Day Tour in Macau

7am –  We went to China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Shah Tsui HK ( 15-min walk from the hotel)

• Bought a ticket for 1 way ( we got s discounted ticket for 1 way to Macau – $160)
• 45mins to 1 hour ferry Travel to Macau ( Ferry is Wifi- zone, yey!)

8AM – we reached the Macau Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal

• Our initial plan was to hop in a free shuttle that would take us to any hotels near the Senado Square but our biggest consideration is the kids. As you know, Macau is known for casinos and kids are not allowed in casinos – which mean hotel free shuttle won’t allow us to hop in.
• Good thing we went on a Sunday. Sunday means day – off for a lot of Filipino workers in Macau. It is amazing how hard-working our country men abroad. We met a lot of Filipinos waiting at the harbor, offering tour-guiding services. We are a group of 6 people, 4 adults, 2 kids. We were lucky to have spoken to an Ilonggo speaking Pinoy tour guide. I used my Ilonggo expertise to negotiate. What used to be 300HKD per head went down to 200HKD/head for adults and kids were free of charge. ( don’t get me wrong, hiring a guide was out of our budget that’s why we had to haggle. We would have been willing to pay if we had a lot of extra money).
• The 200HKD/head that we paid already covered the guide, bus fare and of course complimentary access to hotel / casino amenities.

9AM – We reached the Senado Square. This was where we commenced our Macau Peninsula escapade with our guide.

• Senado Square ( spent 15 minutes for picture-taking)
• Walked all the way to Ruins of St. Paul
• Along the way, we passed by a souvenir shop – Beautiful Souvenir accepts Philippine peso as payment ( yey)
• Passed by street food stores wherein we , especially the kids enjoyed free tastes a lot ( Meat Jerky are the top sellers)
• It rained when we were there ( May 7), good thing we had umbrellas. The tour must go one. Lol!
• We spent another 15 mins taking pictures at the Ruins
• From the ruins, we went up to the Macau National Museum – at the view deck of the museum, you will see the entire view of Macau peninsula.

11Am – we were done with this side of  Macau. We stopped  to buy some meat jerky (kids and kids at heart love jerky).

• We decided to have an early lunch – asked our tour guide to take us to local restaurant as we want to try out local dishes.
• We came to a local restaurant with really good and affordable food. I will post the pic of the restaurant (sorry, I can’t read its Chinese name). Kids enjoyed mimicking my usage of chopsticks which I found really cute. As Filipino kids, this was something unusual to them.

12 noon – we were done with lunch, we bid goodbye to Macau Peninsula. This side of Macau has so much history to tell as apparent in old churches and old buildings everywhere.

• On our way to the bus that would take us to Cotai Strips of Macau, we passed by the Emperor Hotel. Aside from the fact that it’s allegedly owned by famous actor Jackie Chan, it was well- visited because of its grand stature.
• We went inside the hotel which was decorated with gold bar ornaments. One bar though stood up as it was well kept and closely guarded, positioned in one pillar of the hotel lobby. Our guide spilled the secret- it was a genuine gold bar. ( Whoah!!)
• On our way to Emperor Hotel, we also passed by a hotel that was said to be owned by a famous Filipino singer- composer Jose Mari Chan. Chan apparently was a Macau resident. (If I was not mistaken it was a Crimson Hotel.)

12:30 pm –  We reached the Cotai Strips – this part of Macau is the Las Vegas of China. Here dwell Casinos and Grand hotels.

• We reached Wynn Palace just in time for another run of Fountain Dance Show. This show runs every 15 minutes.
• Right after the fountain show, we headed to the first highlight of our hotel – hopping – the Cable car!!  And as I have mentioned earlier, we got complimentary cable ride as part of the package. Yes, we didn’t have to wait in queue. We took the cable car at the Hotel Official Guest Entrance – express way, baby!
• We also went to the famous Venetian Macau where Venice Canal could be found. We got to compare this with what we have in Mckinely Hill , Taguig. The advantage of the one in Macau –  it is indoor. ( the one in PH is open – air, which means more init – {heat}!!)
• The kids enjoyed the circus show and other performances at The Venetian.
• Venetian stands beside Parisian Hotel where a famous replica of the Eiffel tower welcomes its guests. Not to mention the very eye- catching Galaxy hotel and Studio City.
• This side of Macau requires a lot of $$$$.
• From Venetian, our guide has secured us a much cheaper ferry ticket going back to HK, took us to the shuttle bus that would take us back to the Ferry station. And that ends our Macau day tour.
• We are glad to have found Filipino guides in Macau, they help us and we were able to help them too.

