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Published: March 11th 2009
A few weeks ago Max and I went to Hong Kong during his school break. It was a special trip for just the two of us - Jim stayed in Bangkok with Levi and Bram. Max wanted to go to Disney and I wanted to go to Hong Kong, so it seemed like a good idea to do this trip before we leave Bangkok as Hong Kong is only about 3 hours away and flying from Bangkok to Hong Kong is inexpensive. However, staying in and eating in Hong Kong is another story!
The day before we left, I came down with a stomach bug. It was manageable during the trip, but my biggest concern was that Max would come down with it. We arrived at the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel, which is one of two hotels close to the park. Max was already thrilled as soon as we got there because Chip & Dale as well as Goofy were waiting in the lobby while I checked in. Not only that, but Phineas and Ferb, one of Max's favorite tv shows, was playing on the lobby tv (I asked him why he liked it so much and he said it was
because their sister - a girl - is the bad guy). The hotel was very nice, totally geared for kids, and decorated in an art deco style. We had dinner at the hotel bar, which was fun because the bar looks like a regular hotel bar, except that they have a Disney movie playing on a big screen, so Max was entertained while we had dinner. Mickey Mouse, of course, was part of the decor of the hotel. Since Max's experience with Disney is more Buzz Lightyear than Mickey Mouse, he asked why Mickey was everywhere - specifically, "Why is it all about Mickey?" But, by the end of our stay, he knew enough about Mickey Mouse to be excited.
The first morning we woke up, we had breakfast and then headed for the park. The Hong Kong Disney park is a very manageable size and there is plenty of time to do everything, especially on a week day when there are not many lines. There are really only 2 rides geared towards older kids - Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, where you sit in a little car and shoot at lots of targets. We went on
Donna at the Grand Palace
This was when Donna visited me in Bangkok.Space Mountain twice and loved it, but my stomach was still feeling queasy, so we stopped after 2 times. Buzz Lightyear, we probably went on 10 times. We had a full day in the park and then stayed for the fireworks, which was spectacular, before heading back to our hotel.
The second day, we planned for Max to go to a character breakfast at the other Disney hotel before heading into Hong Kong to do some sightseeing. Max attended the character breakfast, got to meet Mickey et.al., and then proceeded to have diarrhea in his trousers after he came to sit back down at the table. Luckily, it was a bit cool in Hong Kong, so he was wearing jeans and socks, which kept everything in until we could get to the bathroom. In the bathroom, I cleaned him up and put his dirty clothes in a plastic bag before wrapping his sweatshirt around his legs like a skirt. We then headed back to our hotel (not too far fortunately) and got him washed and changed. He felt better a few hours later, but I still thought it would be better not to get caught in the city where
Scene from Hoi An
From Jim's trip to Vietnam this past weekend. bathrooms might not be easy to find, so we went to the park a second day, which was free for us since we were staying in a Disney hotel. Max was, of course, thrilled about the change in plan. The only place in the park that did not have greasy food was the Chinese restaurant (Mulan themed), where we could eat rice and shrimp dumplings. We did not do Space Mountain again (I thought getting caught on that ride without a bathroom was NOT a good idea), but we did manage Buzz Lightyear about another 10 times and repeated some of the favorites that Max liked before heading back to our hotel to rest.
Finally, on the third day, we went into the city as Max seemed ok. We took a ferry from Kowloon to Central so that we could see the famous harbor and then we had dim sum at a famous Hong Kong restaurant, but were astonished at how expensive it was (at least, I was astonished - I'm sure Max couldn't have cared less). We then went up the famous outdoor escalators (the longest of their kind in the world) before taking a tram ride up
Donna and I elephant riding...
you can't come to Thailand without trying it. to Victoria Peak for the fabulous views of the city. There was a nice park up there and playground where Max had a good time. Then, it was time to head back to the hotel and get our things before heading for the airport. In the taxi, right before we were about to get out at the airport, Max threw up all over the back seat. I felt so bad that I gave the driver double the fare - fortunately, he had vinyl seats and flooring. We had to go into the bathroom at the airport for Max to get another change and cleanup before checking in (into less dirty clothes because all the clean clothes had been used up!). Fortunately, Max was ok by this point and there were no more sickness incidents.
Stomach bugs aside, I liked Hong Kong, but it wasn't my favorite place. It was a bit too expensive and difficult to figure out the best things to do as a tourist without having someone there to guide us. However, the weather was beautiful and Max and I enjoyed our first foray into China.
Speaking of China, I will be heading there in a
At Ayutthaya
Donna and I went to Ayutthaya and saw the Buddha image in the tree - the most famous image there. few weeks to Beijing and Shanghai for some sightseeing and to visit Jesse. My friend, Ivanka, will also be there with me for most of the trip. I'm very excited to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Jesse was here recently and he and Jim had a fabulous time sea kayaking for a few days close to Phuket in Phang Nga Bay where they saw many different birds and animals. The highlight was probably when a bunch of monkeys swam to their kayaks from an island and proceeded to climb aboard. One of the stranger things they saw was people high up in caves in places that were totally isolated with no one else for miles around - they were guarding birds' nests, which are used for birds' nest soup and are very expensive and considered a delicacy. My friend Donna also came to visit and we had a great time - I was able to see some sights near Bangkok that I hadn't seen yet and visit some old favorites and we also had a relaxing few days at the beach in Phuket.
Jim went to central Vietnam on his own this past weekend for fun
- to Hoi An. He had a great time seeing historic sights, eating wonderful Vietnamese food (he also took a cooking class), and spending time near the sea. He was recently in Indonesia for work and had the opportunity to do a historical tour of Jakarta. He had been to Jakarta many times, but not on a formal tour and he really enjoyed it, especially when he was at the Bank Mandiri Museum and ran into a group of Indonesian boy and girl scouts. Apparently, Indonesia has more scouts than anywhere else in the world. He began speaking to a scout leader and it came up that Jim used to be an Eagle Scout, so the scout leader asked him to speak to the kids about the differences between U.S. and Indonesian scouts (such as the fact that the U.S. has Eagle Scouts while Indonesia has Garuda Scouts and the way the scouts hold up their hand for the oath is also different). Jim readily complied and was speaking to them in Indonesian as much as he could - about 80% of his talk he was able to give in Indonesian and the rest was in English with translation from
Hey! There's a monkey on my boat.
From Jim and Jesse's sea kayaking trip in southern Thailand. a scout for words he didn't know. I attach a photo of that here.
For other news, we are planning to return to the U.S. at the end of June. I have been given a tentative full-time job offer with the U.S. government. I'll be writing immigration appeals for an administrative law body. The job is mainly telecommuting and supposed to be very family friendly, which will be ideal for me. The offer is conditional on the security clearance I have to get first before I can start, which will take a number of months. Hopefully the timing will work out as it would be ideal if I can start in September or October. In the meantime, I have been doing some editing work for an immigration law text, which has been great because I can do as much or as little work as I have time for, and plan to keep that up until I start my new job.
Jim and I will be doing a lot of travel in the coming months before we leave. Jim will go to Malaysia, Frankfurt, and Macau - all for work (he'll probably do a side trip to Hong Kong
Jim in the sea kayak
Phang Nga bay - near Phuket when he goes to Macau and he will visit our friends Eric and Stacey for a few days when he goes to Germany as they are currently in Stuttgart). After I go to China, my next trip will be Bali in May with a friend. I haven't been to Bali since 1994 with Jim - I loved it then and am hoping I still love it now.
Levi is running, Bram is talking a lot, and Max has started tennis lessons, which he enjoys. Max also got his yellow belt in tae kwon do yesterday, so he was very excited about that. All of us are doing well and we hope our friends are doing well too in these tough economic times.
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