Hong Kong - Disneyland, Part 1

Tour date: 11th December 2006

Hong Kong Disneylaned is located on a reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks. It was opened to visitors on 12 September 2005, just a year in operation at the time of our visit. We had our group photo taken on the Disneyland main entrance by 1 of the tourist.

Disney attempted to avoid problems of cultural backlash by attempting to incorporate a Chinese culture, customs, and traditions when designing and building the resort, including adherence to the rules of feng shui. A bend was put in a walkway near the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort entrance so good qi @ chi (good) energy wouldn't flow into the South China Sea.

The 2 photos up and below were at the first part of the entrance and entering into the main street of USA.

The park consists of 6 themed areas, 1) Main Street USA, 2) Fantasy land, 3) Adventure land 4) Tomorrow land, 5) Grizzly Gulch and 6) Toy Story Land. The theme park's cast members speak in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. Guide maps are printed in traditional and simplified Chinese as well as English, French, and Japanese for easy guidance to all it's visitors. For the first part of the entry, I'm sharing our activities before dawn and nightfall due to our short available time to explore all 6 theme parks.

With Sleeping Beauty Castle as a background photo

Below 2 photos are my family photos at the first park, the Main Street of USA with a feeling of a cowboy town with US Marshal looking after the safety aspect of the street. The street was designed to resemble an early 20th-century Midwest town. It was so unfortunate that the kids were not able to explore and experience this street more due to short available times.

After a quick passing through and some photos in the main street, we took a Disneyland Railroad for a relaxing journey and brief overview of the whole parks. We did not miss a thing during a ride and decided which section of the park that we shouldn't missed before witnessing a peak show of a day, Disney fireworks. Children's bought souvenirs for themselves and friends.

Thereafter, we adjourned straight to Adventure Land thinking that the fantasy land was only meant for Syahirah, our only girl. We could just walked by later after everybody had their fun at the Adventure Land. For the record, both the Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Land sections was only fully completed and operational in year 2012. 

Below is a crossing bridge to the Tarzan house. We enjoyed the jungle featuring theme, mostly imitate from the Disneyland movies in this section.

We managed to ques for raft rides. It was a long ques and the rides was not really that fun after all.

Naim and Syahirah with the ethnic drummers performing their beautiful native song before we headed back to Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land. The sun has almost about to set and not much natural lighting at that point but the next 2 section (in the next entry) was beautifully lighten up.

To be continued....

Hong Kong - City Tour, Part 2

Tour date: 11th December 2006

After we finished with the sightseeing at the Victoria Peak, the tour bus took us to 1 of the famous temple, Kwum Yam Shrine in Hong Kong, seated next to beautiful beaches. On a foot walk from the bus parking area, the tour agent had pointed up to Jackie Chan's house right on top of the hill. Thus, I took hubby and the kids using Jackie Chan's house as a background for memento. The cliff of Qian Shui Wan is where a bunch of rich and famous people built an exclusive hideouts for themselves, including Jackie Chan. But I believe, it must be 1 of the house from many of Jackie Chan's property collection.

The Repulse Bay beach is properly kept and well maintained to appreciate the rich neighbourhood. It has a nice children's playground and becoming 1 of tourist major attraction.

The Taoist shrine of Kwum Yam is located just after the children's park at the south eastern end of Repulse Bay of Hong Kong Island. Mostly people came here offering their prayer, whilst, tourist like us just took the opportunity to take photos within a beautiful shrine.

Statues of Kwum Yam

We were told by the tour guide that a touch to Cai Shin (God of prosperity) tummy shall bring good luck and wealth, so, while hubby was entertaining him, we pushed Nasrul up to the Camel stone sculpture. He was very pleased.

Adjacent to the camel statue and next to Kwum Yam statue is a huge statue of Tin Hau. Tin Hau is the English transliteration based on the common Cantonese name of Mazu, 1 of the goddess and/or deities in Taoism belief. 

Tin Hau big statue

Just a left out photo from the 1st entry of taking a ride from the boat for cruising at the Victoria Harbour.

We were so frustrated when the bus made a final stop at the gemstone factor cum exhibition centre to attract tourist buying. Though we complaint as we will be left with so little time to enjoy Disneyland, the tour agent just shut deaf his ear. This was the last trip that we book our tour through any tour agent. Till date, what we did was booking an air ticket and hotels through online and arranged the transport upon our arrival.

Every movement with  a large group were slowing us down.  Each rides for the bus to finally take us to the Disneyland seems to be a nightmare.

As you can see by the way we were crossing a sea tunnel to Disneyland it was already close to 5pm. Sigh.

To be continued... 

Hong Kong - City Tour, Part 1

Tour date: 11th December 2006

Our accommodation in Hong Kong is at Metropark Hotel, Mongkok seated on excellent location in Kowloon, a minute's walk from Prince Edward MRT station. It provides an airport shuttle bus service and it has an award winning Chinese restaurant inside. Among it's nearby attractions are the Goldfish market and Fa Yuen Street. The Ladies market and Sai Yeung Choi Street are less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel. 

