Having fun in Hong Kong

We landed in Hong Kong late at night and took a taxi into town, again we had used my points to get free accommodation in Hong Kong the first 2 nights were on Hong Kong Island in the Renaissance and the second two nights were at the Skycity Marriott near Disneyland Hong Kong.

The plan for the first 2 days was to do a little shopping and take in the central attractions, the weather was awful, cloudy, foggy and barely reaching 20C, so we thought we would go shopping first and see if the weather improved. We initially went to a mall, electronics are meant to be cheaper in Hong Kong but we disappointingly found the chain stores of Broadway and Fortress to be the same price as UK, we were hoping for a better zoom lens for Edwina camera and maybe a Go Pro for the kids, we did eventually by a Chinese equivalent of a Go Pro. We then headed to Stanley markets which stock lots of cheap tacky souvenir gifts, the kids loved going round and haggle with the street vendors, they got their names in Chinese, a waving cat and Luca got a mini flying droid.

For lunch we decided to try Tim Ho Wan, with 1 Michelin star and low prices we couldn't give it a miss, the dim sum was fantastic and all the kids loved it the favourite was the BBQ pork buns the best I have ever tried. We want back to the hotel to enjoy our free dinner in the executive lounge hoping to see the famous laser show across the harbour but unfortunately was cancelled tonight.

The next day we took the star ferry to Kowloon, the weather had not improved and the views weren't great, we headed to the science museum which was great for the kids, lots of interactive stands. We headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags to head out of town via Nathen street, the electronics seemed cheaper here but we were wary of the quality and being ripped off, we decided to buy a cheap telephoto lens for Africa and went into a store, 1 hour later we came out with an expensive lens and a mini projector, further research would reveal we indeed did get ripped off and engrossed into the moment, we both felt bitter and annoyed with ourselves, but had to move on.

Arriving at Skycity Marriott the kids could barely contain themselves with their excitement as we were visiting Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow, Arabella was keen to get to sleep "The quicker we get to sleep, the quicker tomorrow will arrive".

Tomorrow eventually arrived and we got the hotel shuttle to the park and purchased our 2 day passes. It is fantastic viewing the kid's faces walking round the park and especially when they got to meet the characters, Arabella had been wanting to meet her favourite princess Aurora for some time and no joy in our 2 trips to Euro Disney, but her face lit up when we saw her by the castle, "I am so happy, can't you tell", "Yes, Arabella". They also got to meet Elsa and Anna, Sofia, Buzz, Lotso and Chip and Dale. We visited during the week and kids were at school which meant the queues were short around 5-10 mins each, but one thing that struck Edwina and I the most, we couldn't get over the number of adults there with no kids, posing with the characters and going on rides designed for primary school ages, the Chinese are certainly mad for it and it did add another element of entertainment for us trying to understand the attraction.

Eventually it was time to fly out, bye bye Asia and hello Africa!