"The Happiest place on earth"

Disneyland, “the Happiest place on earth”. I have now visited all but one Disneyland in the world! The only place missing in my Disney life is Disneyland in Japan. I know we will make it there one of these days.

Disney parks are enchanting. Disneyland, Disney World or Epcot; it does not matter what they are called you know that you will be met with professionalism and extreme attention to details. No matter how old the park is, it looks impeccable. Of course Disneyland Hong Kong lived up to all this.  

First time I ever visited a Disney park was in 1992, the year Euro Disney opened outside Paris. I was 15 years old and on my way to Eastbourne, UK, with one of my best friends to attend a four week English course (including live-in at a British family). I honestly do not remember much of that Disney because A) it was too crowded (the line to one ride was at least two hours long), B) we were 15 years old and “too cool” to care about cartoons.

Disneyland Hong Kong is by far the smallest of Disney parks I have been to, which is not surprising considering how everything related to living areas in Hong Kong is small. It took about ten minutes to walk from the entrance to Toy Story land (all the way in the back of the park), and a very leisurely walk too, to not collapse in the heat. But it got the details; the perfectly cute Main Street, the smallest Princess castle I have seen, "It's a small world"-ride in Fantasy land, the outstanding fire works right before the park closes and much more. 



In Disneyland you have to visit the shows, all included in the 399 HKD entrance fee. Their shows are outstanding! The first show we watched was the Lion King show in Adventure Land. I have to say it was absolutely fantastic! It was a half hour show with amazing costumes, professional dancers and singers and just an outstanding performance! Nothing was left untouched, every detail down to the shoes was perfect. For all I know they could have very well performed this on Broadway. 


Of course the sun was blasting viciously all day. It was soooooooo hot! I was almost catatonic from the heat every time we had to walk in the open between shows or rides. But it was fun, we both enjoyed Disneyland a lot! A welcomed surprise was a water parade in the afternoon where they sprayed water on the audience, and we both loved it. And guess what? We got the year pass! Yeah, I could not help it. If we just go there for one more visit the year pass already paid off, so it's all good. Disney makes me happy, despite the blistering sun :). 


Oh, one last thing; something that really surprised me was the food! I mean, it was basically fast food, we ordered fish and chips, and a cheese burger meal, reasonably priced, but it was pretty darn tasty!

HK parks in the mornings

So far Hong Kong has not been good to my body. I have gained weight, and I’m probably about my heaviest right now. I did expect this to happen since I went from working out 5 times a week at the gym, eating my normal Swedish food and having routines to drop all that. Now I don’t work out, I eat new kinds of food, the heat is killing me and I got no real routines. I was bound to gain weight. Being 35 years old doesn’t help either, metabolism gives up on you as quick as you can say “no pickles please”. 

Anyway, I have started a routine; to get up and run in the park when Honey goes to work (although this week he started his summer vacation and I got a stubborn cold, so the running is on hold). Hong Kong do have many parks, most of them very small, but it leaves a green area between the 30+ stories buildings. Normally I love a good morning exercise, and running is great, but in Hong Kong it’s already 29 degrees C (84F) at 7:30am! I know, it is a bit late to be called a morning workout, but that is my life right now. While I’m sweating like a fat pig running around the park (I did find a nice but short running track in a park close by our apartment) there are all these old folks, mostly women, who do their morning Tai Chi. It is real, it is not just a Hollywood stunt.

The groups of Tai Chi exercisers seem to be solid groups of people. I see them sit around, talk and joke, even some innocent (I think?) flirting among some of them. With a heat and humidity like it is here I can understand why Tai Chi is so popular. I mean, it is martial arts in slow motion, slooow mooootion. Honey’s dad told me that Tai Chi is all about defense. There are no offensive moves at all. Each move is about to disarm the attacker. You do all the movements slowly but firm, no need to work up a sweat. However, if you actually get attacked you do the same moves in warp speed instead.

Tai Chi must be a good work out. These older ladies and gents in the park are all in good shape. Yes, I keep mentioning older folks do Tai Chi. So far I haven’t seen anyone under the age of 65 practices it. Could be that the people who’s at the park at the same time I am does not have to work (aka retired)?

Well, we will see if my running results in any weight loss, at least to get back to my normal state. I will keep you posted. I already told Honey we need to cut back on the ice cream, delicious cream tea and yummy bubble tea. Oooh bubble tea…

Dingding is doing much better!

My gorgeous wittle girl is doing much better! And as we suspected there was some trouble with her stomach. I took her to the vet down the street; he examined her and noticed that she was in pain when he touched her stomach area. The Vet took an x ray (and one for us to keep) and basically got it confirmed. She’s constipated, she cannot poop. This probably caused her to have ache and the reason why she would not eat nor drink.

