Yep-yep, Be, before it turns into a total blur. Although we may reserve another day for Café Bola in the future. I think we should finish the HK travelogue, just 2 days left in there, anyway. On the third day, we decided to indulge ourselves on the bacon and scrambled eggs at the hotel’s buffet. The four of us headed to the café and told the maitre’d, “WE WANT THEM BACON!” Hehehe…
Wow, maitre’d… Para tayong nasa Paris ah instead of a cheap ass hotel in Hong Kong where they charge you an additional HK$50 just to eat their freakin’ bacon! At heto kami, nagtakaw mata. 3 plates piled with food ang bitbit ng bawat isa sa amin kasi natatakot mapagsarahan ng buffet. Impacho galore!
Hahaha… and ganun pala lasa ng grapefruit juice. Ang pait. I apologize for my ignorance on fruit juices, but this one sucks ass! Mas masarap pa ata ampalaya juice eh, at least hindi nagtatamis-tamisan! Hahaha. So there, we had our fill of bacon, eggs, salmon even, and cheeses. Sarap. The only thing wrong with this buffet was this fact: WALANG KANIN! For those people who know me, you know I can live without a lot of viand but never, NEVER without rice! “KUNIN MO NANG LAHAT, WAG LANG ANG KANIN” as one would always hear me say. But to be fair it was still a glorious way to start the day, but Joy decided that she wouldn’t be joining us in merchandise-hunting that day. And what did she do while she was left at the hotel? Massage? No! Foot spa? No! Did she prepare her things for the flight the next day? NO! What did she do?... Text Twist. She’s thousands of kilometers away from home and she’s playing Text Twist. Amazing. Amazing.
Uhh… I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. Tagal ko rin kasing hindi nakapaglaro nun, years in fact. Just wanted to know kung kaya ko pa… kaya pa naman pala ☺ I know, I know, I’m such a geek but isn’t that one of the things you love about me? Hehehe ☺
Yeah, I love my little geek. ☺ You know what score she got? 1,056,590. Shit man. If you people know how to play this, 1.05 million is a lot to Text Twisting. Man, and she did it in less than half a day! What’s more, she had to deliberately make herself lose just to end the game. Those were a lot of words, Be. Clap! Clap! That’s the thing with Joy, you can leave her alone at a hotel, and you will find her there when you come back. Pag sinabi niyang “gusto kong magpahinga” better leave her be. Hehe. Anyway, while she was Text Twisting at Eaton, Kuya, Rakel and I went to Tom Lee (again) in Cameron Road. We decided to buy the Ibanez Valbee Mini-Tube Amp we were eyeing since the first day we arrived. See, here, Audiophile is selling it for PhP10,500. At Tom Lee, you can get it for HK$1,200. That’ll be just PhP7,200 back here! Big difference, huh? Since Joy was back at the hotel and Rakel went to another store to buy something, Kuya and I did what gearheads were supposed to do in that dreamland. Test the most expensive guitar on one of the most expensive amps in the shop! Hahaha! It was an effin’ field day for the both of us. We tried a 60’s-neck Les Paul Classic on a Mesa-Boogie Lonestar! After we got bored with the Les Paul, we got an American Standard Fender Stratocaster, then an ESP, then an Ibanez. Weehaw! That’s what you call a great day! Hehehe… although Rakel didn’t share the same sentiment. She got bored. Sorry! But we got the Ibanez Valbee, and headed back to the hotel.
Actually, I really didn’t need to rest. Ayoko lang talagang bumalik sa Tom Lee and suffer the same fate as Rakel. Sorry Be hehe.
Sabi ko na eh…
Hehe ☺ Anyway, after that, nagrest lang sandali sila Bob tapos we headed straight for Victoria Peak. I think this has got to be Bob’s most memorable part of the whole trip, going to Victoria Peak. Care to elaborate Be?
Oh. My. God. Hehe, arte eh no. Pakshet, we walked uphill! Even Kuya, who’s definitely fitter than I am struggled to get to the Tram station! I was sweating like a pig. On a summer day. In Bahrain. At 12:00 PM. Grabe, it was a humid night and it didn’t help with the walk, or the climb for that matter, up to the Tram. Joy and I told Kuya and Rakel. “Heeeehhh! Wheeeeehh!... Sagot na namin! Taxi na tayohhh! Hiiiing!” We decided to tell them when we were just 10 meters away from the station. Shet.
