HK Disneyland TR - inc. Vietnam & Africa

[zanzibar138]

So our plan had been to go into the city today and then come back in time for DH to see the last show of the Golden Mickeys, and since it was a Friday (and our annual passes weren't valid on weekends) it was his last chance.

That all changed when I went into the hallway to check my emails (which by the way is what you have to do - there is no wifi in the rooms) and found an email from smart traveller issuing a travel warning for Zimbabwe, which was our next destination.

We spent the morning, and early afternoon, with DH on the phone to our travel insurance company, finding out if they would cover us if we cut our trip short. They were unwilling to help, and after having to send them copies of everything, said that they would get back to us within 10 working days with the outcome. Really useful considering that our flight to Africa left the following day, and in 10 days we would actually be back at home

I did a lot of people watching while DH was busily organising things.

Finally we were able to leave for our 'day' out. It was well past lunchtime, but we didn't want to waste any more time and figured we could get some lunch in the city.

We walked to the train station and bought tickets to Kowloon (not sure why DH wanted Kowloon instead of Hong Kong...). The ticket machines were really easy to use, and even I didn't have any trouble working it out! I had been unsure of catching the train at first as I thought we would get lost when we had to change trains etc. Turns out that was really easy too. All of the signs were in English as well as Chinese.

The Disney train was very cute, with Mickey shaped windows and little display cases with Disney characters in them. We changed trains at Sunny Bay. The regular trains were good too. There was a light that indicated the next station, and some of them even had a light indicating which side of the train you would be exiting from. It didn't take long to get to Kowloon.

By the time we got to Kowloon we were both pretty keen to find something to eat. The train station was part of a large shopping complex (high end), and after much wandering (and wondering how on earth you were supposed to get out of the complex) we came across a cafe, overlooking an ice-skating rink. Yep, in the shopping complex... Unfortunately I forget the name of the cafe now.

We had a nice 'lunch', and DH got a coffee cocktail which was so strong he couldn't finish it! It was a pretty high end sort of place, and it still about half what we were paying at Disneyland.

When we finished our lunch we somehow found our way out of the complex, and kind of wandered aimlessly around just taking it all in. After about 10 minutes we ended up at another train station just over the road - Austin station. Annoyingly enough, it was about time to go if we wanted to be back in time for the final Golden Mickeys show, so we decided to just get on that train. That station was a little more difficult to find our way around, and it also meant we had to change trains a couple of stations down. We managed though and soon we were back at Sunny Bay.

I took a couple of photos as the Disney train was pulling in.

We got into DL with about half an hour until the last Golden Mickeys show, so pretty much went straight there. Maybe it was because it was the last show of the day, or maybe because it was a Friday night, the line was a LOT longer than it had been when I had previously seen the show, and we ended up with seats right at the back. TBH though, once the show started, I didn't even notice we were at the back.

After the show while we were waiting for the fireworks I wandered around and took a few night time shots of the park.

I picked up the last minute shopping I needed to get - souvenirs for people back home mainly, and then I made my way to the station again for the fireworks viewing, and DH picked up some desserts from the bakery on the way.

With only about 15 minutes to go until the fireworks, it was fairly crowded up there, but it didn't matter so much when I knew I wasn't taking photos. I enjoyed the show and was really glad I'd gotten to see it again.

Then we went back to the hotel for our last full night.

 

[zanzibar138]

Our last day started with another breakfast at Walt's.

Then we went back up to our room to finish packing and investigate sending a parcel back home (as we didn't fancy lugging ALL that stuff with us to Africa).

I'd noticed something in the hotel information file about them being able to send parcels for you, so I called for some information and they said to go down to Bell Services. So I gathered all our stuff to send and went down to sort it out while DH finished packing.

The guy at Bell services (Jason, but that doesn't mean much as there were two other Jasons both working in Bell services) was very helpful, and I ended up giving him my other token from the star guest program. He found a box for me and put it together, then helped me pack it, and found some bubblewrap to protect a wooden ship we'd bought in Vietnam. I was very pleased!

DH turned up soon after, having already checked out, and organised for our bags to be stowed while we went off exploring. Then we were off for a day in the city!

