DIY HONG KONG TOUR PART 3

DIY HONG KONG TOUR PART 4 : HONG KONG CITY TOUR Hong Kong Disneyland Encounter, An Afternoon Delight!

After our morning trip in Ngong Ping, we headed back to the MTR Tung Chung station to visit Mickey Mouse & friends. This was our afternoon itinerary.

From Tung Chung Station ( Orange Line ) ride the train to Lai King / Hong Kong. Alight at Sunny Bay station, then ride the Train to Disneyland ( PINK LINE ).

From Tung Chung to Sunny Bay to Disneyland

 Train to Disneyland is a fun ride. You hear Walt Disney songs, and the train itself is very Disney-ish!

inside Disney train

Upon arriving at the Disneyland, it felt like I was a kid again. I got too excited. It's every child's dream and it was a dream came true for me. "This is it!", I told my husband. We took pictures at the entrance and bought our tickets.

Disneyland is not only for children but also for young at heart.

Theme Park Ticket Prices:

General Admission Ticket (aged 12-64) - 399 HKD - standard day

Child Ticket (aged 3-11) - 285 HKD - standard day

 Senior Ticket (aged 65 or above) - 100 HKD

* Standard Day Ticket is valid on all days during validity period, except Designated Days.

 * Don't forget to grab a map and Let the fun begin! 






 
We enjoyed all their theme parks, took lotsa pictures! ( My husband's favorite - "It's a small world!". We went there twice! hahaha! )

(L-R) Adventureland - Tomorrowland - Toy storyland  

 That orange magnet ride in Toy story land was awesome! You should try it! We were seated at the last row!

(L-R) Fantasyland - It's a small world - Train - Main street

Since the weather was not that really good, instead of a Flights of Fantasy parade, they did a Mickey Mouse Rainy Day Express parade (special edition). People understood because rain might ruin the costumes. Disney Characters were riding on a moving train.

Mickey Mouse Rainy Day Express Parade

We roamed around the whole park in one afternoon. Around 7 or 8 in  in the evening, the most awaited part of the day begun, 

the DISNEYLAND FIREWORKS, DISNEY IN THE STARS!

It was amazing... I was kinda speechless while watching as you only hear people say "wow!".

Fireworks

Here's our very own video of the fireworks display.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4011155995534&set=vb.1180268074&type=3&theater


After the fireworks, we hurried back to the train station because we want to catch the first train. And yes, we got the first trip!

As soon as we arrived in the hotel, we ate our dinner and slept. A very tiring yet enjoyable day it was! HEYAH! :)


NEXT: DIY HONGKONG TOUR PART 4
DIY HONG KONG TOUR PART 4 : HONG KONG CITY TOUR
http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/02/diy-hong-kong-tour-part-4.html

DIY Hong Kong Tour Part 2

(JULY 27, 2012)

..... woke up at 6 in the morning, took a bath as we ready ourselves to explore the mountains.. And yes it was our second day in Hong kong! 

The MTR Tsuen Wan station is just a five minute walk from the hotel so we really had no problems traveling to and fro. Too bad the weather that day wasn't good. It was raining.

Tsuen Wan is in the RED Line 

credits: http://welcometochina.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hong-kong-mtr-map.jpg

Our destination: Tian Tan Buddha or the Big Buddha, Ngong Ping 360, Po Lin Monastery and Disneyland. ( these places are in one location, in Lantau Island. )

From Tsuen Wan station, ride the train to Central and alight at Lai King Station then change trains to ORANGE Line, then ride train to TUNG CHUNG and take EXIT B.

Citygate Outlets outside Tung Chung station

In Tung Chung, you can find a lot of passenger buses, but look for the signage going to Big Buddha, Ngong Ping 360 & Po lin Monastery. New Lantao Bus 23 from Tung Chung Town Centre. It is in front of the Ngong Ping 360 Cable car building. ( That would be your landmark ). 

You have 2 options to enjoy the view of Lantau Island. 1st, Ride a bus going up to the mountains and ride a cable car going down or vice versa. 2nd, ride a bus / cable car to & fro.

Since we came early, the cable car wasn't open yet so we waited for the bus to Big Buddha. I remember we were only 8 passengers riding the first trip. ( 2 Indians, a group of 3 friends,  an old man and of course me & my husband ) Take note, it was still raining and got heavier as we travel the roads to the top. ( Bus Fare is shown in the picture )

 

I'm not sure how many minutes we'd traveled going up but it was worth it. As a nature lover, i really  enjoyed it. And so, we reached our first destination! The rain poured really hard and we only had one umbrella, we had no choice but to buy raincoats. ( too expensive! ). We were only 8 people who came there first, (since we took the first trip) so it was like we own the place.

