Hello Kitty strikes again in Hong Kong!

Hello Kitty in the MTR once more!

On the left: Carina Lau advertising a weight-loss program;
on the right: a Hello Kitty MTR promotional poster
-- sorry, Carina, but I really do think the cute cat
is, well, cuter! ;b

On Valentine's Day of last year, a Hello Kitty (and Dear Daniel)-themed wedding took place in an MTR station. Later that year, the MTR (i.e., Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway) made available a Hello Kitty MTR Heroes figurine collection; then, to commemorate the merging of the MTR and KCR, came out with two more Hello Kitty collectibles dressed in the new uniforms of the merged organization.

Thus far this year, however, it's been McDonalds -- at least in Hong Kong, if not elsewhere in the world -- which has been leading the way in the Hello Kitty collectibles race with its Hello Kitty Messengers.* But as of December 21, the MTR's coming out with more Hello Kitty collectibles of its own; advertisements for which already are in place in MTR stations... ;b

*Addendum: sbk's query about how many Hello Kitty promotional items I now own got me realizing that there's also been the Hello Kitty on Stage series/campaign by 7-11 this year!

Favorite (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Too much choice may not be the best of things. That's what I got to thinking when pondering what to do for this week's Photo Hunt theme as it may well be one of the most 'open' that we've had! So do please excuse me if my reasoning for this particular blog entry comes across as too simple -- that is, I've gone ahead and 'just' put up a trio of favorite (but hitherto unfeatured on this blog) shots of my favorite part of the world; one where I so wanted to be in that I specifically looked for a job that would allow me to come over here (rather, than has been my more usual pattern up to now, decide on a place of work and/or study and go there regardless of whether I liked or had much prior knowledge of that part of the world).

And for those who like to get details re what's in the photos, the three (which, BTW, is one of my favorite numbers -- not least, in some of my favorite Hong Kong movies like Peking Opera Blues, The Heroic Trio and The Soong Sisters, good things seem to come in threes!) photos above are of (from top to bottom):-
* View from the 'scary' Ocean Park cable car of Hong Kong Island's Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay;
* Coils of incense inside the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road; and
* The sky over Fung Ying Seen Koon in Fanling. :)

Lung Mun Country Trail redux (photo-essay)

At the beginning of the month, I posted a photo-essay showing how wet the Lung Mun (which translates into "Dragon Gate") Country Trail was when two friends and I hiked along it back in June. To be fair (and help balance things out a bit), here's going ahead and showing some beautiful and/or interesting scenic and close-up sights I saw in between -- and, in a couple of cases, after -- fording all those streams along the way... ;)

Can you get a good sense from this picture
as to how quiet as well as green it was
out there in this part of Hong Kong?

View that includes the Yuen Yuen Institute
which sbk and I visited a few years back

They may be shaped like flowers
but they're actually fungi!

Definitely flowers -- and pretty too
(but, alas, I don't know their names)! ;(

The power lines and towers and highway
can't spoil the view as far as I'm concerned

A view of Lion Rock
from a different angle then it's usually seen
-- i.e., from west of it

Our hike ended in the Shing Mun Reservoir area
which is beautiful but is not a place I
want to visit all that often

Here are a few of my reasons for feeling that way
-- yep, believe it or not, Shing Mun has
a monkey infestation problem! :S

Free art in Hong Kong

Close up of a couple of roses frozen in lumps of ice
that were part of conceptual artist
Janice Lee's Still Remember (AKA Dripping Time)

The artist known as MINE working on his
noticeably Chinese landscape painting-influenced
Ink Graffiti

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the free Arts in the Park at Victoria Park one weekend. Although it was a smaller scale affair, I also enjoyed the equally free and still more quirky art event called The Table that took place in Chater Garden this past Saturday and -- true to its name -- did have several tables on exhibit, others on which art works and related items were placed (and local indie musicians like Gloria Tang and AniDa sat and sang).

However, what more strongly caught my attention in that Central District public space as I wandered around it were the likes of an anti-smoking demonstration (complete with the singing of a song that had both English and Cantonese lyrics) by university students that looked to have been timed to coincide with The Table's timetable and the surprisingly large number of members of the Hong Kong police there to observe and make sure that an acceptable degree of peace was maintained. And, also, the very popular spray painting demonstration by the artist known as MINE (to judge by the number of onlookers he was surrounded by) and deliberately ephemeral installation art piece by Janice Lee (to judge by the number of photographers attracted to it, almost like bees to nectar!).

