Now, it may seem strange to travel half way around the world and end up at Disney, but there is a back story (when isn’t there one, really?).  A few years back,Betsy, JP, and I took our kids to Disney together, and we had a blast.  Now I know they can be the epitome of evil corporate empire, but they do that whole Disney Magic thing really well.  Such an impressive performance – they understand how to control everything to the slightest detail, and it made for a great vacation.  So, when Jenny moved to China and we began planning a trip, it seemed like a perfect symmetry (plus we figured it was a good way to deal with jet lag).

The day was great fun.  Boy, tropical heat is going to take some getting used to.  It is like living in a sauna.  Jenny told me that they don’t track temperature in degrees, but in the number of showers you take a day.  I could have used a few more, that’s for sure.  We had breakfast at the buffet in our hotel (the nicest YMCA I’ve ever seen).  It was a mix of Chinese and western foods, and we tried a some new stuff.  Most adventurous was Sophie who got a sticky rice and pork thing wrapped in some kind of leaf.  It was pretty tasty.

We started Disney with Space Mountain, and braving the heat and crowds hit the whole park.  At one point, the skies opened up suddenly, and it just dumped rain down for about 15 minutes.  The kids all ran around in it, enjoying the moment to cool off a bit.  It also cleared the place out a bit.  Then, they closed all the outdoor rides because of high winds from an approaching typhoon.  The thing is – it wasn’t windy at all.  I mean, seriously, I wouldn’t have even called it a windy day, but down went all those rides for the day.  By this point, it was almost 6:00, so a few of us went for one last Space Mountain ride, bought some new pins to add to our collection, and headed home.

Disney random food notes: We did have some ice cream that was pretty interesting, or rather Shea and Finn did.  It was a jelly ice cream bar, and it flopped around like it was melting and about to fall off, but it wasn’t it.  They would shake them at each other, and the things would wiggle like crazy.  Freaked me out a bit.  Our other note comes from lunch.  Maybe it was being in Disney that faked us all out, but when we headed to the lunch place, a few of us did a double take at the selections.  Where were the chicken fingers?  Instead, it was pork broth soup, fried rice, and the like.  The soup looked good, but it was way to hot for me to try it.  Sophie, quickly becoming one of the most adventurous, got bamboo water to drink; Eli ate white rice.  Later, we had a good laugh about expecting American food.

Before we came over, Jenny had told us how many Chinese people will take their pictures, especially the young blond Lulu and Kiera, and we got a taste of the action today.  At one point, I looked over and a man was videotaping us eating ice cream.  Sophie said it made her feel famous.

Anyway, we zipped back home to try and catch the nightly laser light show in the harbor, but it got cancelled due to that pesky typhoon.  Only now, it actually was pretty windy, although I’m not sure how it would negatively impact a laser.  We found a place where most found something good to eat for dinner and came home exhausted.  Betsy and I are sharing a camera, and she took a ton of pictures today.  Once I get them into the computer, I’ll start adding them.  Tomorrow we tour Hong Kong (assuming the typhoon allows), and then we take the train to Guangzhou!

Bookmark to: