Hong Kong

Off on our travels again, partly holiday, partly research trip. Hong Kong is holiday. An early start means that we land by midday. The girls don't know we're going to Disneyland so when we pass under the arch on the way to the resort hotel they are beside themselves with excitement. But they have to wait until tomorrow as we have friends in HK to see first. I had wanted to go in by boat (the harbour's such a great entrance) but there's no service from the resort so we take the MRT which takes us straight into Central to see Lydia whom we know from our Tokyo days (now with husband and toddler) and then on to see Veronica and KC who've just moved into a new apartment in Wanchai. One forgets how incredibly dense, vertical and multi-levelled HK is. We drive to a restaurant. The car park entrance on Kennedy Road is actually on the 17th floor. We take the lift down 16 floors to the Queens Road level where the restaurant is. Afterwards our friends insist on taking us up to the Peak. The road climbs and winds and climbs and winds until finally we're there to see... a complete blanket of mist. Can't see a thing!

Disneyland the next day is wonderful. Bit drizzly but it doesn't dampen our spirits and also means that it's not so crowded. Very impressed with the way it's laid out: Fantasyland with its emphasis on the classics with Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh rides; Adventureland with its Tarzan treetops-island and Lion King show; Tomorrowland with its fun Buzz Lightyear and scary Space Mountain rides; and Main Street USA with its shops and cafes. There are several offshoots too, like the It's A Small World pavilion where boats take us along a 'river' past multicultural, mechanical sets with singing, dancing puppets - amazingly colourful and intricate; and Mickey's Philharmagic show which combines 3D cinema with other effects like wind, water and Donald Duck shooting out of the screen at you and ending up embedded in the rear wall of the theatre. Then there's the parade ("Look, it's Ariel!!") and the fireworks show at the end. Disney. Magic. Dreams. Princesses. What a brand.