The Happiest Place on Earth isn't Disneyland After All...

Since I heard about Ocean Park in Hong Kong, I have been dying for a visit. Aquariums are one of my favorite places to relax, I adore rollercoasters and when I heard they had pandas, I was basically chomping at the bit to get over there. So for Fiona's birthday (and to celebrate our last day of real classes at HKU), a few of us put our walking-all-day shoes on and made our way to the park.

I was not disappointed.

Ocean Park is basically part aquarium/part zoo/part theme park, sprinkled with Hong Kong spirit and dried squid for sale. I fell in love with the animals, the beauty and cheesy spectacle of the Old Hong Kong section (which really looks like what I imagine to be the setting of those awesome Hong Kong noir novels) and the view from the cable cars was just spectacular. The beauty of the aquarium was especially moving for me. The colors and shapes of these animals just makes you realize that nature is extraordinary and way more complex than any wild visions of your imagination! For a day, my friends and I had a chance to be kids again, and it was one of the most wonderful days I've had here in Hong Kong.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day. We used Fiona's camera so the quality is, once again, a bit strange.

A (blurry) bird's eye view from the cable car

This is probably why they call it Ocean Park...

Being cute... in hats!

This could be an electrojam album cover...

The stingrays, sharks and fish moved so fast, it was impossible to get a decent picture!

My absolute favorite creature in the aquarium is the leafy seadragon

Besitos from Nadine to the weirdest fish in the world

Ying Ying snacking on some tasty leaves

Look! It's Shifu!

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I thought this badass robo seahorse might have been the best thing I'd ever seen.

The end of the night

Nadine is eaten by the world's scariest clown.

The birthday girl and her special friend

After all the fun and craziness of the day, we went back to the dorm, watched Django Unchained and had McDonald's deliver cheeseburgers, milkshakes and french fries (McDonald's does delivery here!). With only 16 days left in Hong Kong, I couldn't have asked for a sillier, more exciting day.

Now to write final essays. To the library!