Hong Kong

2007-05-01 Hong Kong click above for pictures

For the May Labour Day in China, we decided to visit Hong Kong. It is only a 2.5 hour flight from Shanghai and is in the same time zone so we went for a short 3 day stay. We stayed in Kowloon overlooking the Victoria Harbor. Wow! There are a lot of buildings here.

The transportation system in Hong Kong is top notch. We rode an immaculate subway from the airport into the city and caught a free shuttle bus to our hotel. It was very easy to use.

Right by our hotel was an Outback Steakhouse. Yes....we gorged on some really good US food. Blooming Onion, Steak, Potatoes, veggies, salad with good blue cheese dressing!!!! Of course, we did do the Australian beer, Fosters.

On Wednesday, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Everyone warned us that we might not like it because it is small and would be crowded during the holiday. We found the exact opposite. It was perfect for kids our age and there was no crowd. Perhaps it is overpriced for China, but we loved it. We had such a fun day. The kids got to ride all the rides they wanted to. They splashed around in a small water area, got soaked, but I had a spare set of clothes. It was a pretty hot day. Alex doesn't do well in hot weather! We watched the parade and then stayed for the fireworks.

Alex's favorite ride was the Buzz lightyear ride. Elizabeth's favorite was the Teacups. She got to talk to Belle and saw Ariel in the parade.

They both passed out on the way home.

On Thursday, we didn't have such a good experience. We went to Ocean Park which is similar to Sea World. Apparently it is not overpriced for China because that is where the crowds were. I'm very tolerant of crowds and a lot of people, and I couldn't handle it. We had to secure seats 1.5 hours before the dolphin show that lasted all of 20 minutes. We left right after that!

Then we took a taxi to Victoria Peak. It is a high spot with shopping and you can overlook all of Hong Kong. You can see some of the pictures that Elizabeth took. We took the Tram down, which started in use in the late 1800's. On the way, we met a nice lady teaching English in the Yanxi province near Mongolia. Her name was Jennifer and she was originally from Menominee Wisconsin. We all caught a cab to the Star Ferry and then took the ferry across from Central Hong Kong to Kowloon. Any Amazing Race fans out there??? They were just in Hong Kong and rode the Star Ferry.

We watched the laser light show that they have every night and then parted ways with Jennifer. We were all pretty tired after this. That's about the time I noticed that my work mobile phone was gone. It must have slipped out of my pocket during a taxi ride. Well, in Hong Kong, it must be finders keepers, because whoever found it, when we called it, shut the phone off. That made that day a bummer! We were able to catch 15 minutes in the top of the hotel outdoor pool and that really tired us out. So much so, that the kids and I passed out without dinner. Kirk went and had Mexican.

On Friday, we tried to swim again, but it was raining. So we packed up, left our luggage at the front desk, and headed out to shop. We wanted to find some shoes to fit me (although i really don't NEED any) and a new dress for Elizabeth, but ended up with a Wii for Kirk. If you don't know what this is....I didn't either.....and Kirk probably didn't.....until we heard about it from Cronley. Anyway, once Kirk's has his mind set on something, he has to follow through, so we searched up and down Nathan Road for the best deal. Since it was raining, the kids and I couldn't take it anymore and went to the bookstore by the hotel. We were able to pick up a few English books.

We flew back after getting the subway again and on the plane, Kirk realized that he left his Ipod in the hotel room charging. Now, we stayed at a 5 star Intercontinental Grand Stanford. Once again, finders keepers. Guess with kids, we need to keep our belongings to a minimum since we get so busy trying to keep them in line. By the way, I will NEVER stay at an Intercontinental again and am going to smear their name on Trip Advisor.

Overall, Hong Kong was nice. It was clean and easy to get around in. We may go back again, but I think we would stay right at Disney and just stay a couple days to hang out in their pool.

Not sure where our next adventure will take us. Perhaps Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, or Vietnam.