Attempt #1

Hey Everyone,

For the last couple of months, I've been taking a course called Digital Media and Methods. It's required of all Arch students who are new to HKU. So far, we have been introduced to Rhino and Grasshopper, which are 3D modeling programs. Last week, we had our midterm reviews. Our assignment was to 3D print one of our Rhino files and deliver it to class on Friday in one piece. It was my first time trying the 3D printer, and I could tell that everyone else was nervous as well. There are two types of 3D printers available in HKU, plastic and starch printing. The technician D was very nice, and very helpful. She spent hours helping students clean up files, and taught us how to clean up our models once they were complete. 

My first 3D print in starch!

My model was one of the heftier ones in the class, but at least it didn't break. This lovely thing cost me almost 500 HK$ to print. Painful, I know, but when you think about it, it could have broken and cost me double, which some of my classmates had happen to them. Overall, I'm quite pleased with my first attempt, but after seeing what everyone produced, I now know that I can print more delicate forms. Bring it on! Well, until next time, take care!

Some of the 3D models shown in class

Ocean Park Halloween

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the absence of posts lately. School hasn't really let up since the last time I wrote. There's barely any time to sleep, let alone go anywhere and have anything remotely exciting to share. These past couple weeks have been a tad different. Last week Hong Kong University had its reading week, which was great, until you realized that all the professors assumed that you would have so much more time on your hands. I ended up having more work due during reading week than I've had for any week so far. I managed to make it to school every day that week. That's saying something.

Anyway, enough about school, I wanted to talk about my experience at Ocean Park. I know I've written about it before, but this time I went with classmates to visit their Halloween Haunted Houses. Ocean Park's Halloween Fest is a day and night event which incorporates the theme of Halloween into everything, from pumpkin encounters for the Giant Pandas, skeleton divers in the aquarium as well as setting up four haunted houses. This year Ocean Park had four haunted houses set up: KPop Madness, Murder Factory, and Law Lan's Possessed Possessions (and I don't quite remember the last one).

Of course we visited the aquariums!
Here's a picture of a spotted seal.

As you can see, Z is an amazing photographer,
she managed to get the spotted seal in the picture,
and it looks like its name, a spot!

We had gone last Saturday and wow, was it packed. The queue (no one says "line" in HK) was ridiculously long for everything. The KPop haunted house in my opinion was a waste of time. There was nothing remotely frightening about horribly off key KPop singers... but I think the reason we went in was because someone had said that there was a very good looking guy working there.... sadly he wasn't working when we went in. I wasn't the only one disappointed.

Z and I went on a few of the amusement rides.
 The older rollar coaster rides made me feel
like my head was a ball between the paddles
of pin ball machine. Fun but painful.

The Murder Factory haunted house was the next house we visited. It wasn't too bad. The dismembered body parts were piled high in the corners and had more than enough graphic content to be distracted and not notice the actors jump at you while you turn a corner. While walking through, the girls behind us were screaming their heads off, and at one point attempted to hold onto me... weird right? They clustered together and all of them were shaking like chiwawas. Other than almost going deaf from screams, this house was a lot of fun.

Walking through the recreation of "Old Chinatown"

Law Lan's Possessed Possessions was the last haunted house that Z and I went to before we left the park. It was rumoured to be the scariest, and we were looking forward to it. The queue took an hour and a half to enter, as they only let people in in groups of 10-12 people. As we finally reached the entrance Z and I were excited and nervous. The rest of the people that came with us had decided to stay longer and hit the haunted houses later at night, so it was just the two of us. We thought that as long as we weren't the first or the last of the group to enter we would be fine, as people in those positions got scared the most. Well, when we finally got in, we were the last ones... great. The house took a good 5-10 minutes to walk through, and the entire time we were watching our backs. There was this one actor that had followed us for a good two minutes before returning back to his zone. I would have to say that this house was definitely worth the trip. I was smiling through the entire thing. Some of the places where the actors hid were great, in the walls, the ceilings, or they would just pop out of the walls and get your heart racing. What can I say, I may be an in the closet adrenaline junkie.

When we found out that we were the last two in the line of 12
entering the scariest haunted house

I would definitely go again next year. It was a blast, but to anyone who will be visiting Ocean Park's Halloween Fest, I would advise you to go in the evening. It is a completely different atmosphere and well worth it.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Quick Update

Hey Everyone,

I hope you've all been enjoying your weekend and relaxing. I wish I was doing the same. Lately, school has picked up, and it's deadline after deadline after deadline. This past week my studio had a review, was assigned an obscene amount of articles to read, produce a project report (and guess who got designated to be an editor... yup... me) and two assignments due in the next couple of days. To gage how much work this actually is, picture this.... I've been at school everyday for the past 2.5 weeks and this is the scene I usually see before I head home.

