Kap Shui Mun Bridge.

The Kap Shui Mun Bridge is the first bridge you take when you drive from Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island. It was completed in 1997 and is one of the longest cable bridges in the world spanning a length of 2,460 feet. Just last October 2015 a barge crashed into the bridge, causing delays for people who were traveling to and from the airport. 

Our Final Day At Disneyland.

We ended our year with a bang at Disneyland, taking full advantage of the final time to use our season passes before they expired. It was definitely worth the price of our season passes, since we spent so much time at Disneyland in 2015. Because it was the holiday season, the lines for the rides and the shows were long. We picked up as many fast passes as we could which helped out a lot.

We stayed for the evening tree lighting ceremony and the snow fall that happens on Main Street. Even though it was machine generated snow, it's fun to experience white fluffy stuff falling from the sky during the Christmas season. We also stayed for the final fireworks show to take our Disneyland experience with a bang! Thanks for the great year, Disney!!!!

Halloween At Disneyland.

Halloween is advertised to be celebrated in three prominent places here in Hong Kong. Disneyland, Ocean Park, and LKF. We've enjoyed going to Ocean Park and taking part in their Halloween festivities, so we figured we would check out what Disneyland had to offer this week.

The kids put on their Halloween costumes for this year and we met up with some friends. We went at the perfect time... during the week when most kids were in school. There was no waiting in line for any of the rides, and there were no crowds to deal with! Disneyland was perfect. 

Disneyland On My Own With Two Kids.

We are officially on summer vacation! The day after school let out, I took the kids on my own to Disneyland since my husband had to work. We arrived armed with a plan and our rides mapped out. We were each allotted a choice of two rides. 

I have discovered in my years of parenting, that keeping my kids full of food and well hydrated are some keys to a successful adventure. It's always best to be prepared and have a plan which is not my typical go with the flow attitude I like to have, rather when I have the two kids on my own I like to stick to a stricter schedule which sets rules in place for my kids to follow. 

Hong Kong right now is ridiculously hot and humid. We were sweating continuously. I think you could probably have wrung water out of our clothing and watched while it puddled on the ground. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible, and we took in a couple shows with air conditioning in the theatres. 

Umbrella's Are Out When The Sun Is Out.

I took these pictures when we were at Disneyland this past weekend. Just to show you, my readers, how Asian's love to bring out their umbrella's when the sun is blasting down and there are no rain clouds in sight. Umbrella's in the sun was a common sight for me as I grew up in the Philippines. It was part of the culture there as well as here in Hong Kong. Growing up, my family never participated in this custom, and even now, I don't indulge with my own family. 

There are a couple reasons for why Asian's bring out the umbrella when the sun is shining. The first is probably vanity. They don't want their skin to get any darker. Over here in Asia, you can find many skin whitening products on drugstore shelves. They think having a pale complexion is a sign of beauty, and unlike Caucasians who spray tan and lay out on the beach to get darker, Asians try to get lighter. 

The second reason is probably because the sun is hot. It just beats down on you as you walk around the streets of Manila or Hong Kong. So the umbrella's create a little bit of shade while you're walking to your next destination. 

Disneyland {Again} Animation Academy.

We're so thankful we purchased season passes to Disneyland at the beginning of the year. The park is large and the crowds are always larger, which means that the lines can take a long time to get through one ride. We've been able to experience something new every time we've gone. 

This past weekend, we brought the kids to the happiest place in Hong Kong again. One of my favorite things that we got to do this trip, was to take part in their Animation Academy. We stood in line for fifteen minutes before they brought us into a lovely studio, where a staff member drew their own character which was projected on a screen at the front of the room and they instructed us as we drew one for ourselves. 

I had a lot of fun with the activity, although it was a little fast paced for my six and eight year old kids. They got a little frustrated with how fast the instructor went through the steps. That being said, the instructor went through each step methodically and I found it easy to replicate the image that was up on the screen.

