No, we didn't see
HK Phooey on our trip (especially since he's a Hanna-Barbera character), but we did see Goofy and Chip 'n' Dale in the Hong Kong
Disney Hollywood Hotel lobby. Liam grabbed my leg tightly and held on while I walked as fast as I could past them. He continues his fear of adults wearing costumes with masks which cover their heads. Therefore, we didn't seek out Mickey or any other characters when we went to the actual theme park the next day.
More on Disney later. I'll start from the beginning of our trip. We arrived in Hong Kong around lunchtime on a Thursday after the three and a half hour plane trip (the boys were mostly good), and the first thing I noticed was the fog. Then Sean corrected me - it was
smog, not fog. He had warned me about the pollution, but I really had no concept until I saw it for myself. Sean also said that it has been much worse than it was the day we landed, so I am so relieved that we didn't move there. I think the boys would have asthma by now, especially since Sean has a history of exercise-induced asthma. I appreciate the cleanliness and greenery of Singapore even more after this trip.
We didn't make it to the hotel in the
Causeway Bay area until almost 2 pm, and the boys were over-tired, so they wouldn't nap. While checking in, we discovered than the "adjoining rooms" did not have a shared door between them. They were just next to each other instead. One room had a double bed, and the other had two twin beds and a love seat-sized futon which folded out flat on the floor. Sean took one for the team and said he would stay in the twin room with the boys, so I got the other room to myself. We hung out in the boys' room for an hour, then walked across the street to a mall with tons of high-end stores, and maybe two stores for kids. I've been spoiled by the malls in Singapore - many have a floor devoted to kids' stores and several coin-operated rides. We ended up going up and down the elevator and escalators for a few minutes, then decided to go to Pizza Hut in our hotel for an early dinner since we were all wiped out. Sean had warned me that most pizza in HK is made with thousand island dressing (!!!) instead of tomato sauce, so we made sure to order a tomato sauce base on our pizza.
Despite being exhausted, Graeme and Liam ate fairly well - it
was pizza, after all - and we returned to the room for bathtime. After reading to the boys, I went back to "my" room and took a long, warm shower. I really enjoyed this because it's something I can't do in Singapore. The water heaters here are tiny and for each individual bathroom, so we're always doing Navy showers where you turn on the water to get wet, turn it off to shampoo, turn it on to rinse, off to soap the body, on to rinse, etc. I must say that even though I make an effort to lessen my impact on the environment, I will be taking some long showers when we visit the U.S. in three weeks.
The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, choosing the "western" option. We then took a taxi to Sean's office. Several ladies on his team have been wanting to meet the boys (and maybe me too) , so we hung out in Sean's office and let everyone come to us. The boys had fun playing with Daddy's phone by pretending to make calls to their grandparents, trying to erase notes on the dry-erase board, going through files, typing on Daddy's laptop, and playing with the toys Sean's generous coworkers gave them for Easter. See the cute pics below of the boys on those phone calls. It was nice to see where Sean works and put faces with the names of his great HK team. One of his coworkers said Graeme was like Sean because G talks a lot. She is very perceptive. I must admit, though, that I think Graeme's loquaciousness is due to both Rometo genes and DeCastro genes, so his mouth is not just from Sean. He did get that red hair from my Dad's sister Melinda, after all - love you Aunt M!
Nana, are you there?
Hi Grandma, I'm working!
After the office visit, we took another taxi down to the harborfront area of Kowloon. We decided to ride the
ferry across to HK island once we saw that the ride was only seven minutes long. The ferry terminal was next to the cruise ship terminal, and the boys enjoyed checking out the huge white ship docked there. Graeme and Liam loved the ferry ride. Once we reached the other side, we watched boats in the busy harbor from the ferry terminal viewing deck. We also discovered that HK has at least one Subway sandwich place, located in the ferry terminal building of all places, so we bought sandwiches to take back to the hotel to eat since we were all getting tired. The boys napped, but not for as long I hoped. Despite some initial grumpiness, we decided to continue with our plan to visit
Ocean Park on the south side of HK island.
Posing with the tallest building in HK being built in the background
Ocean Park was a bit strange to me. I'm used to the amusement parks and theme parks of the U.S. (huge and generally well-run, with usually exciting rides and lots to do), and the world-class
zoo and
bird park of Singapore. From Ocean Park's website, it appeared to be an amusement park with animal exhibits, including pandas on loan from mainland China and several marine exhibits. Well, the rides were kind of like those of
Six Flags in the late '70s/early '80s when all it had was the Scream Machine, the mine train, and a bunch of carnival games. There was construction going on for new exhibits, but all in all, the overall impression to me was kind of shabby except for the nice panda area. Luckily, since the boys were only almost three, they really didn't need anything fancier than the panda exhibit, the kids' playground, the carousel, the aquarium, and some fun carnival games. There were other rides, but they weren't age-appropriate. L and G especially enjoyed the remote control boats, the remote control cars, and the water gun games in which they shot pirates or put out fires. I think they could have played these games all afternoon if we let them. We finished up our visit with a McDonald's dinner and a unique cable car ride over a mountain to get back to the entrance. There was a thankfully brief moment when the ride stopped because of wind while we were dangling high above the rocks next to the water. Sean and I weren't too pleased until the ride started again, but the boys were unfazed. Ah, to be young and unafraid, except of pictures of toothy sharks in your new pop-up book.
Hosing down the pirates
Graeme and Daddy on the cable car
Liam gives us a big smile
We took a taxi back to our original hotel to get our bags, and then took another taxi to the Disney Hollywood Hotel. I welcomed the whole Disney experience after staying in the crowded, huge, city of skyscrapers on the main island - what can I say, I'm a child of the 'burbs. Two bellhops practiced tripped over themselves to help us get all of our stuff out of the tiny taxi. There is certainly something to be said for Disney service. You pay for it, but sometimes it's worth it.
We checked out our room, had our luggage delivered, and set out for the hotel parking lot. The front desk person said the fireworks from the theme park are visible from the parking lot, so we decided to check out the show since the boys were already awake. At 8 pm on the dot, the fireworks started. G and L were initially afraid of the loud noise, but then they got used to it and simply
loved watching the fireworks. The boys were clapping, laughing, and smiling huge smiles. It was a true pleasure to watch them. They had never seen fireworks before since they usually go to bed around 7 or 7:30 pm. Liam talked about fireworks for several days after our return to Singapore.
Our room had two double beds, so Sean and I each took one and slept with one child. We alternated kids the next night so both boys could sleep with each of us once. Liam slept with me first. No one fell asleep until after 9 pm. Perhaps he was still keyed up because of the fireworks, but Liam tossed and turned all night, though he usually sleeps heavily. We both woke up needing a lot more rest than we got, but we survived. The park didn't open until 10:30 that morning, and knowing the boys would need an early nap, we decided to eat breakfast, and then just hang out at the hotel until after the nap. We explored the grounds, played on a playground, chased butterflies, posed for pictures with a cool vintage car, and walked along the waterfront to the
other Disney hotel. There we had fun running through the courtyard maze and looking at a cool garden-themed mural with several Disney characters. Lunch was next, and then the nap.
Though they had been behind in sleep for a couple of days, the boys only napped for an hour. We took a shuttle bus to the
theme park hoping for good behavior despite tired eyes. After walking through the entrance, we saw a vintage UPS package car (UPS is a park sponsor) and Sean took a couple of pictures of the boys driving it. It was snack time, so we bought Mickey Mouse-shaped ice cream bars for everyone, and we gobbled them up. We decided to head to Tomorrowland first, and there we got in line for the Orbitron. This a ride like Dumbo but with space ships instead of elephants. We rode in one car with Graeme at the controls in the front seat with Sean, and me and Liam in the back seat. The boys loved this ride. Graeme left us up high in the air instead of moving the ship up and down. Neither Sean nor I were surprised. Next we decided to get in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride. On this ride, each person gets their own hand-held gun to shoot at targets while moving along the track in a "space ship" car. G and L loved this one too, and Mommy and Daddy had some old-fashioned video game fun. There was a drive-your-own car ride in Tomorrowland also, but the line was 45 minutes long, so we decided to skip that as well as Space Mountain.
Mickey surfs in a fountain outside the park entrance
The boys drive Mommy in the UPS package car
Next we headed to Fantasyland. The boys were getting slightly grumpy by this point. Sean wanted to take them on the teacups, so I told him I would take some pictures and video while they rode. Sean says G & L were quite put-out at having to wait (though no line we waited in was longer than 20 minutes), but then they had a great time on the ride. They were screaming and laughing the whole time. We checked out Small World next, and waited less than ten minutes to board our boat. The boys stared at the singing, dancing animated children and seemed to enjoy it, though not as much as the teacups. I think they were excited to ride in a boat and didn't really care what they were seeing. After a quick carousel ride, we walked over to check out the Jungle Cruise line, but found it to be too long to wait in with two hungry kids. We decided to go back to Fantasyland, grab a bite to eat, and ride the Winnie-the-Pooh ride before heading home. At this point, G & L were very grumpy, so we took the shuttle back to the hotel, gave them a quick shower, and hit the sheets. Liam asked to see the fireworks again before falling asleep, but mean Mommy said that he needed to sleep since we had to wake up early Sunday to catch our flight back to Singapore. He actually accepted the "no" fairly well, and we fell asleep shortly thereafter.
Teacups!
Two tired boys posing with Mickey's statue before we left the hotel on Sunday
The next morning we woke up just after six am, ate a small breakfast, and took a taxi to the airport. The boys played in a children's play area in the terminal before we boarded the flight. The flight was not as pleasant as the flight up to HK, and there were a couple of tantrums, but that was to be expected since the boys (and we) were worn out. It was good practice for the loooonnng flight to the U.S. that we'll be taking on May 15th. We arrived at the house, ate a small lunch, played a bit, ate a small dinner, and went to bed early.
So there you have it - our trip to HK was definitely exciting and fun, though quite tiring for pregnant me, usually tired Sean, and two small boys off their schedule. We're glad we went, as this is the last trip we'll take by ourselves as a family of four.
Next I'll write about L & G's birthday party, and then I'll be taking another break until we arrive in the U.S. on May 16th. We're moving locally about a mile down the street, and the movers come to pack us on May 11th. The physical move won't take place until May 26th after Sean has returned to Singapore, while the boys and I are in Texas. I'll be spending the next two weeks getting rid of stuff before the move and packing for our trip. We'll send out new Singapore address information soon.
