Back in Hong Kong and online once more! :)

Guess where I spent Christmas 2015 

and New Year's Day 2016...

A hint: it's a city where canals and bicycles abound! ;b

Kudos to those of you who correctly guessed Amsterdam! :)

Happy New Year to this blog's readers, especially the regulars (regardless of whether you reveal yourself on the comments threads or not) among you!  My apologies for not having posted for over two weeks -- but I've been travelling and, as is my wont when doing so, not spending all that much time in front of a computer and remain one of those people who feel able to get around and by without a smartphone. 

For the first time since 2009, I was away from Hong Kong over the Christmas period.  And for what may well be the first time since I moved to the Big Lychee, I rang in the new year in another part of the world from it.  Specifically, I just returned from spending the tail end of 2015 and the first couple of days of 2016 in what the Western European country popularly known as Holland and, actually, more correctly as the Netherlands.

A good chunk of my time in the Netherlands was spent in Amsterdam, the country's capital and most populous city (which actually is smaller than I thought -- with a population of less than 1 million people in the city proper).  I also managed to spend a day in The Hague, and a half day strolling about Haarlem, and am happy I did so because these other cities were noticeably different in many ways from Amsterdam; consequently, I felt like I got a more balanced picture of the Netherlands than if I had just remained in the exuberant multi-ethnic city that felt to me like New York City to the rest of the USA, and London to the rest of England/Britain.

If truth be told, this was not the time of the year that I considered ideal to visit the Netherlands -- and I definitely would not have opted to do so if I visited on my own.  But my German friend (who I had visited in Germany in December 2014  and also went with to Luxembourg) had asked me to consider going to Amsterdam over the holiday period as she'd then be able to meet up with me there.  And, as it so happened, it turned out that my going over to Europe this time of the year also meant that I was able to meet up with one other good friend -- who I had last hung out with in 2002, when we were both living in Philadelphia!

One reason why this was not the time I'd pick to go to Europe is that I'm not a big fan of wintry weather.  As I had jokingly told my German friend when I visited her in Germany in the last month of 2014, there was a possibility that I'd burst into tears if I were to catch sight of snow.  As it turned out, it didn't snow during that German visit -- and it was rain rather than its colder, whiter cousin that dampen the spiris on this trip to the Netherlands.

But on my way back to Hong Kong, I did have a bit of snow fall on me in Munich -- where the plane I had taken from Amsterdam had been one of those smaller aircraft that could not be connected to the airport's air bridges, and the plane for my connecting flight had to be de-iced before it could take off!  Still, just like I actually didn't cry when beholding surprisingly large amounts of snow in Norway last June, I did manage to hold back the tears at the snowy sights.  Now if my flight had been delayed or cancelled, it may have been a different matter -- though, come to think of it, I wouldn't mind spending one day or night in beery Munich, with or sans the white stuff... ;b 

A Tai Tam Country Park winter hike

In sub-tropical Hong Kong, flowers continue to bloom in winter

 

Winter is prime birdwatching season in Hong Kong

 

When the reservoir waters are low and calm, 

cool reflections abound!

 

This afternoon, I went on yet one more hike in Tai Tam Country Park.  The most convenient of Hong Kong's country parks to get to (since its northern boundary is within walking distance of not just one but actually two MTR stations!), it also has a number of scenic sections along with hills from which one can get splendid views such as Violet Hill (with its three peaks), The Twins, Jardine's Lookout, Mount Butler and Siu Ma Shan.   

 

One of my favorite of Hong Kong's country parks, each hike there yields what I have come to look upon as comfortingly familiar sights but also something new, or at least different -- be it a new critter or flower spotting, or yet one more section of trail to go on for the first time.  For example, this afternoon, I finally made my way to a pavilion up on a ridge that I had seen many times before but had taken a while to figure out how to get to!

 

Unlike the previous time that I had ventured into the largest country park on Hong Kong Island, I didn't spot any truly interesting critters -- which is to be expected now that winter's finally arrived in the Big Lychee this year.  But as an American friend who moved to Hong Kong only a few months ago has happily observed, one can see flowers blooming here in fall and winter rather than just spring and summer!  

