A Lantau hike that offered views of spiders, monasteries and more (Photo-essay)

A few years ago when hiking from Ngong Ping down to Pak Kung Au, I came across a big spider that was about to devour a creature it had trapped in its web.  Several hikes later, while going on a trail that overlapped for the first half or so with that earlier one, I spotted a few more spiders -- though, strangely enough, none of them were Giant Golden Orb Weavers.

Other sights along the hike from Ngong Ping down to Shek Mun Kap included a number of monasteries and religious retreats -- and not just Po Lin Monastery, home to the Big Buddha either.  I'm not sure how many religious establishments there currently are on Lantau but in the 1970s, there were as many as 135 Buddhist monasteries on Hong Kong's largest island. 

To this day, the majority don't attract visitors the way that Po Lin Monastery does.  Still even if they are not tourist attractions, the denizens of the monasteries located near hiking trails appear to have become well used to seeing their share of people passing by.  And at the very least, I hope that they don't mind too much hearing the sound of occasional chatter from hikers as I am indeed one of those hikers who enjoys talking on hikes (as well as drinking in sights, snapping photos, etc.)! ;b

One more spider photo from the hike --

and ain't this one cute looking? ;)

The view from the trail on a clear day stretches 

as far north as Castle Peak and Tuen Mun

A mountain in the background, and a monastery 

and part of its farmed garden in the foreground

I love it when the (Hong Kong) sky is this blue and clear

A dog content to rest on a roof rather than bark at strangers

 An abandoned building whose isolated location

gets me thinking that it was formerly

used as a retreat rather than home

 I love the wings of this damselfly -- and also that it

stayed on the branch long enough for me to photograph it :)

Hike's end at Shek Mun Kap village -- from where 

one can take a bus down to Tung Chung :)

My Venetian Macao experiences

This picture only shows a very small section of the

behemoth that is the Venetian Macao

One of the opulent looking corridors of

the Macau hotel and casino resort

 Readily available in the room are

drinks, snacks (including pot noodles

and cashews) ...and a condom! :O

As regular visitors to this blog know, I like going to Macau to eat and stroll about checking out the former Portuguese enclave's many cultural heritage gems (such as the impressively restored Mandarin's House). I generally try to avoid visiting the territory's casinos -- and to date I've not spent a single cent gambling in any.  Heck, I even generally try to avoid being in those hotels which are home to casinos -- though I am not above using their free shuttle buses that take me from the ferry terminal to them (and consequently into the part of town that I want to spend some time in Macau)!

On my first trip to Macau though, a family friend took my mother and I to the infamous Hotel Lisboa where I saw large numbers of prostitutes -- mainly young women from Mainland China but also a smattering of Putonghua-speaking descendants of Tsarist White Russians who had fled to China after the Russian Revolution -- walking up and down in its corridors or sitting at tables at the coffee shop along with their pimps waiting for clients. To put it mildly, I found the whole scene to be pretty unsavory as well as majorly eye-opening.  And suffice it to say that I've never been back inside the Hotel Lisboa even once since.

Although the Venetian Macao houses the world's largest casino, it also gets "bigged up" as a major tourist attraction whose highlights include an indoor mall designed to look like Venice's canal-scapes and a mega arena for concerts, sporting events and such like.  So a few years ago, my mother and I decided to go have a look around the place.

The day in question was a very hot summer's day and it amused us that we ended up spending a few hours there at the resort's expense -- and availing ourselves of free air-conditioned along with shuttle bus transport and sights -- without having to pay anything.  But what I reckon my mother felt was the highlight of hilarity occurred when, as we were walking towards the exit of the resort, with me a few paces ahead of her, a couple of people separately went up to me and whispered something before quickly moving away from me.

As my mother explained to a bewildered moi, what had happened was that a couple of pimps had gone up and approached moi, having mistaken me with my super short hair for a man -- and consequently someone interested in their wares.  Since I didn't notice any prostitutes lurking around the Venetian Macao (the way I had at the Hotel Lisboa), my mother told me -- how she knows all this I'm not sure! -- that they were already upstairs in the hotel rooms, and that the pimps were telling me the room address and such!

Rather than go and check to see whether this was indeed the case, my mother and I headed out as originally intended to a nicer part of Macau, one where we could resume our leisure strolling, punctuated by pleasurable snacking of such as Macanese egg tarts or the cool offerings of the wonderful Lemoncello Gelato.  But this weekend, I found myself back at the Venetian Macao -- and this time around, I did spend a night in one of its hotel rooms.

