"AYOKO KO NA BALIKAN ANG HONG KONG" - A Netizen Shared her Bad Experience in Hong Kong

A netizen named Anne, shared on Facebook her bad experience in her recent trip to Hong Kong with her family. She gave us the permission to re-post her story so that many people will be able to read it and be aware that such things happen. Please read what happened to them below. I also added my thoughts on this at the end of this post.

DEAR HONG KONG,

I had a choice to write this or not, but today, I will choose to speak up. I told this to my friend and she encouraged me to write about it. Napa-isip ako, “why?” pero sabi niya “why not?”

All that I’ve written here are based on my personal experience when I went to Hong Kong as a tourist.

Isa lang naman objective ko: for the people to be aware and to avoid the things na hindi inaasahan.

I will tell the whole story.

I went on a travel expo knowing that it will help us to save and manage our trip. I booked for 4 people with Disney Land package kasi may kasama kaming bata. The transaction went well, of course they are asking for our money.

Fast forward

Day 1 at the Hong Kong International Airport

We had a looooot of time spent waiting for Jacqueline (tour guide) knowing there are almost 50 people na kasabay namin sa trip. Yes, mostly Pinoy. Isa-isa niya kami sinasabihan ng mga instructions. Nakakatuwa naman siya kasi parang ka-personality niya sila Kitkat (Pinay Comedian). She is funny kaya talagang ma-hohook ka sa mga sinasabi niya.

So pag sakay namin sa bus, marami siyang instructions, isa na dun, “I know that before you go here, you searched about the places to buy Pasalubong. Do not go to Mongkok, there’s a lot of people and they have pick pockets. The target are moms with children. So please do not go there. Okay, I understand that Filipinos love Pasalubong so we will go on an outlet store where you can buy your pasalubong. The outlet store is very cheap knowing that the hawkers in Mongkok go there and resell it. It is way cheaper 70%. Okay? I will give you time and it’s also part of the itinerary.”

So ayun na nga, dahil nakinig ako sa kanya… di ako pumunta ng Mongkok.

Lumibot nalang ako sa vicinity ng Kowloon at nakita kong parang Tondo, Manila na high-rise version. Wala silang choice kasi kakaunti ang lupa nila. Maraming sampay sa labas at luma talaga. At naalala ko yung joke niya habang nasa bus kanina, “You know what in Hong Kong, you can see Lego buildings. It is so near to each other. When you and your friend live on a different building, and you point your finger outside the window and she pointed it as well, you fingers will touch each other. That near!” Just imagine it.

I continued to walk and see it for myself.
I saw the reality.
I experienced the reality of their culture.

I went on the streets and bought an egg waffle for 20HKD (Php 90). Actually, yung mixture ng pancake mix niya, mas masarap pa yung tig-5 sa Quiapo. At ito pa ang hindi ko inaasahang rudeness. I am taking picture of the waffle kasi syempre first streetfood ko yun. Instagram. Aba, si lola na vendor lumapit sa akin at hinampas yung phone ko. Muntik pang malaglag. (Pagbalik ko ng Manila, I asked my friend who went there a lot of times. “Ganun sila, ayaw nila ng ganun. Culture nila yun.”)

I was so disappointed.

So pumunta nalang kami ng The Peak, isa daw yun sa mga sikat na tourist spot dun. Actually maganda nga kasi kita mo buong Hong Kong.

Naalala ko na naman yung sabi ng tour guide about it, “The people living in The Peak are the richest and famous people. The 40 sqm unit there will cost you billions. I am not joking. They want it because it is in the mountain and it is safe and quiet. They believe in Feng Shui. When the house is facing the Harbour (water) which represents the money, and you live in the mountain it will block the money from getting away because the mountain is big. The money will stay in you.”

We went in The Wax Museum and upon filling up the line, we went in front and asked them. Sa Pinas, pag nagsabi ka sa customer mo “Sorry po sa kabila po ang pila, dito po tayo assist ko kayo.” And dun naman, nagulat ang tita ko. Matanda na siya and she was talking to the millenial attendant. “No! Not here! Go there!” Sabay turo sa kabila na akala mo nag papaalis ng aso. Dun ko rin na experience na bumili ng tubig worth Php 210 at waffle na Php 470 tapos hangin lang ang laman. Sa almost one thousand mo, gutom ka pa.

Ano daw? Sige, immersion lang naman ito sa culture nila.

Day 2
Mid of The Peak
Aberdeen Court
Jewelry Store
Outlet Store daw
Disney Land

Ito yung listahan ng mga pinuntahan namin.

