My Very First Blog

After visiting the Giant Panda Habitat at Ocean Park Hong Kong, my friend and I went next door to the souvenir shop.

I love this souvenir shop! Cos there were lots and lots of pandas!



You can find panda toys in different forms and sizes and styles!



Aren't these adorable?



Pandas in Chinese costumes. Cute!



You will be spoilt for choice! But the prices were not cheap.



There were sailor pandas too! The ones in brown are the red pandas which I was hoping to see next.



T-shirts, caps, bags and many other accessories all with the panda theme!



Surprisingly, as a huge fan of pandas, I did not buy any of them! Well, I reckoned that spending my money on food was way better! Haha! Also I was hoping to find these panda toys in the night market which should be selling at a much cheaper price. But in the end, the Angry Birds plushie won - Haha! More about this in a future post!

Leaving the Giant Panda Habitat, we walked till we reached the Amazing Asian Animals nearby.



It was some sort like a mini zoo with fishes, alligators, otters and birds! But since this post is all about pandas, I shall refrain from mentioning about all these other animals. Will blog about them in a future post!

Then we came across this - Giant Panda Adventure.



It's the place to see those red pandas! I was excited!

We followed the direction to the Panda Mountain.



This is the entrance to the Panda Mountain.



There were a few signboards that provide pretty good information on the pandas. (Click the following pictures to enlarge).



So Mozilla Fire Fox browser has something to do with pandas? Wow! Haha!



Unfortunately, we did not get to see the red pandas. There were supposed to be two of them but they did not appear. Boo hoo!

Here is how the red pandas supposed to look like. More like a cross between the fox and the racoon if you ask me!



More signboards providing valuable information. (Click to enlarge)





The future is black and white? Haha!



The ultimate goal of the breeding programs is to reintroduce the pandas into the wild. I really do hope they are successful!

Soon we reached the Panda Village. Oddly, this village were more to showcase birds than pandas!



My friend and I did not stay there for long. We walked towards this Panda Cafe.



However, we did not go in to buy anything to eat, as we were not hungry yet. I like this waterwheel and panda bear in front of the cafe.



Next to this Panda Cafe is the Panda Cafe Food To Go. It's the place to fill your tummy fast while you are busy visiting all the attractions at Ocean Park!



Look at the way that panda eats its food!! Haha!

Next, we visited the Panda Kingdom Shop, another souvenir shop filled with panda plushies and other animals from the Amazing Asian Animals.



The cute panda bear on the rooftop.



A cute panda cuddling a tree in front of the shop.



More panda toys not unlike the ones we have seen earlier at the Giant Panda Habitat.



Love this round panda that was peering from the ceiling beam.



And this panda holding a fish.



Later that night, I passed by a bakery shop and saw a panda cake!! Wow!



Now you know why I love Ocean Park Hong Kong so much? This place is just filled with pandas!! Live pandas, fake pandas, and panda cakes!!

But Ocean Park is not all about pandas of course. There are many other attractions at this famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong and I will share with you in my next few posts, so stay tuned!

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Last year in March, I visited Ocean Park in Hong Kong with a friend. I really enjoyed my visit there. Mainly because I got to see real pandas!

Located at the southern part of Hong Kong Island, Ocean Park is the 7th most popular amusement parks in the world. It is also one of the world's biggest marine and educational themed parks.

Map of Hong Kong Island (click for bigger size)

From our hotel in Mongkok, we took the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) via the Tsuen Wan line to Central station in Hong Kong Island. (click HERE for the MTR system map). From the station, we took a cab to Ocean Park.

You can also sit the public bus from the Central Station, but we preferred the cab although it costs us HK$62 (RM24.50). More info on the bus transport HERE.

It was almost 11am when we arrived at Ocean Park. The first thing I noticed were the nice recycle bins here! Love them!

The Ocean Park's opening hours were displayed at the bottom of the escalator.





When we reached the top of the escalator, we were greeted by funny looking sea animals sculptures. This is the Ocean Square area.








One of the alien-like sculptures.
































