Hongkong Trip (part 2)

The next day, we were finally moving out of the guesthouse to move into one of the hotels of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Out of the three hotels, we stayed in the one named ‘Hollywood Hotel’, which had a glassy building feel to it.

It also had a winding path behind it, which led to the pool and also the famed Hollywood sign.

Hollywood Hotel

Our room was on the fifth floor, and unlike the guesthouse, actually looked like a hotel room. It was spacious and had a carpet. The TV also could play those super old Disney cartoons. The room also had Wi-Fi, which was perfect for me to use the phone I did not have.

We also visited the other two hotels, Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disney Explorers Lodge. The Disneyland Hotel was more of a regal castle, whilst the Lodge was made to look like a wooden shack. The differences between, from what I know, are purely aesthetic.

Hongkong Disneyland Hotel

Disney Explorer's Lodge

The day after that, we finally entered the Disneyland Park. The park was split into seven parts, Main Street U.S.A, Adventureland, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, Toy Storyland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

Main Street was a road that served mainly as the entrance leading to the park. The sidewalks were lined with shops that sold merchandise. My brother bought one of those mini-electric fans that had the Avengers on theme.

Main Street

Adventureland had a river ride where you could ride a boat either around the river or to Tarzan’s tree house, where you can get a view of the area. It also had a dance show of the Lion King, where they would retell the story whilst adding in songs and dances.

Tarzan's Tree House

Grizzly Gulch had a rollercoaster that went around the entire area, and was fun, though not as intense as the Hair Raiser in Ocean Park. There was also a little area where you could get wet, called the Geyser Gulch.

Grizzly Gulch

Mystic Point had the Mystic Manor, where you would ride a vehicle through the entire manor and watching the spectacles of light bring its artifacts to life. Though, there is a jumpscare near the end. The most interesting part is that the vehicle operates through magnets under the floor. There are no rails that lead the vehicle through the manor.

Mystic Manor

Toy Storyland had the RC Racer, which is just a reimagined version of the Viking ship ride that most amusement parks had. There was also the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, which was just a less intense version of The Abyss in Ocean Park. There are also two other rides that we did not bother riding since they seemed not very thrilling.

Toy Storyland

Tomorrowland had a ride featuring Iron Man, where we wore 3D glasses and rode in motion-simulating seats. It was fun, despite the lack of the thrilling feel that rollercoasters had. There was also a character greeting with Iron Man, and his introductory effects were cool. I was a bit disappointed when he did not have a voice, though.

There was another ride called Hyperspace Mountain, a Star Wars rollercoaster in the dark where it seemed like we were flying through space. It was tame, compared to the Hair Raiser in Ocean Park.

Another ride that we rode was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. It was a slow-ride where you would be equipped with a laser gun to shoot targets with during the ride. There was one occasion where the ride was stopped, but the guns continued to work, so my brother and I just continually shot and racked up points. I almost hit a million.

Fantasyland was, well, avoided almost completely. There was nothing that suited a family that had two teenage boys, so we just ignored it. The only thing we did that was eat at the Royal Banquet Hall.

The castle that we didn't get to explore...

The food was super expensive, and honestly not that good. I am not going to bother writing about it.

Later at night, were the parade and the fireworks show. I found them to be not so interesting, as I was not a little kid, and I had to use the toilet. Unfortunately for me, one of my slippers ended up breaking, and I had to walk back to the fireworks show barefooted.

But, thanks to my dad’s genius, he managed to patch it up long enough until we got back to the hotel.

The following day was when we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel. To be honest, the food was nothing special, as was most of the food at the park.

Mom said we gotta have the
Mickey Mouse pancake...

We ended the day off by visiting the other two hotels before leaving for the airport.

Hongkong Trip (part 1)

Tsim Sha Tsui is an urban area of southern Kowloon, where we took our place of stay for a majority of our trip in Hong Kong. Tsim Sha Tsui had an excess of malls, guesthouses, and most of all, money exchangers.

I once found six money exchangers all right next to each other, albeit one was closed.

Mom and bro at the park...

My mom booked a guesthouse instead of a hotel, so the services were purely just one tiny room.

The building itself was called Harilela Mansion, and its elevator’s smell reminded my dad of Quiapo Underpass, which apparently smelled worse.

The worst part was when we had to go check in. My dad and I were waiting on the twelfth floor with our luggage whilst my mom and Tristan went upstairs on the thirteenth floor to check in.

