Religion and nature at Phang Nga's Suwan Kuha (Photo-essay)

Shortly after I agreed to go to Phuket for a reason that didn't involve tourism, I went ahead and did some research about what are its attractions since I figured that I'd have some leisure time to check out some sights on my trip.  Upon discovering that they appear to mainly revolve around sun, sea, sand and spas, I freaked out a bit since sunbathing, swimming and spa-related activities are so not my kind of thing!

Before I actually got to the Thai resort island though, I had managed to come up with an alternative list of places to check out in the area -- and neighboring areas.  For, as it turned out, the very first attraction I ended up visiting on this most recent Thai trip (and the first to Phuket) ended up being the Suwan Kuha caves -- one of which houses a Buddhist temple a la the cave temples I visited a couple years ago in Ipoh -- over in neighboring Phang Nga province...

 Cave and temple entrance at the 

limestone hill known as Suwan Kuha

 Buddhas abound in main cave that's home to Wat Suwan Kuha

One of the more sacred sections of the cave,

 which one can only get to upon removing your footwear

Cave wall with inscriptions commemorating royal visits

 

Cave wall with grafitti despite a sign posted next to it 

asking visitors to not write anything on the rock surfaces :(

 

I initially thought the figure was as alive 

as the dog in the same picture! :O

 

The deepest and darkest cave was the one

I actually found to the most intriguing

 

View from close to the highest as well as deepest section 

of the cave system that visitors were allowed access to

A short visit to Phang Nga, home to much greenery and interesting geology

Two geological formations in Phang Nga 

that are said to resemble elephants

 

A part of me wanted to get on a boat and get closer

to those limestone formations

 

View from a cool cave on a super hot day

 

On my first full day in Phuket, I went on a car journey that allowed me to see more of it than just the area around Surin beach and also took me off the island for a few blessed hours.  More specifically, I was driven over to Phang Nga, a neighboring province I could see was greener and filled with interesting geological formations even while the car was travelling along the 660-meter-long Sarasin Bridge which connects Phuket and the Thai mainland!

 

Incidentally, I was told by the car driver that Phang Nga meant female elephant in Thai and was named after geological formations near the provincial capital (which also is called Phang Nga) which resemble elephants.  However, according to the likes of Wikipedia, its name is actually derived from the archaic Malay word for jungle (in a similar manner to Phuket getting its name for the Malay word for hill).

In any event, I got to see the pair of geological formations that Phang Nga is said by at least one local source to have got its name.  I also got to see a number of other eye-catching limestone formations in my short time there -- but, alas, did not get to see perhaps the most internationally famous of them all: that which has come to be popularly known as James Bond Island thanks to it having appeared as 007 antagonist Scaramanga's hideout in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Before this recent Thailand trip, I had read about boat tours that could be taken from both Phuket island and the Phang Nga mainland that would get you close to James Bond Island.  Not being that great a fan of James Bond (and not having seen the 1974 James Bond film for which it was a movie location), I didn't bother to look too closely into doing so.  And even while the island does look pretty stunning in pictures, I'm glad I didn't book a boat tour when I was in the area as it really was hellishly hot for much of the time that I was there.

 

Still, this is not to say that I didn't get out of the air-conditioned comfort of the car I was being ferried around in to get up close to any cool geological features during my brief visit to Phang Nga.  Indeed, as it turned out, my primary reason for heading over to this part of Thailand was to check out a trio of connected caves, all of which were blessedly cooler temperature wise than the outdoor areas exposed to the harsh, unforgivingly bright sun that shone pretty much all day that day!      

In Phuket despite it not being a place I particularly wanted to visit ;(

Blue skies, sun and sand abound in Phuket

 

Portable stalls catering to tourists at Surin Beach

 

A reminder that Phuket was hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

 

This time last week, I was in Phuket, Thailand; having flown there from Penang, Malaysia, where I had flown over to from Hong Kong the day before.  Those who know me well would be absolutely correct in thinking that this Thai locale would not be anywhere near the top of my "places I want to visit" list -- and it's true enough that I reacted with horror after doing some research on Phuket in the weeks prior to my trip there and realizing that it's primary attractions involve sun, swimming, sand and spas.

 

Suffice to say here that my reason for agreeing to go to Phuket wasn't the usual tourist one.  As it turned out though, the hotel into which I was booked was indeed one located right by a beach -- and I ended up going there twice out of a sense of obligation to check out an attraction that was about the only one that I could get to on foot from where I was staying.  

 

The first time, it also was to view the sunset -- which was pretty enough to sooth my soul somewhat.  The second time around, it was on the morning of the day of my departure from Phuket -- and, because of the blazing heat that was typical of what I encountered on my visit to this Thai island, I only lasted about 15 minutes before beating a hasty retreat to the air-conditioned confines of my room!

