Hot, hot, hot!

A colourful way to warn against heat stroke

This Thursday's South China Morning Post's front page had an article that confirmed what many of us had been suspecting: that this month is the hottest August that Hong Kong has had in decades. How hot can be discerned from factoids such as these:-

- As of August 26th, the Hong Kong Observatory had recorded ten "very hot" days (i.e., with temperatures past 33 degrees Celsius);

- There has only been one August with more "very hot" days since recorded began to be kept in 1885... in 1962, when there were 15 for the whole month of August.

- Three construction works have died of heat stroke since July.

(And adding to all this is the fact that rainfall is 113.4 milimeters below the August average.)

All of which makes hiking not the most ideal of weekend activities... and yet, I just can't make myself stay in the air-conditioned indoors all day. Not even today, when the maximum temperature recorded was 35.2 degrees Celsius in Sheung Shui and even The Peak wasn't that much cooler with a maximum recorded temperature of 31.4 degrees Celsius -- not when there's so much to see and do in Hong Kong for pleasure and fun! ;S

Surprise (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

As my well-travelled foodie friend Daisann has noted, there is a saying about the Cantonese -- Hong Kong's majority ethnic group -- that "they'll eat anything with four legs that isn't a chair, anything with wings that isn't an airplane"! In fairness, she also noted that "the truth is that most Hong Kong people I know are fussy eaters". To which I'd add: often more fussy with regards to quality than actual range; and not likely to be put off eating something merely from looks alone.

Skeptical? Behold the first two photos of this Photo Hunt entry then. Seriously now, aren't you just a little bit surprised that people would eat them for pleasure -- and in the case of the mantis shrimp, even if not the more humble Hakka delicacy (consisting of a wild green vegetable-beans mix encased in thick dark dough), pay good money (HK$120 for one of those suckers!) for the privilege too?

As for the bottom two photos: yes, Virginia, for all of Hong Kong's population being less than 1% "white" (the term preferred to Caucasian in official government records!), certain foods that many people think of as "Western", including macaroni, luncheon meat (AKA spam) and garlic bread, have become a part of regular Hong Kongers' diets. (Though it is not every day -- and thus came as an amusing surprise when it happened once at an eatery here --that garlic bread gets served in the kind of bamboo containers that one tends to associate with dim sum!) :D

The Peak down to Pok Fu Lam (Photo-essay)

Earlier this year (in March, to be more precise), I went on a hike that almost feels like it took place in another life time. For one thing, my companion on that admittedly easy downhill hike that day was my pre-operation mom. For another, it was a spring day that was as cold as it was foggy -- and today is super hot. (For the record, today's high temperature actually was 34.6 degrees Celsius!!)

So foggy was it, in fact, that I actually wondered whether we should go ahead with our planned walk down from The Peak -- especially since the fog was so thick in parts on the way up that, from the top of our bus, we frequently couldn't even see two vehicles ahead! But proceed we did and proceeded to have a rather pleasant hike; one that, even if too easy and short for my liking, still yielded some, to my mind, interesting sights and shots...

I honestly have never seen a tree trunk
so covered by little (parasitic?) leaves before...

Like a still shot of a horror movie scene?

Dew on one of many
spider's webs we saw along the path

A different shaped web from what one normally sees
-- one that was similarly much dew covered

The Hong Kong Hawthorn's flowering period
is February through April each year

A now disused and bricked up structure that
might well have been a World War II bomb shelter

Waterway -- complete with pipe (not cannon!) --
leading down to Pok Fu Lam Reservoir

The waters of Hong Kong's oldest reservoir
were so calm I almost used this photo in
this past week's "rippled"-themed Photo Hunt entry
(but then decided to save it for this entry instead)! ;)

Hello Kitty's Kitty Lab

The Kitty Lab exhibition's ticketing office
(with nary a child -- only adults,
male as well as female -- in sight! ;b)

The enlarged electronic version of Kitty Chan's DNA
that visitors were given to lead them around
the exhibition's Hello Kitty-themed simulated city

Because sbk asked about it and I don't need much excuse to post about Hello Kitty... ;)

Two Saturdays ago, I spent close to two hours exploring the Kitty Lab exhibition that opened here in Hong Kong the Thursday before and will run through to August 30th. (And no, those two hours don't include the 45 minutes spent waiting in line to get in to the exhibition!) Set up as a participatory game that involves quite a bit of rushing from one point to another more than a conventional exhibition, the 35th anniversary project's story-line -- as much as I could get from a Kitty Lab "assistant"'s Cantonese explanation -- goes something like this:-

One day, an explosion occurred in Dr Kitty's lab that caused her head to look rather woolly -- or is it bubbly? (see the first photo above) -- and required her DNA and general physical being to be reconstituted. Visitors to Kitty Lab are tasked to help to get Dr/Hello Kitty looking more normal once more.

Duly provided with some Hello Kitty DNA (in electronic form (see the second photo above)), they are then sent on their way into a Hello Kitty-fied simulation city that comes complete with such establishments as Kitty College (where you record the characteristics of Hello Kitty's eyes), Mrs Ribbon Salon (where you choose which ribbon would best suit the cute cat) and Daniel Travel (where you virtually travel around the world -- I was sent to Africa! -- to get Kitty Chan's favorite accessories). Heck, there's even a Kitty Police Station, complete with a Kitty policewoman, where you can go to whenever you get lost or just plain confused or befuddled by it all!

