Holiday

Tips and thoughts on travelling for an Hong Kong holiday

Posted 2016-01-10 by Gary

The last eight posts on Yummy Lummy have been about my recent Hong Kong holiday.

I have links to each post below.

I thought I’d write a summary post with some tips and ideas on travelling for an Hong Kong holiday. This holiday was a family affair with my three daughters, viz., Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20. The planning was undertaken by Ms18 and Ms20 and my job was to pay for the flights, accommodation, ground transport, and tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park and the Hong Kong 3D Museum. In addition I looked after most of the meals. The girls brought with them spending money for shopping.

Here are some things (in no particular order) to consider when travelling for an Hong Kong holiday. I’m grateful to Miss14 for her input.

Walking shoes: Good quality shoes that will stand up to >33,000 steps a day are a must. The weather can be inclement so pools of water to step over need to be considered as well.

Band aids for blisters: If you don’t have worn in shoes or if you don’t have decent shoes make sure you start the trip with plenty of band aids. Of course new band aids can be purchased from dispensaries or pharmacies.

Google maps and transit routes especially station and bus times: It’s often said Google maps can be inaccurate and we experienced this too, however, the benefits for use outweighed the occasional GPS inaccuracy which was probably because of the tall buildings. A simple turning off and on of the app often fixes the problem. The Hong Kong public transport system is simply fabulous. The best I’ve experienced anywhere. Even better, Google maps lists all the options for trains, trams, buses including times, distances and walking requirements. Having a smartphone with Google maps made our holiday orders of magnitude easier and harmonious. We had no bickering or arguing because we’d gone in the wrong direction. Google was there to help. The added benefit we had was that the Cosmopolitan Hotel supplied for our use an Alcatel smartphone with a 4G sim card so we could use it as a wi-fi hot spot and also use the MTR and Google apps on it for navigation and assistance.

Power packs: You can now buy cheap power packs for smartphones, tablets and even small cameras. With an overnight charge these handy little devices can keep your smartphone juiced up all day. It wasn’t uncommon at about 10.30 am for one of the girls to say they were at <50% battery power for their iPhone. With wi-fi everywhere and so many selfies being taken and so much Facebook and Snapchat being used it was little wonder each of them needed to have a charger (except Ms18 who with the aid of low battery mode and an iPhone 6 managed most days on one overnight charge). The best thing is you can buy short (10 cm) and long (2 m) cords to connect the power pack and smartphone to suit your situation. I wore a jacket most places and could keep the power pack and iPhone on me and continue to use the device while it was charging. BTW for those interested my Snapchat user names are garydlum and yummy_lummy Follow me if you like.

Octopus card: The public transport system in Hong Kong is fantastic. You can buy an Octopus card at the airport when you land for HKD$200. This gives you straight up HKD$100 credit to get you to your hotel plus probably a day or so around Hong Kong. Not only can it be used on trains, trams and buses but it can be used as a debit card in many shops including shops at the airport.

Travel with someone good with directions: People who know me know I have no inbuilt compass. I am hopeless. Completely, utterly without any sense of direction nor an ability to read a map confidently. Fortunately Ms20 has an excellent sense of direction and could remember over each day the direction of where we were meant to go. In addition she can remember where every shop is she has entered in case a return visit is necessary.

Smartphone for maps and camera: This carries on from the Google maps piece of advice. If you don’t have a smartphone, try to get one and get used to it about a month before hand. You won’t regret it. In this day and age, being au fait with a smartphone can help you enormously. Shooting photographs with your smartphone isn’t just for sharing on social media and for blogging and for holiday memories, the photographs with the geotag GPS information can help you find somewhere you’ve been and need to return to. The photographs can also be used as evidence in case of mishaps. I highly recommend having a smartphone on your person at all times.

Smartphone for apps like swarm, snapchat, Facebook and Twitter: I’m not sure how many people use social media. I know a lot do. I was in awe watching my girls use their iPhones for all sorts of communication with friends. I thought I had a good handle on social media, I’m a novice by comparison. You can checkout where I’ve been by my swarm/foursquare history. You can see what I’ve posted on Facebook and Twitter too. By using hashtags like #HongKong and #holiday as well as specific location hashtags I could ask for assistance and advice as well as receive unsolicited comments and advice. Even if you aren’t a regular social media user, for a holiday, it can be a real help. I use an if this then that recipe that sends my swarm check ins to my Google calendar so when I write a blog post I know where I’ve been each day. The possibilities are endless.

