For all Iphone users out there under the Globe tie-in, listen up!  Globe has an automatic mobile internet connection that it AUTOMATICALLY connects your iphone to. 

Case in point:

-Say you’re connected to a free wi-fi and the signal falters, yet you’re still connected to the net and downloading stuff seamlessly.  Why?  Because Globe has jumped in.

-Using GPS or weather apps?  Yep, using Globe.

-Updating scores online? Still Globe.

Now this type of available internet is very, very convenient, but at the same time, can get very, very expensive.  Unbeknownst to you, your iphone has been connected to the Globe internet for around 48 hours straight and your bill has now ballooned so big you can cry. 

Don’t fret! There is a solution that Globe knows but does not disclose – well at least not voluntarily.  Calling them irate due to your super huge running bill can get them to tell you a super handy trick though

So here it is!

Step 1: Go to Settings.

Step 2: Choose General

Step 3: Choose Network

Step 4: Choose Cellular Data Network.

For Globe subscribers, the APN value is defaulted to “internet.globe.com.ph.”  This enables you to connect to their internet service. The trick is to invalidate the url such that you will not successfully connect to the network when you did not choose to do so.  To do this, you can simply remove the “.ph” from the APN.  When you would want to actually connect, just return the “ph” and remember to edit again afterwards!

Given my previous post on our Hong Kong trip, our itinerary also included an overnight stay at Macau just to tour around some of the spots.

The first thing we did during the planning was to find out how to get from HK to Macau.  This is what we got:

1. Ride the A11 bus from the HKIA in Lantau to get to Sheung Wan Station in Hong Kong Island.  (Cost HKD40)

2.Buy a turbo jet ticket at the Shun Tak Centre. This is where the ferries going off to Macau are.

3. When you get to the Macau terminal, look for the free shuttle buses that most hotels have just parked outside.  This will take you straight to your hotel.

In our case, we chose to stay at the Hotel Sintra.  This hotel is within walking distance of Senado Square, plus is very affordable.  The

Our room at Hotel Sintra

rooms are decent and spacious so I would really recommend this one.  The downside to this though is that their front desk really knows little english. It was quite difficult communicating with them, and when we had to repeat the arrangement a couple of times (because we couldn’t understand!), well let’s just say she wasn’t too happy about that. :s

From our hotel, we headed to Senado Square around early afternoon for a late lunch and to visit the Ruins of St. Paul. Since we wanted to try Macanese cuisine, we chose not to eat at those fastfood and chose THS Honolulu.  Again, the language can be a problem when ordering since they know very very very little English. The food

Ruins of St. Paul, Senado Square

though was generally Okay, their servings were a lot so sharing a dish is possible for those who don’t eat that much.  After eating, we basically just walked the entire Senado Square to visit the different churches, boutiques, etc. with the walk culminating at the Ruins of St. Paul. The Ruins is indeed a marvel to look at given that only the facade can be seen.  It’s also great for Photo Ops! You’d just have to get an angle where there aren’t that much “other” people in the pic(and there will be, trust me).

After a tiring day at Senado Square, we headed back to our hotel to freshen up and prepare for our trip to the Casinos First stop, we made sure we went out a little before 8 so that we could walk to Wynn to see their

The WYNN Fountain show

fountain show.  The walk proved to be worth it as the fountain show (though short) was great! The fountain danced to the tune of Colors of the Wind and is totally free!  You could just walk up to the fountain side to watch it.  After watching the show, we headed back to our Hotel to catch the free shuttle bus to the City of Dreams.

TIP: be sure to get the booklet/flyers of the City of Dreams before riding the shuttle (these are free)

The Bubble Show (It's FREE!)

and it is there that you can get the free ticket to watch the Bubble show.

What is the Bubble show?  It’s pretty hard to describe as this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it.  Well, you walk into this big big dome, and you watch a show of lights and effects that encompasses the whole ceiling.  It’s really a must watch, more so since it’s F-R-E-E. It basically showcases a history of the City of Dreams.

After watching the Bubble show (and taking a quick tour of the Casino), we then headed to the Venetian.  Too bad for us, we got there too late that most of the shops and restos were closed – not to mention the Gondola Rides! Well of course, having the “bewitched” ceiling that they do, it still looked bright as day inside ).  Soo we just had dinner there, and afterwards, again caught the free shuttle back to the Macau Ferry Port, and from there, the free shuttle to our hotel.

The next day was pretty uneventful in Macau since it was our scheduled return to Hong Kong.  BUT, before we did go, we made sure to get one ‘em famous egg tarts! We bought some in Senado Square, and it is DIVINE.  Until now, I still have cravings for it, and would then have to rush to a Lord Stow’s bakeshop just to get a taste.  But nothing beats the one in Macau though.  When you’re in Macau – the egg tarts? is a must try.

Egg Tart! Yum!

Overall a trip to Macau is not that expensive given that getting around is free! Just make sure you get to watch out for the Shuttle buses since you can basically ride any of them – even if you don’t stay at that particular hotel.

