The next stop on our tour was to the Wetland park. This is a noble attempt to incorporate some greenery into the lives of the Hong Kong people—to give them a breath of fresh air from the city life and to educate them on their environment. Honestly, I saw a fish or two in a pond that was supposed to have a lot cool things in it (like King Ghost crabs!), maybe two butterflies in the “Butterfly Garden” and the infamous crocodile was smaller than I imagined and seemed unimpressively lazy. So, kind of like lame segment of the zoo. My standards are high, I know. But I did think that it was a good idea. Kids might grow up for most of their childhoods and not know what stillness is. And, the closest I’ve come to silence and distance from the hustle and bustle was there. So, in addition to the surprisingly good club sandwich I got for lunch, I appreciated this stop if only for the brief silence it afforded me.

I am pretending to meditate here on this unprotected bridge (you just can’t see the people I am holding up to take the picture).

I also decided that the crocodile wasn’t worth taking a picture of and this cute little girl with the “Hello Kitty” backpack was instead. Even though the crocodile has a good story behind it. Basically crocodiles are illegal to have in Hong Kong (even though our guide told us that they help cure asthma) and so one day one probably was being smuggled across the border and escaped. People tried to catch it for months. They even called specialists like good ol’ Steve Irwin. But no one could catch it. Until finally an local old man threw a regular fishing net on it and the job was done. The Hong Kong government supposedly gave him new fishing nets but he said he would have rather had cash. My guide book made a good point in that this is an interesting symbolic case where a local problem was solved by a local person. Perhaps how it should be.