1st everrr Hong Kong trip: Day 1

So last Sunday the 21st, I had just got back from my maiden Hong Kong holiday! I know, I'm so not a Singaporean right? I'm so loser-ish I know. Waited 22 years to step my foot on Honkie soil for the very first time. BUT, ever heard of the saying good things come to those who wait? hehhe. I traveled to Hong Kong with low to almost non-existent expectations and surprise surprise, I came away just wanting MORE. It is a place really mixed of the old and modern, the cultural and modern trends, the city and the hilly. In short, it is so much more happening (!!) and cool than fuddy duddy Singapore. Alright so mid last week during the school break, the Fantastic Four (sans my dad) :DD got together for the first time and took a cab to the airport early in the morning, all ready to conquer HK.

^can you see Crowne Plaza in the distance? Where a recent local drama took place which included a director, his wife and his mistress? :P

^somewhere up there is the airline we're embarking on from sterile, ordinary Singapore to happening Hong Kong ground!!! :D

^byebye meticulously orderly and artificially greened-out Singapore.

So anyway, to digress a little here, we had a little time on our hands before our plane took off, so after having our breakfast at the upstairs pseudo-Kopitiam which had overpriced local food which looked damn nice (ie prawn noodle, wanton char siew noodle) with their presentation but tasted like cardboard, we then went inside the departure hall and after messing around with the PC terminals and the free internet and tweeting a bit, my mum and I being flower lovers, eagerly decided to drop by the nice-looking garden. Which was like, right at the far end of the terminal. Nearly made us miss our flight. Cuz we were literally the last 4 (there were 2 other young females too) to board the plane -_- felt so embarrassed. Note: lesson learned- never attempt to board a plane at the 'boarding time' stated on your ticket. It actually means it's the time when the plane closes their doors. -_-iii It's times like these when we actually appreciate our head man in the family who always leads us army-style and makes sure we arrive anywhere and everywhere way too early. That's my dad for you.

^I tell you, the 'garden' is actually a euphemism for a place for smokers. Not even funny. While we were outside, we were immediately hit by the smoke from all those people chillaxing with their tobacco sticks outside. We were the only 2 swakoo people merrily snapping away pictures of the 'garden'.

^does this look like a garden for cactus?? the plants look way too green and lush we reckon.

^down the cactus path she goes

^mumsie gets excited with flowers pretty in pink.

^that's the closest I'll get to those prickly cactuses man. Don't wanna mess with them any nearer before flying off.

^stay right there fatty cactuses, while I say cheese for the camera...

^why the frickk is the warning sign right inside the plants? do they actually think people will walk up to the cacti and peer closely to count how many needles are there?

My assessment? the 'garden' was more a 2-minute token stroll around a semi-circle pathway than your normal park route. Check out a REAL cactus garden in the US of A right in the wild west town of Phoenix itself, at sunset no less :D

^now THAT'S what I call real cactus baby!

^I'm like, the height of their shortest pinky-cactus. lol!

Anyway, this airport 'garden'/oasis/smokers' paradise is situated right on the airstrip area. Pretty neat. I'll give Singapore credit for coming up with a wacky idea like that.

Back indoors, it was for the non-smokers to hang out. That is, the little ones.

^I may look all chill here, but I kid you not (pun intended), when to our horrors looking at the electronic board again for flight statuses, we saw that our flight had the 'gate closing' status. And here on out, we made a very long, very mad dash to our gate right at the other end of the departure hall. :((

Here's another misleading zen picture (drinking tea, no less!) of us in contrast to what took place just moments earlier outside the plane, lol!

^I heart them green floral motif Cathy Pacific exclusive cups.

So anywayyy, we reached the HK airport without any other drama (though I thought it was supercool the airport was surrounded by mountains) and waited around for the local tour company called Freedom Travel in charge of us. Turns out they had forgotten our little group and only came when we called them. -_-. Think they took their tour name literally eh. In the end, all the rep did when she arrived was go up to the airport transportation desk to book seats for us for the coach to Disneyland, after letting us know what time we would be picked up from Disneyland to the city on the second day. She also passed us two local handphone SIM cards FOC, which were a pleasant welcome gesture :)

^on the way to Disneyland!! Woot. We had a nice coastal view on our way out the airport.

