When my family and I booked our trip to the Philippines (blog post here), we knew that we wanted to take a side trip too. My cousins have been to Hong Kong before and connected us with a travel agent and we thought, let's do it! We booked our trip for 4 days and 3 nights at Panda Hotel.
Day 1 Highlights
From Manila to Hong Kong, the flight was about 2 hours. When we got to our hotel it was around lunch time so that was our first venture. Panda Hotel's location is more local than it is touristy. It was honestly pretty difficult to order food because of the language barrier so if I could redo this trip, I'd research nearby places and plan more diligently. Day 1 was spent unwinding from our travels but Panda Hotel has this shuttle bus service that takes you to Tsim Sha Tsui for free!
Day 2 Highlights
The next day we started our morning exploring more of Hong Kong. We went to Aberdeen Fishing Village and had a boat tour. Also on the itinerary were going to the Golden Bauhinia Square, a jewelry manufacturer and a souvenir shop. At the jewelry manufacturer, the sales people were very pushy and almost invasive. Once they saw you eyeing something or browsing, they will stick with you and not leave you alone lmao. Finally we got to the part I looked forward to the most, DISNEYLAND! I've never been to any Disney park before so my childhood dreams came true. It was honestly so magical, I felt my happiest at Disney. I heard Hong Kong Disneyland was not as crowded as the Disney parks in America yess! I fully understand why it's called the happiest place in the world.
Day 3 Highlights
We started our day early and our coach bus took us to the ferry boat that takes you to Macau. The ride was about an hour and oh my goodness, bring your gravol! Thank God the boat had free wifi because it helped me distract myself from all the motion. We were in Macau until about 2pm and then went back to our hotel. I heard that Macau was beautiful at night. I think that we spent the rest of the day exploring areas near our hotel, and I finally got to squeeze in a workout at the hotel's gym.
Day 4 Highlights
Our final day. My cousin and I woke up, went to the gym and then utilized the hotel's pool! Check-out was at I think 11am but our flight wasn't until around 10pm. Luckily, we were able to leave our baggages at the hotel concierge and with the travel agency, we had a coach bus picking us up at I think around 7pm from the hotel to take us to the airport. We explored more of the area around us. Panda Hotel has like a mall built into it on a separate floor so we were hanging out there and at the Starbucks we frequently visited during our stay at Panda Hotel.
I'm so grateful we got to experience a different culture. I can't wait for my next adventure.
With love & light,
C
Hey guys, I hope you're all doing well. So I didn't get right back into blogging once I finished school because I went to the Philippines and Hong Kong in May.
When my family and I booked this trip back in August 2018 the timing sounded perfect for the upcoming school year. My cousin was going to get married in September, I was going to graduate from university (blog post here) and all the little adventures in between. I haven't been on a vacation in soooo long and I spent all of my summers prior working and going to school. Basically, this vacation was long awaited.
I'm so thankful I got to explore more of the motherland, reunite with my family and make more memories.
Week 1 Highlights
The day after our arrival was my cousins' salon opening. They opened their 3rd location and we celebrated the only way we know how, with lots of food. It was a full house during opening day so if you're ever in Lipa City or Batangas City, check them out here! I've been to the Philippines before but my past trips never included the touristy things that I finally got to experience during this trip. We went to Mall of Asia (MoA) in Manila for the first time and also spent some time exploring SM by the Bay, which is like a little amusement park. My little nephew wanted to ride the bumper cars where I broke a nail (it hasn't even been a week and it broke 😩). Honestly, I wasn't really in a shopping mood but now I wish I bought some Filipino makeup brands to play with (and review)! I was really excited that my mom got to celebrate Mother's Day with her sisters and nieces that she doesn't get to see often. We spent Mother's Day at Laiya Beach which we've been to before but we stayed at a different resort last time.
Week 2 Highlights
We went to Alabang Town Center in Manila, another shopping mall. It was pretty here too. Another opportunity to buy Filipino makeup brands, ugh I swear my cousin bought makeup here.
Anyways, I got to attend another wedding! My cousin and his now wife said that their wedding was going to be super simple and nothing extravagant. But nonetheless, I love weddings and it was beautiful to see my cousin marry the love of his life.
The next day we traveled 3 hours to Pico de Loro - Beach and Country Club. It was hands down the nicest beach and pool I've ever swam at. I loved how private and clean the beach was. We stayed there for only one night, which most definitely was not enough; I would go back in a heartbeat.
Week 3 Highlights
During this week we spent 4 days in Hong Kong! Read more about it here!
When we arrived back in Manila from Hong Kong it was 12AM and my cousins picked us up. During the ride home, one of my cousins offered to take us to another tourist spot I wanted to visit, Venice Grand Canal Mall. So the adventure was literally nonstop, because we left at 11AM that same day. I literally wanted to go to this mall just to ride the gondola lmao. I went during the day; I could only imagine the gondola ride at night 😍
Week 4 Highlights
Week 4 was a lot of family time. At the end of this week we went to Tagaytay. We arrived at around lunch time and ate at a restaurant with the most scenic view of Taal Volcano. After lunch we spent the rest of the day at Sky Ranch, an amusement part with probably the biggest ferris wheel I've ever seen. To close our Tagaytay visit, we ate dinner at Kenny Rogers Roasters.
Week 5 Highlights
Our final week 😔. This week was spent with an extra emphasis on family and buying last minute souvenirs (pasalubong!) to bring back home to Canada. One of the nights was spent at a bar which my cousin's band plays for. The last night was spent celebrating my sister's birthday in advance. It was so cute, the kids had a "surprise" performance for my sister, my grandpa and my aunt each bought her a cake, ugh it was a great last night.
This entire vacation was amazing. I'm itching to go back, literally we've already talked about the next Philippines vacation lol. This blog post was unexpectedly long lmao, if you made it to the end, I appreciate it, thank you 💜
With love & light,
C