We had decided after finding Austin station, that we would go directly there next time, as it seemed to be close to some parks and things that we thought might be worth exploring, then I thought we could catch the ferry across to Hong Kong and spend some time there too.

We got off at Austin station and had a bit of a wander. We found one of the parks, which was underwhelming to say the least. We were getting a bit hungry, but wandering around the back streets of Kowloon we weren't game to try anything. We realised we had seen signs to the ferry from Austin station, so we thought we'd go back there and see where that took us. Then we realised we were close to Kowloon station where we found that nice cafe, so we went back there.

These pictures are from our wanderings.

The construction work is for a new station they are building (between the two existing ones... go figure...) for a future train line from China.

We had a nice lunch at a different cafe (more of a restaurant/bar than a cafe actually), just down a bit from the one we were at yesterday. After lunch DH suggested we check out the ice-skating rink. It wasn't too badly priced - you paid in 1/2 hour blocks. But the catch was, you needed an Octopus card. We decided it was a bit too hard and that if we really wanted to we could go ice-skating back home, so continued our search for the ferry.

We made our way back to Austin station and followed the signs from there, but they just kind of faded out after a while. We kept going in the same direction and eventually came across a ferry terminal. We checked it out, but it looked more like an airport and we discovered that it was for ferries to Macau.

We kept walking again, and I decided that if we could get to the waterfront we might have more luck. We went through an outlet shopping centre which didn't end up going through to the waterfront, and walked along there for a while.

The next thing we came across was a big cruise ship terminal. Nope, not much help. Kept walking.

And just after the cruise ships, there it was, a little ferry terminal to get to Hong Kong We bought a ticket for about 20 cents lol! There was a ferry already there so we boarded straight away and soon after we were off to Hong Kong.

This is where we came from.

And the ferry terminal on the other side.

The whole time we were at DL, we had wondered about the dock they have there. We went down to have a look once and it looked like it had been deserted. There were no signs or timetables or anything, and there were a few people around fishing. So we wondered if we could find anything out from the HK end.

We found a ferry that went to Lantau Island, but it went to Mui Wo, which we'd never heard of and had no idea where it was in relation to DL. Still, we figured there must be some way to get back from there and decided we would give it a go. It took an hour on the slow ferry or half an hour on the fast ferry.

In the meantime we thought we'd see if we could get to Victoria Peak. We lined up for a bus and after a few minutes realised we would run out of both time and money if we went... So we went back to the ferry terminal and got on a slow ferry. DH forked out the extra for a first class ticket, which meant we got comfier seats at the front of the top deck.

Unfortunately, I have lost most of the pics from this journey, and only have this one left.

We were surprised with how open the sea got, and the little scattered islands everywhere. We were passed by a massive container ship, and saw several others in the area.

When the ferry docked at the other end we found ourselves in a little touristy kind of village. There were pushbikes EVERYWHERE. There were thousands of them lined up in a bike parking area, and more throughout the town. We managed to find a bus to Tung Chung, where we knew we could catch the train and eventually get to Disneyland.

The bus took us on a little tour of the town first, going to the library and other town amenities before heading back to the ferry terminal and branching off to go up the VERY STEEP hill! The scenery on that bus ride was absolutely breathtaking. There were gorgeous views both inland and out to sea, and in between was beautiful hilly forest with walking tracks and camping spots. I'd actually like to spend more time in this area next time I go to HK.

Eventually we were coming into Tung Chung, and we realised we had no idea where to get off the bus lol! We were looking out for signs that looked like trains, then realised we were getting confused with signs for the cable car. Luckily there was a westerner in front of us who obviously knew the area and realised that we were a bit lost. He told us not to worry, that the bus terminated at the train station, so we wouldn't be able to miss it.

Right he was! We got off the bus and into the train station. I wouldn't have minded checking out the outlet shops (or getting something to eat) but not knowing how long it would take us to get back, we didn't want to waste any time.

Turns out it didn't take us long at all. Soon enough we were back on the Disney train, then walking the path back to the hotel for the last time.

We got back with about half an hour to spare, so waited in the lobby, enjoying our last moments in the hotel until someone came to tell us our bus was there.

As we pulled out of the hotel, CMs waved us off like we had been visiting family. It was so nice, and I really was quite sad to leave.

