Hong Kong no Phooey TR (Apr 2012)! The Yee's have it....TR finish #1101, 07/09

When you see numbers like that you cant help but think the worst. Bring on the smelling salts.:lmao:
 
Sea-ing life through a Grey Filter


I’m sure I mentioned that we found time to do some things twice at the start of the TR. This will be a recurring theme throughout this TR and you might get a bit sick of that deja vu feeling. Anyhoo….it’s early in the TR and you’re all keen to see the details of the HKDL resort.

There is only a two/three hour time difference between Melbourne and Hong Kong, with Hong Kong being behind Melbourne time. DH, DS and I are so used to the time zone change to the US (17 hour differential) that we figured this time zone change would be a snap. Yeah. NOT!

We all woke up before 6 am despite getting into bed some 5 hours earlier. In fact, until the 10th day of the trip, everyone was waking up at 5 am Hong Kong time as this equated to 7 am Melbourne time. Funny how such a small time change plays more havoc on the body clock than the larger one to the US. DS in particular found it rather difficult to adjust. It was not so much the problem of the early rising; but rather the need for the early to bed syndrome that was more problematic for DS and us. He would be tired by 8 pm, which is the first time I’ve EVER seen him tired out so early.


Anyway….6 am wake-up and after tossing and turning for half an hour, I decided there was no point trying to get some more sleep. I had things to see, do and photograph!

I took a look out at my sea view….

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Anyone else sea it? Anyone??

I was to discover that the sea is out there….if you look real hard, you might be able to work out that there is a bit of land sticking up in the foggy distant.
I'll give you a hint - it's behind the middle palm tree.


That land is actually an island in the sea.

That fog/mist? Well….it constantly hung over Hong Kong for the duration that we were there and very very rarely cleared. I don’t think we saw blue sky at all; although there would be tinges of it in some of the photographs.

So, get used to seeing life though this grey foggy filter!



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(Continued from Previous Post)


The Yee’s have it – Daytime at the room


After working out where I thought the sea and the grey mist coincided with the sky, I turned to look outside at the resort.

The view to the left of my room window…

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…and the view to the right.

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The pool looked enticing.

With daylight, comes a clearer view of the room and facilities.

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The bedhead etching details were European in style.

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There was a room safe….a proper sized one; unlike the super slim variety at WDW.

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We used the drawers underneath the TV cabinet as well as the cupboard for our clothes. You might notice the white slippers on one of the shelves here. They were complimentary and have come home with us. Which reminds me, I should get round to grabbing a picture of them with the Disneyland embroidery at some stage.

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I took another look at the bathroom. The shower/bath combo….

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….and the hotel information booklet in my room suggested that there were DA rooms available if you weren’t able to climb into the bath tub.


I was also awake enough to notice the toiletries provided.

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I think I remember reading somewhere that one of the deluxe resorts in WDW did provide Snow White themed toiletries and that this had been discontinued. I don’t know if this is true or not and I’m sure one of you aficionado’s might be able to enlighten me/us further. However, these were absolutely charming. Some of those toiletries might have found their way home with me too.

It was at this point that the penny dropped with me. There was a definitely Snow White theme to the room….

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Check out the details on the mirror!

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And the room door request…

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DS noticed the Hidden Mickey in the room…

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It was in the carpet pattern.


The room was lovely and really comfortable. For 3 of us, it was plenty of space. For my parents, it was heaven!



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You would think that with the time difference you would be ok. Its kinda of strange you had a long flight and yet not much difference for the time. I guess you guys are so used to long flights and then a big difference in day and time over here.

I was looking at the pic before I read what you wrote. I thought I saw the sea , I could see the rippling effect. I dont see an island. No wonder you got sick, it never got really warm for you. But you have an awesome view!
 


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Breakfast at Walt’s Cafe



I didn’t grab any shots of the airline food yesterday, so you’ve only had one roast beef focaccia in which to lick the screen with. Definitely time I addressed this!

