Sunday, Ocean Park et al

Hiyawl, catchup almost done again. We are having another cruisy day, which we need, we are exhausted.

We went to Ocean Park yesterday, finally. The weather has been overcast, but didn't rain much during the day.

You can see why our book said Ocean Park was the locals' haunt, rather than Disneyland. It has replayibility. It had far less westerners than Disneyland, and some of the signs were in very slightly fractured Engrish and not all the staff spoke adequate English. Having said that, since Disneyland I've learned some numbers, thank you and "yes, three kids", it is a bit easier to get what we need.

It's situated on the Southside of HK Island at a suburb called Aberdeen and is split up into two parts - the Lowlands and the Headland. These two parts are separated by a thumping great Mountain (with a dragon head manicured from the trees in it, which you can see from miles away). There are two ways to get there - Shuttle bus between the two entrances (the Lowland and Highland ones) or cable car.

We took a taxi in, which cost all of about $22 AU, including the tolls for the cross harbour tunnel (much like our CLEM7 opening up) and the tunnel through to the southside of HK Island. After the poofight with walking to public transport and getting the kids, pram, etc on it - we saved our legs and stress. Plus you have to get the train into Central on HK Island, transfer to a connecting train to Admirality and then get out of the station and onto a bus to the park.

Given HK isn't particularly wheelchair or stroller friendly at all (stairs everywhere and few lifts), it wasn't worth it. And realistically, we spend about $6 AU just to get to the bus stop, plus whatever the bus cost, we would have saved, maybe $7 or $8 AU, and added too much tiring and stressful travel.

At the park, it was easy to get in on the lowlands. The cost was 50% less per person than Disneyland and the park was generally more compact. We also had a voucher we got at Wellcome (30% off one ticket - obviously aimed at locals, but since we have been picking up supplies there, we go it).

The lowlands is the kiddie rides and most of the wildlife related stuff, including Pandas, which are incredible. Some in one exhibit were sleeping and the other was wandering a little and then going away. We got some photos, though the glass made them hazy. It was still worth it to see them. We also went and saw some other animals, though many we couldn't see (must have been the weather). I made a joke to a Pom about the Chinese Salamander not being there because he was in the cafe as lunch instead.

There is also a goldfish exhibit there - there are 300 different types of goldfish! We also saw an acrobatics show, which we took some video of, which was very impressive. Like a Twenty/20 version of cirque de soleil.

As usual, the park prices were an issue. Coke and Water (of which we purchased plenty due to the weather) was 4 times what we pay in the suburbs, though we had hindsight to get some snacks and water and poppers to save time (so we saved by going to Wellcome and then we saved again by getting a cheaper ticket).

But because it is a not-for-profit conservation organisation that runs it, I don't mind so bad. And it was still cheaper than Disneyland.

We ended up going to Panda Cafe, and getting lunch there, which cost around $40 AU for a family (including a coke, water and Carlsberg), which is fairly good for decent food and at a theme park. The food was another reason you know they are catering to locals - it was the local fare, not western food (though you could get McDonalds at the other side of the park - no way, as we had Delhi Belly once from it - the only stomach ache has been from McD!).

So Jovia got Beef Brisket, veges and noodles (thick rice ones, which were like slippery clear spaghetti), I got BBQ Pork and Roast Duck with rice (which had a nice sauce in it), and we shared some pork dim sum and pork buns as well. We kinda did an all in share. We couldn't eat it all, there was so much - but it was really good food.

After going to the gift shop, we went on the Cable Car, which was really cool. The kids were fascinated by it, though Jovia was scared (mum would be too - it was really high). At the end, Sonali goes "it's only one more bump mummy and we'll be there". But the view was fantastic, and you could see the whole harbour, mountain, boats and everything from it. I'll post a couple of photos, but I took about 20 or 30, it was just incredible. They had stairs underneath and it was like one of those south american ziggurats, just a massive climb - you wonder how anyone could have climbed it, let alone was the distance to the headland.

The headland area had some good rides, though I only managed three, the bigger rollercoaster, the space wheel (like a faster Enterprise at Dreamworld) and the river rapids (the water was cleaner than Dreamworld's or Seaworld's). The problem with the park, especially the headland, is that it was poorly laid out (the map was inaccurate and misleading), and not wheelchair/pram accessible. Just to get to the exit on the Headland required us to take 3 very steep, long escalators down the hill, which is scary holding a pram, because if I'd slipped, it would have damaged a lot of people.

It is absolutely a park for able bodied people only. I wish I'd got to do all the thrill rides, as they were impressive looking. The rollercoaster I did go on was great - it had two loops like the corkscrew and a part where the car was upside down. A lot of sideways bends - just a lot of fun. The river rapids were great, and the drop got me very wet. The space wheel was so fast that it became a bit of a gravitron. If you wanted to go, you'd do it in a group where the people who wanted sedate rides and shows could go to the lower area, and those who wanted rides the top area.

We got a bit of attention at the park, though only one photo request, which was good. I can't wait to go back to where we appear as just another family of locals, rather than strange westerners with a blonde kid.

We'd decided that we'd try to get back to Tsim Sha Tsui for dinner and see if we had time for the symphony of lights on HK Harbour. We took a taxi in to TST - almost the eastern side, which is very nice - it has a street much like a beach street or the stretch along brisbane river at Hamilton. We ended up going to outback steakhouse, as we were well underdressed for another different steakhouse. I was trying to convince Jovia to go to the Martini place, but again, we were probably underdressed.

The food was brilliant, the dinner menu is far better - I got a massive rack of ribs and cheese fries (yum!) - I had credit because I pushed the pram up some extremely steep long hills at Ocean Park, Jovia got a rib fillet steak and the kids a kids meal each. Add in cokes and Stella on tap and it was our most expensive meal, but we needed some energy food.

We went and had a look at the harbour lights which were really nice, but we were on the the wrong side of the peninsula to get any view of the symphony of lights, more is the pity.

We got a taxi back, I caught up the blog and crashed. I finally figured out a level on my DS game (can't find a DSi card - it seems like the DSi hasn't been released here yet?). If Whitney's DS still worked, I'd buy a bundle of cute accessories and a nice case.

Photos:

1. View of the Peak on HK Island covered in cloud - looking from TST.

2. Part of the view from the Cable car to some of the harbour - it's higher than it looks!

3. View straight ahead from the Cable Car - actually those steps are about 60 degrees steep, but the photo makes them look flat.

4. View of dragon on mountain in the distance - you'll need to look at the full sized photo and zoom a little to see it - it even has a red eye.

5. Cross harbour tunnel entrance from TST to HKI.