Bah, humbug.

When we decided to move to Hong Kong back in July and found out we would be moving the beginning of October, it was almost a deal breaker. Knowing we would be in a hotel during Halloween was extremely upsetting to me. And that's probably an understatement. It's hard enough finding all the ingredients to an awesome Halloween as it is, but to be in a hotel room with no decorations, sewing machine, cooking utensils, or oven was distressing to me. I resolved that if I couldn't go all out, I wouldn't do anything. Hhhmmph! I would veto the holiday this year. I packed one measly tutu for Jade to use as dress-ups and in the unfortunate event we were STILL in the hotel for Halloween, she could be a ballerina or something (said with disgust) for Halloween.

A friend told me about a few Halloween-themed events in Hong Kong. One of them was Ocean Park's Halloween Bash (the "bash"). I decided rather than killing ourselves trying to create our own Halloween, we would just pay for one. Lame? Maybe. But it at least got me a little more excited about the holiday this year.
Several haunted houses were set up throughout the park. The coolest thing about the bash was it had a lot of Chinese influences throughout. Like one of the haunted houses was called Haunted Tales of Guangdong, which is an actual province in southern China. It had props and gruesome twists on items you would really find in a Chinese village. Pretty cool.
We went with our friends, Matt and Michelle. We were standing in [a looooong, crowded] line when I took this and couldn't see what I was taking... sorry Michelle!

Monsters walked around the park all night scaring people... and sneaking into pictures.
This was Cody's and my favorite monster.
He was one of the sliders. Has anyone seen these guys? Like at Knott's Scary Farm (I youtubed them, I liked 'em that much)? They have steel-toed shoes, metal knee pads, and metal tipped gloves so they can slide on the ground. These slider monsters at Ocean Park would run, skid, and stop right in front of people, shooting off sparks everywhere. It. Was. SO. COOL!

At one point we had taken a break from the loooong haunted house lines (did I mention the lines were long?) and went into one of the aquariums. We were in there for awhile, so when we came out, I sort of forgot we were in haunted territory. A slider skidded right at me and made me jump so bad! That was the most startled I got the whole night. I don't think I can say the same for Cody or Michelle. :) Let's just say the other three opted for me to go through the haunted houses first. Too bad the monsters kept wasting their scares on me. I liked it better when Michelle went first ("I see you. I see you. I SEE YOU!") Hahaha. Sorry, Michelle.
The last haunted "house" we went in was named Burned Alive. As we entered the building, the worker warned us, "DO NOT close your eyes." At the front of the line, we were standing on the platform in the picture below. The worker told me (as I was first to go, as usual) to lay down in the box. Alone.

I'll admit I was a little hesitant. I looked down at the box, then back at my dear husband. Then back at the box. Okay. Here it goes. The eeriest moment of the night was probably when I laid down and entered the dark "crematory." Alone. Turned out to be slightly creepy, but mostly entertaining in its uniqueness. Once again I think the actors were disappointed they didn't make me scream. They probably thought I had closed my eyes. At this point I was more worried about how Michelle was handling being alone in there than what the monsters were doing to try to scare me.

The bash also had a ton of shows throughout the park, most of which were less than impressive, and sometimes not purposely comical. Nothing like their advertisement video showed. Though it made me happy when the girl from the video showed up and lip synced a Lady Gaga song.
When all was said and done Cody told me, "I was really doubting you about going to this, but I'm actually really glad we went." Cody was super impressed by the whole thing. We decided it is probably the first time something in Asia has actually exceeded our expectations. Thanks for keeping my Halloween spirits up, Ocean Park.