I got so city girl on you...

Current music: Let's Dance by David Bowie

Hong Kong, Day 4

Before getting to Hong Kong, I was faced with a choice. Go to HK Disneyland, or go to Ocean Park, a supposedly superior amusement park that contained something else I love to a point that is comparable with Disney: sharks and dolphins. While debating which park to go to during my limited stay in the city, the answer was obvious, do both. Money should never be an object on vacation, even if you later regret it. Which is why Day 4 was spent with me again acting like a 4 year old for a good chunk of the day.

We took a bus to Ocean Park on a day that was threatening to rain ever since we woke up. When we first got there, I immediately wanted to go see the pandas before it got too busy. They were kind of boring, because all of them decided to sleep at the same time, but it's a rare thing to see giant pandas, and I was stoked anyways. One of them eventually woke up and started eating some bamboo, which was the cutest thing ever, so it was all worth it.

Current music: Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

Ocean Park is designed a lot like Hong Kong itself is. It's built along the side of a mountain, so half is on the bottom, and the other half requires a gondola ride to get to. So, we waited in line for a bit to take my second gondola in two days up to the top half of the park. It was a really cool ride, that went over the coast of the island. As soon as we got up there, there was an obvious air pressure change, was amazing to consider as it's all part of an amusement park. Our first stop at the top was the jellyfish hut, which was a cool little dark building with jellyfish in tanks and psychadelic lighting. Unfortunately it was pretty crowded in there and my claustrophobia kicked in after a few minutes, and I had to find deserted corners along the way before ultimately bailing. I got some cool pictures though.

Next up was the dolphin show, which I was super excited about, because I've been in love with dolphins since I was 7 years old. They had 4 dolphins in a tank, they were trained really well and put on a cute little show, along with some sea lions. There was a dorky storyline, but I guess there is one of those for every dolphin show, so it didn't matter anyways. It started to pour halfway through the show, but we didn't care and stuck it out. Totally worth it.

Current music: Five Years by David Bowie

Next, since we figured that the lines for rides would be slightly lessened because of the rain, we made our way to the roller coasters. The first one we got in line for was shut down after a few minutes of waiting, which was a bummer, but it gave us an excuse to make our way to the water log ride. That was a lot of fun, and we didn't even get that soaked. Plus, the ride had a lumberjack theme, so there were Canadian flags displayed everywhere, which was hilarious to me in itself. Next, we hit up this mine shaft themed roller coaster, which had just reopened. Probably the most nerve-wracking roller coaster I've ever been on, because half of it stretched out over the cliff, which of course were the steepest drops. It was an amazing ride, and we would have gone again if the line wasn't so long.

After that, we headed for the sea lions. There were a surprising amount of sea lions, with one particularly big one that felt like randomly rushing at the others. They were really cute, but made a lot of noise. When we were finished there we decided to head back down to the lower section of the park, this time taking a very small and crowded monorail thing, which made me really anxious, but thankfully wasn't that long of a ride.

After that we headed to the biggest aquarium I have ever seen, which was really cool, because it was structured to mimic the different levels of the ocean. The most exciting part for me was the shark tanks, which held tons of giant sharks, among other things.

Current music: Young Americans by David Bowie

We left the park around dinnertime, and headed for one last night at the Hong Kong Brew House. It was an awesome day, and I'm really happy we got to go and see some amazing animals.

Day 5 was short and simple. I had been searching for dim sum the entire night, as Hong Kong is supposed to have the best dim sum in the world. We finally found this place in the middle of the city that was actually called Dim Sum. We got there right around brunch time, which is perfect for dim sum, and it was pretty darn good. After that, we went shopping at H&M and at a used bookstore that Elyssa knew. After that, it was time to go to the airport, so we hopped on the MTR. Our plane was delayed for about an hour, so we got some beers and watched the Royal Wedding, which was more interesting than I thought it would be for some reason. We got into Kaohsiung at a little after 9, and back to Tainan by 10.

Hong Kong is exciting, diverse, uniquely structured and simply an amazing place to go. If I had the cash, I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Thing I miss of the week: cockroach-free streets. They aren't that bad here, but sometimes they can fly. Spooky.

Update soon. Out.

Your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working overtime...

Current music: Us by Regina Spektor

Day 2. At the most magical place on Earth, Hong Kong edition

When a girl who grew up watching Disney movies gets to go to Disneyland and act like a four year old for a whole day, magic happens. I guess it doesn't help that I spend my days surrounded by four year olds, but going to Hong Kong Disneyland got me one step closer to my goal of going to all 5 Disney theme parks.

