Tag Archives: hong kong

My sweet ride

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I have reluctantly settled into life in Hong Kong.  Relucantly.  My small prison room was nice enough looking given that we were living in an industrial-modern warehouse-renovation-of-a-hotel, but it didn’t even have a table for me to game on.  We had to use an ironing board as a surface which meant there was basically no games.

The only saving grace to this whole fiasco was that our new office turned out to be Infiniti headquarters.  There was even a sweet $3M car in the office that I got to hang out with. This is a one-of-a-kind Infiniti concept car.  One of a kind.  Just like this bear.

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They told us not to touch the car.  So I sat in it.  What good is a car that a bear can’t drive?

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Ok, the office is pretty sweet.

This part, I don’t mind at all.

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The computer markets of Hong Kong and China

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The LAST time we were in Hong Kong, we had the misfortune of coming during Chinese New Year.

For what was supposed to be an auspicious time of the year, they decided to screw over the bear and close all the cool shops.  Meaning I couldn’t go to any of the electronics shops all.

This time around, things were open so I got to go to an electronics market. We went to 168 Market in Wanchai.

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To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it’d be like a cool live version of Amazon.com?

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It ended up being stall after stall of these tiny shops selling random things like cell phone cases and more cell phone cases. There were three labyrinth floors of stores, each run by owners that may or may not be present.   We even passed a store with stacks of games that I looked at wistfully.

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Games. I played those once.

The Purple Cake

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So I’m in Hong Kong.

I wasn’t expecting to be in Hong Kong.  To be honest, I don’t think my bud planned for us to be in Hong Kong either.  But somehow it happened.  These things seem to happen with us.

One day we were happily gaming in the comfort of our home and then the next Pokin packed up and moved to Hong Kong to go live in a closet.  A few weeks later, it was our turn.  I understand this move was caused by a last minute decision to apply for some Smart Cities program in Hong Kong?  I didn’t like it but they got into their program, and were crazy enough to say yes.

I remember Hong Kong, I’ve was just here last year.  It was crowded and small and I didn’t get to game.  I don’t remember liking Hong Kong.

I think Pokin knew I wasn’t going to be too thrilled with it, so she tried to bribe me with cake when I arrived.

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She also mentioned it was my bud’s birthday.

Right, of course it was.  And of course that’s important, but I knew really she was trying to make sure I felt good about the decision.  It was a nice effort, but she got me a purple cake.  PURPLE?  It was grape flavoured. There wasn’t an ounce of cocoa in it!!  Well happy not-good-enough-birthday for my bud Nicholas!

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At least it’s just my bud and I for the next few months.  No other bears.  No bunny.

At least it’s a few months of bear and bud bonding time.

Annnnd right about then I hear Peep.

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Of COURSE that jerk bunny stowed away in the suitcase and came along.  Of course.  PEEP I don’t know what to say to you.

“About the bears” says Pokin.

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Figures that even in Hong Kong there’d be more bears.  Turns out Duffy’s been living in the hotel while I’ve been gone.  He showed up thanks to Pokin’s cousin Shirley.   Well at least he looks up to me.  Duffy realizes that Big Daddy Sumi towers over him in size and seniority.

Well time to make the best of the situation.   These months better pass quickly!

And more rides

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Later in the day, Nicholas went for another ride.

Yet again, I wasn’t tall enough to go so I watched him for below.

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I took a video of it this time from my vantage point.

It passed some time while I waited for my bear bud.

Going on the rides

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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!

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And 5 swings later it was done.

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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.

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And we moved onwards from Toystoryland.

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It’s a small – Disneyland

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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.

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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.

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Eventually the parade finished parading down the street and we were able to continue on with our business.

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Lasers + Best bud + Disneyland = Winning combination

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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.disneysumi-18

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Hordes of people aside I’m feeling pretty happy about happyland-Disney.

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Lasers.  My day is made.

 

 

To the happiest place in Hong Kong

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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.

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And then we were at Disney!

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We’re in the happiest place on earth!

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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.

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Boo.

Well I’m still determined to enjoy my day.

Rediscovering Discovery Bay

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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.

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The ferry terminal is located across from Tsim Sha Tsui so we got a good view of that.

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I was able to get a window seat again.

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And 25 minutes later we were in DB Plaza.

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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.

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I prefer the captain ‘s seat.

Anyway, a short walk and about 177 steps later we arrived to her old address: 1A, Middle Lane.

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We waited for our cousins to catch up.

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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.

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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.

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We took some selfies and then decided to head back to the plaza.

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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.

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And then it was back to our hotel where I promptly tucked myself into my bed.

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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.

Giant souffles in Central

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Central is the financial hub of Hong Kong.  It’s also home of the Tai Ping Koon – the oldest western-style restaurant in Hong Kong.  Founded in 1860, the restaurant serves giant soufflés among its specialties.  Naturally we ordered one.  It was bigger than my head.  It was bigger than my body.  I’m a fan of desserts this big.

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After lunch we walked a bit around Cental before heading onward to the pier.

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