Hong Kong (Part 3): Hong Kong Disneyland

I've kind put off posting about Hong Kong Disneyland just because I think you guys might find it boring. I really doubt that any of you share the same excitement about Disney Theme Parks as I do... but I promised, so I'll post. :P

So we took the subway over to Disneyland. It was about a 30 minute subway ride away. A few changes in station. But Disneyland had their OWN trains that took guests over to the Disneyland Resort. You'll see in one of the pictures below that they went all out with the train... Mickey windows, Disney character statuettes inside, Mickey handles... pretty cool. :)



When we got there, we were greeted by a massive fountain that featured Mickey Mouse riding on a surfboard on top of the water blown from the spout of Monstro. Well, I assume it's Monstro, from Pinocchio. But I guess it can just be some random whale... And then other Disney characters (The rest of the Fab 5: Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Pluto) are on the sides as well.


Then it's on to the Main Gates. If you guys have been to Disneyland (California one) before, then you'll recognize the Train Station and the Floral Mickey out front. Also, the castle is an exact replica of Sleeping Beauty Castle found at our Disneyland here. But you can tell this one is from Hong Kong because of the Lantau Mountains in the background.



We first went to "The Festival of the Lion King" which is a stage show in the round, where they tell the story of the Lion King. Really done very well. Some of the singers weren't the best, but overall, the experience was great. Just a very intricate show with awesome floats, costumes, staging, and dancing. :)



Then we were off to the Jungle Cruise. It was pretty special over at Hong Kong Disneyland because it's HUGE. The river that it operates on is GIANT. And there's a special portion that no other Jungle Cruise has, which you will see in this movie:

The rest of the day, we went on rides such as "it's a small world" and "Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters." Didn't go on other rides because they're all repeated from other Disney parks. We did sit down and watch the parade, but it really isn't anything that great. So I won't bore you with those pictures. I'm just happy that I work at Disneyland USA where our parades are amazing. ;)

I will, however, share a picture from their other stage show: "Golden Mickeys." It's a borrowed show that originated from the Disney Cruise Lines. Several small changes here and there, but it's basically the same show where a presenter is giving out awards (Golden Mickeys) to different Disney characters, and along the way, of course there's singing and dancing to music from Disney movies. :)


All in all, a very fun day. We did pretty much everything that I wanted to do in the 6 hours that we were there. It's a very small park. And I mean REALLY small. But I got in free.. got my family in free.. so it was worth it. ;) Here are some extra photos of their Main Street (notice no trolley tracks on the ground) and some atmosphere art (a Chinese written character made to look like Mickey).


After leaving Disney, we went back to my aunt's house for a quick dinner, and then it was off to the airport! My mom and I took a late night flight back to LA. So, like I said, a real quick trip. But got a lot of things done and glad I made the trip. :) It was just nice to see all my relatives again.

So yay! I finished my Hong Kong posts! haha. Hope I didn't bore you all with all my Disney goob-iness. :P

Hong Kong (Part 3)

So, I finally get to the Hong Kong portion of my "Hong Kong" posts. On Sunday morning, my Mom, Dad, and I went to the ferry port to board the ferry back to Hong Kong. And to avoid seasickness, all three of us sleep through the entire 1 hour ferry ride. Once we get there, we get on a bus to meet up with my aunt (mom's little sister). After dropping off all our luggage, we head out on the town. I requested that we go back to where I grew up and my the kindergarten that I went to. It was really cool to check out where I used to live. I don't really remember any of it... just really vague bits and pieces that may or may not just be what I THINK I remember after seeing pictures of myself when I was little. Nonetheless, it was nice to be back there again and listen to some of the stories from my mom.

That night, we had Hot Pot (Fig. 1), where you just have a big pot of boiling water in the middle and you throw veggies and raw meat in there until it's cooked. We had a bunch of different meats and veggies. My favorite is the beef of course... very thinly sliced beef. I think I had a whole plate by myself. :P

Fig. 1

The next day, we woke up early enough to head to Immigration Servies to get my Hong Kong Permanent Residents Card. Even though we had an appointment time, we STILL had to wait over an hour before we were seen. We were first screened by a very unfriendly worker. My dad had a few questions for her and she snapped back saying that we needed to ask the official (supervisor). Then when she approved me, I had to wait for an official. Another 20 minutes. Finally got called. At least the official worked quickly. We paid, and then we were on our way to meet my aunt for some dim sum!

