The Feeling Blogger

They say, "Save the best for last", and I think we did. Our last day in Hongkong was the best - for me. I'm not that much of an adventure seeker but when opportunity knocks I open it directly though not as wide as others may opt to. This worthwhile adventure I had was at Ocean Park, Hongkong.

We already packed our things as we'd be leaving at midnight and left our baggage at the hostel reception area. Took the train, rode the bus and there we were, hurriedly lining up to have our CTS vouchers exchanged for regular tickets. And now the moment we've been waiting for, Ocean Park - was also our last Hongkong destination before bidding goodbye to fantasyland and back to reality.

that's me, hehehe

First things first was a visit to the enormous aquarium, The Atoll Reef. It is a four-storey high aquarium holding more than 2,000 fish from 250 different species, including the Black Spotted Sting Ray, for which a second generation was successfully bred at Ocean Park. BF loves fish and this had been his "dream-come-true moment". His eyes filled with amazement while I was confused all the time as he was talking from here and there about the different kinds of species we saw. "What was that?" was always my usual questions, thus I felt the need to shut up coz it only adds up to my confusion.


Next stop was a visit to the famous giant pandas, that I forgot the names hahaha. We went inside this greenhouse-like panda-friendly area(sorry for the bad description) which is a purpose-built habitat that houses rare giant pandas and red pandas. They say its cold inside to keep the pandas close to their natural habitat. These pandas were very cute and huggable. They're like walking stuffed toys. The other one was scratching his butt into the big stone, hahaha.


After the panda encounter we proceeded to the connecting gate going to a room full of different kinds of gold fish species. The Goldfish Treasures is a goldfish pavilion featuring the latest and rarest varieties like the Black Oranda and Blue Phoenix Eggfish. Those gold fish has very big eyes and tummy.

And now its time for the best part...the rides. We rode a train, Ocean Express, going to the other side of park. The Ocean Express is a funicular railway system capable of transporting visitors between the Summit and the Waterfront in 3 minutes with a capacity of carrying 5000 people per hour. This themed ride utilizes multimedia effects to simulate the feeling of travelling into the depths of the sea. It was a very unique and fun ride.

one of the shops selling souvenir items

hair raiser

The abyss

Now for the rides, first stop was a warm-up ride via Arctic Blast. Followed by the hair-raising, Hair-Raiser. The Hair-Raiser ride was a blast. I kept shouting and laughing at the same time. This livened up my spirit to try more extreme rides especially The Flash, but due to time constraints we were limited to see only one show and 2 more rides. One of those two was The Abyss which raises passengers up 62 metres (203 ft) in 20-25 seconds before thrusting them downward at speeds of up to 65 km/h, even faster than free-falling. This was the best ride of my life so far. I was so glad I decided to ride this one even without BF. From above, you can see the wonderful view surrounding the park, I was in awe.

sea lion

cable car ride

So before bidding goodbye to Ocean Park, we rode the 1.5-kilometer long cable car system connecting the lowland and the upland areas of the park. It has a capacity of 4,000 passengers per hour with 252 cable cars on two pairs of ropeways. Each car has a capacity of six passengers. I'm slightly scared of heights but I didn't let the "scaredy-cat" side of me to takeover. Thus, I tried to overcome my fear by simply having something or someone that I can hold/cling to. This superb ride gives you a very nice view of the mountains and the lake(???). This is an alternative ride if you don't want to take the Ocean Express.

view from the cable car ride

I sooo love Ocean Park. Can I go back to Hongkong again??? **crossing my fingers**