Camera bag: Camera bags are a very personal choice. My advice is use one you’re used to. I have a Lowepro sling bag which was just perfect for my camera body and lenses as well as my power pack, hat, sunglasses, lens cleaning cloths, Platypod, close up filters and cords and cables. I prefer a sling bag to a backpack because it’s easier to get my camera out. I use a wrist strap on my camera which makes it easy to pull out of my sling bag.

Coat with pockets: If it’s cool weather this means you can distribute stuff on your body rather than a bag. If it’s summer, wear shorts and shirts with pockets. Yeah, I know not fashionable. You need to decide for yourself what will suit you and what level of dagginess you will tolerate. Those that know me know I’m a total bogan/dag so I don’t care what I wear so long as it is practical. Miss14 felt pockets were essential especially for easy access to things like her iPhone and Octopus card.

T-shirts: In temperate weather like Hong Kong, it never got too cold or too hot. Wearing a coat was helpful in the air conditioned areas and on New Year’s Eve when it got chilly. Wearing a T-shirt underneath meant I could regulate my body temperature more easily. I used a combination of short and long sleeve T-shirts depending on the weather conditions.

Power cube: I love my power cube. While it has four AC outlets and 2 high power USB ports, you can really only use three outlets at any one time if you rest the cube on a bedside table. Each night I could charge my devices and camera batteries as well as my power pack without any problems.

Book a small room: You don’t need a large room. We aimed not to be in the room unless we were sleeping. Make the most of every minute of every day you’re on holiday. We had two double beds in the room. The bathroom was pretty good with a combination shower/bathtub. You just need room for beds and bags really.

Book in advance: Some trips are cheaper and easier, e.g., Ngong Ping cable car

Grab free Wi-Fi wherever you can: This is a no brainer. I am fortunate. I have a Vodafone roaming account so for AUD$5/day I get all the calls and data I need like I’m at home. I also regularly use HolidayPhone to purchase SIM cards before a trip if there is no Vodafone coverage and also for a small portable 3G/4G wi-fi router. I’ve been particularly grateful to the support (Scott) from HolidayPhone when there have been hiccoughs, so I’m happy to recommend them. That said, there’s nothing like exploiting wi-fi whenever you can. Do it safely though and be careful. Be alert to on-line security.

Foreign money cash cards: I use QANTAS cash which lets me have a MasterCard in common currencies. This worked brilliantly in Hong Kong. I could withdraw cash when I needed it and use the Qantas cash MasterCard credit card to make purchases. I always alert my credit card company of overseas travel just to be safe.

Don’t bring anything unnecessary: Pack light and travel happy. Like I said, I’m not fashionable and so I stayed as clean as possible and wore some clothes again. I didn’t bring my regular everyday leather RM Williams boots. Even though I knew we’d eat in some nice places, I was confident my casual shoes would be fine. The added benefit was that I didn’t have to remove my shoes for airport security.

Hand sanitiser. Toilets look clean and generally are clean but when you see how people behave in toilets and how they’re cleaned you’ll think twice. I didn’t go into the detail I’m known for when describing my squat toilet experience on New Year’s Eve, sufficie to say I’m glad I had hand sanitiser. Hand sanitiser can also be used to clean toilet seats.

Medication: Bring your supply of medication. I now need to take some regular medication, it’s important to ensure you have a supply and keep it safe. If there is any doubt about whether you can travel with it, speak with your medical practitioner and if necessary get a letter to cover you. I also found with all the walking and carrying a sling bag, my back got sore every day so having some analgesics in my bag was always helpful.

Spare set of spectacles: If you need spectacles for reading, you MUST bring a spare pair. Even though I had three girls with me who at times read things for me when my glasses were in my bag, you need to be able to read.

Sunglasses and a hat: Eye and skin protection are always important.

Poncho or rain coat: Hong Kong can have wet weather. On the Sunday we went to see Tian Tan ‘Big’ Buddha, it was wet. We also got wet on one of the rides at Ocean park too. A poncho or rain coat would be helpful.

