Two photos that reveal a lot about the air quality in Hong Kong in summer vs winter

View from Pottinger Peak looking southwards to

Shek O and the Dragon's Back on a clear summer's day

 

 More or less the same view on a wintry day with

considerably less visibility! :O 

 

If, as the proverbial "they" say, a picture's worth a thousand words, how many are the two images at the top of this blog entry worth -- especially when paired, and compared and contrasted like I hope visitors to this blog will invariably do?!

 

On a Hong Kong hiking note: see why I hike in the summer -- despite the high heat and humidity -- as well as during the cooler months?  On an air pollution note: I realize we can't always see the pollution in our air but surely it's impossible to feel (and know) that the air is cleaner in Hong Kong during high visibility days -- that tend to come along with the winds bring hot air up from the south -- rather than those lower visibility days that we expect when the cooler winds blow from the north?

 

And on a visual note: as I've heard a long time Fragrant Harbour resident remark, whenever the high visibility days of summer come along, it can appear as though one's eyeballs have been wiped clean!  For my part, I liken it to what happens when an art conservator cleans up an old painting.  Suddenly the colors become more vivid, more details become visible and the picture generally becomes so much more beautiful! :)