 

What with it being on the rainy side when I began today's hike, I opted against going up any of Tai Tam Country Park's higher hills.  Instead, after getting up to Quarry Gap (AKA Tai Fung Au, which means "Big Wind Gap" in Cantonese) from King's Road via Mount Parker Road, I walked down to the Tai Tam Reservoirs, which are pretty much guaranteed to offer up gorgeous scenery at just about any time of the year.   

 

And so it proved, with the bonus of their low waters allowing more sections of such as the masonry bridges that are among the featured structures of the Tai Tam Waterworks Heritage Trail to show than usual, and the reservoirs' calm surfaces able to reflect quite a bit of the surrounding scenery. :)

Antony Gormley's sculptures of naked men don't get the reaction he hoped for in Hong Kong

Thanks to Antony Gormley, Statue Square is home to more 

than just one statue again -- at least until May 18th, 2016

 

An iPhone seller positions his wares and himself

next to one of Antony Gormley's naked man sculptures

 

For over a month now, Hong Kong has played to host to Antony Gormley's Event Horizon, a public art installion consisting of 31 sculptures of naked, anatomically correct men erected (no pun intended!) on top of buildings and at street level across a one kilometer stretch in the heart of Hong Kong's Central District.

 

In the first few weeks after the art works were installed in Hong Kong, the police received several phone calls from members of the public who had mistaken the statues they had seen atop buildings as people contemplating suicide by jumping to their deaths.  But while there are some who may dismiss these reactions as a sign that Hong Kongers lack cultural sophistication, I actually sympathize with those individuals who mistook the statues for suicidal people -- and, if anything, question the cultural sensitivity of those who went ahead and brought this foreign art installation, probably at great financial expense, over to this part of the world.

 

In addition, for all of Antony Gormley's lofty views with regards to this particular art installation, I am inclined to think that his representations of naked men have not had the impact here in Hong Kong that he had sought.  For one thing, despite it being his stated intention being "to get the sculptures as visible as possible against the sky", I actually don't think that they're all that immediately visible.  In fact, despite my knowing of their existence, I still have failed to spot a single one of those statues located on the roofs of buildings!

 

And while I have noticed those of his statues installed at street level, I also have noticed that many of  the people passing by them haven't exactly been moved to "re-assess our own position in the world".  Rather, they've become something to merely gawk at or photograph, and provoke discussions like -- and, I swear, I really did hear this earlier today -- "That looks like a circumcised penis to me", "Are you sure?",  "Yes, absolutely"!" at best; or end up blending into the landscape and get plain ignored at best.

 

Even while I appreciate the efforts of those intent on bringing art to Hong Kong, I wonder whether they would do better -- and Hong Kong be better served -- if they were to work to encourage, cultivate and nurture the local artistic talent that does exist.  Either that or bring art that connects more and better with Hong Kongers rather than be so foreign that they actually alarm or, maybe worse, are met with apathy.

A good section of Sai Kung West Country Park to hike in the company of others

 The kind of place where and time of the year when it'd be 

good to know that there's a manned fire lookout in the area

The fire lookout atop Lo Fu Kei Shek

Signposted but not accessible to the public, it seems :(

On the sunny winter day that two friends and I went up the Sai Kung Peninsula's highest spur, we also had intended to go to the fire lookout at the top of nearby Lo Fu Kei Shek.  On paper, it shouldn't have been a problem.  For one thing, 255-meter-high Lo Fu Kei Shek is 226 meters lower than 481-meter-high Shek Uk Shan.  And in fact, we were approaching the lower hill from the higher one as we made our way down to Hoi Ha Road. 

But as our party of three made our way through thick underbrush from Shek Uk Shan towards Lo Fu Kei Shek and beyond on one of those trails designated difficult, indistinct or seasonally overgrown on Hong Kong Countryside Maps, we got rather worn out from fighting our way through tall foliage and also making sure to tread carefully down an at times steeply descending path.  And after making it to Lo Fu Kei Shek, we found "road closed" signs indicating that the trail to the fire lookout on the map was no longer open to the public/considered safe to go along.    

