My favorite part of Hong Kong

Honk Kong is an exiting, legendary city, known for its extravagant skyscrapers surrounding the bay of HK island.

HK is the subject of many breathtaking photography. A friend even sent me the link to a day time view of Hong Kong turning into night time. Wait for the two images to load and then slowly move your mouse from the top to the bottom of the picture. Nice.

Despite its urban beauty, I do not like HK that much and wouldn't want to live there, precisely because it's too crowded for my taste.

However, there is one place in HK that I just love and that I am looking forward to visit again. It's maybe the only place there where you can forget you are in the middle of one of the most crowded places on Earth. Surprisingly enough, this haven within the urban jungle is situated right at the heart of HK, only 2 minutes walk from the center of the busiest business district featured in the pictures linked above. I am speaking of the bird sanctuary located within HK park. The aviary is simply huge, tall enough to accommodate giant rain forest trees. Tourists can walk right through it, allowing them to view many different species of birds up close, without being hindered by any cage between the human and the bird. The whole aviary is very well designed: one comes in at the top, walking along an elevated wooden path, so that one can view birds flying above and below oneself. Birds often rest on branches at the same height as the elevated pathway, often almost close enough to touch them, and certainly close enough to take pictures of the most colorful varieties with a medium zoom lens.

The atmosphere within the aviary is very refreshing. One completely forgets the city noises that do not seem to reach the aviary at all (I don't recall hearing any traffic noise from within, despite the proximity of the city). The place is abundant with positive energy so that if one takes the time to sit down and enjoy watching the birds frolicking around, one leaves very refreshed and rested. Just don't go there at times of high affluence. Just take half a day, go inside the aviary, sit, take pictures, observe, meditate...

I had to go to HK earlier this year. Obviously, I went to the aviary in Hong Kong park. I took many pictures, too. Unfortunately, I don't know if any of them were any good. Upon my return, I thought I had transfered the pictures to my computer and formatted the camera's memory card. Sadly, a silly operational mistake had prevented the pictures to be transfered properly. I still got pictures from earlier and later in the trip. Only the pics from the aviary were missing. When I found out, I was truly heartbroken.

So, if you ever go to the aviary in HK, please be kind enough to send me one or two of your best bird pictures. Thanks.