^GASP! what's that? I see a m...mm..mouse! THE mouse! The mouse whose shirt I'm wearing too! No big deal. Um, let's get on our way to Hollywood Hotel first :D

The frontdesk artwork was old glamour Hollywood. Which was a little weird being in DISNEYLAND. But the artwork was still cool nonetheless. I took one more pic of the artwork behind our receptionist which was of the academy theatre but I accidentally replaced it with another pic while using Paint a moment ago :( so now it's gone. boo.

Anyway, on to more Mickey-happy things, the theme is all out in our rooms! hee...

 

^in-house stationery. The remote is the cutest thing ever. like, smaller than a handphone cute.

^hotel holder and card! I got to keep it as a souvenir because we didn't need to check out ourselves as our tour company took care of that electronically :DD The TV was fab btw. It was almost dolby surround quality.

^I didn't think the baby-mommy-daddy sizes were interesting but since my mum seemed absolutely excited about the baby one that she actually took it out to show me and coo about it, I decided to take a pic :)

^there was even a cute coffee corner made of mosaic tiles :) with a mickey mouse-themed mug provided of course.

^that green tea brand was the nicest unartificially-flavoured tea I've ever tasted. Figures, cuz it's organic or something.

^in-house newsletter, postcard and folder!

^Mickey, Minnie and Me gazing out at our garden view :D

So after leaving all our luggage behind in our rooms, freshening up a little and grabbing our handbags, we were ready to go visit Disneyland!

^met Goofy on our way out. He had no airs or entourage about him at all. We just felt a little intimidated by his height. Hyuk-hyuk :D He has his pimp pose on here. So, having not seen a glimpse of the theme park yet, I enquired at the concierge how one could get there and was told we had to take the shuttle buses outside.

^if I'm not wrong, the facade of our hotel is supposed to resemble organ pipes...

^you know you're in the mood when you start playing the game of 'how-many-mickey-mouse-ears-can-you-spot??'

So along comes the bus with many PRC children getting onboard. The buses have many Disney characters plastered on them. Real neat. Here's where we were dropped off at Disneyland:

^the Disneyland bus terminal!

So we walked a bit and came across the welcome starting point. It's family group-shot times like this when i'm cruelly  reminded that I'm the shortest :(( and like, I'm not even short-short am I? (All 5 feet 3 inches of me) 

So after passing under this huge overarching sign, we walked further and came across this massive fountain, a monument by itself. Mickey was bobbing up and down with the sprout of water the whole day, and at night, this fountain is lit by colourful lights which synchronise in time with Disney songs which will come on as well.

 ^me trying to imitate Mickey by looking cool with a surfing pose but coming off looking trippy -_-

^here's a better one. With me trying to shoot my younger bro cuz he wa so infuriating taking his scene shots and not being helpful in taking pics for US. My other younger bro was behind the camera for this one :)

So we still had to walk on further ahead towards the entrance...and this view greeted us:

^The building behind is the train station for Disneland's very own train service which goes one big round around the theme park itself. We didn't manage to make time to ride it for both days. But that's ok, we still had tons of fun with our hands full doing other things as you'll see :D

^So we got to enter the gates after scanning our thumbprints due to our two-day pass. It's everyone's very first time ever frolicking in Disneland. Needless to say, everyone was super stoked!

^and we're finally in THE Disneyland compound! Cue big happy grin.

On entering, we had our inevitable walk through Main Street, which consisted of two rows of shops on both sides. They didn't look too enticing in the daytime. In contrast to at night, the window displays are brightly illuminated compared to in the daytime.

^grrr, I only just realize now one of my bros punked me with their coach sticker stuck on the back of my jacket. Infuriating! Anyway, can you see what's at the far end??

^what's behind them in the distance??

^those balloons look like they'll lift me off the ground any second. lol

^what's behind us right now?? Sleeping Beauty's castle!! Gorgeous!!

