Macau

Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia. There are many sights to see in Macau but most people come here to gamble, to sightsee or simply out of curiosity.

Fun Fact: Macau’s currency MOP and the Hong Kong dollar are almost 1:1 so Hong Kong dollars can be used in Macau however the MOP is generally not accepted in Hong Kong so if you’re using HK dollar to pay in Macau, better check that the change you get is also HK dollar.

We arrived at the ferry terminal at 9 am only to find out all the trips to Macau were booked. And the first trip we could get was at 11.30 am.

Tip: Book your tickets for Macau early so that you can maximize your stay in Macau if you’re planning to only take a day trip. Go to http://www.turbojet.com.hk/eng/home/index.asp or http://www.nwff.com.hk/ to book your ticket. And to fully maximize your day trip, PLAN PLAN PLAN!

We then had 2 and a half hours to spend at the terminal. Sadly, most of the shops don’t open until 10 or 10.30 so most of my friends stayed at KFC while having breakfast while I went to the magazine shop and tried to find at least one English magazine, as most were in Chinese.

Finally! It was time to leave. The trip was uneventful as some fell asleep in order to prevent seasickness while I just talked to my friend.

Upon arriving in Macau, we decided to check in at the Venetian Macau Casino Resorts. The Venetian bus was distinct from other buses as it was big and blue plus a lot of tourists were lining up to get in the bus. I couldn’t wait to see how the Venetian looked like as I have heard a lot good stories about it. And when we go there, it was WOW!

The man made sky looked amazing! Especially when it changes the time of the day by changing its’ colors like sunset becomes orange-y.

When we were about to check in we found out that we couldn’t check in until 3 pm. We then went to the food court to have lunch. By this time, we were starving. I didn’t have breakfast to save money. Lunch seemed expensive compared to Hong Kong but because of the huge servings it was worth it. 4 of my friends and I shared two dishes and we were happy and satisfied. *Burp* YUM!

Tip: One dish is too much for one person unless you’re really hungry at the Venetian food court. The food is also generally good so no problem in choosing where to eat. The restaurants outside the food court are generally expensive so best eat at the food court if you’re in a tight budget.

Once 3 pm hit, we promptly checked in and it was time to go to our room. We were given a map of the Venetian and evens they offered.

Before doing anything else, we went to our room and I can only say one thing, ….! Too stunned for words.

All the rooms in the Venetian are suites so our room could fit at least 6 people. There were two queen sized beds that made us feel like kings and queens, a sofa and two television sets. And the bathroom was just gorgeous, it was huge!!!

After being flabbergasted at the room, we went exploring!

Things to do at the Venetian:

Go swimming at the pool

Play at QUBE (for kids or for parents who want to go to casinos without a nanny)

Go to the casino (for gamblers or those who want to try gambling)

Magic shows (see picture below)

Cirque du Soleil (really good acrobatic act, costs at least 600 MOP)

Shopping (most of the shops are really expensive but the shop that sells Macau delicacies has the same prices as those in the city)

Relax in your suite :D

Lastly, a Venetian experience would be incomplete without a gondola ride!!! (costs much cheaper than the Venetian in Las Vegas)

In order to fully explore the Venetian, we decided to look around the places where only guests were allowed. There was a play place for children that made me want to be a kid again.

They had slides and all types of toys to keep any kid entertained. Then there was the pool.

They had a heated and a non-heated pool to accommodate the guests. The pools were designed to make you feel like you were royalty. And there were Jacuzzis to cater to those who wish to have more privacy. The Jacuzzis were usually filled up fast.

The Venetian was bigger than any hotel that I have ever been to, it was like a big shopping mall. The Manchester United store had its own soccer training area where you could choose to live your dream of playing in the Manchester United team as they try to make you feel like you’re playing for the team.

Then of course, what’s a mall without McDonald’s. We had to eat at McDonald’s and the fries never fails, it is as crunch and as delicious as the McDonald’s back home.

When night time hit, we went to the casino. However as stingy as we all are, the maximum we spent as 20 pataca. The minimum bet for the tables were 50, 100 and 200. We didn’t go to the high limits area so I’m sure it’s much higher there. Because, we did not know how to gamble, we continued to explore the Venetian and we ended up outside. Sky!!! It felt so refreshing to see what time of day it was and to see the real sky. The Venetian sky is beautiful to look at but it can get rather suffocating to stay indoors the whole day.

It was freezing. But no one can stop a group of teenagers from taking pictures when they have set their minds to it and so time for a photography shoot! :D

As we were too tired to keep on exploring the Venetian, we went back to our room and it was time for bed. I had to sleep in the sofa as I was the shortest.

I slept pretty good, I was too tired to really care.

