Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Tao Lang

 I hit my lowest.  I cried the most tears I've ever cried in my whole life.  If I had any consolation, it was that this happened during Yuan's exams week and Christmas week.  At least, I was busy. But tears would fall every time I'm alone and had nothing to do. I reached my limits in sadness, tolerance, patience and disappointments.  I knew it was building up and this month little Miss "Okay lang" broke down.  Suddenly, nothing seemed to be "okay lang" anymore.  It's like I've been slapped with the realities of life - my misses, my faults, my flaws, my too much assumptions.  I felt rejected, under appreciated, tired, lonely, sad, depressed.  I felt I was a failure in so many ways. I lost my self-esteem.

But God is good and Paul was with me throughout the ordeal.  I haven't fully recovered, but I've stopped crying and I'm hopeful that I will be better-than-okay soon...:)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

R.S.V.P.

Scenario 1:  Dineadma ang invite. Kakaloka di ba? Importante sa yo yung tao kaya mo nga ininvite eh, kasi gusto mong makasama siya sa special occasion mo, tapos deadma lang? Ni hindi man lang nagsabi kung natanggap ba nya ang email/text or hindi.  Magfollow-up ka after a few days, sasabihin hindi siya makapunta.  Kakairita!  Ganun ka-importante kailangang ifollow-up?!  Isa lang ibig sabihin nyan, the receiver doesn't care....hay.

Scenario 2: "Titingnan ko".   I usually send out invites at least two weeks before so friends could mark their calendars early and minsan nakakatampo rin when the answer would be "titingnan ko" which would end up as "cannot make it" a few days before the event.  Ang ibig sabihin nyan, nung nareceive ang invite mo, free pa siya pero baka may event na mas importante sa 'yo, dun siya pupunta!    In other words, secondary lang....  Nakakatampo kasi you gave importance to someone and yet hindi ka pala ganun kaimportante.... I love friends who say  "sure na yan ha, mark ko na calendar ko" or pagkatanggap ng invite kayang-kayang sumagot ng "sure, punta me" or "sorry, may plans na ako" or  wala bang ibang date?" (kung kitakits).

Scenario 3: Hindi ka nainvite.  Hehehe, as a guest, nakakatampo rin pag hindi ka nainvite....kasi ibig sabihin, you are not important enough to make it to the guest list.  Minsan nga, kahit alam mong hindi ka naman makakaattend, nakakatampo pa rin na hindi ka nainvite, lalo na kung yung iba nyong friends eh nainvite...kasi ibig sabihin, hindi ka kasing importante nung iba! hahaha! Of course, kung friend talaga ang turing mo sa host, you will understand, although may hurt pa rin.  hahaha!...hurt sa ego! hehehe   :)

Scenario 4: Nainvite ka pero ayaw mong mainvite.  Hehehe, eto ang other side nung scenario 1, so chances are, deadma ang react mo! hahaha!  Pero para mas effective, dapat magrespond ka na lang after the event, sabihin mo, nun mo lang nabasa with matching "sayang!" hahaha! joke.  Bad yun, be honest, sabihin mong may plans ka na, kahit wala pa! hehehe, joke lang uli. Ang importante, respond promptly and in a polite manner.  :)

Anyway, sa lahat ng scenarios na 'yan ang bottomline eh, feeling feeling lang 'yan.  Kung ayaw mong mahurt ang feelings mo, hwag kang magpaka-feeling.  Kailangang tanggapin na hindi porke't importante sa atin ang isang tao eh importante na rin tayo sa kanila. Ang maganda sa invitation scenarios eh somehow we realize kung ano tayo dun sa taong iniinvite/nag-iinvite sa atin.  Remember the walang kamatayang quote na: “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option”....Ang problema ko,  ako ay isa sa maraming ngok-ngok na hanggang ngayon ay hindi makasunod sa advice na iyan....hay....

Hong Kong!

Hong Kong was not on our list of must-visit places in the world.  And if my mother has not subsidized most of the expenses, Paul and I wouldn't have considered going there. We went to Hong Kong for the kids.  Our main agenda was Hong Kong Disneyland.  We didn't expect much but as it turned out, it was a fun, enjoyable, tiring and bitin first out-of-the-country trip for our family (with Yuro that is).  Months spent on planning and research made us realize that there's a lot to see and experience in Hong Kong.  The kids loved the place so much and with it's many attractions, Paul and I even considers going back there someday...***fingers crossed***  :)

Anyway, blog on our trip is on the following posts:

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Ocean Park

Other Hong Kong Attractions

Searching for a city hotel in Hong Kong



Hong Kong Disneyland

Thanks to all friends who suggested that we stay at least for 1 night at a Disney Hotel.  It was so worth it.

