Where can one find “hanging bell” flowers locally on the hillside? On a cold wintry day, we headed out to Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden (KFBG) along the Lam Kam Route, trying our luck to locate the flowers.
The “hanging bells”are flowers some of us buy for the Chinese New Year. However, this could be quite a rare species locally; they are not in my little book with 3,000 types of local flowers. At KFBG, we have the luck of seeing so many of these flowers (above), at a close distance, in a natural environment. So, instinctively I took some photos, including some close up shots of these beautiful flowers.
As children, we have been to KFBG but have never been back ever since. This trip was like going back in time. We started out with the lower section of the farm where they have birds, reptiles, lizards and monkeys. These drew big crowds of chattering school children; can’t keep thinking several decades ago I was just like one of them.
KFBG also kept a lot of other domesticated animals like pigs, chickens and donkeys (for transportation up and down the hills). This big pig just filled up the whole picture.
At this time of the year, wherever you go, there were just lots of flowers blooming.
We ventured to the upper section of KFBG; stopping first at the orchid gardens.
There were so many types of orchids and quite a few were photogenic too.
We wandered along the winding and hilly paths, viewing more flowers and trees. Finally, we hiked up to the peak which is 1,812 ft (552m) above sea level.
This is the Kwun Yum Peak where the statue of the Kwun Yum goddess stands. 
We strolled happily around the peak, seeing more flowers. The air was fresh and the view of the valley below was calm and serene.
The downhill trip was just as interesting. When dusk arrived, we reluctantly left this world of flowers.
So, this was another day in the ordinary life of a retiree.
retireediary 