MANILA, Philippines?Since Rob and I spent our wedding anniversary working, we thought we would have a more official celebration the following weekend. With that in mind, we, along with Nicole and her Yaya Maricar, packed a few essentials and flew to Hong Kong.

Our main reason: to watch my brother Gerard conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic?s ?HKPO at the Movies,? featuring Canto-pop songstress Elisa Chan. Gerard got us tickets to catch the final performance on Saturday night.

After we arrived at our hotel late Friday evening, Gerard invited Rob and me to join him and one of the orchestra?s second violin players, Ricardo de Mello, for a night out. However, Rob opted to just stay with Nicole; I headed to The Peak with my brother and his wife DJ, Marvin Querido (one of FILharmoniKA?s resident arrangers and keyboard players), Ricardo and his girlfriend Gloria.

The view from The Peak was breathtaking. Marvin took out his camera and proceeded to take a few shots while the rest of us made mental imprints (I came unarmed on this night, and my cell phone has its limits). We then decided to head into Central for some food and drinks.

We settled on a restaurant somewhere in Soho. I?ve forgotten the name, but not the food! I had one of the best salads I?ve ever eaten, plus a refreshing glass of sangria. After supper, we then headed back to our respective hotels around 2 a.m.

Shanghai brunch

At 10 a.m. Saturday my family and I headed down to ye Shanghai for brunch. Rob was on a mission to have as much Chinese food as he could on this brief trip, and ye Shanghai, housed at the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel, is one of the best places for it. We ordered a selection of dim sum: har gow, noodles, chicken feet, fried rice, and a special Shanghainese steamed dumpling known as xiao long bao. It?s a dumpling with soup inside, and it explodes all sorts of yummy in your mouth once you bite into it. For dessert, we had dan tat (egg tarts), and cleansed our palates with steaming cups of delicate Chinese tea. After brunch, it was off to Kowloon Station to head to the happiest place on earth: Disneyland.

Rony Fortich, our good friend who works there, spent much of the afternoon with us. I asked him how many Filipino performers there were in the park, and he said there were a lot. Half of the Disneyland parade?s performers are Pinoys, and there are many more still in the other shows.

At 4 p.m., I made my pilgrimage to the show that I regularly see every time I come to the park: ?The Golden Mickeys,? and was proud that the young lady in the lead is a Filipina theater actress named Criselda Consunji. As Bebe, the Cantonese-speaking host of The Golden Mickeys, Crisel exuded charm and energy. When she sang ?When You Wish Upon a Star? in the show?s finale, she was sweet and totally on pointe. (My husband commented that she?s got that Disney Princess sound down pat). Congratulations, Crisel, for a job wonderfully done.

Rony had to leave for a dinner engagement, which left the rest of us to take care of ourselves for the remainder of the afternoon. We took Nic on the Dumbo ride, stopped for a snack at the Bakery, and then took the MTR back to Kowloon. Rob and I then took a quick break before getting ready to watch Gerard at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Opening salvo

The orchestra?s opening salvo was the theme from ?Star Wars,? followed by music from ?Schindler?s List? (expertly played by concertmaster Leung Kin-fung), the ?Magnificent Seven,? ?The Pink Panther,? the ?James Bond? series, ?Gone with the Wind,? ?Apocalypse Now,? ?Limelight,? ?Cinema Paradiso? (sublimely interpreted by principal cellist Richard Bamping), and ?In the Mood for Love.?

After the 007 theme song was played, Elisa Chan took the stage, belting out ?Goldfinger,? ?You Only Live Twice,? ?My Heart Will Go On? and ?Moon River,? among others. She was incredibly engaging at every turn. And though I found her to be fantastic when she turned on the funny, it was when she sang ?Out Here On My Own? from the movie ?Fame? that I was most impressed. She was single-mindedly focused and honest in her delivery.

I found out later that her husband had passed away only a couple of months before, which I?m sure lent color and texture to her rendition. I truly enjoyed every minute of her stage time.

Gerard invited Rob and me to join members of the HKPO on a junk trip which was basically a party on a boat. Following the performance, we headed to Pier 3 right behind the HKCC, boarded the boat and had ourselves a great time! It?s definitely a party when you have a bunch of musicians, tons of food and drink, and an iPod full of music blaring out of the speakers. I remember gingerbread cowboy boots, Jello shots, sushi rolls, pizza, salsa music, dirty dancing, ?small face big face,? a moonwalk contest, and a few of us singing selections from ?Wicked? at the top of our lungs (I blame the green Jello for that last bit).

The next day, Gerard, Rob, Nic and I headed to Central for lunch at Yung Kee Restaurant. Yung Kee is known for their roast goose, and for many years has been named one of Asia?s top restaurants. The food was all right, I guess, but perhaps I just haven?t yet developed a palate for goose.

Needless to say, our weekend was perfect, incorporating a lot of what we love: great food, great music and great fun. Oh yes, we will be back.

Shameless plug

On Jan. 23 and 24, at 6:30 p.m., Net 25 will air ?Your Songs.? The concert was filmed on Dec. 12, 2009 in high definition video, which means that everything looks awesome! Join me and my guests Ai Ai de las Alas, Richard Poon, Jett Pangan and the Philippine All-Stars, together with Gerard Salonga and FILharmoniKA.

To everyone at Net 25, maraming salamat uli!

Condolences

We send our thoughts and prayers to the family, friends, and ICANSERVE colleagues of Alice Orleans, who passed away from cancer last week. She was a bright light to the world. You have my and my family?s condolences.