The Happiest Place on Earth
They say that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth - and I hate to go against a fabulous title, but it's not all that... oh, ok... it is!!! ^_^
As I was saying: My mom, my booger brother, my two aunts, and I went on a tour to China and Hong Kong over the weekend. The tickets were really cheap, so we grabbed at the chance to get on a plane and go shopping in Hong Kong. As it turns out, it was cheap because people who go on it are cursed to travel the entire way and see China and Hong Kong via a bus - I swear, the only free time we had was basically New Year's Eve (or 2nd night), and by then, we were just too tired to move out of the hotel (where only the receptionists spoke understandable English), and out into Shenzhen city where NO ONE SPEAKS understable English except the sales people.
I woke up pretty early on our 2nd day (Dec. 31) and looked around the room - mom was gone, and I was alone. The hotel was fabulous, and really, really nice. The bed was kind of small though, I almost fell over the side of the bed. Because of the booking mishap - we were supposed to get two rooms: one for three people (My Mom, booger, and me), and another for two people (my 2 aunts). We ended up with three rooms instead. Booger had to stay with one of my aunts, I stayed with mom (ever the mommy's girl...), and my other aunt had to sleep alone.
Anyhow, I showered (lounged in the tub, atually - weee! Where's that rubber ducky I packed??) and then I met my aunt and my brother for breakfast (mom stepped out and explored on her own, she'd already eaten).
Together, the four of us went around the hotel block and into an underground mall of some sort. We looked around the food court and almost everything was Chinese Food, and I'm not too fond of Chinese. So my aunt decided to do to McDonalds - she asked a security guard who spoke very little English, but when he heard the name McDonalds he pointed us to the escalators and then said 2... So we assumed McDo was going to be two flights down - and it was! Thank the gods for the universal language that is McDonalds.
It was actually really funny - my aunt went over to the counter to order our food, and the moment she spoke English, the counter-girl freaked out and called her manager - hihihi! At least she was smart enough to get someone who could speak proper English. hihi!
After breakfast we were met by our tourguide - Andeys, Andys, whatever his name was. He was this really fat guy who spoke English with a mixture of British and Chinese accents. We went around Hong Kong, after picking up a few more people from a different hotel, and it was lovely. Everything just seemed so clean and so nice. It looked a lot like New York, but instead busy English street signs and ads, everything was written in Chinese. And of course it was a different thing when you stepped out of the bus - Chinese people smell funny...
After going to Jewelry City and seeing the world's biggest Amethyst mound (owned by Jackie Chan - is that how you spell his name?), and the Chinese Walk of Fame - sort of like the Hollywood walk of fame, handprints and all, but only of famous Chinese/Asian celebs like Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, and Michelle Yeoh - we went to (finally!!) Disneyland!!! WEEE!!!
The bus parked at the very end of the parking lot, and we had to walk around fifteen minutes to get to the gates. Halfway through the walk, they started playing Disney soundtracks on the radios - it was great! I wanted to sing along to Mary Poppins' lullaby, but I was in public so...
When we'd finally entered the park - I snatched like half-a-dozen guide maps and distributed them to my family - with extra copies for my album, of course. The place was not really as big as the one in Florida, or the one in LA (although I barely remember LA) - think Enchanted Kingdom x5... But, of course, it was 2 million times better than Enchanted - things looked much cleaner, and it smelled better too.
I don't have time to describe everything in the park (because I'm starting to feel really sick now), but basically, it was really great! I wanted to roam around the entire park and seriously though about being just left behind Disney and Hong Kong - I could catch a flight home on my own (probably with booger). Everything was just so colourful and annoyingly happy, I also, eventually felt annoyingly happy.
We went on only a couple of ride because almost half of Hong Kong was there - it takes more than 30 minutes to line up for a 5-minute ride. Fortunately, when the 3-pm parade started, people went out of the line to watch it, and my brother and I were able to sneak into Space Mountain which was left line-less. It was a great thrilling ride; the lights were great, and you really felt like you were in space, not to mention the smell inside was oddly similar to the Space Mountain smell in LA. the ride was really fast and it tossed and turned you (and your belly) around - but oddly, I was the only one screaming - me and booger. The Chinese people on the same train were just silently enjoying the ride... weird.
