The main purpose of this trip was to attend the wedding
events of Ken Jr, Anne’s nephew. They
actually got married in San Francisco last August, but the two sets of parents,
being somewhat traditional, wanted to have a more “formal” wedding and
celebration of the union. We couldn’t
make it to their actual wedding, so we thought we would make the Hong Kong one.
Thursday January 14.
After Disney we were back in South Amboy to take care of the accumulated
business. We drove back up to Jersey
City and Uber’ed to the airport. The
plane was delayed for about an hour, the best explanation we could get was that
Customs was the reason for the hold up.
It was a packed flight, but I really had no complaints, even though I
didn’t get much – if any – sleep.
Friday January 15.
We got in at around 9:30 pm. As
we did last few times we went to Hong Kong, we ate at the airport before we
took a taxi. This time we ate at Ho Hung
Kee, a famous noodle shop. Over the last
couple of years the restaurants have gone upscale. I no longer find Café-de-Coral, Maxim’s, or
McDonald’s at the Arrivals Level (not sure about McDonald’s.) It was after 11 pm when we got to Tai
Po. It was raining. It was to rain for the next couple of days,
which is a bit unusual for this time of the year in Hong Kong.
Accommodations: Tai Po House, 4 nights.
Saturday January 16.
The walk-down-the-aisle ceremony was to take place at the Garden Suite,
Peninsula Hotel, same place where Tim and Whitney had their registration. Most of the hour was spent chit-chatting,
taking pictures, and waiting. The actual
walk down the aisle and exchange of vows took perhaps less than ten
minutes. The wedding party was about
twelve (including the bride and groom.)
Angeline, the groom’s mother’s sister, is a lawyer, and she officiated.
Jin and Kenneth and the wedding party.
A Selfie.
Anne and I went back to Tai Po, hoping to put a dent in
the jetlag, but failed. At about 3 pm
Tim and Whitney showed up. We left at
around 5:30 pm, with Tim dropping us off at the MTR station so we wouldn’t have
to wait for the minibus in the rain.
I was expecting a small party, so I was quite surprised
that over 200 turned up at the Salisbury Room at the Peninsula. Among the guests was the General Manager of
the Peninsula Group, so the service was naturally impeccable. That doesn’t mean quick, though. With slide shows, videos, and speeches, it
was about 11:30 pm when they started to prepare some space for the dance by the
bride and groom. We used the excuse that
we needed to catch public transportation to leave around then. Turns out that excuse was valid: while we
managed to catch the train to Tai Po, the minibus had stopped running, and the
taxi queue was very long. We decided to
walk back – a 15-minute walk in pleasant weather as it was cool and had stopped
raining, with the puddles giving us an occasional problem now and then.
The dinner was a fusion of Chinese appetizers and soup,
and a western dish (Tasmanian Trout or braised US beef.) We were put with people from China since Anna
thought we could speak Mandarin.
Interesting people: one heads up a Chinese bank located in Hong Kong,
another a retired bureaucrat who now runs a think tank.
Menu for the evening.
The first course.
Sunday January 17.
There was another reception where the guests are from the groom’s
side. Tim and Whitney were also invited,
so we went out together. Horrific
traffic was expected because of the Marathon, but it had cleared out by the
time we were on our way. The end result
was we had enough time to have coffee at Starbucks in Harbour City.
The venue this time was Felix located at the top floor of
Peninsula. About 70 people
attended. We were at Kenneth and Anna’s
table. Tim and Whitney were put together
with some lawyers and bankers. The menu
was a bit simpler, but there was a dessert bar (for which the hotel is famous)
that I couldn’t pass up. It was after 3
that we headed out. Anne and I did meet
quite a few interesting people.
After we settled back in Tai Po, we all walked to Tai Po
Market to shop. Tim and Whitney to buy
food for the evening’s dinner, Anne and I to buy stuff for our grandkids (turns
out I also bought something for ourselves.)
Dinner at the house consisted of curry with fried sole, and abalone
with vegetables. Tim and Whitney left
around 8 pm.
Monday January 18.
We had a lunch appointment with Nathan and Sharon at Royal Garden
Chinese Restaurant. It was a good 1 ½
hours of catching up. Nathan just
finished the marathon the previous day.
We then went to mid-levels to visit Auntie Fannie, who is not well. There used to be four sisters, now she is the
only one left. The visit was
bittersweet, but we are glad we did it.
We wandered around Tai Po Plaza a bit, bought a few
things, before getting dinner at the Shanghai restaurant. Then it was back to the house to pack.
Tuesday January 19.
Mr. Tsang came by at 8:30 am to get us to the airport. This is another packed plane. Anne’s A/V system doesn’t work, so she and I
switched seats just now, I just finished translating an article for the MCCC
quarterly newsletter. We have seven more
hours to go!
Joe had been planning this trip for several months
already. His last visit was with his
parents (i.e., Anne and me) in the 90s, and he would want Emmie to experience
some of his excitement he felt. Sure
enough, Emmie was quite eager to visit “Mickey Mouse’s House,” although with
her limited exposure to TV, she probably doesn’t know her beyond the doll
someone gave her and what her parents have told her.