My legs were already cramping from all that walking during the first 2 days, we were all tired na talaga to begin with, tapos ganun pa yung tatahakin namin, kaya medyo tempers were starting to flare na that night. Even the simple task of choosing where to eat dinner was already causing a lot of annoyance. I even almost got in a fight with an older Korean woman who was probably in her late 40’s or 50’s. Ang bastos kasi, when we were boarding the tram that would bring us to Victoria Peak, medyo siksikan na sa loob. I got in first and was trying to save a seat for Bob when this woman elbowed me out of the way so she could seat by the window! I mean, hello, I was already there and she forced herself to where I was already. I was so pissed, kung marunong lang ako mag-Koreano, baka kinilabutan siya sa lahat ng pinagsasabi ko sa kanya kaso unfortunately, wala siyang naintindihan sa sinabi ko. Sana na-detect na lang niya sa tono ko na bad trip ako sa kanya. I know it seems petty na pumatol ako sa kanya especially since she was a lot older than I was, respect your elders and all that, pero I don’t know what came over me that night. Yung pagod lang siguro plus the putok of all the people around me, hala, na-high blood talaga ako! Poor Bob, was left standing.
Hehe… pabayaan mo na, Be. At least I got to stand like Michael Jackson, 45 degrees, babeh! Hell, the tram was going on a 45-degree angle going up, you’d wonder what’s keeping it from slipping from its track. We found out later na may tulong pala sya talaga ng cable pulling it from the top of the hill. Man it was great up there. We were rushing to get to the top, and Joy was still thinking of how to land an elbow on the Korean woman. We have nothing against Koreans, but, this person really sucks ass! Grabeng ugali yan. Nangupal na, kebs pa! Hehehe… tama na nga, bombahin pa tayo ng mga yun. Ah, taga-south ba? Nabomba na tayo nun… ng teleserye. Lech. Anyway, you’ll climb up the building on escalators. The view at the top was amazing. We got to see most of what Hong Kong really is. Grabe, that also was my first time to see what a fully-industrialized country looks like. The buildings here are dwarves compared to the sizes of the buildings there. And they weren’t just hubs of the workforce, they were also decors for the skyline! One building even tells time. It was an experience! Then it was time to go home, all of us beat from the walks and the smell. It was great though. I wish we had more energy.
I was in a foul mood all night kaya when it was time to go home, I really put my foot down and told them, “Mag-taxi na tayo! Kahit ako pa magbayad!” kaya hayun, we took a cab home and the fare was about HK$60-70, not bad for the trek it saved us. Bob, being the gentleman that he is, of course did not make me pay the fare. Thanks Be ☺ The cab ride was an experience grabe talaga ang mga drivers sa HK, super bilis mag-drive! Para kaming sumakay ulit dun sa Space Mountan ride! Saya! Can I just make singit? While doing this entry, Bob and I shared a bowl of homemade shoestring potatoes with garlic mayo and another bowl of rice with adobo flakes and kesong puti here in Café Bola. The food is good, you should try it. But sorry no pictures. We finished the whole thing na kasi before I thought of taking shots. Back to Hong Kong. So the third day was over and done with, now on to our fourth and final day. I would dub this day as our McDonald’s day. During breakfast, Bob tried their Deluxe Breakfast. Sobrang ina-anticipate talaga ni Bob ito na ni-research pa nila ng Kuya niya sa internet kung ano itsura ng breakfast sa McDo. The only difference to our Big Breakfast here is that may hash brown sa kanila. Nung lunch naman, Bob found a short strand of CURLY hair in his sausage McMuffin! We were debating whether it came from someone’s armpit or somewhere further down south. Dapat pala nakunan natin ng picture yun no? Hehe…Wag na, Be. Mato-trauma yung readers natin, kaunti lang sila. Hehehe. But yeah, I got a Sausage McHair sa Muffin ko. It wasn’t a loose hair in between the sandwich, it was baked with the bread! Gross! So I got up, complained to the manager who barely understood what I was saying and showed her the Sausage McPube. Then, alas! I got a new Sausage McMuffin that day. I was about 40 percent done with the other one when I got a taste of Ronald’s McFollicle. But what can you do, right? Charge it to experience and get the new one done and over with.
Our last day in HK was spent shopping, whether it was for ourselves or our friends and family back home. Bob’s brother and Rakel went to Ikea while Bob and I went to Mongkok. Food may be expensive here in Hong Kong but the rest of the stuff are such great deals.
Even Hairy McMeals are expensive!
Gross Be, enough with that! Anyway, take for example perfumes. Bonjour is a good place to get them. I got a big bottle of Elizabeth Arden’s Green Tea which in Philippine peso cost only P600! That like, costs more than a thousand bucks here! Bob got a huge bottle of Davidoff Echo which costs less than P1,200…
The box ata costs like 2,700 here. So I didn’t get the box na lang.
