One year ago today, I did the totally unthinkable: deciding to go to another country within less than an hour just to see a certain Asian superstar for about 30 minutes. That was the moment that cemented my being a Rain fan. If you still don’t know the gory details, go here, or at Rizza’s Blog and update yourself.

To commemorate this special day, I’d like to reminisce the other parts of the trip that I didn’t mention in my original post, since that one was focused mainly on Rain and the fan meet. As some of you bandstalker.com regulars may already know, Rizza and I aren’t exactly camera-shy, and we don’t really maroon ourselves in hotel rooms when we’re abroad, either. So naturally, we had a grand time going around and taking pics as souvenir.

This trip was not our first trip in Hong Kong. We had been there 5 years ago for the Ricky Martin concert, but since we spent majority of our time being stationed at the hotel lobby hoping for someone to give us some time to meet him :roll:, we weren’t able to go around and explore the sights. This time, even if it was short notice and Rizza (and Marissa) didn’t even arrive and leave HK at the same time as I did, we made sure we’ll be able to at least go to the major tourist destinations and bring home tons of memories.

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Isn’t it weird that I arrived in Hong Kong, and the first thing that caught my attention at the airport is the Dynamic Korea billboard?

Makes me think what will catch my attention when I arrive at Incheon airport in Seoul.

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One of my must-do things in all of my trips anywhere is to take photos of my hotel room. Our room at Rambler Hotel is no exception. One look at the nicely-lit bathroom and I just knew I had to immortalize it on my cam:

Rambler Hotel is located so far away from the busier part of Hong Kong. In fact, it is located right smack in the middle of an industrial site. It made for an interesting window view, though:

The one thing I could never forget about this hotel is that, for the first time in my life, I experienced seeing a huge cargo ship sailing up close from my hotel room window. It was so close that I was freaking out coz it looks like it’s gonna slam on the next building (a sure indication that I watch way too many disaster flicks).

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Marissa and I spent our Sunday strolling around Tsim Sha Tsui looking for stuff to buy - particularly, fish skin chicharon (cracklings). She also had to go buy a skirt coz she has to go to church that day and her religion requires that all women must wear skirts to church. For some reason, I was the one who ended up buying a jacket instead (that’s something new. Usually, I’m the one who goes home empty handed because there were no sizes available for me). I used the jacket for next day’s fanmeet.

We had lunch at this restaurant which turned out to be the same resto where Rizza and our friends at AFRM had dinner 5 years ago. Talk about deja vu. hehe. You know what’s playing on the in-house TV when we came in?

All In, that’s what!

I suddenly remembered that the resto is just across Hair Culture Cafe. HCC is where Asian Friends of Ricky Martin had our pre-concert party before we went to HK Coliseum for Ricky’s LLVL Tour. We had a superb time then, meeting our friends from Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Australia. South China Morning Post even covered our event (imagine our shock when we saw our faces plastered on the papers the following day). HCC brought back a lot of memories for me. I just had to snap a photo for posterity.

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Since we’re on the subject of restaurants, the one place that I certainly would like to go back to in Hong Kong (which means I have to bring Marissa with me on my next trip) is this Japanese restaurant owned by Marissa’s friend Allen. I swear, the food there is heavenly. Of course, it’s kinda weird that it’s a Japanese restaurant owned by a Hong Kong Chinese, but the piped-in music is Korean drama OSTs (more particularly, the theme from Dae Jang Geum and a smattering of Full House OST tracks).

Here’s something to make the sushi-lovers out there drool…

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After the It’s Raining event the following day, Rizza (with her luggage), Marissa and I just spent the rest of the afternoon making fools of ourselves at Avenue of Stars:

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Rizza and I had our first taste of walking around Hong Kong ’til our legs fall off when we got lost looking for the Peak Tram at Hong Kong island. We even asked the hotel staff for directions, and he gladly gave them. Unfortunately, the one he gave was actually the longer route to the Peak Tram terminal. And then, it’s kinda hard to decipher whether we are on the right side of whatever building. I was so close to doing a Joey Tribbianni and step on my map to get the proper directions. I guess even illustrated maps are still no match for two geographically-challenged people.

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What did we do when we reached The Peak?

1. Took pics of the view -

2. Gave our legs more rest.

3. People-watched.

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I seem to have a fixation for bathrooms in that trip. First, the hotel bathroom. Then, the ladies’ room at Western Market. Can’t blame me, though, those rooms are certainly picturesque.

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The three of us left Hong Kong at different dates. Marissa was first to go on Tuesday, then me on Thursday, then Rizza on Friday. As I was all alone and I haven’t discovered free internet at the airport yet, I just killed time taking pics of… anything.

Aboard the Airport Express:

At the boarding area:

In fact, I was so bored, that I actually notice the littlest things like… gum on the plane’s wing?? I’m not sure if it was really gum, and if it was, how the heck did it get there. But it kept me amused for about 10 minutes, at least. hehe

All in all, it was one heck of a memorable trip. I don’t see myself doing another unplanned trip in the near future, though. Too much stress. But looking back, it was still worth all the money and aggravation. Sharing the adventure with friends is what made it all worth it.

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