We found the airport quite difficult to navigate when checking in, but luckily were there HOURS before we needed to be. Even when we found the check-in desk they weren't ready for us yet. And, even being one of the first to check in, we still ended up with lousy seats down the back of the plane.

We were VERY disappointed to see all the shops closing up, including eateries, and had to go through customs and security before we could find anywhere to get some dinner. Even then our choice was very limited. We finally found somewhere to have some drinks while we waited for our boarding time, then we were off to Africa!

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm really enjoying your take on HKDL and HK. Your fireworks shots are making me kick myself. I wish I'd stuck with my first instincts on Day 2 now. Oh well....c'est la vie.

Did you end up at the iSquare Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui?

 

[zanzibar138]

Oh, what happened on day 2? Guess I'll find out soon enough... I don't think you need to worry though - your fireworks shots are awesome!

And I have no idea if that's where we ended up lol!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Oh, what happened on day 2? Guess I'll find out soon enough... I don't think you need to worry though - your fireworks shots are awesome!

And I have no idea if that's where we ended up lol!

And yes....you'll find out about Day 2.

 

[zanzibar138]

While I was on a roll, I figured I may as well put up the other parts of my TR.

Our trip began in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). We flew the 8 hours from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City with Vietnam Airlines. It was comfortable enough, but I didn't think their entertainment system was quite up to par. Eg they had no Disney movies in their selection

Upon our arrival we made a fairly quick exit through passport control and customs, and found a girl holding a little sign with our name on it. She led us outside and before we knew it there was a guy there instead who ushered us onto a minivan. The heat and humidity hit us as soon as we left the air-conned building - it was above 35 degrees while we were there.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which seemed to be in quite a good location near some touristy looking areas. I was well over half an hour's drive, even though distance wise it wasn't that far. It was all the traffic and motorbikes we had to dodge on the way through.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were swooped upon by half a dozen staff members taking our bags and showing us to the check-in desk. Check-in was nice and easy, and we were shown to our room. When we got there we were given a small tour and left to settle in.

The room was very nice, and had a big window, which I hear is a rarity in the city. We were in the new wing and my memory fails me but I think it was about the ninth floor.

After settling in we thought we'd take a walk. First we went to our travel company (through Flight Centre) to try and sort out the mix-up with our train and flights later in the trip. Without much luck. We got them just to cancel it all and thought we would organise it ourselves as we went. After that we thought we'd check out the river. It looked pretty interesting, but it was on the other side of a busy road and we didn't really want to die that early in the trip. So we just did a blocky and made our way back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel the power was out The hotel staff were being pretty good about looking after the guests, but there wasn't really a lot they could do. We weren't able to use the lift to get back to our room, and didn't fancy climbing 9 flights of stairs. We then realised our door had an electronic lock so we probably wouldn't be able to get in anyway! So we decided to take another walk and go the other way.

We passed this building on our way around, which was a flash hotel with a casino.

I only had my little camera (had left the big one in our room), so I wasn't able to get many photos since it was dark.

When we got back to the hotel they looked like they were having a bit more success with the power. It was on when we got back, but it went out again soon after. Then kept going on and off for a while. We decided it would be a good time to get our welcome drinks and just sit in the lobby.

The power came back on after a while and they started checking people in and ushering them to their rooms. We managed to squeeze into a lift (I have to admit I was more than a little concerned about the power going out again while we were in there) and get to our room. We gathered some more belongings and made our way to the rooftop bar, where we thought we'd have some pre-dinner drinks.

The rooftop bar was on the 20th floor, and offered amazing views of the city and the river. The staff there were amazing and really looked after us, and we ended up staying for dinner. We just ordered a couple of plates of snacks like spring rolls etc and shared.

We had a relatively early morning the next day with a morning tour, so after eating, we just headed back to our room.

In an interesting side story... DH set the alarm for 6am in the morning to allow us enough time to pack, have brekky and check out before we went on our tour. Unfortunately he forgot to check that his phone had changed time zones, and got up to have a shower when the alarm went off at 3am I wondered why I was finding it soooooooooo difficult to get up!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love your latest posts. Happily sitting here waiting for the next installment.

What a pity about the electricity. I would have been the same in the elevator.