There are arguably four restaurants in the Disneyland Hotel and I did go seeking out all 4. Problem was – the use of the term “restaurant” is rather misleading. But I’ll get to that in due course.

The first one I’ll mention is Walt’s Café. In the scheme of the clock orientation, Walt’s Café occupies the space between 3 and 6 o’clock.

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I managed to snag shots of the restaurant the night before, and had thought it an appropriate place for us to have breakfast.

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As my parents were also ready, we headed down by 7.30 am and were seated here with this view.

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There were pictures of Walt on the walls…

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Nice as the pictures were, we were more interested in the breakfast menu…

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Most items were priced around the $168 - $198 mark, which equates to $22 - $26 our money. My parents advised that it was not too exorbitant considering we were at a captive Disney resort and with them having the knowledge of what prices were like outside in Hong Kong proper. It only remained to be seen if the quantity and quality were acceptable.

Whenever I see Mickey waffles on the menu, I cannot resist. So, I opted for the Walt’s Breakfast. This breakfast included the continental breakfast buffet selection, a choice between fluffy omelettes or Mickey waffles (or pancakes) and coffee/tea. In fact, DS and DH also opted for this breakfast selection.

The other allure of this breakfast choice was that it gave me the option to go look at the continental breakfast buffet. I didn’t get a picture of that section of the café; but here’s what the buffet looked like.

The Wheat section…

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The healthy choices…

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The cold cuts…

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There was a selection of juices in this section and DS was more than happy with the choices of orange, apple, watermelon etc.

DH and I both had toast and a selection of fruits.

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In case you haven’t come across it before that white fruit with the black speckles in it is dragon fruit.

DH’s waffle… which I snagged off his selection of pictures….

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DS’s pancakes…which I snagged off DH.

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Coffee was brewed. It was strong and a little bitter.

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One of the beneficial things I was to discover on this trip of travelling with my parents was that I would have additional variety of food porn to shoot. My parents fell back on their heritage and chose to have the Chinese Breakfast. The Chinese breakfast provided soya milk, rice congee and a choice of a dim sum plate or a plate of fried noodles plus coffee/tea. As we were expecting to enjoy dim sum for lunch, my parents both chose the fried noodles.

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Our bill, with the 15% discount, came to around $850. That’s about $115 in our money.

For my money, the food at Walt’s Café was worth the money. All the food was yummy and perfectly cooked. We all had order envy – my parents wanted our breakfast and we wanted theirs – and we decided that we needed to come back the next morning for breakfast. The 'Yee's definitely have it' and I'll post my pictures at the appropriate time.


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Fabulous detail. I hope DS got some rest. I posted and didnt realize you added more. I love the toiletries! Hmm...you think they would of noticed if you would have taken dopey off the frame? :rolleyes1
 
(Continued from Previous Post)


The Hotel Gardens



The plans for today had always been to take it easy on the Sunday morning as I had booked us in for a Dim Sum lunch at one of other the restaurants on the resort. Plus, the word was to avoid the parks on the Sunday as it was ‘crazy’.

So, take it easy we did. And it did allow us time to explore the gardens and surrounds of our resort. A feature of the garden is the maze, directly outside at 6 o’clock from the entrance.

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The maze is reputed to be Mickey themed; but I can’t see the bushes for the leaves.

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We did have some fun working our way through…..always take the left fork seemed to work.

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I snaffled this from DH’s collection as I thought it provided some perspective on the size of the maze.

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We weren’t the only ones enjoying the maze…

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And for those of us photo nuts, here’s another “The Yee’s have it moment”.

I think these were taken at roughly the same spot; one with the normal lens and the other with the ultra-wide angle.

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It really was a very pretty back yard.

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For those wondering about the seaview….take a look. It really is there! And that lump of land in the grey background is the same lump of land we can see from our window.

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If you walk out the gates and look right, you’ll see this path. It leads to the Hollywood Hotel.

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If you look left, you’ll see the Pier. A ferry brings in people from Hong Kong.

