Whispers in the Woods shows how precious and beautiful sightings of truly wildlife can be (Film review)

  

The kind of poster that makes me want to watch 

the documentary film it's for! :)

 

Whispers in the Woods (France, 2025) 

- Vincent Mournier, director, cinematographer (with Laurent Joffrion and Antoine Lavorel) and co-producer (with four others) 

- Part of the HKIFF's Documentary Competition program 

 

When I saw the poster for Whispers in the Woods, I got to thinking of Ildikó Enyedi's On Body and Soul (2017), a magical film with beautiful imagery involving a stag and a doe.  Ironically, I viewed Vincent Mournier's documentary less than 24 hours after viewing Enyedi's latest offering and found myself comparing it very favorably against Silent Friend! 

 

In fairness, Whispers in the Woods and Silent Friend are two very different works; not least since the former is a wildlife documentary and the latter a fictional work with flora as well as human characters.  This being said, I must say that I found myself far more mesmerised by Mournier's work than Enyedi's and also came away with a far greater appreciation of the wonders of nature too.

 

A personal offering that has him both in front of and behind the camera as well as directing and co-producing, Whispers in the Woods shows three generations of his family -- celebrated wildlife photographer Vincent himself, his father, Michel, and his teen-aged son, Simon -- sharing their love of nature, particularly the creatures, great and small, that dwell in the verdant forests of the Vosges in France, and how to look and listen for these wild things.          

 

At home out in the woods like the wildlife whose presence they very much appreciate catching precious sightings and sounds of, the Mourniers' respect for nature is a great contrast to such as the cruel shooters of elephants seen in Werner Herzog's Ghost Elephants (another nature documentary viewed at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival).  Recalling Herzog's offering once more: the Mourniers' uncanny ability to track down the wildlife that captivate them seems comparable to that of the expert trackers enlisted to look for the elusive eponymous elephants of that set-in-Africa documentary.

 

One evening in their cabin in the woods, Simon asks his grandfather what's his favourite wildlife spotting he's made.  Understandably, Michel has to pause to think before answering that it was when he spotted a capercaillie in the mist that appeared to him like a ghostly apparition.  Later, when it is revealed that this member of the grouse tribe is now extinct in France, the (re)viewer realizes how rare and precious this sighting this was; hence it being more treasured than sublime sights such as a doe, its young and a stag tranquilly crossing a silver-tinged river that the Mourniers share with the viewers of Whispers in the Woods.  

 

Deciding that he would like his grandson to also have the experience of catching sight of a capercaillie, Michel decides to take Simon -- with Vincent going along too -- on a winter journey to Norway, where these non-migratory sedentary birds still are to be found.  It is a measure of how much they value their nature experiences that they are prepared to journey that far away from home and spend time out in snowy cold conditions to glimpse these rare birds.  And it is a measure of how successful the people behind Whispers in the Woods are at communicating the pricelessness of such experiences that this documentary's viewers will find it is perfectly understandable that the Mourniers would want to do so.

 

My rating for this film: 9. 

Past Future Continuous may not be the documentary it's presented to be (Film review)

  

One of the posters that was part of the HKIFF's 

poster exhibition at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

 

Past Future Continuous (Iran-Italy-Norway, 2025) 

- Firouzeh Khosrovani and Morteza Ahmadvand co-directors, and co-scriptwriters (with Naghmeh Samini)

- Part of the HKIFF's Documentary Competition program 

 

This deceptively straightforward entry in this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival's Documentary Competition was the winner of an award at last year's International Documentary Film Amsterdam (IDFA).  It also is described as a documentary on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) website, Letterboxd and elsewhere I've looked.

 

But something seems amiss when there are three scriptwriters along with two co-directors (USA-based Firouzeh Khosrovani, and Moretza Ahmadvand, who resides in Tehran, Iran) listed for Past Future Continuous but none of them have the same name as Maryam, the involuntary immigrant from Iran now teaching at a university somewhere in the USA, whose story is told (in first person narrative form) in the film.    

 

To be sure, it would be understandable if Maryam is not the real name of someone who has resorted to having closed circuit television cameras installed in her family home in order to be visually connected with her parents living thousands of miles away in a country it no longer is safe for her to return to.  Very sadly, there are many people, including Hongkongers, who can only see beloved family members on TV, computer and smartphone screens these days.  

