Deryck's Blog: Animals and Lanterns

I didn't think I'd be doing too much this weekend, just working on the blog (the CNY post took quite awhile) and doing some school stuff. But, interestingly it ended up being a pretty busy one. The realization that it is March already dawned on me. With just over two months left of school in Hong Kong, I recognized the need to go out and explore and make the most of what time I have left here in HK. Had some good food and managed to experience more of HK.

Last week I had quite a random and unbelievable encounter. If you look closely, you'll notice the monkey that I ran into on campus in Chung Chi college. It was rummaging through a trash bin and then jumped back into the trees as I walked by. Weird...

Being in Hong Kong means eating a lot of Chinese food. So it was comforting to be able go out for lunch and enjoy a nice burger at least once. This is my BBQ burger from Dan Ryan's located in Tsim Tsa Shui. Rather filling and very tasty.

Me and couple of my friends decided to try and cook up our own food using the limited appliances at our disposal. Here we are trying to fry some potatoes. Yes, that is a wok on a hot plate. We're so clever and resourceful!

The finished product.

Funny enough, we made burgers for dinner too. My burger comprised of onions, lettuce, bacon, and a handmade patty.

The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens

So me and a couple friends made our way to Central to take a look at the gardens. It was pretty cool because it was open to the public for free, and provided us with enough sights to occupy us for a couple of hours. There were mammals, reptiles, birds, and numerous plants.

Chinese alligator (Yangtze alligator). Apparently they are critically endangered.

Macro shot of pretty flower.

Buff-cheeked Gibbons!

Crazy gibbons swinging all over the place.

A jaguar that is not alive.

Golden Lion Tamarin.

Spurred Tortoise. It didn't do very much, it just moved it's neck every once in awhile.

Black and White Ruffed Lemur.

Bornean Orangutan.

Ring-tailed Lemurs. Madagascar anyone?

Orchids, lots of them.

Urban Lunar New Year Lantern Carnival

We went to GoSaan in Mong Kok to partake in the lantern festival, which marks the last day of the spring festival (aka Chinese New Year's celebrations). It is also the day of Chinese Valentines Day.

There were a bunch of lanterns on display. Here are some pigs.

HaiBao strikes again!

Kids in Chinese opera attire.

Flowers.

More lanterns.

The lantern festival was being celebrated all over Hong Kong at different parks. So we thought that the park we were going to wouldn't be as crowded. O were we wrong. As soon as we got there, we saw a huge line that required police to direct traffic and all the people who showed up. There were a lot of people there.