The dim sum restaurant was more upscale and lots of business folk were in there having their lunch. I liked a lot of their dishes. Everything was fresh and tasty, including the chicken feet (foreground in Fig. 2, closeup in Fig. 3). YUMMY! hehehe.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

The rest of the day, we walked around Hong Kong for a while, before deciding on heading up to The Peak. Along the way, we had some egg custard? I think it's egg custard. I really don't know what it's called in English. I just know it's yummy. And it's a dessert. And it can be eaten hot or cold. And they make a milk version too. I had the egg, my mom and dad had the milk. Here's a picture after I finished eating it... so it might look kinda gross. haha.



We took a hike up to the tram for The Peak, which is one of the highest points in Hong Kong. Now it's a tourist trap. The tram drops you off in a shopping center that doesn't seem to have any exits... We had to leave through a back hallway. LOL. I did take a picture to show how high we were once I was able to get out (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5

We didn't do any shopping or anything. Just basically went up there just to say we did it. Didn't even stay to eat or anything. Just took a few pictures and then went back down. And that pretty much concluded our nice touristy, sight-seeing day. We went home and had some home-cooked Chinese food... err, I mean... just food. hehe. Here's a nicely crafted New Year's Cake made to look like goldfish (which is a sign of wealth and fortune) that we had as dessert. :)


Actually kinda creepy looking.... HAHA. And then the next day was my last day in Hong Kong. Went to Hong Kong Disneyland with my mom, aunt, and cousin. So I'll save that post for another day. :) I'll end this post with a nice shot of Hong Kong Island, taken from Kowloon (which is still a part of the whole of Hong Kong, but is on the mainland). I just thought it looked cool with the reflection on the water... with the Red, White, and Blue too. hehe.

Hong Kong (Part 2)

Where did I leave off? Ah that's right... my second day in Macao. I slept through the night, just as I had hoped. And woke up around 10:30am or so, refreshed and ready for another day of sightseeing. :) By 11:30am, my mom and I were out the door to meet my dad at the nearby Dim Sum Restaurant. For those who are unfamiliar, Dim Sum is a Chinese lunch in which you receive small plates of many different types of food so that the table can share. We got some egg rolls, some turnip cake, some rice noodles, and some barbeque pork rolls. YUMMO


After Dim Sum, we walked through the crowded streets of Macao to get to the Church of the Mater Dei. It's a Macao landmark. Many years ago, the church burnt down and all that was left was the front facade of the it since it was made of stone. The Macao government have left it up and used the area to build a museum and park around it.



Next stop, we trudged up the hill to the old fort. The Portuguese army built this fort up on the hill nearest to the port so they had a bunch of cannons up there as well. The cannons up on in the fort now are obviously not the ones they used way back when, but we got to take pictures next to these replicas, which was pretty cool. :)



We made our way back down the hill and we visited my dad's old elementary school. We also went for a stroll around the park right next door to his school where he used to play. Pretty cool to see where my dad used to grow up. We also stopped by the area where he used to lived. He used to live in a small house, now replaced by a high-rise building, just like most of Macao. We also walked by my mom's old house, again replaced by another high-rise apartment building. Macao has changed a lot since my mom and dad were kids.

Then, as we were walking back to our house, I was attacked by a vicious lion!!! Ok, I'm lying. But we really did encounter a lion... a Chinese ceremonial lion. It was just walking down the street with several performers, celebrating the New Year. I'm guessing it was on its way to their next gig down the street. LOL. The Lion performers are so talented. They really make the movements of the lion look real.



That night, we ate a famous Portuguese cuisine restaurant. REALLY yummy food. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the meal. But I did have a yummy curry pork fried rice dish.

Rest of the night was spent with relatives, watching TV. We watched an "American Idol" type show. We just kinda spent 3 hours watching episode after episode. LOL. Got dropped off by my uncle and then slept the night away. :) The next few day, we traveled back to Hong Kong to meet up with my other aunt and uncle, to get my Hong Kong Permanent Residents Card, and to go to Hong Kong Disneyland. Will post about that another night... I'm pooped now.

By the way, still waiting for the call about the audition. If I don't get a call by the end of the this week, then it means I didn't get the show. But hopefully I'll get a call. And about Jamie... I haven't made up my mind about it. But it's not like I'm going to make a trip out to Orlando now.. it'd be some time around June. Perhaps I can talk to Jamie about it the next time we chat. Maybe he'd want to take a vacation out here?? Who knows... Blah, I just can't believe I'm still talking about Jamie! I was hoping that by now I'd be blogging about some boy that I really REALLY like and that really REALLY likes me back. Hopefully that comes soon...

Hong Kong (Part 1)

I finally have some time right now! Well first off, just wanted to let everyone know that I'm feeling a lot better. I don't think I'm sick any more. whew! And today's audition DID go well. We are now just waiting for them to make calls. So I'll know within the week. :) Fingers crossed!

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So Hong Kong! On Wednesday Jan 28, I was scheduled to take a 10:20pm flight out of Los Angeles International Airport. But because my flight had so few passengers, they merged my flight with the 12 midnight flight out to Hong Kong. Which meant I had to wait wait and wait until all the passengers from the midnight flight had arrived. BLAH. So I arrived in Hong Kong an hour and 30 minutes late. And when I got there, I had to navigate my way over to the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Port, buy my own ticket for the ferry, and cross customs. And damn that customs line! It was SOOO long for for the Visitors line! Macao is a small city along the Southeast China coast, an hour's boat ride away from Hong Kong. It has recently become a HUGE gambling city, with Las Vegas sized casinos. The Wynn and The Venetian are both there already!

Anyway, I finally arrived in Macao. My mom and aunt were waiting for me at the terminal. We dropped off my luggage at the house, where my dad greeted me, and we all immediately went out to get some food to eat! We went to my dad's favorite place to get coffee because they have really good pork sandwiches and ox tail soup. hehe, yes, oxtail soup. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of this delicacy because I didn't think about taking pictures of food yet, but I assure you that the food was YUMMY.

Then we headed to the Macao Immigration Services office to take care of what I went to Macao and Hong Kong for. As I had explained before, since my mom and dad were born in Macao, I am eligible for a Permanent Residents card in Macao that allows me to stay in Macao indefinitely and to get a job there if I so choose. ALSO, it allows me to stand in the "Macao Residents" line at customs, thus bypassing that HORRIBLY LONG Visitors line that I had to endure through just a few hours prior. So I took my picture, did the fingerprints, and filled out the paperwork. Then they told me that I'd receive the card in a few weeks - and my aunt (who reisdes in Macao) will pick it up for me.

After taking care of that, my mom and aunt and I went to go shopping for cheap clothes. ;) I bought authentic American Eagle and Abercrombie sweaters for only about $80 Macao, which is about $10 US! SCORE! And then, because I'm a fatty, I was already hungry again, so we stepped outside the store and decided to eat some "Hot Pot" from a little side-of-the-street vendor. YUMMY! I had some fish balls and cow intenstines. yes, cow intestines. :P

Look at all the yummy food!

After having my little snack, we took the scenic route back to the house. Lots of people in the city because it was still within the festivities for Chinese New Year. And plus, it's such a small city that it's crowded everywhere you go. We met back up with my dad there, and then my aunt drove us out to a smaller island neighboring Macao called Coloane, where we sat down in a restaurant called Lord Stowe's Bakery and had the famous Portuguese Egg Tarts. The difference between normal egg tarts and Portuguese egg tarts is that they caramelize and slightly burn some sugar on top. Man, SOOO Yummy!

We finished our snack and then drove back to Macao. My aunt dropped my mom, dad, and I at The Venetian Hotel and Casino. We stayed there for about an hour to just check it out and to play the slots a bit. My mom loaned me $100 to play (which is equivalent to only about $15 US), but I lost it all pretty quickly. I don't have very good luck with slots, I guess. My mom, however, kept winning and winning! She ended up making $180. NICE!

Then, we made our way to our other aunt's house and had some home cooked Chinese food there. But, of course, over there, we just call it "food." :P Oh and, by the way, my mom had 7 brothers and sisters. So you're going to see me talk about several aunts and uncles. lol. So we ate, and then watched TV for a few hours. But because I'm a fatty, I agreed to have dessert at this new neighborhood hangout. We drove out to the shop and we ordered some Black Sesame Soup and a Mango/Tapioca dessert.


So, if you've been counting, I've already eaten 5 times in one day. And that's not even counting the meals I had on the plane. LOL. I definitely gained some weight on this trip. However, I didn't gain TOO much weight because I did have to walk a lot. Thank goodness! And also, you may have noticed that I didn't really take a nap or anything this whole first day. That was my plan. I didn't want to sleep at all until it was actually nighttime and a proper sleeping time. This is my secret for being jetlag. I slept right away when it was time, slept through the whole night, and woke up super refreshed. ;) No jetlag whatsoever!

