Hong Kong on a Budget

Everyone who visits a new place and does not take a package tour will be jittery and a bit scared of getting lost and feeling really helpless. What more when going to a place where noone speaks english or your native tongue? I feel that way everytime we go on a trip abroad. I mean, I don't know the place nor does my husband. The worst part is that everyone in our party counts on me to know what to do and where to go, as if I was the tour guide and that adds to the jitters. But each time we come home from a trip, the feeling of being able to accomplish something for yourself and for your family is there, and it feels good.

Well, I always start with research,then book, then research, buy a map, then research, and more research. So yes, you got it right, the secret is to research. Start off with viewing websites such as virtuatourist and lonely planet. These two offer tips for going about your destination and you can book online with them. But I don't book with either one. With VT, I am able to save my travel guides to a certain folder which is exclusive for a particular destination. You'll have to be a member to do that. Anyway, membership is free. I read travel guides and ask questions in the forum. The guys at vt (I'm a member too you know) are really accommodating and will try to help in anyway they can.

After I have made my temporary IT, I try to check out the prices. I won't expound on this as I have written a blog about it so do read the other posts. the resources I have for booking flights include Trip Advisor, Booking.com, cheaperthanhotels.com, Expedia.com, Asiatravel, ctrip.com, and Hostelworld.com. Hostelworld and booking.com have hostels listed for the budget conscious travellers which we are.

Next, I read more on the places of interest. For Hong Kong, I found THKA and the Hong Kong tourism Board to be of so much use. THKA offers a local's way to go around hong kong, saving the traveller money from taking cabs and suggests walks that can be done by themselves. The Hong Kong Tourism Board gives you more options to include in your IT attractions that you can visit for free such as the museums that are free on wednesdays and tuesdays, heritage walks, free chinese junk ride, free visit to a theater, and the MTR-Ocean park package (which gives you a free ride).

I don't find Hong Kong cheap at all. So, because we have 8 days and 7 nights to spend for our holiday, I've decided to include both Macau and Zhuhai in our IT too. These two places are also interesting because they give another perspective of the modern China - Macau for the Portuguese-cantonese culture and Zhuhai for the beach, the chinese palace and shopping! Well, Shopping mainly because according to my sources, Zhuhai is the place where you can get cheap goods (mostly unbranded and imitations though). Cheaper than Shenzhen and way way lower than Hong Kong.

We need a visa to go to zhuhai. So, instead of getting a chinese visa from here which will cost us 1,500 php each, I've discovered that we can actually get them at either Macau or Hong Kong. It only takes a few hours to secure the visa and is good for single entry and exit at zhuhai only. This costs about 750 php which will save us 50%. Also, Zhuhai hotels cost only about 30 to 50% of the hotel prices in HK and Macau for the same hotel star rating. Jumbo Hotel costs only 30 USD per night and it's even a 4 star hotel (5 star even according to some).

If you've been following my blog you'd know that I gave myself a 25k challenge for the whole Macau, HK and Zhuhai trip. So far so good. I've still managed to keep the costs to 21k including the ferry trip which costs around 4,500 php for all 3 of us, and the chinese visa. It is a good thing that the main purpose of the trip is to orient my daughter with chinese history and culture so we can actually stay out of Disneyland. Well, quite frankly, she's not so interested in going because she says it's too small when compared to the disneyland parks she's been to. That saves me at least 180 USD. plus, the places she wants to see are either free or cheap with the exception of the Ocean park which is not that expensive either.

I guess that's that for now. I'll let you know my final IT before I leave. Check back in when you can.



Jane


For more info, please visit:

Travel Hong Kong Attractions
This site offers you an ultimate virtual guide on how to get there, to the Hong Kong attractions and where else you can go from there. Save your time and money to your Hong Kong journey, know before you go.

A Blast at the Mines

Last December my family and I were in Baguio (again for the nth time). It has become a family tradition to visit the summer capital at that time of the year. Just so we don't get tired of going to the place, I make it a point to go to a new spot during each visit. This time it was the Balatoc Mines. I first heard about it in the virtualtourist website. VT Bikepacker featured it in his travel guide and I had read it in 2006 before the trip that year. finally, we got there this time. Just as I have read, The Balatoc Mines is an old gold mining company whose founders were americans. It was established almost at the same time Baguio was built - in the early 1900's. For several years they operated in the area until the time when the market for gold went bad. Their earnings were lower than their expenses then so that management decided to fold up the business. However, in the recent past - about 3 years or so - with the help of the Department of Tourism, the mines had been converted into the country's first and only mine ride.





A visitor is allowed to become a miner for a day. First, one has to wear the right paraphernalia. We were made to use boots and hard hats. Then, we had to go for a little orientation so that we know what to expect. the ride was with the use of a real miner's train. A guide went with us to explain what was happening. We were led into a miner's cave where the ore was found. this place had already been abandoned for some reason so that noone else was there but us. It was a little scary to find out that houses stood above the place where we were at. I mean, you know, what if during a blast, the earth got so soft that it crumbled! I'd hate to think the worst. I and my family were there in that cave. But that was remote. We learned that Balatoc Mines placed in some fillings enough to replace that which they harvested. They were safety conscious as well as environment-friendly.








At one point during the ride, a real blasting was done. Of course we went for cover. How deafening it had been. The smoke it emitted was still there 15 minutes after the explosion which I should say is not friendly to the nose nor the lungs at all.





After that, we were off to a real mine. There, the miners were processing the ore, cleaning it until there was not too much earth in it. Ore really does go through fire to yield its gold. There was a gate which shut close a cave. This, we later found out, is where the real mining is being done. The miners, all men, stayed inside that hole for 8 straight hours. Noone could enter nor leave unless it was time to do so. The miners, being all men, wore nothing but their undergarments down there. This is done because it is easier to track whether anyone brought home something that they shouldn't have. everyone was accounted for and when someone is missing, there'd be a team to look for that person in the mine. It really wasn't a life I could imagine having but these guys brave it day in and day out to make a living. I'd hate to be in their shoes. The tour ended in a visit to the small museum. Overall, the Balatoc mine is a ride to experience.