Though it was raining, we still continued our way to the Big Buddha.The only problem we've got was taking pictures. ( I can't sacrifice my DSLR! hahaha! Instead, I used my digicam. )

Thank God the sky went clear. We were taking  deep breaths as we climb the 268 steps to see Big Buddha face to face. ( oh! we didn't buy tickets to enter the Buddha itself. It also includes a vegetarian lunch prepared by the monks at the Po Lin Monastery. )

268 steps

After our encounter with the Tian Tan Buddha statue and 6 other small statues, we headed down to the Po Lin monastery. It was very quiet and sacred, so we just took a short visit.

Po Lin Monastery

Ngong Ping village map

As we exit the Monastery, many people were arriving. Maybe because the sun started to show up. We walked our way to the Ngong Ping Village where the cable car was. There were also stores inside the village selling foods and souvenirs, but I was then excited to ride the cable car. Luckily there was no que in buying tickets! 

Single trip / Standard Cabin = 86 HKD/head ; Single trip / Crystal cabin = 130 HKD/head

We chose standard cabin. Cheaper than the crystal cabin plus I'm afraid of heights. hahaha! ( before the cable car boards, there's a guy that takes a picture of you and can be claimed upon arrival at the other side of the terminal. You have the option to purchase the picture and other stuff like mugs, plates, key chains with your photo on it as a remembrance). The ride was so exciting. Good thing we didn't have companies inside. ( Other cabins are loaded by different people, yeah, well at least 8 people ).  At first, I kinda got dizzy cause I'm afraid of heights but as the cable car moves, me & my husband were exchanging seats to see the view of the Lantau island, the village, the view of  Hong Kong International Airport and South China sea. Superb!

Our Souvenir photo :)

That was indeed a good experience! Cable car with 5.7 kilometer long and 25 minute ride is a must! It was around 12:30 pm when we finished our journey in Ngong Ping 360. We ate our lunch at Citygate Outlets and recharged our bodies for our next destination....HONG KONG DISNEYLAND. 

HEYAH! :)

NEXT: DIY HONGKONG TOUR PART 3
http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-hong-kong-tour-part-3.html 

http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-hong-kong-tour-how.html

http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/our-diy-hong-kong-tour-part-1.html 

Our D.I.Y. Hong kong Tour PART 1

Before reading this make sure you read this: D.I.Y. Hongkong Tour... HOW?

http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-hong-kong-tour-how.html

Yes! we were set to go! We booked our flights to HKG via Tiger Airways. ( SEAIR ) We needed to go to Clark International Airport ( Diosdado Macapagal International Airport - DMIA).

• How to get there: 

There's a PHILTRANCO BUS STOP at the back of Mega Mall Bldg A, near Watsons. Pick up time is 12pm. ( please try to call their hotline for confirmation ) Actually it depends, other say it's 1pm then 3pm. Fare that time was around 400 pesos. Since our flight schedule was  7 in the evening, we had to be there 3 hours earlier. That's in Clark, we're from Rizal, we were not sure of the bus schedules, plus the traffic and so we decided to leave the house at 10:00 am, we reached Mega Mall by  11:00am , ate our lunch then went to Philtranco's waiting area. Luckily, the bus arrived at around 12pm.

We arrived in Clark a bit early, yeah right, NO TRAFFIC! thanks to SCTEX ( Subic- Clark - Tarlac Expressway ). I remembered that was the time of Typhoon Gener to Monsoon Habagat

 ( July 26-29, 2012 ). We heard that there was also a strong typhoon in HKG. ( oh yeah we can't go back )

Checked in, Paid our taxes, and waited for boarding.
We arrived at HKG International airport earlier than our arrival time. I was amazed by their airport. It was so clean and very organized. Lined up for immigration.... few questions asked and then were off to get our luggages. You won't get lost because you can see signage, english translated words where to go.

We looked for money changer so we can buy OCTOPUS CARD,  - 50 HKD for initial deposit then you can credit  100- 999 HKD onto the card. This can be used in many forms of transportation like bus, tram, ferry, MTR, train, and also honored in some convenient stores for minor purchases.

As we leave the airport.. our quest to find our hotel began.

We easily found the bus to TSUEN WAN. It's the Airbus A31.

The bus stop is located at the south of the transportation terminal on the ground floor. On arrival, go to the terminal via the down slope on the right hand side. Board the bus, and get down at the Chung On Street station.

inside the bus, reading our itinerary  :)

 You won't get lost because every bus stop the bus stops. ( Haha! ) And also, there's a Flashing Signage in front and computerized voice telling you what bus stop is that.

