Well, sort of “Hong Kong,” if I’m being honest…

We spent these two days at Hong Kong Disneyland, which admittedly seems like a waste of at least one day. However, there are good and valid reasons for this:

• The protests / riots in Hong Kong led me to want to avoid the city, especially on the weekend when an election was being held.
• Our flights were originally scheduled to only leave Shanghai after noon on Sunday — so, we expected to have minimal time in Hong Kong on that day.
• Disney was running an insanely cheap promotion that enabled us to get a two day ticket for almost no more money than a single day admission.
• We planned to leave Hong Kong early on Tuesday anyway in order to enable us to visit Macau overnight.

So, my logic was: let’s just stay on Disney property, reduce any risks of getting caught up in violence, and take advantage of the cheap second day that evening.

Then our flights changed (a couple of times actually — not sure what was going on with China Eastern), which had us arriving in Hong Kong closer to mid-to-late morning. So, that’s how we ended up with two Disney days instead of one.

The park itself is small in scale compared to others. It’s also very well planned with good flow between areas (despite significant construction going on). Crowds were rather light on Sunday (little to no queue for most attractions) and nonexistent on Monday (when every ride was basically a “walk on” without a wait). The girls had an absolute blast, and I actually enjoyed myself too on both days (which pleased me, as I thought the second day might put me in a bad mood — I hate “wasting time” on vacation). We’ve also all now been to every Disney theme park in Asia (visiting them all worldwide has become a goal, especially for Libby).

Our hotel, Disney Explorers Lodge, was a bit more of a mixed bag. The outdoor and indoor public areas are very nice. The room was rather basic, not wildly comfortable (overly firm mattresses and no chair aside from one by the desk), and thus objectively the worst of our trip (which is a bit unfair given the quality of hotels). However, the accommodation was serviceable and a fair enough value (thanks to deep discounts to attract wary visitors).

My biggest complaint was the food at the resort. It too was generally serviceable (at best), but it seemed extraordinarily expensive relative to quality and portion sizes (more than any other spot on the trip). Disney dining options often strike me as poor value… though there are some notable exceptions (the breakfast buffet at Animal Kingdom, many of the small dishes / drinks at Epcot festivals, etc.). But, this was kind of a buzz kill… not because I can’t afford the meal… but just because I’m annoyed spending something like $9 for a bottle of still water in a place where you can’t otherwise drink the water.

By this point in the trip, we’d made it fully onto local time albeit with an “early to bed, early to rise” bias, which ultimately proved helpful given our itinerary.

We landed in Seattle around 7:15am… on the same day… 90 minutes before we left Hong Kong!

We had a lengthier layover in Seattle, departed in the late afternoon for Atlanta, arrived there in the early evening, and then quickly changed planes for our onward flight to Tampa. We arrived home around 11:00pm. This meant the duration of our travel day (hotel in Hong Kong to home in Tampa) was approximately 30 hours.

I could complain about the misery of air travel or fatigue of such a long day. But, considering what would have been required to make this journey throughout most of the course of human history, this was nothing. We flew off to Asia for a week. And, we returned safely home. All in relative comfort.
Amazing, really.

Today’s box score: +1 country (Japan)

Note: I’m a bit late in posting this… fatigue, insomnia, illness, and needing to catch up on work all conspired to halt my blogging on arrival home. I have pictures… someday I’ll post them.

Upon arrival at Disney, we stored our luggage (Disney provides a luggage check service), bought our tickets (about 50% of the price of a Florida 1-day admission), put my electronic gear in the lockers on Main Street USA, and headed off for a day of fun and compare/contrast. The park is physically smaller (or at least has less on offer) than the Magic Kingdom at home, though they’re building out new areas. In fact, Toy Story Land (2011) and Grizzly Gulch (2012) already opened. Mystic Point—which will house a Hong Kong version of the Haunted Mansion—opens later this year.

Aside from some differences in food options (though standard American fare is on offer), there’s relatively little “Hong Kong” in the Hong Kong Disneyland. This was a bit disappointing to us as American visitors, but I suppose it’s actually what most visitors would want/expect from their Disney experience. The biggest difference we noticed was that all of the buildings seemed to be much smaller in scale. For example, the iconic Sleep Beauty’s castle—when standing in front of it—looked to be little more than “one up, one down.” I don’t know if this was as a result of adherence to Feng Shui or something else, but I thought it may have lost a touch of the magic as a result.

All in all, we had a good time. I’m glad to have seen it. Would we go back? Maybe with Emerson some day in the future, if she expressed an interest. Objectively speaking, Hong Kong Disneyland is more-or-less a typical Disney experience (good, bad, or indifferent). So, unless it’s meaningful for you to visit as a Disney aficionado, I think it could be safely skipped.

We left Disney in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Marriott Hong Kong SkyCity. It’s a fairly unremarkable business hotel at the airport. We enjoyed a free suite upgrade and dinner in the executive lounge. And, it was perfect for our early morning flight home, but it’s not a great place to stay on a visit to Hong Kong.

The ferry trip itself was pleasant and uneventful. In SuperClass, you’re offered an included meal and drinks. In addition, you’ll find the seats are more spacious, you can bring aboard more hand luggage, and you get priority embarkation and disembarkation. For the extra $20(USD) per person, I think it’s worth it.

Once at Macau, we passed through immigration and customs with alacrity. We then found the Wynn’s courtesy desk, which directed us to the hotel’s free shuttle bus. A few moments later, we were at the hotel and checking into our room (which wasn’t yet ready due to the relatively early hour). So, we dropped off our baggage and ambled around the local vicinity before having lunch at the Wynn. For lunch, we ate at “Red 8,” which specializes in dim sum and was excellent. Yes, this was the Chinese food experience we’d been looking for: steamed barbecue pork buns, potstickers, pan-fried pumpkin cakes, pork rice rolls, etc. Delicious!

After lunch, we got our room key and dropped off our stuff. We’re up on the 14th floor in a spacious room overlooking the hotel’s petite Bellagio-style fountain, downtown Macau, and the bridges to the outlying islands. It’s pretty swank digs, but it’s suitable for this upscale hotel. That said, the best part of the Wynn Macau (and the reason I picked it) is its proximity to the city’s historical center, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Within a 15 minute walk of our hotel, you can find yourself standing in a square that looks like Lisbon… or at least China town in Lisbon (assuming it even has such a thing).

Macau’s just a fascinating place. It’s unlike any place we’ve ever been. No. Let me correct that comment. It’s actually like some places we’ve been… only we’ve never seen those individual elements mixed together in this way. What do I mean by that? The historic city center (which is very attractive) and the surrounding hodgepodge of urban buildings (which is not so much) remind us a lot of Buenos Aries. Of course, Macau has a Portuguese—not Spanish—heritage. Thus, you have to stir in a healthy dose of Lisbon. On top of this, you basically have Las Vegas grafted on to the city with many of the same hotel/casino resorts (our Wynn, plus outposts of the MGM Grand, Venetian, Sands, and Hard Rock to name a few). Yet, all of this exists in China, and the city is chockablock with people from Hong Kong and (most prominently) mainland China looking for a good time. In fact, the irony of watching “communist” Chinese mainlanders play the part of degenerate gamblers and luxury shopaholics isn’t lost on us. Indeed, given the seeming wealth of our fellow vacationers, I’m starting to wonder if the phrase ‘capitalist dog’ hasn’t taken on a whole new meaning?

Today’s box score: +1 country (Macau)

On Tuesday morning, we headed for The Peak, which provides vistas overlooking Hong Kong from an elevation of around 1,400ft. To get there, you take the Peak Tram, a funicular railway dating from 1888. The journey starts on Garden Road in Central and ends at Peak Tower, an oddly-shaped and somewhat ill-suited contemporary structure that opened in 1997. Ironically, it replaced the equally unsympathetic original Peak Tower, which dated from the 1960s. The building contains a number of restaurants, gift shops, and tourist attractions (e.g., an outpost of Madam Tussaud’s), as well as a viewing terrace atop the building. The views from The Peak are astoundingly good, albeit a bit hazy during our visit.

After visiting The Peak, we headed back down to Central and explored the SoHo area, which is known for its restaurants, art galleries, and antique shops. By mid-afternoon, we made our way to the Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan, which was built by Taoists in 1847 for the worship of the god of literature (Man Tai) and the god of war (Mo Tai). Being our first visit to a Chinese temple, we were a little unsure of what exactly was going on. It seemed that worshipers were generally making offerings to a variety of gods, spirits, and ancestors primarily in the form of fruit and incense (though,
I also witnessed more creative offerings, such as a bottle of beer and take-out food).

