The year 2011 is coming to a close and it’s time to look back and assess how my travels went during the year. Below are my top 10 reasons why I can proudly say that this year is MY YEAR OF TRAVEL!

Aberdeen Harbour is popular with tourist mainly for two things: the Jumbo, a floating restaurant of casino magnate Stanley Ho and the floating village with their sampans which are traditional fishing boats.

Hong Kong’s flower market at Yuen Po is just a stone’s throw away from Bird Street. Really, one cannot miss this important area because of its colorful displays of, what else, flowers, of different species, from temperate to tropical countries, varying in form that it dazzles the eyes.

Bird Street in Yuen Po, Mongkok is famous for the songbird owners who congregate in this strip to meet other owners, buy supplies and other songbird species. It is a beautiful but small park with moon gates, airy and the sound of chirping and singing birds make this place tranquil.

I wasn’t just prepared to see a queue for branded items outside two of the brand name stores along Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and I don’t know what to think or how to react.

The Philippine’s newest budget airline AirPhil Express now flies Cebu to Hong Kong everyday, their second international destination after Singapore.

It was my first maiden flight and didnd’t expect that it would be that eventful with speeches, dragon dances, and free breakfast at the departure lobby but I was more excited of flying, of visiting again Hong Kong.

I was invited by AirPhil Express to join them in their maiden flight from Cebu to Hong Kong and stayed for almost a week to explore, photograph and get to know more about this beautiful place south of the Chinese mainland.

The last time I was in Hong Kong was five years ago, invited to a butterfly meet. This time, I’m a travel blogger and will be there because of another invitation, now from AirPhil Express for their maiden flight from Cebu – Hong Kong. That is, barring any other hitches.