Spotted - Hello Kitty at McDonald's Hong Kong

I spotted these Hello Kitty kids toys at McDonald's Sham Shui Po area in Hong Kong last June 2013.

My daughter would love to have one but refused to sacrifice her chicken meal with McDo's Happy Meal. She thought she could outsmart me. Hello Kitty has been famous for quite some time. I still vividly remember my sister's collections of staioneries, ball pens, clips, stickers, etc. That was a couple of decades ago, lol.

Ironically, Jollibee, McDo's main competitor in Philippines, is now having a Hello Kitty birthday package with matching HK mascots, loot bags, cakes, among others.

Cafe De Coral - Hong Kong

When my eldest son and I visited Hong Kong a few years back, we were at lost on where to eat. There are practically local restaurants and hole in a wall in every block but most of them have no English Menu and they don't have utensils, just a pair of chopsticks. Hence, we were forced to dine at the hotel restaurant and at the all time favorite McDonald's.

CDC at Sham Shui Po area

During our following visits, with family in tow, armed with enough info from the net, we tried dining at Cafe De Coral though it took us sometime to locate the place. The food court or restaurants in Hong Kong normally have their entrances at the ground floor while the dining area could either be at the basement or higher floors unlike in Philippines where they usually occupy premium space at the ground floor. In fact, we have dined at several branches of Cafe De Corals and all of them were not at the ground floor.

while in queue you need to memorize the code of the dish you want to order 

breakfast with Happy Stripes

Upon entering the place, you need to check the menu displayed along the wall while in queue. No worries because there are English translation. Having a family of picky eaters we normally spend a few minutes outside the queue before we are able to decide our order. Hence, once we have decided what to order there is already a long line ahead of us. Even so, it was usually a hit-and-miss for my family while I love the taste of any Chinese dish be it spicy or looks slimy, lol. Anyhow, my family enjoyed teasing each other if the order were a miss.

22 HKD breakfast with hot drinks

42 HKD Dinner with option for hot or cold drinks

For breakfast, the price normally varies from 20 to 30+ HKD while for lunch and dinner, you can choose from 30 to 50+ HKD. We noticed that the lunch and dinner menu sometimes vary while the breakfast was the same most of the times.

receipts with order release number

queue at the release counter with electronic billboard at the center

During breakfast, upon receiving your receipt, you need to fall in line at the release counter which is at the other end of the cashier counter. Just give your receipt to the staff and wait for few minutes. For lunch and dinner, it is a different story. There is large number imprinted on your receipt. You need to wait for the electronic billboard to flash your number before you approach the release counter. Service area is just beside the release counter.

CDC across Fa Yuen Street

Unlike in Philippines where you can have a long chat after meal; in contrast, eating in Hong Kong is not conducive for after meal conversation due to limited space. The service staff will immediately clean your table once you have finished your meal.

Dining at Cafe De Coral is already an experience in itself. Definitely we will be coming back to this place whenever we are in Hong Kong.

Happy 1st Anniversary Happy Stripes!

 

More than a year ago, I was in Bangkok for my monthly vacation due to travel ban to Yemen caused by Arab Spring. When my family, less our eldest kid, visited me at Bangkok I brought them to Platinum Mall and other Bangkok's shopping areas such as Pratunam Market, MBK Mall, Chatuchak Market and Khao San Road Night Market.

It was during that time that my daughter got an idea of putting up an online shop for ladies wear. Actually, she and her high school friends were planning to put up an online shop for ladies accessories but for some reasons it didn't materialize.

We had a trial sales blitz last summer and our initial capital of 200 USD was immediately recovered in few weeks.

Come June 2012, my company allowed me to take my vacation in Philippines since the travel ban to Yemen has been lifted by our government. The following months, wife and I flew to Bangkok several times to buy ladies apparel with bigger budget; and as they say, the rest is history.

Recently, we searched for trendy Korean and Japanese dresses from Hong Kong and our effort has already borne fruit thus Happy Stripes has now two great sources of its merchandises. Its main market remains the collegiate ladies but we have some clients outside this age bracket as well. We have shipped our dress to as far as Mindanao and Visayas areas but most of our on-line sales are within MM; catering mainly to Diliman and Katipunan studes. There was even a clamor for men's wear but we decided to stick with ladies apparels.

We joined our first commercial bazaar at Elements at Centris recently and we learned many things from this experience hence, we are now bent on joining several bazaars in the near future. We are in fact aiming to join bigger bazaar this coming Christmas Seasons. For the meantime, Happy Stripes is now at UP College of Education's Power Up Bazaar.









For the coming year, our aim is mainly to strengthen our exposure to online marketing world and introduce ladies accessories as well. Looking far ahead, we plan to put up a small but trendy shop in a shopping mall in MM if budget permits. Likewise, Happy Stripes having its own brand is also a possibility in the near future.

