shorty/wannabe a thug

we're going with a very literal title for this one, in that it's going to be a short post. the thug part, well, we'll get to that.

the Spring months in Hong Kong are ripe with long weekends, filled with random holidays such as 'Buddha's Birthday'. as a result, i have been able to spend more & more QT with dubA, though the weather continues to tease us; while it's still sweltering with humidity on a daily basis, the mornings tend to start off overcast which limits our eagerness to venture off to a day spent on a far away beach. i know, tough life we lead.

as such, a planned adventure to a distant piece of sand on Saturday instead turned into 'let's go to Ocean Park!' Ocean Park is perhaps the Hong Kong equivalent to Niagara Falls' Marineland - a place that in theory sounds awesome, but ultimately is a bit fishy. i'm not sure what it says about the land i live in that this is again one of those 'must-see' attractions, but hey, they have pandas. it's a quick 20-minute bus ride down the road from us, followed by a gondola up the side of a mountain once you get there....kudos to the urban planner who decided it was a good idea to pop-up an amusement park on the peak.

taking a step back for a sec, Hong Kong (in general) is very organized. everything is well sign-posted, the MTR is ultra modern, and the city is set-up in such a way that you can get around without ever going outside, if you so choose. [begin rant] unfortunately this order does not transcend to the majority of its inhabitants. rules are tossed out the window when foot traffic is involved. try getting anywhere on the streets in the heart of Wanchai. i guarantee it will make you angry. it is chaos - plain and simple, as you battle your way through multiple lanes of pedestrians walking in both directions, not to mention the cars, bikes, and trolleys. even once you've entered an MTR station, there's a painted area with arrows showing you where you should stand to board a train vs. the area where riders wishing to get off are meant to pass. that doesn't seem to matter to a lot of people, as they march right down the middle and expect passengers to climb over top of them [end of rant]

now, back to that part about the thug. we had to queue for the gondola up the mountain from the base of the park, a not-so-awesome 45min wait, but what are you going to do?
how about 'budding' in line?.
3 older ladies (likely from the mainland) slowly but surely slithered there way from somewhere in the back to where we were in line. at first, we assumed that these 'ladies' were with the party in front of us. when said party decided to speak in an aggressive tone to the 'ladies', we realized that they were simply cheating the line, yet continued to remain in front of us. i was more than a little steamed, but given the obvious language barrier we just had to take it for what it was. there's only a few things they make me really pissy, and line budding is one of them. alas we sauntered on, inching closer to our sky carriage when all of a sudden, i get a rub to the right of me, and not the pleasant variety. i didn't even get a good look at the guy, but i could sense and literally feel him trying to get past us from our rear. without really thinking, i give the dude an elbow, box him out, and turn around to get in his face and say "what the hell do you think you're doing??!" i then realize the gentleman is likely in his late 60's, accompanying three little kids,who are no doubt out on a weekend of fun with grandpa. Aline laughed, i turned back to face the front and continue to limp along.
ok, so maybe not thuggish ruggish behaviour, but certainly a bit of a pattern forms when people do me wrong.

the rest of the day was just peachy, with little to no confrontation. my fave ride without a doubt was a 'drop-zone'esque thrill, that takes you up about 30 floors then drops you like a disappointed modeling agency. even better, the name of the ride: "The Abyss - Turbo Drop". even better still, the tagline for the ride below. cute that they added a sea lion to make it appeal to children.