Hi Tom,
You must go to Mai Po wetlands! Absolutely it's the wrong time of year for
the migrants, but it will still be great, I'm sure. If you arrange your
access before you go through WWF Hong Kong it'll save screwing around when
you're there -
http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/maipo/publicvisit/overseasvisitor.php
The central parks are good for the basic city birds, as are the Botanical
Gardens. Victoria Peak is worth a trip (up the funicular railway). Do the
circle walk at the top and take some of the little side paths.
Also, do visit the Tai Po Kau forest. Great for bush birds. There are a
number of easy walks, and bush birds will be found in the clearings.
Get yourself an Octopus card when you're there. This will cover all the
public transport, including Star Ferries (which are well worth a trip or
two). Take your camera because HK Harbour is amazing - so busy, but also
full of traditional Chinese Junks.
We went to Lantau by ferry then caught a bus from the ferry terminal to Tung
Chung (the city at the start of the cable car). The bus ride was
hair-raising, but a bit of fun. To be perfectly blunt, the Big Buddha was a
big tourist trap and cost us half a day. Do it if you wish, but don't be
disappointed if you miss out. However, one town definitely worth visiting on
Lantau is Tai-O - a traditional stilt village with a wonderful market. It is
a little tourist trappy, but it is definitely worth a look.
We also visited the Mong Tseng Peninsula - various villages and hillsides in
Deep Bay area - but we had a guide which was very useful. We walked along
the frontier fence at Tsim Bei Tsui (on the Mong Tseng Peninsula).
If you're staying at TST, you're pretty well in the middle of things in
Kowloon. Access to most places is easy by subway or by ferry. Other places
are accessible by bus or taxi. Taxis are cheap, and you can even have your
driver wait while you do your walks (quite useful for the forest, where you
don't want to have to deal with trying to get transport from there).
Hopefully this helps. Contact me for more detail if you want.
All the best,
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Tom and Mandy Wilson
Sent: Monday, 15 June 2009 8:53 PM
To: birding-aus
Subject: RFI Hong Kong
Hi all
I am visiting Hong Kong for the 1st time in about 10 days from now, and was
looking for some pointers/hints. I have been doing some research through
the HK Birding Society website, posted trip reports etc and have a few sites
in mind but (as with many of my RFIs), I am on a family holiday not a
birding specific trip, so I need to be mindful of the rest of my family as
well and squeeze birding in amongst other activities.
Plans are so far:
- a visit to the HK Wetland Park (has any body been there and advise of good
spots)
- one or two of the central parks (Kowloon Park, Victoria Park)
- a trip up "the Peak" - any specific spots to look when up there?
- normal tourist attractions such as Star Ferry, Aberdeen
- possibly to Lantau to see the Big Buddha
- depending on time/weather etc, I may get to Tai Po Kau NR, but I think
this is highly unlikely (despite this being a good place to go)
- Please note that my plans do NOT include visiting Mai Po (despite several
recommendations) as it's the wrong time of year for migrants and dealing
with permits etc likely to chew up too much time
We are staying in Tsim Sha Tsui, so Kowloon Park is about 4 blocks away.
As this is a more than slightly non-Australian RFI, people can reply direct
to me if they don't want to clog up the forum (although I for one always
think the more info in the archives the better).
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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