While checking out the room facilities, above the fridge and near the TV, I found snacks, drinks and something I now am not totally surprised to see in the room: a nicely packaged condom all ready to be used should the need arise!  And to me, it really sums up the Venetian Macao as much as its richly decorated interior and generally physically imposing buildings -- and truly emphasizes that although the place may look impressive on the surface, it ultimately is one Macau attraction which comes across quality-wise as much more brass than solid gold.

Zesty and Macro (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Feast your eyes on these photos -- at least one of which might be considered as example of macro photography if you click on the image to view it in an enlarged format, in that the size of the subject in the photo will then be greater than life size. And even if they might not completely be appropriate for Gattina's choice of Photo Hunt theme for this week, I believe that they are for Sandi's  -- in that the pictured foods are far from bland tasting!

For those who are wondering, the top most shot is of a delightfully zesty crab curry I had the Friendship Thai restaurant in Kowloon City, the middle photo is of a super delicious dish of king razor clams in black bean and zesty chili sauce served up at Tung Po and the bottom picture is of a tasty plate of zesty green chili peppers stuffed with spicy mentaiko and topped with bonito flakes that I had at an izakaya in Causeway Bay whose name I embarrassingly can't recall!

And while many people might assume that the Thai dish is the spiciest of the three, I actually reckon that the Cantonese and Japanese options were about equal to the creamy Thai curry on the "heat" as well as yummy zest fronts! ;b

Hong Kong cinemas - some gone, others still around

Not too long ago, there was a section of 

overhead walkway where there now is empty space

The many construction sites in Hong Kong

get one realizing that the local landscape

is ever changing

Earlier this evening, I had dinner with three visitors from Penang (including my mother).  As we strolled about in the vicinity of the World Trade Center in Causeway Bay, one of them -- who has been visiting Hong Kong since the 1970s -- talked about how there used to be a cinema where that complex now is located.  

Upon doing a Google search after my return to my apartment, I found that he was referring to the Palace Theatre cinema which was in operation from 1979 to 1994 and sounded like quite the opulent movie palace.  And yes, I do wish that I had managed to watch a film there at least once.

Other Hong Kong cinemas no longer in existence that I wish I had gone to watch a movie in include Queen's Theatre (which used to be in Central), the Silver (which used to be located in Kwun Tong -- and made an appearance in Samson Chiu's Mr. Cinema) and the Fan Ling Theatre (which actually is now closed whose cinema interior can be seen in Riley Ip's Just One Look).  And yes, I sometimes do want to kick myself for not having done so since they were still open when I moved to Hong Kong back in May 2007.

Then there are the cinemas I've patronized but which also are no longer in existence.  These include the Miramar Cinema (where I viewed my first ever movie in Hong Kong -- and for the record, it was Okinawa Rendezvous), the Silvercord Cinema (also in Tsim Sha Tsui) and the Cine-Art House in Wan Chai (which I'd nominate for the "world's coldest cinema" prize due to its sub-arctic air-conditioning).  If truth be told, none of them were superb facilities -- but there is a part of this filmophile that nonetheless does bemoan their closure.

On a happier note, the Cine-Art House didn't completely cease operations -- as two and half years after the one in Wan Chai closed down in November 2006, a new Cine-Art House opened in Kowloon Bay.  Although its location is not the most convenient for me, I've indeed gone and watched movies there -- and am glad to be able to report that the air-conditioning level there isn't set as high as the Cine-Art House in Wan Chai. 

On an even more positive note, the Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei isn't only still going strong but in the past year or so, it's undergone renovations that has enhanced the movie-going experience.  More specifically, the individual seats are now significantly more comfortable and have been pitched at a more conducive angle for one's viewing pleasure.  In addition, I'd like to state how pleased I am that its designers didn't opt to follow the example of The Grand Cinema at Elements (that came into existence the year after I moved to Hong Kong) and install vibrating seats in any of its theaters -- this since, as I often tell people, I like to watch movies but I don't necessarily want to be made to feel like I'm in them! 

From Ngong Ping down along the path to Shek Mun Kap (Photo-essay)

The same weekend that I took Collecting Tokens' Alejna on a hike from Wong Shek Pier to Chek Keng, I went with my then regular hiking companion on a trek that, funnily enough, started at Ngong Ping, where my past Sunday's hike ended!  

