Best Bargain in Hong Kong

For $7 HKD, our family rode the Star Ferry from Central to Tsim Tsa Tsui, on the upper deck even (the more expensive class). That's a whopping $1 USD - what a bargain!


The ride takes about 7 minutes and is a wonderful way to see the city from the water. It used to be be my favorite way to cross the Harbour when I was a teen (and even on a teenager's budget, I would ride in the upper deck - I didn't care for the squawking chickens on the lower deck back then).

Wild Pink Dolphins

On our last day in Hong Kong, I booked us on a tour with HK DolphinWatch - an organization to raise awareness about the plight of endangered pink dolphins in the South China Sea near where the Pearl River delta meets the ocean.


There are only about 150 of these dolphins left and we spotted a handful - and they're really pink! Note that it's really hard to get a good photo of a wild dolphin when it's 30 feet away and you can't tell where it's going to surface next! The babies start out grey (we saw one of those swimming with the mother) and then turn pink when they hit their "teenage" years.

I also couldn't resist taking a photo of one of our fellow traveller's choice of footwear for a 3 hour outing on a small boat ;)

I've been spoiled...

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong, one of the nicest hotels in the city - and it was just ho hum to me. I've been spoiled by our stay at the Venetian in Macau - the toilet here doesn't have a seat warmer!

Here's the view of Hong Kong Harbour from our window.

Olympic Fever

Since the Olympic Equestrian events are taking place in Hong Kong, there was a great deal of excitement when we were there. It started with a large Olympic countdown clock at the airport.

There was also a large Olympic display on the waterfront.
And lots of fuwas (the 5 mascots) everywhere.
Our favorites were the panda (Jing Jing) and the Flame (Huan Huan).

Hong Kong Disneyland

We flew up to HK for a few days and spent one night at the HK Disneyland Hotel, in our continued quest to visit all the Disney properties around the world. The hotel looks just like the Grand Floridian at Disney World.



This is the newest of the Disney parks and faced a barrage of criticism when it opened that there was not enough to do. While we completely enjoyed the park, it was probably about 3/4 the size of Disneyland in Anaheim and had about 50% of the attractions. There was a noticeable absence of "E ticket" rides - no Pirates, no Haunted Mansion, one single Mountain (Space).

Still, our expectations had been set by reading some of the reviews beforehand and we had a great time. The one downside was that it was searingly hot - probably around 38 celsius (~ 100 F), and that really sapped our energy (HK had a bit of a heat wave while we were there - lucky us!)

Highlights included a Small World ride with an expanded Asia section and the incorporation of various Disney characters, and the lines were all very short.





It was the first time I had the option of snacking on Korean squid in a Disney park - and I had a really good blackcurrant jelly ice cream bar.






And the Chinese restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel (Crystal Lotus) was just phenomenal - check out the dim sum (this is known as "woo guo" - or crispy taro balls - first time ever presented as swans!)

If you're in HK with kids and have a day to spare, this is a worthy stop. But I wouldn't make a special trip here. As we left, my daughter asked, "Are we going to Tokyo Disneyland next year then?" Yikes!