The Hotel
There are two hotels in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort - the Disneyland Hotel and the Disney's Hollywood Hotel.  The former has a Victorian style while the later as the name implies, is Hollywood themed. Apart from the fact that the former is pricier than the latter, I chose Disney's Hollywood Hotel because I have 2 sons and I think the Hollywood theme will be better for them.  The elegance of Disneyland Hotel will be best enjoyed by girls as the ambiance would make them feel like a princess.  We (me and my two kids) saw pictures of room freebies from both hotels online- Hollywood has Mickey prints, while Disneyland Hotel has Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, that sealed the decision. :)
I bought a value annual pass for Yuan, that way I was able to avail of discounts for the room and the breakfast. Actually, the total cost was only about 100HKD less than if I availed of their room promos, but still, I saved a few dollars and Yuan has an annual pass. :)
Hotel guests are entitled for a two-day pass at the park at a discounted price - one day pass is at 350HKD, two-day pass is at 390HKD.  Of course we bought the two-day pass.
Hollywood Hotel has a pool.  We were not able to use it as it too cold to swim.  I read from their website that during summer, Goofy swims there once in a while. :)
The hotel room was more roomy than our city hotel room. It has 2 double beds.  It has a big LCD TV with cable channels and one with Disney shows and movies throughout the day.  There's a bathtub, hair dryer, phone and electric kettle, no fridge. What I loved the most? - the full body mirror!  We booked a sea view room, but you have to looked past the pool to see a glimpse of the sea.  
Mickey mouse sign is all over the place - shower curtain, the hotel signage, elevator, on benches, on hallway carpets, on the playground..  The hotel's restaurant is called Chef Mickey.


The Breakfast


We had breakfast at the Enchanted Garden in the Disneyland Hotel.  There, Mickey Mouse and Friends visited each table to say hello to guests and allowed us to take pictures with them.  Reservation is required and inter-hotel guests are allowed to book only 15 days before their room reservation date.
Breakfast is a buffet of international cuisine - Western and Asian.  The kids loved the Mickey Mouse waffles and pancakes. :)  Annual pass holders get 10% discount for himself and up to 7 guests.  In other words, it's just like dining without tax/service charge.   


Why did I say that staying in a Disneyland Hotel is worth it ?  :  because it feels different sleeping and waking up in Disneyland.  It's like starting and ending your day in Fantasy land.  :)


The Park
The park is pretty small and that made it enjoyable to explore.  There are lots of  restaurants and shops within the park.  On our two day visit, we let the children choose which attractions to visit and those were the park train, Astroblasters, Autopia, Jungle Cruise, Philarmagic, Tarzan's Tree House and Golden Mickeys.  The kids enjoyed Astroblasters the most, while I loved the Golden Mickeys.  The parade is suspended for the first 2 weeks of November, maybe they need to redesign their floats after the Halloween thingy.  They only announced this in their website sometime around September or October.  But it was okay as all characters were present at the Golden Mickeys show. We were in the park Thursday-Friday so the lines were not that long.  They say it can get really crowded on weekends.  The fireworks display above Sleeping Beauty's Castle was really nice, it gives you the feeling that you are indeed in Fantasy Land.  The fireworks used were common but the location made all the difference.


Our Disneyland Experience is what the kids enjoyed most during our stay in Hong Kong and that made it the best part of our trip. :)


learn more here: http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/html/Christmas/Int/en_US/index.html

Ocean Park

This Park is huge and very tiring to explore and they have no strollers for rent.  There are a lot interesting attractions, though.  If you are into thrill rides, then this is the Hong Kong theme park for you.  There are no thrill rides in Hong Kong Disneyland apart from the Space Mountain.  But since we in the family is not into that, we explored the other attractions.  We were there on a Saturday, so it's a bit crowded and there's considerable waiting time in the attractions.

