Never Too Many Pandas.

You can definitely never have too many pandas. As an animal lover I'm really conflicted about zoos, on the one hand there's the happiness of the animals and on the other, there's the conservation side of things. I feel that Ocean Park probably does do a lot to conserve China's native animals and actually, most of the enclosures are nice and big, and that's despite the huge theme park expansion they've been working on since I last visited.





I did actually lug my DSLR along for the ride for this excursion but my new snappy little Canon did a pretty swell job too - I'm actually thinking about getting my butt in gear and talking about my cameras in an upcoming post, and it's that little camera that had me inspired.

I just felt like my blog needed more pandas and more animals, it's been a while since my goat-crazy phase of the summer.




This monkey's weird, human-like face creeped me out a little, sorry little guy.


Making like a panda.



Making like a dancing panda.




Panda selfie, can you tell I like pandas?




Red pandas are an acceptable panda substitute and these guys were much more boisterous than they were when I visited in 2011.


So pretty.





Weirdly, and probably second to pandas (obviously), I think the goldfish exhibition is my favourite thing at Ocean Park. I think it's because it reminds me of my mum and it's actually pretty neat as they include the history of the goldfish too - bit more exciting than it sounds (only a bit).




The Ocean Park cable car is still one of the quietest places I've been in Hong Kong, gives you time to think.




It's days like this one where Hong Kong is a completely under-rated holiday destination, look at that sea!




Saw my first arctic fox, so that was neat.






Sloths: not as slow as you think.


For more panda-related fun, I would recommend David O'Doherty's 100 Facts About Pandas, the most accurate panda book I have ever read.

So HK — Photo Diary.

Last night I actually sat down and blogged, for the first time in coming up to three months. I lit some candles, made myself a cup of tea and I planned out what was going to go down for the next couple of weeks. It sounds a little too structured but I've got to ease myself back in a bit and I feel like I can genuinely say that there's more to come - I'm more hopeful about that at least.

So, here's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hong Kong holiday spam, I can't believe it's coming up to 2 months since we got home! We had a great time, Moon had the chance to meet so much of my family that he wouldn't otherwise get to and it was so nice to hear him say that it's made him want to travel more.

Unfortunately the weather was not on our side which meant I still didn't really get the trips to the seaside that I've been dreaming of - in all my years of visiting Hong Kong I've never really been the the beach and after reading our guidebook thoroughly I knew it was something I wanted to do. Dang typhoons! Oh well, if all your complaining about is the weather, you're probably alright (or English).



View from our hotel window, there's a little more to Hong Kong than a concrete jungle.


I am so far from well-travelled, with my main holidays growing up being Brittany or Ireland and the occasional trip to Florida or Hong Kong, it was really nice to see some of the places I've visited through Moon's fresh eyes though. I think Hong Kong will always be somewhere I'll come back to every few years, my sister studying there certainly provided me with an excuse to visit when we did but this won't be my last trip.


Can't wait to tell you more about the 10,000 Buddha Monastery, I think it was one of my favourite places that we visited during the entire trip!

Ocean Park.

I don't think that I've visited Ocean Park since 1997, which would have been my first and only time anyway. Undoubtedly I should expect that more than a lot has changed since then. I believe that this previous visit would have been in October as well, when it would have been much cooler, I'm looking pretty red in the face from this evening as it goes, because guess who forgot to pack suncream?

Today was probably the first day that I have been outside for the whole day. It's not something that I would recommend in the height of summer in Hong Kong, especially in an environment like a theme park. Queueing is the most un-fun thing to be done in life, ever, in 32°C heat, it seems oh so much worse. My sister and I just went on our own today as it was far too much walking for my mum and most the park is situated on the side of a mountain,not to mention the fact that she isn't interested in rides either, not that we went for the rides. Excluding the cable-car, we only managed one rollercoaster; had I had my way and had the park been empty, we would definitely have rode both water rides that the park has to offer, but it's the summer holidays here and while I wouldn't say the park was that busy, it all comes back to that 'so much effort' issue.

To be perfectly honest, I was happy with just seeing the pandas and going on the cable-car - the most quiet place I have been since coming to Hong Kong, it felt so surreal. We also took in Ocean Park's dolphin show, 'Sea Dreams'. I did enjoy it but I am torn since being so horrified by The Cove last year, it's hard to sort my views out. I just really do hope that these animals are treated well, from what I could see the pandas were, so I don't see why any other animals should be much different. The fact that Ocean Park has won numerous conservation prizes also works in their favour, so until I hear otherwise, I'm pretty much on their side.
We rounded up the day with a meal at 'Neptune's Restaurant', a restaurant situated within the aquarium so you can look over to the 'grand aquarium' and watch rays and sharks while you eat. It was lovely and a pleasant dining experience, although slightly pricey considering we only had 'afternoon tea' and it wasn't even that substantial. It was so wonderful and cool in there, and having had 'mocktails' to accompany my meal, I actually began to feel cold (This was of course immediately shattered the moment the door to outside opened)!















I took a few videos, they do bother me slightly though because my sister just talks and talks and talks right through them, although the one on the cable car is quite nice.



Flickr set
Another busy few days, I'm predicting much less time/want for sitting around typing when I get home, although I'm quite nosey so, despite the fact that it's a bit annoying, out of compulsion, I will probably be able to find some time.