Shopping in Hong Kong is pretty awesome. With the current exchange rate, prices for international and luxury brands generally cost about 20% cheaper than in Singapore. I bought the usual dresses, blouses and stuff from Zara and H&M, as well as a chain from Tiffany.

We also checked out the outlet stores at the Aberdeen area —

SPACE Warehouse
2/F Marina Square
East Commercial Block, South Horizons
Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Our biggest purchase this trip – I say ‘our’ because the purchase was a gift from zee boyfriend – was made at SPACE Warehouse.

It is a Prada-owned factory outlet where you can find off-season Prada and Miu Miu bags and clothing for up to 30% below the original retail price.

It’s best to go at the beginning of the month because that is when they stock up their inventory, but we were there on the last week of December so the selection was quite limited (lots of items were sold out).

Prada Saffiano Lux Shoulder Bag in Red

It’s red with double shoulder straps and golden hardware, with the signature jacquard lining on the inside – I love it! Just in time for Chinese New Year too! :D
 

Horizon Plaza
2 Lee Wing Street
Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Another place we visited for outlet shopping was Horizon Plaza. It houses more than 20 floors of outlet stores by brands like Costume National, Fratelli Rossetti, Galliano, GF Ferre, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Just Cavalli, Kookai and Lloyd (carried by Fairton), Moschino, Paul Smith, Blumarine and Jimmy Choo (carried by Bluebell) on the 19th floor, Armani on the 22nd floor and Max Mara, Club Monaco and Juicy Couture on the 27th floor, just to name a few.

There were also furniture, antique and carpet stores but we passed on those.

We started off with coffee at the topmost level and made our way down. Took us an entire afternoon just to comb the building!

Quite enjoyable now that I think about it but while we were there, I got bored after about six floors and especially after the pair of Jimmy Choos I wanted wasn’t available in my size.

And that’s a wrap for Hong Kong :)
 

Read the rest of my Hong Kong travelogue:
Visiting the Khoos | Hong Kong Disneyland | Food | Shopping

This is one part of the trip I looked forward to the most! I have never been to a Disneyland theme park so this was on our must-do list for the trip. It was more for me since Lippy has been to almost every Disneyland park (the lucky kid).

The magic started even before we got to the park

Entering the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy

They say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth and having visited one of them (albeit the smallest one), I wholeheartedly agree.

It is practically impossible to feel any negative emotion when with each turn, you’re greeted by smiling faces, laughter, brightly-coloured buildings, helium balloons, bubble-blowing pushcarts… and with every step of the way, familiar happy tunes are being played over the numerous speakers camouflaged as lollipops and flowers.

Our visit was made extra special by the lingering festive mood (since we were there only two days after Christmas). The decorations were still up and Christmas carols were still playing. The madness from Christmas had just fizzled off so the crowd was moderate and the queues weren’t as long as they normally were.

Weather-wise, let’s just say we couldn’t have picked a better day to visit even if we checked the almanac – plenty of sunshine (not scorching) with temperatures hovering around 18°C. Perfect.

Main Street, U.S.A. – This is the first themed section of the park which consists of a train station (above the entrance) and a lovely street lined with cafés, bakeries, mini exhibitions, souvenir and gift shops. I loved the giant pink candy cane street lamps!

The shops that line Main Street include some fictional businesses, which I thought made the place seem more magical. I also found out that the streets are paved with resilient asphalt designed to reduce aching of feet and joints from walking – how thoughtful!

Adventureland – Hong Kong’s Adventureland is the largest Adventureland of all the Magic Kingdom parks around the world. We got it covered quite quickly though – took the Jungle River Cruise but skipped Tarzan’s Treehouse. Did we miss something?

We got the funniest guide for the Jungle River Cruise. As we were preparing to disembark, he asked if we enjoyed ourselves and like schoolkids, the group replied “Yes” in unision. In response, he deadpanned, “You did? Me too. I do this forty-six times a day… and will be doing it for the rest of my life. See you soon.”

This is on top of the other remarks he made during the cruise in his droning voice but I think the humour will be lost on a keyboard. It was hilarious for us adults (although only the two of us were giggling away) but might have spoilt it for them kids.

Fantasyland – This is where we spent most of our afternoon and got in the most rides.

Here, we caught Mickey’s PhilharMagic, a 4D show featuring Maestro Mickey, Donald Duck and friends. It didn’t seem like it but apparently, the movie screen is the largest seamless projection screen in the world. There wasn’t much of a crowd and we got pretty awesome seats.

PhilharMagic Concert

The Fantasyland Garden is modeled after a classic English garden and the Tivoli Garden in Denmark, which was one of Walt Disney’s inspirations for the original Disneyland. They erected individual pavilions for all the main characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto (we only queued for Mickey).

A shot with Mickey

Getting on Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Lunch at the Royal Banquet Hall and making Disney currencies at the coin press machine

Roaming the castle grounds

Fantasyland is, hands down, my favourite section of the park. Castle, carousel, princesses, tea cups and everything sprinkled with lots of pink – I love.

Tomorrowland – By the time we got to Tomorrowland, it was late afternoon. We had to queue for quite a while at Space Mountain. It was my favourite ride (because it is the most thrilling one in the park) but only lasted all of three minutes! We wanted to give it another go but the queue was way to long.

The sun had set by the time we were done with Autopia and our stomachs were ready for some filling. Seated ourselves at the spacious Starliner Diner for some good ol’ fried chicken and fries. Lips decided a day at Disneyland wouldn’t be complete without a hot dog bread so he ran out to buy us one to share. So silly.

After dinner, we went back onto Main Street where almost everyone in the park gathered. There was a short toy procession followed by mini fireworks. As the crowd dispersed, foam snow started falling from the roofs of random shops and I thought about how magical it would be to spend Christmas Day at the park…

We didn’t stay for the actual fireworks display since we were pretty pooped by the time the mini one ended. We actually did so much walking that by sunset, my lower back was aching like an old lady. Yeouch.

I was very impressed by the attitude of the park’s ‘cast’, as they call it. Even after a whole day of dealing with throngs of people, the ride operators, cashiers, all the way to staff stationed at the exits, showed no signs of irritation and were extremely cheerful and polite. It certainly made our visit very pleasant.

Also have to credit the boyfriend who, for the entire day, lugged a heavy duffel containing my wallet, phone, puffy jacket, water bottles (two of them), etc. just so I could be free to enjoy the place. He was such a willing photographer too. Haha. Many brownie points!

All in all, it was a truly enjoyable and unforgettable day. No matter what age you are, do visit Disneyland at least once. Trust me, you’re never too old for Mickey :)
 

Read the rest of my Hong Kong travelogue:
Visiting the Khoos | Hong Kong Disneyland | Food | Shopping