The Doc wanted her to stay overnight to be monitored, but dingding started eating some lettuce already at the Vet office so I figured I can bring her home. Since I am not working I may as well be the one monitoring her, (and I was afraid of the cost for the overnight stay). They thought it will be fine and that I will call them to tell them how she is doing. She was doing better right away when we came home. She started eating some and was running around. She is still not quite herself, but she has been eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. She will be fine, because there is no other option.

Anyway, see all the medicine that she got prescribed! Four different kinds of medicines, for constipation! That is just sad. I give it to her twice a day, and I also feed her “critical care food” a few times a day, just to make sure she gets all the nutrition she needs.

And you know what? All this cost only 1300 HKD (about 1170 SEK or 170 USD); including the checkup, x rays, food and medicine. I was expecting to pay much more, especially since it was an emergency appointment. But I am not complaining.

Now let’s keep those happy thoughts coming Dingding’s way! 

Dingding is not well!

My precious, my baby, my rabbit is not well! We noticed last night when we arrived home late after an exhausting but great day at Disneyland Hong Kong. I watched her last night, she did not react to us arriving home; she would not eat nor drink. She has acted like this before and generally she turns out fine after a few hours. It is like she has a stomach ache, and who wants to eat or be addressed then? Usually that stomach ache she gets is my fault; I feed her a piece of apple even if I know it may cause her pain. But she loves that fresh and sweet apple taste so much! Sometimes I’m just a bad mom for her. Not sure if that is the reason this time though. 

I will call the vet when they open at 10.30am. She did eat a tiny piece on her favorite treat and she nibbled on a walnut this morning, but that’s it. She has been moving around some and when I press around her stomach she doesn’t seem to mind. But something is not right. She is lying at places in the apartment she normally doesn’t, and she is still not responsive enough. Since I don’t know how long she has been like this (as we were out all day yesterday) I will not take any chances. I will keep you posted. Please send happy and positive thoughts our way. I need my gorgeous wittle baby, dingding… Hang in there wittle girl! 

Heat Stroke!

I have now been in Hong Kong for over a month. Most of the Hong Kong people I met asked me what I think about their city. I always answer honestly and let them know it’s too hot and too many people everywhere, no matter if it’s day or night, the apartments are really small and the food is super cheap, at least as long as you eat at one of Hong Kong’s many thousands local café’s. Don’t get me wrong, I still love it!

People who know me know how much I hate winter and cold. However, the heat here IS a problem. My boyfriend asked me the other day what kind of summer day I prefer: 32 degrees C (90F) and high humidity or 12 degrees C (54F) and rain. In all honesty none of those options are ideal to me. But when I think about it I rather walk in to a building with nice cold Air Condition to cool me down than to have to walk around in jeans and a thick sweat shirt in July. Since I love going to the beach, surviving 32 degrees C heat is very plausible.

I keep asking the locals if I ever will get used to the heat, and I have got the same answer every time: ”NO, I will not get used to it”! Sigh... doesn’t sound very promising, considering that I already got several heat strokes where I just shut down and won’t function again until I have cooled down in an air conditioned place (thank god for all the stores, all with AC). And that is from walking leisurely on the side walk with a gazillion others and in the shade (people do walk very slowly here for being a city, perhaps because of the heat?). 

Even though the heat is not my friend, the city is loud and crowded; I will do what I can to make this my home. I know it will require some adjustments from my side, but that doesn’t scare me at all. Everything will be fine, everything will be okay, and it always works out one way or another. 

About this blog

Being pretty much a Globe trotter my whole adult life I have met a lot of fantastic people from all around the world. But it’s this one man who swept me off my feet, many times, my boyfriend Toby. After being in an ’on again-off again’ relationship for nearly six years he finally asked me to move to Hong Kong (where he’s born and raised), and of course I said Yes! I quit my job at Philips Consumer Lifestyle, packed my bags and shipped me and my pet rabbit Miss Poo to Hong Kong to start all over again.

Toby and I met at Mercer University in Macon, GA in August 2006, where he studied for a Master’s Degree in choral conducting, and I had managed to get one semester abroad as an exchange student when I studied Marketing at Kalmar University in Sweden.

So, here I am, a Swede in Hong Kong, and for the first time since I was 15 years old I don’t have a job. It feels totally weird. For some reason that’s okay, since being in Hong Kong feels a bit odd. It’s a special city and I am happy to be here. I know it will take time to adjust, it usually does. I have done this several times before. Everything will be all right, I know it will. Anyway, here is where I will write my impressions, good and bad, and let you know what this Swede think about Hong Kong.