Living on the top of the world

YOU hear the place before you see it. A pair of boisterous roosters crowing, pigeons cooing and mynahs perfecting their speech in cages under the thick leafy canopy.

This is neither a poultry farm nor bird house, but the rooftop of a 23-storey high-rise at the heart of Yau Ma Tei. In fact, this sky-high Chinese roof terrace seems anything but what it really is.

At ground level, it looks like a bird haven where flocks of pigeons circle and rest on the abundant greenery which spills over the roof.

But a closer look inside this secret garden reveals rabbits hopping about in a metal cage and cats stretching lethargically in the sun on deck chairs. You can hear water bubbling in a tank of koi and smell the pungent odour of poultry droppings.

As an old Chinese saying goes, an inch of gold can buy a foot of soil. So why, in Hong Kong where the tiniest plot of land can raise a king's ransom, waste a roof which can be turned into a small poultry farm, green house, swimming pool, playground, barbecue area, tennis court, and even (in the old days) classrooms and animal training grounds? The people who live in the Yau Ma Tei block off Nathan Road do not seem bothered about their neighbours' life on the roof. None of them finds the constant cooing, crowing and twittering a nuisance.

''Well, I have no idea what's up at the top but I don't care either,'' said a young woman who lives on the floor below.

Across the harbour, children run about on the North Point Methodist Church Kindergarten's rooftop playground.