Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Finishing Our Morning in Asia

Monday April 11, 2016                                                                                   Most Recent Posts:
Animal Kingdom                                                               
The Joy of Animal Kingdom is in the Details and the TIGERS
Disney World                                                                                           Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review
Orlando, Florida

 

 

This post is a continuation of our morning in Animal Kingdom.  If you missed it and the pictures of the tigers, the link is above.

 

Our last stop on the Maharajah Jungle Trek is at the bird sanctuary where the birds fly and swim freely.  Birds like you’ve never seen before.  We pick up the identification card and walk through this peaceful spot with paintings on the walls and running water from the fountains.  Many of the birds are busy building nests as we walk through.

I’ve labeled the birds on their pictures.  This is only a fraction of the unique and beautiful birds we see but I am actually trying to cut down the number of pictures in each post believe it or not.

In the first picture is the Victoria Crowned Pigeon and below her on the right is the Masked Plover.

All of these birds are of course native to Asia.  They sure do have some amazing pigeons.

 

 

 

 

 

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Here is a juvenile Victoria Crowned.

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What an amazing looking pigeon.  I think ours would have alot more popularity if they looked like this.

 

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This is only a handful of the gorgeous birds in the aviary.  You could spend hours there just watching them and discovering new ones every time you turn around.

But we have many more things to see and are on our way.  What next is the question.

 

 

Beautiful shrines on the shore of the river overlooking the Himalayan Mountains with much better skies in the late morning.

 

 

 

 

Those of you who read the post I did in January on Animal Kingdom remember that I highly recommended doing the Wilderness Explorer’s Handbook which is sort of like the National Park’s Junior Ranger program.  You may also remember that it really is probably not possible to finish it in one day especially if you are an over achiever and don’t want to just rack up 5 or 10 or 20 badges, but want to get them all.

I have brought my handbook with me again today.  I check it and see that I have a couple more badges to get before I leave Asia.  So here I am at Gupta’s Outfitters for those actually going to climb Everest.  I’m working on my climbing badge.  That’s the Explorer’s book in my hand.

 

Another badge I earn is on Asian Culture from this native speaker of Thai.  As you can see, most of the listeners are children also working on their Explorer badges.  All thoughout Animal Kingdom, young people from these countrys are available to talk to you about their culture and the animals.  I think it is wonderful.

 

 

In my previous post, Page mentioned that tablets in Asia were from Nepal.  I wonder if these are the ones she is talking about.
I really hope these are not that country’s genuine artifacts but rather gorgeous reproductions.  I find them very moving.

 

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We stop at our final shrine.

 

As we are about to leave Asia, I see this woman with her great face paint I ask if I can take her picture. One of these trips to Animal Kingdom I’m going to get my face painted as a Tiger. Doesn’t she look terrific?

 

We leave Asia and head into Africa where we want to have lunch and spend the afternoon.

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On our way to the African town of Harambe we pass the Tree of Life which is the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom.  Disney’s imagineers have outdone themselves in this entire park but no where more than at the tree of life.

 

There aren’t enough pictures to show all the animals but these will give you an idea of the amazing creativity here.
How many animals can you find?

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We have finished our exploration of Asia.  Africa will need a post of its own.  This is an amazing Kingdom.  You really can spend days.

So next post – before exploring the town of Harambe, we decide to forego the lunches we have brought with us in favor of some authentic African food.

19 comments:

  1. Spectacular birds! I only see maybe two or three creatures in the first Tree of Life picture, but the other ones would require me to take off my shoes to count! Can't wait for the Tiger face painting! How absolutely perfect - what fun!

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  2. We have no desire to revisit Disney but have never been to Animal Kingdom. After all of your photos I've changed my mind! Love the tigers, birds (especially that pigeon), and everything else.

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  3. The birds are just beautiful, I'd have a difficult time tearing myself away from the birds to see anything else.

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  4. The birds -- well, you know I love the birds. :-)) And I would enjoy visiting the Himalayas without an arduous journey to get there. Animal Kingdom is looking more and more appealing….

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  5. I believe you have found "Your Spot" in Disney World;o)) The beauty is in the details and most of us don't take the time to see that. Thanks for sharing it with us!!

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  6. Beautiful birds!Other pictures also attracted me...

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  7. Your photography is wonderful. I think I will put this on my list too for next winter.

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  8. It would be very difficult to pull myself away from the aviary - so many unique and beautiful birds. My favorite is definitely the Nicobar Pigeon, giving Vincent Price some real competition in the "elegant and solemn" category! I can imagine spending a full day in each country, there are so many wonderful things to experience. The slate etchings are fabulous. I gave up counting all the animals - that is one big scorpion!!

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  9. Yes, those are the tablets. They were purchased from Nepalese artists. They are not old.
    I really appreciated the effort the Imagineers took in traveling the world to learn about these cultures in orders to try and portray them with as much accuracy as Disney will allow.

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    1. Really glad to hear this Page. Thanks for letting me know. This is really wonderful of Disney's Imagineers to support the local artists in the country. I really appreciate their efforts too. How did you find out about this? Did you take the behind the scenes tour? I'm seriously thinking about doing the next time I visit.

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  10. Lots of birds:) I do not remember seeing many birds when I was in the far east, maybe because I spent most of my time in shipyards:(

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  11. All that fun in Asia and you didn't need your passports. AK is a wonderful park and we find it seems to be cooler (temps) than the other parks. I especially love the Tree of Life, I could look at it for hours, just think how much time went into designing and building it, yet so many people just blow through it to get to Bugs Life and miss all the amazing sculptures.

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  12. That tree of life is quite a show stopper!

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  13. Is the tree of life a real tree or sculpture? Its fascinating and amazing to see the sculptures creativity and artistry. And of my goodness those pigeons! Was there one from the Philippines since you were in Asia?
    That lady came prepared to be painted with a Tiger face to match her outfit.
    Im just glad you are taking us to the Animal Kingdom, not sure if a stop there is in the cards.

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  14. Sure is a great variety of "exotic" looking birds. When last in Disney World the Himalayan was still being built. Love the face painting. Looking forward to Africa.

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  15. Wow, those birds! All of them so gorgeous! And, the tree - beautiful!

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  16. I find birds to be the best creatures to watch and photograph. There are some that are just beautiful!

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  17. The tree of life is amazing!!! And those birds-unique and beautiful!!

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