Hong Kong without Daddy Lim Day 4: Disneyland

This was the day that we were all looking forward to. The kids knew that they had to wake up earlier for the 2 hours commute and volunteered to go to bed early. We were up at 7.30am and had the bread that we taobao last night from the bread shop downstairs. Did I tell you how much I loved the bread in HKG? They were all so yummylicious. Lil Shauna loved the bread too particularly the honey cake.

We checked out of the hotel room at 8.30am and took a 10 mins walk to the less popular Austin station in hope of avoiding the morning peak crowd. It was the right choice. It wasn't that far away but a lot less crowded than Jordan. The train ride was comfortable and we took so many selfie to burn time.

The Mickey Mouse train! Happy! Happy! Happy!

At the Disneyland station, we had to take the shuttle bus to the hotel. We were staying in the Hollywood hotel! The last time we did that, Lil Shauna was barely 3 and she didn't remember a thing now. Zaky never got a chance to stay in the Disneyland hotel. It was off peak and the price was reasonable. We had a slight hiccup though and took the bus to the wrong hotel bcos I didn't look at my reservation form properly. We had decided to walk 15 mins to the right hotel with the luggage in tow when the staff immediately offered to arrange a mini van to ferry us. Service so good! It was Disneyland afterall!

The check-in was quick and we got the Disneyland tickets.

Bcos we got the tickets through the hotel, we were also given a priority pass for 5 to one of the more popular rides. The room was ready too and we got to admire the beautiful room before heading to the park. While walking to our room, we saw Goofy!

We will all be squeezing in the room for the night. It was comfortable with 2 double beds.

We arrived at Disneyland at 10.30am, right when it opened. Hello Happy land.

There wasnt much crowd and the rides were mostly less than 5 to 10 mins wait time. The 1st ride that we hit was the new Iron Man ride. We saw it last December when we were in Disneyland but it wasn't operational yet.

It was a 4D show. We were brought into somewhat like a mini theatre. The show wowed me; it was similar to our Transformer despite being confined to that little theatre. It was really good and exceeded my expectations.

We took many rides after that. The space mountain, the flying space ships... for some of the easy rides, I asked to ride with jiejie; to give her the much needed attention.  Otherwise, I would be in between try 2 kids.

We caught my favourite Mickey Mouse show too. I still loved it even though I just caught it in December. Hehe. The princesses were so real.

We also took.our favourite toy car ride and also the grizzly bear - 2 times each.

There was a parade at 3pm. It was nice just that it was freaking hot! Before the parade ended, we decided to leave bcos we started pouring sweat.

With that, we conquered almost all the rides in Disneyland. Ah yee and CY surrendered and decided to find some aircon while the kids were still raving to go. I brought the kids for another 3 rides on my own.

We didn't stay for the fireworks bcos we were all too tired, except Zaky, who was still bursting with energy. We headed back to the hotel and had a very expensive dinner at one of the restaurants. 杀人放火 kind of expensive for very normal food.

Back in the room, the kids had another dip in the bath tub before the adults q up to take their shower. Bed time was easy but before that was crazy-noisy-running-around kids. The room was a squeeze with all of us but it wasn't too bad. It was probably a little challenging for ah yee and CY though, it would be easier to tolerate the kids if we had stayed together in the beginning of the trip and not at the end. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Hong Kong without Daddy Lim Day 3: Cheung Chau

When I woke up in the morning, I thought that the sky outside looked gloomier than the day before. I saw people with the brollys and the trees dancing in the wind from the hotel window. The rain wasn't heavy but the wind looked fierce.

Ah yee said that signal no. 3 typhoon warning was raised last night at 11pm. We slept through the typhoon apparently. She sent me this long and detailed weather forecast.

In short, it was still at signal no. 3 in the morning but the typhoon would be moving away from Hong Kong and dying down in the late morning after hitting China. We decided then that we would still proceed to Cheung Chau but to do so after the signal was removed.

