Thursday, June 19, 2008

2008 Outing: Day 3

It's like the busy season. You have a lot to do. You have little time to sleep. And you have limited funds.
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And the day began with another earlier-than-work shower, and a no-rice buffet breakfast. Squeezed some time to change currencies (where the CPA in me is already tired of computing forex gains/losses effects). We, Skywalkers, quickly made our way to Macau tower. The weather was cooperating so far.

The Skywalkers (see Day 2 entry) spent the morning Skywalking while the rest toured the rest of Macau. We were scheduled to ride the ferry crossing to HongKong at 1:15pm. We arrived in HK around 3pm, I think. Slept on the ferry to recharge my already tired body.

















We kids proceeded to Disneyland while our seniors were very nice that they took our luggage to the hotel. Since Disneyland closes at 8pm, we had to Amazing-Race-run in HK's MTR (Mass transit Railway, a.k.a. HK's super more high-tech version of MRT)to get to Disneyland. Observation: The structures in Macau were more cool and sophisticated compared to HK. And Macau is also cleaner.

Despite getting slightly lost, still found time to take pics:
Observation: HK people are not that friendly. Or just not that friendly to tourists. They seem to be always in a hurry, it's hard to ask for directions. And their English is not that good too.
















Found the Disneyland Line! The Disney line had its own Disney train with the Mickey Window. Kawaii!










Disneyland was really really MAGICAL. Growing up with Disney cartoons and singing Disney songs all my childhood, this is really the most magical/amazing/fantastic/spectacular part of our outing. They were playing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid which was nakakatindig-balahibo-sa-kilabot. I became a kid again.












We made the most of what we time we had left. Surprisingly, Disneyland was quite small (but still magical) , we were able to tour it that time. We opted not to ride some rides because of them are actually kiddie rides. There was a Mickey Mouse (and Minnie Mouse I think) mascots available for picture-taking purposes. But the line was quite long, and given the limited time, we opted not to queue. I'll do that next time. hehehehehe. =)

With 3D Glasses:
Be sure to watch the 3D when you go to Disneyland. Walang sinabi Rialto ng EK. Not really comparable pala.
















Narnia pic. BTW, Narnia - Prince Caspian - was great! Watch it!




















Sleeping Beauty Castle: Day and Night version. There's always a fireworks show at 8pm. Amazing amazing fireworks!
Castle + Fireworks + Disney Songs = Disney Magic












Shopping at Disneyland. Though I think I should've bought more and more. Party as a kid. Pay as an adult. Some of the items were quite pricey. Really pricey. Lesson: Budget a lot for Disney shopping. Their mickey mouse cookies look cute, but they do not taste the way they are priced.













I WILL DEFINITELY GO BACK TO DISNEYLAND! More pictures in my Multiply account.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

2008 Outing: Day 2

After 4 hours of sleep, my second day begins with an early-early-early-earlier than-an-officeday shower. Followed by a no-rice breakfast buffet. Lots of fruit, bread, cereal, potato and bacon, but no rice available.

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We began our tour by walking walking walking to Senado Square. Here, we found the Macau branches of Starbucks and Mcdo... where prices are a bit pricey.









Senado Square boasts plenty of shops to shop. The shop-owners have limited English vocabulary so it is quite hard to ask for more information about their products. E.g.Question: "Do you have any other colors of this product?", Answer:"--blank stare--, thenthy pahtahcas" - that's twenty patacas. And I remember our somewhat-deteriorating English-speaking country. Even though the Philippine's English is deteriorating , we can understand the question. We just provide a barok answer.
After touring the place, we made tambay at the fountain... and eventually found... a flag...THE FLAG

















And we saw a team... And although this is the peak, the height and the moment of all moments in Macau, I couldn't put into words what we witnessed. I might accidentally spill spoilers of the future Amazing Race Season. Hahahaha.