Nasrul on viewing deck of Victoria Peak

By 8am, we were ready and waited at the bus stop outside the hotel for the bus provided by the local tour agent to fetch us for city tour and later the same bus will send us to Disneyland. Though we pray that the transfer was smooth and in time, following the given schedule, it was not happen in our case. We ended up regretting taking the package and wishes that we should have go around places on our own. The service was miserably and poorly rated.

After numerous stop fetching the rest of the tourist on nearby hotels, the Hong Kong tour guide made the first stop at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) located at Victoria Harbour. The place was opened in 1988 and became the premier venue for international convention and meeting location. We had our family photos taken by the tour guide in below photo.

Golden Bauhinia Square

Victoria harbour provides a perfect backdrop for events held in the Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). We had few photos to reminiscence the spectacular view of the Victoria Harbour which is a major attraction in Hong Kong. The most splendid view of yearly fireworks display on second night of the Lunar New Year is the most popular event held in the harbour. 

Below photo is the Tsim Shat Sui Waterfront Promenade constructed by the New World Hotel in 1982. In 2003 the group, New World Hotel sponsored HK$40 million for the construction of "Avenue of Star, a salute to eminent Hong Kong film star, open in April 2004. The Avenue of Stars becoming a famous tourist attraction. 

Avenue of a Stars

After we had enough with the photo shoots, the bus took us to Jumbo Floating Restaurant. In here, we had a choice to ride a motorized boat seated nearer the floating restaurant and be acquainted with how fisherman in Hong Kong. The ride is HK$50 for each person. 

Our next destination was to Victoria Gap or famously known as "The Peak", seated at about 150 meters below the summit of Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is a mountain located in the western half of the Hong Kong Island. We had an unobstructed view of Victoria Harbour and it's metropolis. 

To be continued....

Hong Kong, the arrival & the departure - 2006

Tour date: 10th till 12th December 2006

We landed in Hong Kong International Airport slightly before noon on 10th December where we parted with the rest of our China tour group, except that Aileen (in below photo) and her mother, who also chose to extend 3 days 2 nights stay in Hong Kong on our own. With a great change in weather, from minus degree to average 21 degrees, the kids had stated that Hong Kong is a much better place than China, more likeable.

The chartered bus took us to our designated hotel in Kowloon. Along the road, I snapped below photo from the bus. It was quite hazy in Hong Kong City at that time, but the view is still pleasant to see, by comparison it is closer to Singapore city view.

Not to waste time, everybody were excited and get ready as quickly as they can to explore rows of streets within Kowloon area. The boys choices of place are the sport shops, whilst, we the 2 girls had to tag along until we rather enjoyed our self shopping at the night market. The night market is really lively and we got the opportunity to choose a wide variety of things, including the boots.

Hong Kong has undergone many era since ancient time or best known as pre-colonial time, British Colonial time, Japanese invasion era, Cold war era and the surrender of Hong Kong Republic to Mainland China in July 1997. On 1 July 1997 the transfer of sovereignty from United Kingdom to the PRC occurred, officially ending 156 years of British colonial rule in Hong Kong.  

Hong Kong is now under China's first special administrative region. After the take over, Hong Kong suffered an economic double blow from the Asian financial crisis and the H5N1 avian influenza and again gravely affected by SARS epidemic in 2003. WHO reported that over 1700 over was infected and close to 300 death toll was recorded resulting lost of millions of Hong Kong dollars contracts. In 2009 Hong Kong hosted the 5th East Asian Games, being the first and largest international multi-sport event ever held in the territory. Today, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important global financial centre, but faces uncertainty over its future due to the growing mainland China economy and its relationship with the China Central Government government in areas such as democratic reform.

We fully make use of the first day to shop as we have no time to do so on the second day with a packed itinerary, 1st half for City Tour and the 2nd half of the day to Hong Kong Disneyland. Hubby was not that happy as he miss a lot of his shopping list, thus, early morning of our departure, 12th June 2006, he took a train to his shopping destiny. The rest of us just stay back at the hotel, packed the luggage and get out on nearby street looking for foods. 

On the way to the airport, the coach stopped at Disneyland Hotel to pick up the passenger (also from Malaysia). Nazhif took the opportunity for picture.

Happy man in below photo who get most of the things that he wanted from the Hong Kong trip. The China trip was my kind of place to go but this man (my husband), does not like hunting for ancient city, temples or going to historic places. Marriage requires a lot of compromise, understanding, supports and giving space to one another. We found that in each other. 

The children have rated that Cathay Pacific is the best airline in the world. I agree. If times and places of interest for our next family vacation permits, we shall again book to fly with Cathay Pacific. Their service is actually as good as taking Emirates airline, maybe closer to Malaysia Airlines (I hope I'm not biased). 

When we arrived in KLIA International Airport, we had to wait few minutes before my brother came to fect us. Our luggage justify the period of our travels to 2 countries, China and Hong Kong. We left the house on 3rd December 2006 and we returned home on 12th December 2006. Six months later, in May 2007, my career has greatly change and along the way, I choose to change my perception and expectations. 

