Buy Me A Coffee

Hello Everyone!

Today, I am sharing a website that I recently discovered through a Facebook post. I’m not sure if you have have already heard of this, but the website I am telling you is “Buy me a Coffee”.

So basically, this website aims to provide content creators like vloggers, writers, photographers to share their ideas and contents via posting through this website and gain money via their…

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To my future self

Dear Future Self,

I hope you are doing great today.

I wrote this to you to let you know that you were here 7/13/2020 @ 9:43PM. Location: Dubai United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, you are doing very great at life. So keep going 🙂

Love,

Your Past Self

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I wrote this to you to let you know that you were here 07/13/2020 @ 9:32PM. Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

Just in case you found yourself here again after how many years :)

Have a great life! 

Love: Me :)

Hello everyone! I’m back for another blog of one of my unforgettable adventures in Dubai, The Desert Safari Experience.

This is my first time to experience the Desert Safari with my friends so I’m kind of excited. And I was actually looking forward for the sunset and Dune Bashing which was crazy! Will put down pictures and information below so read along 🙂

So here’s my best friend who’s dealing with a lot of stress from work lately and was thinking of having a break for while. Since we only have the same rest day which is Friday, we were thinking of where/how to spend the our day off. After a lot of discussion, we decided to go to the Desert Safari. We had our tickets booked 2 days before. There are a lot of bookings you will find online. And you will be given two options: Morning Safari (8AM to 11AM) and Evening Safari (4PM to 10PM). I’m not sure if the costs is just the same. But in our case, we booked for the evening experience for only 60AED all in package: back and forth bus fare, unlimited drinks, BBQ dinner, camel riding, 15 mins Dune Bashing and so many more!

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The Picture above is upon our arrival, it’s almost sunset. We’re waiting for that 4×4 wheel ride that would take us to the center of the desert where the fun begins!

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A few shots of me. You can see the excitement on the big photo. HAHA 😀 I’ve got the best photographers *winks.

Below is my jump shot photos with the beautiful sunset behind me. Isn’t it so mesmerizing? Me and my friends are so overwhelmed with the sunset shots that we forgot about the camels. HAHA unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ride nor take a shot of the camels which is kind of frustrating on my part 😦 Anyhow, I’ve got the best jump shot with the best sunset I’ve ever seen so far 🙂

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Below are the photos of what’s basically around the area. Nothing but sands. HAHA. But as you can see there’s this space in the center where the Fire Dancing is held, dinner is served stuffs like that. I did not try to make the pictures smaller so that you can see clearly what’s in the picture.

More sunset photos:

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The overall experience was great! Only that we haven’t tried the Camel Riding. Food was delicious, incredible sunset experience. Fire Dance and Belly Dancing performers are great. People are friendly regardless of the nationality.

Where else can you get all of these package for only 60AED?! ($17 more or less). You guys must try whenever you’re in Dubai. You’re getting a lot more than what you paid for.

’til my next adventure!

—X

Dubai Water Canal is a manmade canal, a 3.2km long waterway which winds its way to the Arabian Gulf from the Creek in Old Dubai through Business Bay. Along its waterfront, the W Hotel, the St Regis and a whole range of new lifestyle precincts.

Fact Source: https://www.visitdubai.com/en/articles/dubai-water-canal

Location: Sheikh Zayed Road bridge at Exit 49
Timings : 8:00pm and end at 10:00pm
Tickets : FREE 🙂

So this is just another post of me and my friends exploring one of the city’s attractions: The Dubai Water Canal. We actually went here by train from Sharaf DG Metro Station to Business Bay Metro Station. It would take at least 15-20 mins by walk to reach the canal’s exact location from Business Bay Station. I know it takes a lot of walking so better bring your cars with you 🙂

This is the first thing you’re going to see when you reach the canal. As you can see, purple lights gives the bridge and the water an attractive effect. You can also explore the canal by ferry trips since they are providing transport facilities. In our case, we did not try to ride in one of their ferries because we thought that the water is quite rought that time. But I really recommend you guys to try if you’re in Dubai so that the trip will be all worth it.

Short ferry trips in open Boat for 45 minutes across the canal. Cost 25 AED per person up & down. Minimum 8 passengers required. The service starts from 5.30 PM till 11 PM in every 45 minutes interval. Trip starts from Sheikh Zayed Road station. Source: http://dubaitravelator.com/dubai-water-canal-uae/

Surrounding the canal’s location are hotels, residential and office buildings. Since it’s located in Business Bay, it’s just accessible to restaurants, shopping centres, walkways and cycle paths.

