Saturday, in the Park. I think it was the 4th of November.

Ocean Park - lots of fun

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but when you have blonde kids and there are Mainland Chinese tourists around, you tend to be a bigger tourist attraction, than the one they paid for.  My (at the time 7 year old) Daughter thought she should start charging for photos.  True story.  

Travelling to OP in style, the circle on the mountain is the dragon next to the cable car

Same thing happened in Macau, Lamma Island, Disneyland et al.  My missus got the stage where she'd start photographing anyone and their kids.  One bird in Macau had a sleeping baby in a sling that she looked like she'd drop when she bent down to get that selfie with Gweilo kid.  Anyway, I digress.

So I thought Ocean Park was worth a write up for a few reasons.  Normally theme parks are a case of "if you know they're there, go.  You don't need to tell the world about it".  However there are a couple of tips to share and some photos.

Since we last went to HK in 2009, Ocean Park has gotten a lot bigger and the rides more numerous and better.  The big rollercoaster (which is a newbie) is fantastic.

These Pandas are worth the price of admission alone.

Lots of active sea-mammals doing their sea-mammally thing.

The big thing with Ocean Park is that it's so cheap compared to most theme parks pretty much anywhere in the world.  About $100 Australian for a family of 5 (the 1 year old was free).  And there's always something for each age group and adrenelin level (or visual level).

The other big thing is that the food is generally tolerable and cheap, if you go the Cant-faux route.  

Again, probably avoid "street food" dim sum and the like.  The mobile food carts near the souvenir shops after the entrance are a definite no-go on every level.  Steamed Salmonella with Dysentary satay on a stick.  Faux-Malaysian and all sort of awful.  Pretty much avoid anything 'ethnic' in a HKers eyes (stick to Canto food and American style food).  Same applies for Indo, Malay and South East Asian food in Disney, especially in Mystic Manor.  It's going to taste bad, and ruin the next 2-3 days of your holiday, without gaining you any street-cred.

The 'diner' on the right hand side after you enter isn't bad.  Beer isn't cheap there (beer and bottled water are good price indicators), bottled water is prohibitively expensive by HK standards (but okay by AUS) and necessary for the humidity, and the food isn't fantastic and quite expensive, but it won't hurt you too much.

Entrance to Oceanarium, the diner is part of the blue globe to the right of this

The big tip is the food at Panda Kingdom Diner, just after the Panda display (yay!).  It isn't cheap by my cheap-HK standards, though at about $30 to feed a family, it's reasonable.  The food is adequate - the usual Char Siu and various other roasted animals and veges on steamed rice.  Not challenging, and not the best example - but it's a theme park and it'll do.  And it doesn't make you feel yuk and unable to ride afterward (I went on the massive rollercoaster twice immediately after).

These birds are allowed to be free, and don't fly off.  Must be on a good wicket.

More non-edible birdage

In our cage of death

As for the park - if you suffer from Height-based phobias, like my wife and my oldest kid, there's now a tunnel rail between the two parts of the park.  Me, and 2 of my other daughters (the baby went with mum, no arguments) went on the cable car.  Generally the cable car takes lots longer than the underground, due to lines.  And the underground railway is quite cute - mimicking a virtual reality underwater vessel.  So the tip is, check the lines before deciding or one group will be waiting half an hour for the hour.

The usual caveats about ride heights and vomiting apply for all the other rides.  Don't go on a rainy day, you might miss rides.

The view from the cable car

If you don't like the cable car, you can still get a good view in the "rides" part of OP

The other big tip relates to leaving the park.  It's a pain.  We took a taxi there (well worth the fee - though HK taxis are uber-cheap anyway), and the bus back (as of writing, the South Side of HKI doesn't have a train line, though it is being built).  Now this bus back turned into a two hour ordeal of waiting and standing and sitting in back-cramping positions - just to get to Central station.  Just don't bother if you have kids. Pay for the taxi.  Don't be deceived that the bus holds 50 people so that line will reduce quicker than the taxi line.  It won't.  

Get yourselves dropped off at your accommodation direct with a taxi and partake of a 7-Eleven dinner or something easy like that.  You'll be too tired to want anything to try eating out.  You'll avoid the 2 hours back to central, the 'trying to locate the train' in the night (which requires more walking, which you've already done all day) with whingeing, tired kids.  Then the train back, the walk back to accommodation, et cetera ad nauseum.

Ocean Park is well worth a look.  Good value, excellent rides, reasonably priced souvenirs and food.

Sweets, cakes, tiny spaces, eggtarts, 7-Eleven and booze.

One of the massive issues with taking a family of 6 around HK is finding space to eat (and food that will please all).

Sometimes, you just can't be stuffed pulling everyone into a table or into the narrow, tiny, overcrowded shop that contains it.  

Sometimes just fitting is more important than trying the most authentic local cuisine.

Sometimes you stand at the door of a tiny little shop you've been wanting to try, like the Romans at Hadrian's Wall, hoping someone will want you there.

Hong Kong allows for all these moods.

