Hong Kong

Flight 9 of 17

Thursday, April 5 - Sunday, April 8

We arrived Thursday afternoon to the Hong Kong airport, definitely one of the nicest airports we’ve seen (so nice in fact, that we saw a bride and groom taking bridal portraits inside the airport).  One bus ride later, we were at the hotel (we were amazed we were able to make it to our destination once we realized nothing on the bus, nor any of the street signs, were in English).  We were surprised to see how tiny our room was – although it made more sense later when we saw how “tall” Hong Kong is, and that’s its common to have a small footprint!  We were also surprised by the 2 twin beds…we’re still not sure if that’s part of the culture, or just all they had left!

Ryan searching for dim sum amid the bright lights of Nathan Street

We ventured out of our hotel and stumbled upon the Temple Street Night Market.  There were hundreds of stalls, each selling small trinkets, handmade goods, and cheap knock-offs.  (However, there were no Disney knock-offs to be found, and if you asked you were immediately told “No Disney.”  …perhaps a police crackdown?)

Kristen at the Temple Street Night Market

We were getting hungry, and Ryan was determined to find a Dim Sum restaurant.  After a mile or two of walking along Nathan Street (bright lights & crowds of people) and a few failed attempts (menus not in English), we finally found a Dim Sum restaurant with a picture menu!

Disney Time!

Blending in with the locals at Hong Kong Disney

The next morning, Ryan shaved (first time in weeks!) and we hopped on the subway to Disney Hong Kong.  The first train was your run-of-the-mill subway, but the second—it was awesome!  Disney has a special subway line that runs directly to the resort, and it was decorated throughout with Disney touches!  Mickey-shaped windows, Disney figurines, Mickey subway handles…the works!

Aboard the Mickey-fied subway to the park

Once we got to the park, as you can imagine, we were extremely excited!  After eating Mickey-shaped waffles for breakfast, we had an amazing time exploring Main Street, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland, which were all very similar to Disneyland and to Magic Kingdom.

So excited to get inside the park...

We really enjoyed exploring Toy Story Land, which is unique to Disney Hong Kong.  The rides were well done and we enjoyed each of them (Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, RC Car ride, and Slinky the Dog ride).

Ryan's having more fun than a barrel of monkeys in Toy Story Land!

We also enjoyed two shows – The Golden Mickeys & Festival of the Lion King.  Both shows were a mixture of English & Cantonese, and the Golden Mickeys was an “awards show” which recapped many classic Disney movies.  We had a great view of the Flights of Fantasy parade and the evening fireworks, which looked awesome with the Hong Kong mountains in the background.  Despite a gloomy day with a bit of rain, we were ecstatic the whole day and had a wonderful time!  The park wasn’t crowded, and we didn’t even need to use all of our fast passes!

After the park closed, we explored both hotels – The Disneyland Hotel (very similar to The Grand Floridian) and The Disney Hollywood Hotel (an upscale version of All Star Movies).  That night, we gorged at the best dinner buffet…ever.  The Chef Mickey International Buffet was exactly what we needed after searching for familiar food for weeks.  We ate made-to-order pasta, meat from carving stations, seafood (crab legs & shrimp, for Ryan), Indian, and tons (and tons!) of desserts!  We were literally the last people in the restaurant and ate everything we could!

On Saturday, we did a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong via a Big Bus Tour.  We experienced Hong Kong from the top of our double-decker bus, and started on the Kowloon part of town.  We saw skyscrapers, the DHL balloon (you could ride it up a few hundred feet), the fourth tallest building in the world, Canton Road, the clock tower, and a nice view of Hong Kong Island – our next stop.

Taking the quick ferry ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island

We took the ferry to Hong Kong Island, where we saw (more) skyscrapers and learned that Hong Kong has twice as many skyscrapers as New York City!  (This explains why our hotel room was so small!)  We even saw Wayne Tower, used in Batman: The Dark Knight.  The buildings sit with mountains in the background, which makes for a unique cityscape.  Next we saw the Golden Bauhinia Statue, which marks where the ceremony in which Britain handed over control of Hong Kong to The People’s Republic of China.  We saw Victoria Park (similar to Central Park), Victoria Harbor, shopping areas, and Man Mo Temple.  Next we took the Peak Tram for a fantastic view of the city.  (Ryan’s parents took this same tram about 10 years ago on their Asia trip!)

Soaring above the city after taking a tram to the top of the mountain

The tour ended, and we took a return ferry to Kowloon and visited the Space Museum, which was a nice recap of the one class Kristen & Ryan took together in college—“History of Spaceflight.”  We hopped on the night tour bus and saw a laser-light show that takes place on the skyscrapers themselves!  We visited the Ladies’ Market, shopping areas, and enjoyed seeing the city by night.  We hopped off at the Temple Street Night Market, bought a few souvenirs, and walked back to our hotel to get some sleep before our early-morning flight to Beijing.