Hong Kong - October 2008

The last time I was in Hong Kong was in November 2006 which I blogged about back then. It was four months after Jeremy's birth when I embarked on my solo trip to Hong Kong for a course. Well this time around I had whole family tagging along for a solid 4 day holiday together with my in-laws. We stayed for 2 nights at Lanson Place located at Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island and 2 nights at Disneyland Resort. My travel agent booked everything for us right up to the airport and hotel transfers. Jeremy was quite excited about taking a flight again and missed his afternoon nap on the day of departure. We took an evening flight as Brain had to work during the day. We were in Bali for 4 days, took a day off and then were back on a plane to Hong Kong the day after - talk about a whirlwind holiday. For once, I decided to book Cathay Pacific flight instead of the usual MAS flight - reason being - I managed to save RM1700 for all 5 of us. Plus apparently the MAS uses 737 for flights to Hong Kong which is a pretty darn small plane. Cathay Pacific provided pretty good service and Jeremy was a given a kiddy pack during each flight which was filled with crayons, colour pencils, stickers of all the disney characters, notebooks and etc. He slept for an hour into the flight and woke up when dinner was served. We reached HK in 3 hours but took a long time to get to our hotel due to the airport transfer bus which had to drop all the passengers at the relevant hotels in HK and Kowloon. By the time, we reached Lanson Place it was close to midnight but the staff at the hotel took just literally seconds to check us in and by the time we reached our rooms, the bags were already there - talked about efficiency!



Lanson Place

We spent the first day touring around HK island thanks to the travel agency in HK which arranged it all for us. We had tim sum for breakfast and then headed off to this place called the Golden Bauhinia Square near Wan Chai. It is actually a giant statute of a golden Bauhinia blakeana situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to commemorate the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. I wasn't impressed by the statute which I thought looked a bit tacky and garish. You definitely can't compare it to the Statute of Liberty in New York.




Hazy Hong Kong skyline

After an early dinner, we went to Avenue of the Stars in the evening - again I wasn't deeply impressed by promenade which was essentially modelled on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. But Jeremy had a great time walking up and down the Avenue against the strong breeze blowing in from the harbour. There were many street pedlars cashing on tourists by selling children trinkets and we got one for Jeremy for HKD12 since he was so intrigued by some of items that they were selling. After that we went to Madame Tussaud on the Peak. Took some pictures and also a stroll on the highest point on the peak. It was really windy that night and we managed to capture some shots of the skyline from the Peak that night.




Nightlights of the Hong Kong skyline



Madam Tussauds in Hong Kong at the Peak

The next day we went to Sogo and Time Square which were just right around the corner of our hotel before we headed to Disneyland. We managed to get a 2 day pass for the price of 1 and so didn't rush through all the rides on the first day.



Entrance of the Hong Kong Disneyland



Jeremy enjoying the Alice in Wonderland Teacup ride

Jeremy enjoyed all the rides as well as meeting the characters during Breakfast in the Enchanted Garden which was located at the Disneyland Resort. He just couldn't believe his eyes that Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Pluto are so BIG.




Jeremy and Daisy Duck



A glimpse of the 'Its a Small World' ride

90% of the stuff we bought are for Master Jeremy. Apart from the clothes, there is really nothing that the shops and boutiques in Disneyland can offer for adults. I managed to get a huge Stitch bubble blower for him and it took me a while to get that into my bag before we left for the airport.



Shopping, shopping, shopping.


Jeremy definitely enjoyed the rides in Disneyland HK which are considerably mild compared to the rides in Anaheim and Orlando. I believe most of the rides are catered to pre-schoolers and would not be suitable for children above the age of 7 simply because the rides are just not interesting enough for them especially rides on the carousels,tea cups, dumbo and planets which seems to go around and round forever. If you are an adult, apart from space mountain roller-coaster ride and Mickey's Philhamagic 4D show, you will find the amusement park a tad bit boring!