Sunday, July 14, 2013

Hong Kong: Kowloon Park

 
Kowloon Park is very easy to get to, just come out of Tsim Tsa Shui station and it's about 1 minute walk up Nathan Rd. 
 
It's huge and a good way to spend a morning or afternoon entertaining children.  It's made up of sections: weekends you can watch Kung Fu and dragon puppetry demonstrations, a Sculpture section, Bird Aviary, Childrens playground, Swimming pool, fountains, Tea Museum and Mosque.  On Sunday, the walkways are paved with Muslim women picnic-ing and it's fun to walk past and peek at what culinary delights they are all eating!
 


 



As you walk in from Nathan Rd there is currently a Comic book character avenue with characters from the 70's to recent.  The Sexy Man was very happy to come across this as he was a Newspaper cartoonist at one stage.  This area also has market stalls on Saturday.


Yes, that is the kids eating McDonalds.  With 4 kids towing along, how could we NOT eat it the whole visit?  Maccas is at least a little different food wise in HK than in Australia.  Instead of chips (fries) you can get a sweet corn cup which is what I did.  The menu is also more Asian themed with a lot of rice based meals.  Price wise it is also a lot cheaper in HK.  A Happy Meal is $19 HKD or $2 AUD.  And they have Hello Kitty toys! Large sized meals are $3 AUD.  Sundaes are 60c AUD.
They have Pineapple pies, Black Forest Sundaes and drinks include punch which is *very* moreish.  OK, I admit it...we ate there MORE than once!!




The bird aviary contains all exotic birds like Macaws, parrots and these Horny Bills above.  The cages are kept scrupulously clean and are constantly being sprayed clean and poo scrubbed away by cleaners.

Actually,  the whole park is cleaned every 2 hours with all surfaces and bins disinfected every 2 hours.  The children playground is unbelievably clean and sometimes the cleaners follow the kids around and wipe down everything behind them!  Being 'proper' is also strictly adhered to.....the sexy man exhaustedly laid down at one stage on a bench seat and was instantly told off by an attendant!  After that our joking mantra was "Always maintain decorum!"


Large beautiful trees like this one are everywhere.
 

The Men also came back in the arvo and took the kids to the swimming pool.  It's open in 4 hour increments to make sure that everyone can gain access and have a turn.  They arrived for the 1-5pm shift and after that they had to leave for the next lot of people which started at 6pm.  In between every shift everything is cleaned.  It has several pools including 2 indoor ones, a diving pool and several level boards, a toddler area and a large outside pool that curves and swoops around and looks like a resort style.  The kids LOVED it.  Entry was 50c per child and $1 per adult.  You must shower before being allowed into the water and the attendants will not let you swim if you enter the pool area dry!

We didn't make it to Hong Kong Park with Zoo, but can anyone tell me if that one is better than Kowloon Park?

2 comments:

  1. Nice photos. Everything looks so pretty and spotlessly clean. That is what I like about Disneyworld is that everywhere you look, everything is spotlessly clean and perfect looking. I wish they would do that here in the USA, clean the parks and pools like they do there in Kowloon. Ha ha ha I can imagine the reaction of horror from the attendant when your hubby laid on the bench! If I ever travel there, which is unlikely, but you never know, I will remember "Always Maintain Decorum". Ha ha ha. You come to the USA and visit next year! We have Disneyworld in Florida that is 4 theme parks and 2 waterparks at one huge resort or Disneyland in California that is the original Disney park. The one Walt actually walked in.

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  2. Very fun photos! The one where it looks like you're kissing that statue is super cute!

    ♥ Jessica

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