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I kept walking round the resort gardens. Dare I say that this was going to be my equivalent of the yellow brick road?

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Left direction leads to the pool.

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DS took one look and decided that it was time for a swim. Whilst both DH and I agreed, I figured that I could join them a little later and spend a bit more time wandering through the grounds. Okay. Maybe it was a LOT more time. But I did join them at the pool about an hour later and they were still having fun splashing about. I believe that the chairs under that tent is where the boys were set up.

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The hot tub was fantastically hot. Not sure why it was that hot; but maybe it is a Disney policy as I remember thinking the same about the hot tubs in WDW.

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Sea Breeze Bar is reputed to be one of the four restaurants on site. It’s located here….

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….I walked by here twice (more “yee’s have it”) and never saw it opened. So, I can’t really say if it was a restaurant or not.


This side of the hotel is where the tennis courts are.

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And the kiddy playground.

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I kept walking round and outside for the obligatory shot of the hotel sign….

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….before turning back towards the front of the hotel. You can see some of the turrets from here.

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The main entrance, where we alighted last night.

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The area where the people are waiting is the courtesy bus stop. The bus service will take you to the Hollywood Hotel and then Disneyland. It will be a 10 minute trip.

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To complete the circle, this is the convention side of the hotel.

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There seems to be a relatively vast expanse of grass here. Seems like it is a nice place of the kids club to run around in, which is also located on this side of the complex.

This section of the garden is just to the right of the maze.

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It also concludes the tour of the gardens.




(Continued in Next Post)
 


(Continued from Previous Post)


The Path to the Happiest Place on Earth



In the hour that I was parted from the boys, I also found my way to Disneyland. Don’t roll your eyes at me….the path was right there; on the left side.

I have previously been accused of travelling at commando speeds and I really don’t know why anyone would think that of me. I do take my time in looking round….I do. I just like to make sure that I cover as much ground as I possibly can whilst I’m there.

And I certainly hope that any such accusations will not be brought up in this TR…..much.


The path was to the Happiest Place on Earth was on the left side.

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The walk way was green, lush and full of points of interest. That’s a dragon topiary and it even looks a bit like Mushu.

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You even come across an official Disneyland gate.

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Going towards Disneyland…

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Heading back towards the Hotel…

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This map was pretty handy as a way of showing the relationship between the resorts and the park.

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Despite the proximity of the hotels at the bottom of the park, there is currently only one official entryway into Disneyland. And it’s only about 0.5 km to the entrance from the hotel.

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Between the resort and Disneyland, there are 3 water features.

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And the third one? It is the one outside Disneyland.

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The walk took me all of 15 minutes to reach this 3rd water feature, with stops for pictures. I hightailed it back to the hotel within 5 – 7 minutes on the way back.


I spent some time taking pictures of the Mickey fountain. The official park opening time was 10 am; so there was a lack of bodies around and I made full use of the opportunity.

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I was aware that there is no Partners statue in HKDL and that this fountain was about as close as it was going to get. So, I made sure I got my close ups now as well.

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I also walked up to the gate and got me these pictures out front.

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Is it my imagination or does Mickey’s eyes look strange to you too?

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It was at this point that I decided that I’d probably had enough of the camera for the morning. Time to go jump in the pool and have me some fun before lunch, and more food porn!




princess::upsidedow
 
Fabulous detail. I hope DS got some rest. I posted and didnt realize you added more. I love the toiletries! Hmm...you think they would of noticed if you would have taken dopey off the frame? :rolleyes1

That's okay. You can add more comments now. :teeth:.

You'd have to saw the Dopey section off the mirror and they would definitely notice that. I thought of you when I was taking that section of the mirror. :hug:
 
I DO love the snow white touches in the room. And how subtle it is.
It's lovely.

Ahh.....DRAGON FRUIT!!! :woohoo:
If only they had that at other hotel breakfast buffets.
I've seen HUGE and impressive ranges at buffets before but never ever Dragon fruit...

My favourite fountain too.
Glad you got all your park entry photos done without people. I was so glad to get that opportunity :thumbsup2


Next
popcorn::
 
Oh please tell me that you snapped a photo of you all packed into that tiny taxi with your end of trip shopping/luggage :rotfl:

The hotel looks gorgeous! I LOVE the toiletries, so cute and I also love the do not disturb sign! Doesn't take much to get me excited about Disney :rotfl:

Walts looks gorgeous! And the food looked delicious :love: Food Porn! Actually I'm waiting for dinner currently and that food porn is making me very hungry!

Maze looks great, love Mazes! Mickey fountain was cute too.
 
Definitely some similarities for us :-)

We also found that it was misty and overcast most of the time we were there, which we were expecting as we had looked up the weather patterns before we left. I don't think it was ever that misty though and it did clear up quite well on the last couple of days. I would have expected it to be a bit brighter for you, but it sounds like it was at least warmer if you were willing to swim :rotfl:

Spewing I didn't know those slippers were complimentary to take home! I thought they were just for hotel use! I did manage to stash a few of the Snow White themed toiletries though :goodvibes

Funnily enough, with both this trip and our trip to the US, I have yet to suffer jetlag :confused3

You've got some awesome pics! I can't wait to see your park ones!
 
Such glorious detail!! Your description of the hotel and walk to HK Disneyland makes me feel like I am right there with you! Plus the photos of course!
It really does look lovely.
Those toiletries would be beating a little path to my suitcase too, I must admit. They look gorgeous! Love the Snow White theming.
And breakfast looks good, too. I love the fresh fruit - very appetising. (Oh and the waffles, too, of course! ;) )
Thanks again. :surfweb:
 
I dont know how I did that, I missed the whole cafe. You mentioned the purple stuff with the dragon fruit, was it mixed with yogurt? The maze awesome. I hear you about people saying camando , but I am in many ways like you, I want to keep moving to get to the points I want to see. I am not in a hurry, but keep moving so I dont miss something. You wont hear me complain about that.

The food looks so good. The grounds are beautiful! Takes alot to keep all that going. Your right mickeys eyes are kind of wonky. Did the pool get full, or was it pretty empty? How warm did it get there. Your moving at a great pace on this TR, despite how you feel. Cant wait to read some more.:thumbsup2
 
The resort is simply beautiful and I'd want to steal the Dopey stuff too.
 
Very nice! Love the details! At this pace you'll be done in no time. Besdies with the DIS being all wonky, I'm sure you've had plenty of time to work on your installments!
 
Breakfast looked good, I saw some chocolate.

What was the temperture? Humid I'm guessing by the misty sky too.
 
I DO love the snow white touches in the room. And how subtle it is.
It's lovely.

Ahh.....DRAGON FRUIT!!! :woohoo:
If only they had that at other hotel breakfast buffets.
I've seen HUGE and impressive ranges at buffets before but never ever Dragon fruit...

My favourite fountain too.
Glad you got all your park entry photos done without people. I was so glad to get that opportunity :thumbsup2


Next
popcorn::

It must have been dragonfruit season in Hong Kong.


Oh please tell me that you snapped a photo of you all packed into that tiny taxi with your end of trip shopping/luggage :rotfl:

The hotel looks gorgeous! I LOVE the toiletries, so cute and I also love the do not disturb sign! Doesn't take much to get me excited about Disney :rotfl:

Walts looks gorgeous! And the food looked delicious :love: Food Porn! Actually I'm waiting for dinner currently and that food porn is making me very hungry!

Maze looks great, love Mazes! Mickey fountain was cute too.

Hope you got your dinner.

