Seasonal musings on autumnal equinox (in the northern hemisphere) day

A beautiful day for windsurfing in Long Harbour

(and hiking along the nearby Tai Tan Country Trail!)

 

Insects like this damselfly are still out and about -- but I reckon

it's noticeably, even if slowly, changing from summer to fall

 

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, it was already mid-autumn last week.  But according to the Gregorian solar calendar which much of the world now uses, the autumnal equinox (and thus the first day of the fall) for the northern hemisphere only arrived today.  And although the maximum daily temperature still is around the 30 degree Celsius (~86 degrees Fahrenheit) mark here in Hong Kong, I've begun to get the distinct feeling that summer is -- if not completely over just yet in this part of the world, then at least winding down at long last. 

 

For even though I'm still feeling a need to have the air conditioning on for at least a few hours of the day and/or night in my apartment, I've got to noticing a nice cool breeze blowing every once when I'm outdoors, in urban as well as rural areas.  And more welcome still is the air feeling noticeably less thickly humid these days; making it noticeably easier to breathe when one's out exerting oneself by doing such as hiking up and down hills! 

 

Best of all is that I no longer get invariably bathed in sweat from just standing out in the sun waiting for the bus or going for a bit of a stroll (never mind an actual hike).  And the difference that just a few weeks can make became patently clear to me when I went hiking along the Tai Tan Country Trail with a friend a few days ago: for while I wore the same pair of olive green shorts that were so very badly stained with sweat the day that two other friends and I hiked up Siu Ma Shan and Mount Butler, that same piece of cotton clothing didn't look all that much worse for wear at the end of my most recent hiking excursion!

 

Although it still may be too hot for quite a few people to want to go hiking just yet, I think we're actually hitting a really nice time of the year to do just that.  For on one hand, we still have the beautiful blue skies and high(er) visibility days along with prime critter spotting opportunities that are associated with the summer while on the other, things are not longer as super hot and humid as they were even just a few weeks ago.

 

And even while the season to do such as tackle Sunset Peak again or try a "new" hard hike -- both of which are things I tend to reserve for when it truly feels like we're into fall or winter here in Hong Kong -- may not yet be upon us, I do feel more assured than just a week or so ago that it really soon will be upon us; so that just a few months from now, we'll be commenting and even complaining once more about it feeling too cold rather than too hot (and also wet) for our liking! ;)