During the trip, isa sa mga personal experience ni Jackie ang na kwento niya. Bumili daw ang nanay niya sa market ng sale na “rice” nag isip siya ang daming binili ng nanay niya. Mura daw kasi. Niluto nila at kinain. Nag tataka daw siya kasi mag iisang minuto na niyang nginunguya ang kanin pero di daw nadudurog. And after ilang araw, it went rounds on the internet about “plastic rice”. Remember? It went viral. They have personally experienced it gawa ng mga kababayan nila. Na-shock talaga ako nung nalaman ko yun.

Moving on...

We went in the Mid-part of The Peak

Ito yung Mid-part lang ng bundok na free spot para mag picture. We went there. We took pictures for 15 minutes. Before the first spot ends, we asked her assistant na kung pwede mag picture sa camera ko para makumpleto kami. At ito namang si kuyang assistant ni ate mong tour guide, told “Wait, you also take pictures here in my camera.” I asked him kung para saan, ang sabi niya for documentation. Sabi niya, “Okay, let’s take a picture of you one by one.” So he did.

Sa Aberdeen, ni-require niya kaming mag bayad ng 60 HKD (Php 420) para sumakay sa isang Bangka at lumibot ng 15 mins. Masyado siyang defensive telling us na “The money will not go to me. It’s for the gondola (bangka)”. At ang sabi pa ang kaibigan ko, it happened to him with the same travel agency. Kasama niya ang family niya and telling them “We will not ride the boat. We will just stay here in the bus and wait for you.” Inaaway pa daw sila at pinipilit. Ang sabi nalang namin that time, “Hayaan mo na, charge to experience”.

Actually wala naman masyadong nakita dun kundi yung floating restaurant, at nakakagulat na sa tour guide mismo nanggaling “It is very expensive there. The seafood came from the West Philippine Sea, so might as well just eat in your country. That’s where we get it.” Isip-isip ko lang “Ahh..yan pala yung nababalitaan na nagnanakaw ng yaman sa Pinas.”

And wait, there’s more!
They asked us to have a mandatory tip na tig 60HKD, almost 500 pesos na tip each, walang exclusion kahit sa baby. Ang pagkaka alam ko, sa tipping dapat bukal sa loob.

…and we continued to the next stop.

Jewelry store.
We stayed here for almost 2 hours.
Sobrang time consuming.

Bakit? They keep convincing the people to buy jewelry products. Ang galing nila mag turn around ng mga objections and sobrang lakas ng impulse factors! Aral na aral!

Kitang-kita ko na napaka expert nila sa sales knowing that I am a sales and marketing trainer dito sa Pinas.

I just observed.

They will let you wear it at sila pa mismo magkakabit nito sayo, and of course you will feel good about it. At isa pa, di nila yun ipapatanggal hanggat di mo binibili. Wala namang diamonds. Puro White Gold lang nakita ko, 16k daw ang price para sa mas maliit pa sa 5 centavo coin. Maraming nag dalawang isip na bumili, pero at the end di ko naman sila pwedeng pigilan. So ayun, napa bili sila. Inabot kami ng 2 hours kasi may isang matagal mag decide, at hanggat di siya bumibili, di talaga nila tinitigilan. Muntik pang bumili ang tita ko ng bracelet, I asked the attendant, “Does it tarnish?” Sabi niya, “It fades in water.” Hinila ko agad kamay ng tita ko. Muntik nang 2 silang bibili natawaran daw nila ng mas mura.

Okay, wag ako.

So ayun, after few hours sumakay na kami sa bus. Na overheard ko sa likod, at dun lang natauhan ang ale na “Grabe, dapat pala di ko na binili ito. Sayang.”

and here’s the most tricky part!

Ang 70% off na outlet store daw…

Opps! Bago kami pumunta dun, she told us na “Sorry, most of the stores there are closed and they don’t have key chain. And I know Filipinos love keychain so I got it here with me.”

Sales na naman si ate.

“I have here the old version of Disney key chains, I will sell it to you in a cheaper price. Only 100HKD for 6 pieces.”

So a loooooooot of people bought from her.

Greed.
Fear of Loss.
Sense of Urgency.
Impulse.
Impulse pa more!

“I will only give you 20 minutes to do the shopping, only one store because we have a very limited time. (…na inubos niya kaka-convince sa jewellery store) so better be fast and get all you want.”

So andami na namang bumili pag dating namin dun. They sell the shirts 220 HKD for 2 pieces, 220 for 3 packs of food…and so on. Actually, di naman ako masyado bumili kasi iba na naman kutob ko.