Stay on line to read my next entries, 2 on our City Tour and 2 more in Disneyland.

Marina Bay, Singapore

I was standing on the most upper floor of One Marina Boulevard Building before the meeting commenced when I snapped below panorama photo using my IPhone 5. It's beautiful to me and with the IPhone, it makes my blogging life became easier. It was very convenience and handy just to bring IPhone to snap photos and upload the record of my travelling and/or daily life journal. All photos in this entry was taken on 1st April 2013 to record my day trip event to Singapore, on official visit.

When I entered the meeting room, I was taken away with the gorgeous view of Marina Bay. It was slightly after 9.30 in the morning and with a fresh coffee aroma, I was definitely in a mood of capturing the moment. The marina bay was not fully completed during my family trip in June 2010, thus, I was admiring the astonishing building, Marina Bay Sands, officially opened on 15th February 2011 from a distance. The main contractor of the building far right of the photo was Ssangyong Engineering and Construction, a Korean international contractor.

Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay, developed by Las Vegas Sands as the world's most expensive stand alone casino property at SGD8 billion (about MYR20 billion), including cost of it's prime reclaimed land. It has the casino, hotel rooms, a convention-exhibition centre, the shopping mall, a museum, 2 large theatres, 7 "celebrity chef" restaurants, 2 floating Crystal Pavilions, an ice skating rink, and the world's largest atrium casino. The exclusive attraction of the complex are a 340m long SkyPark and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m.

On the other hand, I was enjoying my guest simple and cosy office decoration. The flower pots stay healthy under loving cares of the caretaker. 

We had an Indonesian food inside 1 of the restaurant inside "The Shoppes At Marina Bay Sands" after walking in a near distance. Everything was within the Marina Bay vicinity, very convenience development indeed. Many joggers were doing their routine though it was a hot sunny day.

The view of the floating boats are nice to see. It is available for ride at a certain rates. However, I dont have much time left for the rides.

This is another interesting object that I found and could not resisted taking it's picture that I found within the Olympic Walk as it was an art of peacocks feather.

My happy faces with a restaurant at The Shoppes background using an IPhone 5 camera application.

After the official duty ended at 3pm, I headed to see a family friend in Aloha Beach. They have gathered there for 3 days celebrating their family members birthdays, born in March and April. I was lucky to join their leftover BBQ sea foods and enjoyed the Singapore hawkers food. They are so kind to ordered my family's favorite lamb soup for take away. Lucky that it went through the immigration checks.

Below is the last photo that I took from the plane. The plane take-off at 1915 and I safely reached home after 2200 hours. It was a hectic journey but a reunion with Kak Nonie and Abang Amin was worth all my effort to get there. Hope to visit again soon.

Naim on National Service

On 31st March 2013, Naim is officially off to undertake his role by taking part in Malaysia National Services known at "Pusat Latihan Khidmat Negara" @ PLKN Gopeng, Perak State. He was pleaded for more than a month so that we, as his parent did something for him to be excused including enrolling him into the college. We both are playing adamant role. With no choice in hand, I send him to the register tent and get inside the bus no. BKW 2904 to take him to to Gopeng camp.

He was sad and confused whether or not the challenge is for him but the father told him to take this chance to build a six packs muscle given all facilities and opportunities to do so under a strict training programme. 3 months are a nightmare to my beloved boy who never understand a hardship, including studies. We pray that he will take the training seriously and as big lesson to become mature and responsible man. He did not even take the form that PLKN sent via registered post, however, since his name is listed they allowed him to participate. I was extremely relieved when I snapped the below photo at the registration tent.

Mostly all other trainee had their forms ready for the PLKN officer's to check the completeness of the documents during registration day like the girl who que in front of Naim. Naim has to complete his documentation in Gopeng. It was though good and promising as the trainee is given a 4 days off on 1st till 4th May 2013 with parents authorization and/or official request letter. I guess I would be seeing him after a month with the short hair and muscular toughness, hope so. 

The photo below is to record the sad day for him but the happy day for me and his father, at 10.20am on Sunday morning, 31st March 2013.

Umi, his girlfriend was also there to give him moral support though both of us shed a tears after seeing him going to the bus. Umi will go next year for 6 months as from next year onward, the Government has impose a compulsory services to all students who finished their SPM examination. Naim is considered still lucky as his turn is the last year for a 3 months training.

It was not bad as Naim had 1 of his close friend, Abe to be with him on the same camp. They both seems so cheerful to be on the trip and I'm sure they will get miserable together for unable to smoke in the camp. Smoking is definitely prohibited. 

This was the last photo of them (Naim & Abe) before the bus finally moving at 10.30am. I had my fun day by celebrating soon after that, at the hair saloon and later in the afternoon at the massage parlour with my sister. While on the massage, he called with a sad voice but the line was so bad that I had to call him later the night when I was home. He sounded miserable by complaining that everything is dirty including the food. Sigh. Maybe, he should have understood by now why I keep on pestering him to clean his room and wash the toilet. We gave him our moral support and pray that he survives all challenges as part of a growing cycle. Amen.