Author Topic: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG  (Read 16526 times)

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2015, 06:01:39 PM »
(We wore long pants to the Burj-al Arab because we didn't want to take any chances with dubai dress codes)
After the burj al Arab we went off to palm islands. This is the Atlantis hotel.


We then went to the mall of the emirates.



In order to fully appreciate the size of the mall, you would have to walk around it for hours. We chose to go indoor skiing instead!
You'll read in the zman that there are 5 slopes. In reality there are 2 slopes with dividers. But I'm not complaining, it was really fun especially since I missed out on skiing this past winter.
It was $52 for 3 hours after the 20% discount for paying with a mastercard!
I always bring a visa, MasterCard and amex from a few different banks when traveling just in case there are fraud alerts or a merchant only takes one of them. But here it saved us $27!

After skiing we got some coffees at the coffee shop overlooking the ski slopes.

We then went to the Burj Khalifa.
The entrance is in the Dubai Mall.
It costs $35 with advance tickets to go up to the observation deck. The Burj is about 2,700 feet tall. The main observation deck is at 1400 feet. So it's only halfway up. Dubai is so hazy that if you would go higher up you wouldn't be able to see much. We chose to go by sunset so we get both views. There are actually two levels and the top one is much less crowded because a lot of people don't realize it's there.

PSA: it took about 40 mins from when we printed out tickets until we were outside on the deck. There's a lot of walking of waiting. And once we decided to leave it was another 45 min wait for the elevator down. They do say sunset is the most crowded.
I personally didn't think it was worth the time or the price. My friend enjoyed it very much. As they always say- YMMV


We then went to watch to Khalifa fountain show right outside the mall.
There's truly nothing like it.
After seeng different water shows in USA, Hong Kong and Singapore, I can truly say nothing compares to the Burj show. The show is every 30 mins. I wish we would've had time for more than one.

We then bought some souvineirs and zoomed back to the hotel to get our bags. At the airport, I went through passport control (with an israeli visa ) without an issue. My friend had to go to a side office where the guy just scribbled Tel Aviv on a paper and sent him off. Not a big deal at all. Just saying.

And now we were off to HKG on an 8 hour Cathay flight in lieflat biz!
Little did we know this would be our only sleep for a day of running around in Hong Kong and a huge hike in phillipines


Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #21 on: September 02, 2015, 06:05:16 PM »
And then when you went back at night did you pay? Or did u say ur there just to see the night view :)
We never went back at night. No time and way too much $

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #22 on: September 02, 2015, 06:08:09 PM »
So how did you get in to the hotel in the first place if they didn't have a reservation for you?
Before you can drive onto the little bridge to the Burj al Arab, there is a little security booth. We showed the guard our email reservation for the skybar and went through. When you pull up to the hotel there are people to greet you but you can stay in the lobby and look around as much as you want.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #23 on: September 02, 2015, 06:10:29 PM »
Awesome installment knowitall. Nothing like (fake) skiing when it is 125 outside.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #24 on: September 02, 2015, 07:12:24 PM »
Nice slopes! How difficult are they? Green, blue, black, etc.?

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #25 on: September 03, 2015, 08:43:59 AM »
Nice slopes! How difficult are they? Green, blue, black, etc.?
I've only been to 4 ski resorts. I would say one "trail" is a green and the other is green at first then blue.

Offline Aaaron

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #26 on: September 03, 2015, 10:06:46 AM »
I'm confused about the Burj Al Arab.  Did you pay or not?  DI you have to pay when you made the reservation?

Offline MosheD

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #27 on: September 03, 2015, 10:17:50 AM »
I'm confused about the Burj Al Arab.  Did you pay or not?  DI you have to pay when you made the reservation?
Cmiiw, they made a reservation (which is free to make) to get pass security booth. Once they got past security they never used it

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #28 on: September 03, 2015, 11:32:32 AM »
Cmiiw, they made a reservation (which is free to make) to get pass security booth. Once they got past security they never used it
Exactly. Sorry I was unclear

Offline Aaaron

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #29 on: September 03, 2015, 12:20:41 PM »
Exactly. Sorry I was unclear

Thanks for the clarification. I'm heading to DXB Saturday night so I'm reading with interest!

Offline D93

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #30 on: September 04, 2015, 03:13:06 AM »
Great stuff! Eagerly waiting for the rest!

How did you get around AMM? And how much did it cost?

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #31 on: September 04, 2015, 08:11:37 AM »
Great stuff! Eagerly waiting for the rest!

How did you get around AMM? And how much did it cost?
Mostly taxi. From the airport to the car museum was $20ish IIRC.
Once inside amman they were cheaper.
One of our drivers used to live in "Palestine" so we were hocking him up about it.

