INTERNATIONAL: It’s not light at the end of the long pandemic tunnel for residents of Hong Kong, but water. As a sign things are starting to return to normal, the city has finally opened its long-awaited waterpark. It was supposed to open in 2017, but there were construction delays and then the pandemic, but Water World is finally open and its rainbow-coloured slides are providing all the relief Hong Kong residents need for that Covid fatigue.

Water World is spread out across 6.5 hectares and boasts 27 indoor and outdoor attractions including tube slides and wave pools. Hong Kong resident, Stas Burnashyov, says it’s been worth the wait:

“So, and I've been waiting for this big project like around four, five years since the first day. It's always delayed, delayed, delayed. Then I used to go to Disneyland, Ocean Park and it's kind of frustrating, you know, because Hong Kong is a such developed island. I would say like the big island and there are so many islands and it's like, frustrating to wait and not see that any Water World because every time, I've to go to Shenzhen or somewhere else or back to my county. But since it's opened, like it's so exciting, you know, even it's like (during) COVID but I wouldn't say people regret it."

It is operating at half capacity under Covid-19 safety measures, but being nearly twice as big as Hong Kong’s previous water park, no-one seems to mind.

^{PHOTO: VISITORS USING WATERSLIDES AND PLAYING IN WAVE POOL / PEOPLE PUTTING ON FACE MASKS AFTER GOING DOWN WATERSLIDE / OCEAN PARK STAFF DANCING WITH MODEL OF MASCOT WHISKERS FASTENED TO HIS BODY / SOUNDBITES FROM VISITORS AND OCEAN PARK CORPORATION CHAIRMAN}