Gloom and doom?

My mood for much of the day has been as gloomy 

and gray as the above photo

America, what have you done?  Frankly, the idea of a Trump presidency fills me with horror and despair.  The likes of Jonathan Freedland and Van Jones eloquently express why. 

I was -- and still am -- truly shocked by the US Presidential Election results.  But I should have seen it coming.  Sure, I personally only know one person who openly told me that he had voted for Donald Trump.  On the other hand, all bar two of the American friends I have who told me that they would be voting for Hillary Clinton are one or more of the following: female, not white, not heterosexual.  And of the friends who told me they weren't going to vote for either Trump or Hillary, all are white and the majority also happen to be male.

All this coming on top of what's been happening in Hong Kong over the past few days has made me feel like the apocalypse is upon us.  At the very least, I honestly feel like the chances of World War III happening in the next few years has exponentially increased with the election to the US Presidency of Donald Trump.  I can only hope that the saying that "it's darkest before dawn" actually could be true.  Because, in all honesty, it's all looking pretty dark out there right now -- and I don't just mean literally! 

Hong Kong nature pics to take the blues away (Photo-essay)

In the past few days, I've met a few American visitors who've told me that they've come over to Hong Kong to escape the insanity of the American Presidential Elections (which is due to take place in a few hours' time; what with the U.S.A. being one day behind Hong Kong on account of being on the other side of the International Date Line from here).  In response, I've told them that the political developments of the last few days have been on the depressing side here too.  

Part of me wants to just stay home and watch Funassyi videos (my equivalent of Hillary Clinton's cat GIF-watching escapism).  I've also found exercise to also help lift my depression somewhat.  In addition, it's therapeutic for me to not just walk and hike but also look at the photos I've taken on hikes.  So, without further ado, here's sharing some images taken on a Tai Lam Country Park trek undertaken on a hotter day than this.  (And yes, I'm also going to try to make myself feel better by focusing on the weather having been gloriously beautiful over the past week or so, and forecast to get pleasantly cooler still over the next few days!)

A hot day's hike in Hong Kong would not be complete without 

some cool critter spottings, like that of this gold dragonfly :)

My, what long antennae this small brown bug has!

The profusion of wildlife is evidenced by a dragonfly

photobombing of a strictly landscape scenery shot! ;b

It's not part of Tai Lam Country Park but a visit to Parents Farm 

(over in the Tsing Fai Tong village enclave) when you are

in the area will only enhance your nature appreciation

 A sight that can instantly gladden the heart

In little things, one can find great beauty

I've seen plenty of dragonflies frequenting lily ponds but this 

absolutely was the first grasshopper I've spotted atop a water lily!

A waterfall in Hong Kong :)

Beijing accentuates its difference from -- even while it imposes its authority over -- Hong Kong

 Early on during yesterday's protests, people dealt with

delays over the course of the march with patience

Even late in the evening, after Des Voeux Road's temporary occupation, 

people were generally far calmer acting than they've been given credit for

At 3:07 this morning, normal traffic resumed on Des Voeux Road; with the protesters having dispersed after a combination of police actions, and calls put out by Demosisto, the League of Social Democrats, the Labour Party and others for an end to the protest rally which had officially begun at 3pm in Wan Chai along with a departure from the scene "to avoid [unnecessary] sacrifice".  Thus it was that what had looked like it could turn into an Occupy Mark 2 fizzled out fairly quickly.  

But anyone who thinks that the flames of anger and indignation have been completely extinguished is seriously mistaken; this particularly after the top (but effectively rubber stamp) legislative organ of the Communist Chinese government in Beijing went ahead and issued its interpretation of the Basic Law (Hong Kong's constitution) earlier today. 

"Hands off our judiciary", read a hand-made sign at yesterday's protests against Beijing's bullying (the second in four days here in Hong Kong).  Well, today's actions had Beijing doing worse: by going over the head of Hong Kong's judiciary and effectively making nonsense of the Basic Law supposedly granting Hong Kong "a high degree of autonomy" since the Communist Chinese government decided to rule on a case that currently is being heard in Hong Kong's high court -- and in so doing, barred two democratically elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council.

If truth be told, I think Sixtus "Baggio" Leung and Yau Wai Ching acted pretty idiotically at what should have been their swearing-in ceremony but turned into a silly farce.  Among other things, I reckon Leung's "crossed fingers" gesture when reciting the Legislative Council oath was ridiculously childish and Yau was overly vulgar when substituting the word "republic" (as in People's Republic of China) with "ref**king" during her attempt.  And in retrospect, I (along with many others) really wished that the pair had saved their theatrics for after they had been sworn in as Legislative Councilors.

