In Philippines Before New Years

We were very busy during the first week, in the Philippines. We flew from Hong Kong to Manila to Cebu. Our plane was 2 hours delayed in Manila so we didn't leave there until after 6:00 pm on Christmas Eve. We got to the hotel here in Cebu after 8:00 pm and they did not have a room ready for us. Luckily they eventually put us up in another room while they got our room ready so we could change and get ready for Christmas Eve Mass. We just made it over to Glyn's apartment and then to Mass at 10:00 pm.

However, the night was not over yet. After midnight, a lot of Filipinos celebrate Noche Buena, which involves fireworks and firecracker and a lot of eating an d drinking. We had the meal this year over at Glyn's apartment with her siblings. It was a lot of fun as we ate, drank, and open some gifts.

Christmas Day was more laid back as we were so tired. Glyn's brother Camilo, sis-in-law Lizel, sister Jen, and nephew Lourence came over to the hotel to visit. It was nice just relaxing and hanging out with them.

During the next couple of days, we spent some time relaxing and we also did some shopping too.

We spend another evening over at Glyn's apartment singing Karaoke, which is a National Pastime here in the Philippines. I read somewhere that Karaoke is to the Filipinos what food is to the Americans. Here are some clips of the Karaoke singing:









The one of me is embarrassing...but remember I had a few beers in me, and, hey, "do as the Romans do."

We are leaving to Bohol today to celebrate New Years. Have a safe and happy one too.

Enjoy the pictures.

Visiting Hong Kong

Glyn and I had a great time in Hong Kong. It was both of our first time actually visiting there. It was Glyn's first time out of the Philippines. We were about the same age when we left our home countries. I was 27 when I went to Bermuda.

We both got in late on Friday from the airport. I got in around 8:00 pm and Glyn got around 12:30 am. We took the train, then a taxi to the hotel. It was around 1:30 am before we got to the hotel. We stayed up even later since we were so excited to see one another after over 10 months!

We got up relatively early on Saturday morning and headed downstairs to have breakfast at the hotel. They had a wonderful buffet breakfast complete with made to order omelettes and waffles. They also had an assortment of various Chinese foods too. It would be hard to give the buffet its proper due without leaving something out...so I will just say it was a big meal.

We then hopped into a taxi and headed to Hong Kong Disneyland! It was Glyn's first time at any Disneyland. I had previously been to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and to Disneyland in California. The Disneyland in Hong Kong is the smallest of all of the Disney parks, which was good because we only had one day there. We could easily get to all of the rides and attractions.

The first thing we did was to go to Space Mountain. This is a classic Disney ride that is in Tomorrowland. It is a roller coaster that is inside...and it is dark. You are given the feeling of riding through space. I had previously been to Space Mountain in both of the Disney parks in the US; however, this was Glyn's first time on any roller coaster.

She was not sure what to expect, but I convinced her it was worth trying out. We went there for the first ride because it is a well known fact that the popular rides get busier as the day goes along. It worked well because Glyn really loved the ride! So after we got off the ride, we got a Fast Pass to get back on later. A Fast Pass allows you to get on a popular attraction without having to stand in line again.

After riding Space Mountain, we slowed it down for the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was like playing a video game in person as we helped Buzz shot various creatures through the ride. We also got to take a picture with Buzz himself! What a treat!

We stayed in Tomorrowland and headed to Autotopia. These are "futuristic" cars that you can drive around. Because Glyn has never driven before, I let her drive as we went around the track. It was funny because the driver's side was on the right, which was standard for Hong Kong.

After the Autotopia ride, we went back to Space Mountain using our Fast Passes. We did not really have to stand in line again for the ride! It was great even the second time of the day.

We then went over to Adventureland! The name sounds so exciting, doesn't it? There we took the Jungle River Cruise. This is another classic Disney ride. We rode on a boat and saw various (mechanical) animals and had lots of laughs as we rode down the river.

After the Jungle River cruise, we relaxed a little and enjoyed a show. We saw the Festival of the Lion King, which was a musical that had all of the songs from the movie. It told the story of the Lion King again. We took some video of it:



It was mostly in English, but they did have a couple of characters that spoke in Cantonese, which the local Chinese dialect, which you can see in this video clip.

After the show, we headed back to Main Street USA and ate at the Corner Cafe. I believe it is the only sit down, service restaurant at this Disneyland. It was around 3:00 at this point, so we were finally starting to get hungry (after our big breakfast).

After our lunch, we headed to another show called The Golden Mickeys. It was an "awards" show that had lots of the Disney characters and songs. This program was mostly in Cantonese, but they did have a screen that showed the English translation, so we could follow along. Here are some clips of the show:







It was a good show...and a very popular one too. There was not an empty seat in the whole auditorium.

