Zhuhai and Guangzhou

Posted by Joseph M. Phillips on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 3:28 PM PDT

On May 7th we left Hong Kong early in the morning on the ferry for Zhuhai, China.  Upon arrival, a driver picked us up and took us to the Ocean Kingdom theme park.  We were given a VIP tour, taking in such sights as the world's largest aquarium, the beluga whale show, the penguin exhibit, and the 5D movie, which is more like a 7D movie!  That was my favorite part,  with the 3D glasses, moving chair, spraying water, surround sound and wind in your face!  I am glad I am experiencing it as an adult -- I am not sure I could have handled it as a kid! 

There are big plans for the growth of this resort.  A light rail station is being built to link the park to the train station and hotel offerings at the park are expected to quadruple over the next few years.  It is an impressive facility!  One thing that will be interesting to see is if Ocean Kingdom runs into the same animal rights issues that similar parks in the US have.

We then drove from Zhuhai to Guangzhou, a two hour ride on a relatively new freeway that was not very crowded but had an infinite number of automatic speed traps, or so it seemed.  The landscape on the ride is frequently flat, with clusters of large high rise buildings appearing periodically.  There is no lack of construction activity in Southeast China, as these clusters are added to or new ones are started.

Upon arriving in Guangzhou, we went to the Chimelong resort, a collection of theme parks including a zoo, safari, amusement park, and water park.  We had visited the park during our last trip to Guangzhou, so we did not tour the resort, but it was bustling with visitors.  Instead, we spent our time with our hosts, the Su family, including dinner and breakfast the next morning.

After breakfast, we took the ferry from Guangzhou back to Hong Kong.  Along the way, you see a tremendous number of ships and boats, reminding one that the sea and ocean shipping are very important to China.  The ferry dock was only a few blocks from our hotel in the Kowloon district, a convenient end to our trip!