 

I just wish it would be more clearly outlined if Maryam is a real person's pseudonym or fictional character since there is a whole world of a difference between watching something is reality versus fiction, however based-on-reality the presented fictionalised situations are.  And the truth of the matter is that the nagging possibility that the people we see on screen for the bulk of Past Future Continuous are actors playing parts rather than the actual parents of someone who clearly loves and misses them can be distracting -- and detract from what actually would be a genuine tragedy unfolding on the screen; one involving a lonely couple -- who no longer have guests in their home, the way they used to do so in their younger, pre-Iranian Revolution days -- growing older, frailer and ill before our eyes.

 

Alternatively, if Past Future Continuous were indeed taken as a realist work of fiction rather than documentary, I actually would have been more tolerant of the repeated images of a fluttering white dove that feature in more than one part of the film and looked upon them as lyrically poetic rather than aesthetically indulgent!  Either way though, it speaks volumes that so much is left unsaid in this enigmatic work where so many things (and people?) may not be all that they (initially) seem.

 

My rating for this film: 6.0    

Cold day anniversaries and political prisoner birthdays

  

Attire appropriate for the cold weather we've been having

in recent days in Hong Kong!

 

The past few days have been unusually cold in Hong Kong.  Yes, it's winter -- but it really is not usual for there to be a frost warning in place, like is currently the case, and for there to be as much frost up Tai Mo Shan as was captured in photos yesterday!  So I feel entirely justified in having my thermal underwear as well as the Norwegian sweater I got in Bergen on in recent days; and even more so when checking and finding both last night and tonight that it's colder in Hong Kong than London!

 

Funnily enough, the last time I felt this cold in Hong Kong was back on... January 24th, 2016: eight years ago today!  That's a day many people remember as that which saw scores of "frost tourists" who had gone up to Tai Mo Shan not having been prepared for the slippery surfaces of the roads and such that they encountered up there needing to be rescued by the Fire Department's Emergency Services.

 

As expected, there's been much talk on social media about the cold conditions; including by expats who one would expect to normally poo-poo local residents' remarks about how cold it is.  But there also have been a number of Tweets today about it being Chow Hang-tung's 39th birthday -- her third spent in jail -- and today also marking her 938th day behind bars.       

Tomorrow will see the barrister-activist learn the outcome of a government appeal against her acquittal for a charge linked to the banned Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil on June 4th, 2021*.  Today, I wish to pay tribute once again to this woman of high courage and principle -- who has been badly treated by the Hong Kong government, including her being put in solitary confinement several times; with the most recent occasion being last month, as a result of her being deemed to have received "too many letters"!  

 

Also, here's noting for the record that last week saw Emily Lau celebrate her 72nd birthday (on January 21st) and Claudia Mo her 67th birthday (on January 18th).  Both journalists turned pro-democrat politicians whose names and faces are easily recognisable to many Hong Kongers, their lives have become so very different since February 28th, 2021, when the latter was arrested (for taking part in pro-democracy primaries that the former had not).  

 

Back in June 2022, there was a Financial Times article about Claudia Mo entitled "She was loved for standing up to China. She may die in jail".  Something which I hope will not be the case!  Though, if truth be told, things really are not looking good; this especially since she's one of the Hong Kong 47 who have lodged guilty pleas, presumably because she hoped for clemency and a shorter jail sentence than if she pleaded innocent, then was found guilty by the three national security judges presiding over the trial (rather than because she actually believes that she has committed any national security law crimes).

Something else I find sad (and yes, I'm guilty of this too): although there were "Happy birthday, Claudia Mo" messages on Twitter last year, there doesn't appear to have been  any this year.  I'd like to think that it's less a case that people have forgotten about Claudia Mo and more that we "just" forgot when's her birthday.  In any case, for my part, here's noting it belatedly -- better late than never, right? :S  -- and wishing her, Emily Lau, and Chow Hang-tung well in the coming year and years to come.   

*Update: The Court of Final Appeal overturned Chow Hang-tung's acquittal over the over inciting people to take part in an unauthorised assembly in 2021 to remember the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.  Not unexpected but sad all the same. :(

The all female-helmed Fresh Wave Award Winners Highlight (17th Fresh Wave) selection! (Film reviews)

  

The Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival winners this year 

(seen here at a post screening Q&A with a presenter) were all female! :D

 

Fresh Wave Award Winners Highlight (17th Fresh Wave) (Hong Kong, 2023)

-> Al Niente

Lam Lo, director and scriptwriter; starring Law Kar-ying, Kate Yeung, Rachel Leung

-> Lykke Til

Bobby Yu Shuk-pui, director, scriptwriter and star

 -> Before the Box Gets Emptied

Ho Sze-wai, director and scriptwriter; starring Tang Siu-kit, Ling Ching-kin

 

The Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival is an annual event which aaims to promote and encourage local short film production, and to discover and nurture young talents.  This year, its 17th edition, saw 38 films being screened and three very different offerings -- which, to my surprise, turned out to all be helmed by female filmmakers -- emerge as the winners and get extra screenings in the form of a special selection.  