Offline lunatic

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #32 on: September 04, 2015, 08:31:24 AM »
Thanks for the clarification. I'm heading to DXB Saturday night so I'm reading with interest!
Around here,  that means we are expecting a tr

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #33 on: September 11, 2015, 09:49:30 AM »
Any update to this TR coming?

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #34 on: September 11, 2015, 10:32:01 AM »
Ye HKG will take 30 seconds to write.
Phillipines is a big one as we went to manila for a few days and then a week in EL nido.
The phone pics definitely don't do justice so I hope to get the ones from the camera up here.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #35 on: September 11, 2015, 04:20:10 PM »
Ye HKG will take 30 seconds to write.
Phillipines is a big one as we went to manila for a few days and then a week in EL nido.
The phone pics definitely don't do justice so I hope to get the ones from the camera up here.

Can't wait for the MNL part.

Offline knowitall

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #36 on: September 20, 2015, 05:28:27 PM »
So after flying in cathay J for 8 hours we landed in HKG and made a pit stop in the cathay arrivals lounge. Dubai gets so humid at night and the BA lounge in DXB didn't have a shower so showering was a must before starting out in HKG.
landing
 We took the train right from the inside of the terminal. Our first stop was the Heimishe peak tram. The line for tickets was 20 min. There are very nice walking trails that all the way on the side that most people don't realize.
It was cloudy and then cleared up.
After spending some time there we headed out to shalom grill. We read a post from 5 years ago that says they close between lunch and supper but we took our chances. It was closed so we headed to the JCC. (When I was in HKG last summer I went to heichal Ezra but it was very expensive and not so good IMHO.) after a Mossad-style interrogation by the JCC security they let us in. Lo and behold, we bumped into D93 and enjoyed a late afternoon lunch together. After comparing itineraries we went off to the Ozone Bar. It's on the 114th floor of the ritz carlton and it's the highest bar in the world. (PSA: 500HKD minimum per table after 9pm.) it was $15 a beer but your paying for the view, not the beer. It was a gorgeous view overlooking the whole city. You see the ferrys going back and forth and planes flying not so far overhead. Even though we were on the Burj the day before, we still felt very high up and would definitely recommend to others.

That big building is the Hyatt regency TST.


That last pic is Victoria's harbor. We went to see the laser show. Not so impressive but they do get a lot of buildings involved.
And we took the train at 9pm for our 11pm flight and we had no idea what drama was waiting for us in HKG.......

These pics are  from my room in Hyatt regency TST a year ago.
We got upgraded to a corner room that was on the club level. Btw the rollaway bed was a full size fat mattress. And the room came with a galaxy S5 with service and free calling to USA.
(I never got around to writing a TR for my JFK-JNB-CPT-JNB-BKK-CNX-SIN-HKG-SFO-EWR trip. It was 80k UA for that "RTW"ticket with a stopover, OJ, illegal circular routing and a 25 hour "connection" in HKG!!)

« Last Edit: September 20, 2015, 05:31:32 PM by knowitall »

Offline D93

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #37 on: September 20, 2015, 05:32:40 PM »
Lo and behold, we bumped into D93 and enjoyed a late afternoon lunch together.
Was nice to meet you there :)

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Knowitall's Phillipines, 'Nam & Thailand Trip with splashes of AMM, DXB & HKG
« Reply #38 on: September 20, 2015, 05:43:52 PM »
Wow, nice installment! All the HKG TRs are really helping me plan my trip. Looking forward to the rest.

Offline mosh47

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We got into Manila 1230 am and headed through customsand baggage quickly we then got a sim from a kiosk ($30 200 min to us and unlimited in Phil) we then took a taxi to our air b&b apt always take a yellow taxi bec it runs on meter which is cheaper even in the city do meter if you can (but most don't want to)we stayed at the gramercey residents which is a 70 story apt building in makati city next to chabad we got a 1 room apt on the 3 floor  it had 2 pools on the 35 floor overlooking the city and separate sauna the pools were empty most the time at 4am we got picked up to go to my pinatobo a volcano crater we drove 3 hr to a little town and then a hour 4/4 to were the hike starts it was a nice hike through a canyon and then nice views on top .the next day we went to the market its huge blocks long they sell any thing u can think of but it smells bad and u can see all the poverty and we were getting a lot of looks we also didn't see any other tourists.after We found out from a guy in chabad it's very dangerous and when he goes he goes with 4 phillipinos . After that we couldn't get a taxi so we hopped on a jeepy till we got out of the area then a taxi to mall of Asia a huge mall we bought some things and taxi back to apt taxis are very  cheap $5 for 45 min ride . Shabbos was very nice by chabad 15 -20 ppl at night and 10 by day .sun mor we took taxi to airport for flight to Palawan the highlight of the trip p
« Last Edit: October 26, 2015, 02:21:26 PM by mosh47 »