Hong Kong: All Girls Only

Yes, yet another Hong Kong trip....but this time it was just all girls: Mom, Tita Belen, Bang, Elizza and me. And yes, we HAD to schedule a trip that was going to be filled with eating, eating, and more eating right before the wedding, didn't we? Hehehehe.

And that was all that we did, really. Eat, eat, eat. It is DANGEROUS to have Bang in charge of the food, I swear. She will schedule ALL three meals and they won't be fast food kind of eating either. It's a must-be-sitting dining experience! Hahahaha! I give her a hard time about it, but the truth of the matter is, we wouldn't be able to try all sorts of food if it weren't for Bang, our food connosieur (sp?).

So here's a recap of our mainly eating-and-shopping trip to Hong Kong:

June 15

We take the first flight out of Manila, even Mom! I guess it's easier without Dad tagging along; we can move much faster and we can do the early flights no prob! :)

We arrive in Hong Kong, take the Airport Express to the Kowloon side and then board the bus to go to the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel. Mom and Tita B get down at one of the stops so that it would be closer to this shop where Tita B can have her Rolex watch cleaned.

And we have this NIGHTMARISH, stupid bus driver who totally misses our stop!!! Aaargh!!! And so we start yelling and say hello, you've missed our hotel! So he turns the bus around not once or twice around the SAME block, but THREE times!! What an IDIOT!!! To make matters worse, he stops the bus a good 50 meters AWAY from the entrance of the hotel, ACROSS the street!!! Then he tells us to go down! Elizza and Bang look at each other and then look at me. I tell the bus driver in my sungit, loud voice: "NO! We have 5 bags and there are 3 of us, we can't possibly drag all those bags across the street. Take us to our hotel." I refused to say please because I was super duper pissed by this time.

So the driver drives his bus some 10 meters away and stops. He turns to us and says, "wait for the next trip." Uhmmm HELLO!!!!! What an IMBECILE!!! I say in a LOUDER voice, "NO! We paid our fare, now take us to our hotel NOW!" So the idiotic driver makes a show of looking at his watch and shaking his head...all of which obviously UNMOVE me, and he stops right in front of our hotel!

I mean, REALLY! If he had done this in the FIRST place instead of going around the block several times, he would still be on time for his route! Sheesh! What an IDIOT!

***
We were of course pretty famished at this point and we all searched for the nearest restaurant. Bang led us to the Chinese Kitchen, some noodle house, where our dear Mother actually sat on a STOOL in a restaurant! Hahahaha! I wish I had pics of her now, but they're still with Lai who was the only one who brought a small camera :) The food was good, and if you love sweet and sour pork, this is THE place to get it! So Dic, pay heed! :) It's right opposite the Marco Polo Hotels, so it's hard to miss.

***
And we shopped. We went to Granville and Ocean Terminal. Because lunch was at 1 or 2 pm AND we still had afternoon tea at about 4 pm, we jokingly said that dinner was going to be at 10 pm, much to Bang's horror, hehehe. And we shopped. And shopped. And shopped. I even bought a new laptop case (roller bag) AND a new suitcase because it was such a great deal! :) Dinner? We had it at Spring Deer at a little bit past 10 pm, hehehe. And Bang survived *wink*.

June 16

We get up early so that we would make the early buses to Stanley Market. Again, for the first time that we can remember, our dear Mother rode the bus all the way to Stanley Market, a good hour away, hehehe.

What Granville was before with all its export overruns and brand names, it was Stanley Market again. AND, the best part was, because it catered to expats, I had sizes! Glorious array of sizes! Hehehe.

We didn't have any breakfast, but Bang was prepared: she had set aside a whole roll of Ritz crackers with cheese in her purse. She brought this out and we pretty much inhaled everything, downed with some bottled water from Watson's.

And we shopped. And shopped. Then we had lunch over at this Italian restaurant by the bayside. It was simply delish, and had portions big enough to satisfy me (and Bang, hehehe).

And we shopped. And shopped. Until our arms couldn't hold any more shopping bags. With much sadness (LOL!) we left Stanley Market aboard a taxi. We figured we'd get to the hotel faster and that our shopping bags were safer in the trunk of a cab rather than the aisles of a bus!

So we took our trunk-ful of shopping bags, had the porter bring them up to our rooms (again, Lai has a pic of this, hehehe) and we segragated everything. Lai and Bang went to Mongkok while Mom, Tita B and I went to Ocean Terminal.

And we shopped. And shopped. Anyone see the pattern here yet? Hehehehe. We had dinner at about 9 pm I think; it was in a seafood restaurant in Ocean Terminal, so it was nice and near. After another delish dinner complete with a carafe of orange juice, we shopped again while walking back to the hotel! Hehehehe. I told you this was a tale of shopping and eating!

We pretty much closed Ocean Terminal. When we got back to our room, we frenziedly started packing. One thing of note here: Mom did NOT have a suitcase when she went to Hong Kong; she and Tita B shared ONE suitcase. However, after ALL the shopping we just did, she had filled her brand new suitcase to its seams! Hahhahaha! And for the life of us (Mom and me), we couldn't figure out what she bought that would fill up a whole suitcase!

I am proud to report that I managed to squeeze in a double session of YOGA whilst in Hong Kong! I definitely needed to, with all the eating we did!

June 17

We went to mass at 845 am at Rosary Church on Chatham Road. The church was filled with Filipinas, and the walls resounded with the loud singing :). The priest was another story, though. His voice just droned on and on and on; no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT stay awake during the homily!

After mass, we took a taxi back to the hotel. We asked the concierge where a nice restaurant was that served breakfast dimsum. This was where Bang was going to bring us that first day, but she thought it was closed for renovation.

So we walked the couple of blocks to the restaurant and went on up to the 3rd level. The place was full, being that it was Father's Day, but we managed to get a table for us. And we ate. And ate. And ate. Dimsum platters kept coming to our table and in the end, Mom ate a WHOPPING FOUR siopaos and Bang had three. The people next to our table kept looking at us and wondering how and why we could eat so much! Hahahaha! This was our cheapest meal, too! :) Sorry, forgot the name, but Bang should know.

***
We did some last minute shopping before returning to the hotel where we checked out at 1 pm. We went to the In-Town Check In Center and then took the Airport Express to the airport. Where we shopped at the Disney Store. I got the kids some cute little pens and some chocolate at the Duty Free Stores.

We went up to the Lounge where we ate some more, hehehe. I mean, what else could you do if you had some 3 hours to spare before boarding time?!!?

***
Back in Manila

We finally arrive in Manila and we go straight to Masas, a Filipino fusion restaurant in Greenbelt, Makati. Pretty good food...but I ordered from their Spanish sister restaurant, Cena. Yes, we ate some more! The rest of the family met up there to break bread together to celebrate Father's Day.

***
And THAT, in a nutshell, was our all-girls' trip to Hong Kong.

TTFN!