 

[zanzibar138]

After our early morning breakfast (which was I think the best we had on our trip BTW), we were met by our tour guide for the morning (which would turn into the day, but more about that later...). In Vietnam when you go on a tour you have both a driver and a tour guide, as most drivers can't speak English. Even the guides were a bit difficult to understand.

Our destination was the Cu Chi Tunnels, which was about an hour and a half out of the city. Most of the drive was along the main road, but the last bit was on skinny dirt back roads.

We arrived and our guide organised our entrance tickets and led us to a group of open pavilion type things where the introduction movie was playing in a continuous loop. The movie has obviously not been updated for many years, like as in before the war actually ended. It is VERY one-sided and anti-American, and there is a lot of talk about how many Americans people killed. Our guide said he does warn any American tourists he takes in and offers the option of skipping the movie.

After the movie we made our way in. First of all, let me say that all the tunnels have been made bigger to accommodate western tourists, and it actually wasn't scary at all. We got the obligatory photos of us coming out of the ground. We were standing on solid ground in these shots.

And were shown a little hidey hole.

Along the way there were displays of some of the traps they used, and 'rooms' in the tunnels, which had been excavated and covered with little thatched roofs. There was a kitchen, medical room, workshop etc. And between each 'room' was a tunnel.

The only time I was concerned was in the tunnel where a light seemed to have gone out and became VERY dark for a few metres.

There was an opportunity to do some shooting at the rifle range, which we passed on. It was extremely loud and we just wanted to get out of there!

Towards the end we got to taste the tapioca and tea which the people who lived in the tunnels used to live on. The tapioca was kind of like a potato, and was served with a mixture of crushed peanuts and sugar, which was kind of like a dip. It was quite good!

The entire morning was hot and humid, and we were pretty happy to get back in the air-conditioned car and be given bottles of cold water.

Our guide convinced us that we would have time to do an afternoon tour before we needed to get to the airport, so we went to check out the Mekong Delta.

 

[zanzibar138]

It was a long drive to the Mekong Delta - about 2 hours - but we were able to bypass the city so the traffic wasn't too bad.

We stopped at a place just outside Mekong and our guide ordered our lunch for us. I don't think the waitresses there spoke a word of English... The lunch was little servings of about 5 different courses (as would be the norm in Vietnam).

We got to the river and waited while our guide found our boat. Then we were off down the river.

We pulled into a canal.

And got off for a tour of one of the islands formed by the delta. We came across this guy walking through a farm type thing to get to the main road.

Then we got into our horse cart for a ride down the street. I had to feel a bit sorry for the little pony as it was stinking hot! He looked in good condition though.

After our horse cart ride we made our way back to the canal. On the way we stopped to see some more wildlife...

Then we got to taste some tropical fruit. Most of it I'd had before, and most of the stuff I hadn't had before I wasn't a fan of, but I did enjoy the dragonfruit (which I don't think I ever got a photo of). We had some tea as well, with local honey and the juice of a tiny fruit which I forget the name of. Our guide put some more in mine as I'd been coughing a bit.

After that we walked back to the river and got in a canoe. It was a lovely peaceful way of meandering down the canal, although I couldn't help feeling sorry for the lady paddling. Our guide helped as well though.

We met back up with our boat and made our way back up to the river to the dock. On the way our guide cracked open a couple of coconuts.

We passed these dredging boats all the time. They pull the soil up from the bottom of the river, dry it out and sell it to builders.

Once we were back on land, we made our way back into the city to collect our bags from the hotel and continue on to the airport for our flight to Nha Trang. Here is a little sample of the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fabulous. Love the snake pictures and the Mekong River.

 

[zanzibar138]

We arrived at Nha Trang airport late in the evening, and got a taxi to the Mia Resort. It was about halfway between the airport and the city of Nha Trang, tucked into a cliff off the main road. It was only a 15-20 minute trip, and not much traffic. It was then that I realised how they drive... they get to the inside lane, and when they're coming up to another car they toot and flash their lights. Then it's up to the car in front to get out of the way!

Upon arrival we were again swooped upon by numerous staff. Someone took our bags, and someone got our documents needed for check in and then sat us down in some nice comfy chairs overlooking the ocean, and someone else brought us our welcome drinks and a yummy piece of cake.

