From Boa Vista Hill to Wong Nai Chung Gap (photo-essay)

A Hong Konger friend whose main reason for checking out my blog is to see where else she might like to go and hike -- and knew that my Ho Pui Reservoir hike took place back in March recently was shocked to discover that I am so behind in my hiking photo-essays. I think I shocked her further when I told her that I'm spacing out my hiking photo-essays because some other people I know don't care much for them.

In any case, for people like her (who have yet to post a comment on this blog, mind! ;b ), here's yet another hiking photo-essay -- this time, a continuation of the last of three hikes I went on in March of this year; and, for the record (and yes, I'm counting and recording in a hiking diary!), hike #34 since I moved to Hong Kong in May 2007:-

Starting again where I left off: with some more
interesting flowers that I can't identify! ;(

Yep, you guessed it --
I have no clue what this plant's s name is
(and, before this hike, I had no idea that it existed
anywhere in this world, never mind Hong Kong!)

At least I know what's in this picture:
i.e., Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir, Red Hill and Kwai Shan
on a misty afternoon

Creeper plants adorning a slope

The mist covers the tops of some of the hills
around Tai Tam Upper Reservoir

No, I don't know either what that boat
was doing on Tai Tam Upper Reservoir!

Yes, landslides can happen and their after-effects
can make for quite the dramatic sight

Pretty much at hike's end: the half-obscured sight
of the luxury Parkview residential complex shows
that we never were able to completely outrun
the mist that descended midway through
this nonetheless enjoyable hike!

Scary bugs!

Some of the scary bugs spotted while out hiking
in Aberdeen Country Park two Sundays ago

One of many large spiders seen on
an August hike in Tai Lam Country Park

I've seen some scary critters, including bugs as well as wild dogs, monkeys and snakes, while out hiking in Hong Kong. However, nothing is quite as scary to me as bugs that cause my precious computer to malfunction and even appear to outright cease functioning -- like it did last night.

Fortunately (and touch wood!), things seem okay again thanks to the wonders of "system restore", with a minimal amount of data lost. So this blog will return to "regular programming" soon. Still, I'd like to know -- and am scared by the lack of knowledge regarding -- what caused my computer to go (temporarily) bad on me.

Was it a glitch in the system, a virus or some other bug -- or did this summer's spate of very hot days cause my computer to overheat over time? I wish I knew so I could prevent that scary turn of events from taking place again in the future. Instead, all I know is that I actually think that computer bugs are scarier than nature's bugs -- even those whose very sight alone can cause me to feel pretty creeped out! :S

Twisted (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

I'm not sure about the rest of you but I reckon this was one of the more difficult Photo Hunt themes to contend with; and especially if one doesn't take twisted merely to be the past tense of twist. (Check out the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary's single definition of the word!)

As you can see, I've gone with more benign interpretations of the word and theme. But because of this, I worry somewhat that the bridge that I photographed at Macau's Lou Lim Ieoc Garden is more crooked than twisted, and that the Shaolin kung fu monk pictured taking part in a kung fu demonstration held here in Hong Kong has bent rather than outright twisted the metal spears thrust onto his body by others.

So... what's your verdict? At the very least, I hope you'll deem them interesting photos that you have no regret coming over to view!

B-day musings

Who knows where
one's path in life will lead?

All I know is that I currently live
in a beautiful part of the world...

...and one good way of being grateful

for this state of affairs is to go about
appreciating and enjoying it as much as I can :)

Many years ago, an uncle memorably teased me about my then being at an age whereby I was too old for pigtails but too young for cocktails. Well, I am definitely old enough for cocktails (including my favorite vodka martini -- with olives in the mix for added flavor) now, thank you very much! And, in fact, I even am getting fairly comfortable with being labeled middle-aged these days (although -- no lie! -- as late as a year ago, a friend of friend mistook me for a student still!).

Also, unlike on my 21st and 30th birthdays, I have long passed feeling upset about hitting a landmark age and not having achieved what I had wished to have done by that stage in my life. In fact, I tend to no longer set goals for myself that have to be achieved by X date or Y year. And so much so that when such as prospective employers ask me "Where do you see yourself in five years?", I tell them honestly that I tend to not so much aim to be at a certain place within that particular period of time but, instead, evaluate where I am every six months or so and if I am happy enough with where I am, I stay on the same course, and if not, go about making the adjustments and changes I think are necessary at that point in time.

Moreover, right now as I write this, I still have no idea what I am going to do in the next few hours, only that I. Will. Not. Be. Working. Today -- having taken the day off on account of it being my birthday.