We then headed to the IFC Mall to find an outpost of Tim Ho Wan—reported to be the least expensive Michelin starred restaurant in the world—for a late lunch / early dinner of dim sum. Sadly for us, this didn’t work out very well. To start, we couldn’t find the place (it’s buried under Hong Kong station and has no English signage). Once found, it was packed with people waiting for who knows how long to eat. However, we quickly realized that waiting the hour or more would be rather fruitless as the dim sum order sheet was only in Chinese – no helpful pictures or trolley of delights to point at for us! In the future, I’ll be better prepared and will try this again. However, we raised the white flag and had our meal at an excellent French café on this day. After dinner, we found the place I’d shop for groceries if we lived in Hong Kong. It’s called “city’super” and is a Whole Foods / Fresh Market type of place – a real foodie’s paradise with delightful offerings ranging from local/regional (including an amazing sushi/sashimi bar) to the presumably more “exotic” for Hong Kong people (including Rick Bayless’s Mexican Frontera products, which means I could live in Hong Kong).

As noted, we made an early night of it. We’ll be heading off to Macau on a ferry in the morning.

P.S. For our fellow cruising fans — Holland America’s Amsterdam is docked here overnight. She’s on her 115-day around the world voyage, which embarked from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on January 5 and ends there on May 1, 2013. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, you might want to check out this blog.

Our hotel in Hong Kong is the Courtyard Marriott Hong Kong. It’s located on Hong Kong Island to the west of Central near the Sheung Wan neighborhood. The hotel is very modern and overlooks Victoria Harbour. Unlike the sleek, modern glitz of Central, Western is a more traditionally Chinese part of town. Here’s an exercise for you: imagine the best “China Town” you’ve ever visited. Now, multiple that experience by a factor of 100. That’s Western. Our walk to the nearest MTR station (about 15 minutes) takes us past innumerable shops selling (and smelling of) dried seafood and unknown herbal ingredients/remedies/both. Snake bile wine? Edible birds’ nests? Perhaps, some deer penis? Check. Check. And, check. Of course, globalization is here too: there’s a Starbucks around the corner.

Our adventure for the day involved taking the MTR (Hong Kong’s metro/subway) out to Lo Wu (also written as Luo Ho), which is one of the handful of land-based border crossings into mainland China from Hong Kong. This, of course, involved using the MTR, which necessitated figuring out how to buy the tickets and navigate the system. We managed to do this with minimal trouble and no mistakes, thereby finding ourselves at the Lo Wu border crossing in about an hour. Crossing the border into the People’s Republic was a breeze with our newly minted visas. Tip: unlike a lot of countries, Americans can’t get a visa for China on the spot at border crossings. If you’re in Hong Kong for more than a couple of days, it’s easy to arrange the visa from here; if not, either take a group tour (which provides a group visa), or pay a bit of premium by arranging the entry visa from home (as we did using VisaExpress.net).

After crossing the border, we found ourselves in Shenzhen, the first “special economic zone” (SEZ) created in the 1970s as an experiment to integrate Western-style capitalism into socialist/communist China. Needless to say, I suspect you know how that’s worked out. As a result, Shenzhen (as our travel guidebook says) “has gone from gulag to Gotham City” in only a couple of decades. However, aside from some kitsch tourist traps sights outside of town and the Lo Wu Commercial Center (a multi-story mecca of low-price Chinese merchandise), Shenzhen offers little for leisure travelers. No, to really appreciate mainland China, we’ll have to come back and visit places like Shanghai and Beijing.

We returned to Central in the late afternoon, exploring the modern architecture and swank shops, such as the Landmark Centre. Having eaten little all day, we were ready for dinner by 6pm. One of our guidebooks suggested a place in Central called Jimmy’s Kitchen, which is famous for its “comfort food” (no further description provided). So, we tried it. Jimmy’s menu is a hodgepodge of English and Hong Kong favorites… a sort of upscale version of what’s called “Soy sauce Western” around here (e.g., flash fried Camembert cheese coated in breading and sesame seeds). We were hungry. It was good to good enough. But, I probably wouldn’t return or recommend it.

After dinner, we enjoyed a leisurely 30 minute stroll back to our hotel (about 1.5 miles).

Today’s box score: +2 countries (Hong Kong and China)

I also had the strangest experience on the airplane. I finallyq fell asleep about 4 hours out of Incheon. Something woke me up 30 minutes later, and I found myself lightheaded and disoriented. I sort of staggered down the aisle to use the WC and then struggled to open the door. Within a few minutes of making it back to my seat, all was normal again, and I now feel fine. So, it seems like I was just suffering from total exhaustion, which sort of makes sense given my schedule of the last week or two.

The Incheon/Seoul airport is very nice. Too bad we won’t get to see more of the country (on this trip, anyway). But, it still counts as country #73!

Today’s box score: +1 (South Korea)

Next stop: Hong Kong

P.S. Here’s the “control panel” for the high tech toilets at the airport in South Korea. Basic operation is easy, but the advanced features seemed too dangerous to explore.

I’m sure there’s a suitable aphorism somewhere about “the journey being the destination.”