Part 2: Hong Kong Adventure at Ocean Park-Headland

Second day in Hong Kong, a brand new day. Hubby and I were very eager to go to Ocean Park. We woke up very early so that we can be at the park as soon as it opens.

First order of business (after breakfast, of course) was to get our Octopus Card. This card is just like a pre-paid card or debit card and is accepted on most public transport including buses, minibuses, trains, ferries, the Peak Tram, and some taxis. It's even accepted at convenience stores and fast food restaurants. We used it in McDonald's and Seven Eleven. To pay a fare, simply place the Octopus card on the reader usually found near the counter or the fare box. I placed mine inside my purse and I didn't have to take it out every time I use it. Just swipe the purse in the reader, and the reader picks it up. Cool. A new Octopus card includes a refundable HK$50 deposit and is valid for two years. Any leftover money is also refunded when you return the card. We decided to keep ours for our next visit. The card is available at the airport and at most public transport customer service centers. You may get your "re-load" at the same locations.

Second order of business is Ocean Park. One of my most favorite places in the world. We take the MTR and get off at Admiralty Station to take the bus to Ocean Park. The park fare is HK$185 inclusive of the bus fare to and from. The park opens at 10:00am and closes at 11:00pm during peak season. Normally, it's just until 6:00pm.

Ocean park is divided into two parts. The Lowland and the Headland which is connected by cable cars. If you do decide to visit the park, make sure you are wearing very comfortable shoes and clothing. The park is steep in most areas and will require a bit of effort traversing. The park is not for everyone. It can get very tiring for you and your kids. It would take the whole day to go around the park and would probably take another day to ride aand see all the attractions.

I love Ocean Park for its array of animal attractions. If you love animals, I suggest to forgo the rides and just visit the animal enclosures instead.

One of the rides that my husband loved was the raging river. It's a water ride with a canoe that goes up the mountain via a river system that has sharp turns and a vertical drop which I didn't look forward to. You can see the sheer contrast of me and my husband's enjoyment of the ride in this photo. You can purchase your souvenir photo of going down the vertical drop at the Image Gallery at each exit for HK$80. Not cheap but hey, the look on Eric's face is priceless. A word of caution: you will get wet on this ride. I suggest that you take this ride last when you're on your way home. Otherwise, you will be walking the park in wet jeans and shirt like yours truly. Fortunately, I had a spare t-shirt in my purse.

Next up, Ocean Park Tower. It's just a ride that gives you a bird's eye view of the entire park from a rotating viewing deck. It's comfy and it's air-conditioned, overall a pleasant ride.

The Pacific Pier was next on our agenda. It's a three-level seal and sea lion attraction that allows you to watch the animals' antics on land and under water through the under water gallery . A must-see. For HK$25, you can even feed the sea lions. Feeding time is usually in the afternoon.

For Dolphin lovers, do not miss the dolphin show at the Ocean Theater. It's very entertaining. On one of my visits in OP a few years back, I had lunch at the bleachers just watching a dolphins play (they were off duty). I had such a fantastic time just sitting there and watching them. Very relaxing and calming. I almost didn't want to leave but there were other attractions to see.

The Dragon is the baddest and longest roller coaster in Hong Kong. Eric couldn't wait to ride it. I opted to just watch him on the sidelines. I've ridden that monster before, never again. The whole monstrosity crosses two mountains with hairpin twist and turns that will confuse and scare you. Eric had a blast as usual. But he said he could not ride it again on the same day. Too much thrill, I guess.

The Atoll Reef is the absolute must-see if you are in Ocean Park. It's a giant multi level aquarium with a wide array of fish, turtles, sharks and eels. The collection of fish in the aquarium is impressive. As you go down each level, you will see different varieties of fish. The coral found inside the tank is artificial to preserve the corals that are left in the ocean. Truly a lovely, calming and enjoyable experience. Your kids would love it here.