Sure, it's pretty but not when it's near midnight and you still have a load of assignments to complete for the next day. Anyway, just wanted to check in, say hi, and reassure people, that I am eating all my meals.

I hope those of you in school are getting more sleep than I am! It's back to work for me!

Take Care!

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

Hey Everyone,

Happy (Be-lated) Mid-Autumn Festival!

I know what you're all expecting: that I have these wonderful pictures of lanterns, and lots and lots of people camped out and picnic-ing in Victoria park, but sadly I don't.

School has been taking up almost all my time lately, and sadly, I have very little of a weekend to speak of. In fact, I could probably sum up my entire weekend in two words... that's right, two. This weekend was TOO SHORT!

It's funny when you realise that I've had essentially Thursday-Sunday off, but I'll tell you why it's SO hilarious. Thursday's evening class was cancelled due to a lecture being scheduled, so, I having one of the most brilliant ideas in the world, decided to go to school anyway. I really did go to school and work in the computer lab, and not waste my entire day away, sort of. Now, if that wasn't bad enough to take a chunk out of my weekend, then attending the evening lecture was. Sure, the lecture was an hour and a half, which was completely fine... but the questions afterwards dragged on for another hour and a half, and seriously, more than half of them were along the lines of "I've been following your work for several years now, and I wanted to know how important _______ was in your design?" It may have been my growling stomach that was affecting my generally pleasant but I couldn't help but be anxious to leave, and think "Well, if you had been following so-and-so's work for several years, I would think that you would have found out by now and not make me sit here." By the time I got out, it was well past 8:30pm... and on a non-school night, goodness! Saturday and Sunday weren't much better, still work, work and more work, BUT...

Street lamp and Moon
Walk back to my place.

My Friday evening was definitely better in terms of celebration. I was invited for dinner with Aunt P and the rest of the family on dad's side. There was a lot of food, more than enough for left overs the next day. Aunt P had prepared: crab, shrimp, chicken, assorted meats, abalone, and lots of veggies. It was certainly one of the best meals that I've had in a while and the company was great.

It might take me ages to learn how
to cook as well as Aunt P does

In addition to all the wonderful food, I had the chance to try many different types of fruits that night, and to top it off, many different flavours of Moon Cake. Who knew? I thought that there was only one, but they had Moon Cakes that were smaller and softer than the traditional lotus filled ones, such as: sour lemon, chocolate truffle, some sort of mango dessert and a couple more that I can't recall.

Many desserts and only a fraction of the Moon Cakes

I had a great time, and I really enjoyed spending time with my family over here. I'm looking forward to our next get together but until then, I hope everyone had a wonderful Mid-Autumn Festival! I'll make sure I'll attend the official festivities next year!

PS: for those of you who don't know what tradition moon cake is, its a dessert that is eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, where there is lunar worship and moon watching. They were often given to friends and families during gatherings. Moon cakes are generally round or rectangular and are 10 cm in diameter and 4ish cm thick. They're made with a rich filling from red bean or lotus seed paste, and usually contain egg yolks from salted duck eggs.

White Lotus/Egg yolk
Fun Fact: One Moon Cake is more than 800 calories

Hey Everyone,

I've been attending school for two weeks now, and already I am bombarded with homework. It's been tough figuring out when to make food, do laundry, do my homework, and not procrastinate. I guess in a way, me writing my blog is a form of procrastination. I have to submit an online answer to one of my profs very soon, but I think I'll survive. If I don't, well, you'll probably hear about it later this week.

Today, I received a letter from C. When I walked in the door this afternoon, there it was, and not one moment too soon. Lately, I've been experiencing waves of homesickness. It'll be little things that set me off like: not being able to find popcorn around, not having the rest of my wardrobe, taking the bus late at night, or sometimes even food because it'll remind me of how lucky I was when I was living at home.

I was very happy to hear from C. She even sent me photos of my sister's graduation, our choir adventures, and even the time when we went to go visit a friend. Receiving her letter made me tangibly remember that I have awesome friends.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement. I hope to survive this year with all my fingers in tact, have a blast, and see you all when I get back. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you.

Until next time... Take Care!

