Clear Water Bay Country Park hike

Last weekend, I went on a hike (in northeast Hong Kong) with my mother on which we crossed paths with more than our fair share of roaming cows and wild dogs. After our encounter with four of the latter (which fortunately was resolved with the kind help of an elderly gentleman who appeared from seemingly out of the blue to walk with us through the section that he told us the pack of wild dogs liked to frequent), I got to telling my mother about a hike I had taken earlier in the year in which my hiking companion and I encountered some other wild dogs as we were descending a steep hill...

As can be imagined, that experience brought about not only a major adrenaline rush through our veins but, also, there being no photographs taken by me during the majority of our descent down the hill that was the last leg of a combined hike in Clear Water Bay Country Park that started off with the easy 1.55 kilometer long Clear Water Bay Tree Walk, then moved on to the more challenging Lung Ha Wan Country Trail that may be only 2.3 kilometers in length but involved going up and down the 291 meter high Tai Leng Tung -- from where, as I hope this photo essay will show, beautiful views are to be had...

Tai Leng Tung viewed from close to sea-level

Before ascending that hill (mountain?) though,
we took time to gaze out to sea

...and also ponder why portions of
the Clear Water Bay Tree Walk
seemed to be a graveyard for kites!

That mystery was resolved when
we rounded a corner and discovered
a designated Kite Flying Site nearby! ;b

Warm up over, time to tackle that hill!

One of my mantras when tackling a tough ascent:
"the view had better be worth it"
-- well, I think this one was! :)

Same with this!

The descent that awaited us from the top --
a bit formidable even minus the wild dogs factor
(and since we encountered them shortly after
this photo was taken, thus endeth this photo-essay!)

Coming soon?

Spotted at the Broadway Cinematheque when
I went to re-watch The Way We Are --
currently getting a second run -- earlier this evening)

For those still keeping tabs of the "when will Ashes of Time Redux get an actual theatrical run in Hong Kong?" saga: Maybe, finally, it's going to happen at long last! Except that as of this evening, I still have yet to see confirmation of this happening on the Broadway Circuit website!

Bleeeh!!! Because I have to say that the way things have been shaping up, it really is hard for my viewing of this work to be anything but anti-climactic. Also, will I ever get to see the poster of the film in which Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia prominently figures see the light of the day here in Hong Kong? Here's wishing even while not feeling that one can hold out much hope for that prospect... :S

ln Memory (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Yesterday, Hong Kong lifted its week-long quarantine at the Metropark Hotel in Wan Chai where a Mexican swine flu patient had stayed. Even with -- touch wood -- no one else infected by that single patient here in Hong Kong, the fear and caution, even paranoia, over swine flu that has overcome much of the populace here is understandable: Hong Kong is considered SARS' "ground zero", after all.

The Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic -- which struck in 2003 -- had a 17% fatality rate in Hong Kong, killing 368 people, many of them health care workers. In memory of them, there was erected a Fighting SARS Memorial in the Tai Chi Garden of Hong Kong Park, one of the city's centrally located green lungs.

However beautiful it is, let's hope that that memorial won't need to have a companion any time soon... So, my message this week to my fellow Photo Hunt participants (and other visitors to this blog): Stay healthy wherever you are, people!

Pinewood Battery and other Morning Trail sights (photo-essay)

At the end of the last photo-essay before this one, I promised that I'd put up some photos I took of the Pinewood Battery. Before doing so here though, here's first quoting some of what local historian Jason Wordie had to say about this former military site in his Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island (Hong Kong University Press, 2002:95):-

Construction of a gun battery started on [a] remote hillside west of Lugard Road commenced in 1903, but in 1910 the emplacement was designated surplus to requirements and the guns removed. After standing abandoned for over a decade, it was reactivated in the mid-1920s as an anti-aircraft emplacement. After being bombed and badly damaged in the early stage of the Japanese attack on Hong Kong it was abandoned, and never refortified after the [Second World W]ar.

Literally within walking distance
of millionaires' mansions on The ritzy Peak
lie the ruins of a military installation

Previously a military site, the Pinewood Battery
now is located within Lung Fu Shan Country Park

If these walls could talk...?

Some of the walls still have
camouflouge paint on them

Other sections of the complex have been
reclaimed by nature and now wear natural green

Really back to nature:
the flowers of a wax tree (AKA wild sumac)

Still, the city really never was all that far away
(N.B. Click on the picture to enlarge it to
better see how busy Victoria Harbour is!)

Near the Mid-Levels end of the Morning Trail
lies another historical item: a stone
boundary marker for the old City of Victoria

Pre-hike meal at Tak Cheong Noodle

A bowl of fish ball noodle soup that costs
less than HK$20 (around US$2.50)

Kau choi faa with oyster sauce to dip into
-- simple but oh so delicious
at around HK$15 (less than US$2) a plate

The piece de resistance - fried fish skin
that's crunchy until dipped into soup! ;)

Earlier today, I went on my first hike in over a month. (And for those who wonder -- yes, it was pretty enjoyable, even if this afternoon's temperature was a little higher than I'd have liked!)

As I dug into my simple but still pretty tasty pre-hike meal at Tak Cheong Noodle, a small noodle shop that got written up last month in England's The Guardian, I got to remembering that when I visited for another pre-hike meal a couple of months ago, I had taken some photos of what I ate for the edification of the foodies among this blog's visitors.

Among the things I'd like my pre-hike meal to be is: substantial, yet not too heavy; and flavorful but not spicy -- as I find that a spicy pre-sporty activity meal can result in my unpleasantly feeling like the spices are coming through my pores along with the sweat!.

As far as I'm concerned, the meals at Tak Cheong are just the delicious ticket. So much so that I'm quite happy to go a little bit out of my way to stoke up at this Tin Hau area budget eatery before heading out to some other part of Hong Kong to start my hike proper. :)

Walking (addendum)

Even in Hong Kong, it's not every day
that one sees a lion dance troupe's members
casually strolling in front of a tram

Rather it's only on Tam Kung's Birthday that
lion, dragon and unicorn dancers have the
right of way on the streets along with such as trams!

Attention visiting Photo Hunters: this is not my Photo Hunt entry for this week. (For that, look one entry below.) Rather, I just spent the greater part of this beautifully sunny afternoon checking out this year's edition of the Tam Kung's Birthday parade over in Shau Kei Wan and can't resist sharing a couple of walking-themed photos taken while attending it. Like them? Hope so! :)

Walking (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Remember to bring your walking shoes should you come over to Hong Kong. Or, at least, shoes that are good for walking a lot in -- even if you don't plan to go hiking out in its 24 country parks or many largely rural outer islands (e.g., Tung Lung Chau, Tap Mun, Cheung Chau and Lamma) where cars are not allowed and there aren't too many roads on which they could be driven anyways.

For as you can see from this week's Photo Hunt photo selection above, there are streets -- notably Ladder Street (top-most photo) and Pottinger Street (bottom photo) -- right in the heart of urban Hong Kong that also are far better suited for walking rather than driving on. (And should any Hong Kong movie buff living overseas wonder, yes, Pottinger Street is indeed a street that features in quite a few movies from this part of the world (e.g., Johnnie To's Sparrow)!)