Almost kung-fu in the panda enclosure!


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Asia » Hong Kong » Hong Kong Island » Aberdeen
July 18th 2013
Published: August 3rd 2013
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Hong Kong has almost become a second home to us, we know the city so well and visit so often, on our last visit, Neil had the idea of doing something different to what we normally do!



Being the big kids we are, we decided to pay Ocean Park a visit. Not just an ordinary theme park, it opened in 1977 and has since grown to 35 attractions and rides – there is the amusement park part of Ocean Park as well as an oceanarium, marine mammal park and animal attractions, along with observatories, laboratories, education department and a whales and dolphins fund. Apparently, the park has won several awards, including the world’s 7th most popular amusement park and Forbes’ 33rd most visited tourist attraction in the world!

Getting There

We really couldn’t have chosen a better day to visit, the previous two days in Hong Kong had been a little bit miserable, weather-wise; but on that day the sunshine paid us a visit and not a rain cloud in sight! During his research, Neil had noticed a few people mentioning tickets could be bought for Ocean Park at Admiralty MRT station for HK$150 (that’s around £12.50), when the usual cost is HK$180. Sure enough, the information was correct and the HK$60 (£5) saving bought us breakfast at Oliver’s Super Sandwiches before we hopped on the number 629 bus to take us to Ocean Park. The bus journey took about 30 minutes and cost us HK$10.6 (88p).



As we had arrived slightly early, we had to queue along with the gaggle of other people before the park opened. Anyone who had been to Asia will know the aversion there is out here to the sun, so here we were standing head and shoulders above most people around us, getting poked continuously in the head with umbrellas. Seriously a tiny bit of sun isn’t going to harm you, people – the same goes for rain. We got very hot and bothered waiting there but once the park opened, we couldn’t contain our excitement and headed for the cable car.



Ocean Park was bigger than we expected (88 hectares!) and it’s separated into two areas, with a huge mountain in between the two areas. Imaginatively, the two areas are named ‘The Summit’ and ‘The Waterfront’. Connecting these two areas is a 1.5km
Repulse bay and harbourRepulse bay and harbourRepulse bay and harbour

full of posh yachts!
cable car system and a funicular railway names the ‘Ocean Express’. We managed to get a cable car all to ourselves and the views were breathtaking. We could see all the way over Deep Water bay and saw Repulse bay in the background (we have decided to visit these on our next Hong Kong trip!), on the way up the mountain we saw some lovely houses overlooking the bay with their own swimming pools…these must be worth a fortune!

Ocean Park - coasters, aquariums and show spectaculars

The way Ocean Park is designed is quite inventive – as you can see from the photos, the roller coaster rides are built on the side of the mountain, so you get really spectacular views if you have the nerve to keep your eyes open whilst riding the roller coasters (Neil – yes, Donna – no!). The Summit section is split into 4 different sections and we made a decision to do the roller coasters first so made a beeline for the ‘Hair Raiser’ in Thrill Mountain; this is a floorless roller coaster and it was great. First time around, Neil sat on the outside…second time around he made Donna sit on the outside not telling her it was worse on the outside 😉. We then headed to Adventure Land to ride the mine train, which was waaay worse than the Hair Raiser, the way it jolted around and we felt like we were tipping out the car! In between these two we had to go through something called the ‘Pacific Pier’, this was a nice surprise with loads of seals basking in the sun and gracefully swimming around.



Next up, we debated trying ‘The Abyss’ ride…after watching it, we both said no way. The Abyss raises you up 62 metres (203ft for our Mums and Dads!) before dropping you down at 65km/hr, faster than freefalling. Ha, so you can see why we said no way, especially as when we were watching it we could see the faces of the people on the ride! So, instead, we made the mistake of riding ‘The Dragon’…bloody hell, we definitely regretted this one as it made us wonder if we were too old for roller coasters! It was twisty and turny, had two loops and hung us sideways off the tracks several times. It made us feel really sick and we had to sit down a while afterwards to recover and then decide no more roller coasters for us! Wimps?



To give our stomachs a bit of a rest, we decided to catch the midday dolphin show at Ocean Theatre. Now, we have swum with the rarest dolphin in the world in the Pacific Ocean, this isn’t a patch on the wild experience but we love dolphins so much, we couldn’t resist watching. Ocean Park is the first institution in the world to have success in artificial insemination of bottlenose dolphins. Once the show started, we weren’t sure whether to watch the dolphins in the pool or the audience around us. It was just as fascinating a show…over-excited adults oohing and ahhing over the dolphins (watch the video!) and there was even a little slapstick show which the audience absolutely went gaga over, much to our amusement!



Dragging ourselves away from the dolphins, we then headed to the Sea Jelly Spectacular. It really was spectacular, lots of jelly fish in different tanks with different lighting. They really were quite beautiful and we forgot for a while how dangerous jelly fish can be! It was great to see the jelly fish like this because usually we are running away from them – you don’t often get to carefully watch the jellies up close! One part of the exhibit had a ceiling to floor wall tank of jellyfish with mirrors for the other walls, this gave the impression that you were surrounded by jelly fish and was quite disconcerting. Added to this the sheer noise from the Chinese tourists in there with us, made us a little bit disorientated (we have a video below as well!). The whole exhibit used mirrors and lights in really effectively and made you wonder if it was a mirror or a tank in front of you…we had to be pretty careful when walking so we (ahem, Donna!) wouldn’t smack into a mirror or tank by accident!