After check in we got into a golf buggy with our bags and were driven down to our ocean front room with private pool As the resort is kind of on a cliff, and it's a fair hike back up to reception, they offer the golf buggy as a way to get around. Any time you want one you just call reception and they send one down.

Again, we were given a little tour of the room before being left to settle in for the night.

By then it was fairly late so we went to bed, and slept like logs lol!

Breakfast was included in our room rate, so we made sure we were up in time to go to the restaurant. At breakfast the customer service manager for the resort came to introduce herself to us. We saw her often during our stay, just checking in with how we were going, and making sure we were being looked after.

Our first day we just hung around the resort, admired our room, took advantage of our private pool, had some massages, and booked the next day's activities.

We went back to the restaurant for dinner where we had another several course Vietnamese meal and rice wine tasting.

 

[zanzibar138]

The previous day we had booked a tour of the islands in the bay. So we were up relatively early to be whisked off for that.

Our driver and guide showed up and we made our way into the city of Nha Trang. There was a massive port, but it was definitely quieter than Ho Chi Minh City, and before we knew it we were at the dock for our boat.

Our first stop was an aquarium. The aquarium itself was built to look like an old pirate ship. It wasn't like the aquariums over here though where they try to make the habitat as realistic as possible for the animals - they were mainly just in basic tanks.

There was an outside section where you could feed some fish. There were turtles in there too.

Then it was back to the boat for our next destination.

Our next stop was snorkelling off one of the further out islands. We past lots of slow, crowded big boats on our way there, and I have to say I felt a bit like royalty in our little private speedboat.

I've never snorkelled before, and I'm not a big fan of swimming in general, so I wasn't sure how I'd go. Turns out I was fine with the snorkel, but not so good with the flippers. Once I'd taken the flippers off I was good to go and we spent a fair while there.

Continued in next post...

 

[zanzibar138]

Next we visited one of the many floating fishing villages that are dotted around Vietnamese waterways.

Our final stop was lunch on VinPearl Island. There's a massive resort and amusement park on this island, but we went around to the other side facing Nha Trang where there was just a basic restaurant. And had another several course meal...

After lunch we had some leisure time for swimming, wandering, or just relaxing in the many sun lounges that were around.

After a while it was time to get back in the speedboat for the last time, speed past a couple of cruise ships back to the dock, and drive back to the resort.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I remember you talking abou the Nha Trang resort in your PTR.

It looks as lovely as you described it. I think I could have stayed there and not gone anywhere else.

Next we visited one of the many floating fishing villages that are dotted around Vietnamese waterways.


Our final stop was lunch on VinPearl Island. There's a massive resort and amusement park on this island, but we went around to the other side facing Nha Trang where there was just a basic restaurant. And had another several course meal...

That's an ap-per-ti-zing looking meal.....but I have to ask......You're NOT suggesting that you were served cat and dog, are you?????

 

[zanzibar138]

That's an ap-per-ti-zing looking meal.....but I have to ask......You're NOT suggesting that you were served cat and dog, are you?????

OMG I didn't think through the order of those photos very well did I

I'm happy to say that most of the meal was seafood, so I'm pretty sure we were safe

 

[zanzibar138]

I took a few photos of the lobby when we got back to the hotel.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in our pool.

 

[zanzibar138]

Yep, that's right. We had signed up for a cooking class at the resort.

We made our way to the restaurant late morning.

And noticed someone on our roof watering the lawn (yes, the villas all had 'green' roofs).

They were all set up for our lesson.

I have to say I don't mind cooking nearly so much when everything is already prepared for you, and no dishes either After we cooked the main part, our instructor took it off into the kitchen and presented it for us to eat. We ate as we went, and we by the time we finished the last course, it was about 3pm!

First course was fresh spring rolls. These ones we made with pork and prawns. I was pretty happy with how mine turned out

Next course was a beef stirfry type thing. They had brought out little gas burners while we were eating the spring rolls.

Next was fish with noodles that we also cooked in the frypan.

Then we made a traditional Vietnamese braised fish with clay pots. It was actually a bit tricky - everything stuck to the clay pot, and they got so hot they were difficult to handle.

