October Holiday 2011 - Cebu, Philippines and Hong Kong

For the October Holiday 2011, we decided to try out Cebu, Philippines for another lazy beach vacation.  We were a little concerned about what the weather would be like as it was TYPHOON season...and we had heard on the way to the airport that there was one that had hit the Philippines just the day before!  Regardless, we were determined to try to enjoy our vacation.  God was smiling down on us and gave us absolutely fabulous weather for our vacation!  It did rain a little each day, but after 15-20 minutes, the storm would go away and everything would get sunny and dry again.

We stayed at the Shangri-La Resort -- highly recommended!  As all the Shangri-La's have, there is an Adventure Zone play area for the kids.  While we did spend most of the time together, there were a couple of days where the boys begged to spend the hot, mid-day timeslot playing with their new friends at the Adventure Zone.  Very nice...Mark and I were able to just be lazy and sip Margaritas by the pool, which felt strange but refreshingly enjoyable!

The resort was on the beach, of course, so we first ventured down to check out the ocean life.  While the beach was sandy and nice, the water itself was quite rocky.  Wish we would've had beach shoes to wear to protect our feet!

Mark and the boys enjoyed checking out the fish, coral, and other aquatic life.





These were AMAZING!  We found a couple of "families" of bright blue sea stars!

Because of how rocky the beach water was, we spent the bulk of time in the pool.  The boys had a great time shooting each other with the water cannons...

followed by a series of tubes down the slide...

While we did venture out once to a shopping area for souvenirs, most of the time was spent enjoying the hospitality and excellent food right at the resort.

Because our flight to Cebu went through Hong Kong as part of the normal flight, we decided to take a 2-day stop to check out just a few of the sights of Hong Kong.  2 days was DEFINITELY too short a time for this spectacular area!

We had booked one of the two Disney hotels, just due to the fact that it was VERY easy to get to from the airport with the subways. 

Our first stop in Hong Kong...Hong Kong Disneyland.  The boys were curious to see just how different it was from Disneyworld...and we were pleasantly surprised with how familiar it felt!    We also enjoyed the fact that, since it was early October, the entire decoration scheme was for HALLOWEEN...including the lamp posts along Main Street, the displays scattered throughout the park, and the costumes of our favorite characters!  They had even modified the special effects in Space Mountain to include Halloween-ish music and spooky ghosts and ghouls.  Very cool!  

Main street felt like we were in Orlando...with a million of our closest Chinese friends!
The ONLY ones that Alex and Derek would suffer through getting a photo with were Chip 'n Dale...my favorites anyway.  As you can see, they were dressed in their Halloween finest...

There was a really fun "island" within the park designed to look like the Tarzan movie.  

Halloween pumpkins shaped like five of our favorites...

All 3 of my "MEN" attempted to remove the Sword in the Stone...no luck!

Alex's favorite version of Mickey (though he said he's getting a bit old for it!) is the Sorcerer Mickey. The Flights of the Future parade was fun...for me, at least.  The boys would have much rather spent the time riding the Buzz Lightyear ride, but I "tortured" them with sitting along Main Street for the parade. At night, we went back to see the park all lit up for Halloween.  This was what the train depot building right at the main entrance looked like... There were zombies roaming all along Main Street.  The boys were a little freaked by it...they were quite convincing!  Mark decided to play along and pose with one of them... The evening parade was mostly themed around "The Nightmare Before Christmas".  None of us had seen the movie (so, of course, we bought it immediately upon our return to Shanghai), but Derek decided that Jack was his favorite... The Headless Horseman... All of the characters in their Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween costumes.  It was cool when all of the lights were turned off and blacklights were turned on, so you could really only see their "bones"... There was an artist in one area of the par that started with a blank canvas at the beginning of every evening and would use spray paint cans to make these amazing murals... This was the Main Street castle - I think it was supposed to be Sleeping Beauty's castle - all lit up.  They launched fireworks over it, but none of my pictures turned out. Of course, the line to get your picture taken with Jack was too long...so we stood off to the side so Derek could just see Jack.  How fun when Jack came over to see Derek and his little "Jack"... Our favorite Zombie Couple... Before we left for home, we made one last stop...to take the tram to the top of Victoria Peak.  It was a very popular place to visit!  We didn't have enough time to check out any of the shops or restaurants at the top (including Bubba Gump Shrimp Company), and we almost missed our flight home due to the lines.  We did have enough time to reach the top, take a few quick snapshots, and head back quickly to the airport. Mark, Alex, and Derek with the skyline of Hong Kong behind them... We LOVED Hong Kong!  It quite possibly is our favorite stop so far, and we know we want to go back for another long weekend.  The boys mentioned checking it out for Thanksgiving this year to see if the characters are dressed in their pilgrim costumes or if it might be decked out for Christmas.   And the adventure continues...

Daytrip to Suzhou...

We had a beautiful free Saturday in mid-August, so we decided to have Mr Yao drive us to Suzhou.  Suzhou  苏州 is located in the Jiangsu province about 2 hours northwest of Shanghai.  It is well-known for it's beautiful gardens and temples, and it is a primary location for Chinese silk.

We started our visit at one of many temples, called Beisi Ta (North Temple Pagoda).    Of course, a temple isn't complete without a Buddha near the entrance.  The boys enjoyed getting their first picture taken with Buddha...and Alex decided to show off his "Buddha belly" as well!

 

Just inside the temple area, there was a beautiful little pond with flowers, koi, and much greenery.
   

The temple was quite elaborate on the ground floor, with at least a dozen Buddha statues around the circle.   The pagoda is, at 76m, the tallest Chinese pagoda south of the Yangzi, though it retains only nine of its original eleven storeys .  We climbed up to the highest point that was maintained, and the view of all of Suzhou was spectacular! 

 

Alex and Derek posed like their favorite statue...

     

The next stop was to the Suzhou Silk Museum.  The museum was under renovations, so much of it was temporarily closed off to the public.  We did get to see some interesting displays...



A statue of Leizu, who was described as the inventor of silkworm raising in Chinese legend.  She taught sericulture to the people 5,000 years ago!
 
Ancient writing on the walls...

 

You'd think this is a wax model of the leaves and silk worms...until you take a closer look and see the worms moving and eating!

This was one of many beautiful silk robes on display...

Next, we visited the Suzhou Museum.  There was many displays with historical Chinese items -- jade, pottery, tools and weapons, clothing, carvings, and the list goes on.  We didn't take many photos as they restricted them in some areas.

Our final stop for the day was to one of the hundreds of gardens in Suzhou.  The garden was called "The Lion Forest Garden".  It was built in 1312 by a Buddhist Monk to honor his teacher.  It consisted of 4 small lakes and rock caves, bridges, and sculptures thought to resemble lions (though we didn't quite see the resemblance!).

 

   
The boys enjoyed exploring the rocks and caves...including getting lost a few times.


Derek loved the garbage cans shaped as lions...

  
A few small buildings and outcroppings contained statues.

It was a wonderful visit to Suzhou.  We didn't get a chance to shop for any silk, which seems like an essential part of Suzhou, so I'm sure we'll have a few return visits.

And the adventure continues...