 

The winner of the Audience Choice and Best Screenplay Awards, Al Niente was the most star-studded of the trio that I viewed; with veteran actor Law Kar-ying portraying a dementia-stricken father who lives in the same apartment -- and is looked after by -- his two adult daughters (played by Kate Yeung and Rachel Leung).  Like the film's director-scriptwriter, Lam Lo, younger daughter Ling has spent time in the USA (from which she's recently returned) as well as Hong Kong; whereas the more traditional -- and, it's implied, more close-minded and controlling -- elder sister Munn has not.  

 

The two sisters obviously care for their father but they clash over how to deal with him.  Ling seeks to make use of music therapy to help her former music professor father and indulges him when he mistakes her for an ex-lover.  She feels he responds well to the music therapy but Munn is unconvinced, at least initially.  How she comes to feel otherwise is shown in a moving scene in this work that manages to contain quite a bit of drama and emotion in some 30 minutes or so that just flew by for this viewer!

 

The helmer of Lykke Til came away with the fest's Best Director award.  Bobby Yu Shuk-pui is also its star and scriptwriter -- and, at one point in the film, sings and plays a second role along with the main one she has as Ann, a young Hong Kong woman who now lives in Norway.  She's in a relationship with a Norwegian woman but her future in the country is still not certain since: for one thing, the relationship appears to be on the rocky side; and for another, she has not yet been able to get a work visa.  

 

Despite the latter, Ann goes off to another town a few hours by train away from where she lives to interview for a job at a Chinese restaurant whose boss is also originally from Hong Kong (and with whom she speaks in Cantonese -- which the film is primarily in though it also has Norwegian and English dialogue).  One wonders how much of this short film is drawn from Bobby Yu's life; this not least it turns out that she is yet another bi-national filmmaker (in her case, based in Hong Kong and Oslo).  In any event, her effort is an intimate feeling film that explores a number of issues that are simultaneously universal but also personal.             

Even if one were to not know it beforehand (as actually was the case for me), it's easy enough to guess upon viewing the first few minutes alone of Before the Box Gets Emptied that it's the winner of the Best Cinematography award.  Put another way: cinematographer Ho Sze-wai's award is well deserved.  And director-scriptwriter Ho Sze-wai also deserves the accolades that come from being the helmer of this year's Fresh Wave Award (top prize) winner.

 

Before the Box Gets Emptied tells the story of two young boys who are best friends.  Marco and Chris hang out together in playgrounds taking part in Beyblade battles, ride together on the light rail and on the waterfront of their home town of Tuen Mun.  Bemasked when outdoors, this is a film clearly set -- as well as shot -- during the pandemic.  And although politics is not explicitly discussed in the work, it also quite obviously has affected their lives; including by way of Chris' family deciding that it would be better for them to migrate to Australia.    

 

Before Chris departs, the boys make (more) memories; with seemingly mundane sights and activities taking on more value and meaning when it's realised they'll soon not be something that can be done in each other's company.  Watching them together, knowing that they soon will be parted, tears at the heart.  As does a melancholy Cantopop song with the kind of lyrics commenting on an uncertain future that can seem to speak to the audience (like was the case with Vital Sign, which I viewed earlier this year at the Hong Kong International Film Festival).

 

In many ways, Before the Box Gets Emptied feels the most local of the three films in this selection.  And yet, it also involves a major character leaving Hong Kong.  This tells you so much of the contemporary state of Hong Kong.  Long looked upon as a "borrowed place" with "borrowed time", it really can feel like this these days; even while the majority of its residents actually still remain and feel rooted to the admittedly imperfect place they call home, sometimes reluctantly.  

 

My ratings for the film: 9 for Al Niente + 8 for Lykke Til + 8.5 for Before the Box Gets Emptied = an 8.5 average

An enjoyable excursion to a revitalised Yim Tin Tsai (Photo-essay)

It's currently cold enough in Hong Kong that I'm wearing a Norwegian sweater (bought when I visited Norway and went on a Hurtigruten cruise back in 2015) and also thermal underwear!  And the temperatures are expected to drop further tomorrow before gradually rising to more comfortable levels once more next week.  The cold weather's also been accompanied by some rain in recent days.  So the friend I went with to Yim Tsin Tsai earlier this week and I count ourselves pretty lucky that the rain only started falling only at the tail end of our excursion to the Sai Kung area island that I had not been to since 2013.   

