Hong Kong Day 6: Ocean Park

We decided on Tuesday to head to Ocean Park for the day. Ocean Park is a cross between Disneyland, Sea-World, and the Zoo. A little of everything. Brenda and I took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island then rode the MTR to the buses that would take us directly to Ocean Park. 

One of the Star Ferries 

Views of Hong Kong Island from the ferry:

The line for the bus was crazy long - it wrapped around the entire block - we thought we'd be there for at least 30 minutes so I ran inside to find a restroom - what an ordeal that was. Chinese people must not need to use the restroom - or "toilets" as they call them - very often cause they are hard to find. Once I found one I had to wait in a long line (only three stalls) - I was getting worried about being able to find Brenda (life with out cell phones is rough!) Turns out the line moved very quickly and she had been waiting in front of the buses wondering if we'd ever find each other in the crowds. Thankfully, she saw me walk by her and I was able to hear her calling out my name. The long lines didn't stop there. Once at Ocean Park we had to wait at least 30 minutes to buy our tickets to even get in. I don't mind the waiting so much, but you've gotta understand how hot it is in Hong Kong - were talking temperatures in the 90's with 90% humidity - accuweather equates that to feeling like 110+. I've never sweat so much in my life as I did today. The park was crowded - so, so crowded. Everything was a long line. My favorite part of the day was riding the gondola up to another area of the park. 

The location the park is built on is incredible. It sits on the coast of the South China Sea and they've worked around building on top of a big mountain. Huge roller coasters right on the edge of the sea. It was beautiful. 

The rafting ride looking particularly appealing since we were so hot, but we didn't realize how long the line was - we stood in line probably an hour to get on a 3 minute ride. Again, hot, hot, hot and the Chinese people can be very pushy which made it a little frustrating for Brenda and I. It's interesting that the people here use umbrellas in the rain and sun. Today was sunny and everywhere you looked people were shading themselves from the sun with their umbrellas. (Apparently, they are very careful because they don't want the sun to age them or risk getting skin cancer). I'm game for trying anything to keep cool so I started using our umbrella as well. It was funny that even on the raft ride people were using their umbrellas - in this case it was more to keep dry from all the squirting water.

After waiting in line so long for the one ride, Brenda and I decided it wasn't worth it. Besides, we weren't there for the rides. We visited the Arctic area where we saw sea lions and walruses - though I wasn't that impressed. My Mom and Val's favorite part of the Ocean Park is the Panda's. The first time we went into their area they weren't outside, but we decided to try again later in the afternoon and were able to watch them lounging around after just being fed lunch.

There was another older building with a panda in it as well. She was eating what appeared to be an large ice-cream cone (though I'm sure it was something a bit more panda-appropriate).

There were also some cute red pandas eating leaves.

The line for the main aquarium warned us that it would be a 45 minute wait, neither of us wanted to see the aquarium bad enough to wait in another line for that long. 

The only other ride we went on was the carousel. I could have sat on that whale all day long the breeze felt wonderful!

So mixed emotions about our day at Ocean Park. What we were able to see and do was fun, but there were so many other shows and exhibits we didn't see.  It was just too hot and crowded to really get the most out of it. My Mom and Val have been at least two times and it has never been as crowded as we experienced. 

We met Mom and Val outside the MTR in Mong Kok. While on the MTR we stopped right in front of the cemetery. It's so neat to see them nestled into the hills.

Brenda and I didn't know that they had planned on taking us out to a nice Korean Buffet - we ate a late lunch and had just finished drinking a big drink before meeting up with them. Neither of us were hungry so instead we decided to walk around the "Ladies Market." My stomach was feeling queasy and I was getting really light headed so when Val decided he would opt out of spending the evening shopping at the Ladies Market - I decided to head back to the apartment with him. I was disappointed to miss out on the fun, but my body was clearly telling me it was ready to relax and rest up for the next adventure.