Our first stop was the Sky Star.  It is one very big hot air balloon, tied to the ground.  Once on top, the view was very nice.  When I was planning our Ocean Park visit, this was on top of my list.  This is probably the only time I would ever get to ride a hot air balloon. A ride during the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Subic costs 7k per person!  But of course, this was different as the ride was very big and it was tied to ground.  The ascent and descent was very gentle and only a slight swing was caused by the wind.

Next on my list was the Jelly Spectacular and it was indeed spectacular!  As in!  It's a must see.  It's a room designed like a maze with cylindrical aquariums all over the place. Our next stop was the Atoll Reef -  it's like  Manila Ocean Park's Oceaniarium and Singapore's Underwater World.  But Singapore has a longer tunnel and Manila has a swim with sharks attraction.  There were so many people and the hallway with the big aquarium was pretty crowded, but the aquarium was huge and really worth seeing.

We also rode on the merry-go-round wherein you ride on sea creatures instead of horses.  The pandas on the Great Panda Habitat were sleeping.  We skipped the shows.  For some reason, the kids were not interested, maybe because they've been to Subic just a couple of months back.  Yuan tested his skill in maneuvering an  RC boat.  We also road the Ocean Express, which aims to give you a feel of travelling underwater but didn't quite deliver.  We skipped the cable cars, we've had enough at Ngong Ping.


You'll need a day to enjoy Ocean Park and there are still a lot of construction going on..  Like Disneyland, it's a must see in Hong Kong as there are a lot in there that's not here in Manila.  But again, it's a big park so make sure you plan your visit well and prepare yourself for a lot of walking.

learn more here: http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/home/

Other Hong Kong Attractions


Ngong Ping 360
This is the longest cable car ride in Hong Kong and the view during the ride was really nice even though it was rainy and quite foggy when we went there.  It's a must experience in Hong Kong.  We all enjoyed the crystal cabin ride wherein the floor of the cabin was also clear glass.  We didn't bother to climb to the monastery.  Honestly, I didn't like the look of the Big Buddha because it is gray...very cement-like.  Since I've been to Bangkok before, I've had the impression that Buddhas should be gold...hehehe. 
learn more herewww.np360.com.hk


Avenue of Stars
This one is a tourist trap.  Don't bother going here unless you're a fan of Chinese stars.  There's also what they call Symphony of Lights held every night in this area.  That's another tourist trap, a waste of time and electricity.  It's supposed to be a lights and sound show.  There were lights and music, yes but I won't consider it a show. Sorry.  I'm not being harsh, I'm just being honest.
learn more herehttp://www.avenueofstars.com.hk/eng/home.asp

Ladies Market, Mongkok
We were there around 10pm and the whole street was so well lit, it's fascinating!  It's like a flea market, and the best place to buy "Hong Kong" souvenirs - t-shirts, pens, keychains...but you should know how to haggle.  We could have explored this area more but the kids were already too tired.  They say the Mongkok area is also the best place to try authentic Hong Kong dishes.
learn more here http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attractions/kln-ladies-market.html


The Victoria Peak
This they say it's the most visited attraction in Hong Kong.  It's the highest point in Hong Kong that gives a great view of the city.  We rode a tram to reach the peak and it's a pretty exciting ride. We went there early in the morning but they say the view is better at night, maybe because of the lights.  But we were pretty fascinated with what we saw.
Fom the Admiralty MTR Station, you can reach the Peak Tram terminus through a pleasant walk in the Hong Kong Park.
The Hong Kong Park
The Hong Kong park is really nice - very pleasant, calming and relaxing, a perfect way to start our last day in HK.  It has a fountain, an artificial lake and a playground.  We didn't have time to go to the playground, though.  




The Hong Kong Space Museum
 Since our Hong Kong trip was mainly for the kids, not to mention that Yuan is fascinated with space, rockets and space shuttles, I decided to add this to our itinerary.  It's a good place for kids to visit, and the HK$10 fee is worth it. 
learn more herehttp://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/e_index.htm

The Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas
This was the last part of our itinerary and no, we didn't reach the monastery.  The climb to the monastery consisted of more than 300 steep steps and at that time, we weren't fit enough to reach it considering that we have 2 kids with us.  And also, we had time constraints.  What we did see where several statues of monks in different poses lining the steps to the monastery.  The train ride to Sha Tin was also quite an experience as we get to see another side of Hong Kong, different from the skyscrapers of the city.  It doesn't have an official website, just google it. :)

The Hong Kong Hotel Search

I have to blog about this, as in kailangan ko lang talagang iblog because weird and interesting ang experience ko sa paghahanap ng city hotel online.