A lot has changed since my first visit to Yim Tin Tsai.  Among other things, the Occupy phase of the Umbrella Movement happened (in 2014), as did the anti-extradition bill protests of 2019 and China's imposition on a national security law on Hong Kong (on June 30th, 2020).  On a personal note: one of the friends I explored the island with back in 2013 is no longer in Hong Kong (and two others of our party of six that day are due to leave next month).  

Yim Tin Tsai has changed a bit too -- and, it seems, for the better.  For one thing, it doesn't seem to be abandoned anymore.  Also, the scene has been enlivened by such as its playing host to the Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival (which opened last month and scheduled to go on for three years) whose art installations and cheerful volunteers helped make a cool (temperature-wise) gray day actually enjoyable and metaphorically cool! 

 

View from the back of the boat that took us

 from Sai Kung over to Yim Tin Tsai

 

An early reminder that Yim Tin Tsai is a Christian

(particularly Catholic) settlement

 

The island's chapel (whose size I think of as more like 

that of a church) was closed when I previously visited

 

Happily, I was able to see the inside of St. Joseph's Chapel

this time around, and what an impressive interior it has!

 

Something else I was happy to see: that Yim Tin Tsai's 

salt pans have been resurrected

 

One of the cooler art installations: Joseph Chan's Water Dragon 

-- a (hu)man-powered dragon spine water wheel! 

 

Not an art installation but, instead, the doorway of

an old house that looks like people are planning to 

renovate and live in/re-use at some point in the near future

 

The boat that took my friend and I back to Sai Kung

(sans dog, who looked interested in going on it too) :)

Already thinking of June 4th despite it still being only May

  

A Tiananmen Square Massacre memorial that previously 

stood tall at  the University of Hong Kong, but no more

 

It's still only May (with the unseasonably cool weather making it feel more like April) but, already, thoughts have turned to June 4th.  This is thanks in part to a collaboration involving the Hong Kong Committee in Norway, Amnesty International Norway and Oslo Freedom Forum leading to the unveiling yesterday of a new "Pillar of Shame" in the courtyard of the University of Oslo’s Law faculty.   

 

For the record: the one that stood for decades at the University of Hong Kong was dismantled and is still hidden from view in a Hong Kong location; so the one erected yeterday is Norway is actually "just" a replica. Nonetheless, the sense is that this new Pillar of Shame will help to shine a light on the events of June 4th, 1989, in Beijing -- but, also, what's been happening in/to Hong Kong in recent years, including the efforts on the part of the authorities to extend the People's Republic of Amnesia to Hong Kong from Mainland China.

 

Speaking of the latter: the removal of sculptures, statues and other physical reminders of the Tiananmen Square Massacre have not satisfied the powers that be.  They've also imprisoned people who have expressed their determination to remember what happened on June 4th, 1989, like lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung -- the subject of a Wall Street Journal article just yesterday (go here to go behind its paywall) that pointed out, among other things, that: "Ms. Chow is serving two prison terms, totaling 22 months, for attending and inciting others to go to Tiananmen memorial vigils in 2020 and 2021, after city authorities banned the memorials citing pandemic restrictions. She is awaiting trial on a national security charge, for which she faces up to 10 years in jail, related to her work with the group that organized the annual commemoration."

 

Also from that article: "As the window for speaking out on the Tiananmen massacre is closing in Hong Kong, Ms. Chow has said that her will wouldn’t be broken by punishment. “You can even force me to shut up, but you can’t force me to utter what I do not believe,” she wrote from detention."

 

Speaking of Hong Kongers who the authorities are finding difficult to shut up: After attending court for the first time as a defendant on Tuesday, Cardinal Zen proceeded to host a mass to pray for Chinese churchest in the evening.  At the service attended by hundreds of Hong Kongers, the 90-year-old Cardinal also "dedicated prayers to churches in Myanmar led by Cardinal Bo, his most outspoken supporter in Asia, as well as “brothers and sisters who cannot join tonight because they are not free”".  And he also criticized the Vatican once again for an "unwise" deal it had made with the Chinese regime back in 2018 that is due for renewal in September. 