....CHUNG ON STREET.... so there we were! SILKA FAR EAST HOTEL is just beside the CITI Store and City Landmark and in front of the drop off area.

Though it was nearly 11pm, the streets were still alive. We decided to look around and find a place to eat. There were many restaurants and food stalls but then we ended up eating at Mc Donalds! Went back to our hotel to sleep.

HEYAH! 

Next: OUR D.I.Y HONGKONG TOUR: PART 2
http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-hong-kong-tour-part-2.html 

D.I.Y. Hong kong Tour... HOW?

HEYAH! Where to spend a vacation? Probably you are thinking of going to the beach, or out-of-town, or might as well go overseas. But then, thinking of the hassles, flight bookings, hotel bookings, and planning itineraries are the things that concern you. You don't want to waste your time because time isn't all you've got! haha! I got the same problem back then that's why I decided to get tour packages  ( for me & my husband ) from a travel agency, unfortunately, didn't go well, our money and the travel agency were nowhere to be found. Anyway, after that my husband decided to DO It Our Own!

"DIY means Do It Yourself....simply no tour guides!"

I want to share with you how to plan a DIY Hong kong Tour.

• First off: Choose your best date! (literally, month, day and year and who's coming with you! haha! ). Also consider the best time to go there. They said that climate in Hong kong are characterized by hot, humid summer and cool, relatively dry winter.

March - May, generally warm days and windy. June - mid September, the hottest time but also their Rainfall Season. October - December, their autumn season. Ours were last week of July ( July 26-29, 2012 ). Check different airlines, they may have sales and promotions. We booked our flight in Tiger airways. Good thing they were on sale, but we have to go to Clark International Airport.
HOW TO COMMUTE:
Just ride any Philtranco Bus going to CLARK. Check their websites.
For us, since the nearest and convenient route is going to Mega Mall, we rode the bus from there. They have a bus station at Mega Mall Bldg A ( on the back, near Supermarket and Watsons ). Please be advised of the time the bus arrives. From there, the bus will head straight to Clark International Airport.
Bus Fare: 400PHP
Travel time: 3 hours

• Do the research.

Check online for a good place to stay. If you have endless budgets, stay in a Classy hotel, (Lucky You!) but it's okay to stay in budget hotels ( affordable yet clean ) Choose clean & accessible locations. Read comments. Better check their prices first before making an online booking. ( of course you will need a Credit Card ) Be sure of your chosen date. Others have policies that require down payments. Most of them require you to enter your Credit Card numbers. Also, check if they have promotions or on going "weekdays off" prices. Some hotels are more cheaper during weekdays. Compare to save money. We chose SILKA FAR EAST HOTEL in Tsuen Wan. Accessible to train station, just 5 minutes walk. ( Line 1 MTR - Tsuen Wan Station ).

2. Check for places you want to visit. Prices, how to go there, what to ride, transportation, best time to go, where to eat, where to buy BARGAIN stuff, and a lot more! If you have limited time, for example 3-4 days, I recommend that you really need to plan ahead of time. There are lots of places to visit in Hong kong. 4 days  is not enough. ( I will elaborate our trip in my next blog. )

 3. Write Down and complete your ITINERARY!

Make a list and don't hesitate. If you have things to buy there, better search the stores/ places / locations first on the internet so you have less chances of being lost and you can save time.

Write down:  ( it may sound like an obsessive compulsive thingy but I assure you this will help! )

1. Things you need to bring.
2. Things you need to buy before leaving the airport ( e.g. OCTOPUS CARD - can be used to pay public buses, MTR, some stores also accept this card for you to buy stuff...reloadable )
3. Where and what to ride from the airport to your hotel, from hotel to your destinations, vice versa.

•  Monetary

We decided to bring US dollars. Anyway, there are lots of money changers in Hong Kong. Change your dollars before leaving the airport ( HKG Int'l airport).  In case you didn't spend all your US dollars, it won't be a problem since we also have lots of money changers here in the Philippines. But if you want to bring HKD, it's fine. There are banks here that buy Hong Kong dollars, but as far as I know you have to call them first to make reservations.

D. I . Y. tour is not that difficult and complicating as it looks like. But aside from YOU being a traveler, you will also learn new things and will boost your confidence. It's fun to be a cowboy. Go & Explore!

• YOU ARE ALL SET! happy trip! Hope these help.... HEYAHSINT! : )

Next: OUR D.I.Y. HONG KONG TOUR PART 1
http://heyahsint.blogspot.com/2013/01/our-diy-hong-kong-tour-part-1.html