The Canal also features “The Walk” a seven-kilometre promenade that will eventually connect with the Jumeirah Beach running track. Charging stations also available around The Walk which you will easily identify because there is this kind of a small table in which you can put your phones/tablets or cameras and it’s attached to a lamppost. Loads of sitting areas are provided all through The Walk and streetlights in the canal are solar-powered. (IDK how they do it at night, but never mind. LOL).

Photo above is not mine but basically this is what The Walk looks like at night. You can see the first bridge and the second one also, the arch bridge which connects both sides of the canal. You can take a good view of the water canal when you’re in the bridge. You can go up either by stairs or the elevators.

Photo Source: http://www.timeoutdubai.com/aroundtown/news/74412-dubai-water-canal-pictures-and-video

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Below is a closer picture of the arch, it’s inspired by San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

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I can honestly say that we enjoyed walking around, taking pictures and videos. For me, it’s way better to come here by night time. The bridge is colorful and the arch as well. You can also spot Burj Khalifa from afar especially when you’re already on the bridge. We will definitely come back during the winter season so that it’s not that hot to walk around. 🙂

‘Til my next adventure!

X

Trexie Xandra’s Itch List

Itch List / Bucket List (noun): a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime. Everyone seems to have a bucket list these days. A list of life goals or things a person wants to experience before reaching a specific age or before dying. In my case, I call it “Itch list” – the list of things I’m itching to do 😀 Life is meant to live to the…

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Hi guys! So today, I’m going to share my Hong Kong plus Shenzhen, China Tour
last February 8-10, 2017. Hong Kong is one of the most visited places in the world right now. A lot of tourists come to see beautiful sceneries around HK, lots of foods to taste and so much more! And below is my version of being “lost” in this wonderful territory 🙂 .
This is my first time to travel international with no one but a friend. Just the two of us! I mean the thought of it was scary at first because it’s the first time that both of us will be visiting Hong Kong. It’s just a three day tour but it’s a memorable experience.

Our flight date was Feb. 8. Basically, it was the first day of the tour. Our flight was early in the morning so we have to be in the airport by 4:00 AM (2 hours advance). It’s a 2-3 hours flight more or less from Mactan International Airport, Cebu Philippines. We arrived at Hong Kong International Airport around 9:00 AM.

DEPARTURE: Mactan Cebu International Airport

Shots during departure and inside the plane.

ARRIVAL: Hong Kong International Airport

I don’t have much pictures upon arrival though since after landing everything happens too fast like we have to get to immigration after, checking of bags, run to nearest money exchange center to have our money converted to HK Dollar, not to mention that we need to meet (I forgot his name) for the “Meet and Greet” session. We’ve waited for another hour for the bus that would pick us up from the airport to our respective hotels. Our hotel (Hotel 36) is located in Prince Edward, an area in northern Kowloon.

This was taken during our bus ride from the airport to our hotel. My first glimpse of Hong Kong!!

After arriving in the hotel around 1:00PM, we grab some lunch because we’re already starving. We took a few strolls around the hotel, took pictures of Kowloon streets even though it’s freezing 8 degrees outside. BRRRR! The rest of the day was just a free day/rest day.

DAY 2: Hong Kong and Shenzhen City Tour

So this the most exciting part of the trip mainly because this would be the time to see more of Hong Kong and visit Shenzhen, China. We had breakfast first and leave the hotel 8:00AM sharp. First stop was Avenue of the stars 🙂

Avenue of the stars is located in Tsim Sha Tsui. It’s an attraction that pay’s tribute to some of the region’s most celebrated names in the movie industry.

The picture on the left was me posing with the statue of the legend, Bruce Lee. Actually, he’s the only one I bothered to take a picture with. LOL basically because he’s the only one I know. HAHA!

A quick view of the city of Hong Kong.

Besides having all the statues of big celebrities around, they’ve also got a cool garden to look at!

Next stop was Aberdeen, Fishing Village. Located on the south side of Hong Kong Island, is home to Jumbo Kingdom, the world’s largest floating restaurant! The restaurant is serving a lot of Chinese traditional Dim Sum dishes and the prices are too expensive not to mention that you’re expected to pay more since it’s a tourist attraction. Crazy!

So to be able to get a good view of the fishing village we rode a boat called “Sampan”. People around here who’s means of living is basically fishing, owns a houseboats. It’s like a boat and at the same time it’s where they live. I tried to check my gallery for how many times but I think I lost the picture of the actual houseboat 😦

After a few minutes riding in Sampan, we get back to port and waited for our bus to give us a ride going to some jewelry factories. Actually, we visited 2 factories never had the chance to take a picture since it’s prohibited. But that’s how we spent the rest of the morning before heading to Shenzhen for the afternoon tour.