Ysabel and I woke up to eat breakfast as were the only early birds in our group. I expected more from their breakfast buffet but it was the typical hotel breakfast. The food was nothing spectacular but the bread was delicious.

Then it was time to check out. Ysabel and I would take the later ride home and meet them back in Hong Kong as we had two free Cotai jet tickets. But before leaving, what’s a trip to Macau, without seeing the city?

We took a free bus that would take us back to the terminal and from there we took another free bus that would drop us to a hotel in Macau that would be near the shopping district.

Tip: Macau has lots of free buses that you can take advantage of. These buses take you to hotels and from there you can go to the nearby tourist spots. But if you want a guided tour, there are a lot of tours to choose from at the terminal. Again, BARGAIN!

As we were walking, Chamie told us of all the food we had to try and here are Macau’s specialty foods:

Ma pa (barbequed meat)

Portuguese Egg Tart

Almond Cookies

Seaweed Wafers

Egg Rolls

Shredded Pork Floss (also comes on top of buns)

Milk Tea

A fun way of tasting these delicacies is by going to tourist spots and you’ll surely find these for sale. They even give free tastes. Those made fresh are always the best and best to eat them while they’re hot.

After taking lots of pictures at every possible area and eating lots of food we arrived at the Ruins of St. Paul’s Church. It was difficult to get a clear shot due to the hordes of tourists there but we did eventually get to take one.

Anyone is allowed to climb up to have an aerial view from the church however if you’re afraid of heights better not go there since the floor is see through and it shakes. >.<>

From there, we didn’t have anymore time so we headed back to the terminal. Ysabel and I went back to the Venetian, packed up our stuff, got the free souvenir given to guests which was a pin of a Venetian mask and went to the bus that would take us to the Cotai Jet terminal. If you may not have noticed, the way to get around in Macau is by bus, FREE buses.

The ride was a bit scary as the waves were stronger and so we were like riding a roller coaster. There weren’t many people in the jet so we had the whole front row to ourselves. In order to calm ourselves, we pretended that we were riding a roller coaster and so the ride turned out to be quite fun.

And we’re back in Hong Kong!

Thanks to Darren for some of the pictures :)

Hong Kong with Friends

Food! That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I arrived in Hong Kong. I was hungry after the 2 hour flight from Manila especially since my friend Chamie kept telling us how delicious the food in Hong Kong is. Fashion! To my friends, Hong Kong is THE place to shop for new clothes, new shoes and most of all because of the cold weather, you can wear scarves and other cool winter accessories. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I would definitely have a lot of fun especially since I’m travelling with five fun, crazy friends and meeting more along the way. But before that, we already had quite an adventure at the airport in Manila.

Our adventure started at Cebu Pacific airport in Manila wherein one of our friends, Lori, came close to missing her flight. Her passport had yet to arrive from a visa application and was expected to arrive on the day of our departure. The expected time of delivery to her house was at 5.30 pm which was way too late considering she lives in Marikina while the airport was around an hour away from her house especially with the rush hour. Luckily, Lori was resourceful enough to contact Air21 and claim her package at the Quezon City office prior to delivery and rush to the airport. To help her, we queued for her so that when she arrives, she would just

needto check in. Finally, after a dozen or so calls and the stress of not knowing if she would reach the airport on time, she made it relieving us of all that stress and worry.

Quote of the day (from Lori who almost missed our flight about all the obstacles she has to face) : "Isa isa na muna, mamaya na yan, pag-isipan ko na yan pagdating ko dyan. (Let's take it step by step. I will think about that later when I get there)"

Tip: If applying for a visa, apply earlier or you might just miss a trip of a lifetime

The flight was relaxing and we safely arrived at Hong Kong at 10.30 in the evening. We were to stay at our friend’s condo at Causeway Bay. His aunt met us at the airport and took us to the condo by riding the airport bus A11 to North Point Ferry Pier. The bus costs HK$40 dropping us off 2 blocks away from our destination at Causeway Bay.

Tip: To save money, take a bus from the airport to your destination but you need to research on the bus routes because there are various buses that go to and fromthe airport to different parts of Hong Kong. Another option is to take the airport express which you can book online which costs from HK$60 to HK$100.

The condo we were to stay in was situated in an ideal location surrounded by 7-eleven stores in every corner and a Wellcome supermarket just below plus lots of restaurants and shops around the area. Since we weren’t sleepy, Chamie asked if we wanted to eat flat rice noodles at one of her favourite restaurants. All of us gave a big fat: YES!

