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.