The Temptations - My Girl

Hong Kong Nature

Dear Most Excellent Ones,
Hong Kong is promoted as an exciting city with great culture, interesting tourist sites,  restaurants and night life.   And millions of people come from around the world every year to enjoy it.  Hiking, however, is never promoted.  Hard to understand why, considering Hong Kong is 70% natural and has a massive network of trails offering tremendous views.  Below is a sample of what I am talking about:

Sai kung

Near the Gold Coast.

Scenes from Shing Mun Country Park.

Near Lion Rock.

Tai Mon Shan  (Cloudy Mountain)

Lion Rock.

The above is a very small sample of the amazing natural scenery of Hong Kong.  Its GREAT!

Have a good week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Chinglish and a White Tiger Legend

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

One of my most favourite things about going to China is seeing ads and signs in English.  Most evoke a laugh or a perplexed look on my face as to what they mean.  Last week I went to Guangzhou and here are a few samples of what I saw.

The English is very good, but "cure male problems?"  What do you mean male problems?  

What is a crad?  Exchenge?

By a food stand.

Cheir safety?  So close to being a success.  Their.

Ok.

Pay what after the refrigerator take bread?  Huh?

Don't flap glass.  Ha ha.

Ok. Yup got it.

A zoo keeper used a pully to carry meat over a pool of water. For the tigers to get at it they had to jump up and snatch it with their mouths.  However, their forward momentum sent then hurtling into the water with a spectacular splash.  Very entertaining to watch.

The sign above soothed our nerves as the tigers splashed into the water.

A very wet, but well fed tiger.

Thank goodness for  universal pictures and the translations for toilet, man, and woman being correct.

Get a load of rule number 5.  Children and people older than 70 need be accompanied by family member.  How many people do you think would really follow that rule?  And what is a shin of fruit?

Be carefully slip.  Ok.

Kelly:  White Tiger Legend.

So there you have it.  Now you know the white tiger legend.  Amazing, eh?

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Chimelong Safari Park

Chimelong Safari Park 

(The info below is a must read especially the English part)

My Dear Great Ones, 

I went to Guangzhou, a city of 15 million people and part of the Pearl River Megalopolis of about 40 million people, last Saturday to visit one of the most amazing animal parks in the World.  The park is  called:  "Chimelong Safari Park," and I throughly enjoyed it.  Interesting animals, interesting animal enclosures, the animals actually seemed well feed, entertained and happy.  Too often zoos are like animal prisons, but this one seemed geared to making the animal's lives a pleasant one.  It was like visiting a 5 star hotel for animals.  Large enclosures, with vegetation and structures that resembled the habitat of the animal made them actually move and meander in a natural way, unlike other places where the animals pace the perimeter of their pen, or look forlorn and half dead, curled in a corner.  Chimelong is also known for its breeding programs and many rare animals like white tigers, pandas, and kolas have been born and raised there.  As the brochure says above:"Chimelong safari park is characterized by animals' population free ranging and self driving-ornamentation."  Okkkkkkk?  I think it means the animals are allowed to live as naturally as possible.    

 Parrot breeding program.  Fledglings? growing up in an incubator.

 Vulture.

 Rhino.

 Spider monkey.

 In action.

 This one is carrying a baby.

 Chilling on a beautiful day.

 Alpha male with his gang.

 Black goose.

 The chinglish is great.  More on that next week.

 A rare white tiger.

 A bengal tiger.

 Very impressive.

 Baby white tiger.

 Baby tiger.

 Greater Kudu.  Looked like a cross between a mountain goat and a moose.

 Mighty Lion.

 A baby zebra.

 A herd of wildebeests and their offspring.

 Giraffes.

 A great billed I am not sure.

 A trained Orangutan entertained us on high.

 Later, the trainers called him down and he went into his own baby carriage to be carted away.  Very amusing.

 Giraffes getting fed by the customers.  Plants were provided to them for a nominal cost.

 The first koalas to arrive in Guangzhou were given a police escort from the airport to the zoo.

 Hanging out.

Several panda statues providing foto ops.

 A giant panda eating, you guessed it, bamboo shots.

 Meercats!

 Flamingos!

Have a great week everyone!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

PS  There was also a Jurrasic Park with life like mechanical dinosaurs scaring the lights out of us.  Here is a raptor getting annoyed.