^with a circle of pretty flowers in front! Even more gorgeous!!

ok so anyway, as we walked right up to the castle, it was already 5pm, that means....the High School Musical outdoor show was about to take place! So we just hung around there to watch until it ended.

^yeah, the song and dance routines are as cheesy as they look. Their dancing was meh also. But it was all good fun. The songs are alright (it's all live singing! No lip-synching if you're a Disneyland performer), even if I'm not one of those High School Musical fanatics (I've only watched the first one). It was really strange to see an Asian-American take on Zac Efron's role though, and vice versa for a Caucasian chick taking on Vanessa Hudgen's role... -_-

^Didn't know there were any baseball scenes in HSM?? I'm so out of the loop.

So...i figured I might as well record some vids as they are a real treat compared to just mere pics, don't you agree? My position was a prime one somemore ok, front dead center. Don't play play. :D Check them out!- Getcha Head in the Game, What Time Is It, We're All In This Together finale and the Opening Song:



After the show we started to systematically explore the area. Moving first to the Sci-fi zone or something first. Came across this bunch of school kids who were crowded around the bubble soap man. Look at their matching yellow sweaters, so cute. There were many crowds of school kids at Disneyland lor! So envious of them. Btw, the high school kids in Hong Kong wear uniforms like the Japanese, fashionable ties, mini-skirts and pullovers ^^ fab man!

^all eyes on that elusive big bubble bobbing higher and higher in the air. Soap bubbles are as hard to photograph as animals are man.

^it may not look like it, but that Tomorrowland orb was HUGE. Forgot to pose as Hercules for the picture.

^planets galore.

^this pic damn funny la. It really looks like I'm lifting a heavy briefcase while my mum is happily doing her wave. totally unintentional.

^the planets look so much prettier in person than in the pics.

^people were crowded around this spectacle. Until today I'm still not quite sure what it is, cuz it was in Cantonese. It moves and the mouths of both characters open and close whenever they speak. I THINK a staff is speaking and acting through a mic but it really looks like it's coming out the mouths of the characters instead, what with the synchornized mouth movements.

^weirddd! Are these two even Disney characters??

So we tried out one of the rides in this sci-fi zone of Disneyland. Can't remember the name of the ride but we were in pitch-black most of the time but at certain points along the way, we could see stars and planets illuminated surreally all around us. It was quite tame la, but also kinda thrilling because you really didn't know what to expect while riding in the dark.

We soon got out of that zone and stumbled across...

As we walked up to it for a closer look, we saw that the queue waiting time was super short, so we decided to go in for the ride. I was stoked for it because I  read before that inside, the ride was like a photographer's heaven.

^inside, waiting in line...

^on the ride!! Front row seats :D Super awesome. Alright, prepare for the onslaught of pictures here on out. Because we found out this small world is not so small after all :S

The displays are all an ammalgamation of different cultures in the world. It's like entering a huge meandering toyshop where everything runs on animated clockwork. It's a fucking amazing place really. Too bad we only managed to take this ride for a grand total of one time in our 2 days at Disneyland.

^Switzerland I'm guessing :) Been there? check.

^Las Vegas?? Been there? check.

^Cinderella land?! Where is it on the world map?? Someone pls invite me to the prince's ball please.

^Ireland I'm guessing?? Haven't been there yet but I know the guys are hot. Gerard Butler anyone?

^Holland?? Been there? check.

Egypt. Haven't been there.

^Aww, Aladdinland. I'd like to buy some of them flying carpets,

^my expression looks bloody same in most of the pics la (unlike my mum, unless you're blind, you can see she looks like a kid in a candy shop. She couldn't stop lalaing out loud the theme song throughout the whole ride.) Like I'm some jaded traveler or something. lol! Madagascarland?? The animals were real cute and grooving on the floor swaying from side to side on their butts. :D

^Middle East or India??

^Land of smiles??

Korealand! Tay Han Min Guk! Me trying to act all dancer-ish but has nothing on those delicate dolls behind me :P

 ^land of???

^China! Huan zhu ge ge. hehe.

^land of the rising sun

 ^I LOVE this. Ariel looked all mysterious. She's probably the one among all the princesses whom I most identified with from young.

