MANILA, Philippines?Halloween has become a huge thing among Asians. What used to be just a Western event is being celebrated in Hong Kong big time with events, parties, parades, even food and shopping festivals.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) (www.discoverhongkong.com) presents ?Hong Kong Halloween Treats,? a series of fun and freaky activities until Oct. 31 for kids and grown-ups alike, from kid-friendly trick-or-treat rounds to really scary haunted house trips.

HKTB; Cathay Pacific (visit www.cathaypacific.com/ph for daily Manila-HK flight schedules); and Regal Airport Hotel (www.regalhotel.com) have come up with this tour.

Hong Kong Disneyland

At HK Disneyland (www.hongkongdisneyland.com), a giant Jack Skellington (from Tim Burton?s ?The Nightmare Before Christmas?) greets you at the entrance. There are cobwebs on lampposts, pumpkins in gardens, and the iconic Disney castle becomes a dark tower by nightfall.

At Alien Invasion in Tomorrowland, you enter a seemingly endless track and get ?attacked? by aliens.

There?s Demon Jungle in Adventureland. At the Main Street Haunted Hotel, ghosts and ghouls abound. There?s also the Space Mountain-Ghost Galaxy, an eerie, dark roller-coaster ride with scary apparitions.

At night is the Glow in the Park Parade. ?Dressed-up? floats have Jack Skellington and his Pumpkin Men, your favorite Disney Villains, Red Devils acrobatics and the Ghostly Pirate Ship.

Meet and Greet and Scary Photo Fun put you alongside Disney mascots like Jack and Sally, Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Pluto, Donald and Daisy, and Chip and Dale in their Halloween costumes.

The castle-like HK Disneyland Hotel and funky Disney Hollywood Hotel are giving special rates for Halloween.

Shop and dine: There are Alien Burger, Vampire Pizza and Skull desserts on the special Halloween menu. For a quick fix, the outdoor food carts have spider muffins, pumpkin cookies and squash pies. There are over 160 Halloween merchandise in gift stores all over the park.

Ocean Park

Ocean Park will also be crawling with night creatures, from a zombie who pops out from a bush, a kid with a bloodied teddy bear to a cat lady in kimono?and you?re just walking around the park at that. (We even wondered if the ?monsters? would be sneaking down on us in the toilets.)

This is the ninth year Ocean Park is celebrating Halloween. While most of the features are scary and more suitable for grown-ups, the park is fit for kids during daytime, with its fun trick-or-treat and costume parties.

?We focused on local roots and dug up scary Hong Kong stories,? says executive director Paul Pei. ?The rides, games, haunted houses are all Oriental-inspired. Even the ?ghosts? are from local urban legends?there are over 400 scattered around the park.?

There are eight new haunted houses, Recycle is the main feature among them. It is inspired by the hit horror movie of the same title, directed by the Pang brothers. They also gave their inputs on how to make Recycle ?real? and scary.

Recycle starts off with a ride in a ?haunted elevator? and continues on to the forbidden walled city, forgotten playground and gloomy cemetery.

M&M?s chocolates present The Forbidden Mall, a forsaken mall where the cinema sign says ?Full House? and yet no one can be seen in the cinema.

The haunted Purgatory Express is creepy?a virtual subway ride where you encounter the dead, the disturbed and the dying. Purgatory Express is a creation of HK students that won Ocean Park?s haunted-house design competition.

Other must-tries are Police Station No. 13 (presented by Blue Girl); Campus of the Living Dead (presented by Yahoo.com featuring the faceless girl with a ponytail); The Ghastly Minshuku (an inn whose keeper turns into a murderer at night); High Street Madness
(a corridor full of mentally challenged patients); and Occult Lab.

Ocean Park also presents costume contests, wicked performances and three scary zones (Village of the Undead, Six Feet Under and Journey to the Other Side) throughout the month.

Shop and dine: There are over 150 souvenir items, from shirts and costumes to hats and plush toys. Bayview restaurant, Terrace Café, Café Ocean and Panda Café have regular and vegetarian menus for adults and kids. Exotic kiosk specialties include Scream Devil Blood (fish balls and pork balls in curry salad); Devil Claws in Blood Sauce (sautéed squid in spicy barbecue sauce); and Jelly Worms (fruit jelly with candy worms).

Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds (www.madametussauds.com/hongkong) has life-like wax replicas of celebrities like Michael Jackson, Jet Li, Johnny Depp, David Beckham and Barack Obama. For Halloween, it offers ?Scream,? a 15-minute walk through the dark where the ?criminally insane? have taken refuge.

Shop and dine: Souvenirs like personalized glass cubes, figurines, hand wax and trinkets are available at the museum shop. Restaurants and snack shops are right smack at The Peak where Madame Tussauds is housed.

Noah?s Ark

Over 60 pairs of life-sized sculptures of exotic animals are at Noah?s Ark (www.noahsark.com.hk), a huge garden park that overlooks the sea and Tsing Ma Bridge.

Highlights are Ark Expo, an educational multimedia experience; Treasure House, a children?s museum; Noah?s Adventureland, with 10 games for all ages including the Giant Swing; and Noah?s Resort, the in-house hotel.