For my Buddha's birthday holiday, AKA the first 4 day weekend that I felt settled enough in Korea to travel away for, I booked a trip to Hong Kong! I had been super excited about going on this adventure all by myself. It was an amazing weekend and really one of the most memorable times of my life.
My vacation was from Thursday, May 16 through Sunday, May 19 so as hard as I tried to find a flight that I could make on Wednesday night and a return flight on Sunday night to really get the most out of my stay, I had to book my flights for Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning in order to be back in Korea at the right time so I could be at work Monday morning. This meant that I only really had Friday and Saturday to be in Hong Kong because I didn't arrive until Thursday night and had to leave first thing Sunday morning. I like to consider myself a bit of a
know-er of all things travel expert and knew that this meant I had to keep my To-See list very short so as to not exhaust myself. I've been on trips before where I've tried to do too much and ended up unable to enjoy myself because I was either 1) running around stressed out because I always had somewhere to be or 2) too exhausted from stretching myself too thin and not getting enough rest. SO... my Hong Kong To-See list after much researching and narrowing down was:
1) Hong Kong Disneyland
2) The Symphony of Lights
3) Big Buddha
Day 1: Thursday
I left for the airport around noon to make my 2:30 flight. Luckily, my metro stop conveniently connects to the airport so after a short taxi ride to the metro and a slightly longer metro ride, I was at the airport. Getting myself to the airport and making sure there were no hiccups in my travel bookings were a huge stress hovering over my trip so when the check-in process was complete and I was at my gate I really began to get excited and look forward to my vacation.
I left Seoul and had a 2 hour layover in Beijing. I was excited to look down on China from above and tried to look for exciting Olympic things from the sky but I was unsuccessful. I was also excited to use the only 3 Chinese phrases that I know (Hello, Thank you, and I love you) and hoped to use them all in the same conversation. Also unsuccessful.
My flight was super late getting away from the gate so I knew I would be even later arriving in Hong Kong than originally scheduled. Another huge stress looming over my trip was getting myself to my hotel. I've traveled alone plenty of times but in all of my travels, this was the first time I was going to be arriving somewhere with no one to pick me up. My hotel offered a shuttle service but only from a metro station. I had to decide between trying to figure out the metro and shuttle situation very late in the evening after I land, or getting an expensive taxi ride to the hotel. As we pulled away from the gate in Beijing I made the decision to stop stressing and just get a taxi when I got to Hong Kong to make sure I got to
my hotel by midnight so that my room would be held.
I landed, got my taxi and headed to my hotel, soaking up all of the sights on the way. The taxis in Hong Kong are
color coded to indicate where they go, so it was very easy to find my taxi and get on my way. My check in process when I got to my hotel was equally uneventful. So it was official. My vacation was beginning :)
Honestly, I could have had a much less expensive weekend if I looked into staying at hostels but I figured my apartment in Korea is small enough. If I was going to travel and take this vacation, I wanted to be comfortable and stay some place nice. I definitely hit the jackpot. My hotel was beautiful and my room was great.
(I didn't take a picture of the bathroom because it was a bathroom. We've all seen bathrooms.) I laid in my super comfortable (NOT KOREAN & ROCK HARD) bed and slept off my travels.
Day 2: Friday
At 8:00 AM I checked facebook, checked in with people, and headed down to breakfast. I decided the night before that first on my to-do list would be Disneyland.
But Kristen, you say.
You could go to Disneyland in America. Why would you waste part of your weekend at Disneyland while you're in Hong Kong. First of all, you're cynical and I hate you. Second, IT'S AN INTERNATIONAL DISNEYLAND! Why would I NOT spend part of my weekend seeing what's different and unique at the Hong Kong location?! Anyway, we're getting side tracked.
Breakfast.
Hong Kong was relinquished from the British in 1993 and is now a territory of China. There are still a lot of British influences in the city, as evident at breakfast that morning. I've never been a fan of English breakfast. There's something about beans and blood sausage for breakfast that has never sat well with my stomach first thing in the morning. Luckily, Hong Kong is also a very international city so there were many more options.
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| Clockwise we have 2 dumplings at the top, some weird squishy bread that I tried but decided I didn't like, spring rolls, AMAZING DUCK that I went back for seconds and thirds of, delicious pastry bread, and noodles that I also was not crazy about. I was very disappointed the next morning when there was no duck and I had to get pancakes instead. |
I finished breakfast and asked the front desk about how to catch the shuttle to the metro. They changed some money for me and pointed me in the right direction to get the shuttle. The Cosmo (where I was staying) was at the end of the block of their sister hotel the Cosmopolitan. All I had to do to get the shuttle was go wait in the lobby at the Cosmopolitan. Super easy, and well worth any money that I paid in the fees for my hotel in order to use this service.
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| LOVE Hong Kong money! The $10 bills are SO BEAUTIFUL! |
On the shuttle a father of 2 that was sitting with his wife turned around and asked "Is anyone else going to Disneyland?". I enthusiastically said "ME!" and we agreed to stick together until we found the park.
