Warning: this trip was by far the most crazy, insane trip we've been on. Do not attempt this at home, kids.
March 15, 2012
Today we walked to campus and headed out on the Cornell bus to NYC (cheaper than parking there for a week actually). The bus was nice! You get free snacks and drinks and wifi if you're privileged to have a laptop, unlike us haha. Bianca ate a whole container of strawberries on the ride up there, which was quite the feat for her, esp just getting over being sick (1st ear infection). We arrived in NYC and walked to the bus terminal to get to our hotel in Newark. When we finally stopped getting lost and confused in the stupid train station, we reached our hotel and ate dinner. Then around 9:30ish SHIRE CAME TO VISIT US since she lives in Newark, YAY!!! It was nice to see her for a little bit. Seems like Bianca remembered her and was comfortable around her too. We just chilled out and then went to sleep for it's off to Hong Kong tomorrow, holy crap!
Attack of the strawberries.
March 16, 2012
Today we went to the airport and flew to Hong Kong. Bobby was smart this time and booked our seats with me in the window and him on the isle. No one wants a random middle seat, right?? RIGHT! So Bianca got her own seat, which was amazing. It was a long flight, but it was cool (scary) because we flew over the north pole almost the whole way! We flew over Europe that way getting to Hong Kong, which was neat. By the time we got there it was...
March 17, 2012
...nighttime! We got lost getting to our hotel because it was SO confusing down there! We finally just hopped in a cab, drove literally 5 mins (haha) and just crashed for the night, since we have a very long list of things to conquer tomorrow!
March 18, 2012
Today we conquered Hong Kong! We woke up and packed up our stuff (did I mention that we're pretty much staying at a different hotel every night? Yeah. Crazy.), left it with the front desk and headed out. We explored a grocery store, which was interesting because they just hang their meat out there like it's nothing. Then we got lost trying to find the ferry. We did find it though (eventually) and headed off to see the big Buddha statue!
Good morning, HK!
Sign on the way to the ferry. Ha!
They cut Bianca out of the pic, but I promise we didn't leave her at the hotel!
They had a neat Asian village we walked through (and bought a watch at since I forgot mine, oops!). We got some lunch and tried this watermelon (Bobby) and Mango (me) ice treat, which was spectacular. Now we had the energy to power up all those stairs to see Big Buddha!
It was a horrible climb. He took Bianca and I took the diaper bag and stroller. Yeah. Not fun. But it was a good workout. We walked around, took in the gorgeous view and hung out. Bianca got her picture taken numerous times (seriously the whole trip she was in at least 100 different people's pictures. No joke.) and had fun walking around. When we were done exploring we headed down back to the bus to take you back to the ferry and were off to explore more!
We always do towers, so we headed off to Peak tower! There was a big shopping complex there and it was very neat. We got our tickets and waited in the crowds to get in (wrong time of day to go apparently). Then you get in a tram that takes you up to the lookout area, which was hard to fight our way on because it doesn't seem that people care about staying in line here. But we did it! And the views were exceptional!
When we were done, we headed out AGAIN (told you today was going to be insane!), this time to the area where you could see the Symphony of lights! The Symphone of Lights is a show where all of the buildings in downtown Hong Kong light up to music. Super cool! We explored the area and grabbed some dinner before finding some good spots to stand in tonight.
Their version of Hollywood stars!
I thought we lucked out and got great spots. Bianca fell asleep before the show, of course. The thing she would have liked the best, she wants to sleep through. We ended up waking her up before it started because I knew she'd love it (and she did). It was AMAZING! The pictures can't do it justice, but I tried.
After the show we ran to the subway, found our way successfully to our hotel this time, got our junk and went back to the subway to go to HONG KONG DISNEY LAND!!! They have their own subway line with Mickey Mouse cars, SO COOL! We got to our hotel and crashed, preparing for a Goofy time tomorrow (ha. ha.).
The reason why we got lost that first day.
WOO HOO!
Our room!
March 19, 2012
For Bianca's 16 month birthday, she got to go to Disney. Lucky girl. We woke up, checked out, and ate breakfast, which was pretty good, although I have NO idea what my white sausage was made of (but yet I ate it anyways.....). We hung around until it was almost time for the park to open and then boarded the bus and waited until they set all of us crazy people free (which was quite the sight, trying not to get run over by people).
WHAT IS IT???
Since we've never been to a Toy Story land, we started there first. Good thing too because it seemed like everyone else went the opposite way around the park. Even though it was kinda cold and cloudy out at first, there was still a lot of people there! Toy Story land was fun! Bobby and I went on a few rides ourselves before taking Bianca on her first ride, the doggie one! She didn't like it TOO much, it went a little fast. But I think she still had fun.
I'm in the back row!
First ride!
