Hong Kong (香港) - Night Views of Hong Kong - Part 2

After our fantastic adventures in Ocean Park (read it here and here) throughout the whole morning and afternoon, when the sun has set for the day, we quickly rushed our way to the Avenue of Stars to watch another round of A Symphony of Light. It will be from another view of point and totally different from the one we witnessed at The Peak. 

Hong Kong's busy lifestyle

We took a bus from Ocean Park that brought us to Admiralty MTR station where we took the MTR from Admiralty to East Tsim Sha Tsui station. Then, we walked our way out to the Star Avenue where many people have already crowded the famous harbour. For some unknown reason, we were all split up once we were there so I had no idea where they were when the light show began but I was certainly sitting by the side, accompanied by the Thais on my left and the Koreans on my right (or was it the other way around). 

Here are some highlights of the light show which were captured in videos but I'll upload it next week due to connection issue:

Replica of the award statues given out during Hong Kong Film Festival

Hong Kong's night views are definitely beautiful

More to come soon!

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Hong Kong (香港) - Ocean Park - Part 2

Seriously, working drains out all your energy to blog even though I pretty much  do nothing in the office. Hence, the reason why this blog has been so inactive lately. Sorry.

Continuing from where I had stopped last post, once I had reached The Summit, I spent hours queueing up for the thrilling rides that populated there. Due to the fact that it was summer vacation back when we visited Hong Kong, it was inevitably full of youngsters. But the queues were worth it. To be frank, some of the rides in Genting Highland are more exciting than those similar ones in Ocean's Park but it was still enjoyable to say the least. The fantastic views that you get to see while on the rides pretty much compensated the lack of adrenaline these rides provided. Some of the rides we went for were The Abyss (Solero Shot in Genting), Mine Train, The Dragon (Corkscrew) and The Flash. Personally, The Flash is the best of them all. Sadly, my enthusiasm took over my instinct to take photos and there few to almost non existence when it comes to the rides. My inner child took over the blogger in me and left me with no photos to show.

The Flash

Besides those thrill rides, there are other attractions that you can go for if adrenaline-packed adventures are not your things. There are a lot of nature-related and informative joys you can go for. One such adventures that we went to was the Chinese Sturgeon Aquarium Yangtze Exploration where we enjoyed the company of giant fish swimming as we walked and learned about the efforts made to maintain the unique ecosystem the Yangtze River is. 

Another highly recommended attraction would be the Ocean Theatre where dolphins and seals pulled off a performance to entertain the audiences. These sea creatures are such a delight to be watched as they looped high off the pool, doing stunts that required years of trainings (I believed) and the wonderful relationships between the human trainers and the dolphins and seals. 

The famous Ocean Theater

The stage

Look at the crowds!

I had recorded videos of the show and will upload it here soon. We had more than six hours of joys and laughters and in these six hours, we were transformed back to our childlike states. We screamed out loud when we were on those rides. We emitted sounds of amazement while watching dolphins being their endearing selves. These six hours plus were wonderfully spent in Hong Kong's Ocean Park.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

In order to get a good seat for the dolphins show Ocean Park is famous for, you have to go there very early, like at least 20 minutes before the show started. If you are wondering what to do during these extra 20 plus minutes, worry not for there is a Mexican band performing tunes that are catchy and delightful. You can enjoy your meals/snacks while listening to these songs. 

Hong Kong (香港) - Ocean's Park

I am simply too freaking lazy. My procrastination skill sees no end towards it. I wonder if I still have time to blog once I start working next Monday...

I woke up the next day, feeling all pumped up. We were hitting Ocean's Park today! Being the iconic theme park in Asia, I had been wanting to go there for as long as I remember, back when Disneyland is still in Tokyo and had not branched out to Hong Kong. So, once we had our breakfast at a Japanese restaurant (I think), we were off for some fun in the sun!

Name of the shop

What I had...delicious

We took the MTR from Fotress Hill station to Admiralty to take the bus to Ocean's Park. When we reached there, we were approached by travel agents asking whether we want to take their Ocean's Park package, inclusive of the entrance fee and ride to go to the park itself, at 230 HKD. We can walk on our own once we entered the park and it was cheaper than the entrance fee (250 HKD), so no harm right?

Well, the bus that was supposed to fetch us all (there were others who took the package) 'caught in the traffic jam' (we suspected that the bus broke down) so they, the tour agency, provided us a taxi to go to the park at their expenses. We got to sit on the signature red car for free! The taxi driver is very friendly, entertaining us with tales and recommending us places to go.

After a ten to twenty minutes ride, we finally saw the theme park. To be honest, there are a lot of similarities between Ocean's Park and Sunway Lagoon. There is the seal-in-a-sailor-outfit mascot that resembles the duck-in-a-sailor-outfit mascot Sunway Lagoon has. Ocean's Park has both dry and wet rides, just like Sunway Lagoon. Entrance rate for both theme parks are about the same, all things considered. Yet, Ocean's Park has one thing Sunway Lagoon does not have. The views to die for.

Entrance to the theme park

Ocean's Park has two sections, one at the bottom of a hill where animals attractions are aplenty (known as The Waterfront), and the one at the top of a hill (known as The Summit), where all adrenaline junkies gathered for their thrilling rides. You can take the cable car or the Ocean Express to reach The Summit. As I did not take the Ocean Express, I had no idea what I missed out but I did not regret it for the views by the cable cars are absolutely breath taking. You get to see parts of Hong Kong Island. Stunning!

The cable car

Going UP

LOOK AT THE VIEWS!!!

SIMPLY STUNNING!

Look at the number of the cable cars moving around...

*TO BE CONTINUED*