I recently went on a trip to London. I {heart} London. I think it is one of the amazing cities in the world, if not the most. With so much history and character, a first timer will always be in awe. Actually, I have been there twice yet I was still in awe.
London has a lot of parks and open spaces. They do not run out of greens. And this is one of the things that I appreciate in this city a lot.
On a sunny day, you will find everyone out enjoying the sun and the grass. They spend a lot of time in the park but make sure that they keep it clean.
During my visit, I tried it for myself. Walked to St. James's Park. Grabbed my coke and phone. Sat on the grass. Watched the passersby and relaxed. It was nice and peaceful.
How I wish we have the same here in Metro Manila. The only one I know is UP. We have Luneta but is it still as grassy and clean? It's been years since I last visited.
I saw High Street yesterday. I think it is the next best thing. And while it's a compromise between concrete and grass, I am happy that most of the time people were allowed to step on the grass.
I have seen parks with cordoned grasses. It's such a shame.
High Street greens welcome everyone... even the pets.
I still think Metro Manila could do better parks with less structures and retail area. But this is fine for now... somewhere where AC can practice walking.
I am now in Japan. For a business trip.
And since it is freezing outside, I decided to stay at the hotel to finally start the vacation report that I owe. So, I am not going to talk about Japan. I will do that on a later post. I will talk about our lovely first stop in Maryland.
Arriving at JFK from Incheon was a relief. It was my first time in the airport.. and was a little bit surprised that all the comments were true. The airport was very old and looks like a bigger NAIA Terminal 1.
We stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn, an airport hotel near JFK. Instead of autumn leaves, the ride to the hotel showed us Hurricane Sandy's wrath -- dirty snow, fallen leaves (no more autumn leaves) and a city which seemed tired from the stormy weather.
It was adventure time the next day. First time... hubby drove 4 hours to Maryland with only me (a non-native) as the navigator. We got a free upgrade on the car we rented - Jeep Liberty, which turned out to be a gas guzzler.
We eventually got to our destination safe and sound.
Then, it was sightseeing for 5 days.
My Auntie Nene first brought us to the National Shrine that Sunday. For most of my visits in MD, I paid this church a visit. Now, my little boy had a chance to see the beautiful shrine.
It has a collection of the Mama Mary of different cultures. Our Lady of Antipolo was there.
The rest of the Sunday was spent in Washington DC. We had to visit our house in the Stoites and see if our Christmas tree was put up (kidding, of course).
Next stop was the Arlington Cemetery where all American soldiers from way back are buried. Tourists will also see the resting place of Pres. Kennedy and his wife Jackie O. Hubby and the little boy had a chance to watch the changing of the guards for the Unknown Soldiers. I swear the guards were eye candies but I do not have close up pictures now. Promise to share them later.
Day 3 was the boy's day. We went to the zoo. The Maryland Zoo is maintained by Smithsonian institute and it was really very nice. The boy enjoyed a lot even if he had to walk the whole day.
The zoo was very big, they have areas for every kind of animal I could think of.
We really made it a point that this trip was worth every penny. My story has yet to reach one week but this post is now too long. I will cut this for now and have the next batch soon.
Promise.
The journey back to HK was via train still. This time, officemate Eric was with me.
We arrived at around 8pm. No more crowds. It was better than Guangzhou's. And again, I kept on wishing for something like this to happen in the Philippines. Not even our airports can compare.
It was my nth time in HK but still very happy to be back. For me, it rivaled New York when it comes to the hustle and bustle.
We stayed in a hotel with a spectacular view of the harbour. I woke up to this.
It was right in the middle of shopping action - Causeway Bay! And it was sale season, my goodness.
For a whole lot of reasons, Causeway Bay was in UK fever. Since it was very much related to our work, Eric and I snapped away.
I have not gone to Hong Kong Park before. It was near the office so we spent some minutes to explore before heading back to the hotel/shopping.
During my last official night, I met up with my good friends in HK - Liezel, Bernice and Grace. Eric was with us. We all had a ball.
We broke out late already. Eric had to continue the business trip to exotic Ulaanbataar (happy that I now know someone who has gone there!), Bernice and Grace went their own ways, while I joined Liezel and bunked in her place.
Here's Liezel and her small but super cozy flat.
It's somewhere in Quarry Bay and the neighborhood is certified HK. My friend has indeed gone local!
Some more pictures of Quarry Bay before I left.
I realized that time spent with Liezel was soooo short. I should've stayed longer. But my little boy was waiting for his loot and I missed him terribly (hubby, too, of course).
Off to the HK airport which, for me, will always be awesome.
Did my last minute shopping and was lucky to see another wonder. It's my first time to ever see an Airbus A380 LIVE! One of the next short term goals is to ride that giant.
A few hours later, I was back at NAIA Terminal 1. It was not too bad but baggage claim area was just too small, the carousel just too old. Glad no one approached me for a tipped assistance. I guess that's one of the improvements.
Then a few minutes later, I was back in the arms of my boys. This was the part I loved the most.