Since she was awake, we went on a few rides that she would like, such as the Pooh ride, which was actually super cute. Whenever any park workers see little kids, they give them stickers, which she loved...loved to throw around. I had a pretty big collection by the end of the day, haha.
We took a break after a while and had some Mickey waffles. Then more rides while she slept and then when she woke up we went on the Small World ride, which is the coolest one ever. It was huge and had a lot more in it than the ones in FL or Paris. Bianca was mesmerized by the song and the moving things.
We waited until we saw short lines to visit some of the characters, so we went on some Bianca friendly rides in the meantime! She loved Dumbo. Heck, she loved sitting like a big girl on rides and buckling up. That was apparently super cool. Dumbo story time! The weather got nicer throughout the day and you didn't need a jacket anymore since it was in the 70's. Well these older ladies in behind us didn't think it was warm enough out and they started talking in their language and pointing to Bianca. Eventually they said "cold, need jacket." We were like oh no she's fine. In face her cheeks were a bit red because she was warm. They continued to judge us until we went on the ride. Grr! We know our child, ladies.
Our first character we met was Asian Goofy. Bianca wasn't a fan. She was a bit scared by him. Oops! Mickey and Minnie's lines were too long so we had to skip them. :( So we rode on some more rides and then we ran into Chip and Dale, my faves back in the day! Bianca actually liked them! She thought they were funny and was actually sad when we left them.
It was getting later so we got some dinner (I think mine was actually a kids meal, but those cream puffs were to die for!) and hung out until it was time for the fireworks show over the castle!
The castle was beautiful all lit up and the fireworks and music were so much fun! Bianca totally missed it. We tried waking her up (and you'd think the loud music and booms would have woken her up too...), but she kept on sleeping. Oh well! Bobby and I cuddled and enjoyed it.
We ran out when it was done, got to our Disney hotel, grabbed our junk and headed off to another hotel near the airport since we had an earlier flight the next morning. Thanks for being pretty cool, Hong Kong Disney (minus people who like to cut in line...)
March 20, 2012
Today was just a traveling day. We went to Beijiing, China first. It was super confusing because they kept saying we needed to go through customs and then in and out again? We just followed what most people were doing and in the end I guess we did the right thing because we made it to Japan. Bianca thought the China airport was fun. She'd run around giggling and make friends with all the people around us. On both of our flights we also had a whole row to ourselves again, yay! We got to Tokyo that night and tried to get to Tokyo Disney. We got there, but I guess the monorail was closed at that point. It was pretty chilly out so it was a bit frustrating. But eventually we found a taxi and they took us to our hotel and it wasn't expensive at all, so all in all it was all good. Another Disney to visit tomorrow!
China
Tokyo!!!
March 21, 2012
Today we embarked on quest Tokyo Disney Sea (there's 2 parks, the Sea park and the regular Land park). Oooh boy was this quite the day. Tokyo Disney is pure insanity! It was the middle of the week in the OFF SEASON and it was the most crowded I've EVER seen a theme park. Before the park was even open for an hour, most fast pass tickets were sold out, available at super late times, or the line for any given ride was 2 hours long. No joke. So we took turns going on rides, I forgot the stupid sunblock so I had to run back to get it before my fast pass time was up (which was super confusing because the park is designed all crazy!), and hanging out. We had to pick and choose our rides here sadly since the lines were just too crazy.
See?? The park opened at 9. Yeah.
Bianca got to meet Dolald Duck, and she was SO excited! She kept saying "a duck! A Duck!!!" Bobby was on a ride at the time so I figured I'd do something fun with her. So even the food lines were insanely long, so whenever we saw a short line, we bought something, no matter what they were selling (like popcorn, ice cream, stuff we normally wouldn't buy at a theme park haha). Bianca liked all the rides we were able to take her on though! Maybe she'll be a semi-dare devil like mommy. ;)
This ride was cool, 10,000 leagues under the sea. You go under the water in a pod. Kinda scary, but Bianca survived lol
We saw a show thing for Bianca. It had characters from Finding Nemo in it. The funny thing about Japan is that no one here speaks English. Sounds kinda proud of me to say, huh? Well everywhere we've been, people have at least spoken SOME English, even in Hong Kong. Not here. Everything was in Japanese, including the show (which apparently was hilarious). Even getting on rides was funny because they'd say something to you in Japanese and you'd be like "uh, what?" and they'd just repeat it like you understood it. But they were very polite and knew how to wait in lines without cutting!
Cruella spoke English though! lol Bianca didn't like her. And yes, everyone was dressed like the 2 girls in the background even though it was FREEZING out! Anything to be fashionable?
We explored while Bianca was napping and ate some cream puff things. When she finally woke up we were able to take her into Ariel's Cove thing. It's indoor and has rides in there and cool playground type things for kids to play in. This was the highlight of the day for her. She loved running around, playing, and exploring on her own, not stuck in her stroller.