I am lucky that my daughter has developed several marketing strategies she learned from UP which greatly helped our sales aside from her immense interest on latest fashion wear. With the help of her Mom, my daughter aims to achieve her dream of establishing her own fashion house in the future.

Thailand - Day Tour (Afternoon) - Samphran Elephant, Crocodile & Cultural Shows

After our morning tour, our group proceeded to Samphran for our complimentary buffet lunch. We weren't surprised anymore to note that the buffet lunch had nothing special but basic Thai menu such as rice, veggies, some meats and desserts. Though nothing special on the menu, it was quite an experience for my family to eat Thai dishes. Moreover, our tour guide gave us instruction on how to watch the different shows inside Samphran. The place is tourist-friendly since all directions have English translations. Show timings were also posted at strategic locations

ELEPHANT SHOW

entrance

some acrobatic acts

it was a goal

a simulated battle with fire & explosions

feeding of elephants

After our lunch, we dashed to an open field to watch "The Elephant Show." It was pretty amazing to see those talented gentle giants doing their antics such as kicking football and they can score as well. The show also emphasized the different functions of these elephants in Thai daily lives such as being a workhorse, I mean work elephants. Simulated battle was also presented where the elephants were used as their main weapons. Likewise, some acrobatic stunts were performed by these behemoths.


I have seen an elephant show at Singapore Zoo but this one definitely outperforms their counterparts at Singapore Zoo not only by acts but by entire set-up too. After the show has ended, audience can feed the elephants with bananas or sugar canes for 25 THB.

Shortly thereafter, we hurried to a caged pool for "The Crocodile Wrestling Show."

This one really almost stopped my heart. Imagine seeing a man putting his head or arm inside a croc's mouth. I was afraid not for the trainer but for my kids. In case an accident happens I don't know how my kids would react. Some parts of the show were truly dangerous especially when one of the trainers created a commotion while his colleagues' head was inside the crocodile's mouth. We all screamed expecting that the crocodile would close its mouth. Later on, we learned it was only an act or stunt to the crowd's delight.

The last show we watched was the "Thai Cultural Show." As the name implies, it was only a presentation of local dances, martial arts and their famous Muay Thai or kick boxing where the actors were comical. In addition, we were surprised to learn that they also have their own version of "Tinikling" or bamboo stick dance.

martial arts

Muay Thai

local dance - like our own "Tinikling"

unity dance with inverted flag of the Philippines

The last part of the show was a unity dance where each dancer was holding an Asian flag. One Filipino in our group noticed that our Philippine flag was reverse. The red part of the flag was on top. He called the attention of the dancer after the presentation. After the unity dance, the dancers coerced some from the audience to join them in dancing. I tried to participate but the wife was not interested, lol.

We left Samphran at past 4 pm and passed at a Gem Shop at Bangkok City where most tourists converged. As usual, we had no option but to check the place even if we didn't intend to buy since we need to transfer to a different vehicle according to our guide. From here, they grouped all the tourists according to their drop-off points. In our case, we boarded a Commuter Van that would drop us at Platinum Mall. This ended our one day tour.

The one day tour was such an awesome experience seeing those dangerous but domesticated animals performed in tandem with their trainers. Aside from that, the lively atmosphere and the boat ride experience at the floating market was really a memorable experience for my family.

By every measure, I could say that we got our money's worth; not to mention the joy and family bonding we shared during that day.

If you plan to avail the same one day tour, I advise you to arrange the tour at designated tour desk in your hotel; be always at the safe side. You can even try to negotiate in case you are a group. Chances are you will get some discount especially if they know that you're a Filipino since they have high respect for their Filipino English teachers.

For our morning tour, see: Floating Market / Elephant Village / The Cobra Show / Thai Handicraft

Thailand - Day Tour (Morning) - Floating Market / Elephant Village & Cobra Show

When family visited me in Bangkok many moons back, we availed the 1 day tour package being offered at the tour desk of our hotel lobby.

The guy at the tour desk, upon learning that we were Filipinos gave us huge discount. From 1,200 THB each he lowered it to 1,000 THB due to the fact that his child's English teacher was a Filipino according to him. Moreover, since we were four in our group the discount was also justified. However, he cautioned us not to tell the other Caucasian tourists about the discount. It could be a marketing ploy or what but for 4,000 THB for our group of four, inclusive of buffet lunch and transportation, I think the tour rate was competitive especially after I read from the net that some tourists were ripped-off when they use local transport such as taxis.

The following day, we were picked up from our hotel lobby by a 15 seaters Toyota Commuter Van at 6 am. Likewise, several tourists from nearby hotels were also picked-up by our van.