We also went on a Jungle Cruise, and almost got wet. This time we were with one of my aunts; but we didn't have the camera! WAAAA!!! Next, we went to A Festival of the Lion King which was basically a 30-minute musical based on The Lion King, and it was simply fabulous!!! The colours and the singing, it was a feast for the senses! One thing though - the dancers and fire-eaters were too hot for the show to be completely wholesome. And there were these two actors (Monkeys) translating everything into Chinese. They got a bit annoying, actually.
Anyway - you didn't think I would leave Disney without buying a souvenir did you? I spent about an hour in the shop next to the Lion King looking at stuff I wanted to buy. I eventually settled on a Disney keychain which had different lights on it and a Micky Mouse doll with magnets on its paws and feet (which is now hanging onto my study lamp). I wanted to buy a silly hat or a headband, but they were too expensive, and they all looked pretty gay to me - a headband with Pooh on it? I did want to get a Mickey Wizard's hat though (from The Sorcerer's Apprentice - a wizard hat with mouse ears on the base), but I coudln't find any.
We had to leave at 7:30 pm because the stupid fat guide wanted to have us on a train back to Shenzhen (read: sen-jen) before 10. We all went out of the park at around 7:15 - my mom, and brother, and other aunt walking very hurriedly, and me and my other aunt taking pictures of everything cute on the way - Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Main Street with fake snow, a giant Xmas tree, cute boy sitting by the fountain...
We got to the bus and found the other passengers (all Filipino) there already, but we were still waiting for some others. The tour guide said he would meet us at the train station, and the driver, of course, spoke no English so we all got pretty restless when 45 minutes later, every one we knew was part of our bus was already there, and we still weren't moving. About an hour later, the park started preparing for the fireworks display - and the driver was still looking/waiting for only 1 more person. He would get on the bus do a head check (count us all), and then go down. After a few seconds, he would get on the bus again and re-count us. He did this for about 3 million times.
Some people got really pissed and decided to walk out of the bus for air - yours truly included, but I wasn't pissed at the driver - I was pissed at the lousy tour guide who got us out of the park too early, and made us wait for an unknown person when we could have been inside the park enjoying a few more rides (and looking for that Mickey Wizard Hat); well, him and the stupid and annoying loud little girl sitting behind me who would occasionally kick the back of my chair despite her mother's many warning. Stupid kid!!! Stupid mother who could not control her kid!!! Earlier that day, the same kid stepped on my foot and I gave her an extremely evil look, I actually saw her eyes water a bit. I wanted to do this again, but since her mom was sitting right beside her, I couldn't - she was a big lady, and she could stomp on my cute little self.
Anyway, someone had to go to the bathroom - the nearest was, of course, a little closer to the Disney gates - about 2 hundred miles away. So we started walking... On the hike back, the fire works started, so of course, we positioned ourselves in a place where the trees weren't so high and we could see the fireworks - which were lovely by the way...
When we got back to the bus, we finally left, without the mystery person the driver was looking for - and stupid little AD/HD girl still screaming and kicking behind me, her equally stupid mother had probably given her too much soda. Goodbye Mickey, goodbye Minnie, goodbye Space Mountain (which I wanted to go on again), goodbye Mickey Wizard Hat... in the words of Gen. McArthur, I shall return... and when I do, I hope I'll be with my friends, so we can all gawk and flirt with boys, of which there was a sufficient supply - haha!!!
We got to the train station station at about 10, and got found out that the mystery person the driver was looking for was actually one of the men who had been with us since that morning. Stupid driver! Stupid fat tour guide!!! YOU WILL NOT GET A TIP, so DO NOT EVEN TRY!!! /pif
When we got back to Shenzhen, we were met by our first tour guide, John. He gave us back our $40US deposit (to ensure that we would follow the tour - which is the reason we coudn't get off and go shopping in Hong Kong street markets... *sob, it was only forty dollars... we could have let that go... but then we would have to buy our tickets home on our own...). He dropped us off our hotel - icky and smelly little rathole with dirty towels which I was afraid (but forced) to use.