After taking in the awards show, we saw another show called Mickey's Philharmagic. (Can you tell that everything revolves around Mickey yet?) This was a great show. We had to put on 3D glasses for the show. Characters and objects were constantly flying in your face. We also got a little wet and could smell some of the smells of what we were seeing (no, not Donald Duck...apple pie). It was a sensory delight.

Next, we were able to catch the Let It Snow Christmas parade. This was one of our favorite things to do while we were there. We got a good spot on the parade path and were able to interact with a lot of the dancers going by. Here are some clips from the parade:









After all of the excitement of the parade, we boarded the Disneyland train that went around the park. It was a pretty nice ride, but we really could not see too much while we were on it. At this point, the sun had gone down, so we headed back over to Main Street USA to watch the lighting of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Led by Mickey (again...he is SO busy), it was a great light show. Here is another clip for you to enjoy:





Are you getting tired yet? We were a little bit by this point, but we knew we had more to go!

We went back to Fantasyland and saw the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We had gotten a Fast Pass for this ride, so we did not have to stand in line again. We followed a story of Winnie the Pooh and friends as we went through the ride.

We then headed back to Sleeping Beauty's Castle for the big moment. As we were walking through the castle, I stopped and said something romantic to Glyn about being in Sleeping Beauty's Castle and then I got on my knee and asked her to marry me. She was very surprised...so surprised that she did not even respond the first time. Luckily, she eventually said "Yes!"

We were both in a daze at this point, so we took some time to go souvenir shopping and take more pictures. We even got our pictures with Mickey and Minnie!

We ended the day at Disneyland with a great fireworks show. See a couple of clips from the show:







What a great day we had there, but at this point we were tired, so we took the train back from Disneyland, and then we boarded a mini-bus to our hotel. We had enough energy to stop at McDonald's to have a snack before we got to the hotel too.

Day 2 was just about as busy as day 1 in Hong Kong. We slept in a little bit before taking a shuttle to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is a downtown area of Kowloon. Here there are many hotels and lots of shopping.

We walked over to Rosary Church for Mass. They had a 12:30 Mass in English. It is an historic church, being founded in 1905. Like the Masses I have attended in the Philippines, it was very much the same as Mass at home. One difference from the Philippine was we actually had air conditioning!

After Mass, we walked over the Peninsula Hotel. This is an historic 5-star hotel in Hong Kong. I had heard about it from a guy from the tobacco shop I go to at home. They are famous for their High Tea.

When we got there, we had to stand in line to wait to be seated for tea, since they do not take reservations. We did not have to wait long because we got there just before they started serving tea.

We enjoyed ourselves very much at the tea. It was Glyn's first time having hot tea. She tried it with no cream, and then later added cream. She didn't really taste much difference between the two, so see just had no cream later. She drank the mango tea, and I tried the Peninsula Afternoon tea.

We also had a tray of finger sandwiches, scones, and some desserts. Both of us did not think it would be filling enough, but we did not even finish the desserts!

While we were eating and drinking, we were entertained by live music, including a children's choir (who both Glyn and I agreed were not very good compared to what we hear in the Philippines). I even enjoyed a glass of egg nog after I saw it was on the menu. I really associate egg nog with Christmas, so it was good to have it. Glyn even tasted some of mine and thought it was good.

After tea, we took some pictures around the hotel, including pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Here is a clip of the Christmas music being played in the lobby at the hotel:



We were going to go up Victoria's Peak after tea, but it was so foggy that day that we knew we would not see anything, so we went a more casual route and headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe. Now, those of you who know me well, know this is what I do when I go to a city...visit the Hard Rock Cafe. I began collecting the pilsner glasses and guitar pins years ago, so it is something of a obsession by now.

So, here we were, my umpteenth time going to Hard Rock Cafe, and it was Glyn's first time. We were full from the tea, so we just got a drink there. We were also very happy to be joined by Glyn's relative Christina. She is Glyn's grandmother's sister's daughter (which I think makes her Glyn's second cousin). She has worked in Hong Kong for 7 years.

We had a good time at the Hard Rock Cafe and then we walked around looking at all of the shops there. We were all amazed at the very high end shopping that was around the city. Let's see, there was Guicci, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Versace, Louis Vuitton, and many more. It was surprising to see lines waiting to get into these stores.

We finally got hungry again for dinner and found a place called Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant. The wait was for an hour, but we thought it looked like a good place so we waited.

Boy, was it worth the wait! The food was very excellent. We had spicy and sour soup, shrimp with chili paste, fried chicken, and crispy duck. It was a very good meal and so much food. We did not even finish everything. Luckily, we could give the rest to Christina to enjoy later.

It was getting late so we headed back to the train, said goodbye to Christina, and took the mini-bus back to the hotel from the train station.

We had to get up early again on Monday and we headed back to the Philippines. As you can see, we were so busy, but there was so much we did not do. We are both looking forward to visiting Hong Kong again some day!

Don't forget to look at the many pictures too!