Well, for all those who never thought we would do it "read it and weap!". We have arrived in Hong Kong. Very strange to think we have visited HK three times now in the space of nine months. This time, however we are going to do slightly different things......
Like DISNEY!! We were so excited about visiting HK Disney, but it did prove to be a bit of a disappointment. For one thing, it's TINY. We thought it would be bigger than Paris, but even Sleeping Beauty's castle in the centre of the park is a mini fun-size one. We went on a Sunday - thinking that although it may be slightly busier than a weekday, the park was open longer hours than a weekday and that would compensate for the increase in customers; however this wasn't the case and when it got to 2pm and Darcie had only been on one ride, we got a bit cheesed off! So we all traipsed down to the Town Hall and complained (not like us really!) and after some haggling and negotiation got three lots of fast passes. So, we all hit Space Mountain and smiles were restored to the kids faces (and mine;-)
Adam LOVES Pooh Bear. He is his new Best Friend. I honestly thought he was going to pop with excitement on the Winnie the Pooh ride - I've never seen him go quite so rigid with glee. Adam also had his picture taken with Pooh (OK - you and I both know it's a very sweaty man in a big suit), and Adam wouldn't let him go. I think if Adam had held onto Pooh's leg for much longer, a Disney worker would have to surgically remove him. Mind you, the locals wouldn't have minded - we were queuing to have our photo taken with Pooh and they were taking photos of Adam in the queue. I thought we'd seen it all when we visited Madame Tussards in HK and people were taking photos of Addy rather than Jackie Chan, but no, even in Disney our son had a bigger photographic pull than Tigger and Pooh!
Paul and I had some clothes made. It was hilarious - like the Emporer's New Clothes, but fascinating too. We went in the first day and after the guy had tied two tape measures together ;-) he took all our measurements, picked out material and discussed styles. We went back in the day after that and the clothes were held together with pins and running stitches (well, the half that we had - Paul's suit only had one sleeve). He looked at me in all honesty and said, "well, what do you think?" I should have been honest and said "how do you think it looks, you've only got one sleeve and that's held on with a safety pin and running stitch in contrasting thread - you hardly look like David Beckham!" But, of course, I didn't. I just smiled and said "looks fab". Two days after that, they were finished and delivered to our hotel room - complete with our names and unique number (for ease of re-ordering!) embroidered into the lining. Paul went completly OTT and ordered two suits (very nice, with the really LOUD satin lining in purple and hot pink!), with extra trousers for each, twelve (yes, twelve!) shirts and three ties and I had a suit made with matching skirt and trousers for 'work'.
As christmas was descending onto HK, the decorations looked magical. There was something very strange about seeing the 'Santa village' next to the huge skyscrapers. A real mixture of the old fashioned, chocolate box christmas and the brand new hi-tech buildings. It was great to experience. We took a nightime cruise round the harbour and it was warm, the light show was great (as always), the stereo on board was playing Dean Martin chrsitmas songs and the Xmas lights twinkled. It was a lovely moment. The start of our adventure and a whole new chapter in Australia. We all just couldn't wait to get there.