We had our New Year's Eve dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, as little less gross than the hotel itself, and the staff looked fun. My one aunt and I stayed behind because the room that the hotel had given her (and my other aunt) was very hot. They sent a girl who did not speak English, and we tried calling maintenance - Just leave the aircon on the person says... DUH!!! The AC's been open for 20 minutes, and it was still too hot in the room. In the end, my aunts just had to contend with the heat because it was no use talking with the girl they sent, and even less use talking to maintenance people.
When we got to the restaurant for dinner, Our waitress actually tried talking to booger (because he's very Chinito) in Chinese, probably asking him to translate. We all had steak dinners - either with rice or with potatoes. We thought it would be mashed potatoes, so my mom ordered me potatoes and my brother had the rice. It turns out when they say potatoes, they mean french fired potatoes - waaa!!! There was also something wrong with their gravy (which my mom, one of my aunts, and I had) - it tasted sour, and had something that tasted oddly like mayo. The garlic sauce (which my brother and my tita had) was nice though. Their rice was also pretty weird-tasting. I took half of booger's rice, and it tasted very distinctly Chinese. Even their milkshakes were lasang instik! Anyway, when everyone had finished, I ended up eating their left-over steaks... hihi!!
After that, we were supposed to go shopping, but we were too tired - it was way after midnight, so we just went up to our rooms and slept.
So that's how we spent the last day of 2005... next attraction on this blog: Shopping in Shenzhen, and Manila, Manila, I keep comming home home to Manila... hinahanap-hanap kita Manila, mga chuva mong chinuchuva-chuva... /ho ^_^
As I was saying: My mom, my booger brother, my two aunts, and I went on a tour to China and Hong Kong over the weekend. The tickets were really cheap, so we grabbed at the chance to get on a plane and go shopping in Hong Kong. As it turns out, it was cheap because people who go on it are cursed to travel the entire way and see China and Hong Kong via a bus - I swear, the only free time we had was basically New Year's Eve (or 2nd night), and by then, we were just too tired to move out of the hotel (where only the receptionists spoke understandable English), and out into Shenzhen city where NO ONE SPEAKS understable English except the sales people.
I woke up pretty early on our 2nd day (Dec. 31) and looked around the room - mom was gone, and I was alone. The hotel was fabulous, and really, really nice. The bed was kind of small though, I almost fell over the side of the bed. Because of the booking mishap - we were supposed to get two rooms: one for three people (My Mom, booger, and me), and another for two people (my 2 aunts). We ended up with three rooms instead. Booger had to stay with one of my aunts, I stayed with mom (ever the mommy's girl...), and my other aunt had to sleep alone.
Anyhow, I showered (lounged in the tub, atually - weee! Where's that rubber ducky I packed??) and then I met my aunt and my brother for breakfast (mom stepped out and explored on her own, she'd already eaten).
Together, the four of us went around the hotel block and into an underground mall of some sort. We looked around the food court and almost everything was Chinese Food, and I'm not too fond of Chinese. So my aunt decided to do to McDonalds - she asked a security guard who spoke very little English, but when he heard the name McDonalds he pointed us to the escalators and then said 2... So we assumed McDo was going to be two flights down - and it was! Thank the gods for the universal language that is McDonalds.
It was actually really funny - my aunt went over to the counter to order our food, and the moment she spoke English, the counter-girl freaked out and called her manager - hihihi! At least she was smart enough to get someone who could speak proper English. hihi!
After breakfast we were met by our tourguide - Andeys, Andys, whatever his name was. He was this really fat guy who spoke English with a mixture of British and Chinese accents. We went around Hong Kong, after picking up a few more people from a different hotel, and it was lovely. Everything just seemed so clean and so nice. It looked a lot like New York, but instead busy English street signs and ads, everything was written in Chinese. And of course it was a different thing when you stepped out of the bus - Chinese people smell funny...