Of course we all continued to eat and ride our way through Disneyland. With our season passes, we enjoy working our way through the park and repeating the rides that we love the most. We made it a point to arrive as soon as the park opened to avoid some of the crowd, and made a bee line to the ride that was at the top of the kid's list. It's a car ride in Tomorrowland that we waited ninety minutes for the last time we were here. This time we waited ten minutes, and the kids enjoyed driving their cars. 

My daughter is still a little scared of some of the rides, however, we've been able to talk our son into riding most of them! That does put a little bit of a damper on the experience since not everyone can ride then. But my husband and I will take turns and one will ride with our son while the other one stays with our daughter. Her favorite ride that she rides every time is the teacups. Also, I've decided my son and I need a picture with this guy every time we go to Disneyland!

Tai O Fishing Village.

My husband and son went off on a boys trip together to see Paul McCartney playing in Korea, so my daughter and I met up with a friend to visit the fishing village in Tai O out on Lantau Island! Tai O is famous for their houses that have been built on stilts above the water. Many families in this village get their income from fishing the surrounding waters. The surrounding mountains make this a picturesque village to live in. 

We took a twenty-five dollar boat ride through the channels which gave us a quick view of the homes that are built above the water. After seeing pipes running directly into the water, I wondered about the sewer system and where their waste gets deposited into.

Before we purchased our boat tickets, we were told we would see pink dolphins. Very skeptical, we weren't expecting anything to come out of the promise, but much to our surprise, we did see them! Or should I say, we saw flashes of them, but they were too quick for me to actually photograph and for my five year old daughter to see. You really had to know what you were looking for to get a good glimpse of them. We stayed out around the dolphins for barely three minutes before the boat driver took us back into Tai O.

The village was intriguing to walk through. The majority of seafood we saw that was available in the stalls to purchase was dried and not fresh. We saw shop owners setting out fish to dry as well. My daughter is a huge fan of seafood, and we stopped to purchase a fish ball for her to sample as well as a doughnut that was advertised as a "Tai O Doughnut". It was delicious, as you would expect fried dough covered in sugar to be! 

We made a full morning out of it and by lunch time we were in Mui Wo eating lunch at the China Bear and looking out at the water. I was glad we decided to visit early, since the crowds became thicker as the day progressed. 

Mui Wo.

Back in South Carolina, I would have thought twice about taking a quick day trip to visit a friend that lived 2 hours away. Living in Myrtle Beach, it would be the equivalent to a trip down to Charleston or a trip to Columbia. I would probably have spent the night. But here in Hong Kong, it just takes longer to get places, and my friend Meg, that I wanted to visit lives out on Lantau Island. When my husband looked it up on Google maps for me, it said the trip would take three hours on bus or two hours via bus and ferry. One way.

So off on a ferry I went, to Mui Wo. Mui Wo is a quaint little seaside village, with a lovely beach and many village houses. It has a completely different vibe to it than the city of Hong Kong that I am more familiar with. As soon as I disembarked from the ferry, there was a sea of parked bicycles chained up. Life seems to slow down in Mui Wo compared to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. 

I didn't see any skyscrapers and tall apartment complexes. Instead it was village houses with many a vegetable garden. I saw a waterfall and an old lavatory with a hole in the ground. I loved Mui Wo. It was relaxing and in a way reminded me of a sleepy Southern town that you might find in the United States. Ok... maybe not the United States since it reminded me more of the Philippines than the States. 

We Went To Disneyland During CNY.

We thought the crowds at Disneyland wouldn't be too bad since it was Chinese New Year. We were very wrong. As soon as we got on the train line headed towards Disneyland, we knew we were in trouble. There was standing room only and we were rubbing elbows with the person next to us. 

We were thankful that we have season passes, because the lines were too long to take full advantage of the rides. Lines were averaging an hour wait time. We stood in line for 90 minutes to ride a 2 minute car ride in Tomorrowland. Our kids got to make friends with the other kids that were standing in the long line together. 

With the lines being so long for everything, our family focused more on experiencing street food {we love food in general}. My daughter loved the fried squid from the street vendors. Talk about a sugar high after ingesting cotton candy and ice cream! We barely redeemed ourselves with our corn on the cob!