I did get a picture of...the luggage.....packed into the back of the taxi....at the end. :)


Definitely some similarities for us :-)

We also found that it was misty and overcast most of the time we were there, which we were expecting as we had looked up the weather patterns before we left. I don't think it was ever that misty though and it did clear up quite well on the last couple of days. I would have expected it to be a bit brighter for you, but it sounds like it was at least warmer if you were willing to swim :rotfl:

Spewing I didn't know those slippers were complimentary to take home! I thought they were just for hotel use! I did manage to stash a few of the Snow White themed toiletries though :goodvibes

Funnily enough, with both this trip and our trip to the US, I have yet to suffer jetlag :confused3

You've got some awesome pics! I can't wait to see your park ones!

I don't suffer jetlag usually. For some reason, the 2 hours put DS out of kilter.

Such glorious detail!! Your description of the hotel and walk to HK Disneyland makes me feel like I am right there with you! Plus the photos of course!
It really does look lovely.
Those toiletries would be beating a little path to my suitcase too, I must admit. They look gorgeous! Love the Snow White theming.
And breakfast looks good, too. I love the fresh fruit - very appetising. (Oh and the waffles, too, of course! ;) )
Thanks again. :surfweb:

Excellent to know that you're enjoying the detail. :thumbsup2

I dont know how I did that, I missed the whole cafe. You mentioned the purple stuff with the dragon fruit, was it mixed with yogurt? The maze awesome. I hear you about people saying camando , but I am in many ways like you, I want to keep moving to get to the points I want to see. I am not in a hurry, but keep moving so I dont miss something. You wont hear me complain about that.

The food looks so good. The grounds are beautiful! Takes alot to keep all that going. Your right mickeys eyes are kind of wonky. Did the pool get full, or was it pretty empty? How warm did it get there. Your moving at a great pace on this TR, despite how you feel. Cant wait to read some more.:thumbsup2

On this day at the pool, there were two other families enjoying it. But they didn't swim as much as we did and because they had babies, no one else used the slide whilst we were there.



The resort is simply beautiful and I'd want to steal the Dopey stuff too.

If I could, I would have!


Very nice! Love the details! At this pace you'll be done in no time. Besdies with the DIS being all wonky, I'm sure you've had plenty of time to work on your installments!

You forget - the photos need work too! :faint:


Breakfast looked good, I saw some chocolate.

What was the temperture? Humid I'm guessing by the misty sky too.

Correct! It was pretty humid for the two days we were at Disney. Temperatures were in the low to mid 70's. When we were in Hong Kong, the temperatures went down to mid 60's and it was still slightly humid.


The pictures you took are beautiful , and everything is amazing looking.

:thumbsup2
 
The Yee’s have it – Daytime at the resort


After I hightailed back from the Park gate, I must have spent about an hour with the boys at the pool. Most of my time was spent climbing up this set of stairs.

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There was a slide to enjoy.

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The pool is pretty well patrolled by at least 2 – 3 CM lifeguards. One of them, Vien, and I hit it off. She was great and more than anyone else made me speak and practise my Cantonese as much as possible. We were to see Vien at least twice more during the trip and I hope that she will remember me as much as I will remember her.

In addition to the outdoor pool, there is an indoor heated pool.

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The tiling on the wall amused me. Whilst quintessentially European and English in style, it didn’t let us forget that we were in Disney.

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The gym and spa is located around this side of the resort.

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I wished I had some time to try out the spa services….maybe next time.
We then grabbed showers and headed back down to the lobby. I had a little time to kill before lunch so I made a point of going up to the upper floors to grab different shots of that cavern. Yes, the “yee’s have it” again.

From the upper decks, I got a much better angle for the chandelier.

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And I could zoom in on the stained glass cupola.

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Every afternoon, a jazz band plays from this balcony.

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They do have a great view out to the garden.

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On the third level of this building, roughly at 1 o’clock is the Kingdom Club or the equivalent to CL in the US.

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The lounge space looks nice.

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The buffet is available towards the back of the lounge. We didn’t sample the service here.

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On the busy period, I guess these tables get used!

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By this time it was nearly noon and we headed towards the Crystal Lotus for lunch.



(Continued in Next Post)
 

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