After going to Jewelry City and seeing the world's biggest Amethyst mound (owned by Jackie Chan - is that how you spell his name?), and the Chinese Walk of Fame - sort of like the Hollywood walk of fame, handprints and all, but only of famous Chinese/Asian celebs like Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, and Michelle Yeoh - we went to (finally!!) Disneyland!!! WEEE!!!
The bus parked at the very end of the parking lot, and we had to walk around fifteen minutes to get to the gates. Halfway through the walk, they started playing Disney soundtracks on the radios - it was great! I wanted to sing along to Mary Poppins' lullaby, but I was in public so...
When we'd finally entered the park - I snatched like half-a-dozen guide maps and distributed them to my family - with extra copies for my album, of course. The place was not really as big as the one in Florida, or the one in LA (although I barely remember LA) - think Enchanted Kingdom x5... But, of course, it was 2 million times better than Enchanted - things looked much cleaner, and it smelled better too.
I don't have time to describe everything in the park (because I'm starting to feel really sick now), but basically, it was really great! I wanted to roam around the entire park and seriously though about being just left behind Disney and Hong Kong - I could catch a flight home on my own (probably with booger). Everything was just so colourful and annoyingly happy, I also, eventually felt annoyingly happy.
We went on only a couple of ride because almost half of Hong Kong was there - it takes more than 30 minutes to line up for a 5-minute ride. Fortunately, when the 3-pm parade started, people went out of the line to watch it, and my brother and I were able to sneak into Space Mountain which was left line-less. It was a great thrilling ride; the lights were great, and you really felt like you were in space, not to mention the smell inside was oddly similar to the Space Mountain smell in LA. the ride was really fast and it tossed and turned you (and your belly) around - but oddly, I was the only one screaming - me and booger. The Chinese people on the same train were just silently enjoying the ride... weird.
We also went on a Jungle Cruise, and almost got wet. This time we were with one of my aunts; but we didn't have the camera! WAAAA!!! Next, we went to A Festival of the Lion King which was basically a 30-minute musical based on The Lion King, and it was simply fabulous!!! The colours and the singing, it was a feast for the senses! One thing though - the dancers and fire-eaters were too hot for the show to be completely wholesome. And there were these two actors (Monkeys) translating everything into Chinese. They got a bit annoying, actually.
Anyway - you didn't think I would leave Disney without buying a souvenir did you? I spent about an hour in the shop next to the Lion King looking at stuff I wanted to buy. I eventually settled on a Disney keychain which had different lights on it and a Micky Mouse doll with magnets on its paws and feet (which is now hanging onto my study lamp). I wanted to buy a silly hat or a headband, but they were too expensive, and they all looked pretty gay to me - a headband with Pooh on it? I did want to get a Mickey Wizard's hat though (from The Sorcerer's Apprentice - a wizard hat with mouse ears on the base), but I coudln't find any.
We had to leave at 7:30 pm because the stupid fat guide wanted to have us on a train back to Shenzhen (read: sen-jen) before 10. We all went out of the park at around 7:15 - my mom, and brother, and other aunt walking very hurriedly, and me and my other aunt taking pictures of everything cute on the way - Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Main Street with fake snow, a giant Xmas tree, cute boy sitting by the fountain...
We got to the bus and found the other passengers (all Filipino) there already, but we were still waiting for some others. The tour guide said he would meet us at the train station, and the driver, of course, spoke no English so we all got pretty restless when 45 minutes later, every one we knew was part of our bus was already there, and we still weren't moving. About an hour later, the park started preparing for the fireworks display - and the driver was still looking/waiting for only 1 more person. He would get on the bus do a head check (count us all), and then go down. After a few seconds, he would get on the bus again and re-count us. He did this for about 3 million times.
