We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect way to close out our time here in Hong Kong. True, we don’t leave until Friday (by 6:30 am), but I have 7 people to pack up, and that will take some time. I’m hoping we are able leave the apartment and do something in the evening today, but we will see :). Right now I have us nearly packed and I’m trying to catch up this blog.
First off, I had little to no desire to visit Ocean Park, but Gladys told us that Ka Hei would love to go, so we officially scheduled it into our time here and told Gladys, and she told Ka Hei, and then there was no backing out!
We took the MTR train to Admiralty Station on Hong Kong Island, hopped on a double decker bus (another ‘want to do’ on my list :) ) straight to Ocean Park and got there 10 minutes before it opened. Perfect!
Ocean park is kind of like, small version of Great America meets small version of Sea World with Pandas. We first stopped at the huge, beautiful aquarium. We spent lots of time in here, enjoying the fish, sting rays, hammer head sharks, etc.
Then we hit a couple shows – the bird show was primarily in Cantonese, so while Ka Hei laughed and knew exactly what was going on, the rest of us were pretty much in the dark until a bird would come flying onto the stage. I had to think, it will probably be a while before Ka Hei will really be able to enjoy “shows” and long conversations and such in the US. Until then, he will feel like we did….like he’s missing out. :( The next show involved acrobats, didn’t have any talking and was just fun!
And today was definitely a day for fun. Kayla told me she was determined to make a connection with Ka Hei, so today she offered herself up for piggyback rides, and all kinds of fun and Ka Hei definitely enjoyed spending time with her! Major kudos to Kayla!!!
We were starting to get hungry, but had some difficulty finding a place – one had a good variety of food, but was $200 HK (like $25 US) a plate, and another only had items like fried squid….hmmm. While we were looking, we stumbled upon the panda house :). I’m pretty sure I have never seen a panda in person, so it was pretty cool!
Then we found a restaurant with some Chinese and some Western food. Perfect! The sweetest little old lady took care of us, making sure we got the food we wanted. Ka Hei chose spaghetti with the rest of our kids and he loved it. Timothy was tickled purple because spaghetti is his favorite meal, and now we know it can maintain a regular place on our menu :). It’s all those important things, like eating spaghetti, that really matter to 14 year old boys ;).
Time to hit arctic world and all the walruses and sea lions:
And then we went on some rides – a roller coaster that Ka Hei said was ok and then bumper cars! We all laughed so hard! It was pretty clear that my crew (you had to be 12 yrs to drive a car) has had more bumper car experience than most of the rest of the bumper car drivers there. So the real goal was to zip around, run into each other and NOT get stuck in a pile-up of bumper cars that couldn’t figure out how to go in reverse.
Next up – roller coasters and water rides! *I want to state this next part with some understanding that #1, I am not talking about Hong Kong residents (nearly everyone we have met has been so helpful, kind and polite) and #2, I am not trying to make a sweeping statement about Chinese tourists, it is just our experience.*
When our family lined up for the big tube water ride, we were not expecting a cultural experience, but we got one! As we stood patiently in line, people started pushing their way past us….hmm…we thought….must have some relatives up there that they got separated from. Then more people…wait just a minute…they’re just cutting in front of us because we’re dumb enough to let them! At that point, Andrew and I grabbed hands and spread out across the chained-in line we were in. I got careless for a minute as we rounded a corner, left a couple inches between myself and the post…and squeeze! a woman got through! and then beckoned to the people behind us to join her. I quickly moved to grab hold of the chain as the people pressed in. But, between my firm stance and the “are you serious” looks Andrew and I kept shooting backward, the press subsided and I was never dumb enough to let go of the chain again! On the next water ride, Andrew and I noticed an older woman and her daughters (I’m guessing) pushing their way through people, coming up behind us. We took up our “bodyguard” positions and then Andrew decided he had had enough. He turned around and said, in a firm but kind voice, “Are you waiting to ride?” One of the women nodded yes. “We are too.” She gave him a surprised look, as if the thought had never dawned on her, and then stepped back a bit, giving us some much appreciated space. Crazy!
Here we are, soaked, after our water ride :)
We watched a dolphin show (it was good, but I’ll spare you the pics) and then went on a fantastic roller coaster. It was different than anything we have ever experienced before because we were literally doing huge vertical drops down the edge of a cliff straight toward the bay. It was so cool!
Ka Hei isn’t much of a rollercoaster fan. I think we really stretched him by asking him to go on it once. When TKL&A wanted to ride a second time, we didn’t push the point with him and instead Andrew and I sat out and watched and talked about how big the drops were with Ka Hei. There were several times that Ka Hei wanted to tell me more about what he thought about the ride, but couldn’t find the English words to do it. So, he would try for a bit and then say, ”I can’t say it in English.” I felt so bad for him! Thankfully he didn’t let it get him down, but smiled and moved on to the next thing :).
The park closed at 7 and at 6 they started shutting down the rides to move people toward the front gate. Andrew and I got to practice our “Line Guard” one more time as we boarded a train that went through a mountain from one side of the park to the other. At the park exit, we watched a light and water show that was truly incredible. It was so well done! The music, water, lights, fire!!, fireworks…it was all incredible. Ka Hei had never stayed late enough to enjoy the show before, so it was new to all of us and we all loved it!
All in all, it was the perfect, kid-friendly, fun-packed way to end our time here :). And now that I have us all packed, we’re going to head out and see a bit of the city one last time before we fly home.
See you soon!
First off, I had little to no desire to visit Ocean Park, but Gladys told us that Ka Hei would love to go, so we officially scheduled it into our time here and told Gladys, and she told Ka Hei, and then there was no backing out!
