Hong Kong and Shanghai
Hong Kong
I had a great time in Hong Kong. Most of the time was spent visiting with dear friends. I spent one day watching a friend’s football match at the Hong Kong Football Club, getting the expat experience.
One day when my friends had to work, I ventured to Hong Kong Disneyland. I had been once before, about a decade ago. It’s a small but cute little park. There are a few really fun new rides, including Mystic Manor, which is, in my opinion, one of Disney’s best rides worldwide. I enjoyed meeting Mary Poppins and Bert, who noted that I’m on a jolly holiday.
Had a great dinner that night at a yakitori restaurant called Yardbird. Highly recommended.
I also enjoyed visiting the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery and the Hong Kong History Museum, where I learned more about the history of Hong Kong, from the prehistoric times to the present.
When it was time to head to Shanghai, I made my way to the Hong Kong airport and, after check in, visited the Cathay Pacific The Bridge Lounge. It was a nice lounge, with a variety of seating and dining areas. I had a snack and headed to the Long Bar, where I tried Betsy beer for the first time. It’s supposedly the first beer specially formulated to accommodate changes to taste sensations in the air. It had some pronounced fruity flavors that I think would work well onboard. It’s only available on a few flights so far.
The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge was close to my departure gate, so I decided check it out. The service in that lounge was really top-notch. I sat at the bar and tried the roast pork, which was quite tasty.
HKG-PVG
Cathay Dragon A330, Business Class
Unfortunately, I had a mishap where I lost a couple of days’ worth of pictures, so I don’t have any pictures from my first Cathay Dragon flight. But it was a very nice flight. I was in the middle group of two seats without anyone next to me, so I had plenty of space to spread out. The seat was quite comfortable, especially for such a short flight. I enjoyed a pre-flight signature gin cocktail. The service on this flight was really quite nice. A full meal was served, and I enjoyed a Malaysian curry from the Asian Delights menu. It was finished off with some milk tea flavored Haagan-Dazs ice cream and a can of actual milk tea that was quite nice. I also had a delicious Manhattan on the rocks. The lead flight attendant very helpfully wrote my hotel’s address on my landing card for me. (I had printed it in Chinese to show the taxi driver.) After a short wait at passport control, I was headed to a taxi. The driver took what appeared to be sort of the long way to my hotel at Shanghai Disney Resort, but even still the total was about USD14, so it wasn’t a big deal. I checked in to the very cute Toy Story Hotel.
Shanghai Disney Resort
The Toy Story Hotel was so well-themed! It’s one of two hotels at Shanghai Disney Resort. The room was very comfortable, and was supplied with slippers, 6 bottles of water, toothbrushes, a reusable shopping bag, and other themed accessories.
The next morning, I stopped by the café in the hotel to grab a sausage pie and a steamed bun shaped like Mickey. I hopped on the resort shuttle and was quickly at the central resort bus station. I walked through Disneytown to the main gate, where there were many security lines that were moving relatively quickly. It was a sort of rainy day, which I would learn would turn out to be lucky. Shanghai Disney Resort opened in June 2016 and it’s so modern. I’ve been to every Disney park except Tokyo, and I could really tell that everything from the speaker system to the rides were state of the art. They did a good job of bringing in Chinese cultural elements with the Disney style.
The Tron Lightcycle Power Run coaster was really amazing! I rode it several times.
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto was also a really fun ride, with scenes and water features from various Disney movies – I recommend riding it at night.
I went back the next day, which was warm and sunny. The lines and crowds were so much more! I was glad that I had the opportunity to go on the important rides the previous day and spent the more crowded day using fastpasses for some rides, but also taking in the parade and a Tarzan show, which was great because it used really nice acrobatics. The Disneytown is right outside the gates, so I had lunch there each day (at two different Japanese restaurants.) It’s convenient to have those nicer dining options a quick walk from the gates.
The second afternoon I also walked to the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. It’s the more luxurious of the two hotels. I ended up spending about an hour in the lobby enjoying a cocktail while listening to the beautiful pianists on the grand piano in the lobby.
At the end of the day, I took a taxi to the Shanghai Renaissance Yu Garden Hotel, in downtown Shanghai. I had been given a nice upgrade, to a room with a bathtub right next to floor to ceiling windows, where I could see the modern Shanghai skyline. I liked this hotel – the lounge had great service and it was an easy walk to the Bund.
I enjoyed breakfast and happy hour at the lounge.
Taking in the skyline and the historic architecture.
Finally, it was time to head home. I took a taxi to the maglev train, just because I wanted to ride the train. It was a fun experience, and we were at the airport in 8 minutes.
PVG-HKG-ORD-DCA to come…