK is the only option! LOL

Plus, I really think that it’s the perfect and most convenient “practice destination” for Filipinos who are flying out for the first time. No change in time zone, the weather and neighborhood are pretty much the same, so on and so forth. 

Barry and I arrived first in Hong Kong. Our flight was at 7 in the morning while Ate Karen and Kuya Mark’s flight was in the afternoon so we just met with them at the hotel. We stayed there for a total of 5 days and 4 nights. For our itinerary, it was entirely a DIY made by yours truly. I made sure that our itinerary isn’t that full because I don’t want us to be running like headless chickens because we have a train or a bus to catch. I wanted us to have ample time to enjoy every tourist spot in our list.

First that Barry and I made sure to settle was our hotel room. We booked our rooms through www.Booking.com. We didn’t know how to reach our hotel for confirmation so we just put our full trust on Kuya Mark since he vouched that the website’s legit. LOL!

Luckily, it really was. Another website added on my travel-trusties list!

(for full itinerary details, please wait for my Hong Kong blog post Part II)

We stayed in Silka West Kowloon Hotel. It is located in Anchor St., Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong. About 10mins away (by walk) from the night market and about 3mins away (by walk) from the Olympian MTR station, Olympian City Malls, and the HSBC Centre. The neighborhood was fine. It felt like we were only in Binondo and it was like we’re living like a local. Just a block from our hotel, there’s a Shell gas station, 7-11, Mcdonald’s, and lots of really good local restaurants.

Our agenda for the first day was just settle in in our hotel and familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood and most importantly the transportation. And of course, gain all the energy and tons of good vibes that we will be needing for the entire trip. HAHA!!

We also went to check the night market on our first day. It was quite a long walk and we only had a map (yes, a traditional a.k.a printed map that we got from the airport) to help us since most locals aren’t so good at communicating in English. Unfortunately, stalls were closed that night I think because they’re preparing for the peak of the ghost month which is the next day, Sept. 5th. There were incense and fruits on every corner and on every stall in the night market.

The night market with stalls on the street is located in the same area as the one shown in the photo above but in a different street, it’s in the Tung Choi Street. It’s a looooong stretch of stalls. It was super duper tiring to go shopping in that kilometer of stalls. I swear I could hear my feet cursing me when we went there. LOL! The one in the photo above, it’s the part of the night market that I like. We had to keep coming back here almost every night because Ate Karen and I can’t help ourselves with all the makeup and skin care products! My personal favorite is the Sasa store! So many super affordable products. I think I hoarded a lot of face mask sheets. LOL! The stores here are open until 11pm. The “Sneaker Street” is also located here. Just be careful when buying shoes though. There are a lot of replicas which really look a lot like the original shoes.

As for the stalls in the Tung Choi street, it’s very much similar to our very own Divisoria. I didn’t bother buying clothes there because we got better shops here in Manila and it’s also the same price, some are even much expensive.  If you’re planning to go shopping in the stalls in the night market, I got a lot of tips for you. Let’s go on the positive first.

NIGHT MARKET TIPS!!

1.       Make sure you’re wearing super comfy shoes. I was wearing my go-to sandals and I thought they’re gonna break right then and there.

2.       Put your haggling skills to test! If you don’t know how to haggle, then you better bring with you your master-haggler friend. I thought my haggling skills are already major but my competitive boyfriend just can’t help putting up a good fight. He was able to buy a 150 HKD bag for only 20 HKD!! Ugh.

3.       Always have a change with you. You can’t haggle and say “no more money” or “not enough money” or “out of budget” and hand the seller a 500 HKD bill, right?

4.       Every seller is your Pengyou (Pangyaw)! Every seller is your friend! I noticed their bright smiles and positive reactions to tourists calling them Pengyou. Besides, it’s a plus if a foreigner knows a word or two in your language, right?

5.       To my Filipino readers, listen to this. They know the word “Ate”, “Kuya”, and most importantly, “MAHAL” and “MAGKANO”! So you know what to do? Hehe don’t fail your haggling ancestors!

Now let’s go to the cons side. You better keep these in mind.

1.       As much as possible, don’t ask for the price of the product if you’re not so decided to buy it. Of course we would want to know the price first before buying, right? But the sellers easily get pissed off. I got told “Always ask, always ask! Don’t buy!” and got the hand gesture of being told to go away. Yeah, kinda rude.