In no time at all, we were cruising outside Bangkok City. Our first stop was the Damnoen Saduak Foating Market. The place is located 110 km outside Bangkok City. Actually, there are several floating markets that you can visit but this is the most famous and frequented by tourists.

jetty

on our way to main market

We stopped in a small jetty where several long boats were waiting for tourists. This place is the starting point of Floating Market tour. There were 8 of us in one boat, navigator not included. 1 Caucasian couple, 2 Korean ladies and four of us.

Our motorized boat sailed for half hour until we reached the main market. We passed along quiet residential areas and it seemed that we were simply plying along some canal since the water was murky. Fortunately, there were less trashes floating on the water. It was a memorable experience for my family (minus the eldest) since it was their first time to ride a banca or boat. They were all smiles and enjoying the trip while I was anxious because nobody from my family knows how to swim. I just prayed that the canal wasn't deep.

MAIN MARKET

The main market is at the intersection of several canals. There were shops lining both banks. We enjoyed the 25 THB coconut ice cream and bought two small floating vendor wooden replica for 50 THB each. To our surprise, the main market was just a big canal since at the edge of the market was the main road where even a bus can pass; in fact you can arrive at the main market by using land transportation. The place itself was creatively converted into a tourist area but it was basically a series of water canals, nothing more. Anyhow, we enjoyed the view and lively atmosphere.


At 10:30 am, our entire group converged at the meeting point. Upon confirming all of us has come back, our tour guide herded us to a nearby parking area where our commuter van was waiting.

Our next stop was the Royal Thai handicraft Center. The place was teeming with wooden furniture and carvings. The workmanship was great and they offer shipping services as well. It didn't surprise me anymore to note the inflated prices. Nonetheless, I have seen several superb furniture wrapped and to be delivered to some Middle East countries.

Some may consider this place a tourist trap but actually there wasn't any pressure from the staff for us to buy any items. In our case, since the show room was air conditioned, we roamed around and had some photo-ops. We opted to buy cheaper souvenir items at Chatuchak Weekend Market.

THE ELEPHANT VILLAGE

From here we proceeded to Elephant Village where for 500 THB you can have a quick ride on some domesticated elephants around the bush and small pond. Or, if you are in a budget, you can feed those elephants with bananas for 100 THB.

We just took some pics of the sorry looking elephants since the tour desk guy told us that it would be cheaper to ride an elephant at Samphran Elephant Ground which was included in our afternoon itinerary. Anyhow, we were amazed to be near with these gentle giants with attached improvised bench on their backs used in ferrying passengers. It was just a pity seeing those elephants being guided by trainers carrying sharp sickle.



Shortly afterwards we went to "The Cobra Show" where the finale was the fight between a Mongoose and a Cobra. We preferred to stay outside and enjoy the place. Besides, the 200 THB entrance was a bit expensive for four of us considering that we were all afraid of snakes.

The Cobra Show was the last in our morning itinerary. From here we proceeded to Samphran for our complimentary buffet lunch.

For our afternoon tour, see: Samphran Elephants, Crocodiles & Cultural Shows

Our Fifth Day Exploit - Nan Lian Garden & Ten Thousand Buddha

We were supposed to fly back to Clark Airport on our fifth day in Hong Kong but due to flight cancellation of Tiger Airways we had no option but to extend one more night in this city. Flight cancellation or re-scheduling is one of the worst nightmares of a Dad since it would definitely cause a dent to his wallet albeit the joyful reaction of the family. Imagine spending extra night in Hong Kong, definitely kids would rejoice. Actually, I've seen sparks on their eyes upon learning this untoward event.

Since we booked our hotel months back we tried to extend for one more night to avoid the inconvenience of transferring to another hotel due to said flight cancellation. Unfortunately, Mini Hotel would charge us full price for the extension; the room rate was almost double the daily promo rate we got for 4 nights. More so, even if we would extend for another night, Mini Hotel can't guarantee that we wouldn't transfer to another family room.

Due to this, we decided to book 2 rooms at City Econo Guesthouse at Nathan Road for 1 night. We checked out from Mini Hotel at Causeway Bay and traveled to City Econo GH by taxi at downtown Kowloon. We settled in 2 rooms; triple and double.

Thereafter, we opted to visit cheaper and off-the-beaten-path touristy places in Hong Kong since it would be unwise to re-visit Disneyland or Ocean Park for few hours considering the cost of the entrance ticket.

At around 2 pm, we raced to Nanlian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery. The place is near Diamond Hill MTR Station and opens to the public for free.

NANLIAN GARDEN

at the entrance

man-made pond at the middle of the Garden

man-made waterfall

The garden is well kept and manicured though you might need umbrella or hat since the sun was still hovering near its zenith.

