Hong Kong, Part Two

After our short break, we headed up to the HONG KONG ZOOLOGICAL & BOTANICAL GARDENS, nestled inbetween the hustle and bustle of noisy Hong Kong, on top of a huge hill. Free to the public, the gardens were a nice respite from the zaniness of the city. Judging by the scant amount of visitors in the park, the botanical gardens is probably one of Hong Kong's best kept secrets. It was a shady, quiet and relaxing oasis smack dab in the middle of all the towering buildings and sputtering traffic. We climbed and climbed till we reached the official entrance to the gardens and zoo...













There were all these cute STONE BENCHES littered about the gardens, each with TWIN CRITTERS holding up each side of the seat...







We spent a good part of the early afternoon walking through all the different green houses, gardens, and displays - it seemed like the park was never-ending...



































We checked out all the different AVIARIES that dotted the park. There were signs everywhere warning people not to touch any of the birds or bird droppings, and not to pick up any bird feathers...it made us paranoid that we might get BIRD FLU or something. We watched the FLAMINGOES for a while and Missy, who is a bit of an amateur bird-enthusiast, informed me that they got their pink coloration from all the SHRIMP that they consumed...





There was also these signs warning people not to touch any of the RAT BAIT that the park rangers had laid out...it only added to our paranoia, forcing us to walk through much of the gardens with our hands tucked into our pockets...



We watched these two CRANES fight with each other...it kinda looked like they were doing some sort of MATING RITUAL DANCE...

HONG KONG 9990 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Before long, we made our way back down to the busy streets of the city and headed towards the CENTRAL PIER to catch a ferry back to Kowloon and the cacophony of the night time markets...