Even then, I meet a few bumps along the way... the fish I like to get is not available, the plants I like to find are not around - so even if I had enough funds (which are, at times, diverted to more immediate needs), I would be hard pressed to come up with an aquarium i would be satisfied with - one that comes close to an Amano (a Japanese nature aquarist) inspired tank.
That said, I had a microcosmic idea of the challenges faced in keeping and maintaining domestically designed aquariums. I can just imagine all the challenges faced by everyone in this theme park, when it comes to maintaining their aquariums. That said, our first stop was to reach the summit of the Ocean Park and look for the Dolphin and Seal show... but everyone also remembered what barbie said earlier about having lunch at Ocean Park, so we did just that.
We were trying to find McDonald's, as the park's map hinted at - unfortunately, it did not hint at which altitude we would find McDonald's. So the first familiar food we found - and this was a stall at the summit, we ordered our meals there. As luck would have it, this served grilled (or barbecued) chicken, fish fillet or spare ribs meals complete with one large sausage and lots of fries.
We stuffed ourselves, and in the kids and Barbie's case, could not finish their respective meals - even when they were very hungry. It was that many. We were also, just like yesterday... focusing more on the need to speed up our experience so we could maximize the time. Oh well... at least, after this meal, we really did need to walk.
Oh yeah... one last thing about the summit - though it had telescopes (the ones you insert a coin into to view the lower areas), the weather did not afford a good view, so we skipped that. We also skipped a ride that would make us enter a revolving disk, where we would sit and be brought even higher (and the ride was at the peak) to view Hong Kong all around - but, as I said, the weather was not cooperative, so all anyone would see are rain mists similar to fog. There was one saving grace, to me at least, as the summit was also frequented by some large birds - I can't say they were eagles... though they could have been. Vultures, they were definitely not - those I've seen in Africa. But hey were there - flying around.
Once is a while, they would swoop down the mountain-side, and one even tried landing at a shed's ceiling - but came in too fast, so had to swoop up again. I wished I had taken a picture of these - but they were moving fast (or too far), but apparently - just like the thought of seeing the crows (or ravens) I thought that we wouldn't have these kinds of free-flying birds, so close to where people worked back in the Philippines.
Nope... most eagles I saw back home were in a sanctuary, kept were in large cages - not free. But mind you, the cage was not to keep them captivated - I feel that they were being protected from possible narrow-minded poachers... even if they were an endangered species. I, of course refer to the Philippine Eagle - a.k.a. the Monkey-eating Eagle, with a wing span wider than the well known American Eagle. Sorry, I digressed.
We were also kind of hoping that going to Ocean Park on a week day (it was Monday) would mean a whole less number of people - but wouldn't you know it, there were still several bus-loads of Japanese tourists arriving at the park. It seems that their travel agent also had the same logic about less people during that day, so they scheduled their excursions to this park on Mondays too. On hindsight, I would have done the same thing, if I were looking after the park's interest, and schedule bus-loads of tourists during off-peak visiting days. Still, their numbers did not really daunt us - well... with exception to the Dolphin show later.
Before that happened though, it was off to see the aquariums, so armed with the map (yes, the one that vaguely described where to find McDonald's) we searched for the famed aquariums. It wasn't hard, really - all we needed to do was follow the lines of people going form one place to another.
As we entered, we were greeted by a whole lot of information about sharks - yes, his was the shark aquarium, and I would have wanted to stay longer and read up on everything - but the experience of seeing one up close pulled everyone into the corridors. I managed to take one shot with Bryce... and even this, I had to time quickly, so as not to block everyone else from moving in. 
My first reaction to seeing the sharks was 'whoa...' to see so many, in one tank - up close. This was a new experience to me - and I'm sure, to the kids as well. 
We were rooted at our spot for a while, as we observed how they swam... how they looked. Then, we finally just moved on to see the rest of the aquarium's denizens. We then went elsewhere where we were introduced to the coral reefs, and their inhabitants - and I'm sure they were trying to educate people with videos and all - but nothing like seeing things for yourself made the experience better - for example, though they were mostly stoic and hardly lively, it was till better to see starfish, than to watch them... okay, maybe in this case, watching them move in a video was way better - but other sea creatures were better seen live. 
We started, innocently enough, with small aquariums... and I took pictures of these as much as I could... and since the place reminded everyone not to use flash photography, I complied by adjusting the setting of my camera. Here's what I came up with - at least, the presentable ones. 
Not bad photography if I say so myself. But this was also aided by the fact that the subjects I took were hardly moving - aiding in my getting clear pictures. See... in my camera - with flash turned off, the light had to be absorbed elsewhere, making for a slower - longer take. Had the subject (or my hands) moved, all I would see is a blur (as can be seen by some fishes in the second picture - the ones with the clown fishes). Now, unless that was my intent, or it was deemed acceptable by my standards (say, like a fleeting background) it would have made for lousy pictures. 
When we finally saw the large aquarium, I gave my second 'whoa' expression. Like any aquarist, I wanted - dreamed to have a large tank of my won with a community of fishes residing in them. But I would never be able to (and rightly so) match and keep the number of fishes in such a large tank... so best to watch and enjoy them. 
Now these I had to take pictures of... and again, lucky for me, these fishes were not camera shy - heck they probably got used to the faces milling about, and I might even suspect them of being attention seekers (juuust... kidding). 
I tried to see if I could capture the size of this aquarium - rather, oceanarium, but found it difficult. Just to give you an idea, though, here's a pair of manta rays swimming around the tank with hardly any worry - or at least, they look that way. So I can also offer as a subtle clue the fact that as the waters get deeper, the color within the oceanarium gets greener. One other thing too - if you'll look closely to the previous two pictures, you will notice the water's surface - in these latter pictures, said surface can hardly be seen. 
Here's Another manta - this time,at rest... and quite close to the view window's glass too. 
I took a picture of Barbie with the kids, hoping to get a piece of the background - unfortunately my camera was off, and when I turned it on, it automatically went to flash mode... so, clear picture of my family... not so, for the background. Oh well... Here's a video of the fishes - as taken by Barbie. Its rather large (36MB) so this may take some buffering time.Next stop, we try a ride (log jam).
