Hop Inn Hong Kong

ABBEY: Looking for a place to stay at Hongkong? I greatly recommend this one. This hotel accommodated us for our 3days/2night staycation for 2070hkd. We stayed there during Chinese New Year celebration. 

Though the building lobby is not nice that much, guards are there to monitor and secure the premises. Once you go up at the 9th storey, Hop Inn freedom wall will welcome you. Past guest wrote their experience and wishes to the inn on their local currencies. We were greeted by their staff, done the paperworks and handed us the key to our room. She even booked us our tickets to Disneyland; very convenient. Wifi is free and its fast. 

The room is small but very cozy; from sheets, pillow, and towels. Its very clean. Everyday our shampoo and body wash were refilled and they smell good too. Hot and cold drinking water are available for free and they also have common room where you can have tea or coffee. In the room is a large collection of VCDs, DVDs, and books ready to be watched and read. 

Below the hotel are Chinese restaurants that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. A 24-hour convenience store and a turkish diner are nearby as well. Nearest MTR station is Tsim Sha Tsui. A few blocks from Hop Inn are the science museums, Avenue of Stars, and the bay where people are flocking to watch the pyrotechnics for Chinese New Year.

WILL:  Let's hop in at Hop Inn. Before going to Hong Kong, I gather as many information as I can from friend Denise. Oh, again, thanks Denise for creating an itinerary for what you called our honeymoon for nth time. Ha!ha! She told me to browse on forums at Pinoy Exchange and as she commanded me, I went to that site and overflow of info really occurred that time.

      Many hotels were posted there, from the dirtiest to the well known and well recommended by the commoners. I checked all of the inns and hotels' rates as we are going there on Chinese New Year, and I ready myself to see a sky-high prices.

      As I pray, I want a place that will give me comfort and yet on the range of our budget. Then I saw Hop Inn. One by one must check everything, form blogs to forums up to their Facebook page. After 3 days, I asked Abbey if the price per night ranges to our budget. He agreed and we immediately booked for 4D3N.

     As we entered the place, I am praying that all that I read will be true. When we saw the room, my heart leaped with joy as my eyes lies upon the very white bed sheets and comforter. The air inside has no foul smell and the bathroom is so clean.

     The Hop Inn never know how to lie, they are very conveniently near to MRT, a walking distance to the Avenue of Stars, Post Office and Museums. They also have a common room that you can borrow books and DVD or just seat and relaxed a bit with a hot coffee and tea at your side.

    The stay is awesomely comfortable. Thanks Hop Inn. Very recommendable indeed. Please visit their Facebook page.

Madame Tussaud's Hong Kong at The Peak

ABBEY: I'm excited to know that we will visit wax museum during our Hongkong vacation. The good thing is we can take picture for every figures and touch them; that I can't do when the wax figures visited Philippines on 1992. 

Jackie Chan's "twin" welcomed us as the entrance of the museum and then the Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Robert Pattinson, Merryl Streep, and Taiwan superstar Barbie Hzu. We also got to take snaps on some of the people of political realm like US President Barack Obama, George Bush, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana. Saddam Hussein, Gandhi, Mao Tse Tung, and Hitler were also there. 

Other artists were Jet Li, Johnny Depp, Marlyn Monroe and Amitabh Bachchan. Visual artists like Picasso and Rembrandt are displayed as well as Shakespeare. 

There was a mini horror house inside the museum where you will walk in line and real artist will try to  scare the hell out of you. 

You will exit and sports figures awaits you ( Yao Ming, Tiger Woods, David Beckham and Mohammed Ali). 

On the second level of the exhibit are the music superstars like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Beatles and the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The exhibit is wonderful; a nice time to meet the stars.

WILL: Hong Kong is one of five Asian countries that cradles the wax masterpieces of Madame Tussaud and they chose the world's famous attraction to settle in...The Peak. You can go there by Peak's Tram, Bus 15, 15B, & 15C but we chose take the tram. 

      We were shocked when we saw the queue and the waiting time posted was 2 hours, we arrived around 4pm. We bought our ticket online, we relived once the man behind the counter told us that we do not need to stand at the end of the line, we can cut the queue due to the online tickets we have. 

      Well, blessed and felt so lucky, we just waited for the tram to arrive. 10 minutes passed we were the doorsteps of Hong Kong's wax museum. 

     At the entrance, famous Jackie Chan welcomes us. Then followed by many celebrities and unforgettable leaders of the world. 

    If you can imagine that all of those were alive, then you will sure have goosebumps. This is a must see when you visit in Hong Kong. Oh, there is a SCREAM, a horror house, Abbey went there. Yeah he went alone! ;) 

    Our online booking costs HK$215. 

Hong Kong Ngong Ping 360

ABBEY: This is a must-see destination when visiting Hongkong. From airport we directly went there thru MTR (train transportation). We settled our luggage on their rented lockers. It stored our 3 check-in luggages for 3 hours for 40hkd. Then we bought tickets for a 5.7km cable car ride.

It was good as you can take an aerial view of Hongkong International Airport, hotels and towering buildings in Hongkong. Ngong Ping caters different diners and souvenir shops as well as heritage village. It also exhibits the various cable cars of other countries. At the end of the trail is a large Buddha where people pray and donate for its maintenance; others light incense. Climbing more than 200 steps is a challenge but worth the effort as it gives you relaxing view of mountains and mist. 

WILL: My former boss once told me "Maybe Wilma you're Chinese on your past life.", well, that one is beyond my knowledge. Whe she told that?, I am truly fascinated with China and when I am planning have a trip in Hong Kong years back, I want to go at Ngong Ping 360 to see one of the biggest buddha in China. 

     This is our first stop, the Ngong Ping 360. After alighting at Hong Kong International Airport, we immediately bought an octopus card and board their fantastic railway known as Airport Express. 

     At Tung Chung, we walked our way to NP360. It is almost 8am too early isn't?, but it took us 45mins just to get our turn to board the cable car. Ahm, beware of the people who cuts in line. 

     25minutes of cable car ride, from there you can see the lush mountain of Lantau Island, the vast airport runway and feel a 14 degrees Celsius breeze. 

     Upon arriving, I am so delighted to see the Chinese Architectural design of Ngong Ping Village. I am happy to be here and to explore this place with my husband. Me and Abbey wrote down wishes at Bodhi Wishing Shrine. Here also displayed the first-ever international cable cars. 

     Upon passing the village, at Ngong Ping Piazza the Twelve Divine Generals welcomes us and prepare us to meet the world tallest outdoor bronze Buddha. After, well, I don't know how many steps it was, we reached the top. Roamed around in few minutes, and lingered the view of Lantau island from the top. 

     We went to the Po Lin temple, Hong Kong's largest Buddhist temple. That day, there is so many incense and people gathers to pray. 

     This is a nice place to escape from hustles of city. They also offers accommodations. This costs HK$270/pax.