Bonjour also carries a variety of other products like cosmetics, lotions, shampoos, etc. My mom’s only request was to buy her some paper powder, you know, where the paper has powder on it (Papier Poudre)… and it costs only around P35 eh kung dito sa Pinas bibilhin yun, nasa a hundred pesos na yata yun ngayon. Bob also got Dr. Scholl’s heel cushions while I got the Party Feet which was also a lot cheaper. Tapos across Bonjour, Bob and I found a store that sells shoes… For those of you who know Bob, alam ninyo na may pagka-Imeldific itong si Bob. He can’t resist shoes! Hehe…
Uy, di naman. Nagfe-fade na kasi yung Converse ko eh… Patoingg!! Onga pala puti yun, pano magfe-fade. Hehe… oo na, Imeldific na, at least di ko ninanakawan ang kabangbayan! Hehehe.
Bawiin mo yan! Lagot ka sa tatay ko, Loyalist yun!
Oo nga, si Imelda Reyes kako, yung baranggay captain sa Tuguegarao. Hehehe… Joke lang, sino ba yun? Hehehe…
Naku, baka may Imelda Reyes nga talaga, lagot ka. Pero Be naman, kung sana iba-iba itsura nung mga sapatos mo, pero puro rubber shoes lang naman lahat. I mean, how many pairs of rubber shoes do you really need??
A couple… a couple of dozen. PANGGGGH! Yahre! Hehehe… Aray. Tama na itong meron ako actually, may binili pa naman sa akin si Joy na Merrell na pwedeng pang semi-formal. I got a pair of Puma Tempo shoes. Para syang driving shoes na manipis lang, tamang tama lang, para maiba naman sa bulky sneakers that I usually wear. We got the Puma for HK$299 and the Merrell for HK$359. Not bad actually if you compare with the prices here. Joy also got a great deal on a pair of thong-type Crocs for only Php1,300 which when we checked at Rockwell last week goes for around PhP1,750. Great deals, huh? Yeah! Afterwards, we went straight to Ladies Street for more shopping. We were able to get some neat stuff for pasalubong, and Bob and I were able to get some cool shirts where you can choose a design and they will iron it on the shirt. Bob was finally able to get his much longed-for AstroBoy shirt hehe.
That’s right! We met Kuya and Rakel afterwards in Tom Lee Wan Chai…
Hayy, Tom Lee na naman…
Okay, okay. After we met them was when the McHairy event happened. Hehehe… Then when it was time to go home, we rode the double-decker on the way to the airport. It was fun riding at the frontmost seats of the bus. But earlier, we said we were scared about how the drivers in HK drove. We said they were fast right? So we were expecting another thrilling ride with this one and this time we were elevated! But lo and behold, the driver decided to drive slow that day ata. Boooring, but nonetheless, the view was great. We got to the airport way past the required “2-hours-before-check-in” time. So we got to the check-in counter chop-chop! Man, that airport is huge! The attendant at the counter was Cantonese, so we really didn’t get to pay too much attention when she said that we should go now if we wanted to make the flight. Being the Pinoys that we are, we took our time strolling around Giordano, and even eating dinner at Popeye’s with Ben and Jerry’s for dessert… Can I just say, I don’t understand what the fuss is with Ben & Jerry’s. Haagen Dazs is much, much better.
Agree. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream feels like molten bread. It’s freakin’ sticky! I know they want to emphasize creaminess, but hell, this is way too creamy for me!
I didn’t find it creamy at all, I found it too thick! What was the flavor you ordered? Cookie dough? I dunno, baka pangit lang yung natikman natin.
Anyway, we were 10 minutes away from boarding time when we got our asses to walk towards the terminal when we realized as we were on the escalator… WE STILL HAVE TO TAKE ANOTHER TRAAAAIN!! And it didn’t help when we saw our flight number flashing “FINAL CALL” on the screen.
That was how big the airport was. And the architecture was fascinating, nag-picture-picture pa nga si Bob kaya rin siguro kami natagalan hehehe.
Nyaak! Ako pa talaga ang sinisi. Iniiwan nyo nga ako nung nagkokodak-kodak ako eh. Pinoy na pinoy eh no? Kodak. Anyway, as we were racing towards the terminal, our hearts were nakiki-race din. Si Joy, walang opera-opera, HATAW SA TAKBO! Hehehe… Naiwan pa ako eh. Grabe, first sigh of relief namin eh nung nakakita kami ng flight attendant from Cebu Pacific, holding a Final Call placard, waiting for the last passengers… and kami yon. Whew! Home run! Grabe yung saya namin when we got to our seats! We were finally settling, still catching our breaths, still cherishing the fact that we didn’t miss our flight, which would be disastrous if we did, when 3 women, Pinays, walk in. Man talk about Filipino time. And we were scared shitless.
So that was our Hong Kong adventure.
And I promise you, WE WILL BE BACK! Hehehehe.
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