Some people got really pissed and decided to walk out of the bus for air - yours truly included, but I wasn't pissed at the driver - I was pissed at the lousy tour guide who got us out of the park too early, and made us wait for an unknown person when we could have been inside the park enjoying a few more rides (and looking for that Mickey Wizard Hat); well, him and the stupid and annoying loud little girl sitting behind me who would occasionally kick the back of my chair despite her mother's many warning. Stupid kid!!! Stupid mother who could not control her kid!!! Earlier that day, the same kid stepped on my foot and I gave her an extremely evil look, I actually saw her eyes water a bit. I wanted to do this again, but since her mom was sitting right beside her, I couldn't - she was a big lady, and she could stomp on my cute little self.
Anyway, someone had to go to the bathroom - the nearest was, of course, a little closer to the Disney gates - about 2 hundred miles away. So we started walking... On the hike back, the fire works started, so of course, we positioned ourselves in a place where the trees weren't so high and we could see the fireworks - which were lovely by the way...
When we got back to the bus, we finally left, without the mystery person the driver was looking for - and stupid little AD/HD girl still screaming and kicking behind me, her equally stupid mother had probably given her too much soda. Goodbye Mickey, goodbye Minnie, goodbye Space Mountain (which I wanted to go on again), goodbye Mickey Wizard Hat... in the words of Gen. McArthur, I shall return... and when I do, I hope I'll be with my friends, so we can all gawk and flirt with boys, of which there was a sufficient supply - haha!!!
We got to the train station station at about 10, and got found out that the mystery person the driver was looking for was actually one of the men who had been with us since that morning. Stupid driver! Stupid fat tour guide!!! YOU WILL NOT GET A TIP, so DO NOT EVEN TRY!!! /pif
When we got back to Shenzhen, we were met by our first tour guide, John. He gave us back our $40US deposit (to ensure that we would follow the tour - which is the reason we coudn't get off and go shopping in Hong Kong street markets... *sob, it was only forty dollars... we could have let that go... but then we would have to buy our tickets home on our own...). He dropped us off our hotel - icky and smelly little rathole with dirty towels which I was afraid (but forced) to use.
We had our New Year's Eve dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, as little less gross than the hotel itself, and the staff looked fun. My one aunt and I stayed behind because the room that the hotel had given her (and my other aunt) was very hot. They sent a girl who did not speak English, and we tried calling maintenance - Just leave the aircon on the person says... DUH!!! The AC's been open for 20 minutes, and it was still too hot in the room. In the end, my aunts just had to contend with the heat because it was no use talking with the girl they sent, and even less use talking to maintenance people.
When we got to the restaurant for dinner, Our waitress actually tried talking to booger (because he's very Chinito) in Chinese, probably asking him to translate. We all had steak dinners - either with rice or with potatoes. We thought it would be mashed potatoes, so my mom ordered me potatoes and my brother had the rice. It turns out when they say potatoes, they mean french fired potatoes - waaa!!! There was also something wrong with their gravy (which my mom, one of my aunts, and I had) - it tasted sour, and had something that tasted oddly like mayo. The garlic sauce (which my brother and my tita had) was nice though. Their rice was also pretty weird-tasting. I took half of booger's rice, and it tasted very distinctly Chinese. Even their milkshakes were lasang instik! Anyway, when everyone had finished, I ended up eating their left-over steaks... hihi!!
After that, we were supposed to go shopping, but we were too tired - it was way after midnight, so we just went up to our rooms and slept.
So that's how we spent the last day of 2005... next attraction on this blog: Shopping in Shenzhen, and Manila, Manila, I keep comming home home to Manila... hinahanap-hanap kita Manila, mga chuva mong chinuchuva-chuva... /ho ^_^
posted by Mikee @ 6:34 PM
1 Comments:
At 1/14/2006 10:53 PM,
Boris Buenavista said…
hi mikee! i think the festival of the lion king was directed by, uh, robert garcia, yung gay stage director. i heard it from my friend kc. wala lang. inggit ako, nagdisneyland kayo... hehe.. ^_^
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