Anyway, a bit about the experience in HK (hong kong). We spent two "magical" days at Disneyland, riding Space Mountain 8 times, getting our pictures taken by the Chinese (secretly sometimes and not so secretive other times) and skipping (literally) around the park. I am pretty sure we were the only Americans in the whole place. Well, we weren't the only white people there, however, all the other people had cute cute CUTE accents from England or Australia. The first day we arrived at the hotel, got to our gorgeous room with an amazing view, and hit the park at about 4-5ISH. We spent the rest of the night there until park close at 11. Within our first 20 minutes in Disneyland, we were asked by a mom if she could take a picture of us with her daughter. SO funny. We noticed others taking our pictures, this time without permission. We would watch their cameras following us. I really had no idea we could be that entertaining. I guess those people are going home with more than just pictures of Mickey on their cameras. The next day (Saturday), we hit the piano shaped pool at the resort for a bit of sun bathing. We, once again, were the entertainment of the day. The hotel we stayed at was very much a family hotel and there were us three 20some year old girls laying out in the sun in our bikinis. First, laying in the sun in Asia is not very popular. Snow white colored skin is what is in here. So if you know me at all, I am definitely OUT here in Asia. And I guess I say who cares to that? Also, we were wearing bikinis amongst the moms in the one pieces and children in swim caps (also very popular in Asia). The lifeguards seem to get a kick out of us as well, as they whispered to each other on their walkie talkies. We then had a very delicious buffet at the Mickey Restaurant. Oh yes again entertaining to all in the restaurant. We decided it would be a good idea to wear the robes and slippers that we received from the hotel and had wore to the pool at the buffet. I received more than one dirty look and a couple just dead stares. I am getting much more used to these than when I first got here. I used to be very bothered and would want to respond with WHAT are you staring at? But I decided it's fun once in a while to be someone else's entertainment. We then went back to the park for the afternoon (3-7ish). Hit up Space Mountain a couple more times, the tea cups, and of course It's a Small World, which portrayed America as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Yeah, there really isn't much in between those two places. We decided to check out actual Hong Kong and leave the resort for the evening. I had heard good things about the harbor and we went to check it out. We had an amazing Italian dinner right by the harbor and then took a taxi (which was an experience in itself) to a fun bar area with many foreigners. In Hong Kong, they drive on the other side of the road so riding in the taxi was so funny to me. He sat on the other side of the car and we drove on the left. It was pretty trippy. We kept passing other cars and I kept thinking to myself OH MY GOSH there is no one driving that car as the "driver's seat" in my mind was empty... then I remembered that the driver was on the other side. It took me a while to get the slightest bit used to it. Oh and on the highway when you want to pass someone, you pass on the right. So silly. The last day, Sunday, we enjoyed the sun once again by the pool - couldn't have asked for better weather. Not one drop of rain. Seoul on the other hand has cooled off very much and I actually find myself cold outside at night. Jacket time!
Dad is coming soon to Korea for business - I couldn't be more excited. It will be SO nice to see a familiar face and show Dad a bit of my life here. Although, I do wish he could be here longer, that Mom could be here too, and I got a couple days off work to hang out with them.
(I had written this blog posting BEFORE the amazing twins game yesterday)
Lastly, a shoutout to my TWINS! I would LOVE to be at the dome for the last game ever especially with the situation they are in however, the kids call. oh and I sadly don't have 1,800 dollars to drop on a plane ticket. :-) I am cheering from afar and checking the scores during my breaks. Trying to stay on top of it. The game is tomorrow and I am crossing my fingers that they win. It would be a heck of a comeback. Though, I am a little nervous for a repeat of last year... they lost to the White Sox in a similar situation.
GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!
here are some pics to enjoy... hard to pick. I think I took 400? ah!
FIRST DAY PICS:
Right away I had to take a picture of the currency. Here is a Hong Kong Dollar... only the 10 dollar bill looked like this. It felt plastic-like and had a clear plastic part where you could see through. (see the backpack through the bill!?) That bill is worth about $1.20 in USDs.
Scenery from the top of the double decker bus on the way to the Disneyland Resort. Note that we are driving the other side of the road. It was hard to get used to... slow traffic moooove left. haa also note the high rise apartment buildings. They are everywhere there. Behind the apartments the landscape was gorgeous though.
View from our hotel window. Gorgeous. The weather was perfect the entire trip. :-) just how I like it, sunny and hot.
Mickey was everywhere... including my crutons in my caesar salad.
Where I spent the weekend of course... Hong Kong Disneyland. There is myself as well as a random Asian woman who wanted in my picture. I told her I would send her a copy. Not sure she understood me. This lovely Mickey face greets you when you enter the park. The orange part on the Mickey face is all pumpkins.
A couple of the famous landmarks of Disney... the castle which was about 5 times smaller than the real one in Orlando. The other picture is of It's a Small World. It was lit up at night. And Space Mountain below... another classic Disney ride. We went on it about 8 times. We did different poses everytime for the picture they surprise you with during the ride and instead of buying it we took pictures of our picture. They allow you to do that. So nice! Wonder how many people actually BUY their pictures.
The firework show over the castle. It was very good and there was great Disney music accompanying it. HK Disney is decked out for Halloween so they had a festive display set up on the castle, cobwebs and an orange tint. Also to celebrate Halloween, there was a night parade full of Halloween fun!!
Parade pictures
DAY TWO PICS:
My two co-workers who I went to HK DL with, posing in front of the castle
Had to do the classic self vacay picture! This time adding the popular Asian peace sign. I am truly Korean now.
In the afternoon, there was a Disney character parade. Here is an example of something in the parade, a Toy Story float. Check out the army men! It was a hot day - they were wearing full pants and long sleeves as well as a face full of paint. I couldn't handle that. I also caught Donald and Daisy sharing a smooch. They were cute.
We also saw a short Lion King musical. It was really cool, the main singer had an amazing voice! I can't believe she can do 3 shows a day and still belt it out the way she was doing. And here is the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge. AKA the entire USA according to It's a Small World. Niiiice.
Here is one of our many creative poses on Space Mountain. I think we all decided this was our favorite, or I guess the most funny pose. We tried many different things but I guess pretending to throw up was our fav. haha The other picture is me on the tea cups with my new favorite picture pose. PEACE.
DAY THREE PICS: POOOOOOL!
Just a couple pics from the last day when we lounged around the pool until our flight home. The resort was surrounded by gorgeous scenery.