Later that day, I partook of some more Culture; this time on the other side of Victoria Harbour. More precisely, I was at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to listen to the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra movingly play Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9. And although it's true enough that people generally have to pay to attend such as a Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra concert, what can I say other than it really is one of the perks of my job (and, to be fair, the one I had before my current one too!) that I do regularly get complimentary tickets to performing arts and related events... and consequently, the concert that evening was a case of more free art in Hong Kong that day for me! ;b

Taking Back the Nights

No lie -- the 12 o'clock that the clock in the MTR station
is showing is not 12 noon but, rather, 12 midnight

A few weeks after I moved to Hong Kong, I had dinner one night with a friend in the Tin Hau section of the territory. Afterwards, she nonchalantly told me that she planned to walk through nearby Victoria Park on her way home. With this small act, she provided me with significant notice that the Big Lychee is a big city like few others in the world -- in that it's so safe (for women and men, young and old alike) both in the wee hours of the night and during the day that the powers that be have no qualms about allowing a public park like Victoria Park to be open 24 hours a day.

Put another way: Although locally-made movies with titles like City on Fire, One Nite in Mongkok and To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui might get one thinking otherwise, I've come to realize that Hong Kong is the kind of place where I often feel quite happy and confident to be out and about at -- and even past -- midnight as well as exploring nooks and crannies on my own. And so much so that I really think nothing these days of watching a late night movie and emerging out into the streets of Yau Ma Tei during the so-called witching hour.

In contrast, I think of the many evenings I spent in many other places holed up in a living space turned refuge from the evils of the world come night. And should you think I exaggerate: In college in the USA, I was introduced to the Take Back the Night march and campaign that has grown to more generally embody a violence against women movement but was originally conceived as a way to protest the violence (and fear of it) that woman too often experience while walking in public at night in places like Philadelphia (where, more than incidentally, both the friend I mentioned in the first paragraph and I have lived -- hence our being able to regale one another with horror tales regarding certain sections of the City of Brotherly Shove).

Many reasons have been furnished for Hong Kong's low crime rate. I'm no expert but two that I'd like to give are evident in the picture at the top of this blog entry: the fact that many parts of Hong Kong are very well-lit (so much so, in fact, that some people complain about light pollution and studies have been set up to look in depth into it!); and it also equally being the case that there's a lot of foot traffic (including on the part of the police force).

And for those of you who say: There aren't too many people in the picture -- remember, it's midnight. And yeah, you're forgiven for forgetting that... seeing that the MTR station's so brightly lit even during that hour! ;b

Breakfast (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

I'm one of those people who believes that one should have breakfast to start off your day. At the same time though, on week days, my breakfast tends to be on the simple or spartan side -- e.g., on warmer days, I regularly opt for fruit and a cup of coffee; on cooler days, oatmeal and a cup of coffee -- while on weekends, I tend to forego that meal and move straight to brunch instead. So, I decided, it wouldn't be interesting at all to photograph what my breakfast(s).

Rather, what I've got in this Photo Hunt entry are a photo with advertisements at the top for a major dim sum dish -- and since dim sum is something that people (with plenty of leisure time) like to have for breakfast as well as lunch and afternoon tea -- and a breakfast drink imported all the way from the USA and another photo I'm actually quite proud of because I think it makes a simple fried egg, ham and cheese on toast look quite beautiful... ;)

Re that second photo: I took it when I was over in Macau on a food article assignment. And while I love food, have to say that I found that assignment really grueling as I had limited time to walk around Macau, check out food places *and* eat at more than a few of them. So much so that while the four-page magazine article that ensued was one that actually got praise from people, it was the last food article I was willing to write for the magazine I then was working for! ;S

Lung Mun Country Trail one wet day (Photo-essay)

As I write this, we're deep into autumn here in Hong Kong, with temperatures this week being due to go down to as low as 13 degrees Celsius at times and the air being so dry that I have had to slather mosturizer on my skin once again. Back in June when two friends and I hiked the Lung Mun Country Trail however, it was hot and very humid.

Indeed, it had rained so much the day before that the mountain streams were swollen (and in a few cases, overflowing -- as will be seen in a few photos below) and there had been a few landslides in the area! And to add to the sense of danger, this was the second hike I've gone on in Hong Kong in which I happened to catch sight of at least one snake; albeit ones that slithered out of sight too quickly for me to photograph -- something I have to say I'm not all that unhappy about!! ;S

This stream in the village of Chuen Lung
near the beginning of the hiking trail
gave little inkling of what the other streams would be like

I think it'd be fair to state that
this mountain stream was on the swollen side

Also, that this other mountain stream was in full flow
(And was I glad that there was a bridge over it!)

This other stream, however, didn't have a bridge
over it -- and normally wouldn't need to but
times when it overflows onto the hiking trail
surely aren't all that normal!

Very fortunately, although the skies looked threatening,
the heavens never opened during our hike!

Seems pretty clear, right?

As it so happened, however, we elected
to cross this overflowing stream as the other alternative
would have been to spend more hours than we wanted
to back-trekking along the trail... ;(

So why do I hike? Among other things:
for exercise, to be closer with nature and for fresher air
but, also, to be able to behold grand views like these! ;b