St. Peter's Cathedral

The Hong Kong Skyline - My first touristy thing I did was jump on the ferry for an hour-long ride to nowhere, bought a Diet Coke and bought another ticket for the ride back on the same boat.

Cathedral of The Imaculate Conception (above and below)

A friend in the know told me that I needed to go to the HK Cathedral for Christmas Mass. I confused the times of Mass so I heard half a Mass in Cantonese...including Christmas carols that were familiar but given a new spin in a different language...it was pretty cool. I had to skip out early in order to call the family who were celebrating back home. Two halves make a whole so I met the obligation.

The Hong Kong Light Show (above and Below). The HK light show was pretty low-key. A HK tradition, each participating building along the harbor had its own display on the exterior façade. One of the building towers had a laser light show. Even one of the harbor boats was lit up for the festivities. You could tune your radio into a program that narrates and plays theme music. The whole thing lasted fifteen minutes.

The tram was nice but on the two days I spent in HK, both were overcast. While the building at the top of the mountain looks pretty cool, it's just a shopping mall for tourists. They did have some historic walks but I wasn't in the historic mood. Best I could do was buying a large hot chocolate; snap a few photos, relax, and enjoy the view.

The shopping mall at the end of the Peak Tram ride

The Peak Tram ride. At the top of the mountain, I looked at the cable that pulled the tram up the mountain and felt it best not to look again. There was enough cable but I wasn't ready to trust that technology with me just yet.

Bluelou Hangin' With Mick Da Mouse!

I saw both musicals; The Lion King and the Golden Mickeys. I'd seen the Lion King in London and I thoroughly enjoyed it but this shortened version wasn't impressive. I was very impressed with the Golden Mickeys. The costumes, choreography, and memories it brought back will be something I won't soon forget. Having been part of the stage crew for three musicals, I can only imagine the difficulty of this production. Youtube has many segments of this production. Spoken word was in Cantonese but words were sung in English. They had electronic translations posted but you either watched the play or read the translations...but not both.

Because the crowd waited for mid-afternoon, the only time I waited in line was when I arrived for a show too soon. The park has another couple of sections that will be added later this year and again next year so I'd seen and done all I wanted to do by late afternoon when the crowds started filling in.

Tickets and meals were reasonably priced. All the trinkets and memorabilia were pricy...I stayed away from these things. The Disney photographers would sell you their own digital/digitally enhanced pictures but would take pictures of you with your camera at no cost. It was a minimal pressure sale so I thought it was pretty cool.