Jurassic Park invades Cityplaza

There's been a lot of coverage in the news about this exhibition. The bones are from a museum somewhere in China - didn't really care because I didn't even know museums were approved by the government over there, except for the ones extolling how great Mao was.

So, this is just one of the gimmicks shopping malls pull to get people to come - and boy was it a success. We got there early at around 10am in the morning, so there weren't a lot of people around. But by 11am, the place was crowded and people were queuing to get into the exhibition area.

Cityplaza is actually one of the older shopping malls in Hong Kong, and one of the better managed ones. Swire, the British group that manages this place (and also owner of Cathay Pacific) does a good job at it; it seems like their shopping malls are always better managed, better than the ones run by local mega conglomerates anyways, like SHKP and Li Ka Shing.

The shops here are great too. (Check out their website, below.) There's also an ice skating rink. Next door is Jusco, a Japanese department store the size of Walmart, where you can buy just about anything. The decor does seem a bit old fashioned, but most of the place has been through quite a few makeovers. It's like the nostalgia of the 80s shopping malls (with their round columns and abusive use of reflective surfaces) mixed with modern and postmodern add-ons. And the floors of the mall are not oddly numbered; nor were escalators winding traps of no return. It seems like older developers had more sense back then.

The entire place is in the middle of a private housing estate (which also happens to be the best run in Hong Kong, as indicated by the stable property prices even in the face of SARS and the Asian financial crisis, and despite most homes being over 30 years old), which is great if you live here. Maybe someday, I'll get an apartment here. Besides, it's super convenient being just above the Tai Koo MTR station.

Here's another picture of the exhibition space. I counted 11 dinosaur skeletons in total, but there may have been more. You'll also notice the rain coming down on the skylight.

http://www.cityplaza.com.hk/