For My New Photo Gallery Click Here
More Photos In This Series

Friday, 19 April 2013

A Trip To Japan


   Spring in Japan is famous for its beautiful cherry blossom.  I was so glad to be able to see it when I went to Nagoya (3rd most populated city in Japan) last week, even though it was a few days late for the full blooming.
 








  I have always been fond of Japanese gardens and you can see the reason.











 Spring is not only a tourist season but also the wedding season for Japanese people. On a visit to a Shrine (“Shinto Shrine” in Japanese), where people worship and pray for good fortune as well as hold wedding ceremonies, I witnessed several traditional Japanese weddings in progress.   
  A high percentage of Japanese still prefer a traditional, or “Shinto”, wedding over a Western wedding. Here, the bride in traditional white kimono and the groom in black formal kimono, and their family members were on their way to the ceremony.



 

The white hood-like headwear on the bride symbolizes the bride's beginning to become a gentle and obedient wife.

 

The Shinto wedding is usually a small-scale affair with only family members and close relatives attending. 




   During the actual ceremony, music and dance were performed before the bride and groom exchanged vows.



 


Sunday, 24 March 2013

Hong Kong Flower Show



With spring on the way, the annual Hong Kong Flower Show opened again last week.






The flower show is held in the middle of the city, where most of the population live in highrise buildings with no outdoor space for gardening.





Though the Hong Kong Flower Show is no comparison to the Chelsea Flower Show in London, it is hugely popular with 500,000 visitors expected during the 10-day period (the population in HK is about 7 million).  

I find the floral sculptures very interesting and entertaining.















Some of the landscape displays are gorgeous too.









Sunday, 17 March 2013

Everyone Loves Coral Trees


Spring is coming and coral trees are flowering. The birds are having a great time.

At the moment, coral trees are everyone’s favourite.

Fork-tailed Sunbird
Male 







Female 






Japanese White-eye 







Hair-crested Drongo 




Orange-bellied Leafbird
Male 




Female
 

Chinese Bulbul 



Red-whiskered Bulbul 



The monkeys, on the other hand, enjoy watching the birds having fun. 



The Coral tree is one of my favourite trees too because of its beautiful flowers. 





The sweet flowers are the favourites of the birds. However, unlike most of the nectar eating birds, the beaks of these birds are too short to reach the nectar at the root of the flower. But there is always a way around it.