At ito pa, umakyat yung assistant niyang lalaki bago kami pumunta ng Disney Land. Sa tourist bus, may dala siyang mga printed pictures namin at may naka dikit sa platong maliit. Inabot sa amin isa-isa at kailangan daw naming bilhin yun, worth Php 1,300 each daw ang kailangan naming bayaran. Natawa nalang ako nung bigla kong maalalala na “for documentation”.. WOW LANG!

We went in Disney.
Masaya naman kami.

Naka uwi kami sa hotel around 10pm.

I felt bothered not to go to Mongkok.
I need to see it for myself.

I went there.
I saw
SHIRTS being sold at 7pcs for 100HKD
FOOD for almost 20 HKD in an average
..and so on

I went back to the hotel told my relatives about it.

Sobrang nanlumo sila.
Sabi nila “Expert scammer.”

Do you know what made me angry the most?
They lied to us. Sobra.

They persuaded us not to go to Mongkok kasi pag pumunta kami dun sa first day palang, di na kami bibili sa partner store nila na “hawkers ng Mongkok” ang pumupunta daw dun kasi 70% off. WOW LANG!

And ito pa, pag uwi ko ng Pinas.
I told the local agency here.
I told everything to him.

Ang sabi lang niya
“Choice niyo naman po yun kung bibili kayo eh.”
“Gagastos po talaga kayo pag nasa ibang bansa. Expect niyo na yun.”
“Wala po kaming alam dyan.”

I am not asking you to apologize. I am just making it clear kung aware ba kayo sa nangyayari sa partner agency niyo dun? Choice namin na ano? Maniwala at magpaloko? Mag tiwala agad? Gumastos na parang iniihi lang ang pera? Wala kayong alam kasi di niyo inaalam. Instead of having that sense of responsibility of having a commendable service, you became so defensive telling us that it is not your fault.

Readers, just let me know if you’d like to know the name of the travel agencies involved. I will send you a personal message. Hindi naman ako ganitong klaseng tao, I just wanted to help for the people to be more aware of what you are doing.

We go out of the country with our hard-earned money. At times, people would go and have an extra-mile to earn it. It may be a dream for others, I hope you will not make it a nightmare for them.

Again, this is my personal experience. I am writing this because it is the power of my pen.

God bless the business with the good seeds that we plant and with the good fruit that we will soon harvest.

And today, I am asking you a personal question, “Kamusta ang business mo?”

P.S.
I want you to know that I have forgiven you. Pero mukhang na trauma ata ako, kasi sa 4 na bansa na napuntahan ko, yan yung bansa na nasabi ko sa sarili kong “Ayoko na balikan ang Hongkong.”

I wanted to give it another try, but I hope not at the moment. I needed to be healed first, and for other people’s cry to be heard.

I will go again but with a different reason.
I want to reach you and share the Gospel.
I believe it will make a big difference.

HONGKONG IS FOR YOU ☝🏼 ALONE!

Thank you for sharing this awareness!
Kindly share if it helped to warn you. It may be the same help that your loved ones needed before going out of the country.

—
Few minutes after posting this, few of you inquired the names of the travel agencies. I hope not to discourage you in going there, but to be vigilant in discerning what is right. He gave me a strong discernment to different situations, and it was my responsibility to fight the injustices that some of you might experience in the future.

You can read her Facebook post here.

My thoughts on this:

I feel sad that Anne went through this horrible experience. Traveling should be fun, enjoyable and not stressful. I hope, we all learned from her bad experience and I hope that it will not happen again to anyone.

If you've been following my blog, you know that I am not a fan of getting packaged tours. I always do "DIY" or do-it-yourself travel where I book my own hotels, flights, airport transfers, tickets, and activities. With the help of my favorite travel apps such as Google Maps, Traveloka, Klook, Hong Kong MTR App, and many useful travel apps to help me organize my DIY trip, I can enjoy and explore many destinations in Hong Kong with less hassle and at the convenience of my own time.

I'm not saying that getting a packaged tour is bad. But, you really have to make sure that when you avail a packaged tour, you get it from trusted travel agencies that your friends, family or someone you know have personally tried. A travel agency that they can say that they had a good experience with. That's the best advice I could give to those who want to avail packaged tours.

I love my previous travels in Hong Kong. I've been there 3 times and I plan to visit again soon. If you want to visit Hong Kong on DIY (do-it-yourself), you may check out my article Hong Kong Travel Guide with 9,700 Pesos DIY Itinerary to help you plan your trip.

How about you? Have you had any bad experience on your travels to Hong Kong? Please share your comments below.

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