Jerson & Feb Misha

Venue: 

Ayala Business Park

(FYI, you need a permit to do a shoot in a private setting like Ayala haha!)

Photographer: 

Arvee Abenes

Teejay Revaldo

Rebecca Rallos

Edited By:

Rebecca Rallos

Avenue of the Stars, Hong Kong

I've mentioned on my previous blog post that our next stop right after Ngong Ping was Disneyland. Actually we did went there but when we were about to go inside the gate, it rained. Without wasting any time, we went back to our hotel and decided to visit the place first thing on the following day.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were all dead tired. But we have to visit one more spot before hitting the sack. And when you're in a country like Hong Kong, sleeping shouldn't be part of your vocabulary.

Good thing our hotel is located right at the center of Tsim Sha Tsui. This means it's only within a walking distance to Victoria Harbour, where you can visit the popular and Hong Kong version of Hollywood Walk of Fame. If you're an early bird you can also watch the 14 minutes multimedia lights and sound (most of the time, with fireworks!!!) show! FYI the Symphony Of Lights show starts at 8 PM Hong Kong time. Because we were having a hard time locating the place and all of the people we asked didn't seem to know where the Avenue of the Star  was, we missed the show. Of course haha! 

It took us almost an hour to find this beautiful place. We unconsciously went to the other side of the street and got lost. We later realized and found out that the harbor was just around the back side of our hotel. With or without the show, the beauty of the Victoria Harbour was all worth the effort! 

My first major fitness role model.

"As you think, so shall you become." - Bruce Lee

After checking all the stars individually, finally bumped into a familiar name in the walk of fame.

"I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. 

I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan." - Jackie Chan

What an amazing ending given to a perfect day!!!
I can't wait to blog about my Ocean Park and Disneyland adventure.

to be continued...

Ngong Ping Village, Hong Kong

Technically, this was day one of our Hong Kong trip. First on the list of our itinerary was to visit the Big Buddha located at Ngong Ping Village in Lantau Island.

Before leaving, we decided to have our breakfast in Kowloon. We're not yet familiar with the place, that's why we ended up having our breakfast at McDonald. (Namiss agad ang pinas? haha!) But unlike in the Philippines, they don't serve rice : (

Almost all stores in Hong Kong are open 24/7 and the city is alive night and day. It's normal to see bystander spending an over night stay anywhere. I saw these local teenagers sleeping at McDonald. I can still remember some maintenance crew noisily arranged the chairs while cleaning to wake them up (pero wa epek) haha!

While everyone was finishing their breakfast, Teejay and I went outside and checked out some souvenir shops along the street. 

Most of the shops sells various kinds of Hanzhuang, Chinese traditional clothing in a very affordable price. Plus, free fitting haha!

The easiest way to go to Lantau Island from our hotel is to take the train from TST to Tung Chong. For MRT guide, I recommend you use the Hong Kong MRT Planner to save time. From there, we had to take a breathtaking cable car and experienced Ngong Ping 360. 

Most of the people in China are Buddhist and Ngong Ping is a very popular tourist spot in Lantau. You must expect that lots of people visits the place almost everyday to see the famous Tan Tian Buddha. We actually waited in line for more than 30 minutes just to get our tickets. Thank God! Or should I say Thank Buddha! 1 ticket is already a 2 way ride or else we have to fall in line again. It was also summer and humidity was crazy. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life!

We started our journey to Ngong Ping Village with a 25 minutes cable car ride with an amazing over looking view of  Lantau Island. If you're brave enough, you can rent a crystal cabin with a glass bottom. How's that for a challenge? 

A bird's eye view of Hong Kong International Airport located off the north coast of Lantau Island.

Traveling 101: Share a gondola lift, earn a friend :) We made some Chinese friend along the way. I really like them! Aside from the fact that they were both good looking (they had this boy band aura haha!) They were doing their best to communicate with us in a friendly way even though they only speak 10-20% English. Thanks guys! (sayang dko nakuha ang facebook nila kasi di nila ako nagegets hahaha!)

I had fun waving to the other tourists. Everyone who passed by our gondola was also waving at us, So I assumed that it's a must to wave back. Ni hao ma! Hello! Haha!

We were just in time for the Shaolin and Wu Dang Martial Arts Show.

A Hong Kong trip wouldn't be complete without trying some Cantonese and Chiu Chow cuisines. To satisfy our cravings for authentic Chinese food, we visited Ngong Ping Garden Restaurant. I've heard that the restaurant have been operating for more than 45 years now.

The Tian Tan Buddha also known as the Big Buddha is an extension of Po Lin Monastery. It's so huge!  It's 112 feet tall and would you believe that the status can even be seen from as far away as Macau on a clear day? Wow!

In order to reach the top altar, visitors have to climb an exact 268 steps. Until now, I still can't believe why I didn't climb and reach the top haha! I think, Tibo (my sis college friend) or Teejay told me that it's hot, he's tired so he will just stay and wait for us. But I didn't know what to do. I was caught in the middle. In the end, I stayed with him and missed seeing the six smaller bronze statues known as "The Offering of the Six Devas". Well, There's always next time.

On our way, we saw this big Wishing Tree.

The Po Lin Monastery is a Buddhist temple which literally means Precious Lotus Zen Temple. 

Po Lin Monastery's main temple.

The best thing about visiting this place is, there's no other way down the peak but to take another gondola lift. Yehey! But the most exciting part that day was our next stop. The happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! 

to be continued...