2.       A number of sellers were – sorry for this – rude. Some are really really rude. In my experience, I was checking on these cute purses and the lady seller were saying something in Chinese and was putting the purses inside the plastic bags I was carrying. When I told her that I wasn’t going to buy a lot, just one, she didn’t take this lightly and got a little mad and told me to go ahead and buy somewhere else.

3.       Here’s my scariest experience in the night market. Barry and I were looking at a really nice toy (Barry’s a huge toy aficionado. He got a huge toy collection). When we found it too pricey (we forgot how much it costs exactly), we just smiled and politely said “Okay, thank you.” (this is what we usually say if we’re not going to buy) and walked away but the lady got so furious! She followed us and grabbed me on my right arm, saying something in Chinese and dragging me back to her stall. All I could understand is “How much?! How much?!” I think she was asking me how much would I like to haggle for the toy. But since I was already scared of her, I repeatedly said no and this got her more furious. She held on my arm much tighter. For a moment, I felt weak because I was shocked. My arm was really red for a while but I got no bruise. So to those of you who’re planning to go shopping in the night market, please be really really cautious.  

4.       This isn’t my personal experience but it’s something that Ate Karen witnessed when we were shopping in the night market. Another tourist (she’s not sure of the nationality) was shopping for slip-ons. The lady was trying the slip-ons on display first and asked for a new stock of the pair that she wants to purchase. After checking the new stock handed to her, she gave it back to the seller so the seller could put it back in the box and put it in a plastic bag. Ate Karen saw the seller put the on-display slip-ons in the plastic instead of the new stock while the lady tourist was busy checking out other slip-ons. The poor lady had no idea that the pair of slip-ons handed to her wasn’t new at all. So please be mindful when shopping in the night market.

After all, I guess we always have to be extra cautious when travelling, right? Just always bring with you an open mind when travelling. Keep in mind that their culture could be different from yours so as a tourist, you’ll definitely have to adjust at all cost.

Day 2: DISNEYLAND!!

For our 2nd day, we allotted this entire day just for Disneyland. We booked our tickets through www.Klook.com. I was kinda hesitant to try Klook since I haven’t tried it before and I don’t personally know anyone who has already tried it but since I’ve been seeing a lot of good reviews online, I tried my luck. Plus, Barry’s sister said that Klook’s office is in the same building as their office so that’s added security for me since I know where to protest once I get scammed. HAHAHA!

If you’re planning to go to Hong Kong Disneyland anytime soon, I highly and strongly and seriously recommend that you book your tickets through Klook. We were able to avoid the long ticket ques and went straight to the entrance of the park. We just showed a printed copy of our voucher and into the funland we go!  

You can either print your klook voucher or save it in your mobile phone.

We all felt like we were 10yrs old again. Bestest double date ever!!!

  They say 1 day isn’t enough to tour the entire park but since I got an architect with me, it’s expected that he’s really good at “planning”, so he plotted our entire Disney itinerary on-the-spot. He just has his map and his marker. We were able to try all the major attractions in the park. Can’t wait to post my Disneyland photo diary!!

Magical place with my “magic”. (Only the two of us know the really cheesy reason why he’s my magic. Haha!)

It’s a dream come true! A huge fill to our #BaKaiteList. Can’t find the words to describe how I feel. My tummy’s filled with rainbows and bunnies and butterflies.

Will save up all my Disneyland stories for the last leg of my Hong Kong blog post series! 

We ended our 2nd day by having dinner at a local restaurant just a block away from our hotel. We were all tired and starving, we didn’t bother documenting our dinner. Bad blogger, Kaite! Bad blogger! HAHA!

But thanks to my memory for serving me well and of course to my dear friend, Google, I was able to find out the location of the restaurant.

I was able to remember correctly the name of the resto, it’s Mak’s Kitchen! It wasn’t fancy but it was really nice, clean, and the food was to die for especially their iced milk tea!! For the price? It wasn’t expensive at all! Just 40-50 HKD per meal, the average price per meal in Hong Kong. The serving was huge too, per meal was good for two. Big serving per meal is actually usual in Hong Kong. Just like other local restaurants, the attendant wasn’t really good at speaking in English so you’d have to point the photo of the food you’d like to order but we didn’t have a very hard time since the attendant was nice and the (we think) owner was there to assist. We all highly want to recommend it also because the owner was so nice! He actually gave us free desserts.

It’s located in Li Tak Street, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong.

That’s it for the first leg of the Hong Kong blog post series! I’ll try my very best to finish the part two ASAP for those who are messaging me regarding our trip budget, itinerary, expenses, etc..

Hope you liked Part I! ‘til the next one!

Ciao!