My new Indian family was from India but lived in New Jersey for 14 years. My Indian mom was super gorgeous and my Indian dad was super friendly. I was not fond of my Indian brothers because they were very shy and therefore contributed nothing to my Disneyland travel experience.
The metro system in Hong Kong is by far the nicest one I've ever experienced. Everything is so clean and smells so good. Seriously, why does Hong Kong smell amazing? Like unnaturally so. It's like they're pumping perfume through the vents everywhere. It's amazing. ANYWAY. The metro map is super easy to navigate and thanks to my trusty, handy-dandy iPhone and my handy-dandy Hong Kong Metro app, I was able to get myself where I needed to go very easily all weekend. The Disneyland metro line only goes from one stop to Disneyland and back so it was very easy to get there and was very well marked along the way.
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| Mickey handles. |
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| Mickey windows. |
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| Indian mom & MICKEY! |
After a very short ride we arrived at Hong Kong Disneyland. My family and I took each other's pictures (I'm super glad I found them for this reason) and then headed our separate ways.
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| SUCCESS! |
The rest of my day was full of magic and smiles and sunshine, except not sunshine because it was definitely pouring down rain at one point but I pulled out my umbrella and kept the magic moving.
First stop, gift shop... where I definitely bought too much. A t-shirt, dvd, 2 keychains, and a mug later, I checked out, where I met 2 Korean Disneyland workers, who were super excited to meet me, and I was on my way again.
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| Sleeping Beauty's castle (as opposed to Cinderella's in America <3) |
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| Cinderella! |
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| Bootleg picture with Cinderella! |
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| Waiting to see Mickey's Philharmagic 4-D movie. A favorite of mine and Karen's from our Florida trip last year. |
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| On my Jungle Cruise boat. There were 2 lines for this ride: One for Chinese tours and one for tours in English and they racistly put you in the line that they assumed you to go in. Lol |
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| $258 whaaaaat? lol Hong Kong dollars! |
I also saw a show called The Festival of the Lion King. It was really cool because they incorporated some Chinese culture into the performance. There was an acrobat that flew around on fabric that came down from the ceiling and there were also these 2 little monkeys that they wrote into the story that would occasionally translate the narrator's lines into Cantonese for the audience that didn't speak English. The cool think about being at a Disneyland that wasn't in America was that even though everything (signs, rides, performances) was in English, there were unique ways that Disney adapted to the language of the location. LOVED IT!
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| At the show. The two monkeys are on the right hand side on either side of the giant pot. |
Other super exciting things I saw at Disneyland included:
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| Toy Story Land! Exclusively at Hong Kong Disneyland! |
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| Saw this person all dressed up. Didn't know who she was supposed to be. Didn't care. Took her picture anyway. |
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| Found Mickey! |
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Was unexpectedly attacked by Mickey. Hugged Mickey.
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It soon started POURING down rain. Like literally if I wasn't on vacation and at the happiest place on Earth it could have really put a damper on my day, as I do not bode well in nature under these circumstances.
But I told myself my that it was not yet time for my magical day to end so I kept moving through the park, unlike many other visitors that day.
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| TA DAAAAA! My favorite ride at Disney World! Ever since I was little I have LOVED It's A Small World and can you read that sign? Wait time: 10 minutes! YESSSSSSSS |
The really awesome thing about the It's A Small World ride in Hong Kong was that it was updated. The one in Florida is great but its very old looking because it was the original one used for the World Fair when it premiered for the first time and hasn't really been touched or had the technology updated since then. The ride in Hong Kong was definitely true to the theme and looked just like the original in the States but the COOLEST THING was that Disney characters were hidden in each of the different parts of the world to which they were relevant.
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| Simba and Pumba |
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| Bambi |
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| Pocahontas |
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| Woody & Jessy |
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| Pinocchio |
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| Little white cat from Aristocats |
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| Cinderella <3 |
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| This was my lunch that day. A duck thigh over some rice and greens and I ate it with my Disney chopsticks. |
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| This is one of my favorite pictures from that weekend. |
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| The lightshow begins! |
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| After the show I noticed all of these little vendor stations that offered to take pictures of people in front of Victoria Harbour while all of the buildings were still lit up. The background really was beautiful with the buildings reflections in the water below but I obviously did not fall for this tourist trap. |
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| Jk totally did. |
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| The ONE TIME I forget my Spiderman outfit on vacation..... |
After getting my picture and realizing I hadn't eaten since my Disneyland duck, I decided to stroll around and try to find some food. One of my favorite things to do when I travel, and something I think everyone SHOULD do if you plan on travelling, is to try authentic food from wherever I am. The problem is that Hong Kong is a super globalized city and my search for authentic Chinese food from Hong Kong continued to prove unsuccessful so I just ended up ordering room service when I got back to my hotel.