** I will update this post with the contact numbers and FB names of our contacts.

** Macau accepts HKD but make sure you have spent/converted your Macanese Pataca because HK does that accept it.

Meanwhile, please enjoy our photos in Macau.

Senado Square

St. Paul’s Ruins

Meat Jerky

This is the restaurant in Macau

Inside Wynn Palace

Inside the cable car

Next Post :

• Exploring the world with Childhood friends 

Four Days in Hong Kong

Trip Hobo (https://www.triphobo.com/)  has once again done a great job!!

So we went to Hong Kong – Macau  for 4 days. It was a seamless vacation with my friends and their kids. Thank you to Triphobo for helping me organize this trip again.

Click here  for the Actual itinerary.

Day 1- Travelling From Hong Kong

Las Vegas Guest House 07:30 pm

• Stay for 01:00 hrs

( Distance : 0.5 km Duration : 7 mins)

Avenue Of Stars 07:37 pm

• Stay for 04:00 hrs

Notes: Clock tower

0.5 km | 8 mins

Las Vegas Guest House 11:45 pm

Day 2 Travelling From Hong Kong

Las Vegas Guest House07:59 am

• Stay for 01:00 hrs

NotesEat at KFC Cameron road ( 1 hour)

( Distance : 22.32 km Duration : 34 mins)

Disneyland09:33 am

• Stay for 08:00 hrs

( Distance : 20.7 km Duration : 25 mins)

Ladies Market05:57 pm

• Duration 04:00 hrs
• $79.59

3.5 km | 18 mins

Las Vegas Guest House10:15 pm

• Stay for 00:00 hrs

NotesEat at KFC Cameron road ( 1 hour)

Day 3 Travelling From Hong Kong

Las Vegas Guest House06:00 am

• Stay for 00:45 hrs

( Distance : 0.7 km Duration : 11 mins)

Star Ferry Pier Tsim Sha Tsui06:56 am

• Stay for 09:30 hrs

NotesMacau Day tour

( Distance : 11.3 km Duration : 22 mins)

Ocean Park04:48 pm

• Duration 05:00 hrs
• $55.86

9.2 km | 22 mins

Las Vegas Guest House10:10 pm

• Stay for 00:00 hrs

Day 4 Travelling From Hong Kong

Las Vegas Guest House07:00 am

• Stay for 00:45 hrs

( Distance : 3.03 km Duration : 6 mins)

Victoria Peak07:51 am

• Duration 05:00 hrs
• $41.42

3.03 km | 6 mins

Las Vegas Guest House12:57 pm

• Stay for 00:30 hrs

( Distance : 35.7 km Duration : 36 mins)

Airport Passenger Terminal 102:02 pm

• Stay for 00:45 hrs

I will post my Macau Itinerary in a separate Blog. Watch out for it. Of course I made it through trip Hobo too. 🙂

For now, Allow me to share some pics from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong – Peak Tram – from this point, you have a purchase a train ticket that will take you to the peak

Hong Kong – View from the Peak

Hong Kong – Bruce Lee at the Garden of Stars

Hong Kong – The gang at Disney land – we queued up for 1 hour to have this photo op with Mickey and Minnie

To sum it all up, It was a smooth, seamless travel. Trip hobo was my partner.

Next Articles:

• One Day in Macau 
• Exploring the world with Childhood friends 

** I was not paid by Trip Hobo for this blog***

SADDEST Story Ever Told in Hollywood!

Source: SADDEST Story Ever Told in Hollywood!

SADDEST Story Ever Told in Hollywood!

This is one of the SADDEST stories ever told in Hollywood. His name is Sylvester Stallone. One of the BIGGEST and most famous American movie superstars. Back in the day, Stallone was a struggling actor in every definition. At some point, he got so broke that he stole his wife’s jewelry and sold it. Things got so bad that he even ended up homeless. Yes, he slept at the New York bus station for 3 days, unable to pay rent or afford food. His lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog at the liquor store to any stranger. He didn’t have money to feed the dog anymore. He sold it for only $25. He says he walked away crying.

Two weeks later, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie, ROCKY. He wrote the script for 20 hours! He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just ONE REQUEST, he wanted to STAR in the movie, he wanted to be the MAIN ACTOR…Rocky himself. But the studio said NO! They wanted a REAL STAR.

They said he “looked funny and talked funny”. He left with his script. A few weeks later, the studio offered him $250,000 for the script and he refused. They even offered $350,000, but he still refused. They wanted his movie, but NOT him. He said NO. He had to be IN THAT MOVIE.

After a while, the studio agreed, gave him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it! The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for BEST ACTOR! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!

And do you know the first thing he bought with the $35,000? THE DOG HE SOLD. Yes, Stallone LOVED HIS DOG SO MUCH that he stood at the liquor store for 3 days waiting for the man he sold his dog to. And on the 3rd day, he saw the man coming with the dog. Stallone explained why he sold the dog and begged for the dog back. The man refused. Stallone offered him $100. The man refused. He offered him $500. And the guy refused. Yes, he refused even $1000. And, Believe it or Not, Stallone had to pay $15,000 for the same dog he sold for only $25! And he finally got his dog back!

And today, the same Stallone who slept in the streets and sold his dog JUST BECAUSE he couldn’t even feed it anymore, is one of the GREATEST movie stars who ever walked the Earth!

Being broke is BAD, really BAD. Have you ever had a dream? A wonderful dream? But you are too broke to implement it? Too tiny to do it? Too small to accomplish it? Damn! I’ve been there too many times!

Life is tough. Opportunities will pass you by, just because you are a NOBODY. People will want your products but NOT YOU. It’s a tough world. If you aren’t already famous, or rich or “connected”, you will find it rough. Doors will be shut on you. People will steal your glory and crush your hopes. You will push and push. And yet NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. And then your hopes will be crushed. You will be broke. Damn broke. You will do odd jobs for survival. You will be unable to feed yourself. And Yes, you may end up sleeping in the streets.

It happens. Yes, it does.

BUT NEVER LET THEM CRUSH THAT DREAM. Whatever happens to you, keep dreaming. Even when they crush your hopes, keep dreaming. Even when they turn you away, keep dreaming. Even when they shut you down, keep dreaming.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF EXCEPT YOURSELF! People will judge you by HOW you look and by WHAT you have. But please, fight on! Fight for your place in history. Fight for your glory. NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

Even if it means selling all your clothes and sleeping with the dogs, IT’S OKAY! But AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL ALIVE, your STORY IS NOT OVER. TRUST ME.

Keep up the fight. Keep your dreams and hope alive. Go great.

 

Original Article was written by Nunzio Presta on this LINK:

How to Change the Color of Hydrangeas?

Have you ever walked around a garden and got fascinated with various colors of flowers blooming? If yes, well, you are not alone. Whenever I see beautiful and colorful flowers, I can’t help but won…

Source: How to Change the Color of Hydrangeas?

How to Change the Color of Hydrangeas?

Have you ever walked around a garden and got fascinated with various colors of flowers blooming? If yes, well, you are not alone. Whenever I see beautiful and colorful flowers, I can’t help but wonder how these pretty creations came to life. I often in awe of how nature lights up my mood. I oftentimes just stare at a beautiful flower and feel grateful that I am able to witness these beauties. Just like you, I always love flowers. The scent of fresh flowers is undeniably stress-relieving. One of my favorite flowers is the magical Hydrangeas. I say magical because these flowers could change colors from Blue to Pink and lighter and darker colors of the same hue. I am pretty sure you asked yourself how and where these beautiful flowers got their vibrant colors.

Enter a caption(Note:  CTO. Source)

Well, wonder no more! We will give you tips on how to achieve these colors in your own garden, right at your own yard. All you need is a little chemistry knowledge.

Chemistry?! Oh, don’t worry, we will not be talking about the periodic table of elements here. By Chemistry I meant, I need to understand the pH level.

Why pH Level? It’s because the amount of acid and alkaline in the soil plays a very important role in colors of our beautiful hydrangeas.

pH value is numbered from 1 to 14, with 7 as the middle (neutral) point. Values below 7 indicate acidity which increases as the number decreases.

Photo CTO

Now that you understood what pH level means, let us identify the things that you will need to do your own color-changing procedures.