When we got back to our room we noticed we had a visitor in our pool. There was a maintenance person in the vicinity so we called out to get him to rescue our visitor.

We went up to the restaurant/bar near reception for pre-dinner drinks.

We were so full after our lunch we didn't really feel like dinner, but we ended up going back down to the ocean front restaurant and shared a pizza (their pizzas were nice and light).

Then went back to our room to pack and be ready to leave the following morning.

In the morning we had booked a last minute massage at the spa, so it was a bit of a rush getting ready to leave, but totally worth it! And before we knew it we were saying goodbye and on our way back to the airport ready for the next part of our trip. And for anyone reading this I'd be happy to recommend the Mia Resort. We had been so well looked after and had such a great time, I actually almost shed a tear when we left!

 

[zanzibar138]

Our next destination was Halong Bay. This is the place that really put us out with our itinerary as it was difficult to get to and kind of out of the way for us. But we couldn't go to Vietnam and NOT visit it!

We ended up flying into Hanoi and getting a private transfer out to Halong Bay, which is what we were trying to avoid. It was about 4 hours by road, and the traffic was bad the WHOLE WAY! Once we got off the freeway type thing they've got, we were probably averaging 40kmph most of the way...

We FINALLY got to Halong Bay and checked into our hotel - the Novotel. Even though it was directly across the road from the bay, it was so misty we couldn't see anything. Glad we didn't pay extra for a bay view room. Our room itself was quite nice, and modern, and we still had a little bit of a view (if only we were able to see anything!).

Although our room was nice, we were both pretty disappointed with the hotel. Where everywhere else we had been almost overwhelmed by the service, there really was no service to speak of at this hotel. We felt very much like just a number.

The restaurant was pretty ordinary. We ordered a Vietnamese tasting platter between us, which we only ate half of. The service in the restaurant was bad too, and we were pretty much just left to fend for ourselves.

We'd been trying to figure out where the place was that we had to go to get on our junk in the morning, and weren't having much luck. None of the hotel staff were able to help us at all (which could have had something to do with the language barrier, but I would have thought they would have HEAPS of people staying there who were going on to a junk).

We still hadn't found anything out by the morning, so we decided to just check out and figure out what to do from there. The breakfast was just as bad as the dinner, and the check out lady was no help to us on the location situation either. We ended up calling the junk company directly and were told that we would be picked up from our hotel at 12pm.

Well, we'd just checked out of the hotel then and it was only 8:30am... In one redeeming act of customer service, the hotel staff let us go back up to our room to wait. DH used that time to try and figure out a better way to get back to Hanoi.

When it was nearly time for our pick up we went back down to the lobby. We waited and waited and waited. Our driver was nearly an hour late, and we were hoping and praying that we had not missed our junk!

We got in the car, left the hotel, drove about 5 seconds down the road, and turned into the dock for the junk... Turned out because our driver was actually from the junk company, they had to wait for us. I don't know why NOBODY we spoke to was able to tell us that the dock was just across the road and would take us all of about 2 minutes to walk to...

 

[zanzibar138]

The dock area had a few restaurants and shops, and was bustling. These lions were overlooking the activity.

We walked down a long jetty to some little boats, where we were transferred to our junk.

We were last on board (no surprises there), and when we arrived we were all called to the dining room to be given our room keys. We were then given 10 minutes to settle in and be back to the dining room for lunch.

We found out that night that the beds were super uncomfortable - like sleeping on a block of concrete... The pillows pretty much deflated when used, and we ended up sharing a bed so that we could double up the pillows and blankets!

Anyway, back to the lunch... seafood!

The prawns were our first course, followed by mussels in their shell, followed by a big plate of clams in their shell, followed by squid, followed by a seafood stirfry. They did mention on the website that seafood would feature in the meals, but I did think that they might serve something else with it lol!

I got stuck into the wine and tried to enjoy the novelty of having so much seafood.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Strange....I thought I had made a post regarding your cooking update but it seems to have gone into the ethernet.

I was just remarking about how the rice paper rolls look good and wondering if you were considering making them at home.


Anyway....I hope you enjoyed Halong Bay. Everyone seems to rave about it so I hope it ended up being worth it for you and DH. Pity about the hotel lack of service.