Another must-see attraction is the Shark Aquarium. The aquarium has an underwater viewing tunnel that allows you to see a variety of shark species as they swim around you. A great hit with the kids. On some days, they will even allow you to touch some of the baby sharks, like a petting zoo. This is where I touched my first shark, years ago with my dad and brother.

A new attraction was the Sea Jelly spectacular. It's a series of aquariums that exhibit different varieties of jelly fish. I was surprised to see really small ones like the size of a small hot-sauce bottle cap (for a lack of a better reference). Some were really huge. But they were all lovely to look at. The attraction is dramatically lighted so that you can see the beauty of each specie.

And that concludes our adventure in Headland, Ocean Park (for now).

Part 1: Hong Kong (mis)Adventure

For a pre-Christmas treat last year, hubby and I flew off to Hong Kong for a few days of fun and shopping.

The day started really really...horrible. You know, the usual canceled flights due to the storm. The Cebu Pacific personnel telling us that it's a budget airline and they have no contingency plans for things like re-scheduling or creating a new flight for say oh 300 or so stranded passengers. That kinda thing. Eventually they give in and get us to Hong Kong at midnight. Yeah, sweet. Just 14 hours delayed and I whole day wasted at the crummy NAIA.

Hubby and I opted to stay at the Shamrock Hotel. It's reasonably priced and it has a great location. We booked our hotel via precisionreservations.com. The MTR station is right beside the hotel so it's quite easy to get around. After checking in and settling in, we decided to venture out to get a meal. It was almost 2 am. We walked the streets and see what's available. We came upon a noodle place that has the cook standing on the counter barefoot to get something from the upper shelf. Uh, no thanks. We ended up just buying some grub from seven eleven. We figured it was safe to nuke some noodles. Some adventure. As we prepared for bed, we promised ourselves that we'll have a fabulous time in the morning.

The hotel room is a bit small. It has two single beds, toilet and bath, TV, mini ref, hairdryer, your usual comforts. It's very clean and they do give a complete array of toiletries and towels that they replace every day. Not a bad deal for HKD810/night.

Ay Bruha!

I finally got the hang of rolling my hair in my brand new hot curlers. Or so I thought. Hubby took this photo of me as I was preparing to go out. Eric said, "Ay, may bruha effect!" Gee, thanks!

Kusina Salud

For yet another road trip, hubby and I chose to go to a slightly far flung, off the beaten road restaurant. Kusina Salud, located in Barangay Sta Cruz (Putol) in San Pablo Laguna. We heard such raving reviews for their cuisine and ambiance. Granted, that we got lost and made a huge u-turn and completely missed our lunch reservation. We decided to forge ahead and look for the place anyway. We arrived two hours late from our reservation. The people didn't seem to mind since it was a weekday and the place wasn't packed.

We were greeted by Patis Tesoro herself with a posse of poodles at her tail.

The place is a hodgepodge of Filipino and Asian collectibles. The house itself looks like a typical Filipino home of old. Complete with intricate wood trimmings, bamboo slats for the 2nd floor, old beams, capiz windows and silong (basement). My husband felt right at home. Since the furniture and the "kalat"/junk/"collectibles" that we found there are similar to the house where he grew up in. It even smelled like my in-laws' house. I deduced it was probably coming from the huge amount of antique wood and furniture in the property.

We were eager to have late lunch. First off, I ordered the Pako Salad, their signature salad of fern with salted egg, kesong puti, onions tossed in patis (fermented fish sauce) and calamansi (local lemon) dressing and some grated cheddar cheese. I remember the first time I had Pako salad when my family and Eric (who was my boyfriend then) were vacationing in Bicol with a favorite uncle and his family. The salad was really really good and fresh and tart. I was hoping to recapture that memory. It was a little bit disappointing because the pako salad at Kusina Salud lacked the acidity to balance all the ingredients together. It's a bit flat. I would order it again but would ask for more calamansi or vinegar next time. I mean, fern is hard to find. Where else can you have it, right?