Tuesday January 5.
We stayed in Jersey City last night, and Ubered to the airport this
morning. The driver was a bit lost, so
it took longer than we expected. What
was more unexpected was how long the lines were, even the TSA pre-check line
had to start one level below. The
process was efficient enough, it took less than 30 minutes to get through. Turns out our flight was delayed by about 45
minutes, so we still had plenty of time.
It was a packed, sometimes bumpy, but nonetheless a good flight. We got in at about noon, and managed to catch
up with Joe – was Emmie happy to see us.
He rented a car at EZ Rental for about $100, I got mine from Budget
through Costco Travel at about $160 net (free second driver.) The line at EZ Rental was long. I did complain about how inattentive the
agent at Budget was.
Since Emmie was too excited to take a nap, we decided to
hit Epcot at 3 pm. Parking was a
whopping $20 per car. The Park was
generally quiet, wait times were manageable.
This have a FastTrack program that made some of the waits even
shorter. We hit: Spaceship Earth, the
boatride in “The Land” (used to be Kraft), Figment, and the ride at “The
Sea.” Dinner at Coral Reef was nice, a
bit expensive, but gave us a great view of the large tank (5.7 million gallons,
so the claim goes) with its many fish, scuba divers, and dolphin. My general experience is the place hasn’t
changed much from our last visit.
Spaceship Earth is now narrated by Judy Dench instead of Walter
Cronkite.
Harrison had no idea he was in Florida. He was happy enough, though.
Outside "The Land." It hasn't changed much over the last 20 years.
Grandma and Emmie very into something.
Dinner at The Sea is more for the surroundings than for the food.
Accommodations: a three-bedroom apartment at Sun Lake
Court, Kissimmee.
Wednesday January 6.
Second EPCOT day. Visited Space
Trainer (easy version) by myself. All of
us took the boat ride in the Mexican Pavilion, which Emmie enjoyed. Also saw the film in the French Pavilion
which reminded us of the many places we have visited. A bit frustrated that I couldn’t identify
several of the familiar tunes by French composers. Lunch at Octoberfest Biergarten ended with a
musical revue. Dinner was at a Pizzeria
in the Italian Pavilion. While we didn’t
take too many rides, we certainly did a lot of walking: Apple Health recorded
close to 10 miles. Also, we did the
obligatory family photo with Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto; Baby H was fast asleep
in the baby carrier during all that commotion.
Emmie at the apartment, raring to start the day.
First a family portrait with Mickey,
followed by Goofey,
and the Minnie.
Not sure she realizes she is being eaten by a shark.
Musical performance at the Biergarten.
Emmie was very fascinated by this group of gannets that kept saying "mine, mine, mine." She could just stand there and watch.
Dinner at crowded pizzeria in the Italian Pavilion. Joe Jr did all the planning to make it a smooth experience.
Thursday January 7.
Joe took Emmie to Magic Kingdom early enough for its opening, and
managed to get on many kiddie rides early in the morning. The rest of us met up with them around 10:40
am and Jess joined them for a Peter Pan ride before heading to “Be Our Guest”
for lunch. This is supposed to be a
“hot” location, but with us pre-ordering the night before, everything went
smoothly. After lunch we went on this
“Under the Sea” ride based on Little Mermaid.
Joe and family went on the Dumbo ride which made Emmie very happy. Anne and I took Emmie on her second ride of
“It’s a Small Small World.” I am not
sure she blinked once during the 5-minute ride.
Emmie had her nap (after much churning) so late that I had to scrap the
idea of taking her back in the evening.
Joe and Jess went back to the Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks, Anne
and I got takeout from a nearby Carrabbas and enjoyed the food with Emmie.
Friday January 8.
Today Anne and I took a break from WDW to visit Miss Ruth, whom we last
saw at Pastor Al’s memorial service a couple of years ago. We drove about 90 minutes to pick up Ken and
Sandy, whom we knew from their NJ days, and have since retired to Parrish,
Florida. We had not seen them for quite
a few years. Then it was another 2 hours
to Ft. Myers to pick up Miss Ruth at Shell Point to meet up with Susan and
Peter at University Grille, a place we frequented a few times before. We had a good time of reminiscing and
fellowship. After dropping off Miss
Ruth, we reversed our path to first drop off Ken and Sandy, our roundtrip from
Parrish to Ft. Myers gave us a lot of time to catch up; our children grew up in
New Jersey together, although their career paths are quite divergent: an
investment banker, a surgical resident, a teacher, and a drug safety
specialist.
Lunch with Miss Ruth, Susan & Peter Chiu, and Sandra and Ken Chin.
After getting dinner at Bahamas Breeze in Kissimmee and
picking up a couple of items at Market Place, it was about 9 pm that we got
back to the apartment.
Oh, and it rained heavily on the way to Ft. Myers. The afternoon was sunny and warm, although
the DJ at Tampa area radio station we picked up during our ride back thought it
has been quite cold. We were wondering
whether she was serious. Weather
forecast calls for sunny 80 degree weather tomorrow.