 

Fellow Catholic Chris Patten also touched on the wrongs wrought by the Vatican when it comes to China, including Hong Kong, in a recent piece entitled China's Cardinal Sins in Hong Kong, and noted that "Cardinal Zen’s real crime [in the eyes of the authorities in Hong Kong] is not only his regular defenses of religious freedom in China... but also his criticism of the #Vatican’s secret deals with the Chinese leadership"; deals that have tightened the Chinese Communist Party's grip on the Catholic Church in China, and now also Hong Kong.

 

Returning to the issue of the commemoration of June 4th: The Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office will not hold masses to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown this year, citing fears over the Beijing-imposed national security law.  Masses have traditionally been held on the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown at several of Hong Kong's Catholic churches but, sadly, it looks like the tradition may well have come to an end.

 

Another traditional June 4th event that will not be taking place this year is the once annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. From a Radio Free Asia article from yesterday: "The vigil has been banned -- ostensibly for public health reasons -- for the past two years and the leaders of its organizing group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, arrested for colluding with foreign powers under a national security law imposed by Beijing from July 1, 2020."  And this year, "The Ming Pao newspaper reported that the Leisure and Cultural Service Department (LCSD), which administers the Victoria Park soccer pitches where the rally used to take place, has suspended any bookings on June 4, the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen [Square] massacre, although bookings are available on other days in the same month."

 

But while there may be no public events commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Hong Kong, don't think that people in Hong Kong will not be thinking about what happened on June 4th, 1989, on June 4th, 2022.  In the same Radio Free Asia article, "You Weijie, spokeswoman for the Tiananmen Mothers victims' group said it was a shame that the event couldn't go ahead in Hong Kong, but said people wouldn't forget the date, nor the three decades of vigils that had already happened.  "The candlelight vigil in Victoria Park went on for more than 30 years, and is deeply rooted in the memories of everyone with a conscience," You told RFA. "It's part of the desire to live a free life.""

Politics intrude into -- and threaten -- my Movie Mecca

 

The still pretty new Golden Scene Cinema 

has seen better days than today

 

And ditto re the Hong Kong Polytechnic University

 

I was due to attend a screening of the cinematic offering that was the Hong Kong Film Critics Society's choice of Best (Hong Kong) Film of 2020 this evening.  But hours before the scheduled screening of the 2019 Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) siege documentary at the Golden Scene Cinema, the announcement came that screenings of Inside the Red Brick Wall in that commercial establishment would be cancelled in view of the "excessive attention" that the screenings had received in recent days.

 

In particular, the sustained criticisms it received from pro-Beijing mouthpiece Wen Wei Po over the past few days got people spooked.  And for those who are wont to criticize the organizers and cinema for pulling the screenings in view of this: bear in mind that we are now living in a Hong Kong where pro-democracy politician Sam Cheung was today denied bail -- even while three others (i.e., Kalvin Ho, Sze Tak-loy and Lee Yueshun) of the 47 charged with sedition under China's security law for Hong Kong for having taken part in pro-democracy elections last July were granted it -- because he was shown to have stated that “I f**king love Hong Kong” and “Drink more water", and these statements were deemed to be dangerous acts.

 

It probably didn't help that a number of top Beijing officials are currently in Hong Kong "to attend a seminar on changes to Hong Kong's electoral system" as it would make them -- and their lackeys in Hong Kong -- lose face to have a film like Inside the Red Brick Wall getting public screenings in a commercial establishment while they are in the territory.  Call it bad timing then for Inside the Red Brick Wall and those who decided some time back to have it screen as part of Hong Kong Film Critics Society screening series -- but good timing for the Beijingers who, by being here in Hong Kong today, have avoided the worst sandstorm to have swept over the Chinese capital in nearly a decade! 

In further Hong Kong-related cinematic news today: this year's Oscars nominations sees a couple with Hong Kong connections.  The territory's official nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscars has made the five film shortlist.  But while this normally would cause me to jump for joy, I'm not all that excited or happy about this as a result of Better Days being set in Mainland China, having Mainland Chinese leads and having the kind of ending and postscript that one would not see in bonafide Hong Kong movies of old. 

As for Do Not Split, the Best Documentary Short Subject nominee by Norwegian filmmaker Anders Hammer: I just don't think it's that good a film.  Yes, its visuals are arresting but its lack of context and explanation makes it feel more like protest porn than a genuinely informative documentary work.  (And for those who think I'm being overly harsh, consider this review which points out the following: "Hammer does not appear to have any significant background in China: his traditional field of operation is Afghanistan and the Middle East. The first time that Hong Kong appears in his Twitter feed is September 2019. From that perspective, he lacks the skill set and connections to do the conflict real justice.")  

