PoOn, Eric, and Quatchi just tried to bribe me to visit them in Vancouver.
They got me cookies. Shaped like bears.
All things considered, that’s pretty persuasive. I mean, the white chocolate cookies have chocolate in them, for starters. They are also white like snow, and I’m a Winter Olympics spirit bear and all.
I guess I better fly up there to claim my cookies before Stitch eats them. Guard them for me, Quatchi!
It’s Valentine’s Day, a day to open your wallets and shop for your loved ones.
So I woke Nicholas up to go shopping.
We wanted to buy bear cards but there weren’t any so we ended up with hologram cards of cats and dogs.
I wrote one for myself. I told myself I was awesome – because I was. I thought of the idea to go shopping after all.
We then bought two boxes of heart shaped chocolates. How better a way to say I love you, best-bud-of-mine than a box of chocolates? Try two boxes of chocolates.
Nicholas wanted to give these to Pokin but I objected. He threatened to leave me at the store so I agreed to a compromise. Big box from me, little box from him, and I get to eat both after we gift them.
We shook paws. He gave me a ride home.
I got to eat my chocolates.
My card said it. I’m awesome and this was a great Valentine’s Day.
Experiencing Chinese New Year in two different cities wasn’t enough. So we got on a boat and went over to Macau to experience Chinese New Year there too.
First we went to a temple . It was pretty crowded. Someone photo-bombed my awesome picture.
Saving grace of the temple were these cool spiral bound incense things.
It was crowded along the interpretative walk in old-town Macau. At least there were these photo stands for kodak moments to be had.
It was crowded downtown. I guess of all places of course it’d be crowded downtown. At least no one photobombed me in front of the horses.
It was crowded on the streets with food vendors. I was tempted to elbow a few people with my paws. I resisted.
And it was pretty crowded by the ruined church. But finally I got the satisfaction of photobombing the tourists instead.
That I quite enjoyed. Onward to the casinos to try my gambling luck!
It’s still Chinese New Year and I sure heard a lot of firecrackers in Shenzhen.
But it was even better to see a Dragon Lion Dance right outside my hotel room in HK.
I even got some front row viewing.
They did flips and lit firecrackers, chewed up cabbage and spit out stuffed animal horses into the crowds.
While we’re at it, here are some World Championships:
I like Dragon Lions. Time for me to invite a spirit bear dance.
Later in the day, Nicholas went for another ride.
Yet again, I wasn’t tall enough to go so I watched him for below.
I took a video of it this time from my vantage point.
It passed some time while I waited for my bear bud.
Among the crowds, one line that seemed relatively short was the U shaped RC Racer (pirate ship ride.) So we decided Nicholas should go. I wanted to go too but I didn’t meet the height minimum.
Instead I stood beside the lawn for my opportunity to watch my bear bud in action. Every 30 seconds, I also watched the Disneyland staff shoo people off the lawn that had “do not step” written on sign on a lawn. It was written in three languages but still people paid no heed. I wanted to smack those rude people with my paw. But I digress. We’re waiting for Nicholas.
Oh there he is!
And 5 swings later it was done.
I was pretty relieved to see my best bear bud again so we can move away from the lawn-trespassers who also kept standing in front of me and blocking my view.
And we moved onwards from Toystoryland.
We’re in Disneyland. What ride is more iconic than the It’s a Small World Ride? High off my buzz light year ride I decided to check out It’s a Small World.
Well one look at the wait time of 90 minutes and I decided to agree with Disney that it’s a small world. Too small of a world. With too many tourists also at Disney. Next.
On our way to the next attraction we saw the Disneyland parade. We didn’t actually intend to see it. But since it was blocking our progress to the other side of the street we decided that watching a parade it was. I liked the Winnie the Pooh float the best. I could see myself in Pooh Bear’s place. Just change honeypot to chocolate and we’re in business. Pooh Bear and I, we’re not so different.
Except of course that I’m much more awesome.
Eventually the parade finished parading down the street and we were able to continue on with our business.
Cousin Shirley and Cousin Anthony have a Disneyland gold pass which comes with the privilege of getting extra fast passes. Among the rides we deemed worth of trying was the Toy Story Buzz Lightyear ride. I didn’t know a thing about it, but that added to the charm and excitement of wanting to go. So we got in our short line (take that, non fast-pass suckers!) and got into the ride.
Three seconds into the ride and I knew this was going to be right up my alley. Commander Nicholas and I were situated in our spaceship. Mission? Take down the aliens. With lasers.
That’s all I needed to know. This ride is going to be so great.
Hordes of people aside I’m feeling pretty happy about happyland-Disney.
Lasers. My day is made.
Word on the street is that they have a Disneyland in Hong Kong, though it’s been said that it’s the smallest of all the happiest places in the world.
That’s ok, I’m a small bear. So I understand how awesome things can come in small packages.
So come the 6th of February we got into cousin Shirely’s car and drove there. The 6th was a strategic decision. It was the first day the HK school system was back to school after the Chinese New Year break. We were hoping for no crowds.
At first sight, things were promising. We got a front row parking space.
And then we were at Disney!
We’re in the happiest place on earth!
And then we realized that it was still a holiday for Mainland China so we had to share the happiness with way too many other people.
Boo.
Well I’m still determined to enjoy my day.
Discovery Bay is a resort community situated on Lantau Island. It’s where almost all of the expats of Hong Kong live. It also happened to be the place Pokin grew up. So we decided to hop the ferry over to see how things looked these days.
The ferry terminal is located across from Tsim Sha Tsui so we got a good view of that.
I was able to get a window seat again.
And 25 minutes later we were in DB Plaza.
There are more buildings and bigger trees, but otherwise Pokin thought it looked pretty similar. I guess I’ll take her word for it.
Pokin decided to visit the house she grew up in, so off we went for a quick walk. Thank goodness everything is a short walk because cars are not allowed on Discovery Bay. You either walk, take the local buses, or you have to own a golf cart. That’s right. People get around in golf carts. I thought that was kind of fun. I could see myself driving a golf cart. In fact, I could see it so well I decided to try things out by sitting on one of the golf carts parked on the side of the street.
I prefer the captain ’s seat.
Anyway, a short walk and about 177 steps later we arrived to her old address: 1A, Middle Lane.
We waited for our cousins to catch up.
Pokin walked around to the other side and found the avocado tree she had planted from a seed. She was all excited that it was still there. It’s probably because it’s grown into a big-ass tree now and it’d be pretty hard to uproot without wrecking a lot of foundation. It’s even got a tree house in it. Pokin tried to peer over the fence and look closer but some jerk dog guarding the backyard starting freaking out like she was an intruder. Ok maybe she was intruder but give the tourists a break.
Well that stupid dog wouldn’t stop barking so we moved on to find the waterfall and ponds Pokin used to play in.
Looks like that’s still there too.
We took some selfies and then decided to head back to the plaza.
Cousin Shirley found some promotion where if you spent at least $120 HKD per person you’d get a free ferry ticket back to Central Hong Kong. So we decided to find a restaurant. Actually though making a decision wasn’t that hard. There was only one chinese restaurant (completely empty) and then every other restaurant was western food with the same combination of pasta, pizza, fish and chips or steak. We settled on Zaks, because it was the biggest and busiest, and because we could sit right by the water. Nicholas got pizza. I took a nap.
Soon, it was time to head back to the ferry pier, where I took one last photo with some hearts.
And then it was back to our hotel where I promptly tucked myself into my bed.
Not a bad day. Pokin seemed really happy which seemed to make Nicholas happy. And a happy bear bud makes for better company for me.