I must admit that part of me did want to go up to the fire lookout as, from experience, I know that the hilltops where these facilities are located offer up grand, panoramic vistas.  At the same time though, that knowledge was not enough to make me want to go along a road that had been declared closed for, I figured, a good reason.  Also, the road looked to be leading uphill quite a bit -- and at that point in the hike, I preferred to make for the nearest green minibus stop and, from there, a place where I could get something to eat and drink!

While having dinner an hour or so later, my friends and I reflected on our hike and decided it was a pretty good one, even if there had been a few hairy moments and we all had some scratches to show for it.  Thinking back to the grand views that we had on Shek Uk Shan and quite a few other points along the hike, we pronounced ourselves surprised that we hadn't seen any other hikers after we went past Cheung Sheung Plateau.     

After getting home, I decided to research Shek Uk Shan and Lo Fu Kei Shek some more, and found a blog post telling of a young policeman's disappearance in the area (that's possibly related to this archived story) and a news story of a different hiker having died near Lo Fu Kei Shek.  It's possible that these incidents have warned off those hikers with long memories, superstitious inclinations or both from this part of Sai Kung West Country Park.  If so, I have to say that it's quite a pity as it's really a visually stunning area; one that's worth hiking through, in the company of others, along those sections of trail that are marked on the map and still accessible to the public.

The Vanished Murderer is an unnecessary film sequel (Film review)

How many prisoners obsessed over going over, through 

or under these prison walls in central Hong Kong?

 

The Vanished Murderer (Mainland China-Hong Kong, 2015)

- Lo Chi Leung, director and co-scriptwriter (with Yeung Sin Ling)

- Starring: Lau Ching Wan, Gordon Lam Ka Tung, Guo Xiaodong, Jiang Yiyan, Li Xiaolu, Rhydian Vaughan

 

Director Lo Chi Leung's filmography includes a children's fantasy romantic comedy in 2005's Bug Me Not! but I think it safe to say that crime-suspense dramas are his first love.  And as the Hong Kong filmmaker openly expressed in an interview around the time that his set-in-1930s-Shanghai crime thriller, The Bullet Vanishes, opened in Hong Kong cinemas, "It's my intention to create a detective series for the Chinese audience." 

 

Three years on, Lo's got his wish and has that movie's cerebral detective protagonist, Song Donglu (Lau Ching Wan) once more investigating a case involving Fu Yuan (Jiang Yiyan), the remarkably intelligent woman convicted for the murder of her husband.  A candidate to be the titular vanished murderer, she effects a seemingly miraculous escape from a northern Chinese prison.  Assigned to capture her and return to captivity, Song tracks Fu Yuan to a city where deadlier criminals lurk, including a powerful tycoon Gao Minxiang (Guo Xiaodong) whose cruelty appears to be causing a number of his workers to commit suicide.   

 

The Vanished Murderer starts off on a jaunty, even humorous, note but turn considerably darker soon after we enter Gao's realm.  The first time a gun is fired in the film, the action is played for laughs in a scene introducing a woman he jilted but who's intent on changing his mind (Li Xiaolu).  The second time a gun is fired, it interrupts a potentially romantic scene -- but also results in a man's death.  And several more deaths take place -- some off-screen, others off-screen, a few of which were genuinely unexpected -- before the film's conclusion.

 

Visually stylish and complexly -- actually, over-convolutedly -- plotted, The Vanished Murderer is one of those films that can be easily seen as containing many socio-political subtexts as well as red herring-filled sub-plots.  It also possesses its share of intriguing supporting characters who aren't quite all that they initially appear.  

 

For example, what is one to make of Gao's insistence that the suicides are actually murders being carried by a mysterious serial killer, and his hiring Song to track down that individual?  And while Gao may be the most obviously powerful person in the city, two of the people under his employ -- a local police officer (Taiwanese-British actor Rhydian Vaughan) and a philosophy professor (Hong Kong's Gordon Lam Ka Tung) whose students include Gao's callow son -- appear to know quite a bit more than him about what's going on in his supposed sphere of influence.   