It is said that it’s easier to change pink hydrangeas into blue than the other way around. If you have pink plants, then you are lucky enough! But hey, those who have blue, worry not! We get it all covered for you too. All procedures we will be outlining here are tested, proven and oh-so-easy to follow! So, what are we waiting for? Let’s begin.

You will need the following:

Pink to Blue:

• Aluminum Sulfate ( or alum powder) – you may get this from pharmacy or from any garden center
• A gallon of water
• Bucket

Alternate materials:

• Tin cans
• 60 grit sandpapers
• Peat Moss
• Ammonia – rich fertilizers

Blue to Pink:

• Garden Lime or Calcium Carbonate
• A gallon of water
• Bucket

Our alternative materials are cheaper and could usually be seen around the corner of your farms or gardens. We usually use Alum powder but if you opt to be more organic and natural, you may use Peat Moss and of course, Tin cans for you out there who want to recycle materials. Please take note that using these alternate materials takes longer to effect than using Aluminum Sulfate.

Now that you have all the materials needed, I know you are excited to do this little magical project, so let’s get going.

1. From Pink to Blue: You got pink flowers because your soil is rich in alkaline. In order to change the color to blue, you need to increase acid content in soil by adding aluminum in it. Here’s how:
2. Put a gallon of water in a bucket
3. Mix 1 table spoons of aluminum sulfate in your water
4. Stir until alum powder gets dissolved
5. Drench this water solutions around the roots of your plant
6. Do this once a year. Year by year, your pink hydrangeas will turn bluer and bluer

Using the alternative material Tin Can:

1. Get a tin can
2. Rub it with 60 grit sand paper until there will be lots of scratches
3. Sand the end and inside of the tin can
4. Cut the tin into small strips
5. From strips, cut into small squares
6. Push the small square tin tips into the soil around Hydrangea
7. When the strips of tin can rust, they will make the soil more acidic
8. Add peat moss and fertilizers with ammonia for best result.

 

1. From Blue to Pink: You have blue flower because your soil is acidic. Hence, the need to remove or block aluminum content of the soil. This time, lime will be your best friend in order to raise the pH level in soil:

 

1. Get about 1 cup of garden lime
2. Mix it in a gallon of water in a bucket
3. Make sure lime is dissolved in water
4. Sprinkle garden lime solutions around your plant’s base
5. Do this once a year and your blue flowers will be more pink year over year

 

1. From White to Blue or Pink – Oh, my dear, unfortunately, white hydrangeas will not be changed into either pink or blue.  White is unaffected by any pH level in a soil. But white is beautiful as it is, right?

There you have it, flower lovers! Easy, right? I personally enjoyed doing this procedure in my hydrangea plants every other year. By doing this, it makes me look forward to another colorful year. I feel the power is in my hands. Yes, this maybe so magical to see, but hey, you have the magic in your hands. You can do this right at your door step. The materials come so handy that there’s no need for you to even look far beyond your garden set.

Please note though, that all these changes do not happen overnight. It usually takes months upto a year in order for your colored hydrangeas to come full bloom with their new colors. The darkness or intensity of the colors will depend on the level of acid or alkaline present in your soil. It is always advisable to test you soil’s pH level.

Given all these tips, what are you waiting for? Head to your gardens now and do these DIY tips. If you even want your fellow gardener to know about it, feel free to share this article.

Have a colorful and a happy gardening time!

One Question That Got Me Curious

Have you ever been asked of a question that got you thinking so hard? One guy in an Online  Job Search was looking for a blog writer for his blog site about gardening. I decided to apply and send my sample articles, but I had a change of mind.  One of the reasons is that, it was for a ghost writer post which means they will hold the rights to my article and I could not post this on my own site. I’d rather post this here and share with you all!! It’s for sure don’t pay me any thing but It’s MINE!

Anyways, I’m more interested in sharing  the question or topic that the guy wanted me to write about.

The Question was about How to Change the Color of Hydrangeas.

Interesting, right?  That question reminded me of my mother’s garden. She has Blue Hydrangea which we locally call “million flower”. I always thought it was like other flowers that it has variety of colors, boi, I was wrong.

So this question got me curious and my inquisitive self started digging in.  I’m surprised how my favorite subject has something to do with this color- changing procedure. Yes, It involves chemistry.

Curious too? Read on … click HERE..

 

Photo Source:  http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/garden/496573/How-to-grow-hydrangeas

Pink and Blue Hydrangeas