The Adventures of Abby

My host (and in turn my website) got hacked, and it took a while to restore my blog with all the database and domain confusion I had to go through. Okay, okay, so most of my hiatus was my own fault. I’ve been busy as usual, and to those who don’t know yet, I’m out of Hong Kong and currently in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

View from Mt. Seymour, overlooking Vancouver, BC.

And I love it here. It’s a beautiful place and I have quite a few old and new friends here, too. But why am I here exactly? Well, I have two reasons: first, to be with my boyfriend who moved back to BC (d’awww?). Second, to get some formal education in Marketing and PR from a fairly well-known institution. Yup, that’s right. It’s been five years since I graduated from University, but I’m back in school and having… well, let’s just say it’s been a familiar challenge.

After two and a half months of being here, I think I’m pretty settled in and pretty used to the place. I have a ton of stories, but I’ll save those for future updates. Until then!

The expats, exchange students, interns and locals who love to party, love to party on October 31st. Those who don’t, go anyway. It’s a chance to stand out in a city where crowds are the norm and an excuse to wear self-indulgent outfits with no shame or abashment. If none of the above, at least a chance to see a parade of bizarre, occasionally unsightly costumes where people are normally so fashion-conscious.

Two places to mention: Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai, both in Hong Kong island. No, this is not the off-the-beaten-path guide to Hong Kong’s Halloween, if that can even exist. (more…)

There are three main reasons why last Friday night at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens games was epic.

Reason #1: We got 2 HK$1250 tickets a day before the event, and 4 more tickets on the day itself. All of them, we got for free. I don’t know about you but free stuff is always good, and getting free stuff for your friends is even better! Did the free tickets really make the night more enjoyable? You bet your crusty keyboard they did!

Reason #2: For me and I’m sure many others, it wasn’t really just about the rugby. Sure, 99% of the people there were watching the game. I’d say at least two-thirds of the crowd actually knew what was going on. But the best part about being there that night was… (more…)

“Hump day” (or Wednesday for the rock-dwellers) has its share of appreciation in the workplace. It means the worst of the week is over, Monday is far behind and it’s almost Friday. But just a 15-minute walk from my apartment, in a corner of Happy Valley, Wednesday also means something else — racing day!

Hong Kong takes its racing seriously. Imagine a bunch of old men smoking, sitting on the sidewalk with papers in their hands, looking like they bet all their life savings on Seabiscuit over there. I’ve seen such men outside the Hong Kong Jockey Club offices, and this was my first impression of the races. When friends started inviting me to the racecourses “just to hang out”, I thought they just wanted to make fun of the old men. I was wrong. (more…)

Finally, let me tell you about our last full day in Bohol. That day was all about the sun, sand, sea, and the creatures in it.

6am, we headed out to the beach and met up with the boat dudes (yes, I’m calling them that). We went straight to business, setting off for a long ride on a tiny boat with an insanely loud motor. We knew we were out to see the dolphins first, but for the whole 30-or-so-minute ride, there was nothing to break the hypnotic dance of the waves, except for the occasional flying fish.

As I began to think that maybe it was a bad day for dolphin sightings, we caught up with at least a dozen boats parked in a relatively small area. I quickly realized that this could be where the magic happens. Relatively image-heavy post after the cut, because this is the kind of thing where show is much better than tell. (more…)

I’m back from Bohol, and back with awesome memories. As promised, I’ll be telling you about the rest of my trip. Here’s what happened on day 2.

After a late breakfast from the resort, we headed out to the beach where we knew people offered countryside tours. As I mentioned, it’s really not hard to find these tour guides, and the one we hired had a nice new car and set us back PhP2,000 for a 6-hour tour. Split between 4 people, it’s not so bad considering the prices in the area. (more…)

Let me kick off this post by sharing this picture: Alona beach, probably the most popular beach in Bohol. Beautiful, really clear water. It really satisfied my longing for digging my toes into nice, fine sand.

A couple of months ago, some friends and I decided that we wanted to take a cheap vacation for Chinese New Year. We ended up planning a trip to Cebu, and after booking tickets, decided that we would take our trip to the neighboring island of Bohol.

Yesterday, we made it safely to Bohol — tired but ready to get the most out of our vacation. Tired isn’t the word actually, more like exhausted. For one, we barely got any sleep that night and two, we suffered the consequences of not planning ahead well enough. I learned some things from here which I hope will improve my travel know-how (and yours): (more…)