EPTSince we were only spending a few days in Hong Kong, we didn’t really have the luxury to fluff around and try to unwind the city ourselves. Fortunately my cousin lived in Hong Kong, and he was kind enough to take us around and help us set up base.
On the food front everything was delicious, even simple foods like BBQ pork on rice. The prominence of Cantonese influence runs pretty deep in Hong Kong in terms of food culture. In my opinion, the most interesting thing we tried was ice cream made from dry ice. The store makes the ice cream for you on order, preparing the mix and then instantly freezing it with dry ice before handing it to you in a small cup. It didn’t taste any different from normal ice cream but the novelty of your ice cream being scooped out of a bowel of mist is awesome. I think if something silly like KiwiYo – frozen yogurt - can catch on here, dry-ice ice cream is a sure success.
On our second day, we were confronted by a small conundrum, how to spend our only full day in Hong Kong. We were wanting to do something touristy so it was definitely going to be one of the main attractions. We narrowed it down to Ocean Park or Disneyland, and after a morning of weighing and balancing, we opted for the latter. Hong Kong has a rail dedicated to transporting passengers directly to Disneyland and that was where the experience began. The train was unlike any other train in Hong Kong, it was clean and it was designed and decorated in a glamorous Disney theme. We arrived at a Disney style train station and proceeded to the main entrance. The park was well decorated with hallmark Disney structures and decorations and hosted rollercoasters and rides, museums and performances from Disney characters. Overall Disneyland did not disappoint, we were a little worried there wouldn’t be as many cool rides as Ocean Park but it ended up being fine ( we started to feel sick after doing all the rollercoasters) the only issue I had was the park wasn’t big enough - you can probably walk around the entire park in 15 minutes if it wasn’t for foot traffic and stopping to go on the rides.
My favourite ride at Disneyland was the Mystic Manor – this ride was a real surprise- when I entered the manor, I thought we had stumbled into a bloody museum but when the ride started, my initial impressions changed. Mystic Manor isn’t an adrenaline ride, rather it’s a story of about a music box that brings inanimate objects to life, and the way it visually unfolds is absolutely brilliant, in my opinion.
We had a great time in Hong Kong, however, I don’t see myself going there again for a while. Hong Kong is a very vibrant place and although it isn’t a big place in terms of land mass, a combination of high population density and towering skyscraper canopies conjure the feeling that your presence is unnoticed. It’s a very complex city with a social, political and economic depth I would love to try to understand someday.
If you're interested, I added some photos of our trip on my blog:
http://tinybroadcasts.com/2014/1226/impressions-hong-kong
