Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Hong Kong Globetrotters

"Globetrotter" is what my brother tagged Elena, Elsa and I. It all started when we showed our support to our dear Elena and went with her all the way to HK.
We left before midnight of July 18, 2006. Cebu Pacific 5J 143 arrived late and so was, our flight. We landed at Hong Kong International Airport by midnight. A kababayan fetch us at the airport and led us to our official vacation house. It was a 3-room condo unit on the 5th floor of a building found at Tai Wo St. corner Wan Chai Road. It is very accessible to major transportation units - near MRT station and bus stops.

Armed with only a map and an octupus card, we toured the city the next day. We met Elena at HK park after her exam. While she was knocking her brain out in answering her exam, we were enjoying the sites at HK park. We've witnessed a number of pre-nups, family day-outs, barkada gimmicks and picture-addicts tourist just like us. Elena finally aarived at around 1PM and joined us in our 1st HK lunch.

After the "diet" lunch we hiked, as in hiked the city, until we reached #33 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong or most popularly called The Peak Tram.

The Peak Tram is a double reversible funicular railway, 1.4km long with a gradient of 4-27 degrees, rising from 28m to 396m above sea level. It was said that the tramway was officially opened by then Governor, Sir William Des Vouex in May 1888...talk about history!

The Peak Tram
How to get there:
(1) on foot: exit from MTR Central Statio J2 or walk across the HK Park from Admiralty (approx 10 mins)
(2) by Shuttle bus: #15C from Star ferry Concourse in Central
(3) by taxi :p
The trip was awesome. The feeling of being hauled up perpendicular to the ground was something everyone should try. The view is exhilarating especially at the top. At the Peak, we maximize our stay by trekking the 2.6Km road encircling the mountain top. It was unintentional at first, but as we go farther and farther from the Tram station, we decided to finish the trek (not knowing that it was inded a 2.6km long)
The view was magnificent. So magnificent that we took half of our trip pictures during the trek. We can't stop posing at every oppurtunity we had. Talk about loving the camera.

It was mid-afternoon when we decided we had enough of the Peak and heade to Kowloon Island. We were the shiny happy people by the time we reached Kowloon Island. No time for tiouch ups ha!

At Kowloon Island, we took time to see what Temple street has to offer. As thrifty as we were, believe it, we didn't bought a thing. Here is where we decided to have our authentic Hong Kong cuisine. We must be very hungry 'coz we consumed all our food in no time.





We ended our day by hanging out by the Pier. We were lucky, we were arrived in time for the Aquafantasia and light show . We had our leisure walk at the Avenue of Stars, as if our energy were not yet consumed by our dawn till dusk activities. The plan to end our day by visiting a local night club didn't push through. All because Harry Potter 2 was showing on HBO that night. :P... or our tiredness overcome us when our backs were laid to our comfy beds and used Harry as the excuse. :)
The next 2 days in HK were spent in Lantau Island and Ocean Park. Just like our 1st day, the next 2 days were filled with dawn till dusk activities that left no room for idle time ;p
(Hong Kong July 18-21, 2006)










Saturday, July 16, 2005

Jakarta's Namaste

On Dec 26 2004 and January 2005, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The epicentre was located under sea water at 3.32N 95.85E. This is the 4th largest earthquake in the rold since 1900. The earthquake generated tsunamis which swept across the Indian Ocean within hours. Over 120,000 people lost their lives in this disaster. Areas near the epicentre in Indonesia, especially Banda Aceh, were devastated by the earthquakes and Tsunamis. The Tsunamis also affected Phuket and surrounding area in Thailand, Penang in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and places as far as Somali in Africa.

Summer of 2005 paved way to an oppurtunity to help people beyond limits of my native land. My friends and I travelled 2,782 km. (1,729mi) to be one of our countries' envoy to Indonesia. This came true due to the efforts of East Asia Women Peace Award Foundation, INC and in cooperation with Philippine Airlines.

Thanks to Ms Roselyn E. Magsaysay (Chairperson/Founding president) and Ms Minerva De Leon (Secretary General) of East Asia Women Peace Award Foundation, INC and Ms. Lenny Prasetya of KIWANI, Indonesia, for making the Jakarta Medical Mission a reality.

We stayed at Jl Purwakarta 1, Jakarta 10310 Indonesia through the efforts of Sr Petronella Lie, SCMM of KOPTARI (Konferensi Pemimpin Tarekat Religius Indonesia). The original plan was to bring our team to Banda Aceh. However, due to security and transportation problems in Banda Aceh, our medical mission was relocated to Jakarta, Indonesia.
(Jakarta, Indonesia April 15 -18, 2005)