Ocean Park
Before heading to Hong Kong, the trip-goers spent a bit of time emailing back and forth about what sort of things we wanted to see and do. Amusement parks topped the list. Since a few of us had recently been to the Disney parks in Tokyo, we decided to try a more authentically “local” experience in Ocean Park. When it came time to go to the park, however, everyone decided to go. It was great!
Ocean Park is interesting. It’s built in really mountainous terrain, so you can’t see all parts of the park at any given time. You can use cable cars to get to the upper area, and a really incredible system of escalators to descend further down from that upper area to yet another area. (And then do that in reverse to get back to where you started.) The place was decked out for Halloween, which was a nice atmospheric touch. Our first stop was the panda enclosures, after we discovered that we had totally been deceived about the possibility of riding in hot air balloons. Sad. (The lack of balloons, not the pandas.)
We lucked out and got to the upper peak area just as a strong wind forecast caused the park to stop the cable car service. That meant really short lines for us for awhile. We took full advantage and did all of the crazy rides first. We also ate, and had our first bit of cultural friction as we realized, while buying a pre-lunch snack, that handing change back to a customer in Hong Kong can be a really haphazard ordeal. We took in some of the aquarium sites, ate lunch, hit the aviaries and a few more rides, then made our way back to the entrance. All in all, it was a great day. 
Sorry!
