Sunday, April 4, 2010

Ian's Thoughts on Ocean Park

Ocean Park is the tenth most popular amusement park in the world. More than five million people go there each year. We visited it recently.

Probably to me, the most unusual thing about it was that instead of normal pavilions and signs, all the exhibits were in pagodas. It was a Cantonese theme. In one of the exhibits we saw all sorts of lizards and reptiles. Other than their inhabitants, the displays were comparatively empty. Most of these glass voids had one large chunk of wood and a drinking bowl as furniture for the lizards. It looked very uncomfortable. I'd hate to be a lizard in that amusement park. It felt like the government didn't give them much money to spend on unnecessary comforts.

Ocean Park also had a panda section. The panda habitat was much better. The red pandas were hyperactive. Swarms of the furry little creatures were scampering all over the place. The giant panda just lay on the rock. It was snoozing. Cameras were flashing in its sleepy eyes. Poor panda.

The scariest thing in the park was the rides. The people there were not very enthusiastic, though. They just sat there and relaxed. There was an eerie silence. It felt as if someone had just died or if something bad was about to happen. I was more afraid of the silence than the ride even though the ride was scary. Most people had glum expressions when they were standing in line. They were less excited than in the USA.

The whole time that we were at Ocean Park, headache-style music was playing. It was impossible to find cotton candy. Instead there were a few popcorn and ice cream stands, but a ton of dim sum stalls. Cooks fried up trays of fast-food dim sum. It was an unusual experience. It was very different than back in the USA.

2 comments:

  1. Ian, I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way you did about the silence. Thanks for telling us about your experience! I could envision everything you described. :o)

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  2. The Dim Sum would be a nice change from cotton candy and hot dogs. If I were there, I would still be loud and I'm sure all would be slowly shaking their heads at the "Loud American" (even though I'm Canadian). Greta post Ian!

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