 

Consequently, what should have been a banner day for Hong Kong cinema has turned out to be a sad one.  In summary: we've seen a Mainlandized film pass for a Hong Kong movie; and another film that doesn't really shed that much light on the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests get recognized even while one that local Hong Kong film critics appear to think so not be made available for the public to see for themselves and arrive at their own opinions.   

 

There's a great German film about an artist tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and East German regime called Never Look Away.  Here's the thing: plenty of Hong Kongers want to keep their eyes open and fixed on what's happening to their beloved city.  But more and more, it's being made difficult for people to do so, never mind be more than witnesses than Hong Kong's destruction and/or demise.  So even while they want to never look away (at the very least), it's getting more and more difficult to just plain see things clearly and free of impediments. :(   

Assorted musings on Human Rights Day 2020

Against the odds, things sometimes can look and feel

pretty normal still in Hong Kong

 

The fact of the matter is that, amidst it all, 

life still is going on...

 

In what can seem like another lifetime, I used to think that the front page news in Hong Kong often resembled that of a small town; this especially because there was so little violent crime (that single females felt completely safe being out and about after dark as well as in broad daylight, in alleys as well as on main thoroughfares) but, also, the political shennanigans that took place didn't seem to have such big effects on the territory (or be deemed all that (internationally) newsworthy).

 

Especially since last year, however, that is no longer the case.  Gone are the days when wild boar excursions would be the major talk of the town (even while they still definitely do venture out of their natural habitat to pay visits to the heart of the city!).  Heck, even the Wuhan coronavirus has been pushed out of the limelight by certain actions on the part of the Hong Kong police, judiciary or Carrie Lam this year.

This is not to say though the pandemic is not a concern of Hong Kongers.  Today saw yet another triple digit day of new daily cases: 112, to be precise; with the much-derided dancing and singing cluster up to 702 in the number of infected individuals that are part of it.  In addition, today saw the coming into effect of the latest round of social distancing restrictions which have upset many people, not least because they often seem less logical than geared towards penalizing businesses and regular folks as well as stamping out protests.

Compared to previous days (including the first two of this week and a good number last week), the past two have been relatively free of political upsets.  But it's really a measure of how much Hong Kong has changed -- and worse its political situation has become -- in recent months that it's not earth-shatteringly unexpected now for political activist Agnes Chow -- who, remember, had zero convictions before last week -- to get denied bail again (as happened yesterday), this time ahead of the hearing of her appeal against her 10 month jail term for her involvement in an anti-police brutality protest back in June 2019.  

The past couple of days also have seen Hong Kongers take time to pause for breath and do such as look back and question why Agnes Chow's compatriot, Joshua Wong, was singled out for the treatment meted out to him at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre prior to his actual conviction.  Sadly, however, we know that the worst is not yet over because, also in recent days, there have been rumblings of the Hong Kong government doing such as examining “loopholes” in the city’s laws against the spread of "misinformation".  

 

Actually, the fact of the matter is that the threat to Hong Kong will remain as long as China feels free to go about doing the things it's been doing for some years now.  Like enslaving a good number of its own people.  (Pretty ironic for a country whose national anthem tells folks to "Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves", right?)    

 

Looking across the still existing Hong Kong-Mainland Chinese border: Ahead of Human Rights Day (i.e., today), Mainland Chinese human rights lawyers and their families were prevented from venturing out of their homes.  There also has been disturbing news about a citizen journalist who reported about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and has since been detained for over six months now in a Shanghai facility.  More specifically, while staging a hunger strike, she has had a feeding tube forcibly inserted and her arms restrained to stop her pulling it out.  Truly, as was stated in The Guardian piece reporting this: "The Chinese government’s crackdown on activists, dissidents, and human rights works appears to have worsened this year."  

 

At the same time, it's not like they have not been acting badly for years now.  After all, it's ten years to the day that Liu Xiaobo was not able to be present at the ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded.  With his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest in addition to his being in prison at the time, Liu Xiaobo's prize was placed on an empty chair in Oslo's city hall -- for the first time since 1936, when the German journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky was stopped by Nazi authorities from travelling to the Norwegian city.