We took the MTR train to Admiralty Station on Hong Kong Island, hopped on a double decker bus (another ‘want to do’ on my list :) ) straight to Ocean Park and got there 10 minutes before it opened. Perfect!
Ocean park is kind of like, small version of Great America meets small version of Sea World with Pandas. We first stopped at the huge, beautiful aquarium. We spent lots of time in here, enjoying the fish, sting rays, hammer head sharks, etc.
Then we hit a couple shows – the bird show was primarily in Cantonese, so while Ka Hei laughed and knew exactly what was going on, the rest of us were pretty much in the dark until a bird would come flying onto the stage. I had to think, it will probably be a while before Ka Hei will really be able to enjoy “shows” and long conversations and such in the US. Until then, he will feel like we did….like he’s missing out. :( The next show involved acrobats, didn’t have any talking and was just fun!
And today was definitely a day for fun. Kayla told me she was determined to make a connection with Ka Hei, so today she offered herself up for piggyback rides, and all kinds of fun and Ka Hei definitely enjoyed spending time with her! Major kudos to Kayla!!!
We were starting to get hungry, but had some difficulty finding a place – one had a good variety of food, but was $200 HK (like $25 US) a plate, and another only had items like fried squid….hmmm. While we were looking, we stumbled upon the panda house :). I’m pretty sure I have never seen a panda in person, so it was pretty cool!
Then we found a restaurant with some Chinese and some Western food. Perfect! The sweetest little old lady took care of us, making sure we got the food we wanted. Ka Hei chose spaghetti with the rest of our kids and he loved it. Timothy was tickled purple because spaghetti is his favorite meal, and now we know it can maintain a regular place on our menu :). It’s all those important things, like eating spaghetti, that really matter to 14 year old boys ;).
Time to hit arctic world and all the walruses and sea lions:
And then we went on some rides – a roller coaster that Ka Hei said was ok and then bumper cars! We all laughed so hard! It was pretty clear that my crew (you had to be 12 yrs to drive a car) has had more bumper car experience than most of the rest of the bumper car drivers there. So the real goal was to zip around, run into each other and NOT get stuck in a pile-up of bumper cars that couldn’t figure out how to go in reverse.
Next up – roller coasters and water rides! *I want to state this next part with some understanding that #1, I am not talking about Hong Kong residents (nearly everyone we have met has been so helpful, kind and polite) and #2, I am not trying to make a sweeping statement about Chinese tourists, it is just our experience.*
When our family lined up for the big tube water ride, we were not expecting a cultural experience, but we got one! As we stood patiently in line, people started pushing their way past us….hmm…we thought….must have some relatives up there that they got separated from. Then more people…wait just a minute…they’re just cutting in front of us because we’re dumb enough to let them! At that point, Andrew and I grabbed hands and spread out across the chained-in line we were in. I got careless for a minute as we rounded a corner, left a couple inches between myself and the post…and squeeze! a woman got through! and then beckoned to the people behind us to join her. I quickly moved to grab hold of the chain as the people pressed in. But, between my firm stance and the “are you serious” looks Andrew and I kept shooting backward, the press subsided and I was never dumb enough to let go of the chain again! On the next water ride, Andrew and I noticed an older woman and her daughters (I’m guessing) pushing their way through people, coming up behind us. We took up our “bodyguard” positions and then Andrew decided he had had enough. He turned around and said, in a firm but kind voice, “Are you waiting to ride?” One of the women nodded yes. “We are too.” She gave him a surprised look, as if the thought had never dawned on her, and then stepped back a bit, giving us some much appreciated space. Crazy!
Here we are, soaked, after our water ride :)
We watched a dolphin show (it was good, but I’ll spare you the pics) and then went on a fantastic roller coaster. It was different than anything we have ever experienced before because we were literally doing huge vertical drops down the edge of a cliff straight toward the bay. It was so cool!
Ka Hei isn’t much of a rollercoaster fan. I think we really stretched him by asking him to go on it once. When TKL&A wanted to ride a second time, we didn’t push the point with him and instead Andrew and I sat out and watched and talked about how big the drops were with Ka Hei. There were several times that Ka Hei wanted to tell me more about what he thought about the ride, but couldn’t find the English words to do it. So, he would try for a bit and then say, ”I can’t say it in English.” I felt so bad for him! Thankfully he didn’t let it get him down, but smiled and moved on to the next thing :).
The park closed at 7 and at 6 they started shutting down the rides to move people toward the front gate. Andrew and I got to practice our “Line Guard” one more time as we boarded a train that went through a mountain from one side of the park to the other. At the park exit, we watched a light and water show that was truly incredible. It was so well done! The music, water, lights, fire!!, fireworks…it was all incredible. Ka Hei had never stayed late enough to enjoy the show before, so it was new to all of us and we all loved it!
All in all, it was the perfect, kid-friendly, fun-packed way to end our time here :). And now that I have us all packed, we’re going to head out and see a bit of the city one last time before we fly home.
See you soon!
Your Hong Kong experience is basically over - you're headed to bed about now and when you get up, you'll go straight to the airport. I'm glad you went to Ocean Park. You have all learned something from each experience. The one that stands out to me is all of you not being able to understand the bird show that was "primarily in Cantonese, so while Ka Hei laughed and knew exactly what was going on, the rest of us were pretty much in the dark." and you went on to say Ka Hei will feel like he's missing out... Just knowing all that will help him tremendously, because you will be sensitive to how he's feeling. We can't wait to meet Ka Hei and see all of you Fri. night. (I woke up with hives, I sure hope I will be there!!) Love you all.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "butting in line" is the Chinese culture! We were made aware of it before hand(our agency told us) and had to learn to "butt" our way to the front of line, too(when ordering food and such). I totally understand how frustrating that ONE little thing can be! Funny thing is, I only remember experiencing it when we were at the Safari Park.
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