“Who’s a cute fella? Yes you are!”

… and here is posting two for the day. Double your reading pleasure today!

After being tuckered out from a day of Disney shenanigans, we started the day a bit slower. But the intent was not for it to be low key… in fact the plan was for more theme park! Before you stop reading, no, not more Disney. This time Ocean Park – part aquarium, part zoo, part rides, all fun.

We’re at Ocean Park! Hooray!

We arrived to the what seemed to be fairly large crowds, but it didn’t really prove to be the case, especially when compared to the day before. This was lucky, as we had to be gone by late afternoon to visit the tailor again, so there was no time to dilly-dally. It was off to it!

Believe it or not, I was more keen on the aquarium aspects of the park. There was definitely going to be time for rides, but I was more keen to see some of the other star attractions. So off it was into the Grand Aquarium.

Hypnotising…

It was certainly pretty grand. I could stand there all day and watch hammerhead sharks swim overhead. There wasn’t much in there that was too different to say Melbourne Aquarium, but it didn’t matter. Manta Rays, sharks, jellies… they all can keep me entranced for ages.

As to be expected, the exit of the aquarium part led to the first of a bazillion souvenir shops. We did our best not to get too carried away…

Of course I didn’t need prompting for this photo

Kate’s got the hang of it now too

Even thought the aquarium was cool, the main thing on my radar for the day was PANDAS! Both the giant and the red variety. On our way we bumped into quite a nice red panda who was just hanging out and saying hi to people.

I never realised Red Pandas got this big

We went into the panda exhibit just in time for some Red Panda training. Did you know they are also known as “Fire Foxes”?

Awwwwwwww, such a cutie

Anyway, we watched this little rascal for what seemed like hours. We were well and truly entranced. Which was lucky, as his giant panda cousin was having a sleep right out of sight. Oh well, there would be time to pop back.

That’s a big drop

At this point it was time to pop over the hill to the other side of the park. The two parks were joined by a massive cable car that Kate tells me used to be like a ski lift. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. First of all, it was bloody steep. Secondly, it was pretty cold and wet as we were going over. Thank the pandas for the new cable cars.

Over on the other side was a much bigger mixture of both animals and rides. We decided to get a little ride action in before checking out the rest of the animal exhibits. My constitution is a bit stronger than Kate’s so I went on a handful of rides by my lonesome. The Dragon was not a bad rollercoaster… your typically loopy variety. I hadn’t been on one for a while so forgot how violent they can be on your neck and back. Oh well… an osteopath can sort those things out.

All aboard the Dragon

I also went on The Abyss, a giant drop type ride. It was OK… the first drop was gold, after that, it was kind of a bit “is that it?”. But still, that split second where your stomach is in your mouth is always fun.

It’s the dolphin show!

With some rides out of the way, we decided to do some more animals. We chanced upon the obligatory seal and dolphin show. It was your usual animals performing tricks type show, although there was some odd storyline going on that was hard to follow from the broken english. I think there was some environmental message in there, but I figure it was being lost on everyone. Kate was excited though.

Nice tux… who’s your tailor?

Next up was a tour through both the North and South poles. Penguins were plentiful, but alas the walrus was hiding. Boo. Everyone loves a walrus.

So comfy

There was one last stop on our trip to Ocean Park, and that was back to the pandas. Hopefully the giant panda would be out… and he was! Well, in so much as he decided to have a sleep outside, but at least we could see him. He seemed so comfy there having a rest. Munching on bamboo, sleeping… seems alright to me.

And with that, we were about done. We were soaked again (although some was ride facilitated) and it was time to head back central to visit the tailor. We needed to try on the works in progress to see if any alterations needed to be made before they got finished. They had a shirt completed for me already, and holy heck, it fit like magic! It was so good, I decided to get a few more made. Where else are you going to get top quality, perfectly fitting shirts for about 40 bucks? The suit was looking very rough, but it was intended to make sure it was on the right track before getting finished. A nip and tuck here and there and it seemed good to go. It was filling me with quite a bit of confidence for the finished product.

By this time hunger had hit again. And oh boy! What a coincidence! Is that… Tim Ho Wan? Yep it is! You must be getting a bit sick of this by now, but we were in the neighbourhood, and there were things yet to be eaten, so it was my duty. This time I added some shrimp dumplings to the order…

Mmmm… shrimpy goodness

… steamed beef ribs in black bean sauce…

Mmmm… beefy goodness

… and my new favourite, wantons in “special sauce”. I have no idea really what the special sauce was, but it was super delicious. Kinda spicy but just really flavoursome. Yum!!

Super delicious wantons!

As you can tell, we ordered up. Considering the whole meal cost about 16 bucks total, you can see why I’m addicted.

Hopefully my new suits will still fit

On the way out I popped into a more random convenience store and found this nugget. I figured it would be a chocolate milk type drink, and, well, it was a chocolate milk type drink. As Kate said as she tried it… “it smells like nesquick… looks like nesquick… mmm… tastes like nesquick”. So yeah, it was just chocolate milk, but pretty tasty.

Mmmm… random milk drink

Rather than head back to the hotel, we decided to head to Mong Kok for some more looking around. I had wind of some good Converse stores and even some Japanese-style toy stores. It turned out to be a fruitful visit which was cool. In many respects this areas was what I expected from Hong Kong… the slightly dodgier version of shopping. Kind of what Singapore used to be like. It was fun and might be worth another visit before we head off.

Wandering Mong Kok

Well folks, time to hit the hay! More shenanigans tomorrow.