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.

Ah BOYS to MEN 2

ABBEY: The recruits returned for their sequel with more laughs. 

After what happened to his father, Ken (Joshua Tan), learned that he must take NS seriously. Back at the camp they had a run and as expected Aloysius Jin (Maxi Lim) has the best runtime. Asked by Sgt. Ong (Tosh Zhang) , he told that his secret for running is "No cigarrete". Sgt. Ong ordered his men to stop smoking and this made the smokers became mad at Aloysius. They treated him badly to the point that he became at outcast. 

Ken protected Aloysius and he also was outcasted by the group. They went to the forest for their camping and Lobang stole Aloysius' magazine. It didn't went well as Lobang's mag dropped beside Alo making him lost his own. On inspection, Alo gave his to Lobang. And this made Lobang to befriend Alo. They received all their mails from their loved ones except Lobang but got his own from Sgt. Ong. They finished their course and went their own to serve in the military. 

This is good movie and encouraging for those who will take NS soon.

WILL: They surpassed their own. As the the Ah Boys to Men 2 surpassed the gross income of Ah Boys to Men, is now considered the highest-grossing local film of Singapore.If you watched the Ah Boys to Men, you will surely craving for the part 2.

      This film is very useful for the minds of the boys now, how to love and how defend Singapore. How to befriend and be more cautious on creating a relationship with everybody in the training.

      This is film is 10/10. Thanks to RamenPlay for providing the tickets. Go BMT! Go brotherhood! Majulah Singapura!

The Last Stand

ABBEY: It was only a day off from a busy police job. He will be only guarding an almost empty town. Until a drug cartel boss escaped from the grasp of FBI making a way to cross between the border of US and Mexico evading his crimes. As the fugitive goes nearer to Sheriff Arnold's town, he beefed up his army of four by the help of arms enthusiast, . The FBI and one of his men told the sheriff that the druglord is not their concern. But Arny told them "If he comes to my town then he is our problem". They exchange fires with the boss' henchmen but he single-handedly fought the mastermind. Dragging him on his topless car he gave him to the FBI. Arny and Johnny gave the audience a good laugh and action-packed scenes. Arny stil have magic up on his sleeves.

WILL:  Firstly, thank you Ms. Grace of Expat Living Magazine for this pair of free tickets. 
       Well I can say that I really miss Arnold Schwarzenegger in a movie. His acting antics is so hilarious even his face is so dead serious. 
       This film have a simple layout of story but the actors portrayed it very very nicely. 8/10. 

Red Dynasty Paintball Park

ABBEY: We got this at Groupon and this deal sold like hotcakes. At first it was only a 6-man group then it became a company team building. The location of the paintball ground is at Bottle Tree Park.

e were reserved a time slot for 2pm. The staff briefed us about the do's and don't of the game. They really emphasized about safety like not pointing your gun at anyone outside the grounds and wearing your mask at all times. The masks are being cleaned every after session so bacteria from sweat won't accumulate. 

Our goal is to get the bomb at the center of the field to your base and from there run and plant your flag at the center. I admit that my team didn't strategize while our opponents were busy planning to take us down. I managed to strike some of them but I went out of bullets. Our team lost but it was fun. We had a lot of stories going back home.

WILL: April and I share some interests...music & extreme and unusual sports for girls. This is our 3rd time to spent together for a non-office activity. 

      After I saw the Groupon voucher, I immediately asked April if she wants to join to build a group of 10 to book for this Paintball activity. In an instant, four of my colleagues confirmed and some of our clients. Never ever taught that one of my boss will join us and her husband, and in our great luck, our big boss paid the costs. 

     January 27 is the day, we all gathered at Bottle Tree Park to team up against each other. So sad that me and Abbey were on different team. Yeah, we fought each other, and he is my first target and first hit. Lol. Group one, we, won! 

     This is a nice and very good experience. Hoping to see another promotion from voucher dealers. ;) 

The Impossible

ABBEY: This movie is an eye-opener for me on how far will I go to have my loved one to be back in my arms again. Twas a story of an ideal family vacation; hot sun, cool drinks, sands, pool, beach, and relaxation; until the unexpected happened. A tsunami swept the whole bay area leaving no trees standing, resorts completely gone. The cheers and excitement on the visitors were replaced by cries and fear. Above the water you'll be crushed by the waves, below it you'll be hit by the debris. Struggling for life Lucas hang on to a pole but seeing his mother swept by the water he went along also. After the water subsided, his mother had a flesh wound; making it more impossible to walk. They climbed a tree for safety and waited until rescue came.

It was chaos in every evacuation center. Each one had his own physical suffering to be attended to but what more depressing is they don't know the whereabouts of their loved ones.

(Ewan McGregor) was with his sons but was not able to leave the area. He believed that somehow he'll be with his wife soon. He sent his two sons to a center while still finding his wife. On one evac center they were all reunited but the wife had a lot of complication and her life is at risk. She undergone an operation and was successful. As soon that it is safe to travel they were airlifted to Singapore then to their homeland.

WILL: I really want to watch this film as it is based on true story of how Thailand's tsunami badly hit the lives of people living and having a holiday there.
      Thanks to Shaw Theaters for letting my husband win a premiere movie ticket for two of this film. 
      The movie is so touching and really taught the viewers how to hold on to each others. 9/10. 

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. 

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL

ABBEY: My wife and I watched the 1985 classic of the Wizard of Oz and liked the story since then. 

After that I saw the different perspective of the story when we watched Wicked musical (dubbed as the prelude of Wizard of Oz). Now its Oz's time of the story. 

We anxiously waits its screening; hoping that after seeing, I'll love it even more.

WILL: The Wizard of Oz is not another movie that just come and go, the story never fall out from my brain cells. :) 

      I got interested when I first watched the Return of Oz when I was a child. The movie haunts me, and until now, I have a copy of it. That 1980's film showed how crooked the Wicked Witch of the North.  

      How fan am I? When the famous musical play "Wicked" came here in Singapore, we hurriedly watched to understand the life of the Wicked Witch of the West. 

      Now, that Walt Disney Pictures come up to make the life of Oz. This is really exciting! The spotlight is with Oscar the ordinary man. This movie is really-a-must-watch!

Catch Disney’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL in Singapore cinemas this 7 March 2013,  like the Official Walt Disney Studios Singapore Facebook Page, follow @disneystudiosSG and subscribe to the Official Disney Studios Singapore YouTube Channel