Monday, February 26, 2007

Hell in Hong Kong = Ocean Park

I hadn't been to Hong Kong's Ocean Park in 10 years... and I probably won't go back for another 10. I had heard it had been doing well since Disney opened, but this was ridiculous. Maybe it was due to the Chinese New Years weekend (Feb 24, the second one), but I was basically able to see China with a 15 minute bus ride to Aberdeen.

The pictures below are indicative of the horror we faced as long lines and huge and unruly crowds. The China aspect was due to 95% of the visitors being from the mainland, and bringing their local customs along. I was pushed countless times, had my butt hit, my head brushed, had my shoulder grabbed from behind (by a Singaporean).

There are a few potential strategies for waiting in line the mainland way.
1. One is just to keep cutting people, even though you're in a 2-3 person-wide line, within enclosed ropes. Just shove your way through, it's OK. You don't know any better.
2. Another common method is to keep intense pressure on the person in front of you. This means you want to keep bodily contact with that person at all times. When the line shifts forward, you close the gap with the person in front by bumping into their back, and maintaining physical contact. Gender does not matter - you don't care, because you are on a goddam mission and failure is unacceptable. Keep doing this until the person can't take being violated anymore, and lets you take their position.

No matter which method you choose, be sure to "act" oblivious when somebody yells at you or talks down to you. It's OK, your skin is thick. Further, it doens't matter how old or young you are - be confident that you too can annoy the hell out of someone into advancing your line position.
The best part of Ocean Park was the Aviary, where there weren't many people (probably afraid of the Bird Flu). Here are some pictures from there and a CNY pic.

No comments: