Maia Travels: Day 1 - Arriving in HK Disneyland

We planned this trip for almost a year. Our not-so-little girl had picked to go to Disneyland instead of hosting a party because "I'm not a party girl, Mommy". Much to my delight, this decision of hers. So we proceeded to book our plane tickets (lucky for us on one of the piso fare sale of a local airline) and started saving for this trip.

Despite our excitement for this milestone trip (her first out of the country trip), we rarely talked about it with her because we wanted to keep the excitement at bay till a few days prior. The day before we left, she was more worried about the classes she'll miss. They just got back from a week long semestral break in school so she sort of miss her classmates and teachers. Gladly, we got permission from her teachers and she was allowed her to miss 3 days. Guess what, all those worries were forgotten the minute we stepped out of the plane and boarded the MTR to Disneyland Resort. She was just ecstatic, sporting a grin any parent wouldn't dare wipe off.

We dedicated 2 days of our 4 days, 3 nights in Hong Kong for Disneyland alone. My husband bought the tickets from klook.com and opted to just claim the tickets on the ticket counter at HK Disneyland upon our arrival. We checked a few options to buy the tickets and klook.com came out the cheapest. We saved (if I remember correctly) about HK$30 for each 2-day ticket. Sign in as a member and you get additional discount as well.

Got tickets! Ready to rummmmmbbbbbble!

We didn't get lost from the airport to Disney, yay! Despite the language barrier, we didn't encounter any trouble during the train rides. We arrived in the resort at around 10:30am. We decided to take the shuttle bus to Disney Hollywood Hotel (where we spent one night)  drop our luggage first. We booked 45 days in advance and got a discounted rate for our one night stay. We weren't sure where to leave our luggage but took the chance anyways and fortunately for us, the hotel had a designated baggage drop for early arrivals. We didn't have to worry even if our check in was still scheduled at 2pm. We settled our hotel reservation and headed back to the park by 11am. We decided to just grab a quick bite at the park in case we get hungry. We were still full from the brunch we had earlier anyways.

Our Disney adventure just about to start (and those tired faces were replaced by delight when we got into the park!)

Since we arrived close to opening time, there wasn't a lot of people yet at the park. We got maps (got extras too for friends) and other informational fliers at the gate and got into the park.

We're here!!!!!

Happy to know that the park publishes a weekly schedule of activities so it was easier for us to manage our 2-day trip. The little girl couldn't wait to plan her day!

We decided to walk around first while we plan our two day park itinerary. We wanted to get as much autographs as we can (the little girl made an autograph book for characters to sign during meet and greet time). But we also wanted to take our time at each stop as well.

Let me indulge you with photos for the remaining part of this post. We spent 11am-3pm walking around and trying out some of the rides. By 3pm, we were really beat so we decided to head back to the hotel and rest. We wanted to have plenty of energy for the Night Parade (no expectations. Our goal then was just to experience what it feels like at night in Disney).

Several things I would like to note in here as well:

- We regret not taking the opportunity to have photos taken with the toy soldiers, Jessie and Woody in Toy Storyland because we didn't get the chance to meet them anymore in Day 2.
- We wish we brought more snacks for the little miss since it was allowed anyway. Best to pack light sandwiches for your little kids to munch on. Bring lots of water if you can. We were there November so we were expecting colder season but had to contend with a hot and humid afternoons instead. Winter came late for HK in 2015.
- Make sure to check the weather forecast a week before your trip so you can pack appropriate clothing.
- Our daughter can already handle long walks. But the park also rent outs strollers so you don't have to break your backs carrying toddlers and babies if you're with one.

Main Street, USA. Most of the shops are found here.

Her first ride was here. Via the Slinky Dog Spin.

The Toy Soldier Parachute Drop.She rode this with her dad.
"Parang sakit ng tyan ko, Mommy! Pero ang saya saya!!!"

See that mine cart on the left? She rode that too! Was too much for me but for her, it was just gut-wrenching fun! Haha.
I think we have one adventurer here, Daddy! Get readdddyyyy!