Our next stop was the Polar Adventure part of The Summit. This was divided into 3 sections (but we only found 2 sections!), this is where the video of the Gangnam penguin was taken…only in Asia! These areas inside were freezing…the indoor temperatures are kept really low for the sake of the animals in there, for us we had a quick look and got out pretty fast as it was soooo cold! In the South Pole Spectacular, we were happy to see penguins waddling and swimming. We really liked the floor in this place, they had installed a glass floor, so it seemed like we were walking over very clear ice and could see the penguins swimming below our feet. The North Pole experience was just as cold and we were disappointed not to see the Pacific walrus (somehow he was hiding!) and saw some more seals.



Escaping back into the warm sun, we decided to catch the funicular train down to ‘The Waterfront’ and what a weird experience that was. The ‘train’ was done out like a submarine and wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Jules Verne novel. Once moving, the train went dark and projected all sorts of images/colours onto the inside and it was all a bit surreal!

Pandas, rare golden monkeys and the familiar tussle with the mainlanders

We had a quick walk around the ‘Giant Panda Adventure’ and ‘Panda Village’, which had nothing in them apart from trees and then had a look at the ‘Sichuan Treasures’ exhibit…BINGO! This was were the pandas were! Pandas are another animal we love and we were happy to see them - surprisingly for pandas, they were pretty active, stalking around their enclosures. Secretly we thought they might have been disturbed by the huge amount of noise being made by the Chinese groups. There were signs everywhere telling people to keep the noise level down, but this was completely ignored! So, in this place there were two pandas, a male named An An (安安) and a female called Jia Jia (佳佳); these were given to Ocean Park by the Chinese government in 1999. Apparently there are two more pandas here which we never saw - a male called Le Le (樂樂) and a female named Ying Ying (盈盈). Also in this enclosure were a pair of rare and endangered golden monkeys – these were gorgeous! We watched the two monkeys interacting for a while and they were fascinating, so human in their movement and expressions. They seemed really mischievous and looked like they were plotting something, probably how to get hold of some oreos or hula hoop crisps 😱.



The path running alongside the golden monkeys and pandas was quite narrow and crowded and people were moving very slowly. At this point a Chinese woman got stuck behind us while the rest of her group was in front of us; we couldn’t move anywhere because we were packed in with people all around us. So the woman behind us, unable to be separated from her group for more than a few minutes started continually poking and jabbing us with her finger. When we didn’t (couldn’t!) move, she had some kind of brain fart moment and kicked, then shoved, Donna really hard almost pushing her to the ground. Donna being the strong minded person she is, elbowed this woman away from her (she didn’t fancy being trampled by the other people around if she fell!) and almost went kung fu panda on this woman’s arse. Donna’s Dad has always said her strong-mindedness gets us into trouble…well, at this point things completely kicked off…this woman started yelling in Mandarin, which we don’t speak a word of and we started yelling back in English, which she didn’t speak a word of. Somehow we all understood each other and stood yelling to and fro in different languages. Nothing annoys us more than impatient rude people, seriously why this woman couldn’t have just waited until the queue had moved we don’t know. If we could have let her past, we would have. So amidst all this yelling, Hong Kongers were looking on and as the argument went on, getting louder and more heated, they waded in, telling the woman she was in the wrong (in Mandarin), telling us she was rude and we were in the right (in English). At that point the woman just gave up and snuck away ashamed. It was a rather surreal experience and we were a little amazed that arguing seems to transcend language, we completely understood what each other were saying!



Just before we do some observations, our last stop was the Aquarium – this is 4 storeys and houses more than 2,000 fish, loads of sharks, rays and other underwater creatures. This was a nice end to our day, not before another little argument with another Chinese family who were not only using their kids to push into the queue, but the kids were really badly behaved, also kicking and shoving people in the queue!

Reaching breaking point?

We recently read an article about how the Chinese are the highest growing country for tourism in the world. We would certainly agree with this just from our experience over the last year. In Hong Kong, however, there is a bit of a backlash going on with Hong Kong residents complaining and protesting over the numbers of mainland Chinese visiting and buying property there (for the residency benefits). We kind of see the Hong Kongers point of view, the sheer number of mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong is overwhelming (and it’s quite easy to distinguish between mainland tourists and Hong Kongers!). This increase in overseas travel by the Chinese has led to the Chinese government issuing ‘guidelines’ to Chinese travelling abroad, as there has been several recent embarrassing incidents which have hit the headlines (http://www.itv.com/news/2013-08-01/top-tourist-tips-from-the-chinese-government/). Our personal observations and encounters correlate with the Chinese behaving badly stories, but then again, a lot of nationalities behave badly abroad (as you will read about in our next blog!). We think it’s more obvious with Chinese tourists because they travel in huge (and we mean huge!) groups, so the behaviour is magnified. A bit like the Brits in Spain or Aussies in Bali!