 

The Russians who appear to be particularly attracted to Phuket may have loved the 36 degree Celsius high temperatures but I found it pretty unattractive and hard to tolerate.  In addition, I actually found, to my great surprise, that Phuket's much vaunted beaches are less visually attractive than some I've been on in Hong Kong (e.g., I think Sai Kung's Tai Long Wan and Long Ke, and Lantau's Cheung Sha beaches has the one in Surin beat), never mind those to be found in the likes of Okinawa!

 

As it turned out, it was a good thing too that I (also) hadn't planned to spend time in a spa having a massage or such since the spa in the Phuket hotel I stayed in was -- unannounced on its website -- closed for renovations!  Instead, I spent a good bulk of my daylight hours venturing far away from Surin itself as well as its beach -- and it was on my visits to other parts of the island (and, on one day, over on the neighboring mainland section of the country) where I was happiest on this Thai trip.

Lots to see on an easy D'Aguilar Peninsula hike (Photo-essay)

When you see hikers on the number 9 bus bound for Shek O here in Hong Kong, the chances are high that they will get off at the To Tei Wan stop to hike along the Dragon's Back or, less frequently, to go along Section 7 of the Hong Kong Trail in reverse.  In recent years, however, I've also seen quite a few hikers get off to begin an excursion or board the bus post-hike at Windy Gap, with Cape d'Aguilar having become quite a popular place to visit for those who don't mind that the closest bus stop to it is a few kilometers away.

Since the trek down D'Aguilar Peninsula is largely along a paved road that is on the flat side, I've since marked it down in my mind as a good warm -- or even hot -- day excursion; and this all the more so after a hike there during which visual treats were to be found along the way to as well as at Cape d'Aguilar itself...  

My first critter spotting of that day's hike :b

 

View of Kau Pei Chau and islands further to the south

 

The same island looks so much higher 

when viewed from a different angle :O

 

 Still in Hong Kong -- and on Hong Kong Island, in fact!

 

Among the structures to be found on the d'Aguilar Peninsula are

lots of transmission towers and Hong Kong's oldest surviving lighthouse

 

I really would not have cared to be in the rough waters

off this rugged, rocky section of coastline!

 

A popular photography spot at the cape

 

Large spider spotting on the way back to civilization ;b

Artefacts and fun at the Hong Kong Science Museum!

Dinosaur bones on display in Hong Kong!

Close by at the Hong Kong Science Museum... ;b

 

Many years ago, when I was interning at a museum in London, I learnt that museum admissions tend to increase on rainy days.  And it's true enough that, on my travels abroad, I've often turned to museums to save the day when it's been too wet outside for me to really enjoy going for such as a stroll in a beautifully designed stroll garden or an excursion up a mountain.   

 

Even here in Hong Kong, where I do have the option to stay comfortably dry at home rather than brave the rain by venturing outside, I've long looked upon museum-going as something to do when the weather is on the wet side.  And because this week has been on the rainy side, I've actually ended up visiting two different museums -- to check out special exhibitions on show there -- over the course of just a few days!

 

One of these museological establishments was the Hong Kong Science Museum, which I've actually been to more often to attend Hong Kong International Film Festival screenings than to check out the museum's exhibits!  Indeed, this week's visit was only the second time that I had ever gone into the display areas of this museum that I've looked upon for the most part as being geared for children; with my first visit proper to the place being for the Death in Ancient Egypt special exhibition a couple of years back that featured a number of artefacts on loan from the British Museum.

On that occasion, I had ended up spending quite a bit of time checking out a few of the museum's permanent exhibitions and found myself reminded of the interactive displays at the Science Museum in London that I had loved as a child.  And on this visit to the Hong Kong Science Museum to view the Landscape Map of the Silk Road special exhibition, I ended up being lured into some of its permanent exhibition galleries once more.  

 

This time around, I got to remembering the times I spent in London's Natural History Museum upon finding myself wandering around the Hong Kong institution's Biodiversity Gallery; this particularly after I came across a whole dinosaur skeleton on display there!  And while the latter space is no rival for the former in terms of its holdings as well as its architectural grandeur, I still did find plenty of things to capture my attention, educate me -- and also amuse!    

 

An old university friend who visited from America with her son some months had raved about the Hong Kong Science Museum (and the neighboring Hong Kong Museum of History).  After visiting the adjacent World of Mirrors permanent gallery, I also now know where they had taken a fun photo involving trick mirrors that she had posted on her Facebook timeline -- and am tempted to return to the museum at some point in the near future with a friend to take photos of me posing there too! 