4 months ago I luckily chanced upon securing a promo ticket for a round trip Manila-Hong Kong flight (via Cebu Pacific Air) for 4 for only PHP 11, 292.00.  This brought individual tickets to only PHP 2823.00.  Great deal? DEFINITELY.  The only downside to the whole thing was having to withstand 4 long months of excitement and anticipation.

Being a group of “first-timers”, a friend and I decided to take the reins and spent countless hours of research on the net for any tips, secrets, dos, dont’s, must trys and what have yous we can find about HK-ing. Thanks to websites such as tripadvisor, pinoyexchange and loads of others (hit google and you’ll know what I mean), we were able to come up with a comprehensive (more or less) tourist guide for taking on our HK Adventure. And, after all the months of waiting, the date finally came ->

Sept 8-12, 2009

September 8

- A day dedicated to exploring MACAU.  I will be writing a separate 101 for this, so stay tuned!

September 9

<Start>

Itinerary:

• Settle in at our HK Hotel
• Visit Victoria Peak/Madame Tussauds

Being the long sleepers that we all were (and after jam-packed prior day in Macau), we woke up pretty late, took our time dressing up, and finally got to check out at the hotel at half-past 12. Immediately after this, we rode the free hotel shuttle to the Macau Ferry Pier to head back to Hong Kong Island.  We rode the Turbo Jet for HKD 142.00 each and were already back in Sheung Wan ready to take the MTR to Causeway Bay.  Coming out of Causeway Bay, we made our way to our hotel to check in and freshen up at sometime past 2PM-3PM.  After confirming the directions to the Victoria Peak from our front desk, we trooped on out down to the world down under (aka the MTR) at around 5.

To get to Victoria Peak from Sharp Street East, Causeway Bay (Times Square Mall):

Signs to the Peak!

1. Ride the MTR From Causeway Bay to Admiralty (Island Line)
2. Get out at Exit B or C to Hong Kong Park
3. Trek around the park (follow the signs, they’re everywhere!)
4. Trek around the park (I’ll repeat this step since this is a LOOOONG walk – no kidding)
5. 

   Peak Terminal

   Arrive at the Peak Tram Station!

Once at the Peak Tram Station, we all bought our Combo tickets (2-way tram ride and Madame Tussaud’s entrance) for HKD 190.00. Once you get there you’ll pass by souvenir shops (The Peak Market), food stalls/restaurants before getting to the view deck.  Since we wanted to get the day/night view of the HK skyline, we headed straight up to the view deck and “wrestled” with all the tourists up there for a spot at the deck where we could take a picture of view.

TIPS!

1. Watch out for the official photographers of the Peak.  Theyre in the middle of the viewing deck where you can pay to get your pictures taken. For non-Chinese speaking people, the way they ask people to move away from the spot where they will be taking the pictures, would seem awfully rude (like they were shouting). Anyway, I’m sure they weren’t.  I didn’t have a Chinese-speaking interpreter to tell me what they were saying, but anyway, just don’t take things personally
2. People generally  crowd around in the area towards the right of the doorway, along with the deck there.  BUT, if you go to the left side of the doorway instead, you’ll still get good angles for your shots, with a LOT less hustle and bustle.

Since Madame Tussauds closes at 10, we decided to head on there around 2-3 hours before their closing time to allow for sufficient time to take pics with the figures.  I can only imagine what Madame Tussauds in the US must be like (all those famous celebs must be there!) but the Madame Tussauds in HK does not disappoint.  There are some who are not so known to me personally but I especially liked gawking at celebrity images of some more than the others   Here are my Top 15 (not in order):

1. Nicole Kidman (such a beautiful woman!)
   

   Nicole Kidman!

2. Brangelina (I’m not a fan of the Missus, but hey, its Brad!!)
3. The British Royalty
4. Princess Diana
5. William Shakespeare
6. The American Presidents
7. Einstein
8. Pierce Brosnan (Be a Bond Girl!)
9. Marilyn Monroe
10. Johnny Depp
11. Indiana Jones (okay okay, Harrison Ford)
12. DAVID BECKHAM (need I say more?)
13. Yao Ming
14. Michael Jackson
15. The Beatles

You’d need to mind the time though since most food places are closed (both at the Peak and the Galleria), or about to close at around the closing time of Madame Tussauds.  If you can’t wait any longer, there are fastfood restos (like Burger King) there that can tide you over.  When we headed back down to the bottom of the Peak (aww), we were too tired to do any more walking that we decided to take a cab back to Causeway Bay for HKD 60.00 (Hong Kong residents – was that price too much??)

<End >

September 10 – DISNEY DAY!!!