A general observation about the majority of people is the way they behave when it starts raining…seriously people aren’t made of sugar and will not melt if they get wet! People seem to get a bit soft in the head when it starts to rain in Asia – drivers suddenly start driving even more recklessly, walkers tend to hog the sections of pavement with overhead covers - even if they have an umbrella! This is a real pet peeve of ours…if you have an umbrella you don’t need to walk under a sheltered section, that is the point of an umbrella, it keeps you dry! Then if someone doesn’t have an umbrella, that’s ok, they seem to think a hand over the top of their head, a newspaper or plastic bag will do just as well. The looks we get when walking in the rain with no umbrella are of shock and disbelief!



We have definitely noticed that most Asian people with children use them to their benefit. If there is a queue, they will force their kids to push into the queue for them as close to the front as possible and then use the fact that the
Spider crabs...Spider crabs...Spider crabs...

they reminded us of the Aliens from the Alien films!
kids are apart from them to push in! Honestly, not good queue etiquette at all, tut tut!



Ahh, queue etiquette. As we have mentioned in other blogs, as Brits we have a particular thing about queuing and queuing correctly. The number of times we have had one person in front of us in a queue (e.g. for Immigration), then all of a sudden twenty other members of their family come and join them…we tell you, it’s not on and is very bad etiquette to do something like that. Honestly, all people travelling abroad should be issued with queuing etiquette guidelines as it REALLY annoys us having to battle this all the time. Donna has no issue shouting at people and telling them to get to the back!



This leads us to a related point and goes back to our kung fu panda incident. Now, when we get separated for whatever reason (for example, on an escalator), we just stand apart and wait to join up again at the top/bottom. The Chinese, in particular, cannot do this, they must be together at all times and we have even witnessed them shoving other people out of
Cable car and roller coasterCable car and roller coasterCable car and roller coaster

Amazing views from the roller coaster built on the side of a mountain!
the way on an escalator (and almost pushing them down it!) so they could re-join the person they are with. We just do not understand this mentality, the same as when there is only room for two people on a pavement to pass each other, usually we are the ones who go single file and other people try and barge through still two or three-abreast. British, Europeans, Americans and Australians are guilty of this one.



Our last pet peeve – there are two doors into a shopping centre people are walking through one open door. Instead of pushing the other door open and walking through, the people on the other side will just wait until there is a gap and walk through the open side. They seem to have an aversion to pushing a door open and will wait 5 minutes or more to avoid it. Arggghhh!



All this argy-bargy has led to us becoming slightly worried we are losing our British politeness and good manners, this is something we are going to discuss in our next blog. But really, something has to give when you live in Asia and we honestly feel that
Seal with an itchy nose!Seal with an itchy nose!Seal with an itchy nose!

Enjoying basking in the sunshine!
most Asians take advantage of the fact the majority of ‘foreigners’ ARE polite and give way…then they meet us and that illusion is shattered 😉.














Additional photos below
Photos: 42, Displayed: 33


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Ah, the Chinese tour group...Ah, the Chinese tour group...
Ah, the Chinese tour group...

nowhere in Hong Kong is complete without one ;)
Deep Water bay and a cable carDeep Water bay and a cable car
Deep Water bay and a cable car

it took a bit of timing to get this shot!


3rd August 2013

Yes, the pushing by members of a certain group is phenomenal. It really ruined my time in Beijing a few years ago. I was pushed an average of 30 times every day, even when I was basically alone on a street, and someone walked toward me! I am big, and if you push me, I will push you right back. Got it? As for the lines - have you seen the warning signs at the BKK airport saying, if you butt in, you will be put back to the end of the line?
8th August 2013

Bangkok airport signs
Thanks for reading! No, we haven't seen those signs in Bangkok airport, we will definitely look for them next time we are there. The Thai's obviously don't like pushing and shoving either!
3rd August 2013

What a journey!
You two are really making an incredible journey, I wish I was along for the ride in person but your blog will suffice until I get on the road again myself. =)
8th August 2013

We remember the waiting well!
Hi, thanks for reading our blog. We remember before we left the UK the impatient excitement of waiting. Hope you get away on your big trip soon - you'll enjoy it all the more because of the wait!
4th August 2013

Queuing etiquette...
Donna I think we would travel well together - I have made it my mission to spread the good word of 'queuing etiquette' wherever we go ;)
8th August 2013

Hi Ren and Andrew!
Maybe there should be a published guide to queuing - then when people don't follow the rules, we could 'throw the book at them' ;)
4th August 2013

Hong Kong
We were talking about Hong Kong yesterday. I'm glad you let the kids out to play. (closed eyes and all) It would be good to better understand the aversion to rain. It seems peculiar. Happy travels
8th August 2013

The kids definitely came out to play!
We were so excited, it was a great day out, Dave and Merry Jo! Seriously, this aversion to rain is so silly - oh for the day we understand Asia (we suspect this will be never) but it all just adds to the fun of living out here!

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