The workstation at my place
with my new pictures

First Week of School

Hey Everyone!

I survived my first week of school! Already, I'm starting to experience what Hong Kong is famous for.... its fast pace! It has only been a week and I've had readings, submissions, and project briefs thrust into my hands! The other day, I was informed by email from one of my TA's that we had a small assignment due for the next day for a class that hadn't even started yet! I had to laugh; had I checked my email in the morning, like I usually do, I would have attended class unprepared! Great first impression, right? Thank goodness I had made a friend who happened to be in the same course. We're expected to know so much here, but everyone in MArch 1 seems to be as lost as I am. We're all dreading that lovely Revit modelling assignment. I'm sure we're all secretly hoping that we don't have to digitally model and re-create construction drawings of Zaha Hadid's Innovation Tower... And don't get me wrong, it IS on the list that will be assigned to an unlucky soul... hopefully that unlucky soul will not be me!

So far, I've made a handful of new friends. It's very interesting to see that the majority of MArch students are not from HKU but from schools around the globe. I've met people from Melbourne, Vienna, London, Mainland China, the States, and of course Hong Kong. Having friends and people in the same situation as myself really does make me feel like I belong, rather than being the odd man out. I've heard from a lot of foreigners not of Asian descent that it is very difficult for them to be included in a group, but I haven't encountered such a problem. Hopefully, I never will.

A few of us went to Central to visit City Gallery. The gallery was a brief history of Hong Kong, its statistics and intended developments. One of their installations included a large map of the HK area and permitted you to build the future of HK. I'm not sure if my friends would have done it, if I wasn't so enthused to play, but they
entertained my inner child.

There were a lot of blocks
... and yes we did clean up

Good luck to all my friends starting a new school year or starting their new job! May you all get through the year with plenty of smiles, great friends, reasonable profs/employers, and more hair on your head then when you first started! Take care and being busy is no excuse not to keep in touch!

Nam Sang Wai

Hey Everyone,

Last week or maybe it was two weeks back, my cousin J invited me to spend the afternoon with her. We hadn't spent a lot of time together in the past, because of the distance, but we were trying to make up for it. She had suggested that we try our hand at photography, and go to Nam Sang Wai to experience a different perspective.

Walking through a Clearing

Nam Sang Wai is located in Yuen Long. The place gives me the impression of a natural reserve. I'm told that many people like to walk and bike to the area, to escape the busy city life and enjoy the quietness of the park. The park does give you the sense that you have entered the country side. There's a river along one end of the park, a paved road, and very few buildings along the river bank.

From Across the Pond

We had taken the train to one of the stations and had planned to walk to the park. J had gone to the park once before, with friends, but she didn't know exactly how to get there. We walked for maybe five minutes and then of course we sort of got lost. We then decided that it was probably for the best to go and catch a cab.

Usually in Hong Kong, 20 HK$ can get me from my place to Central. The taxi fare started off at 16$ and then ended up driving almost 40$ worth. "Goodness," I thought to myself, "that's far!"

House in the Distance

There were a lot of photogenic places within the park. Among them, was this house in the photo above. Both J and I managed to walk all the way to its front door, but no one was home. It was all boarded up and fenced in. Walking on weed grown pathways was a lot of fun, almost as if we were exploring. I'm curious by nature so of course seeing if anyone lived in the house was a must know!

Dock/Fishing Area

Another iconic photographed site was the dock (seen above). Although the photograph doesn't show any people, there were a few that were attempting to fish. I say attempting because when we walked back a few hours later, it didn't look like they caught anything. 

Shanty House(s) 01

There were a lot of shanty houses within the park. Many of them were sinking into the ground, fenced off, and even abandoned. What surprised me though, was that there were so many of them, and a few were clearly inhabited. It was such a contrast coming from Hong Kong Island where skyscrapers dominated to this community where their buildings were held together by wire, nails, and whatever else was available. It was hard to believe that I was still in Hong Kong and that there were people living in these conditions just a few miles away.

Shanty House(s) 02

Although these buildings were falling apart, I found them fascinating and somewhat beautiful in their own respect. For some reason the idea of different materials of boards, siding, pretty much anything and everything fused together to make what is necessary to live, had something poetic about it. But it could also be that I'm tired of looking at the same type of curtain walled building. This was a visual difference that I could appreciate and enjoy without being bombarded with advertisement. These buildings looked as if they could fall apart any second, but upon closer inspection they were soundly placed on stilts, above the marshy ground!