And confused and befuddled I was quite a bit -- because, even for a fan of the furry feline like me, it really was a case of Hello Kitty as well as sensory overload at times. On a related note: one goes beyond feeling that the inner child gets let out in Kitty Lab; rather, I'd go so far as to say that I felt temporary infantilized during my time there.

Still, you know what? It actually was quite fun... for me and the multitude of Hello Kitty-philes -- male and female, old and young, but overwhelmingly East Asian! -- who were there that day (and, in all probability, also on the other days that the pretty unique exhibition's been open). And yes, I think it helped that no one was taking it completely seriously in addition to there having been a seriously cheery feel to the whole place and project. ;D

Ripples (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Typhoons are strong hurricane-strength tropical cyclones that occur in the northwestern Pacific Ocean that surrounds much of East Asia and nearby/associated bodies of water such as the South China Sea. Taking their name from the Cantonese tai fong (trans., big wind), they regularly occur and pay visits during the summer to the part of the world in which Hong Kong is situated.

In view of factors such as much of Hong Kong bordering or being surrounded by lots of water and a significal percentage of its population historically being boat-dwellers as well as seafarers, the territory has an elaborate system for dealing with typhoons that includes the construction and continued existence of official typhoon shelters. Shelters against rough seas, they are where -- and yes, we're finally getting there! ;) -- small waves and ripples are the rule rather than exception.

More specifically, this week's Photo Hunt's are of the typhoon shelters at Causeway Bay (upper photo) and Shau Kei Wan (lower photo). As befits it being in the vicinity of the very private Royal Hong Kong Yacht, Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter is home to luxury boats along with more modest craft (and -- it seems from my photo -- wild birds!). In contrast, Shau Kei Wan's Typhoon Shelter is home to traditional Chinese fishing boats -- which themselves pose quite a visual contrast to the many high rise apartment buildings to be found on the Hong Kong Island as well as Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour!

Yet another Penang food blog entry!

Char koay teow (fried flat rice noodles)
from a stall in Pulau Tikus market

The cook might not approve but
I find that some sweet Maggi chilli sauce
makes the dish truly tasty!

The proverbial "they" say that time flies while you're having fun. But while it's true enough that I've had my share of fun -- including in the form of three movies viewed, one Hello Kitty exhibition visited and one multi-media show attended -- since returning to Hong Kong from Penang more than a week ago, I've also been working quite a bit.

Perhaps it was the hard work and stress that caused me to lose my appetite -- and a few pounds -- for about a week after getting back to Hong Kong. More likely, though, was how bland a lot of the food to be found in the Big Lychee tastes in comparison to that to be found in the food capital of Malaysia.

Still, this is not to say that I've not been known to make certain Penang foods more tasty (to my mind) by adding not just any chilli or sauce but Maggi chilli sauce: which, in spite of what its name might get one thinking, actually is more sweetish-savoury rather than outright spicy and more akin to tomato ketchup in texture than regular sauces. (Incidentally, the one Malaysian food item that my Hong Kong apartment's kitchen always has is Maggi chilli sauce -- though, of course, it often also is supplemented by such as nutmeg syrup (for making nutmeg cordial drinks)!)

As an example, I like to dip my prawn or fish crackers in Maggi chilli sauce. In addition, I'm one of those "weird" individuals who likes my char koay teow without eggs and regular chilli sauce but with Maggi chilli sauce instead. Oh, and I also can do without slices of Chinese red sausage in my plate of char koay teow!

On the other hand, I consider dishes of char koay teow to be incomplete without cockles -- fears of hepatitis be damned! -- as well as whole juicy prawns (the larger, the better!). And speaking of cockles: steamed cockles are great dipped into Maggi chilli sauce too -- really, truly... and no, I actually am not being paid by Maggi to write this! ;b

From Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O, Part IV (Photo-essay)

Earlier today, I went on yet another Hong Kong hike that yielded great views -- and, I hope you'll agree when you see them, photos to treasure. But rather than put up any of today's snaps today, I think I first had better hurry and complete my set of photo-essays chronicling the hike from Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O (see the other parts here, here and here) I went on back in February and some ten hikes ago now! So, without further ado...

Not far from Fan Lau Fort but literally
miles away from a road and other settlements
lies the still inhabited village of Fan Lau Tsuen

Peaked Hill (AKA Kai Yet Kok) island
viewed from the southwestern coast of Lantau

A beautiful Hong Kong view I get the sense that
even many native Hong Kongers have not seen
(on account of it involving quite a trek to get to
the particular spot from which the photo was taken!)

Not the ruins of another Qing Dynasty fort but, rather,
part of a wall to be found in the vicinity of
the Yi O section of south-western Lantau Island

No, you're not imagining it -- as we hiked
north up from the tip of Fan Lau, the water
really did get less blue (and, frankly, dirtier)

Our destination -- the fishing village of Tai O
-- is not so far away now!

Tai O has been likened to Venice --
um, not quite I don't think! :D

Rather than end on an anti-climactic small village note,
here's backtracking a bit and offering up a photo
showing the power of nature --in that those near vertical stripes
in the distance actually are landslides caused
by a typhoon hitting Hong Kong some months back!

And should it not be clear: yes, I'd highly recommend the hike from Shek Pik Reservoir to Tai O to those who like -- and are able to go for -- long, scenic walks. Just remember: for the bulk of this approximately 20 kilometer hike, one really is far away from any roads, so there's not many possible "out"s once you commit yourself to going for it. (N.B. This is something people need to be made aware of as we had a hiker in our group -- not moi, honest! ;) -- who was not truly prepared for this walk, so that, sadly, a significant part of it actually became more torture than joy for her!)