(At the same time though, I do know already at this point that I'm supposed to meet some friends for Peking Duck dinner this evening, attend a dance show tomorrow evening (with a friend in tow), then watch an Arsenal game with other friends later that evening, take in a screening of Clara Law's Floating Life on Sunday and attend a preview of a much-anticipated film on Tuesday evening (with still other friends)! But beyond that... and having to return to work on Monday... ;b )

To be sure, I am not so egoistical as to think the world does or even should revolve around me. And I try to pay my dues and be tolerant to a certain extent about things (and people!) I don't like because, well, life and the world can't be perfect however much one would like it to be. Furthermore, I try to not take advantage of others even while I do go about taking advantage of what I have and has been bestowed on me by fate, family, friends and others. In other words, I seek to pursue life and the enjoyment of it -- and in such a way that my doing so doesn't mean that others aren't able to do so too!

Upside-Down (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

It seems like someone was being too clever for his or her own good. No, I'm not referring to tnchick and her choice of theme for this week's Photo Hunt! Rather, I'm referring to the bright spark who decided that the best way to indicate that the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail -- out near Fanling in the northern section of Hong Kong's New Territories -- continued on both sides of a road was to place one of the pink directional signs upside-down and another right-side-up!

Alternatively, the second photo's upside-down effect is down more to an optical illusion: that is, I took of the photo of two skyscrapers' reflections on a shiny glass surface of the side of a stairway leading up from the tramstop close to the upscale Pacific Place complex in Admiralty. (As an aside, I took that photo more than one and half years ago but never had a chance to use it until now -- one of the reasons why I enjoy Photo Hunting so -- along with getting to see what others come up for a meme theme too, of course! ;b )

From Quarry Bay to Boa Vista Hill (photo-essay)

The week after heading deep into the heart of the New Territories to Ho Pui, I went back to hiking on Hong Kong Island. Although some will assume otherwise, this hike -- that started just off King's Road, close to the Quarry Bay MTR station, and ended up in Wong Nai Chung Gap via Quarry Gap (AKA Tai Fung Au), Boa Vista Hill and other parts of Tai Tam Country Park -- actually was tougher than the one that my mother and I went on in the New Territories.

As a matter of fact, even though it really was not a supremely hard hike, our original party of five diminished to just two fairly early on when the three 20-something-year-old locals in our group experienced difficulty even ascending up to Quarry Gap along the paved but admittedly fairly steep Mount Parker Road! And while this probably says more about their lack of fitness, a general lesson to be learned from this is that hiking in Hong Kong, even on Hong Kong Island, isn't necessarily something one should do with scant preparation.

Alternatively, the flip side to this are the great vistas and natural sights to be seen even without having to go all that far away from "civilisation". And if nothing else, I hope that the following photos will help people appreciate that -- and be attracted to go on a hike in Hong Kong some time themselves!

Early on as one ascends up Mount Parker Road,
the views to be had are more urban than country

Still, one is already sufficiently among nature
to catch sights of flowers like these

Signs inform us that what are hiking paths now,
the invading Japanese army used to pursue
retreating British troops and their allies in the
Battle of Hong Kong that lasted less
than a month in total in December, 1941

A greener view than before
from higher up along Mount Parker Road

Shortly after we got off the paved road,
it became somewhat scarily misty

For a time, there was also a bit of a worry
that the heavens would burst and rain on us

But there were so many interesting sights
to be seen along the way that my hike companion and I
soon couldn't help but enjoy the hike and moment,
and feel considerably de-stressed by it all!

Are these flowers we spotted half way along the hike
red azaleas? Whatever their name,
they sure are stunning, don't you think? :)

(And yes, you read right -- this photo-essay only takes one half way through the hike, with more beauty and photographs to come... ;b )

In the wake of Koppu

Even a shrine is not immune from nature's wrath

An even more dramatic demonstration of
Typhoon Koppu's strength

Earlier this week, Typhoon Koppu blew into Hong Kong. By the time it blew out of Hong Kong less than 24 hours later, it had left a fair amount of damage in its wake. Although the typhoon signal "only" went up to 8 with Koppu, I swear that its winds were stronger than an earlier typhoon this summer which went all the way up to 9 in the middle of the night but which I nonetheless slept right through.

This time around, however, I couldn't sleep completely easily -- not least because the glass door between my bedroom and balcony rattled quite a bit throughout the night. It also didn't help that the typhoon threatened to disrupt what usually is my busiest work day of the week -- and, in fact, when I went to work that day (yesterday), it actually still was officially Typhoon Signal Number 8 (only the Hong Kong Observatory also issued reports that the typhoon would be downgraded later in the morning -- and in fact was).

On the walk to meet my shuttle bus, I saw such sights as heavy bus stop signs strewn about like they had been knocked out by a super-strength boxer and at least one small shrine wrenched out of its place and blown several feet away. On the bus ride to work, more evidence could be found that the typhoon had had quite the effect on huge swathes of Hong Kong.

All in all, if any reminding was needed, it goes to show how powerful nature can be and how humans really should not risk its wrath. And yet people continue to live where nature can threaten and contribute to such as global warming -- which, among other things, may well have a hand in making typhoons and hurricanes that much worse. Something to think about; especially in a summer that has seen its share of Typhoon 8s and above along with lots of "very hot" days here in Hong Kong and beyond (be it Paris, Portland or elsewhere entirely)... :S