So the next morning, I woke up to a hearty breakfast at the Cafe Dome, which featured a huge long buffet line (and it really is huge and long)! Let's just say I haven't seen any buffet line as long as this in the world, and you can basically have anything you can think of for breakfast there.
After a full breakfast, I had a tiny opportunity to sneak out and walk around the exterior of the massive IR.
The sign at the main entrance
A very decent replica of the Rialto bridge and the tower over St Mark's Square
Same goes for the Dojo Palace
They even have an artificial lake outside
Behind is the massive accommodation block which has 3,000 guest rooms
This might give you a slight clue of the immense scale of the IR
And what's an outdoor lake without the famous gondolas?
Of course, there are greens too
If you peer in through the arches, it's actually the taxi stand
After this was checking out and a transit to the ferry terminal bound for Hong Kong. I can't say I like the ride very much. It was raining and the route is exposed to the open seas, so it was very choppy. I think a flight is even more stable than that. Reaching Hong Kong at 3+pm, we bade farewell to our 2 "madams" who went to wash up, while poor Jackie had to bring us to our hotel via taxi.
After seeing these 2 statues, it doesn't require a PhD to figure out where we stayed in Hong Kong
Ah yes, you can see it for yourself
The giant chandelier in the lobby is beautiful!
I could see a wedding taking place in the garden lawn from my room, very sweet!
The hotel's designed like an 18th-Century mansion, very classy indeed!
Compared to The Venetian, Disneyland Hotel's room is very ho-hum...
Umm... what you see is what I "stunned" back for my sis... Haha!
This is the entrance to the in-house restaurant, a very beautiful fresco!
It was getting late, and Mr. Yau arranged a very grand dinner for us later that evening. What to do?
One of the few pictures we took at the dinner. That's Mr. and Mrs. Yau, our kind hosts for the entire trip, I must say. Dinner was, well, usual. Overflowing with food (you can see the plates are full) and lots of toasting, which was quite fun actually. However, I'm glad my glass held beer instead of the XO that they opened. Sipping was my adopted "drinking style" for the meal :)Following a very full dinner, as always, I went to talk around the hotel while Dad went to sleep. Since I was there, I couldn't give up the opportunity to walk around, right?
The outline of the exterior is lit up at night, with music broadcasted through speakers mounted all around the site.
Photography lesson, people: What you see may not necessarily be what appear on your camera. This is using the camera's default settings.
This dimness is much closer to the actual illumination. See the difference?
It's all about having a Magical Day at Disneyland!
And the chandeliers are really beautiful!!!
It's a 700m walk to the Park entrance. I decided to stroll over and caught this fountain before heading back to sleep. Flying back the next day!
The quilts even have Disney characters on them. I tried to arrange the sheets properly after I woke up.
Even the head of the bed has a graphic of the signature castle on it!I really wanted to try the breakfast at the restaurant. I heard a lot about the Mickey Mouse pancakes, and you haven't really stayed in a Disneyland Hotel till you've tried them. Alas, we were too late for breakfast, having woken up a little later due to the exhaustion! Oh well...
But after a short break and a bite from the cafe at the lobby, it was off the the airport already. Time to head back home!
But after a short break and a bite from the cafe at the lobby, it was off the the airport already. Time to head back home!
That's not my seat, but the one beside me. Taken using my handphone, that's why it's so noisy. It was a comfortable flight indeed! Managed to catch Tina Fey's "Baby Mama" on the wonderful 15-inch screen.Afterthoughts: It certainly was an eye-opener for me, this time. I think the learning experiences are not so much the places that I've been to, or visited, but more of the human interactions. The warmth of our hosts throughout, whether in Mainland with Ms Poon and Ah-Mok, or with the Yau family... I think the extent to which they go to play a good host definitely beats many of us hands-down! I think some of the things they do, we won't even do it for our own relatives, let alone friends. It has definitely been an educational experience, and I aspire to be more proficient in Cantonese the next time I meet them!
Lastly, here're the links to my Photobucket! Sorry it took so long...
Lastly, here're the links to my Photobucket! Sorry it took so long...
Photobucket: Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel
Photobucket: China-Macau-Hong Kong Trip 2008
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