Traveling With Elliot: Hong Kong - February 2008 (Part 2)

We are finally down to the last two days in Hong Kong. So far our trip has gone according to plan... no sickness, delayed flights or other problems.

We got back into Hong Kong late in the evening so we chose to stay near the airport again and commute into the city as necessary. The subway system in Hong Kong is extremely fast and the trip to Central takes less than 30 minutes.

Since we only have two full days left we planned to start in the early day to pack all we could. Elliot is facinated with transportation so we made it theme of the day, headed straight to the Peak Tram for a trip up to the top of Victoria Peak.

After an obligatory photo with a wax statue of Bruce Lee we headed outside to check out the view.

At the top of the peak is an observation deck that provides panoramic view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Unfortunately, it is smog covered most of the time so getting a clear view is a rare thing.

The #15 bus was our way back down the mountain and let us just a few blocks from Maxim's Palace at City Hall. We were in a rush because if we didn't get there before noon the wait for a table could be well over an hour. Fortunately there was no traffic and no wait.

Dim Sum is a traditional lunch where all foods are served from roaming trolleys, usually containing several items each. For kids it is great because the portions are small and they can pick out what they want by just pointing at it. We love this place and it was on our must-eat list.

Continuing with our transportation theme, we took a ride to Kowloon on the Star Ferry before heading back to Tung Chung for our cable car trip to see the Giant Buddha.

The trip takes about 25 minutes and travels about 3.5 miles over the Tung Chung Bay and hills of Lantau Island.

This is the best way of getting to Lantau Island to see the Giant Bronze Buddha.

We all climbed the 268 steps to get to the top but Elliot got a ride for some of it.

For dinner we followed a tip that we got from a guy in an Internet Cafe. He sounded credible, so we took his advice and headed back into Central to Tsim Chai Kee. They only make one thing which is wonton soup and the restaurant was packed so we knew it would be great. We got the last two seats at a table with some locals and enjoyed the best noodle soup we had on the trip (mind you, we had lots of noodle soup on this trip).

People who know us, know that we are very anti Disney Parks . Although we were both there as kids, we have intentionally avoided taking Elliot there. The idea of being captive at the park, paying exorbitant prices for ordinary items and repeatedly waiting in lines with a four year old just does not seem appealing. For that reason we have chosen to travel anywhere in the world as long as it's not Disney. Since Hong Kong Disney Land was only 10 minutes from our hotel we decided to see what it was all about.

Somehow, Elliot already knows all about Disney world, even though we have never spoken about it to him. It is for that reason, that we decided to take the Hong Kong MTR on our last day in Hong Kong to visit the Hong Kong Disney Resort.

We only had to go two stops on the subway from our hotel and it would be hard to get on the wrong train. The trains run from the regular subway station and are fully decked out with mouse windows, mouse hand holds, statues of Disney figures and velour couches instead of molded seats.

Elliot really liked the Dumbo ride, but he wanted to fly higher.

We were surprised that he chose this as his favorite ride in the park.

One of the best things about that day was that there were absolutely no lines on any ride including Space Mountain. On the tea-cup we were the only people on the ride.

You could easily forget that you are on the other side of world, but there are some clues. This ice cream stand not only has the standard mouse bar, but also red bean, green tea milk and blackcurrant jelly bars.

A dim sum lunch with dumplings and roast goose is probably not something you would eat in Orlando. The restaurant was run by Maxim's so we knew that lunch would be great.

Elliot thought he was a great driver but it was quite a rough ride on Autotopia.

At Tomorrow Land, Elliot was introduced to Buzz Lightyear.

He shot lots of Zergs to help save the universe so everyone is now safe. Since there were no lines we got to ride several times.

We were planning on taking to see Lion King on Broadway later this year but the 45 minute Lion king show was so good that we are going to save the $500 and apply it towards airfare for another trip.

We had a great two weeks on our trip through Asia and we even have to confess that Disney was great. We even got the official mouse photo and Elliot is no longer scared of characters.