Planning: This is from Miss14 and you can tell she’s the daughter of an emergency manager. Having a plan is good. Being flexible about the plan as situations change is also important. Having an idea at the end of each day for what the next day held was really helpful. We usually discussed the next day’s plan on the way back to the hotel the night before. We’d talk about it again at breakfast. The good thing is as the situation changed, having travelling companions who are flexible is also great. Travelling with my daughters was an absolute pleasure.

Make the most of each day: Again this comes from Miss14. She was a great example of doing as much as possible with every minute we had.

I’ll update this as I get more ideas from Ms18 and Ms20.

Here’s a list of all the posts so far from our Hong Kong Holiday.

Have you enjoyed an Hong Kong holiday? Tell me about it.

Ocean Park Hong Kong

Posted 2016-01-09 by Gary

Ocean Park Hong Kong is a place I’m in two minds about. I loved the rides and I loved learning about the fauna there but that fauna is held captive.

Before we get to Ocean Park Hong Kong we need to show a photograph of my breakfast from the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

A photograph of scrambled eggs and jam on toast — Scrambled eggs and jam on toast

Prior to leaving for Hong Kong, Ms20 had arranged ground transport with Buffalo Tours from our hotel to Ocean Park Hong Kong. After breakfast we waited for our shuttle bus. It was delayed but not too delayed. The guide on the shuttle bus was very good at explaining what we should see and do when we got to Ocean Park. He was also very careful to explain our pick up point and pick up time.

A photograph of The Grand Aquarium Ocean Park Hong Kong — The Grand Aquarium Ocean Park

A photograph of The cable car at Ocean Park Hong Kong — The cable car at Ocean Park Hong Kong

Closer photograph of the Ocean Park cable cars — Ocean Park cable car

A photograph of Inside an Ocean Park cable car — Inside an Ocean Park cable car

A photograph of Ocean Park from a cable car — Ocean Park from a cable car

A photograph of Deep Water Bay Hong Kong after a lot of post processing in Adobe Lightroom. The haze was very severe. — Deep Water Bay Hong Kong after a lot of post processing in Adobe Lightroom. The haze was very severe.

It’s said Deep Water Bay is the wealthiest neighbourhood in the world.

A photograph of The Hair Raiser Roller Coaster at Ocean Park Hong Kong — The Hair Raiser Roller Coaster at Ocean Park Hong Kong

The Hair Raiser was the best ride we experienced in Hong Kong.
I found this YouTube video which shows just how much fun it is.

Best ride in Hong Kong.

A photograph of Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with Deep Water Bay in the background — Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with Deep Water Bay in the background

A photograph of my daughters in front of multiple Christmas trees. — All the Christmas trees

A photograph of Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with a Giant Panda — Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with a Giant Panda

A photograph of a Giant Panda doing what giant pandas do best — Giant Panda doing what giant pandas do best

There are four giant pandas held captive in Ocean Park Hong Kong. Two are kept in the open and the other two in a closed in enclosure.

A photograph of Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with a giant panda in the background — Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with a giant panda in the background

A photograph of A panda eating. I couldn't get a decent shot of its head. — A panda eating. I couldn’t get a decent shot of its head.

A photograph of Giant panda faeces. It looks like a tangle of bamboo shoots. — Giant panda faeces. It looks like a tangle of bamboo shoots.

After the cable car ride and visiting the Giant panda and panda exhibit we went back to the area of the rides. We went on two roller coasters which were great. As good as any roller coaster ride I’ve had in Australia and as good as Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland.

After the rides we went for lunch. We thought we’d try the Terrace cafe. It looked nice but the maître d’ was incompetent beyond imagination. we walked away after 20 minutes of waiting and being ignored while others (who could speak Cantonese) pushed through and got tables.

We ended up in the cheap and cheerful eatery. I had roast duck and pork with rice.

A photograph of Roast pork and duck with rice from Ocean Park Hong Kong — Roast pork and duck with rice

After lunch we went to the arctic and antarctic exhibitions.

In the arctic exhibit there were seals and a couple of walruses. The walruses were huge.

A photograph of Penguins in the Antarctic exhibit — Penguins in the Antarctic exhibit

After the arctic and antarctic exhibits we went to the dolphin show. I shot about a hundred photographs but when I looked through them all I saw were dolphins held in captivity. Ocean Park Hong Kong makes a strong point about conservation, animal welfare, protecting marine ecological systems and zöological research. I still feel uneasy about these animals being trained for entertainment.

A photograph of A dolphin leaping high — A dolphin leaping high

In the south American rain forest area there were some Capybara. These rodents are huge.

A photograph of Miss14 and a Capybara replica — Miss14 and a Capybara replica

A photograph of Ms20 and a Capybara replica — Ms20 and a Capybara replica

Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 with tree giant pandas

A photograph of us saying Farewell Ocean Park Hong Kong — Farewell Ocean Park Hong Kong

It was an enjoyable day at Ocean Park save for the lunch episode at the Terrace Cafe.

After we left we went to Times Square in Causeway Bay and enjoyed dinner, albeit an expensive dinner at Greenhouse.

I had Singapore noodles with lobster and bacon.

A photograph of a plate of Singapore noodles with lobster and bacon from Greenhouse — Singapore noodles with lobster and bacon

After such an expensive main course we went to McDonalds for dessert

A photograph of a McDonalds Strawberry Sundae — Strawberry Sundae

And so ended Saturday in Hong Kong. It was a good one.

Have you ever been to Ocean Park Hong Kong?

New Year’s Day 2016 in Hong Kong

Posted 2016-01-08 by Gary

After a late evening out watching the new year’s eve festivities we slept in a little on new years day. We didn’t get back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel until about 1.30 am and we weren’t ready for bed and sleep until about 2 am. Of course I was awake at 6 am because I don’t really sleep in but the girls were out until about 8 am.

We took our time about getting breakfast. When I got there I was hungry so I went with the abominable breakfast, i.e., scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast covered in condensed milk and served with a croissant, jam and butter along with dim sum. Have you ever had such a combination? I say fusion cuisine and my daughters said, “That’s disgusting Dad!”

This is my new years day breakfast

This is a photograph of The abominable new years day breakfast with scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast covered in condensed milk and served with a croissant, jam and butter along with dim sum — The abominable breakfast with scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast covered in condensed milk and served with a croissant, jam and butter along with dim sum

After breakfast we went on a bus to a local temple to take a look. The Man Ho Temple is an historic building and monument in Hong Kong.

After looking around the temple we climbed the stairs of Ladder Street to the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences.

Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences closed on new years day — Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

Unfortunately the museum was closed on New Year’s Day.

We discussed our options and the girls want to travel to Lantau Island to visit the Citygate Outlets shops. These are discount outlet shops near the airport and apparently travellers will check in to the flight and then catch a bus there for last minute bargains.

The girls found this place to be ideal for their needs.

I found the black sesame and vanilla soft serve ice cream at the local McDonalds to be delicious. A lovely new years day treat.

Black sesame and vanilla soft serve from McDonalds. New years day treat. — Black sesame and vanilla soft serve from McDonalds

After phase one of shopping we went to Food Republic for lunch and had yum cha.

After lunch we found a grocery store called Taste. This place was awesome.

After an afternoon of shopping we went to Causeway Bay MTR and walked to Time Square and found a place for dinner, viz., Chungs Kitchen.

Apparently when it was Chungs Cuisine it was a pretty good place. We had mixed feelings. The food was good but the service was not so good. The food was served one dish at a time rather than all together and it took nearly 45 minutes from the first to the last dish. That said, this was my first goose and the beans were the best I’ve ever eaten. I also love wood fungus. This wasn’t as good as Mum’s but it took me back.

Mixed vegetables with beans and wood fungus. These beans were so crispy.

Pan fried rice vermicelli noodles with scallops. I love wood fungus.

Taiyaki with brown sugar and green tea custard. A great new years day dessert.

Yep we visited Victoria's Secret so many times I became mayor — Yep we visited Victoria’s Secret so many times I became mayor

Miss14 with her Victoria's Secret bags in Victoria's Secret bags — Miss14 with her Victoria’s Secret bags in Victoria’s Secret bags

When we got back to the hotel the girls put all the purchases to date on a bed. It was a huge haul. I remain surprised they fit everything in their bags to bring back to Brisbane.

How did you spend New Year’s Day?

Wet market on Chun Yeung Street and new year’s eve in Hong Kong

Posted 2016-01-07 by Gary

It’s new year’s eve 2015 and what better way to start the day than visit a wet market. I had explained to Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 before we embarked on this holiday that while I was happy to spend hours in shopping centres, there would be times when I would need to indulge my own interests.

After a breakfast of toast with scrambled eggs and baked beans combined with dim sum and pickles we were off.

We caught the Number 10 bus from outside the Cosmopolitan Hotel and went to Chun Yeung Street where there is a wet market.

Wet markets are my idea of the best part of an overseas holiday. I was very conscious I was with my daughters who do not necessarily share my interest in seeing raw flesh, raw vegetables and live animals being dispatched and butchered fresh for the consumer. One of the things I think we really miss out on with our ‘modern’ approach to food technology and processing is freshness. Sure our modern approach is safe and I’m the first to stand up for food safety and food security, however, there is something to be said for watching a fish monger pull a live fish out of a tank, club it on the head and immediately remove it’s head, bleed it and then fillet it. If I was alone I would have tried to video record the process. I was conscious my daughters wanted to keep on the move.

I’m also fascinated by seeing how produce is presented. I love seeing a pig’s chest pluck hanging up as well as a whole pluck in some cases. Being able to identify organs and see how clean and smell how fresh they are is amazing.

When it comes to vegetables, being able to see how fresh the vegetables are is really good. That’s not to say there wasn’t a good supply of preserved and dried foods. My father would have loved some dried sea scallops. I didn’t want to appear on an episode of Border Security so I refrained, after all I’m also a human quarantine officer.

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Intestines, livers and hearts under a sink wet market — Intestines, livers and hearts under a sink

I should also mention I had ample opportunity on this holiday to eat shark fin soup. I refrained. My grandmother used to cook me shark fin soup when I was a little boy. I loved it. I will no longer eat it because of the cruelty to sharks being finned alive and then dumped to die in the ocean depths.

More meat and offal for grinding wet market — More meat and offal for grinding

Miss14 and Ms18 outside a fresh meat joint

I’m so proud that none of my daughters gagged or objected to what they saw, smelt or heard. The wet market is really a place a food lover should visit. I would have loved to have visited more wet markets but time wasn’t available. Have you ever visited a wet market?

After the wet market we caught a bus back to Causeway Bay MTR station and looked to have lunch at Times Square in Causeway Bay.

Millenium Falcon at Times Square. I still think the NX-01 is a better looking ship but then Star Trek is better than Star Wars.

We ended up in Cooked Deli and I went for a laksa.

It was a nice laksa but the prawn was well and truly over cooked. The egg wasn’t too bad and the chicken was tender. The soup was delicious.

After lunch we made our way back to Mong Kok to check out Ladies Market and Langham Place again. Miss14 and Ms18 were keen on some bargains there.

Miss20 bought us some egg custard tarts.

These tarts were pretty nice. Not too eggy and they were still warm.

During the afternoon the girls spotted a Sasa. I had no interested and waited outside. I spied these men in comfortable “Dad seats”.

Men in "Dad seats" outside Sasa in Mong Kok — Men in “Dad seats” outside Sasa in Mong Kok

After shopping we had dinner at Chee Kei in Mong Kok. We were keen on something light so I had some deep fried wonton, a crumbed pork chop and some rice.

After dinner we made our way to the Star Ferry Pier to prepare for the NYE festivities. We got there at about 7 pm and staked out an area.

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New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong at 7.30 pm from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

New year's eve Hong Kong — New year’s eve Hong Kong

Red sailed boat in the harbour on new year's eve Hong Kong — Red sailed boat in the harbour on new year’s eve Hong Kong

As we’ve experienced the people have no sense of personal space nor spatial or situational awareness. People crowded in on us and really had no idea how offensive it was to have such close contact and to ‘trespass’ onto staked out territory. When I say ‘staked out territory’ I mean about 30 cm around each of us. It got to the point closer to the countdown to midnight and I had almost full body contact with strangers.

Close to midnight I started experiencing colicky abdominal pain. As someone with irritable bowel syndrome a sense of urgency developed and I started to look for a rest room. The closest one was quite a walk away. When I got there the only toilet was a squat. My last bowel motion for 2015 will long be remembered for the duration of the event, the discomfort and the quadriceps burn I felt. I’m just grateful the flushing mechanism worked and that I had brought ample hand sanitiser.

This is where we celebrated New Year's Eve in Hong Kong — This is where we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong

Here is a gallery of the fireworks. These photographs are not processed. I’ve run out of time.

The number of people watching the fireworks was huge. I have no idea how many of thousands of people who were there. It was amazing to see so many thousands of people move to trains and then disperse so quickly at the end.

The best thing was there were very few drunk revellers. The most drunk were English and very few Australians. The local Hong Kong people and other Asians were all sober. As far as I know there were no coward punches and no one punch deaths unlike the situation in Australia and other non-Asian centres.

How did you celebrate new year’s eve? Have you ever been to a wet market? What did you think?

Hong Kong Disneyland

Posted 2016-01-05 by Gary

One of the reasons for holidaying in Hong Kong was because of Hong Kong Disneyland. I explained in the first holiday post that our planned holiday in Florida fell through and because that included a Disney World visit, considered other Disney options.

To start the day I went with plain congee and dim sum. Not quite a breakfast of champions.

Plain congee and dim sum

We elected to purchase in advance two-day tickets. We’d heard that Disneyland is bigger than places like Dreamworld and Movieworld on the Gold Coast so we figured a two-day pass would help us see everything we wanted to see and not be disappointed.. We caught a series of trains from Hong Kong Island to Disneyland.

The final train is a special Disneyland train fitted out with Mickey Mouse shaped windows and hand holds. I have no idea who the bloke in this photograph is.

Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland (We didn't stay in the resort) — Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland (We didn’t stay in the resort)

At the entrance before the ticketing area is a big whale fountain. Atop the fountain is a surfing Mickey. The column of water moves up and down.

The Adventureland treehouse was explored

The second best ride is the Grizzly Gulch Mine Car Ride. I found a YouTube point of view video which is better than any photograph I could have shot.

Ms20 really likes Toy Story and so does her BF apparently.

We went on the parachute ride.

It was okay. Nothing like the Big Drop at Dreamworld or Batman at Movieworld.

We also rode Slinky Dog.

We walked back to Adventureland and got on the Safari Jungle River Cruise.

Daniel from the Safari Jungle River Cruise

Daniel was pretty funny in his own way.

Safari Jungle River Cruise

Okay, Yummy Lummy is a food blog so I need to add a little more about food. The most appalling and disappointing thing about Hong Kong Disneyland is the quality of the food. I expected the prices to be high. That’s the norm for theme parks unfortunately. But in most places I’ve accepted the meal as at least mediocre.

I should have gone with my gut and stuck with Asian food. After all we were in Hong Kong and there were Asian options. Even Chinese options. I was hungry and we were in Fantasyland and Ms18 was keen on a Mickey Mouse shaped pizza. Rather than waste time looking for another outlet I asked for what I thought might be reasonable. I knew the Chinese should never have shared any food with Marco Polo. The European versions of Chinese food don’t rate. I went with what was described as a creamy mushroom pasta.

The photographs tell the story. The pasta was stuck together. It was tepid. It was too salty. The mushrooms were chewy. It was disgusting. My advice is do not ask for this from Fantasyland’s Royal Banquet Room.

Creamy mushroom pasta served by the Royal Banquet Hall Fantasyland

Okay, rant over until next time

So here is a gallery of some random photographs from the afternoon.

Here comes another food rant.

For afternoon tea. Yes, on holidays we enjoy afternoon tea. I ~~ignored~~ tried to forget my body mass and my expanding waistline.

We went to Main Street and noticed a cafe selling High Tea. Now I’ve had high tea at Raffles in Singapore, the Hyatt in Canberra and a few other places. That said, my expectations were suitably set for Disneyland.

It all looked nice and there was appropriate Mickey Mouse branding on some of the products. The chocolate drink which I had assumed to be cold was hot and limp is how I would describe it. The plates had mixes of sweet and savoury on a plate which got a little confusing. I don’t mind a sweet and savoury high tea, but keep them separated on different plates. There was a scone which was just awful. It was tough and chewy. There was also a layered pastry which looked like it should be sweet but it was salty. The mouthfeel from the macaron suggested it was a few days old.

Here’s a gallery of high tea photographs.

High Tea from Main Street

After high tea we settled into a spot for the parade and fireworks. It was during this five hour period that my patience was sorely tested. I’ve already mentioned in a previous post about our encounters with people who do not have a similar understanding of personal space and both situational and spatial awareness. The girls were really keen to get a good view for the evening parade so we staked out a place on a street curb which impeded no one else and we sat/stood there waiting. From time to time one of us would break off to visit the rest rooms or go looking at something. As night fell the crowd grew. Officials roped off an area near us so the frail and infirm could get a good view. Behind me I felt people poking and prodding. People were coming off the street in front of us and just pushing Miss14 aside to get through. I man spread to protect her and stood my ground buffeting shoulders of passers by. One bloke behind me then started poking me in the shoulder and told me he expected me to sit on the ground when the parade started. I’d already planned to do that but being told by someone just annoyed me. Then he started pulling at my camera bag. I nearly took a swing.

After the parade we turned around getting ready for a wait for the fireworks. Again, people just streamed in front of us. Two women came and stood right in front of Ms20 while she was photographing the fireworks. No consideration whatsoever. It was just unbelievable how rude people could be.

Here is a gallery of some images from the parade and fireworks. I haven’t processed any of these images. I was too annoyed to focus on the photography at the time.

The fireworks finish at 9 pm and then there is the crush to the exit, boarding the Disneyland train and the making connections with two more trains before the 10 minute work from the Causeway Bay MTR station to the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

It’s true what they say, Hong Kong is for people who like to wake up late and stay awake late.

We came back the next morning after breakfast.

Toast with scrambled eggs and baked beans with a hamburger rissole and deep fried potato

I’d say our favourite rides were Space Mountain and Grizzly Gulch Mine Carts. Both were reasonably fast with good twists and turns. The Grizzly Gulch has a long backward stretch making it exciting. The Space Mountain ride is mainly in the dark with projections on the ceilings and walls. It made me wish we had a Star Trek theme park with rides on the NX-01, NCC 1701 A, B, C, D and E, as well as shuttle craft and the Defiant. Most of all it would be great to have battles with Klingon and Romulan Birds of Prey.

Anyway back to Disneyland. One ride we waited over 60 minutes to do was the Autopia car ride. Miss14 was my driver and I took a time-lapse video of the track work.

Autopia At Hong Kong Disneyland from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

The teacup ride was fun and had its moments

The next ride was “It’s a small world” which was very colourful.

Space Mountain. No turning back after this point.

For lunch I couldn’t go past the Star Wars Darth Vader cheeseburger. As much as I prefer Star Trek, my favourite character is Darth Vader. I love the dark side of the force.

Darth Vader Cheeseburger

Miss14 and Ms20 with Toy Story's Woody and Jesse — Miss14 and Ms20 with Toy Story’s Woody and Jesse

We wended the second day with an egg custard tart

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For dinner we agreed we’d stop at the Kowloon MTR station and look around. We came up the Tasty Congee and Noodle Wantun Shop where we stopped and enjoyed a nice meal. We craved vegetables so we asked for some Chinese vegetables along with our noodles.

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So ended another day. We were pretty tired and happy for a relatively early evening.

Have you been to Hong Kong Disneyland?

Holiday

Tips and thoughts on travelling for an Hong Kong holiday

The last eight posts on Yummy Lummy have been about my recent Hong Kong holiday.

I have links to each post below.

Have you enjoyed an Hong Kong holiday? Tell me about it.

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Ocean Park Hong Kong

Have you ever been to Ocean Park Hong Kong?

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New Year’s Day 2016 in Hong Kong

This is my new years day breakfast

How did you spend New Year’s Day?

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Wet market on Chun Yeung Street and new year’s eve in Hong Kong

How did you celebrate new year’s eve? Have you ever been to a wet market? What did you think?

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Hong Kong Disneyland

Have you been to Hong Kong Disneyland?

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Recent posts

Post archive

The last eight posts on Yummy Lummy have been about my recent Hong Kong holiday.

I have links to each post below.

Have you enjoyed an Hong Kong holiday? Tell me about it.

I'd love it if you shared

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Have you ever been to Ocean Park Hong Kong?

I'd love it if you shared

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This is my new years day breakfast

How did you spend New Year’s Day?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

How did you celebrate new year’s eve? Have you ever been to a wet market? What did you think?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Have you been to Hong Kong Disneyland?

I'd love it if you shared

Like this:

Recent posts

Post archive