Sai Kung and Ocean Park

Last weekend, the REU ladies went to two wonderful attractions, one that seemed intended for locals and the other also for tourists: Sai Kung and Ocean Park respectively. At Sai Kung, we had trouble communicating with the boat people, but using numbers and body language we ended up taking a traditionally-designed boat an hour into the sea onto a deserted island made up of abandoned houses, water pipes, graveyards, wells, and farms. Map-less and clueless of what treasures and dangers the island might contain, we explored the land cautiously. Walking through the rubbles felt like uncovering a dead past, and I hope to do some research about the place to learn about the lively cultures that must have breathed life into that land, a long time ago.

The Boat People:
Water Caves:

Say Cheese, in Chinese!

An abandoned jug:


Happily Exploring:
An old salt farm:


Sunday's outing to Ocean Park proved to be far more comfortably adventurous. As soon as we entered the theme park, we picked up maps and planned our day accordingly. All the signs were bilingual (including English) and even the water theatre presentation (where dolphins and seals were the actors!) was also bilingual. We rode "The Dragon," the park's biggest roller coaster, in the rain (!!!), caught the feeding of the seals, watched the dolphin show, walked through an aviary, peaked into massive aquariums of the world's sea creatures, watched the panda bears fight (or play), and enjoyed the Chinese culture apparent throughout what will soon be one of the world's most extensive theme parks. On the way back from high land to low land (the park is built on mountains), we rode in a cable car with a woman from the park's guest services, who told us that in 2012 the number of attractions in the park will double from 35 to 76.

Notice the pandas coming out of the trash can:


The real theater of the ocean forms the backdrop for this artificial theater:

This is my favorite bird! Notice that it is eating oranges, mangoes, papaya, apples, bananas, and so much good food!
A Dragon Fish:


Jia Jia, the mother panda:Silliness:

Goodbye, Ocean Park!