The restaurant Hai Huang located near the SOHO building had the best soy milk I had ever tasted. The soy milk is their specialty along with rice rolls. The soy milk tasted heavenly, not too sweet and not too bland while the noodles were full of flavour and coursed smoothly down your throat after every bite. We also ordered a salted fish congee which tasted great! It was Hong Kong food heaven. The food prices range from HK$15 to HK$20 per order. Based on my experience here, just order their specialties and it’s hard to go wrong plus Hai Huang has an English translation for the food they serve which is really useful if you can’t read Chinese characters. After that delicious first meal in Hong Kong, I couldn’t wait for the rest.

Before going home, we decided to look around 7-Eleven and Wellcome. 7-Eleven carries practically anything and is open for 24 hours making it an ideal place to go to if you have forgotten something such as me forgetting my tooth brush. While Wellcome is also open 24 hours and carries more goods. If you want to save money on meals, you can cook your own food and buy stuff from Wellcome.

Tip: If you plan on using Hong Kong’s public transportation frequently, better get an octopus card for use in the railway stations and buses to save time and money. For details on octopus cards, go here: http://www.octopus.com.hk/get-your-octopus/choose-your-octopus/on-loan-octopus/standard-octopus/en/index.html

The following day we went to Macau and we had quite an adventure day. That story will be for another day ;)

Boracay continued :)

Aside from taking pictures, my friends and I went island hopping and we rode the Flying Fish. Island hopping took us to various places around Boracay but one of our friends got sea sick because of the strong current at Crocodile Island (no there are no crocodiles on this island, the island is shaped like a crocodile and thus the name). I had fun snorkeling but the strong current made it difficult for us to go around the area so we simply stayed near the boat.

TIP: Bring a medicine for seasickness in anticipation of strong waves.

Our island hopping costs 2300 pesos for a boat that can carry 20 people and 40 pesos to rent the snorkeling set. The 2300 doesn't include the 200 pesos entrance fee to one of the islands which we opted not to go to because our friend was already sea sick and we wanted to save up on cash.

As for water sports, we tried the Flying Fish as recommended by our friend, Marlowe. All I can say is if you want to try how it feels like to ride a roller coaster on water, then this ride is for you. You can literally feel yourself flying and holding on for dear life (you feel like you're riding a giant kite).

Each ride costs 430 pesos per person. 4 of our friends took the ride while 2 of us decided to ride on the speed boat to take their pictures. 5 minutes into the ride, the boat man asked us if we wanted to ride with our friends since there were 2 more free slots. He said we can pay him anything and its ok. We excitedly rode the flying fish and it was an exhilarating experience. That ride cost us only 100 pesos. :D And the ride was suppose to last only 15 minutes but we were having so much fun that the boat man also didn't realize the time, our whole ride lasted for 45 minutes. My arms ached afterwards but it was all worth it.

We went to drink shake at Jonah's after. Jonah's shake shop has already become a tradition for Boracay goers as the shop has been there as long as anyone could remember. And the shakes are pretty good, I like the mango shake.

After our sea adventures, Darren and I had a lot of other land adventures in Boracay. First up, we rented a tricycle for 250 pesos an hour to take us anywhere in Boracay. We went to Puka beach where its supposed to have lots of puka shells and then we decided to check out the Bat and Crystal Cave.

TIP: Bargain! Bargain! Bargain!

We bargained to hire a guide for 100 pesos from the original offer of 300 pesos. The ride toward the caves was dusty and bumpy. We had to pay 50 pesos each for the entrance fee of both caves. Then we walked for about 15 minutes before reaching the entrance to the bat cave.

I did not expect the entrance to be about 50 ft. down. And to reach the bottom we had to climb huge, slippery rocks down. Our guides were two kids who naturally climbed the rocks as if they were just strolling around the mall. One of the teenage guides who just finished accompanying a Japanese, was even smoking while climbing up (mountain climbing without hands).

TIP: Wear footwear with VERY good traction or walk barefooted and give your footwear to the guide.

After a few steps I realized that going down barefooted was better than using my slippery sandals. I decided to take the rocks step by step without looking down until I finally reached the bottom. It was difficult taking shots at the bottom because the flash gave out too much light and I didn't have a tripod. But it was all worth it, not because of the bats but because of...

SEA SNAKES!

TIP: Walk only when the guide is with you. Sea snakes are VERY poisonous.

One of the guides asked me if I was afraid of snakes and I said no. He then pointed his flashlight towards the sea snake. I was amazed at the sight. I had never seen a sea snake on land, sleeping. The guide told me to not walk unless he was with me because I might accidentally step on a sea snake. He took me to the underwater cave connected to the ocean and there were more snakes there. I had fun taking the pictures of the snakes. I researched more on the Bat Cave and whether diving was allowed in the cave. I found out that diving is allowed but rare due to the strong current within the cave and so the conditions need to be perfect plus the divers need to be skilled with sudden changes in conditions in order to prevent accidents from happening. The bat cave is home to lobsters, sea snakes and certain types of fish.