 

Seven years later, Liu Xiaobo died while under guard at a hospital in north-east China, making him the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in custody since von Ossietzky died in a Nazi concentration camp.  Back on July 13th, 2017, I didn't imagine that just a few years later, Hong Kong would have political prisoners of its own.  Touch wood that they will stay well and emerge out of prison to glory a la Nelson Mandela -- though pretty please don't let any of them have to spend even one tenth of the amount of the time (27 years!) behind bars that he did!

Positively reacting to snowy sights in Spain this past May!

Snow on the mountains visible from Madrid's Palacio Real!

 

 Lots of snow visible too on the Sierra Nevada range when viewed 

from atop the Alcazaba's main tower at Granada's Alhambra

 

Still more snow visible on the peaks of mountains -- 

this time from a viewpoint by Segovia's Roman Aqueduct 

 

Growing up, as I did, as a small child in a country situated very close to the Equator, the closest thing to snow that I saw or touched in real life was the frost in the freezer section of the refrigerator.  Little did I know then that there would come a time in my life when I would see snow so regularly and in such great quantities that I would get sick and tired of seeing that cold white stuff and decide that if I never ever saw snow again, that would be fine by me.   For as it turned out, I ended up spending four years attending college in a part of the US known to many as "the Siberia of America", where winter comes with the Halloween Ghost and leaves with the Easter Bunny!  

 

The first winter that I was in Wisconsin, I was happy and excited when the first snow fell.  But it kept on snowing and snowing and snowing for a number of months.  And long before spring finally came along, I not only got fed up of seeing so much the cold, white stuff on the ground and roofs of buildings and such but also being asked whether I was happy and/or excited at the sight of the snow.  (With regards to the latter: I took to responding in a world-weary tone: "No, because I'm an Eskimo"; which apparently was so convincing that it prompted many of the questioners to apologize for having mistaken me for, well, someone from warmer climes who wasn't used to seeing snow!)

After garduating from Beloit and moving to Philadelphia, I continued to see snow regularly each winter.  And while there was far less of it in that part of the country, the authorities seemed to be far less able to deal with it -- with the result that roads were often more hazardous in winter and the snow often didn't get cleared for days and, consequently, often turned gray with dirt or yellow as a result of many a dog in the neighborhood getting walked out to pee on it!

So it suited me perfectly fine that for some 11 years after I left Philadelphia, snow was confined once again to paintings and the silver or small screen.  But on a visit to Shirakawa-go in May 2014, I caught sight of white-capped mountains and one year later, found myself unexpectedly walking once again on the wet, white stuff on a visit to Norway in June 2015.  Since then, I also have had snow fall on me while on transit at Munich airport one January evening in 2016, got to gaze at a beautifully snow-topped Mount Fuji in the fall of that year and trudged through quite a bit of snow in Hikone this past January! 

 

In Spain this past May, I found myself viewing snow-capped mountains on a number of occasions, one of which happened to be the Old World's Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Rather than be alarmed or annoyed by those snowy sights, I found them to be pleasingly picturesque.  Consequently, I've now amended my "not ever wanting to see snow again" stance to one where I do think it rather pleasant to catch sight of the white stuff every once in a while, albeit from a distance, and without having to set foot on it and feel the icy cold temperatures that are required for it to stay for a time on the ground. ;b

Flying dreams and paragliding realities

Paragliders at play in Hong Kong!

 

Getting ready to take off and fly away :b

 

Whether from up close or less so, 

it all looks really awesome to me! :)

 

Have you ever wished you could fly up in the air, as free as a bird, particularly those that look like they're effortlessly and majestically gliding about?  I figure I must have since one of the recurring dreams I've had over the years involves me doing just like that; and yes, I've always felt really relaxed and happy during those experiences and for a time after I wake up the morning after!

 

Ironically, in real life, I've come to realize over the course of hiking along narrow paths on the sides many a high hill and steep mountain that I am acrophobic and therefore probably would not enjoy being floating high up in the air in real life.  Thus I've never attempted doing any of the following which seemed like they could be a lot of fun in theory but would in all likelihood cause me great terror in reality: hang gliding (something which I longed to do as a kid after watching -- and loving -- the action adventure movie, Sky Riders, but have never dared to do as an adult); bungee jumping; parachuting; and paragliding.

 

Although I haven't witnessed anyone attempting those first three live, I've seen quite a few paragliders flying about in the air since moving to Hong Kong close to 10 years ago now as well as when visiting Bergen's Mount Ulriken one beautiful spring day in Norway and also the sand dunes of Tottori.  And I must say that every time, those extreme sports enthusiasts leave me in awe at their daredevil ways but also how beautiful their actions look. 