 

Three years after viewing The Bullet Vanishes, I remember having been initially impressed by the film but then feeling sorely let down by its ending.  Not having been left wanting more, I neither expected nor looked forward to seeing a sequel -- and after having viewed The Vanished Murderer, my sense is that it really wouldn't have been much of a loss if there hadn't been one.  For once again, Lo Chi Leung's made a movie that began promisingly but ended up leaving me not truly satisfied. 

My rating for this film: 6.0

Hiking up to Shek Uk Shan via the Cheung Sheung Plateau and down via Lo Fu Kei Shek (Photo-essay)

If most people were asked to name one peak on the Sai Kung Peninsula, chances are that they'd most likely say Sharp Peak.  A very distinctive landmark which dominates much of the northern section of the Sai Kung Peninsula, this 468-meter-high presents quite the climbing challenge -- but it's actually not the highest hill in this section of Hong Kong!

Instead, the 481-meter-high Shek Uk Shan it is that has the honor of being the Sai Kung Peninsula's highest hill.  And Shek Uk Shan it was that two friends and I went up one sunny winter's day -- with the ascent from the Cheung Sheung plateau being fairly easy but the descent down to Hoi Ha Road via 235-meter-high Lo Fu Kei Shek being less so... ;S  

Presented with a diversity of choice's at the trail head,

we opted to head uphill to the Cheung Sheung Plateau

 At Cheung Sheung Plateau, we had the option of camping,

getting some refreshments at the store operated by a local resident, 

and/or hanging out with some friendly feral cattle

We, however, opted to press ahead and get scenic views 

like this one of mountains, and blue waters and skies

The landscape to the northwest of Cheung Sheung plateau

is on the rocky and rugged-looking side

The well-defined trail passed through scenic territory

A trignometrical station and signal station 

(as well as helicopter pad) lies atop Shek Uk Shan

A rare bird's eye view view of Pak Sha O village and 

agricultural fields from near the top of Shek Uk Shan

 You'd think it'd be easier to go down the hill than up -- 

but you'd have reckoned without the thick underbrush! :S

On the anniversary of the end of the "street occupation" phase of the Umbrella Movement

Protest and art at Causeway Bay last year

Visual evidence that the Umbrella Movement

had/has a lot of participants and supporters

One year on, the message remains clear: I -- along with 

many others -- want genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong

One year ago today, I returned from a trip to Germany and Luxembourg on what turned out to be the final day of the street occupation phase of the Umbrella Movement which began in earnest, ironically, on the day that I had returned from a Japan trip a few months earlier.  

In the wee hours of September 28th, 2014, law professor Benny Tai announced the commencement of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace campaign.  In truth though, many of us think that the political protests would not have escalated and got as much support as it did without the Hong Kong polic firing 87 cannisters of tear gas at people whose scariest weapons were words, who resorted to using umbrellas to protest themselves from police truncheons and other weapons.

On China's National Day, I, together with hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, people, proceeded to spend time out on the streets of Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Admiralty, Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong showing our love of Hong Kong.  I know many people who ended up spending nights on the streets and still more who spent many daytime hours over the 79 days and 78 nights during which Hong Kong was "Occupied", determined to be seen, heard and counted, and to make a difference.       

One year on, there are times when it can feel like the Umbrella Movement didn't happen, like all of that had been just an illusion and dream (or, as some would see it, nightmare).  After all, Hong Kongers still don't have genuine universal suffrage.  Leung Chun Ying remains Chief Executive of the HKSAR.  Mainlanders are still coming to Hong Kong and buying things.   

On the other hand, there do appear to be fewer mainlanders visiting Hong Kong these days.  The Hong Kong government's proposed political reform resolution that sparked the Occupy/Umbrella Movement, etc. protests was voted down by Legislative Councilors in June.  And the Hong Kong District Council Elections last month saw a huge rise in voter registration and turnout, and wins by a number of "Umbrella Soldiers", idealistic, pro-democracy individuals running for polical office for the first time in what amounted to the first polls post the Umbrella Movement.     

On a personal note: I definitely have been changed by the Umbrella Movement.  Among other things, the Umbrella Movement made me care more about what happens to and in Hong Kong politically, made me see Hong Kongers in a different light, and made me love Hong Kong more than ever.  Oh, and watching videos like this keeps alive my hopes for and faith in the people of, and the place where I want to make my home.