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there may be no wifi in the forest but i promise you will find connection
Elysia's birthday was back in November, where her sweet friend Abi got her a high tea birthday present from The Peninsula, and we had the best time! We dressed up in our finest ballgowns (thanks to our fairy godmother Bayley) and headed off to our palace for the day. The food was delicious, but the atmosphere was my favorite part. The string quartet caught on to our love for Disney somehow and kept playing songs that made us cry in the best way.
Elysia is allergic to gluten, so we each got our own high tea towers, which was super fun.
We had just been given the news that the park would likely not open til after April, so I was feeling a little emotionally unsure of everything. Next song was Beauty and the Beast, and I had a cute little sob fest, but of course, scones cheered me right up.
Thank you Peninsula for having us and forcing me to go outside for the first time in weeks.
Get yourself a friend who will fix you before pictures. Thanks Weeshy <3
You also can make tea right at your table!
Also notable eat out at Ichiran, my favorite Japanese Ramen shop-
We had a chimney cake for dessert from Hans and Gretel -
and Pici, a HK staple, which I had never been to til then-
There has really been like no eating out the last 2 months, which is heartbreaking, but when we can't eat out, we eat in! When in HK we always miss Panera Bread, so we decided to have a homemade Panera night with broccoli cheddar and potato soup in bread bowls with green goddess salad. 
If we can find food at home that is. There were whispers of a lockdown for a while, causing a lot of panic shopping, and a major food shortage country wide. Produce was really scarce there for a while, but this made everything even more difficult.
The lockdown rumors are starting to dissipate, so things are slowwwwwly settling down and food is finally refilling on the shelves.
We are lucky to have a park near our home, so most of my day consists of reading outside with my friends on our own separate blankets, 6 feet apart.
Summer is already on its way again here in HK, which makes it harder to stay inside all the time. With Omicron cases still everywhere, the 5th wave seems to have plateaued. We are doing what we can to stay sane. Although I swear we have hiked every mountain in HK, our friends have not, so it's time to start doing them again. This was our second time hiking Dragons Back, but with it ending at a beach, it was an ok one to do twice.
After a long morning of hiking, the best way to spend the rest of the afternoon was lounging on the beach, and Shek O Beach, is my opinion, HK's best beach, and it's a good thing we went when we did, because beaches were closed by the government not long after that.
Another outdoor adventure was more hiking at Tai Tong Nature Trail, by total accident, but absolutely fell in love with it. The trees turn colors in the colder weather, but they were pretty green still when we were there.
Another hike we did we thought would be easy, but turned into all uphill was the Yuen Tsuen Trail.
The view from the top was giving me major San Fran vibes-
Also this tree was absolutely gorgeous-
From the top you could spin in a circle and see almost Hong Kong in its entirety.
The second part of this hike was to visit the old abandoned Lin Fa Shan Public School. 
In the evening we did some BBQ-ing with hot dogs and s'mores and breakfast burritos in the morning.
The full moon was also bright orange!
Tyson was this big guy who was only 7 months old and already the biggest dog I had ever seen but a gentle giant.
Sweet little Hak loved the scratchies, but his fur was so thick there is no way he was actually feeling anything.
Sar Sar was my favorite cause she was so smart playing fetch by herself and reminded me a lot of a doggy back home I miss.
This place was super eerie. The tree growing out of the bathroom and blocking the path was telling of how much time had really passed and how powerful nature really is.
We took a baby staycation with our friends at Park Nature Caravan Camping and had a great time!
The campsite also had sporting equipment to borrow, a Thai restaurant right next door, and some rabbits and cats.
Before bed, we hiked the nearby mountain for sunset.
We could see one of the isolation facilities being built nearby too, which was eerie.
We could see our campsite from up on the mountain too-
But the best best best part of this whole trip was the dog cafe next door called Ruff Ruff, where we made SO many new friends.
Needless to say I WILL be back Ruff Ruff Cafe. We had such a great time, but our adventure the next day was cut a bit short because it was super windy and rainy, and knocked our power out.
Overall we had a really great time though, and I highly reccomend.
The weather regularly has been so nice that it is hard to stay indoors. We went bike riding around our home again the other day, it was so refreshing to get some air.
We do of course have to stay in a lot, and what better way to entertain ourselves than with movie nights (usually while sitting on my new bean bag chair!).
We are still at a max of 2 people together at a time, no gatherings, still trying to convince people to get vaccinated, restaurants still close at 6pm, no entertainment places open, no beaches or pools open, no flights from most major countries allow in, and obviously, no Disney. Mike recently stopped going to his teaching job, but only because he decided he did not feel safe at this time going in still, but will be returning early April. As people who have still never had any version of Covid, I feel like I’m in some sort of unofficial club. We did get some good news on March 21 that the flight ban will be lifting on April 1, so new cast will be able to come in. Also, quarantine has been brought down from 14 days to now 7 days. There is a plan in place for phases of reopening to eventually happen after April 21, although, we aren’t exactly sure what that means for Disney, it does sound promising. Right at the same time, Shanghai Disneyland closed its doors temporarily to deal with their increase in cases. Everything really is changing absolutely every day.
We initially were suppose to be going home in April, however, some major changes have happened.
Long, long, long story short, I am very excited to accept my 9th contract and technically 10th contracts with Hong Kong Disneyland.
As fate would have it, 2022 is my 9th anniversary of my beginnings with Disney and HK, and what a better way to celebrate, than to make some new character friends. Not entirely sure who I will be hanging out with yet, but I do know that I will finally get to be outside and part of that human world, and I could not be more excited.
The reason it is 9th and 10th is my 9th contract is a slight extension for MWB til we get some others out here. The 10th is actually the start of my new contract beginning in May, where I will be making the transition outside. There has been a lot of back and forth emotions for everyone as we process what this looks like, but we are very thankful for the patience and encouragement, and look forward to what the next few months, and are grateful for the excitement. I know change can be hard, and transitions are not my favorite, but knowing I get to squeeze my best friend soon is making it worthwhile.
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