Ah yee and I then bought Mac bfast back to the kids. The rain was somewhat like a heavy drizzle and the wind didn't feel that bad too. If this was signal no. 3, then the thunderstorms that we have in Singapore would easily qualify for a signal no. 5 or 6. Anyway, life goes on with a signal no. 3 and people were still rushing for work and school.

The Mac was still crowded. I am always very amazed with their tiny seats and had to snap these pictures. So small; not enough for Daddy Lim. Haha.

It was a lazy morning bcos we had to wait for the typhoon to pass. We lazed around and finally got out of the hotel at 11am, when the signal was lowered to no. 1. Yeah! There was a light drizzle when we left the hotel.

We took the MTR to the Central station and walked to the connecting Hong Kong station to get to the Central Pier. It was the same place that we last took the ferry to Lamma island, just a different pier.

Ah yee caught the timing down to the last minute; we were the last few to catch the ferry. We caught the fast ferry that took only 30 mins as compared to the usual hour.

With the wifi egg that ah yee rented, the kids self entertained with YouTube for a while. I had to stop them bcos the vessel was slightly rocky but nothing as bad as I imagined it would be. It wouldn't be nice with vomiting kids though. Fortunately we were in the fast speed one.

The plan upon arrival was simple - buy raincoat in case the rain gets really heavy and find a light lunch. Cheung Chau is surprising populated and modern as compared to Lamma island. Shops lined the street. There is even Mac when we exited the pier.

We had a nice and light lunch before starting the walk. There was a light drizzle still but it wasn't chilly, which made wearing our waterproof/ resistant jackets difficult.

Then, the rain and the sun were playing a prank on us, taking turns to come out. We were constantly playing this wearing jacket, taking out jacket game. It was too warm to don the jackets most of the time.

After a short walk, we came to this big slope but the silver lining was the playground midway. Despite the drizzle, the kids were quick to make a dash for it.

We also found a roller skating rink. That is like so 80s!

Soon, we continued with our long upward climb. It was up and up and up.

Interestingly, houses lined the way. I cannot imagine doing this kind of climb everyday from the pier. I think I would not go home or stay home forever. Lol.

Actually, we didn't quite figure out where we were walking to. We just went along the way, which a particular part was mosquitos infested and those mosquitoes were like having their buffet. Zzzz.. Mosquitoes repellent was not at all effective. The only solution was to quicken our steps and leave the mosquitoes behind.

We then saw the sign to the famous Cheung Po Tsai Cave and wanted to explore; I read in blog that we could go into the cave to explore. We were on a narrow concrete pathway that suddenly stops. At the end, it was the "cave". It wasn't the typical cave (where the bear in the story book lives) but something that looks like big stones overlapping creating some super narrow and steep openings. The kids were super keen to explore but with the rain, it looks mega slippery and dangerous. One wrong step and it could be fatal.

No kids were allowed near the "cave". At that, Zaky loudly lamented that he wished Daddy Lim was here with us. I wished the same too. He said that if Daddy Lim was with us, he would help us and allow us to explore the cave. Lil Shauna was eagerly nodding in agreement. Too bad kids. We ended up having to be contented with just taking pictures on the narrow walkway.

On the way back to the main path, we saw another narrow and steep stairways. There were some railings and it looked safe enough for the kids to explore. I had to hold on to Zaky with my dear life though. I saw ambulance on the island but wouldn't want to activate any. The stairways led to again some big rocks that were near to the shoreline. The only access way was covered by litter that was probably washed up by the recent typhoon.

It looked too dangerous to explore further and we headed back up. I had to constantly yell at the kids to hold on to the handrail even if bugs were crawling on it.

Once back on the main path, we took a slow walk back to the pier.

We were bored and the kids and CY agreed to pose for me.

Cheung Chau is a lot bigger and we probably just explored one tiny part of it. Maybe it was the rain plus summer heat and the itchy mosquito bites, nobody complained when we suggested to call it a day.