As early as August, nabook ko na ang Disney's Hollywood Hotel where we spent our first night sa Hong Kong.  Ang kulang na lang eh city hotel for our 2nd and 3rd nights.

I had a simple criteria in looking for a hotel less than 5k/rm/night, has two single beds and near MTR station. Sangdamakmak na reviews ang binasa ko online from tripadvisor, agoda and booking.com.  Kung kami lang ni Paul ang aalis, walang problema, kahit saan pwede kami magstay kaso kasama kids so we had to find a place that's safe and comfortable for them.

First hotel I've picked is JJ Hotel.  Early October, I booked a room through booking.com and indicated that we are a couple with two kids and prefers a twin bed room.. JJ Hotel was quick to respond that they have no twin bed room available.

Second on my list was YWCA Anne Black guesthouse.  Some tag it as a two star hotel, others as a hostel.  The reviews were really nice, the only downside is, it's a 15minute walk to the nearest MTR station- Mongkok.  May katabing library na free ang wifi, may malapit na bus stations and maayos and safe daw ang surrounding.  From the pictures on the net, mukhang spacious naman yung room at may option to add an extra bed.  So after I cancelled my reservation with JJ, I booked Anne Black.  Since it's a no cancellation fee booking, I continued to search for a hotel even after I've booked Anne Black, hindi kasi ako comfortable dun sa 15 minute walk considering that we're travelling with kids.

So nagtatanong-tanong ako sa friends and continued to search on the net pero wala akong makitang better alternative.  One day, I came across Wesley Hotel na okay ang reviews and may available room sa Agoda.  To be sure, nagsearch ako ng reviews sa ibang site and oki rin.  But then, may nakita akong isang blog na super negative ang review especially in terms of customer service.  And laging ganun, tuwing may makikita akong mukhang okay, laging biglang may lalabas na negative.  And everytime ichecheck ko uli ang Anne Black, dumadagdag ang pisitive reviews.  Sa isip ko nun, sige na nga, Anne Black na lang.

Pero since hindi talaga ako mapakali, nagtuloy pa rin ako sa paghahanap.  One weekend, I saw Evergreen Hotel na okay ang reviews and okay din ang location.  Chineck ko ang room availability and meron naman.  Nung magbobook na ko, akalain mong nasagi ng pamangkin ko yung plug ng computer! Napakamot na lang ako ng ulo.  Sabi nga ni Paul "Honey, give up, let go, yan na talaga."  Pero hindi pa rin ako nagpapapigil.  Since naglalaptop naman nun si Paul, I asked him to do the booking.  Guess what, wala nang availability dun sa dates na sa  HK kami!  Kaloka!  Ewan ko kung namalik-mata lang ako at ibang dates ang nakita ko nung unang tingin ko basta bottomline, out na rin ang Evergreen.  Inisip ko na lang na siguro pangit yun kaya ayaw ni Lord na magstay kami dun.

At dahil matigas ang ulo ko, pagtuloy pa rin akong nag-ubos ng oras kahahanap ng hotel.  Then just a few weeks before our trip, nakita ko sa Agoda ang Newton Hotel.  Okay naman sa akin ang reviews and fit sa budget, hindi siya available sa booking.com.  i k/npab|ed the hotel and asked if they have an available room with twin beds, I have to be sure kasi may booking fee ang Agoda.  The hotel  was quick to respond na there's an available room.  And as I searched for reviews I came across HotelTravel.com which even offered a slightly cheaper price with no booking fee.  In a breeze, I booked Newton Hotel and after they confirmed, I cancelled Anne Black.

As it turned out, our stay at Newton Hotel was very satisfying.  Room is a bit small but okay for us.  Place was quiet, room was clean, view is okay.  There's a bathtub, electric kettle, TV (no cable), safety deposit box.  The location was excellent! It's just a 2-minute walk from Fortress Hill station of MTR.  There's a bus station nearby where the airport bus stops.  7-11, Yoshinoya, Burger King and other restaurants are walking distance from the hotel.

So what's so interesting about it? Wala lang, feeling ko lang I have a guardian angel with me throughout my hotel search, na parang someone or something guided me into picking the right hotel.  Na sa dami ng oras na naubos ko kahahanap ng hotel, sulit lahat  :)

hehe, yun lang. :)