Another dish that were ordered was the Tokwa't Bulaklak. It's a spin on your traditional Tokwa't Baboy but with bituka ng baboy (pork intestines-like the ones used in chicharon bulaklak) instead of pork ear and face. This was a hit for both hubby and me. The bulaklak was marinated in soysauce and calamansi prior to being fried. Easy enough to do at home. If you don't have a heart condition and if you're young enough to get away with the added cholesterol, go for it. A must try.

For our main dish, we decided to share the fresh fish in "XO" sauce. Fish cooked in ginger infused brandy oyster sauce and garlic sauteed pechay. The fish will vary according to the fresh catch from Dalahican, Quezon. For that day, it was maya-maya. I loved the fresh sauteed pechay. My husband didn't like this dish at all. It was too gingery for his taste.

One thing that my husband absolutely loved is their rice infused with pandan leaves. At this point
I was thinking of yanking the pandan plant from my mother's garden and planting it my mine. You see, my husband eats very little rice and he only seems to like yang chow and this pandan rice. So there.

Moving on. For dessert, we ordered Sansrival and Turon (Fried crepes with plantain bananas) with Langka (Jackfruit) and vanilla ice cream. The Sansrival
was really really good. It's not makunat. The meringue was airy and not too sweet. It's served with sliced ripe mangoes on the side. For the turon, it was good also, the saba (plantain) banana inside and the langka were both sweet. Again, simple enough to do at home. The ice cream is not home made though.

We would have loved to have a freshly squeezed dalandan juice with lots of ice on such a hot afternoon. Sadly, the place only offers the powdered kind. So we just stick to our bottled water.

The place has a small aviary that your children might enjoy. They have an assortment of lovebirds, lorries, cockatoos (like my lola used to have), parrots and other birds that we couldn't identify. It also had a small stream behind the property that provided the natural and relaxing waterfall noises throughout our stay there. There are plenty of places for picture taking so, don't forget to bring your camera.

On a whim

Last Sunday, my mom invited hubby and I for a simple lunch at her house. As usual, the food was excellent. She made her famous pancit molo (my lola's recipe) and inihaw na liempo. After stuffing ourselves, everybody wanted to go to Tagaytay to put some mileage on the new car. So off to Tagaytay we go. My brother had to take his own car since there were 9 of us including the children and their nannies.

Our first stop, Starbucks Tagaytay. My mom loves coffee so we had coffee and pastries there. My niece Ashley was dressed in her summer outfit of halter top, shorts, pink hat and the cutest ballet shoes ever. This is Ashley's very first outing in Tagaytay.

We had long conversations in Starbucks, had a lot of laughs. We planned vacations in the future, my mom talked about the recipes that she's seen on TV and will make in the future. My nephew JJ even finished a whole chocolate frappuccino all by himself!

For dinner, my brother treated us to Dencio's since his birthday was coming up. We had the usual pork staples like sisig (grilled pork face and ear with liver---my Tita Zeny makes the best in the world), crispy pata (deep fried pork hocks) and sinigang (a pork dish with tamarind soup). For a healthy spin (yeah, right), we ordered some asparagus too.

We were seated by the pond. All the seats overlooking the Taal volcano were already occupied. My nephew JJ had a blast looking at the fish and used up all our coins to make wishes in the pond.

What a day. Sunday. Best day of the week in my book.

Mga hipon sa aquarium

After watching Music & Lyrics, I decided to swing by the ShopWise and do some grocery shopping. I was planning to make a seafood caesar's salad and wanted to buy some squid. I got distracted by the huge aquariums in the fish section. They had live shrimps! I was so excited and bought some for sinigang na hipon tonight. My husband's favorite dish. That's what I love about going to huge supermarkets, they inspire you and sometimes they surprise you too.

Music & Lyrics

I had the new car all to myself today. I opted to go on a date by my lonesome. I watched Music & Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and bought a big tub of popcorn. I am such a sucker to romantic flicks. It was good and funny and it earned a few kilig tears from me. I was surprised that it was really Hugh Grant singing the "Pop goes my heart" song and Drew Barrymore was so cute in this one.