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Alicia:
Day 32:
We arrived in Shenzhen, just on the border with Hong Kong, around 7am and headed to the border-crossing. Took us about an hour to go through customs, then another hour tube ride finally to our hostel in Causeway Bay. We couldn't check in til 2pm so we treated ourselves to McDonalds breakfasts (cheapest food around at the time) and did some food shopping. Once checked in and after a nap, we headed to Wan Chai Computer Centre to see if we could get any good deals on electronics. Mike was in heaven it seemed. It was full of all the newest gadgets and gizmos, all really cheap. Mike nearly got a notebook but decided against it in the end. We then headed to Mongkok to the Ladies Market to buy some souvenirs. The streets were heaving and the market didn't disappoint. I was looking for a nice Chinese tea set so found myself haggling at each consecutive stall, but most wouldn't budge on price. Eventually I got one for about HK$100 (£8) which I was happy with. After the tense shopping experience, we headed to Pizza & More (essentially Pizza Hut) and stuffed our faces before heading home. We were exhausted so were looking forward to getting a good nights rest. Unfortunately, being in a 9 bed dorm where I was the only girl, this wasn't gonna happen. Some of the lads came home really late, switching on lights and stuff, which was really annoying, and even bringing others into the room. Needless to say, none of us slept that night.
Day 33:
After the rubbish nights sleep, we were both pretty ratty but determined to enjoy our day as we (mostly me) had been looking forward to it for ages. We were off to Disneyland! I was so excited. We had to change trains twice, but the last one was brilliant - the train has Mickey Mouse shaped windows, carpet and handles and they has the Disney characters figurines placed around the carriage. Brilliant. Once off the train, we headed down to the entrance and got our tickets for HK$399 (£35) each. We walked down Main Street with all the souvenir shops and past the giant Christmas tree, towards Sleeping Beauty's castle. From there we jumped the queues of kids (you snooze, you lose) to get our photos with Mickey, Pooh and Donald, before jumping on arguably the BEST ride at Disneyland - Teacups. You could control how fast you span so Mike gave it his all. I have never been so dizzy. Had to sit for a few minutes before getting off. Was great. Then we went to Space Mountain. Mike was excited as there were no queues - plus point of going on a weekday. Was great we went again straight after without queuing. After we went on a Buzz Lightyear shooting ride, then a lame car racing rode which we though would be good as it had a huge queue and 'not for the faint hearted' sign on it, but it was just driving. Afterwards we headed through Adventureland to Grizzly Gulch where we're took the runaway train, then onto Toy Story Land. We went on the Toy Soldier parachute jump, then onto a RC racer pirate ship trip ride. Having finished these all in a couple of hours because of no queues, we went round again a few more times. Although it was raining, in between we managed to catch the Mickeys Rainy Day Express (as the normal parade was cancelled), Mickey's Philhamagic Orchestra, a Lilo and Stitch interactive show and took a boat ride around Tarzan's Treehouse. As it closes at 8pm, we made full use of our ticket and stayed for another 2 parades. The last parade was Christmas themes and ended the Christmas lights being switched on and the fireworks. Was really well done and Christmassy which was nice as we both knew this would be as much as we get whilst we're away. The day in all was brilliant. If only we had more time we'd probs have brought the year pass (for an extra £10!)
Day 34:
As we'd only got two days left in Hong Kong we decided to sort our bags out and post things home while we were here. We set off for the post office, which was in a huge shopping mall, and instead found ourselves in a cinema for most of the afternoon watching James Bond before we made it there. In the evening we went for our last dumplings at Dumpling King where we had wonton soup with extra dumpling sides. Yum! Afterwards, fully dumplinged, we headed to Lan Kwai Fong in the centre for drinks. We found a place with lush cocktails and got a tinsey bit pished :P So much so I nearly got my ear pierced again. After a while of indecisiveness outside the shop, we went in only to find it was on the 4th floor and shut. We took this as a sign and headed home before we found a tattoo parlour!
Day 35:
Our last day in China (officially). We packed up and checked out before headed to Mongkok briefly to see if we could get some new shoes for Mike. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as cheap ad China, so we left it and posted our box home for about £20. Bargain. We were cutting it fine getting to the airport as the Airport Shuttle bus was really late, but we checked in alright and managed to get some festive Starbucks action as our flight was delayed. Overall, we were glad and excited to be leaving China. In some ways it has been the best (food and travelling had been excellent) but in others also the worst (the unfriendly people). Bring on Indochina!
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