Saturday January 9.
Joe and Jess took Emmie and left for the Magic Kingdom at 9 am. Anne and I had a more leisurely morning, we
took Harrison with us and met up at around 11 am. The Small World ride was not busy so we went
on it, and we used Fast Past for the Peter Pan ride; this made Emmie very
happy. Anne taped the whole Small World
ride on the iPhone, since she forgot to charge it up last night, the battery
was drained after the 10 minute recording.
Lunch was at Pinocchio’s.
Afterward Joe and Jess took the kids back to the apartment so they get
some rest; Anne and I stayed in the Magic Kingdom. Since there was no particular ride that we
wanted to go on, we just hit the ones that didn’t have long lines. Among others: train ride around the park,
carousel of progress, tiki teahouse, steamboat, and people mover (used to be
called WEDWay.)
Joe and Emmie came back around 4:30 pm. Jess wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed
behind with Harrison. The plan was get
close to the place with Disney characters by taking the train and go two
stops. The train we board was quite
full, so Anne (with Emmie) and I had two different rows. I guess I must have dozed off, so when the
train came to stop at Frontierland I thought we were there already. It took a lot of frantic waving on my part to
get Anne to notice, so she disembarked also, not knowing why I did what I
did. Coupled with rain, that meant a
change in plans. We managed to do a few
things with Emmie: get signatures from Minnie and Daisie, meeting with Belle,
and another ride on the Small World.
Joe stayed behind to buy dinner for Emmie, Anne and I
ordered takeout from Carrabbas (again), picked up on the way, and had dinner
at home. Joe and Emmie arrived soon
after we did.
Remember the forecast for today from yesterday? Sunny and 80.
It never got to 73, and it rained, not drizzled, for several hours. Perhaps we should get those who can predict
the temperature down to a fraction of degree 50 years from now into closer-in
forecasting!
Sunday January 10.
Joe stayed back with Harrison to “save” his day for Epcot. The rest of us went to Animal Kingdom. Anne and I were there in 2007, but neither of
us have any good recollection of what we did.
In any case, we rode the Kilimanjaro Safari, and watched the show based
on Lion King. I would say the Safari
experience is like that of any other “fake” ones. The Lion King show is labor-intensive, with
acrobats, singers, and dancers; it is not my cup of tea though.
The Lion King show.
Emmie sure enjoyed the playground in Dinoland. She went up and down the 3-storey high slide
multiple times.
Dinoland was a big hit.
Joe and Jess went to Epcot (with Jess having to pay for
the park-hopper fee) to watch the fireworks while Anne and I looked after the
children. The stuff we bought at the
nearby Taste of China was practically inedible, and I am not a picky
eater. Sometimes reviews do reflect how
good an establishment is; unfortunately most of the time they do not.
Monday January 11.
Joe, Jess and Emmie left for MK a little after 9. Anne and I took Harrison to Marketplace (a
supermarket next door) and bought a couple of gifts for our other grandkids. Afterwards we drove to the Contemporary Resort
for lunch. The buffet lunch is a bit on
the expensive side (around $50 each including taxes and tip), but the food was
better than what we had in the German Pavilion.
The highlight was when the Disney characters came out, signed in Emmie’s
autograph book, and posed with her for pictures. Emmie will turn 3 in less than two weeks, so
she was given a birthday card and a cup cake with a candle on it.
While the rest of the family took the monorail back to
MK, I tried to drive the car to the MK parking lot. I had parked at the Contemporary Resort lot
without paying. While I am sure there is
a way to get to parking without paying, I was so lost that I had to ask for
directions, and paid for parking at that stop.
In any case, Emmie was already asleep in her stroller.
We did quite a few things this afternoon: jungle cruise
and pirates of the Caribbean. Anne also
took Emmie on Aladdin and Dumbo again.
We also caught both the 3 pm and the 7 pm parades. Anne and I stayed over for the fireworks at 8
pm, Joe, Jess and Emmie left right after the parade.
Lunch at the Contemporary Resort provided photo ops with Disney characters.
Riding the magic carpet with grandma.
No, she didn't go on Dumbo by herself. This was a fixture.
Cinderella Castle lit up at night. Lots of people waiting for the fireworks to begin.
A short video clip of the firework display.
It was a particularly long day for Emmie, although she
really enjoyed herself. Her parents give
her little TV time, so she doesn’t know the story behind most (if not all) the
Disney stories, so I can’t imagine how she would react if the stories she knows
come to life (reason for another visit?)
Over the course of the week she has become a lot braver, often going to
the characters by herself to ask for autographs.
We stopped by Chic Fil A and Red Lobster to pick up food
to bring back to the apartment.
Tuesday January 12.
Again Joe Jr needed some help with luggage space. So I took one of their suitcases and then
drove Jess and Harrison to the terminal before dropping off the rental
car. The return flight was also quite
full, but it was a reasonable 2 ½ hour flight.
We Uber’d again back to Jersey City.
