Hong Kong

We spent the first day at happiest place on earth - Disneyland in Lantau island. I have wanted to come here since I was younger. I remember back in grade school, I saw some pictures of Disneyland in an encyclopedia we have at home. It was dreamlike to finally see it person after all these years.




We decided to splurge and stay at Disneyland Hollywood hotel.. but for 1 night only. It was a bit expensive but it was worth it.

Here's the Disney Parade. It was fun to see all the Disney characters, as if they are real.









There is no better souvenir than this, a photo op with the Disney cast.




This is probably the one I enjoyed the most - Lion King Festival. This is a like a mini version of the Lion King musical that I watched back in New York.






And finally, here is the vibrant fireworks display against the picturesque Sleeping Beauty castle. The use of popular Disney tunes made this even more overwhelming.



On our second day, we went to Kowloon to check-in on a cheaper hotel. This is a typical sight in Kowloon. It looks just like every Chinatown I have been to.

We later on crossed the Vicoria harbour to reach Hong Kong island where the financial district is located.

We went back late in the afternoon to Kowloon to visit Avenue of Stars - the Asian version of Hollywood boulevard. In here are plaques, handprints and statues that pay tribute to Chinese stars like...



The Avenue of Stars is also a good spot to see the grand Hong Kong island skyline and to watch the Symphony of Lights.




We later went back to Hong Kong island to get to The Peak to catch this spectacular view of the city. We caught the Tram on the way down. All the buildings seem to tilt because of 27 degree gradient of the tram.



The next and last day was spent on Ocean Park in Hong Kong island. This place is huge and is perched on the mountain. Amazing.

It rain hard in the afternoon but I was able to catch this ride before they had to stop all outdoor activities.




Even if it rained, there are still a lot of indoor sights to check out. Example is the Jellyfish aquarium.



Here's Atoll Reef, the biggest aquarium I have seen.


These were taken at Shark aquarium



This is probably the best place yet that I have been in Asia. All the sites I visited here is remarkable. No day is wasted, despite the rain. There are even still more places to see that we missed like the Giant Buddha and Wetland Park. I can't wait to go back. I will probably stay for a week next time with my family. But before that can happen, I have to save up. The trip is not cheap:

10,900 Airfare
750 Airport User's Charge
1,620 Terminal fee
2,155 One night at Disneyland Hollywood hotel*
1,495 One night at YWCA hotel in Kowloon
7,900 1300 HKD Pocket money (transpo, food, & entrance fees)**
======
24,820 TOTAL

*We reserved 2 rooms that can accommodate 8 people. There were only 7 of us so each one paid higher than expected
**shopping excluded

Davao

My vacation spree continued in Davao city where I went with another set of my good-looking friends. We spent most of the first day sleeping (hehe) in between places of interest due mainly to our red eye flight. We went to Eden Nature Park and Philippine Eagle sanctuary, home to Pag-asa, the first Philippine eagle to be bred in captivity.

We spent the next day in the picturesque Pearl Farm resort. The day tour costs 1500 pesos and it was really worth it - we had our own beachfront villa, we devoured a sumptuous buffet, and we even got to visit another island of the resort. Although the beach is not as great as Boracay (but still great), the breathtaking scenery and great food/facilities of the resort made it world-class. Here are some pics:

Bohol

Last weekend, I and some of my good-looking friends went to the picturesque province of Bohol. Not only does it have a great pristine beach that rivals Boracay, it also has the world-renowned Chocolate hills. We had lots of fun that not even an overnight blackout in the hotel or a busted boat in the middle of the ocean (at dusk, no less!) could thwart us from having a great time.

Here is the hotel where we stayed at called Isis. We settled for this one since Bohol Beach club was supposedly fully booked. It was a nice hotel but could have been better if it has a generator:






After a few hours rest, we snorkeled and later on, went to Bohol Beach club, which actually had 5 available rooms!




I've never seen anything like this before:



We started the next day at 5:30 AM for dolphin-watching. The sunrise is breathtaking.





Now, the following picture really does not give justice to what we experienced while watching the dolphins. There were hundreds of dolphines, I swear. Here's one:



We spent the rest of the day touring the city. We went to the historical blood-compact site, Baclayon church (2nd oldest church in the country) and a snake sanctuary (where I touched a really long python which is good as dead), among others.

Here's Loboc river where we ate lunch at a cruise. The food is good, the music is better, and the scene is great.





Here's a man-made forest which was started a decade ago to stop ersosion:




Here's a hanging bridge we passed through:




The trip would not be complete without seeing a tarsier, the smallest type of monkey in the world. I really don't fancy monkeys (I almost got attacked by several monkeys in Batu caves at Kuala Lumpur). But tarsiers are different. Not only are they helpless, they are actually cute.



Of course, we saved the best for last - the Chocolate Hills.





Here are some more pics: