Long weekend away to Hong Kong

Kiddo and I just returned yesterday from an EXHAUSTING weekend away to Hong Kong. We're trying to pack as many holidays as we can into the next 6 months as Kiddo starts Grade 1 in August. As it is, her teacher is none too happy with the number of 'ponteng' (truant) days we have taken so far. The comment the other day was, 'Is your husband an athlete?? You've taken days off for his triathlon, diving and now skiing!' Um. Weeellll....

Anyhow, this holiday was planned in about 3 weeks. During the Christmas holidays, my Dad mentioned that he would be in Hong Kong for 5 days at the end of January. At that time, I didn't think much of it, but we later found out that the Man had to be there the same time on business. So, long story short, we cobbled together a trip for the same time. We even stayed in the same hotel in Kowloon although we only met for dinner on Saturday and Sunday, and lunch on Monday. Heh, Dad = food. We flew in Friday night and back to Jakarta Tuesday morning. The flight took about 4 hours and was really good. Set up of the video screen and meals was much better than our usual carriers. We flew Cathay Pacific and it was marvelous. Of course, they gave out little kiddy packs too. That always helps.

It's currently winter in Hong Kong. Meaning that for those of us who have lived in the UK, the weather was a balmy 20C with light breezes. A light cardi was all that was needed for the nights. Saw lots of winter coats and knee high boots around. Overkill, but super fashionable.

Saturday saw us hopping on the MTR (Hong Kong version of the London tube) to Disneyland. Brilliant way to travel. Convenient, fast, and announcements are trilingual. Disneyland was lovely. I have always loved Disneyland. Nice clean, organised streets. Cheerfully lit store fronts... Piped music... I want to LIVE there!! Imagine... Address: # Sleeping beauty Avenue, Disneytown. Or, Snow White Glade, Pocahontas Valley... I digress...

We hit easily 90% of the rides. Kiddo wanted to do EVERYTHING. Which was rather a surprise actually. We expected a fair bit of resistance, but once she tried out the Mad Hatter's tea cups, she was on a roll. We didn't even stop for lunch! Peckish? No problem! Box of yummy caramel popcorn while waiting to enter the stage show. Still hungry? Here, have a bite of a foot long hot dog while waiting to go into the Lion King show... That was the 1st time we've been so lax about food, but we knew dinner was going to be a feast, and since she wasn't complaining, and Daddy was given enough to prevent him from morphing into the monster at the climax of MIB I (the slimy roaring one that ate everything it saw!), I decided to just go with the flow... All the usual rides were there: it's a small world, pooh and the hundred acre wood, buzz lightyear, space mountain (we didn't go on that), princess carousel, flying dumbos, tarzan's treehouse (not sure the point of that actually)... The Lion King show was very, very good. Things have certainly changed since the last time we have been to a Disney park. Admittedly that was 10 years ago in Florida and we were still DINKs.

HK Disneyland opens at 10am. We got there just before 11am and stayed till almost 7pm.Prices were HKD 950 for the 3 of us (about RM450/ USD150). Food within the park is pretty expensive. Captive audience and all that. Not that we ate much. Still, as our little princess' 1st visit to a Disney park, it was a rousing success. If not for having to meet my Dad and his friends for dinner, we would have stayed for the fireworks. No matter. Tokyo Disneyland in 3 weeks!

Sunday, we hit the Science musueum in Tsim Tsa Tsui. The original plan was to do both the Science and history museums then go check into the Hotel we stayed in on HK island. Unfortunately, we ended up spending over 3 hours in the Science museum and ran out of time. Oh well, next time. The science museum was very interesting. They had old rotary phones that were exposed so that you could see how the connection went through. And also all sorts of games that illustrated how things worked... Power stations, electricity, phone operators, mobile phone towers... Fantastic. Sunday night we went to a Teo Chew restaurant on HK island. Can't remember the name but it's 37-39 Queen's road West. Incredibly yummy. Had food like my grandmother used to cook. It also cost HKD23,000 (RM12,000/ USD3,000) for the 18 of us. I only found out the cost the next day when I was chatting to my Dad. My jaw dropped and I'm so glad I only found out the next day. No WAY would I have been able to eat it if I knew the price beforehand...!

Monday Hubs had to go to work. So kiddo and I trekked up to Sham Sui Po on Kowloon island to do some bead shopping. Didn't buy much, but kiddo got a look at 'real' HK street shops. As it's nearing Chinese New Year, all the decorations were out, and there were vendors selling wax ducks etc. Wonderful. Lunch saw us wandering off to Harbour view City on the south west coast of Kowloon. We met my Dad and a couple of his friends there and had more good food. Then we walked around the shopping centre which was obscenely huge. LV is 3 stories high (!!). There's a Manolo Blahnik, Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo (drool)... And also any other branded goods store you can possible name. The entire ground level of the Ocean terminal (one end of this store) is devoted to kids stuff. Dior, Tommy Hilfiger... you name it. Tucked into a little corner next to Toys R us is a little bookstore called Book Buddy. Unassuming and messy from the outside, but if you spend a little time checking out the inside, it's chock full of fantastic finds... Kiddo was in heaven. And of course, since grandpa was there, she literally walked out with the whole store. Trust me, I know. I carried ALL of her finds...

Tuesday saw us returning to Jakarta. The Man moved on the Singapore for more work. HK was nice. Though very, very expensive. A bowl of noodles in a small restaurant can easily set you back USD10. Taxis are exorbitant. The meter starts at HKD18 (USD2.50). The MTR is a fantastic alternative. A HKD 100 trip from Kowloon to HK island cost HKD15.50 for kiddo and I. It truly is a shoppers' paradise. And so alive... I love the neon signs suspended over the streets...

All in all. Great trip. I would have liked to take her to Tai O village, a traditional fishing village built on stilts. But apparently it's better in summer. And being over an hour away, we just didn't have the time. End of the day, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to bring a bottle of face scrub along. Believe it or not, I actually think HK is just as dirty pollution wise as Jakarta (not general cleanliness though. Toilets=sparkling, streets=no trash. HKD1500 for littering). 5 days = 5 spots. Gaaakkk!!