We got to take the Disney subway to the park, which is exactly what it sounds like. A subway decked out in everything Disney. We were both already giggly on the way over there, aided by the coffee. We had already bought our tickets at the Victoria's Peak mall the previous day, which was the smartest idea ever, so we didn't have to wait in the first excruciating line.

After I regained some relative composure after freaking out for several minutes at everything, we first decided to hit the staples of Disneyland, which meant the first ride would be the Mad Hatter teacups. Since it was early, there was pretty much no line, which was awesome. After that, Elyssa had her heart set on going on It's A Small World, which I wanted to skip, to avoid the annoying singing robots. But we ended up going, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it when I was 10. We also skipped around the Sleeping Beauty castle for a bit.

Current music: Bulletproof by La Roux

Next up was Space Mountain in the Tomorrowland area, which I was a little worried about, because although I love roller coasters, I have to be able to see where I'm going. Thankfully, there is enough light that you can see the track a wee little bit and as a result, Space Mountain rocks. A lot. We also went on that rotating UFO ship ride, which was cool because you could see the whole park. Next up was a 3D Disney music show, which featured all of the best Disney musical sequences, which was amazing.

We went on a Buzz Lightyear shooting ride, which was more fun than I'd anticipated, and then went on Space Mountain again. Then, we decided to go to Adventureland and go on the Jungle Cruise, which was a little disappointing, because the boat guide was obviously phoning it in. Still entertaining though. Next was Tarzan's treehouse, which was more funny than anything, because we were acting more like children then the children present were. On the way there, we got hit on by a Jack Sparrow character, which in any other reality would have been a dream for me, except he was short and looked nothing like Jack Sparrow. Which made me laugh for about 20 minutes. Lastly, we decided to catch a live show which was a cute little Disney Oscars thing, featuring all classic Disney songs.

Current music: Turning Tables by Adele

We watched them light up the castle, while I went shopping for a shot glass on Main Street USA. Then, we decided to leave before our feet fell off, and went back to the Hong Kong Brew House, where the staff now knew us by name, which is always a good feeling. It was an amazing and memorable day and everyone needs to go to Disneyland at least once.

Day 3: Chasing the Buddha and shaking hands with Bruce Lee

One of the interesting things about Hong Kong is that you don't have to go very far to feel like you are far from civilization. One of the places that exemplifies this feeling is Lantau island, home of the world's second largest bronze sitting Buddha statue. It's one of the top tourist attractions in Honk Kong, and the Fodor's book that I got about HK said that it was the number one thing to see.

We got up super early, and hopped on a ferry bound for Lantau, a ride that lasted about 45 minutes. Once we made it onto the island, we hopped on a bus, which lasted another half hour. That trip was awe-inspiring, to see the coast of the island, and all the little villages scattered throughout. The big Buddha towers over the island, it sits on top of a mountain, at the base of which is a monastery and a very touristy little town.

We climbed up the seemingly millions of stairs to get to the Buddha, at the base of which you can buy many Buddha souvenirs. I went looking for a shot glass, but I couldn't find one. Plus, it would probably be blasphemous or something. I don't understand religion, but it would be cool to be Buddhist. We went to the Po Lin monastery after climbing down from the Buddha, it's always a weird experience to be in those temples. They are something else though.

Current music: Lotus Flower by Radiohead

We then took a hike around Lantau island, up a trail to a series of columns, on which are engraved phrases from a Chinese poem. The view from the top was amazing, the place itself was unreal. I met a cow and some stray puppies on the way back.

You can return to Hong Kong from Lantau island through a gondola, with a glass bottom called the Ngong Ping 360. It took us across the water, back to Kowloon, the island just off the coast of Hong Kong island. The gondola ride was spectacular, the little cabin was made of nothing but glass and you could see everything as we crossed the ocean. It was an unforgettable ride back.

We decided to stay for the evening on Kowloon. We first went and walked down the Avenue of Stars, which is the Hong Kong Cinema equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was unsure whether or not I would see any stars of people that I knew, but there was Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li and my personal favourite, Chow Yun Fat. After we made it to the end, we found a bar to chill at for awhile, where I found Strongbow, which I hadn't had since leaving Canada. We waited for the sun to set, so I could see the Hong Kong skyline, supposedly one of the most beautiful skylines in the world, which I don't doubt for a second, it was totally worth the wait. We then decided to hit one of Hong Kong's night markets, which I guess you have to do at least once while there, but the night markets in Taiwan are so much better, it didn't seem worth it to me.

Current music: Subtext is Deadly by Brahms

Since we were mentally and physically exhausted, we made it back to the hostel and immediately crashed. It was an amazing day to say the least.

Coming up on Jess's HK adventure: SHARKS!

Thing I miss of the day: Going to the movies. I still do it here, but it's just not the same.

G'night.