Shanty House(s) 03

After a few hours, maybe three we started walking back towards the stretch of road leading out of the park. It was one of the longest walking experiences in my life, well at least in HK. I'm exaggerating here, but it sure felt like it. It was hot and humid that day, but thankfully there were was an overcast of clouds so the sun was not beating on us.... but there were no taxis coming into the park as it did go anywhere except lead to a dead end. J suggested we walk back, I thought she was crazy, but we weren't going to just sit and cross our fingers waiting for a taxi to appear. So we walked, and walked, and walked. After a good hour of walking in the heat, we saw a taxi. Thank goodness! According to google maps if we had walked all the way back to catch the train, it would have taken us two hour and a half hours... on top of the hours we had already walked!

Even though my legs felt like they were detached from my body after all that walking, I'm very happy that I was able to see a different side of HK. Thanks J for taking me!

Welcoming All New Students

Hey Everyone,

Today, I attended Hong Kong University's Inauguration Ceremony for New Students. The ceremony was the first formal University gathering for new incoming students, freshmen and graduates. We had the opportunity to meet the Vice-Chancellor, senior academics, alumni bodies and the President of HKUSU. During the ceremony, students were invited to put on HKU's traditional Green Gown, Following the ceremony, tea receptions with respective faculties allowed for professors and student to interact with one another.

This sounds all peachy right?

Inauguration Pamphlet left on everyone's seat

The celebration started at 10 am. I woke up earlier than usual, by summer standards of course, and got dressed. I was debating between a grey top and black pencil skirt but changed my mind at last minute to sport a blurple (blue and purple) coloured dress and thick belt. The invitation had indicated "formal" attire, so I grabbed my nude heels and stuffed them in my purse. I figured that I'd switch into them after hiking up the stairs needed to get to the University campus. When I arrived at 9:15am, I went to look for the lecture hall. It was not located on the map! How convenient, I thought to myself, at least I'm here early!

As I meandered my way through campus, I had gut feeling that something wasn't right. There were plenty of people around... but a lot of them we wearing black skirts, and white tops! "Uh-oh!" I thought to myself... please don't tell me formal wear meant business attire: white blouse and black bottoms...

To my horror, almost everyone
was wearing the same outfit!

The night before, I had spoken to my friend back in Winnipeg about "formal" attire. We wondered what that had meant? I mean, did formal wear mean "evening wear" or just dress up more, like a Sunday best? The ceremony was in the middle of the day right? Haha, boy was I wrong! Business attire! Yay... and here I was in a obviously very blue dress, at least I brought the heels and pulled off formal. Sure, I was fine walking in, and sitting down, but secretly I was cursing whoever wrote that lovely invitation... they should have just written, "Wear a white blouse, and black slacks or a skirt... otherwise people WILL stare at you!"

And yes, they do stare...

Image by C.Wong

Other than being one of the handful of people (aka foreigners) that didn't get the white blouse, black bottom memo, the celebration was actually quite enjoyable. I met a few of the professors from my faculty as well as was introduced to a couple other M.Arch students. Everyone was very friendly, and very interesting to talk to. Not a bad morning after all.

Well, after this experience, now I know. Their version of formal attire is a white blouse, and a black bottoms... I wonder if I would have felt out of place had I worn my first choice a grey blouse and my pencil skirt.... hmm... Probably!

Note to self:

Formal = business attire (white top and black bottoms)

Since I have no white blouses... looks like I'm going shopping!

Please don't hit me, please don't hit me....

Hey Everyone,

Today, I experienced something that I've never experience before, not in Winnipeg, and definitely not any where else that I have travelled. I was so fascinated by this event that it captured my attention and it was almost impossible to look away. It's like this, in the words of my younger sister, "It's like... a REALLY ugly dog. It's just SO ugly, it's cute... do you know what I mean? [you just have to look at it?] Yea! Like it's just SO UGLY you HAVE to look at it."

So what is this event you may ask? <drum roll please>

Someone taking off their shoes on the bus, and .... CLIPPING THEIR TOE NAILS!!!

I'm sure there were other people on the bus thinking the same thing, "You're doing
that here? Why?!" This person was sitting three seats away, and thankfully my
stop was coming up soon so I moved... but there were quite a few people still within shooting range.

I'm all for keeping up with personal hygiene, but do I really need to see it?



