Field Trip

Let me first introduce to you the Cast of Characters:
Ria - marathon walker, obsessive compulsive shopper, light packer and stilnox survivor
Jazmin - page one afficionado, tiger skecher, Zoie's personal shopper and my drinking partner
Maja - roommate, outlet researcher, injured foot and happy camper plus Me!

The four of us left our hubbies and children in Manila for 4 glorious days in Hong Kong! It wasn't all glitz and glamor though...we had our fair share of dot.com moments.

Even before we departed Manila, our adventure had already begun. Ria gets questioned by the immigration agent about her purpose in HK. In her most sarcastic tone, she exclaims "shopping!" while looking back at us as if mocking the immigration agent. Kami naman, natawa! Naku Lord, akala ko dun palang, ma-ka-cancel na ang field trip namin. Fortunately though, he was in a good mood and he just let Ria's remark pass. Just when we thought we were home free, we get stuck in the airplane for one hour because one passenger who already had a boarding pass got detained at immigration (ala Jun Lozada?!). As such, his luggages had to be unloaded thus causing the delay. After our one hour wait, we were treated naman to a very heated verbal exchange between two passengers. Ay ya yay. Passenger A was upset because Passenger B's son kept kicking his chair. When A began giving dirty looks and making snide comments, B became agitated and very defensive. With comments like -- "Gusto mo bang patayin ko ang anak ko?", "Para kang walang pinag-aralan!" and " Kung gusto mo ng VIP treatment, dun ka sa VIP plane pumunta!" -- we didn't know if we could make it out of NAIA!

After what seemed like forever, we touched down in HK at 10:30pm. Even if we had a bus waiting to transfer us to our hotel, we chose to ride the airport express so that we could get to our hotel faster. As soon as we got into the Ramada Kowloon, we all looked at one another and we burst into laughter. The room was kinda compact! And the bathroom was just double the size of the one in the airplane. Heehee. But I guess you get what you pay for! On a more positive note, the room was clean and the sheets smelled fresh. For the budget traveller, the Ramada Kowloon is a steal!

We dropped our luggages and with lightning quick speed, we walked to Canton Road for our first HK feast. We initially sat down at the Macau Restaurant on Lock Road but the girls didn't seem to be interested in trying something new. So we walked and walked until we reached Happy Garden. My girls were aghast when they found out I had never eaten there. After our meal, it was then that I realized why they were raving about this place. The food was gooooooood. I'm so glad I discovered something new.

With stomachs full, we made our happy trek back to our hotel occasionally stopping at the few open stores on Granville. We were eager to get some shut-eye to prepare us for the long day ahead....