Behind the Scenes at Ocean Park

On Friday I joined the AWA for a behind the scenes tour of Ocean Park. Located on the south side of HK Island, Ocean Park is an aquarium, zoo and amusement park rolled into one.  Known for its large crowds of mainland Chinese visitors, many of my friends have avoided visiting Ocean Park. This b.t.s. tour was an awesome way to visit, granting us access to employee only areas, including the Ocean Park animal hospital, the dolphin training facilities and the lab where they breed their own jelly fish!

Our day started at 9:45 where we were met by Ocean Park’s Executive Director Zoological Operations and Education, Suzanne Gendron.  Suzanne spent the majority of the day with us, walking us through the big exhibits in the zoo and aquarium and pumping us full of facts about the species and the specific ways in which OP cares for them. It was some pretty amazing access.

Our first stop was the aquarium, where we saw hammerhead sharks, bluefin tuna, mackerel (all pictured below) along with turtles, rays, parrot fish, unicorn fish and more! The fish are fed thawed frozen fish multiple times a day. To ensure that the sharks are happy and full (and avoid any tank disasters!) they are hand-fed 3 times a day. 

Next stop: pandas! There are two pandas at Ocean Park and they are kept happy by the park's home grown bamboo. OP grows 3 types of bamboo to ensure that they are able to offer the panda's a variety in their diet! This guy was taking a nap in the shade and pooping simultaneously.  Nice life!

Then the penguins! The penguin exhibit isn't up and running yet but our guide was able to bring us to the area where they are housing them until the exhibit is ready. Pictured at left is our group entering the employee only penguin area through a back alley. We peered through a small window to check out the penguins, who were busy swimming and waddling around. 

After a lunch break, we took a train to the other side of the park (you can also take a cable car, seen below). On the other side we saw the rainforest exhibit, where the below kinkajou (also known as a honey bear) was showing off his tricks and the two-toed sloth (above) very slowly made his way across the branches.

....And then the vet hospital where they even preform surgeries on fish! To do a fish surgery, they put the fish on a sponge and use a device that pours waters over the gills of the fish only. Next to the animal hospital are the indoor pools for dolphins. This is used for dolphins that need special attention - pregnant, newborns, sick etc.

And our final stop of the day was a lab where they are breeding jellyfish for the Sea Jelly Spectacular. To the left, one of our guides explains the process and stages of the jellyfish life cycle.  Jellyfish are kept in round tanks, otherwise they would get caught in the corners of a square tank. Notice how small they are behind her  and then how large they can become (right)!  

After the lab we checked out the show, where the tanks were adorned with colored lights and jellyfish danced to a concerto playing throughout the exhibit. 

Sadly, my day was cut short at 5pm when a crazy rain storm caused the roller coasters to shut down for the day! Clearly I'll need to make a second trip back to Ocean Park to check out the rides!

Happy Times/Happy Valley

Every Wednesday night crowds from Hong Kong leave their regular watering holes for a night at the races. Last night I made my first trip to The Happy Valley Racecourse, where I met a few girlfriends for a night of horses, cocktails and some light gambling!

My first ever bet!

The basic admission is HK$10 and provides you with standing room only at the track level. If you feel like splurging, there are seats available for HK$20 and up. Of course, standing in crowds on the track level isn’t really ideal for actually viewing the races, but you can see the woosh of the horses go by and feel the pounding under your feet (which is actually pretty cool). And you’re closer to the beer stands….

We weren’t there too long before it started raining (side note: it has been raining off and on for the past 2 weeks here in HK). Despite the rain, the races went on and we took cover in the stadium’s seating area. Sadly, because of the rain, I wasn’t able to get the really cool, close up horse photos I dreamed of getting – but maybe next time.

I placed my first bet (HK$20, big spender!) for race number 8 on horse 3, Super Marshal.  Sadly, Super Marshal came in 10th place. But hey, there’s always next week!

Despite the rain, crowds cheered for the passing horses.

Now Taking Your Travel Suggestions!

After a fun Hong Kong weekend of brunch, booze and bbq's, this week has been about job searching and apartment searching. Normal life stuff snore!

So, in the meantime, I'm daydreaming about all of the fun places we will travel to. I'm taking suggestions for our first long weekend getaway. Somewhere we could scoot off to for two or three days. Bangkok? Beijing? Bali? Anyone out there have ideas?

Other things on my to do list: sign up for Cantonese classes, sign up for Padi dive certification classes, and sign up for cooking classes.

Unemployment is sounding better and better, isn't it?

Island Hopping: Lamma Island Day Trip

A cloudy day at Lamma beach.

Yesterday was my 2^nd Foon Ying trip with my AWA group. (Click here to read about the first).

Although it has been quite rainy this week, we took our chances and headed to one of Hong Kong’s many outlying islands, Lamma. Hong Kong is comprised of more than 230 islands – which means I have a lot of exploring to do!