PS: I don't think this post really needs a picture to accompany it...
                                                                                             so use your lovely imagination.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Hey Everyone

Aunt P and I went to the Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill. The nunnery is said to
be the largest nunnery in Kowloon and houses a nunnery, temple halls, Chinese gardens, hostels, and even a vegetarian restaurant for visitors. The buildings on the premise
were built following the style of the Tang Dynasty, which is the traditional
Chinese architectural Style.

The view of the temple halls upon entering the central garden

One of the interesting things that I learned was that the Tang Dynasty was known for their wood framed building construction. What was so different about this style was the absence of fasteners such as iron nails. The Tang Dynasty specialized in an interlocking wood system that held the structure in place. According to one of the brochures, Chi Lin Nunnery is the only place where this style of building still remains in today's Hong Kong.

Scene from one of the bridges in the entry garden

Aunt P and I arrived relatively early in the morning and walked on the grounds, following the paths, but it was very hot and extremely humid. Not only did we arrive earlier in the day to avoid the sun, but also so that we could have lunch at the vegetarian restaurant, which the nunnery was famous for.

Looking towards one of the sitting areas

The restaurant was not exactly what I thought it was. I actually took a picture of it, because it was hiding behind a lot of vegetation, and a waterfall! Upon walking inside, the waterfall really did give a different atmosphere to the restaurant. You were isolated from your environment and through the glass you could only see water.

Vegetarian Restaurant under a waterfall

Okay, so the next segment are the dishes we ate. I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I was very happy when the food came. We ordered a set menu, and were able to taste several very delicious vegetarian dishes.

Pickled Eggplant

Some Version of Vegetable Soup

Deep-fried Stuffed Eggplant

Shredded Potato with Mixed Vegetables

Fried Enoki Mushrooms Topped with Seasonal Greens

Fresh Beancurd sheet rolled with Chinese Spinach

Fresh Beancurd Rolls in Mushroom Sauce

After we had finished our meal, and were about to leave, a couple of ladies sat next to us. Upon hearing them speak, they had to be either American or Canadian. And of course I asked! And guess what, one of them was from Canada, and had actually lived in Winnipeg for a few years! It's funny how small the world is.

Ladder Street

Hey Everyone,

So, not too long ago, Aunt P and I were walking around and we stumbled upon Ladder Street. I had heard a lot about ladder streets, but I did not realize that there was an actual street named "Ladder Street". Ladder streets make reference to the spaces that were built as pedestrian corridors which allowed people to move from one lateral street to the next, via several flights of stairs.

The actual Ladder Street

Along these pedestrian spaces and smaller streets were a bunch of little shops selling "traditional" and old fashioned knik knaks. Now, I'm not one to usually wander into an antique shop, but how could I not browse what was already around me. Some of the items on display were really neat. All of the shop keepers were happy that I was taking an interest in their items and many made small talk as we examined their wares.

These are bracelet cases that were designed
to protect Jade Bracelets, personally I think they look like
colourful bagels

Making small talk with the store owners was very interesting. Many were happy to share some history behind specific items, but I think that it was because Aunt P was so friendly that they felt inclined to give me a short history lesson.

Now, this has been mentioned time and time again, and I don't quite understand it, but apparently I don't look full Chinese. Since I've arrived here in Hong Kong I can recall at least 5 occurrences in which my ethnicity has been put into question. The latest one though I had to share and this was from one of the shop keepers. Please note that I am paraphrasing this:

"I don't mean to be rude, but you don't look Chinese. It must be the different food, and being exposed to all [the Caucasian] people that your face has changed to look like them"~ Street Vendor

He of course said this jokingly,... I think. I find these comments amusing, only because half the time people make them without realizing that I can understand them. There will probably be another post on the collection of phrases that I've overheard but you'll have to be patient with me.

A fish shaped lock

This was just a sample of all the cool things that were available for sale. I mean, look at the detail! Each scale was engraved and this thing was massive, as large as my palm. I had to seriously consider whether or not I should have bought this trinket, but the weight itself deterred me from wanting to carry it around. What does one use a massive fish shaped lock for anyway?!... oh wait I know! Paperweight!

Dragon Statues

Among the many things that I wanted to get my hands on were a few dragon statues. I know, its completely typical for me to want something that has no use what-so-ever, but look at them, they were just begging to be bought. (No dad, I didn't buy them... but it would have made an awesome paperweight... not that I need any more)

One of the many shops that displayed their merchandise

I can safely say that I did not return with a bag full of new souvenirs, but for future reference, for those of you in Winnipeg, if you see something you like, let me know and I'll keep an eye out for you. 