Rather than go on the Ngong Ping 360 Rescue Trail that day, however, we opted to partly go along the Nei Lak Shan Country Trail to Tung Shan Fat Mun (i.e., East Mountain Dharma Door/Gate) and then down to the village of Shek Mun Kap via Tei Tong Tsai. And suffice to say that this route was a good deal easier -- and consequently offered up more opportunities to generally take in all manner of sights -- compared to Sunday! ;b

One of the more beautiful lantana blooms I've seen

I love the black and white patterning on this butterfly's

body as well as its wings

View of the Big Buddha and 

a partly mist covered Lantau Peak

View of parts of the trail I hiked last Sunday! :b

 So many people visit the Big Buddha but so few venture just 

a kilometer or so away into the surrounding green countryside

A flowering plant that looks more exotic to me 

than the much more commonly seen lantana

A small spider in the middle of the large as well 

as complex web it had woven

A larger spider hanging from its own

less intricate but still also beautiful web

To be continued (and yes, I did spot some more bugs along this hike... ;b)!

Up along the Ngong Ping 360 Rescue Trail

Guess what I went on today!

Yep, not the cable car ride 

but the hiking trail instead! ;b

And yes, a good part of the trail consists of 

steps as well as is on wood

"Rain, rain go away!", I wanted to cry for much of this week -- heck, for much of this past month because it really has been an unusually wet November for Hong Kong.  Among other things, although I am not complete averse to hiking in the rain, I really do prefer to hike in drier conditions and on ground that is not damp and consequently apt to be on the slippery side.

So I was pretty happy yesterday to find that the weather forecast for today had rain patched predicted only in the morning.  Alternatively put, even if I wouldn't be able to avoid hiking on damp ground, I figured that I'd at least not have to hike in the rain.

Because I had to take into account the damp ground conditions today, I decided on a trail that would involve going up much more than going down.  More precisely, I'd say that around 80-90% of the Ngong Ping 360 Rescue Trail (AKA the Ngong Ping 360 Mule Trail because it reportedly was used by the mules enlisted to help carry materials for the construction of the Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride) that my hiking buddy and I went on consisted of steps that we walked up rather than down!

Should anyone wonder, I have no idea how many steps they were in total.  Frankly, I didn't want to know while going on the 5.6 kilometer trail that we went on today (but if pushed to guess, I'd say easily over 1,000!).  However, I do know that the official time estimate for completing the hike from Tung Chung up around 500 meters in elevation to Lantau's Ngong Ping plateau is four hours -- in contrast to the three hour estimate for the journey if done from Ngong Ping to Tung Chung -- and that my hiking buddy and I actually did the hike in just 2 hours and 40 minutes!

Frankly, I'm quite amazed at our quick hike time -- not least because we made sure to walk slowly and carefully along the damp and consequently apt to be slippery wooden portions of the hike, some bits of it were made even more slippy by the mud tracks and slip marks of other hikers (at least one of whom I saw fall in front of me -- though he very fortunately looked none the worse for wear from his fall).  

But it also made sense that we were quicker than normal today because the cooler weather made it so that there were few bug spottings to be made today.  In addition, the clouds enveloped Ngong Ping and the surrounding mountains for much of today -- and, consequently, we were hiking in the mist for at least half of the time this afternoon.  On the minus side, this meant that we weren't treated to views for much of the way.  On the plus side, this meant that we could concentrate more on making sure that we wouldn't slip and fall as often as we otherwise would.  (For the record, my hiking buddy slipped just once -- and I fell just once during today's hike!) 

Should it not be clear, this was one of the more challenging hikes I've been on in Hong Kong.  But I also will state that it's one of the most satisfying -- this not least because I've wanted to go along this trail for some time now... and now I've finally done so!  (Also, yes, the weather could have been better but, in all honesty, I'm not sure I could ever get motivated to do this steep, multi-step hike in sunnier -- and consequently warmer -- weather!)

Stellar and Advertising (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

You know what the proverbial "they" say about no news being good news?  Well, Hello Kitty proves that no advertising is stellar advertising.  "What do you mean no advertising?"  I hear some of you ask.  After all, she seems to be everywhere -- even at this year's Thanksgiving Parade in New York.  And helping to advertise a whole bunch of commercial products -- and even help lure visitors to Japan (and when they are there, help them to find their way around).

But here's the thing: there actually is zero -- or, at the very least, very little -- explicit advertising of Kitty Chan (as she tends to be called in Japan) herself! Instead, other companies -- some of which, like McDonald's, are pretty mega well known themselves -- pay her company, Sanrio, to have Hello Kitty help advertise their products!!

And the thing is... this tie-in works to bring in more customers -- and also generate extra advertising free of charge. Because... well look at what's happened by way of my entry this week for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunt: i.e., people like me cannot help but be wowed by the images of the cute cat, snap photos of them and then put them up on my blog to share with others -- and in the process, call (more) attention not only to the stellar pop cultural icon that is Hello Kitty but, also, the (other) brands featured in the pictures! ;O