 

Since I was there by myself on this visit, I "made do" by taking photos of the exhibits themselves and, in one instance, other visitors interacting with the exhibits in a way that I found visually amusing.  Since their faces were obscured by the large "animal heads" in which they had inserted their heads,  I figure they wouldn't mind too much that they ended up being the subjects of my camera while doing things in the name of science -- even while they did look pretty funny in the process! ;b      

Encounters with death at my first beach clean-up after celebrating Chinese New Year

Large, dead jellyfish on Coral Beach :(

 

Long dead bird on the same beach on Cheung Chau :(

 

Dog searching for scraps at Tung Wan Tsai

 

Beach clean-up volunteers at work amidst it all

 

Have you heard the saying "Life's a bitch (and then you die)"?  Not only have I done so but I've also heard the saying rendered as "Life's a beach and then you die".  And that latter line was what I found myself recalling on at least a couple of occasions when taking part in yet another beach clean-up at Cheung Chau's Coral Beach (aka Tung Wan Tsai) earlier today. 

 

Here's the thing though: while I think those who coined that particular phrase had meant it to mean that life was fun until you die, I think those dead animals my group of volunteers came across at the beach today didn't have the most pleasant of lives as well as deaths; not least because I reckon they died prematurely as a result of the pollution created by humans.

 

To be sure, I didn't look too closely at their corpses -- and thus didn't actually find such as 1,000 pieces of plastic in their stomach (as was the case with a dead whale which washed ashore on one of Indonesia's thousands of islands late last year).  Nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the dead bird, fish, squid and jellyfish I saw on the beach today had died after ingesting too much of the plastic that's found not only strewn on land but also in the seas and oceans.

 

While I've come across dead fish before over the course of beach clean-ups (particularly after red tide sightings in Hong Kong), today's was the beach clean-up where I've come across the most variety of dead animals.  The superstitious part of me was thanking heaven that this beach clean-up hadn't taken place during Chinese New Year since the sight of so much death around me would have been taken as an inauspicious omen.  Even so, these were not sights one likes to come across any day -- especially if one is a lover of nature, the environment or, for that matter, seafood!    

 

While we're on the subject of seafood: seeing the dead jellyfish that had washed ashore on Tung Wan Tsai today got me really realizing how plastic bags can get mistaken as jellyfish, and thus food, by sea turtles and other sea creatures that view them as food.  And, in fact, several beach clean-up participants had to be cautioned against mistaking the jellyfish for a large, water-filled plastic bag!

 

Late into our beach clean-up, our group were joined on Tung Wan Tsai by a wild dog that was on the thin side and also obviously was a new mother.  Seeing her rooting about for food among the trash, I was relieved to find that the dead jellyfish that had washed ashore previously had then been washed back to sea by the tide as I have personal experience of getting badly stung by one of those creatures and wouldn't wish it on anybody else, including wild dogs!

 

Over on the beach clean-up front: I really appreciate that despite the weather forecast having included mention of some showers today, we had a good turnout.  Happily, we were rewarded by the Hong Kong Observatory's predictions proving to be incorrect once more and, working in what turned out to be pretty nice (not too hot, not too cold, and definitely not too wet at all) conditions, were able to collect more than 30 bags of trash between us by the time we decided to call it a day and reward our efforts with a delicious lunch at one of Cheung Chau's many eateries.   

A Tai Tam Country Park hike with plenty of critter spottings and other cool sights (Photo-essay)

I realize it's on the anal side but I do keep a hiking diary in which I write details of each hike I go on in Hong Kong, including the date, route, who I went on the hike if and also observations I include noteworthy about such as the weather that day and types of critters spotted on the hike.  And without such notes, I wouldn't have remembered that I actually spotted 15 spiders on a Tai Tam Country Park excursion I went on with a friend one gray but pleasant weather day -- because, as it turned out, I actually don't seem to have taken a single photo of an arachnid over the course of that particular outing!

I guess it was because the sight of spiders (even if they were Giant Golden Orb Weavers, as I expect that at least some of them were) felt too common on a hike in which there were a good variety as well as number of critter spottings (along with other cool sights) -- something which I've come to expect of hikes in Hong Kong, including ones on Hong Kong Island as well as the more far flung sections of the Big Lychee! ;b

My first critter spottings of the day: sunbathing tortoises 

at Wong Nai Chung Reservoir :b

When hiking up Violet Hill, it's good to be able to stop

every once in a while to enjoy the sight of a pretty butterfly :)

 

It can look at first glance like another type of insect

but this also is a species of butterfly alright!

 

 The kind of landscape I was hiking in and trail I was hiking on 

 

I wonder how many people over at Repulse Bay's beach and 

many expensive apartments are aware of the wonderful

hiking trails that really aren't that far away from there?

 

One of the hairier critters spotted during that day's hike!

 

View of Stanley from the Tsz Lo Lan Shan Path

 

Close-up of flowers whose color I reckon could be described as violet,

only I saw them on the Twins rather than Violet Hill that afternoon ;b