Hiking on Dragon's Back

Hey Everyone,

I'm happy to say that I haven't spent all week sitting on my bed and watching Grey's Anatomy, even though I have been doing a lot of that but... This past Sunday, I was invited to go hiking near Shek O. I know, me hiking, ridiculous right?... but I went! What started out as a two hour hike ended up being a four hour hike! How did I manage? Well, for one thing, the company was great, the view was spectacular, and I was
too stubborn to say I was tired.

I had met E and J a few weeks before while attending a swing dancing event. It had just so happened that E had a friend from London who was staying in Hong Kong. E invited me along and I was glad to accept the invitation, as it seemed like an interesting adventure, and it was.

The morning started with me meeting up with E and J at Sheu Kei Wan station. I got there a bit earlier than the meeting time because I didn't want to make them wait. When E and J arrived I was amused that their other friend had been sitting across from me the entire time, waiting for them too. We all took the bus towards Shek O and started out on our journey.

The trail was definitely a challenge, not because it was very difficult, but because it had rained earlier. The trail was uneven and very muddy, but thank goodness there was cloud cover and a slight breeze.

Lovely isn't it?

Only a fraction of the stairs we climbed.

One of the many little streams we encountered

The Trail proposed a variety of challenges. We had a lot of stairs to climb, a lot of rocks to step on, a lot of mud to tip toe through, and even a few small streams to walk through. It was definitely an adventure. But we made it to the top, and were rewarded with a beautiful scenery. I'm not a hiker by any means, and I'm not one to choose to rough it when I could have a perfectly air conditioned hotel room, but I was happy to accept the challenge and do something different. I will by no means decide to go on any of J's ridiculous 10 hour hikes but four hours? Why not!

J, Me, A, and E 

I had a lot of fun hiking with these wonderful ladies. When they all get back from their travels we're planning to head to Shek O's Big Wave Beach. So until next time, Take care!

The view from the top

Ocean Park ~ Feeding the Penguins

Hey Everyone,

This past week I had the pleasure of being invited to Ocean Park to... drum roll please... FEED THE PENGUINS!!!

The Entrance ticket to Ocean Park
 too bad my finger is on the logo!

I did not know that there was such an activity available for visitors, but one of the daughters of the family that invited me had done it before. On the morning of, they picked me up from the Admiralty Station (MTR) and we all drove down to Ocean Park, which was located in the Southern District of Hong Kong. When we arrived there were a lot of people present, but since we were there relatively early, we were able to take the cable car up to Ocean Park's second level, The Summit.

A small section of what The Summit looked like
from an amusement park ride line

The Summit was where the amusement park was located and featured 20 rides, which included four roller coasters. The Summit also housed 11 animal exhibits such as the aquarium, jelly fish house, and giant panda exhibit.

One of the giant pandas that was eating bamboo shoots.
The way it was chewing the shoots made it look like
it was eating an ice cream cone.

We visited the pandas first, and then made our way to the roller coasters. We eventually headed towards the Penguin House for our penguin feeding workshop. At the entrance of the penguin exhibit we were greeted by a very cheerful tour guide. She led us around the penguin exhibit building and we entered through one of the side gates. When we were seated, we listened to a small presentation of the different types of penguins that were featured in Ocean park. We soon learned that there were a total of three different types: the King Penguin, The Southern Rockhopper Penguin, and the Gentoo Penguin. After learning the types of hardships penguins faced after being born and maturing toward adulthood we were brought jackets, pants, and rubber boots to prepare us for temperatures inside the exhibit.

I love it how I'm on the other side of the world
 and can still be excited to gear up for cold temperatures
Reminds me of home :)

After gearing up, we were taken to another back room where a group of trainers demonstrated how they trained penguins, and performed their medical check ups. Afterwards, we were led to the exhibition to pet the penguins and feed them little fish. It was so much fun, and a little alarming as we walked out, because we became part of the exhibit. There must have been a few dozen cameras flashing away by other visitors as we stepped out. I'm sure that there had to be a few dozen photos of me somewhere on people's cameras... oh well! The penguins were hilarious! They remind me of little children, running around in every direction. The reason I say this was because like children, you had to be careful not to step on them because they were unpredictable! They would run around, run into you, and try to grab the fish out of your hands if you held them too low.

Yes, this is a REAL penguin, and yes
I AM TOUCHING IT!!!

Feeding the penguins was certainly an experience, that if given a chance, you should most definitely try yourself.