SIDETRIPS——-SIDETRIPS——-SIDETRIPS——SIDETRIPS——-SIDETRIPS

Taken at a park just near our Hotel

Taken at a park just near our Hotel

A typical Hong Kong Taxi 🙂

Hong Kong City

Hong Kong City

Above pictures are taken just inside the bus. Sometimes we took a stop to take pictures. (Hover your cursor for the captions).

We also had the chance to stopped by a shop for snack tasting and buying “pasalubong” or souvenirs. I got myself 2 Hong Kong fridge magnets because I try to collect fridge magnets of places I’ve been to. And snacks was delicious especially their chips, salty, sweet, cheesy even spicy-Wasabi flavoured chips!

AFTERNOON TOUR: Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

There are two major border points through which most travelers to Mainland China and Hong Kong cross the border. These are:

• Lo Wu/Luohu station (Hong Kong and China names respectively for the same place)
• Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang (Hong Kong and China names respectively for the same place).

On the Hong Kong side one is on the North End of the New Territories region and on the China side one is in the bustling city of Shenzhen: China’s capital of fashion, shopping and production. (source: https://traveladept.com/hk-shenzhen/).

In our case, we took the Lo Wu station going to Shenzhen. From there, we met our new tour guide. By the way, a visa is needed upon entering Shenzhen, China. Our visa was taken cared of by the agency where we booked our tour. So everything is settled.

So our first stop in Shenzhen was around this park, I forgot the name (sorry), where we took pictures, nothing really exciting happened but the park itself is so refreshing in the eyes, green trees are everywhere. The sun shines so bright but during this time I’m freezing to my bones and I’m wearing a dress. LOL.

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To be honest, city of Shenzhen may not be the biggest city in China but damn! It’s the best, clean, refreshing city I’ve been to so far and I promise myself to go back here sometime.

Next stop is the Window of the World-the highlight of our Shenzhen tour. It’s a theme park located in the western part of the city. This is where I enjoyed most during the whole tour.

Window of the World also consists of replicas of the world’s famous wonders like the Eiffel Tower of Paris. Actually, this pictures are just near the main entrance of the theme park. We were not able to get inside of the actual park because it’s quite expensive 😦 so we just busied ourselves taking pictures around the area where we are allowed to.

After visiting Window of the World, we had a side trips in different jewelry factories (again) specifically in a Jade factory where you can see lots of Jade stones in different hues of green color and to some shops around Shenzhen where materials are purely made of bamboo, from towels to scarfs etc.

After those extra tours our next stop is OCT Harbour-East Baishi Road, The OCT Harbour, Shenzhen. It’s a large retail and entertainment complex in Shenzhen, features man made canals, hotels and shopping malls. It’s already 7:00PM when we got here because we had our dinner first. I can tell you guys that this place is great for leisure and food, lights at night are amazing they also got cinema around here and bar district also water fountains. They are also having this dancing fountain show at night but I think there’s an entrance fee if you want to watch. It’s really a frat place to have a nightlife in Shenzhen!

After exploring OCT harbour, basically our last stop for the tour, the bus took us back to the station going back to Hong Kong because we are not staying the night in Shenzhen. We arrived at the hotel at around 10:30 in the evening. And I’m so dead tired I just wanna go to sleep because I’m really exhausted and the weather in Shenzhen is much colder than in Hong Kong made me freeze to death. LOL.

DAY 3: Home Sweet Home

So it’s our third day in Hong Kong unfortunately it’s time to leave this beautiful place 😦 The bus is going to pick us up at 11:00AM from our hotel for our flight back to Cebu. Although we didn’t get the chance to visit Ocean Park and Disneyland the main attractions in Hong Kong, still we get the opportunity to visit some cool places around. It’s indeed a wonderful experience for me and my friend. We enjoyed a lot, we met new friends and we experienced how difficult it is to communicate with other people especially that people in Hong Kong, well most of them doesn’t know to speak English. We promised ourselves to visit Hong Kong again. But for now the memories of this trip will be surely remembered.

’til my next post,

The Book Hoarder

Girl Online Going Solo (Girl Online #3) A Book Review

Author: Zoe Sugg Genre: Young Adult. Romance. Contemporary. Pages: 327 Published: November 17th 2016 by Penguin Books Ltd Rating: 4/5 Synopsis: As Penny starts the school year she’s ready to face the world – alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when she accepts Megan’s invitation to visit her performing arts school…

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