<Start>

We left earlier this day.   We headed over to Central via MTR to visit the World Wide House Bldg for cheap-er Disneyland Tickets.  I believe we could have gotten a better deal somewhere in Kowloon but since that was too far from where we are, we decided to go for the HKD 320.00 offer from the Travel Easy Agency. After getting our tickets, we were all set to go to Lantau so we headed back down, walked the long walk to the Tung Chung line from the Island Line, and got to the Citygate Outlet Mall for a little bit of shopping before Disney.  Getting there at nearly 12, we barely had time to really look around before we had to get a quick lunch and leave Citygate at 2pm.  Although  we didn’t really get to see much stuff to buy at the Outlet shops as things were pretty much more expensive than we had expected.  Reading up on a lot of raves about the place, we had expected to see drop down discounts and low prices but were quite diasppointed to find that this was not the case.  But then again, maybe its just me being kuripot (translation: too thrifty).  So for those with bulkier pockets, it is still recommended to go to the place and check it out for yourself

Disney Train!

So at around 3PM we arrive at Disney (after a fab time at the Disney train! – real cute!) only to be greeted by the park attendants with “All outdoor rides are closed due to the typhoon signal, would you still want to go in?”  FYI, the signal was at no. 3 by then.  Hmm.. that really made us think.  But seeing as how we headed all the way out there and with not much HK days left on our calendar, we decided to go for it.

I can say that the decision was a good choice even with the setbacks.  We still got to enjoy the parade, shopping and photo ops around the park (albeit the rain), Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters (this was fun!), Small World, Philharmagic, the Golden Mickeys, Stitch Encounter, and of course, the Fireworks. I have been to Disneys in the US, so for those who have as well, just keep an open mind and try to start fresh with the HK version.  It’s a bit smaller than the other parks, you’d have to read some translations as some are spoken in Chinese, the parade is shorter, the fireworks are less grand… – but I would not discount the fact that it was a magical experience nonetheless.

After Disney, we headed back to Causeway Bay for a late dinner (again!) at City Super, Times Square at the Triple O.  I would have to give a thumbs up to this place for serving us food even until their closing and for their large and yummy combo meals.

<End >

September 11 – SHOPPING

<Start>

And so I got a bit sick the night before – colds, cough, a slight fever (no, it was not H1N1), and it was still raining a bit, that we decided to relax and just get through the day at a slow pace.  At around 130PM, we headed out (umbrellas at hand) and decided to cross to Kowloon to do a bit of shopping.  Once in Kowloon, we first looked for the famous HK street food or what we tourists would call auth dimsum! Finding one very near the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station (just across Kowloon Park), we took our seats in the small Golden Lake restaurant and ordered our noodle soups and dimsum plates. I would have to say give the ff. reviews:

• their dimsum IS very good
• the service is really fast
• the prices are reasonable
• the place is really small
• you’d have to eat fast so as not to keep the table for too long

After we’ve had our fill of dimsum, we decided to walk the streets of Kowloon specifically going down Nathan Road, and around the area of Granville Road.  We went in and out of the shops as quickly as we could searching for the best possible deals. Not all the boutiques in

Kowloon streets

the area would suit the Filipino budget shopper.  Where tops and dresses are at an average of HKD 100-150, I believe this is not the bargains one would be looking for. BUT, if you’re patient enough and meticulous enough, you’d be able to buy dresses for HKD 50-80 , flip flops for HKD 25, men’s polo shirts for HKD 75-80.  Not bad right?  All in all, I think our shopping time was either or both too short and bad timing (since the sales are over?).  Again, I expected to buy a LOT more than the ones I did.  Mind you I was able to buy 18-20+ items, but I think that a trip down to the markets (temple street, ladies market, etc) would have made me more satisfied.  On a side note, I wish the acid throwing in Mongkok would stop so that tourists would no longer be afraid to head to the area.

Eggettes?

After snacking on Egg Balls (are these the same as the eggettes?), we ended our shopping craze at around 7 (our legs were tired and our bags were heavy) and decided to eat dinner at the Charlie Brown Cafe on Cameron Road(this makes for great pictures!).  After some last minute shopping on the shops we passed by on the way to the MTR station, we headed back to the our hotel at around 10:30 PM and decided to do some packing and sleeping since our flight leaves really early the next day.

Thus, my adventure in the Hong Kong streets ends here (some of my companions went around Causeway Bay after we got back to the hotel, but then, that’s their story ).

<End >

Random Tips:

• If you can, plot out your itinerary and destinations, mode of transportation, etc. ahead of time so you could estimate how much it would take to get there.  For those riding the MTRs a lot in 1 day, consider getting the 1-day unlimited passes since it might give you some savings.
• Settle on an area of concentration, if your agenda are mostly in the Kowloon area, get a hotel there, if its in Hong Kong, then stay there. This will reduce your travel time and cost between the islands.
• Make sure to get a map (if you can, prior to your trip), or up0n arriving – at the HK airport.  No tourist should leave their hotels without it!

On a final note, I would just like to commend how organized and orderly everything is in Hong Kong – this is from the point of view of a tourist.  Their public transportation is so efficient that one could do away with the tour guides and just plan a trip themselves.  With their intricate and very safe and newbie-friendly MTR lines, along with an organized bus route, going places in Hong Kong is a cinch!  I seriously had a lot of fun, and would definitely plan a trip back here sometime soon.  I most probably will be going back for better shopping the next time around too

For any tips on hotels, shopping places, or anything HK, feel free to drop me a message so I could plan my trip even better on my next visit