our trip: hong kong

We flew from Houston to LAX, to South Korea, and finally to Hong Kong.  Twenty-nine hours after taking off and completely disoriented from the 12 hour time difference, the hubs and I were pulling up to the hotel in Hong Kong wide awake at 1:30 am.  But we forced ourselves asleep, because the next day, our first full day of vacation, was being spent with an old friend - Disneyland!  When it Rome, right?  We hopped on the subway and rode out to the Disney-bound train.  Aren't those window and hand pulls fantastic?

And we've arrived!

Mickey and Minnie were dressed up in special costumes for the Chinese New Year - the year of the rooster!  

Hong Kong Disneyland consists only of Magic Kingdom, and it's much smaller than Disney World or Disneyland in America.  It was startling to see the castle with some mountains behind it!

This is "Mystic Manor," their version of Haunted Mansion.  The ride was different in that it centered on an enchanted jewelry box which animated all the objects in the house.  I think there must be something about ghosts and Buddhism that doesn't mix, but I don't know what it is.  They also had a version of Thunder Mountain Railroad with a different name.

 What a fun first day in Hong Kong!  For our second day, we wanted to see the city.  So we boarded bus #15 and rode up a windy road to Victoria Peak so we could see the entire city!

Outside one of the lookouts, I spotted bamboo where visitors had etched in their names.

We made our way back down the mountain, and decided to do a harbor tour on the Star Ferry.  The tour was informative, and I learned so much about the buildings that I wouldn't have otherwise.  It was jarring looking out and seeing this old fishing boats juxtaposed against the modern buildings!

The hubs noticed this - the scaffolding is made of bamboo!

On our last night, we went out for dinner at One Dim Sum (my first taste of real BBQ steamed buns, have mercy), and I spotted this mailbox.

We saw signs for a flower fair and went to check it out.  With the Chinese New Year celebration happening the day after we left, everyone was gearing up for some festivities!  

A carnival set up for the New Year's celebration

 The crowds were starting to arrive in waves as we made our way out of the city.  Every night I was exhausted by 7:00 pm, because my body thought it had been up all night when I'd been up all day.  So we never made it down to the harbor for the light show, but we did have a fantastic view from our hotel room.  Three great days exploring Hong Kong, then off to Thailand!