It is true that a part of my heart is in Hong Kong. My mother has lived and worked there for almost 3/4ths of my life together with her sisters. My favorite nephew and his dad are residents of that country as well. So when I go there, people would almost always assume that I will visit my mom. That time, they were mistaken. I was to visit the most adorable creature in the whole world… PANDAS!

The day of our visit came and there is no storm too powerful that can stop me from seeing those bundles of joy. We rode the MTR where we also bought our passes. At HK$210, you get an entrance ticket to the park, a shuttle transfer from the MTR drop off point to Ocean Park and back.

Entering the place, you can see the cable cars looming across the hill that is in the middle of the complex. We were welcomed by acrobats performing what Chinese acrobats do best. And these are kids! No wonder they won gold in the Olympics. We also saw wushu masters displaying their craft.

We sat for a few minutes to eat our dumplings and we were off to hunt the pandas. Unfortunately, they were sleeping when we got there. I had to restrain myself from climbing the Plexiglas to wake them up. I vowed never to leave till I see them awake and sitting on the giant terrarium just looking cute.

We took the cable ride and went to the aquarium where we saw seals doing tricks. They are so adorable, and HOT–latter is referring to the trainer. *wink wink*

Then we went to the peak to take a one-minute peek per HK$1 to see Aberdeen bay  and an escalator ride that took forever. There were rides but given that I am petrified of them, we decided not to.

We were looking for the dolphin show but apparently, they are located at the other side of the complex and my mom was to have a heart attack if we took another cable ride so we settled for the flamingos. Whether that was connected or not, I’m really not sure.

It’s true that one day is not enough to see everything in Ocean Park. That place is huge! But if there’s anything that could satisfy me, it was the pandas. Before we went home, I dragged Ron back to their den and found the babies awake and in the middle of their feeding time.

My heart melted. The panda twins are Ying-Ying and Le-Le and they just celebrated their birthday a few days before the day we visited. I never thought of committing a crime till that moment. I wanted to shove them in a sack and bring them home and make them my pets. But there were lots of tourists that day so I decided to abandon my plan. I’ll just go back after a couple of years…

In the meantime, I’ll just settle for the souvenirs.