This building with the octopus on its wall looks beautiful. Wondering what's inside, I soon found out that it houses the toilets!





The admission price for Ocean Park was HK$250 (RM98) which includes most of the facilities, except skill games and coin-operated games. I think the price had since been revised to HK$280 (RM110).

However, we bought the tickets a day earlier from our hotel boss, who offered us at a much cheaper rate at HK$220 per ticket. That's a savings of HK$30! Definitely worth it!

In fact, we also bought tickets for Disneyland and The Peak from him at a much cheaper rate! So if you want cheaper tickets, my advice is, do not buy tickets from the counter or online. Try to buy from ticket agents, or your hotel boss if he or she happens to be an agent! : )

Soon, we reached the Aqua City Lagoon. There is a fountain here that dances and weaves intricate patterns in the air! It was here that we watched the amazing 360 degrees water screen show where two fiery dragons clashed later at night! More about this in a future post.

Further in the distance is the SkyFair, where you can fly up in the air balloon!

Ocean Park Hong Kong is actually pretty huge! Covering an area of 870,000 square metres, the park is separated by a large mountain into two main areas - The Summit and The Waterfront.

We were at The Waterfront. To go to The Summit, you can either take the Cable Car or the Ocean Express funicular railway. The cable car is a MUST sit because you can view the mountains, the sea and the entire park from up there! But you must not miss the Ocean Express train as well as it is no ordinary train! More about this in a future post.

Standing at the Aqua City Lagoon area, I spotted two cute pandas in the distant! Hardly able to contain my excitement, I told my friend that we must hurry up and go see those pandas pronto! LOL!





Once we were near enough, I quickly snapped a few photos of these giant pandas! Of course they were not real pandas! The real ones were inside the building. Haha! There were actually three of them. How cute!!!





Two giant pandas looking down on the smaller panda below with its ass facing us. Hehe.





I then discovered to my utmost delight, that there were many more pandas all over the place!! Oh my, I love this Ocean Park already!

A panda welcomed us as we walked up the stairs.





This building is known as the Giant Panda Habitat. It is here where two real giant pandas live. Oh! A (fake) giant panda trying to climb over the wall. Did you notice a smaller panda lying below? If cute has a name, its name must be panda!!





OK let me magnify for you. The giant panda attempting to climb over the wall.





And the smaller panda lying down with a (bamboo) stick in its hands.





And here's that small panda with its ass facing us in the earlier photos.
































Look at it sitting there precariously and hugging the pillar from this angle!
































I found another cute panda eating a bamboo stick.
































This panda looked very real, and super cute!





We entered the Giant Panda Habitat which houses two real panda bears - a male panda named An An and a female called Jia Jia.

There were quite a huge crowd that day. Most of them were busy taking videos or pictures of the pandas.

Unfortunately during our visit, the male panda An An only came out for a short while and then went back inside his 'house' to sleep!





This is An An on his brief 'outing' before disappearing behind the walls. Lazy panda! LOL!





Luckily, the female panda Jia Jia did not attempt such a stunt!





In fact, she came out in full view and demonstrated her eating skills.





Oh, those sharp teeth! Despite its cuteness, do not underestimate a panda. It can kill as it's still a bear after all!
































Look at Jia Jia's soiled bottom! Haha!





Leaning on the stone to eat.





In this picture, she was facing us so we could see exactly how she ate her food. I was not sure what food she was eating, though.

For a moment, she stopped eating and looked at us. I swear she was observing us!

Then she violently attacked her food! Yum!





There was a female tour guide speaking on the microphone in Mandarin so I did not really know what she was saying.





I managed to record a short video of Jia Jia on my iPhone. Watch it below.



I was really glad to be able to see real panda in action! Pandas are endangered animals. We really need to protect them as much as possible.




Click for a larger image to read the message

If you think that's all the pandas you can see at Ocean Park, you are mistaken. There are two more real pandas (known as Red Pandas) which unfortunately I did not get to see, a panda village, a panda shop as well as a panda cafe, so stay tuned!

To be continued ....

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