For a Bat cave, it didn't really have many bats. The largest fruit bat cave in the world located at Samal Island near Davao City is the place to go to if you're interested in bats. (that's for another story) Anyway, we then continued our adventure and headed towards the crystal cave.

The crystal cave wasn't as steep as that of the bat cave. There was only one column with tiny crystals but what I enjoyed doing was climbing through a hole and seeing the best view ever while sitting on a branch of a tree.

After the caves, we played with the giant trunk outside the crystal caves :)

Took us an hour to go through both caves then we headed to the Peak! The peak is where you can see a 360 degree view of Boracay. The entrance fee is 50 pesos per person while children under 6 years of age is free.

The view was awesome! Got to see people parasailing and the wind was really strong. After the peak we went to explore Shangri-la, Boracay.

The service at Shangri-la, Boracay is truly one of the best in the world. They are ready to accommodate your every whim in order to make you feel like royalty. A ride picked us up and took us to the entrance of the resort. We took a map from the concierge and we explored the area. A buggy that's shaped like a golf cart will take you anywhere you want to go to within the resort.

Darren and I were wide-eyed at the pool area. All their pools were infinity pools making you feel as if you're swimming in the ocean. They also had a jacuzzi area along with the many pools the resort had to offer. As for rooms, Shangri-la offered a wide variety of choices from normal hotel type rooms to mountain villas and villas with their own pools. We had fun going around the resort, taking lots of pictures at their beautiful architecture and vowing to stay at Shangri-la next time we go to Boracay.

Boracay, Philippines

First post ever! Hi everyone whoever you are reading my blog. Since my blog is going to be all about my adventures then I'll start with my most recent adventure, Boracay!

Boracay is an island in the Philippines famous for its fine (really really fine) white sand, crystal clear beaches and of course, the parties! I didn't really go to Boracay for the parties though, more for the friends because it was to be our graduation trip after being together for 4 years. The flight from Manila to Kalibo airport was fast, only 1 hour, however from Kalibo to Caticlan, the port where a boat will take you to Boracay takes 1.5 hours by van. -_-"

Tip: Choose a van with working air-conditioning, ask before you ride. Cost of one van ride should not exceed 200 pesos.

We had already known beforehand that we would hire a van in Kalibo to go to Caticlan but what we didn't expect were the hordes of porters asking us if we already had a van because they would fix us up with one. Luckily among all those that offered us a van, we were able to pick a van wherein the air-conditioning worked. I heard from my other friends who went ahead that they had to endure one and a half hours of heat in their van because the air-conditioning was broken making the air outside cooler than being inside the van. (so choose wisely when you're travelling from Kalibo to Caticlan). We paid 200 pesos per person for the van ride inclusive of the boat ride to Boracay. The boat ride costs 30 pesos if it's not included. The other group that rode the crappy van paid only 175 pesos for the same package but I would rather have paid 25 pesos more for a van with a working air-conditioner.

Finally, after all that travelling, we arrived in Boracay in one piece! The first night was all partying and eating at Andok's (because it's cheap) but I then realized it wasn't for me and so the days that followed became adventure days! And that's where the fun began :D

My friend, Darren, and I decided to explore the island while our other friends were sleeping. Basically, Darren and I would wake up at 4 and our other friends would be going back to our hotel room at 4 after partying the whole night. So we only really saw each other at lunch time or dinner because at other times, one of us would be asleep. :)

First up, DAWN PHOTOGRAPHY. I've never tried taking dawn pictures before but Darren insisted I try it because it would change my life. I then woke up even if I didn't feel like it and we walked towards the beach. Darren taught me on the rules of dawn photography, the settings for the camera, the positioning of the tripod and I listened as best as I could while feeling sleepy. But after that first shot, my sleepiness disappeared. Here's a shot I took at around 4.45 am at Fairways and Bluewater Resort, Boracay.

TIP: Have a cable for your SLR when taking dawn shots, it helps a lot and have a sturdy tripod, makes a difference when there's strong wind.

Afterwards, I decided to play with the movement of the clouds.

More dawn shots...

And then it was time for the WAVES!

More waves!

The old port was one of my favorite shots, it somehow feels calming.

On our second day of dawn photography, some of our friends finally decided to join us even though waking up meant having only 2 hours of sleep. What are friends for ;)

The waves were pretty strong on the second day so I was able to luckily take this picture when the waves hit the broken down port and splashing our two friends.

And a new day begins with a beautiful sunrise :)

I'm now sleepy so I'll continue writing my blog tomorrow :D Good night!