The Goodacre's: 2008

We are very lucky that we work at an international school because we celebrate all international holidays, so we got 2 days off for Deepavali, an Indian celebration. So we left on October 24th for 4 days in Hong Kong!
We got to fly Singapore Air, which is always a treat! And we were traveling with lots of friends!We left after school and got there quite late. We were very proud of ourselves for figuring out the subway at such a late hour, but we made it safe and sound to our accommodations…Hong Kong is very expensive, so the most affordable accommodation that we could find was a hostel, it was a family style hostel with separate rooms and ensuite bathrooms, so it was fine, it was small, but clean, safe and central.
On Saturday, even though we were not feeling the greatest, the beginnings of colds and such, we, Steve, Madison, me, Charla and Julie set off to explore the city. First stop Victoria Peak, the famous view of the city, a bit smoggy, but a trip to Hong Kong without smog just would not be authentic! The views were great, the pictures, don’t do it justice. We then had lunch at a very western place, but enjoyed ourselves. We then walked for the entire afternoon in Soho, walking the streets, checking out the shops. We were there around Halloween, and Hong Kong seems to love Halloween, so it was fun seeing all the shops decorated and costumes for sale and stuff. We were losing a bit of energy after walking around for a while so we stopped at a very posh little patio, outside on the 6th floor above Gucci. We enjoyed a yummy cocktail and then set out to Kowloon. We took the Ferry over to the island and walked around the streets there. We found a great area full of restaurants and had a great Italian meal. It was close to 8pm so we headed to the harbour front to see the light show and the harbour all lit up. It was so great to see the famous Hong Kong Harbour all lit up at night, such big buildings. The light show was okay, nothing fantastic, but good to see.
Madi was such a good girl, as usual through the whole day of exploring!
The next day we went out to Stanley market, we got on a double decker bus for $1.50 and made our way there, to our delight the trip was amazing! So scenic on winding roads, great ocean views, it was beautiful! When we arrived we went through the market, which we really enjoyed! Julie bought me, for my birthday, a beautiful piece of art that I love! But we didn’t buy anything else really. Stanley has a great boardwalk that we walked along, Madi had a great time!
We then got a bit ambitious and thought we would take the ferry over to the Cable cars…so we got all the way over to the island and realized they were closed…oh well! We sat and had a snack from Macdonalds and then took the ferry to Kowloon to meet another group of friends who were also in HK. We met up with Carrie, Ben, Aynsley, Kendra and Ali for dinner.
After dinner it was pretty late and we were tired and wanted to get a good rest for our exciting day ahead…
DISNEY!!! Monday we got up and headed to Hong Kong Disney!
We took the subway until we got onto the Disney subway line, even the windows and handles were in the shape of Mickey’s head! The magic had begun!When we arrived we got Madi into her Princess outfit and put on our tiaras! Steve, Madi and I along with Charla and Julie headed into the park!We went on a Monday and it wasn’t a holiday in HK so the park was so nice! No major line-ups, 20 minutes was our longest ride!
Right when we arrived Mini and Mickey were there and then we walked down Main street USA to the palace, that was much smaller than the Orlando one! It of course was Halloween at Disney so everything was all decorated in Halloween…all the characters were in costume! So fun!
This was Julie’s first time ever at any Disney, so we had fun showing her around! First stop Space Mountain! Actually by the end of the day, we had gone on 7 times!!!
HK Disney just has the magic Kingdom, and we were going pretty fast, avoiding line-ups and things and yet still by the end of the day we had not done it all!
Madi LOVED IT! She stayed in her Princess costume all day and went on every ride except Space Mountain! She loved the rides, the Tea Cups and the Pooh bear ride had to be her favourites!
We had Mickey Mouse shaped pizza for lunch and Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream later in the day.
The weather was beautiful and the magic was awesome! We saw the parade in the afternoon and then a glow in the dark Halloween parade at 7 followed by fire works!
Steve bought Madi a giant Pooh Bear that Madi is in LOVE with!
It was such a great day!Of course Madi was perfect, so well behaved, such a good girl, napped in the afternoon and slept on the subway home.
Tuesday we woke up and got going early so that we could do the cable cars and giant seated Buddha before our flight.
The cable cars were fun, and the Buddha quite nice, the area surrounding the Buddha was nice, lots of little shops and things to look at.
We got on our flight at 1:30 and were home to have a nice evening before going tow ork the next morning.We really enjoyed our trip! We saw so much of Hong Kong and loved Disney…who knew we would ever be able to have already gone to Tokyo Disney and Hong Kong Disney!!