I spent the first week of 2011 battling an awful flu that I caught during my trip from New York back to Hong Kong. I took a number of days and half-days off work but still managed to infect the entire office. While laying in bed at home with a box of tissues and hot tea, I realized that our time in Hong Kong would most likely be drawing to a close some time this year and we still had not visited many of the places we had intended to. I resolved to make a concerted effort to do the things outstanding on our list: Shenzhen, Lamma Island, Happy Valley horse racing and Ocean Park, among others. Although I was still not feeling 100% the following weekend, with some encouragement from JT, I mustered up enough energy to go to Ocean Park, Hong Kong's premiere theme park.
Ocean Park is a strange mix of zoo, aquarium and amusement park. Even though Hong Kong has its own Disneyland, Ocean Park still attracts more visitors every year. The amusement rides weren't that impressive compared to the rides at Great Adventure or Disneyworld, but they were pretty good. And for many of the Chinese mainlanders, who seemed to comprise the majority of the visitors to the park, it was probably the first time they had seen or been on a roller coaster. I'm not sure if it was because it was the winter, but there weren't any long lines, and it wasn't terribly crowded. Part of the park is situated on a cliff overlooking the coastline of Hong Kong with a spectacular view of the water. A cable car connects the two parts of the park.
We went on a number of the rides, but the main attraction of Ocean Park is its pandas. One panda was taking a nap near a log when we showed up. Another was eating some lunch:
We were also lucky enough to see some red pandas (though JT mistook them for foxes):
Ocean Park, crossed off the list. Next stop, Shenzhen possibly? We'll keep you posted.
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