The Nunnery beside the garden was unfortunately closed when we arrived; it closes at 4:30 pm. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the Buddhist inspired wooden structure and we had the entire place to ourselves. Great for some photo-ops, actually. Upon entering the area, I could smell the scent of matured timber used to construct these marvelous structures.

CHI LIN NUNNERY

at the entrance of the Nunnery

it looks like a Shaolin Temple

We stayed for a couple of minutes before we decided to proceed to Ten Thousand Buddha temple at Sha Tin. Upon reaching Sha Tin MTR station, we took exit B and walked towards the Mini Bus station. From here we searched for Home Square Mall. Beside this mall is the Sha Tin Government Building. The road leading to Ten Thousand Buddha is in between these two buildings.

near the entrance

daughter still in good mood

On our way to the temple which is nestled near the top of the hill, life-size Buddha statues are lined-up at both sides of the road; we noticed that among those statues, no Buddha were identical. However, I must warn you that climbing the temple is not for the faint-hearted, you would know later.

Prior to our uphill climb, the family was excited due to the fact that it was their first time to see countless of Buddhas. I told them that if they would reach the temple then they have seen almost the Ten Thousand Buddha. In short, all of us hurriedly strolled the winding and sloping narrow road. I was impressed with my youngest kid since he never showed any sign of exhaustion and always ahead of us while my wife and 2 kids were taking rest from time to time. I stayed in between them to coordinate our movements and location.

the main temple

front of the main temple

We reached the temple at almost 5:30 pm and bought a bottle of water from the store as it was starting to close. We have consumed our bottled water on our way up to the temple. In few minutes the temple compound would be isolated from the outside world.

assisting my dead-tired daughter

Upon reaching the temple compound, my wife alerted me that our daughter was in terrible state. She was extremely exhausted and being a "fashionista," she wore her new leather boots bought from Hong Kong Industrial Center yesterday in climbing the temple thus her feet were sore as well. That was the first time I saw my energetic daughter in that situation, pale and almost in vegetative state.

The staffs were less helpful since they didn't speak English and even asked us to leave immediately. I panicked since the gate would be closed in a few minutes and we might be trapped inside the temple compound. More so, I was afraid that my daughter might need some medical help in case she wouldn't get enough rest before we go down.

Given that there was no other option for us but to leave the place immediately, it was incumbent for me to control the situation. I told my family to relax and calm down; I would assist our daughter on our way down. I asked her to remove her boots and walk barefoot. For our entire descend back to the entrance, she was leaning on me and we would stop to take rest every couple of minutes.

After that grueling trip back to the entrance, my wife lent her flats to our daughter while she wore our daughter's new boots. We all went inside the Home Square Mall to freshen up and cool down.

We returned back to our hotel and after some needed rest we went out for dinner.

After dinner, upon seeing those flashy and colorful boutiques and shops, my daughter strength returned back. It supported my observation that even dead-tired women would spring back into life with full of energy once they see an opportunity to shop for free, lol.

We surveyed Fa Yuen Street for cheap shoes. We bought 3 pairs of shoes while the wife got herself a leather bag from Ladies Market. The price of her bag went down from 350 HKD to 200 HKD after haggling. The daughter looked with envy on her Mom's new bag. I told her she got her leather boots recently from Hong Kong Industrial Center thus she wouldn't get anything new anytime soon, that was for sure. Surprisingly, she accepted my decision without any howl; later on I learned that my wife whispered to her that she could borrow her new bag. Mom will always be a Mom.

For us boys, these are our loots:

299 HKD Puma for me

240 HKD Vans for my eldest

320 HKD Converse for my youngest

I would like to add on this post our sixth and last day of our family trip. We left City Econo GH early the following day to catch our 9:40 am flight back to Clark Airport. We simply left our room keys at their reception table since we need to leave at 6:30 am.

We took a taxi and upon reaching the airport, I refunded our 5 Octopus cards for 50 HKD each. To my surprise, they are now deducting 9 HKD refund fee for each Octopus card. Anyhow, we got some HKD left on our cards plus 41 HKD refund for each card. We had our breakfast at Burger King at Terminal 2.

Just to add, McDonald's has replaced Burger King at the airport arrival area.

This ends our 6D/5N exploit in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau. It was a truly memorable experience for all of us. Though it costs me an arm and leg I always think that this kind of experience would be treasured by all of us.

For me, money can be saved but it doesn't means that it won't be consumed while a pleasant memory that strengthen a family bond will last for a life time and can be told to our next generation.




You may check my Travel for our entire 6D/5N Family Exploit - Hong Kong / Shenzhen / Macau


Stay tuned for our next year family trip after my daughter's college graduation. It could be Japan or South Korea.