Volcano explosion!
At nighttime we stayed for the lights and lazer show. Holy moly, it was the COOLEST show ever! There were lights, music, they used the water to float big floats down the water, fireworks, it was...amazing. And Bianca missed another cool thing she would have liked for she was off in dreamland. I think for Bobby and me, this was the best part of our day for sure!
After the show we just went to the hotel (oh my goodness we were actually staying in a hotel for more than 1 night for once! It was lovely.) and crashed ready to take on the crowds at Disney Land tomorrow.
March 22, 2012
We left our hotel today, gave our junk to the consierge, and then went off to explore Disney Land. We were scared of the lines and everything after yesterday's experience, but actually the Land was a tad bit better than the Sea (probably because the Sea is so unique and has more rides for older people; the Land is more kiddie than the Sea).
We went to Toontown first since we had never been to one. Lines were pretty long, so we just chose the best ones, like Roger Rabbit, which had a crazy long line we went through (you kept moving and had cool stuff to look at along the way which was nice, but I swear we walked at least a mile thorough different twists and turns).
The rest of the time was spent walking around and finding rides that didn't have long lines and were neat. Some standouts? The Haunted Mansion was cool. Bianca slept through it and I'm glad she did because I think it would have scared the crap out of her. The Pooh ride here was SO awesome! Bobby and I liked it better than the one in Hong Kong because it spun around and took you into a land of glowing heffalumps and woozles. I think Bianca preferred the other one, but she loved this one as well.
This is where you leave your babies, I mean strollers, when on rides ;)
She loved feeding the ducks!
Pooh!
So cool!
Bianca's highlight was the parade we just happened to stumble upon. Usually we don't mess with parades because they're too crowded unless you camp out an hour before. We came out of a ride and were all of a sudden in a pretty good spot to see the parade, and it got Bianca super excited, so for her sake, we watched it. She was waving to the characters and giggling like crazy. So cute.
We didn't stay in the park until dark because we wanted a chance to see some of Tokyo tonight. Bobby left to go find an atm and Bianca and I took pics and shopped some.
We left the park semi-early, got our stuff from the hotel and went off to the real Tokyo! We got to the subway stop where it said our hotel was near, but...it was SOO confusing. Plus no one speaks English so that sucked. One really nice guy from the US actually stopped and tried to help us...until his phone died. We just walked around and eventually found our way to the hotel. I guess we went out the wrong exit of the subway, of course.
TOKYO!
The hotel room came with a massage chair. That's what I like to see!
We were EXHAUSTED at this point, but wanted to explore and eat a real meal that's not park food. So we went out and I was determined to get something cool and stylish from Tokyo, so we stopped at this like 5 or 6 story store. Oh my goodness it was fabulous! I only went up 2 levels before quickly finding something (we were starving at this point mind you), but I could have spent hours (and hundred of dollars LOL) in there. Then we kept walking and saw a place for Italian food. It was really good and the people there were really nice. Bianca slept for most of the meal, waking up cranky by the end. We just paid and left. We had a good night sleep that night, being so exhausted.
The store! It's taller than what I could fit in with the camera!
March 23, 2012
We were leaving later today, but figured we should go see some real Tokyo sights before we leave. It sucked because it was kinda rainy out for the first time this trip, but we survived. First we stopped at the Tokyo tower, which looks like a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower, cool! We saw the sights and then left to go to our next destination.
We went to see a palace, which was very cool. We couldn't get very closed (it was closed I believe), but we got to see the outside of it, which was neat too.
And then our adventures began, oh my. The Tokyo subway can be confusing, especially if you're taking it to the airport. We bought what the machine said were airport tickets and they were pretty pricey. Made sense. Ok so we try to get on the train and they said WE HAD THE WRONG TICKETS. Oh and you can't buy them on board with a credit card. So we had to go back, find an ATM that worked, took out more money that we did not want to, and then dealt with the English speaking teller. Luckily she was so nice and helped us out. She let us out so we could get the money at an ATM and then sold us the CORRECT ticket. We made it to the airport on time, luckily, but it was still a horribly confusing time. I was convinced we were staying in Tokyo another night, except broke and on the streets this time.
What's wrong with this picture?
For the first time in our adventures, the flight was actually packed and we didn't get our own row. :( But Bianca did sleep almost the whole flight, which was awesome. :) We flew back the opposite way, so this spring break, we can say that we literally flew around the world.
Home again! Well, first we stayed in the same Newark airport hotel again and then we found our way (eventually) back to NYC, got lost in the city a bit again, and then took the Cornell bus back to Ithaca. Asia, you were pretty awesome and we shall return someday!
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