She passed up on this. Because we can hear the "screaming" from manor entrance.

This was her at 3pm. Sooooo tired. We decided to head to the hotel first for a quick rest.

Read Part 1 here.
Read HK Disneyland at Night here.

Review of the Disney Hollywood Hotel, Breakfast with Chef Mickey and Day 2 of our Disneyland experience here.

Read about Maia's HK Science Museum experience here.
Exploring TST and Mongkok here.

Maia Travels: HongKong Disneyland (Part I)

"Byebye Disney. I will be back. Kung sana malapit lang dito bahay natin no? Or kung pwede na lang tumira dito, Mommy ano?"
(If only our house is just near, no? Or if only we can live here, no Mommy?)

That was my daughter's emotional farewell while we were walking out of HongKong Disneyland. I used to think I'm tough enough to never be lured by the tag line "happiest place on Earth" but turns out the tag line is never bounded by age nor race nor generations. Only by your wallet, I suppose. Hehe. But this trip proved to me one thing -- the child is me is still alive, after all!

We arrived in Hong Kong half past 9 in the morning last Wednesday via Cebu Pacific Air from Manila. Good thing our flight was on time. Building itineraries are not my best points, so I told my daughter and husband to manage expectations. Anyways, we planned for a slow-paced trip so we have plenty of time for rest stops.

We took our sweet time lining up at the immigration since its the little girl's first out of the country trip we tried to explained how things work when one leaves his or her home country and arrives in a different territory. I couldn't really tell if she understood everything. I will probably find out the next time we go on another trip abroad. But for now, I took all the nods as a "yes".

After exiting immigration, we went to find Cafe De Coral at the 7th floor of HKIA since we wanted to fuel up before leaving the airport. We wanted to have plenty of energy in case we get lost on our way to Hong Kong Disneyland.

Most of the breakfast items were already sold out. The cafe was already starting to put out the lunch menu. But we still managed to eat a decent meal. We ordered meal sets. I think we spent about HK$70 for 2 meal sets but they were already very filling. The little girl liked the ramen soup particularly and finished the hefty serving all by herself.

After the hearty breakfast, we prepared to leave for Disneyland. Being first timers in HK, we went to find the information counter at the airport first to make sure we are headed to the right direction. There's several ways to get to Disney. I supposed the cheapest would be to take the bus but we decided to take the train instead since we have a kid and 2 luggages with us. It took us 3 train rides to get to Disney. But the transport system in HK is very efficient so we didn't feel any hassle despite having to do several train transfers. All 3 rides were comfy enough for our little girl to enjoy the ride. I'm sure in her mind - "I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO DISNEY" was on constant play.

Train from HKIA to Tung Chung (this was the shortest but most expensive among the 3 train rides) then Tung Chung to Sunny Bay

Sunny Bay to Disneyland Resort!

Part 2 here: Maia arrives in Disneyland Resort.

Maia Travels: Siquijor: Playtime At The Beach

I was cleaning up my Photo folder and came across a folder of my photos  taken using my phone which were dated October to November of this year. I clicked it and saw these:

Siquojor is forever etched in this little girl's memory because she spent a lot of time playing by the beach. We also spent all 3 of the mornings we were there early by the beach making sandcastles using our hands and what-nots we could find on the beach. The mere thought of it brings a big smile to my sleepy face.

I am going to sleep with wonderful thoughts tonight. And yes, I think I can officially say now that I am a converted beach lover. Yes I still love the mountains and the flora that abound it. But a day by a quite beach, with just you and your loved ones is equally relaxing too. Thoughts of summer on this cold, wet December night, not bad at all eh?

Maia Travels: A Weekend At T-House, Tagaytay

The minute our kid laid eyes on our wedding photo album, T-house (where I had my bridal preparations done) immediately grabbed her attention. Every year, during our anniversary, my husband and I would troop over to Tagaytay to hear mass at the church where we got married and last year we decided it was time for us to bring the kid along as well. T-house is conveniently located beside the church and she immediately saw it.

"I want to see what's inside, Mommy! Can we get in, please?"

Unfortunately, our anniversary trip to Tagaytay is always riddled with other plans so we never had the chance to take the kid inside even for a peek. But the kid is persistent. Once in a while she would take out our wedding album and declare "ONE DAY, I WILL GO AND SEE THIS PLACE".

Finally!

Thanks to Deal Grocer, her ONE DAY finally happened last weekend. The husband booked us an overnight stay mainly to celebrate my 35th birthday quietly (away from the noise of the city). We planned to do it on a Saturday, but apparently, you will need to book at least 2 weeks prior if you want to reserve a slot. So we grabbed the next best thing which was Sunday. Being a commuting family, we prayed hard for good weather. But an hour before we left the house, the sky turned grey. It dampened my mood but not the kid's. And her excitement is really contagious it seemed to push the gloomy clouds away. After a heavy but brief downpour, the sky cleared and we headed out. Kid was singing and hopping. You can tell she's over her head happy. 

grey as grey can be. but didn't stop us from having the best weekend ever!

T-house is 4 rides away from our place (3 jeepney transfers and one bus ride). Because of the prior downpour, it took us almost an hour and a half to get to the place (twice the travel time of 45 minutes on ordinary, sunny Sundays). Oh and we also made a short stopover at the grocery to buy snacks (mostly chips and cookies for the kid. READ: Junk haha). We planned to stay in for the rest of the day so we wanted to be armed and ready with our potato couching must-haves.

"Mommy, are you going to wear your white gown again when we have our pictures taken?" It just dawned on me that the kid was probably expecting us to 'get married' again. To replicate everything that she saw in our wedding pictures. Oh my poor little girl. In between chuckles, the husband explained to the little girl that we are just checking in to rest for now. When she's a little older, maybe we can replicate our wedding again even if just in pictures. (OR maybe we can afford to do a renewal of vows with immediate family members then, we'll see). She didn't cry (thankfully). I guess, she didn't make room for tantrums and drama on this trip (fortunately for us!).

When we arrived at the hotel, kid was speechless and just beaming from ear to ear.When we were handed our key, she immediately grabbed it and proudly carried it till we got to our room.

welcome drinks and a question: "bakit F3 yung binigay na room number sa atin?
bakit hindi F1?"

"Hmmmmm, ang bango bango naman ng room natin Mommy!" 

Ahhhh soft sheets and cable TV. THIS IS THE GOOD LIFE.

She proceeded to claim her space on the bed and feign sleep (with a matching loud snore). She was so amusing to watch. The husband and I couldn't stop laughing at all her comments and observations. She really is a great travel companion now.

I'm really glad we took this trip. Seeing how happy she was, I already received the best 35th birthday gift ever.

(more photos after the jump)

Summer In Antique Updates

 

The thing with slacking with my blog entries is, I tend to lose momentum. And if I don't push it, I'd probably end up abandoning this blog again for well the nth time (since I can't count it with my 10 fingers anymore).

So while I wanted to talk in detail about how this vacation of ours is going so far, I can't organize my thoughts well enough to answer curious questions about my home province so I'll settle for pictures for now.

And being stuck mostly at home due to our unfortunate battle with the killer flu that struck the little miss (leading to our ER trip), I really don't have a lot of photos to share yet. We've been here for 4 days and yet, we haven't gone to the beach yet. The beach -- albeit not the white sandy beach that would most probably attract tourists -- is just a kilometer away from my childhood home. But yes, we have been feeling that bad we couldn't gather enough strength to bring the kids out to the beach and even more chase after them. We'll just wait for reinforcement to come before we even tickle them with the thought of beach frolic.


maia finally meets the new addition to our family

So far, we've just been alternating resting, feeding, bathing and playing (if there's still some energy left for that) with two kids. My nephew who is about a year and a half older than the little miss is quite a handful on his own already so our day tends to be a little exhausting already. But despite that, we amazingly still find some time to squeeze in an activity or two during the day. Which leads me to believe, life is really slow here (and I meant that is a really good way).

Even if this is the first time in a long time that I am wishing for the weekend to come slower, I am just really thankful that despite being sick for more than half of our allotted vacation days we still manage to spend quality time as a family. That's good enough for me. Good enough for us three.

Rest, Swim, Fun

Day 2 of our trip. We arrived around 130pm at the resort, checked in and immediately headedto the resort resto to grab a bite. We were all famished except for the little miss who just couldn't and wouldn't stop badgering us to tak
e her to the beach the minute she saw it (when we arrived).

Our resort is about 10-15 mins far from the main beach but it had a small beach (Bulabog beach) right in front if it. It somehow made us feel like we are staying in a private resort. And the kid just wanted to attack the sand the minute she caught a glimpse of it. 

Tomorrow we head to the main beach. The weather has veen very erratic here. In fact it was drizzling almost the entire afternoon we were all lulled to a 2hr siesta after lunch.

Ahhhh this is life!

Maia Travels: Davao City's People's Park

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Davao City was the morning we spent at People's Park.

The park was just a few blocks from where we were staying in downtown Davao so we decided to just stroll over after breakfast. It was the same day that we were scheduled to go to Eden Nature Park but we thought we still had enough time to linger so we went for that walk.

We didn't have any expectations besides the thought that we would love for Maia to spend sometime running around since we know she always long for a wide space to waste her limitless energy on.

Oh boy, the park was indeed wide. Wide that we think the one hour we had was just not enough for the little girl. She wanted to stop by each of the gigantic statues and shake hands with them.

Colorful giant statues all over the park makes the visit even more interesting.

There was this corner in the park that is dedicated for kids called FUN PARK. Maia spent the first 30 mins here running from one slide to another and climbing from one structure (for the lack of a better term) to another. It was also Maia's first time to ride on a see-saw and she was shrieking in delight! I wish our village park had the same amenities. I'm sure when that happens Maia will become a regular 'fixture' you'd think she helps maintain it and would probably even ask to live there (yes, she has outrageous requests sometimes).

Fun Park Entrance

Look Mommy! Sliding! (that's what she calls slides)

She just went with her business when we got inside this section of the park.
She didn't even ask for our help when she was climbing the stairs and the slides.

Waiting Area and Restrooms right outside of the Fun Park entrance.

If you are going to Davao City as a family, this place is worth wasting your time. This was probably where we had most fun because we never spent a single peso and yet could really say we enjoyed it. We were even able to burn some calories walking around. Only thing we regret is we arrived when the park was already closing for morning clean up so we had limited time inside. We should have come earlier had we known it was closing at 8am. There was a lot to see apart from the fun park and the gigantic statues that adorned the park. There is a fish pond, some caged monkeys, a sunken garden (we saw a flock of pigeons being fed when we peaked into it). We also loved the center of the park where most of the trees are located. At 9am, the sun's heat is already approaching it's peak but you won't feel the heat coming in because of the abundance of trees. It was all fresh cold air we felt while we rested on the benches to catch our breath.

Cool Breeze!

Maia and Tibs having their own moment. Trees are all over!

I love this part! We found her collecting twigs, dried grass and leaves and arranging them on to the pavement.
It turns out she was assembling a food tray for the birds to enjoy. 

I felt really bad I couldn't share more photos from the park. The day after we got back from vacation, I accidentally deleted 80% of the photos from the SD card. We were able to recover most of them but still we lost many of the better looking photos most of which were taken from the People's Park. Oh well, I guess that gives us a reason to come back. :)

***The park is located in J. Palma Gil and Jose Camus streets just right beside Apo View Hotel. It opens early am and closes at 8am so the maintenance crew can clean up. It opens at 1pm again till nighttime.***