Well, more about the rest of my Hong Kong trip coming up. I'll talk about straddling a big cannon and my encounter with a lion! (How's that for a cliffhanger? lol) I'll leave you all with the view of nighttime Macao from our house.

Hong Kong

I'm having a great time here in Hong Kong. I've gotten some business taken care of regarding my identification card in Macao (a neighboring city-state of Hong Kong) and will be doing the same for Hong Kong tomorrow. Since my parents were born in Macao, I am eligible for a special "Residents Card" that allows for easier entry into Macao. And since I was born in Hong Kong, I'm eligible for Hong Kong's special "Residents Card." So after I receive these cards, I'll probably make trips to Hong Kong more often since it'll be convenient. :) And plus I have lots of relatives here in Hong Kong and Macao.

So, I've seriously eaten SOOO much in my 3 days here. Macao and Hong Kong have little restaurants EVERYWHERE. Every street has some sort of restaurant. And they're little hole-in-the-wall style shops. And there's ALL different kinds of foods. I've eaten a different style of Chinese food every day. I've even gotten some Portuguese food as well! But surprisingly, I'm not any fatter than before. Must be all the walking that we do.

Two days from now, we're heading to Hong Kong Disneyland. I get to go for free, so why not?! And I get to take 3 family members with me too! There's not much to do at this Disneyland, but I'm excited to see the shows and just see a new Disneyland. I'll be taking loads of pictures -- living up to the Asian Tourist stereotype! :P

Speaking of pictures, I don't really have time to upload any pictures now. Plus I need to take some time to "Anonymous-ize" my pictures. (Like my new word?) But I promise to post pictures once I get back to the comfort of my own home in the States.

More updates soon! Hope everyone is doing well!

I've Arrived

'Just wanted to update everyone. Made it to Hong Kong safely. Now in the neighboring city of Macao (where my mom and dad grew up). It's also the new "Vegas" of China. Casinos such as the Venentian and the Wynn have built large casinos here. Went to the Venetian today... WAY crowded. And I lose on the slots. boo. But my Mom won $80! That's $80 in Macao currency.. which is equivalent to $10 US. hehe.

In other news, I've lived up to being a fatty and have been eating non-stop since I've arrived. I'm pretty sure I've already gained 5 extra pounds. eek!

More to come later! Hope everyone is doing well!

Oh! 10,000 Views!

HAHA, so I totally forgot to keep track and already received my 10,000th view! Probably a few days ago! YAY! I'm so happy to have so many viewers (cuz you all know I'm a reader and comment whore) and I'm just glad that you guys come back to read up on my life. I'm happy to share it with all of you. :)

Not too much to say right now....
On Monday night, Matty called me to see what I was up to. I told him that I was actually on my way out (semi-true) but that he should stop by real quick because he left his cheese grater at my place. I told him to give me a call when he made it downstairs so that I could run it down to him. I didn't want him to come up, just because I don't want to lead him on anymore. So he called me, I went downstairs, and I gave him his grater. He had just come from his second-chance audition at Disney, but got cut again. So he had this horribly bummed and "feel sad for me, please" face. Wasn't working on me though. We just gave each other a hug and then I said goodbye and went back upstairs. We've only been in contact sparsely through text and AIM since then.

And updating everyone about my documentary film, I just finished all the scheduled interviews today. Had a REAL long day of interviews on my very last day! Everyone waited until the last minute to sign up for an interview! LOL. So, now it's time to edit edit edit! I have 7 hours of interview footage to go through. And then there's additional footage to sift through and insert into the film. Such a huge project. I'm never going to finish by my Feb 13 deadline.... wish me luck.

Responding to the comments about the Dealbreaker: Thanks everyone for your comments. I'm happy that you support me on the no-smoking rule. I have to say I was being way bitchy in the post. But I think that's just cuz I was just REALLY over him that night and needed to vent. Then responding to comments about me leaving for Hong Kong: Thanks for the well wishes! It's really not a very "relaxing" vacation because I'm going to be running around a lot, getting all the business done. But hopefully I will find some time to head to Disneyland and to have some great food. As for calling myself fatty... I just like to be self-deprecating... if you haven't figured that out yet. But in all honesty, I think I'm in the best shape in a REAL long time. And it's just going to get better once the new parade starts! Now I want to work on my arms, chest, shoulders, and back. Anyone have any good dumbbell exercises to share for those muscle groups?

Alright... this is my last post until I get to Hong Kong! "Talk" to you all then!