It was quiet, other than the constant beeps of the elevator that had stopped working on that floor. The door would not close, and it would not operate at all. There were barely any windows in that corridor, so I felt thoroughly spooked.

Then, my dad told me that he was going to

check up on my mom and brother upstairs, leaving me by myself with the luggage. I firmly said that he had to stay with me, because otherwise there would be literally no one else but me there.

When my beloved mom and brother who were taking way too long finally returned, we eventually reached our room.

Except, not really.

The card did not work, so the receptionist took us up to the thirteenth floor to get us another room.

Fortunately, we took the stairs so we did not have to enter the smelly elevator again.

When we finally got into the room, I was surprised to see how cramped it was. It’s difficult to put into words how cramped it was, so you will just have to take my word for it.

But, there were beds, so I was more than relieved to finally let my dumb, skinny legs rest.

The next two or something days were just us walking around, I, for the life of me, cannot remember those two days, so I will not bother writing about them.

Me: Really dad?

Tristan: I don't believe you mom!

In my opinion, the highlight of the trip was our visit to Ocean Park. It had its share of thrilling rides and decent food.

The first ride we took was immediately the biggest one, called the Hair Raiser. It was one of the more intense rollercoasters, which had loops.

Fortunately for us, the first time we waited in line was pretty quick. It was one of those rides that you had to take off your glasses for.

Somehow, through sheer coincidence, I bumped into a friend from school. I decided that we headed to the bumper cars, and whilst my family and I were idly waiting in line, I spotted him, waiting in a car for it to start.

I found it a humorous coincidence, and the surprise on his face when I called out to him was hilarious.

About to ride "The Flash" with Asher...

Afterwards, when we had finished the ride too, my friend and I met up at what I would call the best ride in all of Ocean Park.

The Flash was a ride that would bring you up and down like the Viking ship rides at most amusement parks, except it was twice as tall and several times as fast.

The Flash would swing like a pendulum, slowly reaching higher heights until it would cover all 360 degrees.

It was an exhilarating ride.

Other memorable rides were The Abyss, where it would lift you up, and then drop you.

Unlike my parents and brother, I was too tired to ride it a second time.

Though this was not a ride, Ocean Park had a mesmerising shark tank, full of marine creatures and the like. It was, for the lack of a better word, really cool.

The tank had two levels of viewing areas and the room itself had a cave-like feel to it.

On the higher level, the surface was exposed, and occasionally, you could see the fin of the shark poking out.

I recall there being this incredibly ugly fish. It was gigantic, as in, bigger than my whole torso.

 On the lower level, you could see the marine creatures through the side view. Most of the sharks were just lazing around near the bottom, so this is you can see them the most.

There was one shark where the teeth were all exposed, and its eye seemed to be bulging out, staring at the people who looked at it through the glass.

Like most fish, it did not blink, ramping up its creepy factor to a whole ‘nother level.

As the shark swam across the tank, I walked beside it on the other side of the glass across the corridor.

The shark was fun to observe with its frightening appearance.

The aquarium had those educational boards that most aquariums had, which were also interesting to read.

Afterwards, we walked around, trying out the other attractions and just enjoying ourselves in the park, though nothing to distinct to write about.

And soon afterwards, the day concluded, and we had to head back to the guesthouse.

Pinky Promise (The Beauty of Cherry Blossoms) by Nanette Celedonio

This was my first trip to Japan and my itinerary was really simple: to witness the beauty of cherry blossoms, to take a picture with Hachiko, to take a photo and video of Shibuya crossing and to eat sushi!

Cherry blossoms along the street near  the hotel.

It was a very short 3-day trip but I was able to maximise my time very well.  I even had problems with my visa and vacation leaves prior to the trip and I thought that it would not push through but thankfully I was able to resolve the issues.  And I was very fortunate to be able to use my husband's reward miles.  Since this is Japan's peak season, airfares have rocketed really high and I was so lucky to be able to book my airfare for free...paying only taxes!
Prior to the trip, I was able to contact a friend who took time out to tour me around Tokyo. If not for her, I wouldn't be able to experience a lot of things in that short period of time.  My biggest problem going around Tokyo is that I don't understand the language and most of the signages are in Japanese and it's difficult to ask around because people don't speak much English.

Up close with these short-lived but amazing flowers.  That fleeting moment when you are on a high experiencing God's  creation.

