way back when...when we still lived in happy valley, i took the kids to a jumpin' gym location (there are 55 of these around hong kong) in the new territories. we got lost. very, very lost. we found a cool park while we were lost, and we still got to the jumpin' gym, but we were very disappointed. there was nothing jumpy about it and all the games were expensive (and most did not work)...no one around us spoke english, so we couldn't get any help. i swore then and there we wouldn't go to another one of these things.
the other day, i found the list.com.hk, and on it is a link to another jumpin' gym location in TST. the picture of this one looked brighter/cleaner, and there were amusement-park rides! i threw caution to the wind and took the kids over there today.
first, we rode the star ferry to get to TST, and we love the ferry, so this started the journey out on a very high note. we found a subway restaurant, with seating, in the piers building, so we got a good lunch and were able to sit for it (and not be shooed away or stared at). from the piers, it was an easy taxi ride to the jumpin' gym...it's in the bottom of a mall and is HUGE. it was full of bright lights and sounds to attract the kids, and they were THRILLED when they saw it.
we had a pretty good time. again, no one spoke any english, so it took a while to figure out where to get tokens, but once we got that figured out, we were golden.
the kids loved the little coin-operated rides, which worked this time, and they had a ball with some games. the only hard part was that most of the amusement-park-like rides wouldn't let anyone under 40.5 inches on (q is 40 inches tall). also, for the one or two rides q did qualify for, they wouldn't let us on because i was one adult with two kids. i will NEVER understand this. i am finally coming to terms with the fact that it's just part of the culture here to outsource most if not all childcare responsibilities and to run man-on-man defense (families sometimes have a helper for each child or if a parent is out with the kids, they often have a helper with them, too), but it still pisses me off when we are "punished" for our DIY lifestyle. i do not think it's unreasonable for one adult to handle their own kids!
after having a ball at jumpin' gym, we got some frozen yogurt, stopped at toys r us, which is right next to the amusement park, and headed home. i think we will probably do that again...we had enough fun with the rides we could get on, and this particular location is easy to get to. the place is expensive when compared with something like chuck e. cheese, but it's not too bad to do once a month or so.
the first thing the kids wanted to play was one of those slot machines where you waste a token to see if you can get some tickets. surprisingly, livie hit the jackpot! random aside...there were several old ladies gathered around one of these machines smack in the middle of the amusement park. they were there only to play those coin gambling machines...they weren't there with kids. how funny is that?!?
q loved this police motorcycle and played on it several times.
the kids got a kick out of this helicopter ride.
kids on the ferry going back to central. two random thoughts : q somehow looks older than olivia here. other random thought : we moved seats after a group of locals chose a row near us and changed the orientation of their row to face us...and then sat there and stared at the kids while laughing and talking. i have no idea what they were saying and even if they were talking about us, but i am soooooo over being a side show here....so i moved us across the aisle.
No comments:
Post a Comment