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| Found this window display on my walk back to the metro. |
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| Hey Kristen! |
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| Many of the cabs that I rode in Hong Kong had these personal screens you could watch shows or play games on. I am convinced that my cab drivers were all laughing at me when they could hear me always fail this game I tried to beat in every cab. The one where you have to rearrange the blocks to form a picture. I hate this game >:( |
My room service was gross and inauthentic. I ordered fried rice and some fancy dessert and it was delicious, but tasted like it came from a box. Whatever. I knew I had all of Saturday to find some better food. Having crossed 2 things off of my 3-things to do in Hong Kong list, I had reserved all of Saturday for the Big Buddha. I went to bed so proud of myself for being so independent and finding everything I wanted to see on my own. Hong Kong is my new happy place. It represents a refreshed, self-sufficient Kristen.
Day 3: Saturday
I woke up and forgot I was in Hong Kong. I think I was so exhausted from my eventful day on Friday that I was super disoriented the next morning. I remember thinking to myself how ironic it was that it was my first 4 day weekend vacation and technically I could have slept in for all of those days, but I set an alarm each morning to make sure I was up and moving so I could get to where I wanted to go early. My alarm went off at 8 and I laid around in bed for a few hours skyping people and checking in at home. I got dressed for my Bid Buddha adventure and heading downstairs for breakfast. My duck was not there and it was disappointing. But I was on my way to the Big Buddha soon enough and I was SUPER EXCITED!!!!
The Big Buddha is a huge statue at the top of a mountain in Hong Kong. There are 3 ways of reaching the isolated area with the statue on it. You can take 1 of 2 busses or you can take a cable car. Obviously, the cable car was the most exciting way to get up there so that is what I chose. I got off at the metro stop, bought some water at a convenience store and then headed to where the line for the cable car formed. After what felt like an eternity, I got into my cable car :) I also saw my Indian family in line. Too funny!
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| In line. |
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| Buying tickets for the ride. |
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| Loading the cable cars. |
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| View from inside of the cable car. You can see the mountain that the Big Buddha was on in the background. |
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| Another favorite picture from that weekend. |
It turns out that there was lots to do on the Big Buddha mountain. There was a small fishing village as well as other sights to see up there.
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| A tea house right after you get off of the cable car. |
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| They're EVERYWHERE! |
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| Gate to the entrance of where the Big Buddha was. |
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| Big Buddha in the sky |
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| Don't mind if I do :) |
Happy Birthday big guy :)
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| I was disappointed with how foggy it was but I was still super stoked to be there. Even through the fog it was amazing how HUGE this statue was. |
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This was the best shot of Big Buddha that I got that day.
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| Underneath the statue was a memorial area. |
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| I'm pretty sure I took some illegal pictures but I tried to be super respectful (and sneaky) while doing so. |
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| Back outside. |
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| Time to go down again. |
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| A man praying to Buddha. |
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| Heading back to the cable cars. |
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| Inside of the tea house on the way back. |
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| Outside of the tea house. |
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| Japanese duck ramen for lunch with a Cantonese black milk tea. |
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| Back at the metro station. |
I made it back to my hotel in the late afternoon and having accomplished everything I wanted to do that weekend, I decided to take it easy that night since I had a plane to catch early that morning. I did eventually decide to head out into the city to see if I could do some shopping but everything seemed to be closing. Although I had an amazing weekend in Hong Kong, possibly the best of my life, if there was one thing I wish I could have done it would have been to find some type of street market where I could have gotten myself some stuff that I could always look at and say "Oh, I got that in Hong Kong." I did end up with 2 gorgeous dresses from my Saturday night shopping trip so it's not a total loss.
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| On my way out for my last night before heading back to Korea in the morning. |
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| Got stuck in this dress. |
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| I wanted it SO badly! It was so different and so Asian looking and im PISSED they didn't have it in my size :( |
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| Gold dragon statue near my hotel. |
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| The 2 dresses I bought on my late night shopping trip. |
I got back to my hotel and after ordering room service again I went to bed.
Hong Kong is a truly unique and amazing city and if you ever find yourself with an opportunity to go and visit this amazing country I HIGHLY recommend that you do. The people are so kind, it's so international, it easily became my new favorite city and I can't wait to return. After visiting once, I have added so many more things to my to-do list for next time. I LOVE YOU HONG KONG! CAN'T WAIT TO RETURN!
I also highly recommend my hotel. Great location! Great price! Beautiful! I will definitely come back to the Cosmo Hotel :)
It was such an amazing weekend and I can't wait to return one day <3
*******Sorry it literally took me a month to write this. I just wanted to make sure it was perfect before posting it! This blog is really important to me so that I can update everyone back home about what I'm up to, but also for myself so that I don't forget anything while I'm here! It's just hard to sit down for the hours necessary to write a post sometimes when I come home so exhausted from work but I have lots of pictures to upload now that I've shared my Hong Kong vacation! Stay tuned!!! :) Love you all <3
