For those of you who have ever been on a trip with me, you will know that I like to every so often remind myself and those around me that I’m having a good time so far.  It usually becomes the catch phrase of the trip by the end of it as it always kind of catches on.  Nigel and I are reminding ourselves every day (sometimes quite often) that we are “having a good time so far :-)”.  It’s about taking in the moments and this trip is full of loads of incredible moments.

Hong Kong has been really great.  We’ve been on every form of transport you can think of.  We spent and afternoon riding the double decker trams right into the heart of the residential area.  We spent a morning walking with a Hong Kong tour guide who explained the history (and recent history) of Hong Kong and why in 2014 thousands and thousands began the Umbrella Movement outside of Government house (it’s a really interesting story).

We rode a double decker bus to the top of the Peak and then rode the cable car back down.  We took the MTR (all over the place wow what an incredibly efficient underground that is).  We took a glass bottom cable car to see the Big Buddha (I think we are embarking on a journey that will involve a lot of Buddha’s).  Then we took a very rickety bus to a small fishing village of stilt houses called Tai O.  What a cute little place.  We boarded a little boat to go and see the village form the water and then out into the sea looking for the Chines white dolphin (that apparently roam the shoreline everyday – didn’t see any).  What we did get to see though was the bridge that is currently under construction from Macau to Hong Kong.  This means that you won’t need to board a boat to get across to go gambling.  You can drive!  It’s an incredible engineering feat and one that will end up on a Discovery channel superstructures programme one day for sure.

We then took a shuttle bus out to Disneyland.  I love Disney and my infectious enthusiasm for everything Mickey (and the fact that skip most of the way) tends to rub off on Nigel eventually.  In 1972 my parents took us to Disneyland in LA.  I don’t remember it but I have seen the photos.  It must have cost them a small fortune at the time but they really wanted to do it.  I remember growing up in Foxton being the only kid at school who had ever been to Disneyland.  Didn’t matter though coz there were heaps of kids who had been to Fantasyland in Hastings and that was the same thing according to them.  But now I have nothing but happy memories of Disneyland’s.

When Nigel and I went to the one in LA and I thought he was going to propose in front of the castle and he didn’t.  When Nigel and I went to the one in Orlando and it rained and I made him wear a bright yellow rain poncho with Donald Duck on the back (I had the Daisy Duck one).  When we went to Disneyland Paris and found out that it sold beer!  Then when we took Stefan when he was eight and he fell asleep with his head in his dinner as he was so tired by the end of the day.

Now we can remember the day we went in Hong Kong and it was a rainy Tuesday and the park was almost empty and you didn’t need to queue for anything and you could do all the rides as often as you wanted and Nigel was so happy and said that if every Disney was like the Hong Kong Disney then he wouldn’t mind going as much as you don’t get squished and bored standing in all the lines waiting two hours for a two minute ride and if you really want to ride Big Mountain Railway again you can.

So now it’s Anzac Day and I have been reading up about the Vietnam War before we fly to Hanoi this afternoon.  I’m sure we will learn a lot more about that unfortunate part of history in the next weeks too.

Until then, it’s timely to remember that “It’s a small world after all!… It’s a small world after all!… It’s a small world after all… it’s a small small world!”