Adventures to Ocean Park

Yesterday was our first full day in Hong Kong. In the morning we went to a delicious breakfast at the Langham Place where we are staying. It consisted of omlettes, waffles, croisants, fresh fruit, quiche, all different types of cheese, specifically brie cheese! It was so delicious and such a wonderful way to start off our first day. After breakfast we headed out to the Ocean Park. We first had to take the subway, called the MTR, and then transferred to a bus. The kids had a fun time taking the bus, because it was a double decker bus. When we arrived at Ocean Park, the weather was probably already in the mid 70s to 80's. The park had a really strange layout so we weren't sure what to do first. We decided though that the line to go up on the gondola's was too long of a wait, so we first went to see the live panda's that the park had. They were so cute to see, but they were pretty much sleeping most of the time so it wasn't very interesting in that sense. After the panda's we took this express ride up to the other side of the park on this space like exhibit. We didn't realize it was going to take us all the way to the other side of the park so we ended up going back down to the other side of the park on the gondola's. The view from the gondola's was absolutely amazing, it was so incredible to see the entire island, and have such scenic views from this ride park. After taking the gondola back up again to where the rides were located, Michael, Stephanie, and I waited to go on the dragon roller coaster. Unfortunately Stephanie wasn't tall enough to ride on most of the rides, so that made it difficult for her to enjoy the park. Michael and I ended up going on the Dragon roller coaster, which went upside down three different times. It was a lot of fun, however I'm not sure if the long wait in line was worth it. I definitely ended up getting a little burned from all of the sunshine yesterday. We ended up going on some other rides at the park, and then we went to see the Doliphin show. That was fun to see, and the kids all enjoyed it. It was also just a great break to sit down and enjoy the scenery of the park. We ended up ending our day at the park with several rides on the water log, the ride was called the raging river; I didn't get as wet as I would have liked, but it was still a fun ride for everyone and we got cooled down a bit.

I couldn't believe we lasted as long as we did, but we didn't end up leaving the park until about 7:20 p.m. which by that time everyone was saying they were ready to go back to the hotel, I know that I certainly was! I always forget how exhausting those ride parks are, especially in the 90 degree weather, with two 6 year olds, but I think everyone ended up having fun at the end of the day.

We came back at about 9:15 and all ended up crashing from heat exhaustion. I took a nice hot bath, and changed into one of the nice bathrobes that the hotel room offers. It was really heavenly and just so relaxing to fall asleep on a soft western beds and pillows. This morning I ended up sleeping in until about 9 a.m. and it was so great to get a full nights rest. I got to talk with my parents this morning on the hotel room phone, which was nice. It sounds like its still pretty hot in VT, but overall it sounds like they are doing well. I also got to talk with Megan on skype and see her new haircut!

Today, we have been just hanging out in the hotel room. Later in the day we are planning to go see the big buddha.

I'm also excited because I'm planning on seeing my good friend Cindy, who is going to meet me in Hong Kong tonight!