After Senado Square, we Amazing-Race-quickly ran to the bus stop. Our next stop: Macau Tower. And guess what we found:















No close up shots allowed. Pinagbawalan kami. Too bad. =(













The majestic Macau Tower. We climbed up the 61 floors or 338 m/ 1109 ft (passing a yellow and red flag along the way) of the Macau Tower. This is the highest building height I've climbed to date.
Viewing Deck shots:












The scene was breathtaking. It was quite cloudy that day so some of the view was quite...blurry. It must be quite amazing when its a sunny day, or at night.
What to do in Macau Tower:
A. Bungy Jump - jump freely with a harness - expensive and scary
B. Mast Climb - climb the tower - tiring and expensive
C. SkyJump - jump not-so-freely with a harness - relatvely inexpensive but still expensive
D. SkyWalk - walk around the top of the tower - for me

We opted to do for the Skywalk! These pictures were actually taken in Day 3 since our walk was postponed due to the uncooperative weather.

























Our next stop was Fisherman's Wharf.










It was raining when we walked/dragged our feet to the place. Our partner treated us at a restaurant there. Yay! Ambait! Swerte namin!=) The restaurant was actually staffed by Filipinos: chef, waiters, and the manager. Then to burn of the calories of the meal, we walked, walked and walked around:














Before going back to the hotel, we watched and watched the Wynn fountain shows again. Then I collapsed in my bed with uber-sore feet.

Monday, June 16, 2008

2008 Outing: Day 1

After the journey of passport processing, places to visit research, rechecking of things to bring and saving like crazy... Here we come Macau and Hongkong!

What is so special with this outing?

First, the international outing planred pushed through. We travelled two Asian countries: Macau and Hongkong.

Second, this is a vacation... WITH ACCOUNTANTS. Since this is a overseas outing, this entails changing of currencies used. Which means there are four currencies involved in this outing: the Philippine Peso (PHP), US Dollar (USD), Macau Pataca (MOP) and HongKong Dollar (HKD). Although the HKD is accepted in Macau, it will save you more since the equivalent of 1 USD is greated when converted to MOP than HKD. So why did we convert our PHP to USD in the first place? Waaaaah. Pagod na ako. Ayoko na ikwento. My point is, considering that this outing involves all these currencies, the accountants in us yields us to compute, convert and hedge. It's not just our work anymore, it has become a part of out life.

Third, I really bonded with my batchmates. From the CR-scheduling to the Amazing-Race-line itinerary, we really got to know each other more. Wheeee!

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Our flight was 12:30 pm. THe recommended boarding time is 3.5 hours before the flight, which means 9:00am. I got there 10:00am. Hehehehe. Good thing my lovable officemates did not check in yet - as I wanted a group check-in to dissipate the weight of my i-think-was-overweight-according-to-our-weighing-scale luggage.
Airport pa lang, picture taking na!











It was a 1hour and 45 min flight. Picture-taking pa rin upon arrival! In the right picture, the one not smiling was not my officemate.











After about an hour of resting in the hotel (where we didn't really rest because we were under schedule), we proceeded to the Venetian... by walking and taking the free shuttle...Hehehehe.

The Venetian is where the "West meets the East"... or something to that effect.














I dunno if this is an imitation of The Thinker . But this is not a statue, it is really a person, which moves and moves when go give money. hahaha!














Nice ceilings of art.













No picture taking in the casinos though. The casino is currently the largest in the world at 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m²). Madaming pinoy ang nagtatrabaho dun. We even got to chat with one, and asked for free drinks... coke, orange juice, coffee and milk tea. Hahahahaha. I played the slot machine. Minimum bet was MOP 20. Won MOP 4, but I did not cash it. Played again. And lost. There goes my MOP 20 X 6 = Php 120.

After the Venetian, we then proceeded to the Wynn Hotel. (There's also a Wynn Hotel in Vegas. Watch the movie 21.)

Picture taking at a fountain on the way there.













We arrived just in time for the fountain show.The most amazing and coolest fountain show ever!






More pictures in my Multiply .