Back to Africa again after all these years... :)

Panoramic photo taken on my first morning in South Africa :)

The kind of amazing vistas I was privy to on a road trip

on day six of my recent South Africa visit :b

Lest there be any doubt, of course Puppet Ponyo

was there for the ride and experience ;b

 

Back in the summer of 1986, I went to Africa -- specifically Kenya, the home country of a boarding school friend -- for the first time.  In the decade after, I'd go on to re-visit that East African country, and also spend two years in Tanzania as well as set foot in Zimbabwe and Zambia.  Since 1996, however, I had not been back on the African continent: that is, until a week and a half ago.

 

As with my first visit to Africa, I had the good fortune to be invited to accompany a friend on a visit back home.  After many years of hard work, my regular drinking buddy here in Hong Kong had finished his Masters degree studies and was headed back to South Africa to receive his degree and spend time with various members of his family.  And at Sake Bar Ginn one evening a couple of months ago, he asked if I'd like to go with him on this trip.  

 

Before he had the time to change his mind, I quickly said "Yes, please!"  The truth of the matter is that South Africa is one of those countries I've long wanted to visit -- not least because Nelson Mandela was/is one of my greatest heroes -- and my South African friend's home city of Cape Town just happens to be the number one part of the country that I wanted to spend time in.

 

Before the trip, my friend and I had a number of conversations as to what I wanted to do there, what he wanted to show me as well as were "must do"s as far as he was concerned, and what to expect while there -- bad and good.  Post visit, I will say that I actually didn't get to see or do everything on my list but I also got to see and do a lot more than I had thought would be the case.  

 

Put another way: I ended up going to some famous places but also a number of gems that are beloved by locals but (for some unknown reason or other) haven't been covered much -- if at all -- in tourist guides.  And, as those of you who deign to check out the blog posts I'll be offering up in the next few weeks should soon realize, I really do consider my South African trip to be one of those trips of a lifetime that's chock-filled with the sort of sights and experiences that will stay long in my memory. :)       

Hope against the odds?

Mural with a message in a Sai Ying Pun alley

 Out of Africa comes hope?

The shenanigans involving the selection of Hong Kong's next Chief Executive yesterday have overshadowed the events, including this year's edition of Art Basel -- Hong Kong, that made this past week Hong Kong's busiest fine art week of the year.  And the political furor is continuing, with leading members of 2014's Occupy/Umbrella Movement being told today -- the day after Chief Executive-designate Carrie Lam vowed to heal societal divisions -- that they face prosecution and, potentially, up to 21 years imprisonment.  

This repressive government/police action strikes many people as vindictive, and smacking of an attempt at political cleansing rather than a genuine upholding of justice, particularly since the crimes the pro-democracy activists are now possibly being prosecuted occured some two and half years ago and it's not like they -- who include university professors, lawmakers and a clergyman -- have got a criminal reputation.  And it might make those who already feel despair at the selection of 777 feel even more hopeless.

But even while I'm saddened by recent political events, I refuse to give up on Hong Kong just yet.  For one thing, I learnt a long time ago that life is a marathon, not a sprint and also that we need to think long term rather than just knee jerk react to events related to causes that we hold dear.  And in this particular case, I really hope that people don't decide that the race is over before the finish line is in sight.

And as far fetched as it may initially seem, I think people could do worse than look at the fight to save elephants from extinction in our world.  Human actions caused these noble pachyderms' numbers to fall dramatically in the 19th and 20th century, and there were fears at certain periods in some quarters that these large mammals -- who have existed on this planet for millions of years -- might not exist in the 21st century. 

But while these pachyderms are still being killed for their tusks and their habitat shrinking, elephants continue to roam across much of Africa (including Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia -- all countries I've personally seen these creatures wandering about in the wild) and various parts of Asia (including Malaysia, where elephants can be spotted in national parks and elephant crossing signs by the side of at least one highway).  And there actually have been elephant conservation successes to celebrate in recent years.  

Among the biggest of these was the decision by China late last year to ban domestic ivory trade by the end of this year.  Not too long ago, that action on the part of the Mainland Chinese government would have been unimaginable.  But thanks to the effort of conservationists, some of whom -- like Tanzania-based primatologist Jane Goodall, pictured on one of the murals I came across in Sai Ying Pun last week -- have been at it for much of their life, they have actually become not only possible but reality.     

Returning to the subject of Hong Kong: Rather than despair about its future, one should keep hoping, and also acting -- like the conservationists have been doing.  At the risk of sounding over-dramatic, I'd like to urge those who love Hong Kong to stay angry and active, and keep your eyes on the prize. 

Or, in the words of Jane Goodall: "Without patience, I could not have succeeded"; "It is these undeniable qualities of human love and compassion and self-sacrifice that give me hope for the future.  We are, indeed, often cruel and evil.  Nobody can deny this.  We gang up on each one another, we torture each other, with words as well as deeds, we fight, we kill.  But we are also capable of the most noble, generous and heroic behavior"; and "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you make".  

Rainbow sightings

Rainbow-like spectrum created
by sun rays shooting a cobweb

Rainbow in the sky over Hong Kong Island
on -- believe it or not -- a rain-less day!