At the same time though, it's patently clear that Beijing has taken advantage of their actions which, in association football parlance, would have been worthy only of a yellow card to seek to permanently ban them from entering the playing field and playing the game.  And that is really something that is incredibly unjust, and bordering on seriously irresponsible in terms of the administering of justice and attempting to actually put a lid on dissent and rebellion in Hong Kong.      

 

There really are times when I wonder whether -- not even how come -- Beijing really  can be so absolutely culturally tone deaf when it comes to Hong Kong.  For time and time again, the people over on the other side of the Mainland Chinese-Hong Kong border -- regular folks but also the Communist Chinese goverment -- have shown that they truly don't realize that Hong Kong is culturally so very different from the rest of China.

I also have to say that it's truly possible to agree with the words on the banner that Baggio Leung and Yau Wai Ching displayed at that oath-taking ceremony (i.e., that "Hong Kong is not China") without being someone who's advocating Hong Kong's independence from China.  After all, semantically speaking, Hong Kong really is not China -- the way that New York is not the U.S.A., London is not Britain, Tokyo is not Japan, etc.  Put it another way: Hong Kong is not China; rather, it's "only" a part of China -- whose government has at times, albeit seemingly only when its convenient, trumpeted the country's cultural and ethnic diversity and such!   

A protest march turned Occupy Mark 2? (Photo-essay)

This afternoon, I went on an #Oathgate protest march with the two friends with whom I had gone  protesting on Wednesday evening.  After marching for a couple of hours, the procession which had began in Wan Chai reached Central; at which point some of the thousands of protesters congregated outside the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal building while another group marched on to the Liason Office at Sai Wan.

Initially, my two friends and I opted to join the assembly outside the Court of Final Appeal.  But after one of my friends volunteered to march on to Sai Wan, I decided to join him on a rally that was initially exhilarating -- particularly in terms of there being far greater numbers out today than on Wednesday evening (no doubt because Wednesday's had been announced pretty much at the last minute) -- but then turned frustrating (because the police blocked our path when we were so very close to our destination at Sai Wan), scary (when the cops pulled out the "Stop Charging or We Use Force" warning banners which I'd not seen since the end of Occupy back in December 2014) and then aggravating (because even when the powers-that-be seemed to want the protesters to leave, they made it difficult for us by doing such as shutting down service to the nearest MTR station to Sai Wan).

As it was, I finally only left what had turned into an Occupy-style protest area at around 10:45pm by foot, at least to the next nearest MTR station (over at Sheung Wan).  The following are some photos I took over the evening after leaving the Court of Final Appeal that I trust will give people some idea of the size of today's protest crowd along with some sense of what it was to be in it:-

Marching along Queen's Road Central with a crowd in good cheer

 

In Sai Ying Pun approximately one hour later and 

with a crowd that had swelled so much all of the road 

had been closed to vehicular traffic

 

A message for Beijing -- written in English and traditional Chinese

 

Shortly after 7pm, just meters away from the Liason Office,

the police warning banners were hosted up

 

Waiting for more of road to be opened up to protesters

-- or, at least, the sidewalk in front of the Liason Office

 

Even after people were pepper sprayed at the front of the rally,

the likes of Chu Hoi Dick were preaching and keeping people

calm a few meters from the frontline 

 

Since the police wouldn't let us proceed to the Liason Office,

people retreated to the section of Des Voeux Road 

that's one block away and occupied it

 

One consequence of this move was that more than 20 trams

ended up being unable to move and were abandoned!

 

In the midst of it all, Demosisto leaders and their allies conferred

(Note: it was great to see the likes of Joshua Wong and "Long Hair" 

Leung Kwok Hung leading from the front rather than rear) 

Riot police and the MTR collude to prevent people from

getting into and using Sai Ying Pun MTR station

 

To be continued...

Rare butterfly sightings at Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve!

Not the usual picture of one of Hong Kong's rarest butterflies

A more recognizable view of the white dragontail

Since last Saturday, we've had beautiful weather in Hong Kong.  While I wouldn't go so far as to say as it's definitely autumnal (since I've yet to feel a need to get out the sweaters and down vests from storage), I think the signs are finally very clearly pointing to summer having called it quits for the year.  And although I was able to go butterfly spotting at Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve in December last year, I figured that this week might be a good time to go for my annual visit to this nature facility whose existence I treasure far more than my annual visits there can make it seem.    