 

Here in Big Lychee, the top three spots for paragliders to jump off appear to be Hong Kong Island's Dragon's Back, Lantau Island's Sunset Peak, and the Ngong Ping plateau that's located within Ma On Shan Country Park (as opposed to the one on Lantau that's home to the Big Buddha).  And it was on Ma On Shan Country Park's Ngong Ping plateau that I've been most able to get my closest views of  these intrepid souls doing their thing.

In fact, so close was I to the action that early on I worried that a paraglider would accidentally land on me!  But the more I stayed in the area and observed these people in action, the more I got to realizing how in control they really can be; with one particularly expert paraglider looking to be practicing his landing and being able to fly off and then land again and again on the precise spot that he had chosen to do... which, of course, left me feeling all the more awed at these individuals' skill as well as admiring of their overall daring! :b

Meditations on cruise ships and their impact

The kind of cruise ship that's hard to miss!

The Ovation of the Seas dwarfs most other cruise ships I've seen 

to date, and much of its surroundings when docked at Penang's port!

As astounding a sight to me was that there were not one 

but three cruise ships in port in Penang that day :O

You know a cruise ship is big when it can get mistaken for an apartment building.  And while it's true enough that the error occured when it was viewed from a distance and partially obscured by existing structures, it's also the case that the vessel in question spotted docked at Penang's Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal last week happens to be the sixth largest cruise ship currently in existence!

With a maximum capacity of 4,905 passengers (and goodness know how many crew members), the Ovation of the Seas is, the kind of mega cruise ship I'd expect to see visiting Hong Kong -- the most visited city in the world -- but not so much Penang, where tourism is a big deal but still not that mega as far as overall numbers go.  So imagine my amazement when I saw that Royal Caribbean vessel in port in Penang that day and also two other cruise ships at the same time!

If truth be told, I hadn't realized that my home state had the port facilities to deal with such a mega cruise ship.  In addition, while I can see certain government officials -- particularly those who think big is better and that anything record-breaking would be a good thing -- would welcome cruise ships docking in droves in Penang, one only has to see the recent furor over the prospect of some 10,000 cruise ship passengers visiting Penang in a single day to realize that this is not something that all the locals are ecstatic about.

Back in the summer of 2015, my mother and I enjoyed cruising about the Norwegian coast on the Hurtigruten's MS Richard With.  But I truly believe that one big reason why we had such a great time in Norway was because that vessel was not a mega cruise ship (or, for that matter, a conventional cruise ship featuring all manner of bells and whistles in terms of facilities).  

Because the MS Richard With is not a super size ship, it could sail into fjords like the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Geirangerfjord and even narrower Trollfjord (where it was actually able to admirably execute an 180 degree turn) that larger vessels could not.  Consequently, the likes of my mother and I got to see far more amazing scenery than if we had been on a bigger cruise ship, like quite a few of those we saw in Norway and heaved a sigh of relief that we were not passengers on.  

Something else I noticed while in Norway was that certain smaller towns that the MS Richard With docked at would feel way too overwhelmed by a larger number of visitors suddenly descending upon them in more or less one fell swoop.  All in all, I could imagine locals getting stressed out, including those assigned to service the visitors, and the visitors also coming away feeling with a less than optimal touristic experience courtesy, among other things, of the town they were visiting ending up having more tourists than locals at the time of their visit!

Going even further back in time: decades ago when I was living in Zanzibar, a senior government official told me that while they were happy that cruise lines were putting this storied Indian Ocean isle on their itinerary, it was imperative that they made it so that passengers of cruise ships docking at its port would have time -- and consider it worth their time -- to venture further away from the port area than they thus far had been doing.  More specifically, he said that for it to be worth Zanzibar's while to host those cruise ships, the passengers needed to be visiting, dining out at and otherwise patronizing more local than foreign-run establishments.  Otherwise, Zanzibaris would only have the hassle that came with the increased traffic and such but not the benefits.

I often have thought about that wise Zanzibar official's words when contemplating many a regular Hong Konger's dislike of, and disdain for, the millions of visitors from Mainland China that pour into the Fragrant Harbour annually.  And I definitely hope that tourist arrivals in Penang can be handled more responsibly and intelligently than it observably has been in Hong Kong.  In the latter case, I think spacing out cruise ship visits would be a step in the right direction.  Otherwise, as we have seen too often, too much of a good thing can make it become unpopular, unwanted, despised and just outright bad. :S