For the many people who still haven't realized that some three-quarters of Hong Kong is countryside (rather than urban concrete jungle) -- and that forty percent of the Big Lychee's land lies within country parks, it can seem ironic as well as improbable that living in Hong Kong has got me increasingly appreciating nature's offerings (including wild critters such as dragonflies, spiders and skinks). But it really is the case that not since I was at Beloit College in Wisconsin and taking courses in geology and environmental biology to fulfill my science requirements have I been wont to observe and enjoy being out in nature as much as I have since moving to Asia's World City.

Still, it's not been only during this periods of my life that I've been captivated by the sight of rainbows (and associated visual phenomena). And it's true enough that the two rainbow spotting experiences I've considered the most memorable have admittedly not taken place in Hong Kong (or, for that matter, at Beloit). Instead, one of these was at Victoria Falls over on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border (where a rainbow was formed by the spray of the largest and most impressive waterfall I've seen in my life to date) while the other involved my catching sight of beautiful double rainbows while on a bus during my visit to Germany last year.

In the past year, however, I've had two rainbow sightings here in Hong Kong that I reckon are on the special side -- not least because they both occurred on rain-less days. The first of these took place last summer in a wooded area that a friend and I passed through on a hike up to Amah Rock. The second took place on the hot and humid -- but emphatically non-rainy -- day last month that I hiked up Devil's Peak and then down to Lei Yue Mun. More specifically, on my way out of Lei Yue Mun, I happened to glance over across Victoria Harbour and suddenly saw a rainbow in the by-then-not-so-blue late afternoon sky above the Quarry Bay section of Hong Kong Island!

Almost needless to say, I did have my camera with me on both those occasions and thus managed to take shots of the natural phenomena. And while I grant that my treasured snaps pale in comparison to many other rainbow photos on the internet, I still am happy that I managed to take them since it makes it so that I am able to share the sight of those rainbows in this blog entry with other people. :)

Visa-free vs -required travel musings

Himeji Castle -- located in a country (Japan)

which I need a visa to enter

View of Heidelberg -- a picturesque town in country (Germany)
which I can enter without applying in advance for a travel visa

"Where in the world do you want to holiday next?" This is a question I've been asked more than once in recent weeks -- partly because the past couple of weekends have been long weekends for many in the Big Lychee -- courtesy of Hong Kong's public holidays this year including Good Friday (April 22nd this year), the following Saturday, Easter Sunday (April 24th), and the Monday after Easter, May Day (May 1st) and the day after May Day (May 2nd) -- during which many a person I known has flown off for a short vacation.

My reply has honestly been: "I don't know yet". But I'll also admit that I've been considering going on a Scandinavian cruise for the first time ever this year or visiting Venice (not least because of the beautiful photos of the place that can be found in blogs such as Churches in Venice and Trekcapri's) or Vietnam... or returning for another visit to Japan -- only with the latter there remains the bureaucratic hurdle of applying for a visa; something which I won't have to do should I wish to travel to the other destinations I've been thinking of doing.

If the information on Wikipedia is to be believed, a Malaysian passport is ranked pretty high (i.e., number 13 in the world) in terms of travel freedom and visa-free access. And it's true enough that there have been times and places in the world where I've been happy to have had a Malaysian passport -- including when living and travelling in Africa, where I found that Malaysia being a part of the British Commonwealth made it so that I did not need a visa to visit Tanzania (except that I also successfully applied to be a resident of Tanzania proper and also Zanzibar in order to work and live there for two years), Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia (on account of those African countries being fellow members of the British Commonwealth).

Incidentally, I have often recounted the -- in retrospect -- funny experience of how it was that I literally walked across the Zimbabwean-Zambian border by way of the bridge that crosses the Zambezi River close to Victoria Falls because I wanted to see the amazing natural phenomenon from both countries -- and, at the border, when asked by the Zambian immigration official how long I intended to stay in his country, miffed him somewhat by honestly telling him that I just wanted to stay long enough to view Victoria Falls from the Zambian as well as Zimbabwean sides! (Fortunately, the guy wasn't upset enough to deny me entry into his country -- and I spent only a few hours in Zambia before walking back to Zimbabwe later that same day!!)

In contrast, I would not be able to walk across the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China without first acquiring a China visa -- something which I actually don't possess at the current time -- and, in fact, only have applied for once... years ago when I went on holiday to Beijing with my mother! (And for the record: for all of my having now lived in Hong Kong for more than four years, I still have paid a single visit to neighboring Shenzhen...)

On another ironic note: I also require a visa to visit the U.S.A., a country where I lived, studied and worked for close to one and half decades of my life. (Again for the record: I never did apply for a green card, never mind citizenship -- not least because, as I told many a (then) disbelieving American friend, I actually didn't think I would want to spend the rest of my life in that country and would want to leave it one day...)

All this I actually don't mind too much. On the other hand, it's true enough that I wish that Malaysians didn't require a visa to visit Japan. And if that were the case, I definitely would travel to the Land of the Rising Sun more often -- to sample its food and other attractions that I really wish I could conveniently avail myself of... though even with the visa requirements, I do plan to pay visits to such places as Nikko, Kamakura and Shikoku some day soon (as well as already have had the pleasure of visiting such destinations as Mount Aso, Dazaifu and Himeji along with the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Sapporo, etc., etc.!)