Was able to ride the Shinkansen, one of the world's fastest trains...

Met up with Hachiko, the famous dog and one of the landmarks in Shibuya

Disney Trip by Angelo Celedonio

I wasn’t as excited as I should’ve been when I woke up. I was going to Disneyland with my parents and brother after all. Well, technically it was Disneysea, but who cares about the specifics? I got ready, bathe and breakfast and all that stuff. Dad was also coming with us, and so we were off. We went to Urayasu station, but it turned out to be the wrong station, and we had to go to Maihama station. Instead, we just took a taxi to get there. 

Taxis in Japan are so cool! They are embellished with really nice seat covers and they open automatically.

It was pretty far. I shuddered at the thought of having to walk there. The ride to the amusement park took about probably ten minutes.

We had finally arrived and we headed to the front gate. After giving our tickets and papers, and clearing up some other stuff, we were in the Tokyo Disneysea theme park at last.

The first place we headed to was ‘Mysterious Island’, which held Mt. Prometheus and the first ride we had was, ‘Journey To The Center Of The Earth’. The line wasn’t too long, and we had gotten on the ride fairly quick. 

It was awesome how there was an elevator that made it seem like you were being brought down much farther than where you were actually going. The ride didn’t go that fast at the beginning, and was mostly just scenery, but gained speed and had a surprise drop at the end which caught me and my brother really off guard.

The next ride we rode on was ‘Stormrider’, which simulated into going into a storm and sending a missile into it to destroy it. I could barely understand what the ‘pilot’ was saying since it was in Japanese. In the end, the storm was destroyed and that was the end of the ride. After we had exited, I saw the line and it was ridiculously long.

After which, we rode the ‘Indiana Jones Adventure’. I had to take off my spectacles for this ride, since it rocked around a lot. It wasn’t very fast, but it was still enjoyable.

The next ride was ‘Raging Spirits’, which a had a 360 degree loop. Tristan and I were excited, but were disappointed when we actually got on the ride. The loop was less intense than what we expected, and we kept bashing on it for a while.

Raging Spirits

We wandered around for a while, and got a bit lost mid-way, but we got back on track and we did some more exploring.

After a few hours, the sun had started to set, and there were a whole lot more lights around. There were also more shows going on. One of the last rides we rode on was the ‘Tower Of Terror’. It was horror ride, and sorta creeped me out, I guess. I was expecting a jumpscare,but there was none. So, we got on the ride and it would just go up and down really fast. It ended much faster than I expected. It was still pretty fun though.

Tower of Terror

After that we wandered some more, and then headed home. Tristan had made mom buy him a Mike Wazowski plushie. I forgot where we had eaten for dinner, but it was probably really good. Most of the food I had tasted in Japan was really good.

And thus ended the day.

My Fourth Day In Japan by Tristan Celedonio

I woke up as usual, used the tablet but mom did not allow me so she told me to take a shower then she woke my brother up and while my brother was taking a shower, she let me use the tablet. I played for a few minutes then we went to meet dad at his office to give him the key of the apartment. After that we went to the JR line train station, boarded the train from Suidobashi to Akihabara and from Akihabara to Shimbashi and from Shimbashi to Odaiba.

It took a long time but we met mom’s friends at Shimbashi station. They knew the way to Odaiba. When we reached the place we ate a restaurant  called Zest. 

Mom with her friends

This restaurant is like a cave inside

I had French fries and some steak that tasted weird and we also got to drink some coke for free. 

After lunch, we went to Legoland. I regretted going to Lego Town because it only had two rides but it was still fun making the Lego cars. I think the more weight the faster the speed of the car because I made a tractor and I waited for my brother but he took so long to assemble his car so mom and I watched a short 4D movie first. I was glad we did not need to wear the 3D glasses for a few hours because it was uncomfortable. When the movie finished we saw my brother, Angelo still making his Lego vehicle so I raced with other people against their cars. I sometimes won first, second, third, fourth and last so I upgraded my vehicle. I got second and first mostly and then we went to a place where we could build buildings but I did not know how to build so I just upgraded my car and then drove it off a ramp but it broke.

You can add on to the buildings here

After exploring Legoland, we went back to Suidobashi and then to Kudanshita to meet up with dad and after that we ate at Yakiniku. I ate two bowls of rice with meat and finished it and also had Mos burger. After dinner, we went back home and now I am finished with my essay. :-)