18th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

The Hot Air Balloon Event has been running for the 18th time, and I can't imagine why it is only now that I experienced this.

Held at the Clarkfield in Pampanga, we left our home at around 4:00AM to catch the 6:30AM lift off for the hot air balloons. The traffic was crazy, the droves of spectators were the craziest. But all was worth it, the reactions from my kids were priceless.

 

Kian was definitely amazed and excited when he saw Mr. Sun and his favorite fire truck taking off.

 

 

Despite the pain in my shoulders and arms from carrying Kian, as long as he got a good view of the show, i really didn't mind at all.

 

 

One of the greater highlights of the fiesta; The Breitling Aerobatics Jet Team. I heard it was their first time to perform in Asia. This is just something I used to watch in Youtube or TV, but now I am just as happy as my kids were to be a witness to this.

 

Though we left just before noon with a lot still in store in the afternoon, I will really make it a mission to seeing all the attractions next year.

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 3

Day 3 in Hong Kong and we were still up and about, despite experiencing pain in our legs and feet from all the walking in day 2, we tried suppressing it by all these Chinese liniments that were being sold by the alleys. (Or the fact that I'm just getting old)

On the agenda that morning was the Peak; where the tram was climbing at a very steep slope which felt definitely above a 45 degree angle. (My wife having flashbacks of Space Mountain)

 

 

The view from the Peak was a bit breathtaking.

 

 

But for me, the main attraction at The Peak was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

 

 

And yes, I couldn't help it, but I just had to take these foolish photos with these personalities.

 

@Adolf - "My Furher!"

@David - "Goal"

@Ip Man - "My Kung-Fu is better than yours!"

 

 

@T-Woods - "Yep, I think we should go with the tire iron on this one."

 

@ A.Hepburn - "Thank you for breakfast Holly."

 

 

And that pretty much wraps up our morning with the celebrities. We then had late lunch right outside The Peak, where they had a mini-mall, and ate at Mak's Noodle. Which I think is very famous since it had all these clippings featured in several magazines even in Time.

 

 

That late afternoon and evening we went shopping for the kids and on our 4th and final day it was simply just waiting for our ride to the airport, but before that, we went on a food trip, the last hurrah to savor what Hong Kong has to offer.

 

 

And so, just as the menu above says...relax for a while. And this trip has definitely been just that.

 

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 1

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 2

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 2

Our 2nd day in Hong Kong brought us to the magical land of Disney. And my only mission here was to convince my wife to ride Magic Mountain.

 

Unfortunately, we only managed to get our photos taken with Donald and Daisy Duck. The lines of course to Mickey were really long.

 

First on the agenda, It's A Small World.

 

 

Next up, we headed to Main St. to witness the Parade.

 

 

And then, off to priority mission number one, Space Mountain. During the ride, I am almost sure I heard alot of swearing coming from my wife, but she made it and her closing remarks...she's not happy about Space Mountain.

 

 

We pretty much had about 6 hours left before our tour bus would pick us up, and most of the other rides and shows were really for kids, which we decided to just experience them when we go back to Disney with the little ones.

 

So I made a decision to head for the Big Buddha in Po Lin Monastery.

 

 

At first my wife was excited about the idea, but when she finally saw how we were getting to the Buddha, I think I heard some more swearing.

 

 

After 25 minutes we finally reached the top, and decided to take a snack before climbing the steps of the Buddha; and Ebeneezer's Kebabs was the obvious choice.

 

 

On the way to the Buddha, we came across the statues of the Twelve Divine Generals.

 

 

May Buddha bless us. Unfortunately we weren't able to explore the inside of Po Lin Monastery as we were rushing to catch the last cable car ride down the mountain, (which was a bit scary because it was already dark and there was no light inside the cable car), and hoping to still catch the fireworks back at Disneyland.

 

 

The fireworks display lasted for about 15 minutes, and it was spectacular. Thank you Disney for a fun filled day.

 

Next up, The Peak and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum for Day 3.

 

 

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 1

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 3



 

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 1

In the past years, we would normally celebrate our anniversary here in Manila, but for our 5th year (Wooden Anniversary), we were treated to a wonderful anniversary trip to Hong Kong, a gift from Mother dearest.

It's been like 9 years since I was last in Hong Kong, and the last time I kinda just stayed in the hotel as I was just tagging along with my Mom on a business trip. But this time, I had the chance to see the real sights of HK.

 

Upon arriving in HK, we weren't able to check-in just yet as there were no rooms available in the hotel. So we decided to see what the nearest malls have to offer.

 

 

We then decided to have lunch at a familiar place, Yoshinoya, since we did not really know yet where the good restos are; then had some coffee and dessert at Pacific Coffee Co.

 

 

In the late afternoon, we headed to our first attraction, The Avenue of the Stars.

 

 

 

The 4 pillars of Kung-Fu: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat.

 

 

The Shredded Squid was very addictive! After which we got really hungry and looked for a nice place for dinner; ending up in this Japanese restaurant, Jika Udon.

 

 

I also came across this memorabilia place that paid tribute to the GOAT - Greatest Of All Time, His Airness Michael Jordan.

 

 

Well, that was enough for one day. Off to Disneyland on Day 2!!

 

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 2

I'm a Tourist: Hong Kong Day 3