Like most of the outlying islands, Lamma is accessible by a quick ferry ride. Though the island used to be one of HK’s many fishing villages, today it’s known for its relaxed and bohemian lifestyle. There are no cars allowed on this island, only bikes and golf carts. It’s also known as  a paradise for hippie expats - some of who arrived in the late sixties and haven’t left since! Or, judging by the looks of it, haven’t trimmed their beards or washed their hair since either! Walking around Lamma reminded me of walking around the Caribbean. There were dogs running around everywhere, overgrown greenery, and the chime of bike bells signaling to foot traffic ahead.

Our quick tour of the island included the Tin Hau Temple, the local beach (a nice spot facing Lamma Island’s power plant), a gorgeous organic garden sprouting flowers, herbs, veggies and more, the local shops and finally a seafood lunch.

There’s more to explore on Lamma (hiking, biking, a wind power station!) and the island definitely warrants another trip back! Hopefully in sunnier weather. 

Echinacea growing in a toilet. Damn hippes!

Prawns in toasted garlic + dried chili sauce.

Scallops served in the shell with minced sauteed garclic and glass noodles. This will be one of the first dishes I attempt to make.

Members Only: Private Kitchens

Private kitchens in Hong Kong are very popular and offer a fun and tasty alternative to commercial restaurants. Private kitchens, or speakeasies, are essentially small restaurants run out of a residential space. Originally private kitchens were underground and unlicensed and served as a way to avoid the high costs and high rent of opening a commercial restaurant. Today, many private kitchens operate with a club license, which allows them to serve "members only." From what I can tell, private kitchen dinners range from formal meals to exotic and cutting edge culinary feasts to your mom and pop traditional cooking.  Generally advertised only by word of mouth, the kitchens do not have storefronts or signage so you really have to know where you're going to get there! 

We recently enjoyed a big group dinner at a private kitchen in Wan Chai serving Thai food. The "restaurant" was on the second floor and about the size of a small square living room set up with a few tables and stools. No decor, no fuss, just good home cooking. We moved around the tables to squeeze 16 people to fit, wine was opened, beer was chilled and food was ordered. Before long our table was covered with plates of food: noodles, rice, papaya salad, pomelo salad, green curry, red curry, beef skewers, chicken wings, sautéed morning glory and more. I have no idea how they cooked so much food in the small space or where they kept any supplies! You might be able to tell from the photos, but I'm pretty sure this kitchen doesn't have a Viking hidden in there. But the food was amazing and the vibe was laid back and fun.  

Needless to say, we ate way too much food and enjoyed a bit too much wine. I'd say that's a successful Saturday night!

Our table, overrun with food and drinks! Instead of napkins there were rolls of toilet paper on the table. It only added to the charm of this relaxed dinner.

Scenes from a Tram

The tram is an awesome way to see the city. For $2.60 hkd (30 cents!) you can ride the double-decker tram along six different routes. With 163 tramcars, the HK tram is the world's largest fleet of double-decker trams in operation in the world. 

I spent an afternoon riding from Kennedy Town to Happy Valley. While the tram isn't the fastest mode of transportation, it was a great lazy way to sightsee. Here are a few pics from along the way:

 

A street corner near Kennedy Town

Pruning on the side of the road.

Yes. Those are fish drying on that construction site!

The Great Outdoors

It’s funny that when I opened my computer to write this blog post, NYMag (yes, they are still my homepage!) has an article entitled “The Upside-Down Travel Planner.” On the short list is “Hong Kong for Fresh Air.”

I’m not surprised that HK made the list. I think most people who have never been to Hong Kong (and I include my former self in that) don’t realize how much more there is to the city. We think skyscrapers and crowded, congested, streets. But there’s so much more to explore: beaches, mountains, deserted islands only reachable by boat. If you come to HK and only stay within the shelter of the big buildings, you would fail to even scratch the surface of life here.

So when we moved here and I learned how active people are, I too was surprised and thrilled to know that HK is a place where balancing the great outdoors with big city life is absolutely achievable. Hoorah!

On Saturday, Pat and I woke up to early hike Dragon’s Back in Shek-O Country Park. The park, which is on the southeastern side Hong Kong Island, is easily accessible by a bus or a 20-minute taxi ride.

While the hike usually boasts beautiful beach and city views, we had a pretty foggy day (which provided us with a bit of relief from the heat!). It was amazing to watch as the fog rolled over the lush green mountain tops and to smell the sweetness of honeysuckle – all just 20 minutes from our apartment.

Fog rolls in over Dragon's Back trail

After the hike, which took about an hour and a half, we headed toward Shek-O beach, where we cooled down in the water and chilled out. A few hours later, we grabbed a quick Vietnamese lunch in the small town and headed toward Big Wave Bay beach, another beach just a few minutes down the road.

Big Wave Bay is known as the best surfing on HK Island, although you never would have known it since the water looked like a lake. (Because of the twists and turns along the HK coastline and the mountainous terrain, the beaches are sheltered, causing the water to be pretty flat.) But the beach was awesome and even had a few small surf shops (which also doubled as restaurants) lining the walkway to the beach.

You can be sure we’ll spend the summer exploring more beaches and hikes and, who knows, maybe this will even be the year I learn to surf. 

Pat leads the way over the ridge. Despite how this photo looks, we did see other hikers....