4 HONG KONG: FIRST TIME TO SET FOOT IN A FOREIGN SOIL

Leading to boarding the plane, I had the assurance that I’m going to set my first foot on a foreign country. The moment the plane took off, I’m a bit thrilled. I know its going to be welcome Hong Kong! However my heart still worried, what if’s questions still on my mind. What if these Hong Kong staff notice my red eyes? What gonna happen next?!

I had the mixed emotions on top of the earth. I was happy for my second fly yet my brain still thinking of what if’s. Nakakabaliw! Sea of clouds entertained my eyes and minutes later I feel bored so I had the power nap after filling all the information needed for arrival card distributed by flight attendants.

Hong Kong Immigration form to fill up, and Octopus Card. 

Finally, after more than two hours of flying, wheels touched down. I was excited. I can call myself a foreigner. My eyes were busy looking outside; I wanna know how HK looked like. I glanced across the wide airyspace. Clustered around the airport were different planes. There were pettite and gigantic buffalo planes. Kung kanina sa Clark, nalalakihan ako sa Cebu Pacific pero sobrang nanliit siya sa Cathay Pacific. My goodness, I can’t imagine how these big planes fly. I can’t help but to take picture of it. I feel so amazed. Nakaka promdi ng sobra..hayy patawad naman. FYI: The Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger plane. It is also the heaviest and the costliest commercial passenger aircraft ever built. If you want to buy it, it will cost you more than $300 million apiece. The super jumbo is gigantic, like a Titanic in the sky. It's tail stands seven stories high; and the plane is as wide as a soccer field, strectching 260 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It is also as long as two blue whales. Source

The Gigantic Buffalo Plane

My heart was pounding as I heard my footsteps coming down the solid board. I felt the vibrations through my head to legs. My eyes began to manoeuvre around the area. Comparisons rolled over my head, I felt like I owned the place. This is it.

The Hong Kong International Airport is really huge. It seems like it housed a single city in Metro Manila. The facilities were excellent, centralized air con, ceilings were too high. I started seeing singkit people and Chinese letters. I know I'm not dreaming anymore. I'm also surprised with this walklator, I'm not tired of walking yet but I opt to try this moving walkways. Nakakamangha! FYI: Hong Kong International Airport is the 10^th largest airport in the world. Please click here to check the top 10 largest airports in the World.

The Walkalators

To picture out how big the airport is, after passing these walkalators and buzzing around the escalators I thought there was no ending. I was again wowed when I saw the train. We need to ride trains to get into the entrance section. Fantastic.

Trains arrived every after a minute.

Approaching to immigration counters, worried again for my sickness. I dunno what will happen next, I was again holding my scapular asking for a little help. I understand that they will be asking routine questions like - When is your flight back to Manila? How much money you have? Where will you stay? How many days you will be staying?

I gave my passport and look at the officer. She stared my face once or twice just to verify the photo. I was ready for the questions; couple of seconds later I heard the scanner and stamps. Gotcha! No questions thrown. I got it.

Next

We went to triage to purchase an Octopus card; my partner has the card already so I need one for myself. Initial deposit is $50, minimum stored value is $100 but we chose to preload our cards for $200. This $50 will be refunded once you surrender the card upon leaving the country. I didn’t return the card for souvenir. Hehe.

It is wise to purchase an Octopus card because you gonna need it to any form of transportation, whether MTR or Bus, also accepted at any convenience stores and fast food chains. No need to worry of any change or cash. For more info, please refer to their official website here.

After all the stuffs, we get to bus terminal that will bring us to Tsim Sha Tsui. We boarded A21, a double decker airbus. I only saw it from foreign movies. I chose to board on the upper deck, just to experience.

The AirBus. Going to Tsim Sha Tsui, always refer to A21 mark.

Upper Deck view

Passing thru the bridge. Clean and Smooth roadways.

Tsim Sha Tsui is the 13^th station but no need to worry if you forgot to count the bus stops, there’s a screen in front of the decks to tell you the next station in both Chinese and English translations with voice over. Otherwise, you can see a huge signage for every bus stop. On our way to Tsim Sha Tsui, it was an hour ride and again my eyes were gaze outside. The whole ride was fast yet comfortable; the roads were smooth and very easy to manoeuvre. I also noticed that the driver position on the right side.

Arriving on our stop, my partner walk around and get to Burlington House where the Taisan Guest House located, it is on the 15^th floor 58 Nathan Road. It’s his second time in Hong Kong same guest house so we had no problem on finding the place. Taisan has two separate guest houses located on the same building. We went to Ally’s place an Indonesian caretaker and gave us bigger room for one night only and costs $480 [P 2640], then transfer building B for the next three days of stay and costs $350 [P 1925], bit smaller but it was fine, our room has a fascinating view outside where the tallest building can be seen. FYI:The tallest building in Hong Kong is the 118-storey International Commerce Centre, which was completed in 2010 and rises 484 metres (1588 feet). It also stands as the 2^nd tallest building in People’s Republic of China and 5^th tallest building in the world. Wikipedia.

Outside Burlington House. Logo in red means MTR

I met Ate Yolly, Pinoy caretaker and gave us a very good deal. She sells all the tickets at discounted rates on our - Sky Terrace, Macau via Cotai Jet, Ngong Ping 360 and Ocean Park tours.

Lively Granville Street.

Less Traffic. Clean Roads.

Next stop. Explore Hong Kong!!!