7-Eleven/Circle K are a goldmine of interesting meals.  Really!  No sarcasm font or anything.  You see in Asia, 7-Eleven isn't the home to fridges and fridges, held to ransom by Coke for their products, and hot-dogs of questionable pork content.  In Asia, they are actually good.

7-Eleven in Mong Kok

In Hong Kong, they have a range of items such as sushi (which isn't bad), sandwiches (what is it about Asian sandwiches that are so good?) and microwavable meals (and a microwave in which to heat them).

(A word of warning.  There's these counters:

Manned (or womanned) by some usually lovely ladies that serve out various 'street foods'.  Eat these at your own risk, not because of health, but because they aren't a patch on real street-food.  Just don't.  Real street food is a dream, this is the equivalent of frozen home-brand dim sims from woolies).

Sangas (my kids love the tuna ones, I liked the tonkatsu chicken style ones).  Usually there is Sushi in these fridges as well.

Frozen Dinners for Microwave

7-Eleven is everywhere, so never a far walk from your room/hotel/apartment.  They are cheap (most meals are in the HKD$12-$15 range - about $1.70 to $2.20 Australian; Sushi about 60¢ to $1 Aus per piece, Sangas about $1.50-$2.00 per Sandwich).  And they provide cutlery.

Not pictured is the ubiquitous Instant Noodle/Instant Ramen shelf.  Again cheap, and a gazillion times better than the Maggi and Mi Goreng wannabes in Aussie supermarkets. 

There's also another staple 7-Eleven sells that we wouldn't dream of in our nanny state.  Booze.  Cheap booze.  A parent's dream.

You see, some people think that parents have this amazing mechanism to cope with things.  

Reality is, we just think about booze whilst that tantrum we are desperately trying to control is out of control.  Whilst the rest of the surrounding world would like to cheerfully strangle our little brats (hey, let's face it, we do too!), we're thinking of our next beer.

Hong Kong sells it everywhere and cheap.  You are allowed to drink it on the street (an option I regularly availed myself of).  And you know what, I don't see any alcohol fuelled violence or anti-social behaviour.

Cheap.  2x500ml cans of Tsingtao Draft for HKD$12 (about $1.80 Aus).

Spirits are just about the only alcohol seriously taxed in HK.  Still, $13 Aus for a bottle of Vodka.  I never bought it but hey, just putting it out there.

Love this. Worth every HKD.  Which wasnt' much.

Asahi - but not the real stuff, just the adjunct laiden (usually rice) stuff served cheaper in Japan.  Okay, but worth the extra 50¢ a can for the actual beer.

Another option is the cake shops/bakeries.  Designed in much the same way as the Asian Bakeries in Oz (get tong and tray, get food, pay at counter).  There are a number of chain cake shops like Saint Honore and MX Bakery.  These do an adequate cake and other sweet or savoury Asian-style bakery food and are realistically priced.

However, look for your local hole-in-the-wall bakery.  They're there and they are close to where you are staying.  They'll usually be a million times better than the chains, and significantly cheaper.  We had one over the road from 7-Eleven and near our local cafe de coral that sold some great sandwiches and the best egg-tarts we tried in HK (though not Macau).  Cost $2.40 each.  That's HKD, not AUD.  That's about 35¢ AU.

Egg Tarts, nom nom.

Sweet shops are fun too.  They're everywhere and as with most competitive businesses, service is better.  And the kids will love them. Even if they don't like the more exotic (read: less gweilo) items, there will be something for them.  Some photos from a few we tried:

Not all sweet shops are tiny, but most are.  Daytime is the best time for space.

Picture menu, always helpful

Mango Ice, Mango, Taro "sundae" - really nice and not too challenging for the kiddies

These are filled with mango with a chewy rice mochi like outer layer, and coconut on the very outside, very nice

Despite all the walking, I came home considerably heavier than when I left.  So much so, that my tailored suit no longer fits (I shrunk, it didn't).

I've covered the chain restaurants.  These are worth a shot.  If you want more room (and "Western style" burgers) got to MOS-Burger, a Japanese burger train.  We met a HK-American local and her nanny (and her one child) who kept telling us that we were her idols, once she'd heard we came from Australia with 4 kids in tow.

Sometimes, you want really good, really local food.  First thing to note - you are best to arrive outside usual meal times (lunch, dinner) and either arrive before or after the lunchtime/dinnertime rush.  This will help.

When you have kids, a number of places are really accommodating.  It's not Japanese service, but it usually quite nice.  Sometimes it's really really nice, like the lovely ladies at Mikawaya in Hung Hom, who were overjoyed with Gweilo kids in their little place.  I don't have a pic, more's the pity.

We went to the dumpling place in Hung Hom mentioned in previous posts and they squeezed us in no-probs.  Not loitering does ingratiate you, and we were able to eat there again, without any fuss.

Tiny dumpling place

In the streets surrounding Temple Street (away from the touristy areas, we were accommodated in this tiny little place (Japanese food, not people) who really were gracious in their service.

Tiny Japanese Place, Good Service

Another Japanese place - this time, Hung Hom

 So all is not lost, you can eat with kids in HK.  According to your mood or theirs.  

And if all else fails, there's booze.