Unlike on my previous visits, this time I went to Fung Yuen with a friend who I figured would also be able to appreciate the place.  And I was proved right when minutes after stepping on to the 42 hectare site, she voiced out loud how wondrous and precious is this place where nature is allowed to flourish (and which hasn't (yet) been turned into a site where high rise apartments are to be found, unlike the neighboring area that's now home to the controversial Mont Vert).  

Adding to the wonder of it all was that this happened even before a white dragontail proceeded to casually fly past us.  Amusingly, no sooner had I told her that this butterfly -- which happens to be the world's smallest Papilionidae (swallowtail butterfly) -- was very rare (and one of Fung Yuen's "stars") that a couple other members of the very same species flitted -- in their distinctively erratic as well as fast-paced pattern of flight which stems from their ability to fly backwards as well as forwards -- into the area!

All told, I reckon that I spotted the white dragontail around 10 separate occasions in the hour or so that I was at Fung Yuen this time around!  At one point, I actually saw one of those butterflies come to rest on a long leaf -- or was it the top section of a large blade of grass?  In any case, I know that I was witnessing a rare event, and consequently felt privileged to have been able to capture it with my camera!   

Even more amazingly, another of Fung Yuen's "stars:, the uncommon -- despite its name -- Common birdwing (Troides helena), also revealed itself to us a few times over the course of this visit.  For the record, this constituted the first time(s) ever that I had caught sight of this rare large butterfly whose golden yellow hindwings looked super shiny and absolutely breathtakingly beautiful in bright sunlight.  (In the case of this papillon, however, I've yet to successfully document my sightings with a photograph -- and would be super chuffed if were to do so at some point in the future.)

With over 200 -- and maybe even close to 300 -- species of butterflies documented as having made their home in Hong Kong, it's small wonder that I'm still make sightings of many species of butterflies for the first time more than nine years after moving to the Big Lychee and having become a major fan of the natural part of "Asia's World City".  At the same time though, I get the distinct feeling that if I were to visit Fung Yuen more often, I'd more quickly come across a considerably wider range of butterfly species than I've already felt very lucky to have been able to spot and be able to recognize. ;b 

France's Tomorrow is the rare ecological documentary that holds out hope for the future (film review)

Let's do our bit to help save the planet!

Tomorrow (France, 2015)

- Cyril Dion, director-writer, and Melanie Laurent, co-director 

Climate change is real.  And the climate change the world is currently experiencing is human-made.   The likes of Donald Trump may continue to deny this but it's my belief that most sane and intelligent people accept this as a matter of course these days; especially if they live in places like Hong Kong, which definitely has been feeling the effects of it in terms of record low winter temperatures, record high summer temperatures and such being documented in recent years. 

So rather than argue about whether climate change is indeed taking place, it's high time that we look for ways to combat it -- and spread the news and practice of the ways in which various people around the world are attempting to make the world a better place ecologically (and, often in the process, socio economically and -politically too).  That, essentially, is the message and focus of Cyril Dion and Melanie Laurent's César-award-winning Tomorrow (known as Demain in the filmmakers' native French).  

A documentary made by people who wear their heart on their sleeves and actively seek to inspire, Tomorrow came about after its makers learnt of an announcement by Stanford University biologist Elizabeth Hadly and University of California-Berkeley paleontologist Anthony Barnosky in international scientific journal Nature regarding rising temperatures and population increases leading to the possible extinction of much of humankind before the end of this century.  Rather than sink into despair and paralysis, Dion, Laurent and their friends decided to mount an investigation to figure out what factors and actions would lead to this outcome, and how it can be stalled, even outright avoided.  And being the film folks that they are, they went on to make a film about this.

Wide-ranging and globe-trotting, their Tomorrow looks at the actions that certain individuals and communities in ten different countries (only one of which is in Asia) have undertaken that, taken by themselves, may seem small and not particularly powerful, yet have already had a surprisingly strong impact on their (part of the) world.  Among the various people and organizations pointed out as exemplars are: a former lawyer and her ex-sailor spouse turned organic farmers who combined practices they learnt in Cuba, Japan, the USA and France itself to make their small piece of land in Normandy produce incredible abundance; and a company that's played a big part in San Francisco currently being able to redirect 80% of its buried waste towards recycling, re-using and composting, and the city having a stated goal of being able to recycle 100% of waste by 2020.

Admittedly, Tomorrow can get overly "new age-y" at times; with a musical score that's so determinedly upbeat that it can inadvertently grate, and the showcasing of a Finnish elementary school that might seem enlightened and empowering to those who buy into its ultra-liberal philosophy but chaotic and crazy to more conservative others.  (I'm also not quite sure how the particular form of teaching and learning methods espoused can help us combat climate change.) 

