Family Trip 2009 - Hong Kong

Day 1 - 5 Dec
K’s work will be taking him to US for a good 6 months. This actually crystallize our plan to have a family vacation before he leaves. Thus the last min scramble to book flights and hotels.

The day arrives and the excitement woke me up at 5.30am. At 6pm, J was up. The challenge was waking M up as he has never been up that early. I gently rouse M by telling him that his favorite cartoon character, Mickey is waiting for him. That does the trick.

Our flight is scheduled at 10.10am but we are at the airport by 8.30am. That gives us some time to while away in the airport so we headed for breakfast at Burger King where there is a children’s play corner. I secretly hope to wear them out so that it gives me some R&R time on the 3.5hrs flight.

J is an experienced traveler when it comes to taking the plane while it is M’s first experience. We even bought M his own seat so that we can travel comfortably (try carrying a 13kg for 3.5 hrs). The flight was relatively smooth sailing as M took a short nap but towards the last hour, both the boys start fidgeting and I wish for the pilot to accelerate and arrive sooner because the plane departed 1 hour late, making us coop up in the plane for 4.5hrs instead!

Our accommodation for the next 2 nights is at Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Tsim Tsai Tsui. We had 2 rooms because we used K’s Priority Club points. For HK’s standard, the rooms are considered big! I am very happy with the choice of this hotel as there are many amenities nearby. After puting down our luggage, we went out to check the vicinity as well as have a bowl of Wanton noodles HK style. The boys must be hungry as they gobble up the noodles. Having filled our stomachs, we headed back to the hotel for a longer rest before we head out to HK island to meet some of my colleagues for dinner.

Today is also the opening of the East Asian Games thus the roads in the vicinity are closed. My plan was to take the Star Ferry over to Wan Chai and from there take the taxi to meet my friends. After walking for 15 mins, we were told that the ferry isn’t operating as there will be fireworks display that night for the games opening. Arrgghhh!!! Now we have to lug the 2 boys and travel by MRT.

Despite HK’s efficiencies, its MRT system is not child-friendly as it is a old system. The lift to the platform is very slow and we end up carrying the pram down the flight of staircases to reach the platform. After 1 hour, we finally reach our dinner destination but by then, we were too exhausted to enjoy the dinner. What a way to start the vacation!

After dinner, we had to take the train back to TST and arrived just in time for the fireworks. I missed it as I went to buy dinner for the boys since we didn’t eat much earlier on. After washing up, we retire for the night.

Day 2 - 6 Dec 2009

We are awaken by M’s crying. It was 8 am. The plan is to go for yum cha, my favorite activity in HK. So far, I have not found any restaurants in Singapore that can duplicate the yum cha culture in HK much less the taste and flavor. It took us forever to get ready and by the time we reach the restaurant, it was time for brunch. Prince Restaurant @ One Peking Road came highly recommended by my friends.

The restaurant is relatively quiet for a Sunday morning but I quite enjoy the tranquility. The restaurants oversee the Victoria Harbor and the boys could see cruise ships & ferries passing by the harbor. B and SP drop us a surprise at the restaurant and they came bearing Xmas presents for us!

After brunch, J insist on taking the Star Ferry and so we did the touristy thingy and did the one hour cruise. The cruise would have been better in the night as the skyline of HK is mesmerizing at night. But well, in our house, I guess you know who calls the shot.

After the cruise, we walk around the TST shopping area before heading back to the hotel for a short rest. No trip to HK is complete without eating from my favorite Chinese fast food restaurant, Café De Coral. While K takes the kids up to the hotel room, I paid my pilgrimage and bought snacks back for an afternoon feast. Yum yum.

Our plan for tonight is to visit Ladies Market and then head to Lei Yu Mun for seafood dinner. All went well until it was time to go for dinner and that is where the nightmare begins – M’s tantrum. He started crying and being difficult. This thwarted our dinner plan. The only way is to head back to the hotel and rely on good old Café de Coral again. When we reached the hotel, M refuse to go into the room. In the room, he would insist on going out. When outside, he would insist on something else. As it has been a long day, it is a test on our patience. As it is drawing late, K have to take over pacifying M while I feed J his dinner. J is a gem and finished his dinner quickly and played by himself while M was crying throughout and refuse to eat dinner or milk. After a few hours, exhaustion overtook him and finally fell asleep.

Day 3 - 7 Dec
Today is suppose to be a Magical Day because we are heading to Disneyland. Matt woke up grouchy and refuse to be pacified. He is also cold and hungry as he was trembling all over. It was after his milk feed that he becomes more co-operative. After washing up and checking out, we headed for Disneyland, hoping that it can instill some magic into this holiday.

Lo and behold, it turns out to be a wet and cold day as it was raining. We had to pay exorbitant price for some ponchos which in the end, M ends up refusing to wear it. My saving grace is J who is super co-operative throughout the trip. Despite the weather, I am determined to make this a wonderful experience for the boys.

Even though this is the 3rd time I’ve been to HK’s Disneyland, this is the 1st time I’m enjoying myself so much!

When we headed back to the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel, it was in the evening. After checking into the room, we had some difficulties getting the boys out for dinner because they like the room so much. J was glued to the Disney channel while M explores all the Mickey motifs he can find. When we finally coax them out of the room, we treated ourselves to a nice international buffet which the boys enjoyed too.

Day 4 - 8 Dec

Today marks the last day of our vacation. Secretly I am looking forward to going home as K and I are totally worn out and our patience severely tested. But since we still have ½ day left, we headed back for Disneyland once again. After a few hours, J actually said “OK, enough. Let’s go back!”. I think this is the 1^st time a child has enough of Disneyland!

At the airport, Mr Menace acted up again. He refused lunch and glass cutlery was being thrown everywhere in the restaurant. At this point, I am immune to the dirty looks given to me. While on board, he slept for about an hour but once awake, he cried non-stop throughout. I’ve to pull out all sorts of tricks to pacify him. We ended up standing at the gallery for almost 2 hours! Fortunately when nearer to landing time, he is placid and fortunately was not charged for being a nuisance. Phew!

I do have some afterthoughts which I am having some difficulty organizing it into concise thoughts. I have mixed feelings about this trip. One one hand, I lament about the holiday but on the other, I know that is another holiday chance surface, I would jump at it again. People say that pregnancy makes a woman becomes forgetful. I guess it is true as very soon, these hardship would be forgotten ad you would be reading another holiday post.