We were right on time again and were again the last few to board the ferry. No need to wait. This time, the sea was a lot calmer and the kids got to watch YouTube for the entire journey. It was such a peaceful ride for me. Haha.

There was no other itinerary for the day and the kids spent the late afternoon and evening lazing in the room, watching TV and soaking in the tub. We had dinner at one of the restaurants nearby before turning in for the night in anticipate of Disneyland the next day. Hooray!

By the 3rd day, I was feeling so bad towards Lil Shauna. She had been so sensible throughout the trip and fortunately she was totally at ease with Ah yee and CY. I had to pass her to them so many times bcos the boy was such a handful and he took all my attention. There were even times that I purposely entertained the boy so that he wouldn't disturb jiejie. Haiz. Thank God for Lil Shauna. I heard that the kids were angels during the Penang trip. Apparently the magic disappeared when mummy is around. Ok, half the magic bcos Lil Shauna is still one angel.

Mummy Lim

Hong Kong without Daddy Lim Day 2 Part 2: Meow Meow Day Cafe

We thought of some animal theme cafes in the 2nd part of the day to burn some time. While the kids run around in the Science Museum, ah yee diligently googled about the possible options.

The kids were looking forward to the bunnies cafe but were told that they were being investigated for selling food without a food licence. As such, the cafe may be on suspension. It wouldn't be fun to travel so far (somewhere in HKG island) to find its door shut. Ah yee didn't want to go to a cat cafe. The only dog cafe that we found online was involved in some dog abuse scandal. Not good.

Ah yee and CY were really accommodating. While they didn't fancy the cat cafe, they suggested for us to proceed while they burnt the hour walking around. We decided on the Meow Meow Day Cafe in Mongkok. There would be plenty to entertain ah yee and CY too while we played with the cats plus Mongkok was near to our hotel in Jordan.

With GPS, it didn't take us very long to find the cafe after exiting the MTR station. We were given an hour before meeting up. It wasn't a big cafe and the kids said that there were like 17 cats, most of them unfortunately were lazy like normal cats. Haha.

The place didn't smell too unlike most dog cafes. The minimum charge was HKD80 per pax. Originally, I thought that the food and drinks charges were in additional to the cover charges only to have clarified only when we were leaving. Chey. The minimum spend = HKD240 for the 3 of us and we had to pay extras if we ordered above the minimium charge. We did get a snack and a drink eventually and didn't spend the full amount bcos dinner was too near.

Did the kids like the cat cafe? Of course. They never say no to animals, even if it was a pig or crocodile cafe. We were given a piece of chicken breast to feed the cats and the kids were thrilled to be swamped by cats.

After the food was gone, they ran off to try to get cats to play with them using the provided toys. Not many of the cats were interested though.

The last part, Lil Shauna went around snapping the cat pictures.

Including this one. Meow.

I do hoped that some of the cats were rescued cats bcos some of them didn't look like they were in the best condition. There was this really fierce one with only 1 eye. There was another scrawny looking one. Some had bad tear stains.

We left the cafe after 1.5 hr. It was really time to go bcos Zaky started sneezing and sniffing and his eyes started to itch and tear. He couldn't stop rubbing his eyes. Ah yee 1st reaction was why he cried when he didn't. Zzzzz. I knew Zyrtec would solve the problem but it was in the hotel. The pharmacy in the area also didn't carry the liquid version. We decided to head back to the hotel and I had to carry the boy a little bcos he could barely stop rubbing his eyes and thus couldn't see.

His condition definitely improved after a while and thank God that ah yee had the foresight to choose a cat cafe that was near to the hotel. He had his dose of Zyrtec not long after. Yeah!

By night, it had started to drizzle. We had dinner at one of the nearby 茶餐厅. Zaky couldn't eat much probably bcos of the snacks and that he was tired. We headed back to the hotel after the kids were done, leaving ah yee and CY to have a peaceful dinner. They helped us to buy snacks and water back thereafter.

That ended our day 2. Sleep was again easy.

Mummy Lim