Ocean Park

I must admit I'm not a theme park kind of person. They can be fun, but standing in a line for an hour or so to go on a two minute ride just isn't terribly appealing to me. The last time I was on rides must have been the summer after grade 9 when I went to the West Edmonton Mall.

Hong Kong has two theme parks, Hong Kong Disney and Ocean Park. My parents actually live very close to Disney, from the upper deck of their place you can even see the nightly fireworks show. Apparently though unless you have small kids, Disney isn't worth the trip because there are no big rides and it is quite expensive. Ocean Park on the other hand is better for people of all ages because it is both an amusement park and an oceanarium/zoo all rolled up into one.

My friend Bec's one big thing that she wanted to see while she was in China was pandas so we all went off to Ocean Park for the day. It wasn't too expensive, about $35 Canadian dollars which is $15-$20 less than theme parks in North America like Wonderland or Disney World.

The Dragon

Ocean Park is located on the south side of Hong Kong Island. It actually has two sites (The Waterfront and The Summit), one on either side of a mountain, which are connected by cable car and tram. The Waterfront has most of the animals and the kiddies rides while The Summit has all of the thrill rides, including three roller-coasters that are built on the side of the mountain.

I hadn't been on a roller-coaster since riding the kids Ghoster Coaster at Canada's Wonderland back before the millennium, so Bec and Meg had to do a bit of cajoling to get me on but I really did enjoy them. It was fun to see the South China Sea while upside down on the edge of a mountain, even if it was all blurry because I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses. 

Giant Panda

We went on all three roller-coasters, as well as the log ride, a lazy river, merry-go-round (with sea creatures instead of horses), the high flying swings, a Ferris wheel and an extremely nauseating ride called the Eagle. The lines were about 20 minutes long in the morning but by the afternoon the crowds thinned considerably and we were able to just walk straight onto several rides.

Red Panda

Since it was such a hot day it was really nice to cool off by stepping into the air conditioned animal exhibits. We saw jelly fish, otters, goldfish, sharks, napoleon fish, giant turtles, red pandas and giant pandas. The giant pandas were incredibly cute, the first time we saw them they were sleeping but later we went back and they were busy mowing down on bamboo shoots. The red pandas (a.k.a. firefox) were not what I was expecting at all. They are actually like a big red raccoon. 

Bulgy-eyed goldfish

One thing that we just as amusing as the rides was looking at what other Ocean Park visitors were wearing. There were some seriously crazy outfits. Dozens of women were wearing heels, many of them platforms. One woman had bejewelled shoes with spiky heels at least 4 inches high. Some ladies were dress in a way that seemed more appropriate for nightclubs than roller-coasters. Several people were wearing jeans or other heavy pants and one lady even had a fleece sweater wrapped around her wait. The temperature yesterday? 32, feels 41 with the humidity. The three of us (clad in shorts, t-shirts and comfy shoes) realized that our criteria for what to wear to an amusement park differs significantly from that of the Chinese. Maybe next time we will don our miniskirts and highest heels to try and blend in with the crowd. 

By Asian standards, our footwear was much too practical for a day at Ocean Park