^Stitchland!

^Down Under! The koalas were darn cute.I hope to meet the real ones someday and hug them.

All too soon, the madness of this 'small world' was over.

So after walking out of there, we came across Wonderland! Look at how the teacup ride is all decked out. The ceiling lanterns are SWEET:

while the boys were busy getting dizzy, I made sure I got to take a pic with at least one 'princess' cuz we had foregone Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty earlier due to time constraints. hmmph.

^I was trying to pretend I'm drinking out of a teacup, not picking my teeth.

^saw this statue too and couldn't resist mimicking Mickey. I remember watching that show several times when I was young and how the broomsticks gave him a lot of trouble.

^in the backyard of Sleeping Beauty's castle at dusk.

^walking through it to the front :)

We then proceeded to the Adventureland zone of the park. But there was not much to see since it was fast falling dark.

^Tarzan's treehouse at night. Real trippy what with the numerous lamps lit up around it.

^you can only reach there by boat.

^damn hard to get a pic WITH the tree in the background at night. I wish I had a treehouse like that (Priscilla Ahn's song Living In a Tree pretty much sums up my sentiments about its appealing living conditions :))

^The entrance with the tribal masks and tiki lamps reminded me of SURVIVOR. So I put my game face on.

Then we walked back to the castle as the last show of the day was going to take place there at 7.30pm.

In the meantime, we went to check out the souvenir shops at Main Street, but didn't get anything. Cuz they were just too kitschy and yet niche for my liking. Almost everything was expensive, duh!

^apparently Stitch is well-loved in Disneyland too

So we went back to the castle and saw people had just sat down on the floors, like, to catch a movie or something. loll. I wonder if the people over in America do the same thing when it comes to the nightly fireworks display.

^baby trolley coming through! loll

^mother and child coming through.

And it was on with the show! The audio was super crisp and booming and anything that happened on or around the castle made it look all the more astounding. It was SUCH a magical way to end the day. Watch my superb videos taken by me here: Opening sequence, Part 1, Part 2 and finale:

^the castle was actually drenched in a lot of colours at this point, but it was so darn hard to take a decent photo.

  ^what the eff are these shooting ground fireworks thingies called?? I'm so ignorant. No thanks to living in a small country like Singapore.

^Mesmerized.

^and what are those swirling firework-like things called??

SO, the fab show ended all too soon. The length was about 20 minutes plus. And we made our way out, as everything in the park starts closing after the fireworks show (therefore, take note to get your dinner BEFORE the fireworks show or at least, to get takeout from a cafe or foodstand or something). Passed by the sci-fi zone again...

^the look of disappointment that Tomorrowland is now fiercely guarded.

Had to pass by Main Street again on our way out the exit/entrance gates. But we got ourselves some dinner first, the last of the foods still onsale at the street's only bakery shop. Some hotdogs, pizza slices and weird salmon-like sandwiches. We were just grateful for whatever edible stuff there were left around, being closing time. This tourist took the words right out of our mouths when we heard him tell his family irritably, "I don't care what they sell, I just want to find something to eat! lol!" We sat on the pavement curb to hungrily munch on our finds while we watched the crowds thin out. Then, it was a very slow and lingering walk back out for us as we didn't want to join the rush of the crowds exiting the park.

^the Street is actually very romantic-looking at night. Cuz it's wide and all these tiny lightbulbs outlining the shops, coupled with dreamy Disney songs being played from the numerous speakers (I think, cuz I actually didn't see one) in the park.

^here's how the Disneyland train station looks at night.

Then we walked all the way back out to the entrance sign again and then to the bus terminal to catch one of the numerous shuttle buses back to our hotel.

^Peaced out and Happy to have experienced Lala land for the first time ever. The Disney songs being played in the park all day (and night!) right up to the entrance sign here certainly added a skip to our steps on our way back to the hotel. Even at our hotel, Disney music was STILL being played like nobody's business. I couldn't wipe the smile of my face even if I tried. lol! Makes me smile just thinking about it.

to be continued...stay tuned for Day 2 in Hong Kong!!