More seriously: I must admit to feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the preponderance of Caucasians in the picture; this especially since the avowedly "feel good" documentary's team does look to have gone out of its way to not stay within the Francophone part of the world.  To be sure, it was good to have the film include coverage of black as well as white urban farmers making use of vacant plots of land in inner city Detroit to grow healthy food for the local populace, and an Indian village whose former mayor has succeeded in getting members of different castes to work and also live together.  I just wanted to have more representation from beyond the West -- particularly the white West -- in what is, after all, a film infused with humanistic ideals.

These quibbles aside, the crux of the matter is that Tomorrow succeeds in spades in showing that cool and wonderful solutions really are out there, and being enacted by certain individuals and communities.  Among the most inspirational for me was the French envelope producing company whose CEO (Emmanuel Druon) has not only succeeded in making his company more productive even while greener, but also does good by his employees along with the environment.  

Then there's what's shown taking place in the English town of Totnes, with its complementary local currency, growing of plants in seemingly every nook and cranny of spare public space, and other innovative methods conjured up to deal with issues of peak oil along with climactic changes.  Perhaps the greatest compliment I could make about all this is that it made me almost want to move there -- or, at least, sincerely wish that so much of what's been done in that corner of Devon could be implemented here in the Big Lychee!        

My rating for this film: 8.0

Taking part in The Gallery Walk for Charity that hopefully will become an annual event

A section of Danh Vo's large in-situ installation

at White Cube's Hong Kong gallery

One of Rob Pruitt's panda works on display at 

the Hong Kong branch of Massimo De Carlo

What is it about Hong Kong cultural events and dates?  For years now, it's been frequently observed that the Le French May arts festival regularly runs from April through to June.  And now you've also got the HK Art Week taking place between October 27th and November 9th this year: i.e., a fortnight rather than just seven days!

At least, the organizers got it right when they billed The Gallery Walk for Charity -- that hopefully will become an annual event -- as involving more than 40 galleries on Hong Kong Island.  And although my German friend (whom I met on a Tai Lam Country Park hike several years ago and is back in town for a couple of weeks) and I only went to just one quarter of the 48 galleries that opened their doors to participants late into the evening, we were pretty satisfied with what we got to check out; not least because we inadvertently also went and viewed a cool Anish Kapoor solo show at the Gagosian Gallery which actually wasn't part of the event -- but happened to be open to the public at the time that we went into the Pedder Building that's home to a number of respected commercial art galleries taking part in The Gallery Walk for Charity -- today!

Having collected our wristbands that would identify as walk participants at the Fringe Club, we opted to check out the swanky de Sarthe Gallery just a few minutes' walk, and exhibiting works by such as the late Chinese-French painters Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun.  Next, we proceeded to the Pedder Building and checked out art works on display at the illustrious likes of the Gagosian, Pearl Lam Galleries, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hanart TZ Gallery and Massimo De Carlo's Hong Kong gallery; with American artist Rob Pruitt's Hong Kong Panda show particularly catching the eye and, if truth be told, striking us as work we'd more readily -- and stereotypically -- associate with Mainland Chinese artists since pandas are so strongly associated with Mainland China for us.

Perhaps the most startling piece of work we saw this evening was Vietnam-born Danh Vo's The Exorcist-inspired installation named after lines spoken by the demon in the 1973 Hollywood movie, and consisting of over 450 mammoth fossils from the late Pleistocene period and an ivory Jesus Christ figure from the 17th century -- all of which bar one are suspended from the ceiling of the gallery at White Cube!  But in terms of enjoyable aesthetics, I actually was more impressed by -- and liked best -- the works of two artists who I've long admired: Yayoi Kusama, four of whose paintings were on display at Whitestone Gallery (along with those of fellow Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara); and Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose awe-inspiring works were on show at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery.  

Upon finishing up our art walk with visits to La Galerie, The Cat Street Gallery and Sin Sin Fine Art over in Sheung Wan, my German friend and I concluded that it had been a generally pleasant evening (that had included a dinner stop at Sagrantino since we were getting offered far more alcohol than food at the participating galleries!) even while a mixed bag as far as the art was concerned.  Something else that we got to noticing -- and thinking a bit strange, and sad -- was that we (somehow) didn't view works by a single Hong Kong artist even while coming across works by artists from the likes of Turkey, Spain and Canada as well as the usual Americans, Japanese and Mainland Chinese the entire evening!