Ruin(ed) (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

As regular visitors to this blog know, I fairly regularly feel compelled to venture out into the Hong Kong countryside to be among greenery. And while there are times when it actually is possible to feel like one has gotten away from civilization, there are other occasions when some of the interesting sights spotted along a hike are actually human creations; albeit some that have been abandoned and left to go to ruin over time.

More specifically, more than than once now, I've come across ruined as well as abandoned houses in parts of Hong Kong that people look to have decided are just too remote to dwell any more. In one particular case, way out in Northeast Hong Kong, my hiking companions and I even came across whole abandoned villages!

As I think you'll be able to see from the two photos in this entry, these abandoned houses are in various states of disrepair. Indeed, for every one of them that looks really ruined, there are quite a few more that look like they actually still could be 'saved' if people chose to do so. Except this being in Hong Kong (where the new tends to get valued far more than the old), most people opt not to, preferring to let nature and time take their course and do what they will with them...

Pottinger Peak Country Trail hike (Photo-essay)

A friend living outside of Hong Kong recently e-mailed me to ask whether one can hike in Hong Kong all year round. The answer is a qualified yes; with the caveat that in the summer months, it really can feel too hot and humid to hike in comfort. So much so that in such as the month of June this year, I only ventured out on to hike on the easy (1.9km) Pottinger Peak Country Trail one public holiday Monday in large part because it had rained the day before -- a development which brought with it the promise of (relatively) clearer air and attendant great views that would make the hiking feel really worth while...

Early on in the hike, however, it was sights close to us
that captured the attention and interest
of my hiking companions and myself

Hardly the biggest waterfall in the world,
or even Hong Kong for that matter,
but pretty all the same!

Butterflies are terribly difficult to take photos of
so I was happy this one decided to
pause temporarily on the ground for me to snap!

Looking south from Pottinger Peak down to Shek O

It might look like a resort but it's actually
the Cape Collinson Correctional Institution!
(As a friend has observed: many of Hong Kong's prisons
sure are in really beautiful locations!)

So colorful they surely must be poisonous! :b

One of those views that can be gasp inducing --
and trust me when I tell you that
it's even more beautiful in real life! :)

...and again -- this time looking north across
the harbour over to the New Territories

Moved to tears

A couple of years, I looked on somewhat bemusedly as well as amusedly as a couple of my friends of mine had tears running down their faces at a Tsai Chin concert that I enjoyed immensely yet seemingly not on the same level and way as them. So I can only imagine how they'd react upon hearing that yesterday at the Yo-Yo Ma and HKCO (i.e., Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra) concert, the Chinese-American cellist's sublime music-making literally moved me to tears.

(And I also can only imagine how they -- at least one of whom I know to have an even greater love of classical music than me -- would have reacted to being at what is only the second concert I've been to in Hong Kong in which people gave the performers standing ovations. This, more than incidentally, on top of it being one which had ended up including three encore performances.)

The thing is -- usually, it's 'only' movies that can make me cry. And, in fact, in the past month, I've viewed a couple of movies that caused me to tear up quite a bit. After viewing the paean to motherhood that is Jacob Cheung's Ticket (2008), my eyes were wet with tears. So much so that I felt compelled to explain to a couple of friends I encountered a few minutes after the screening that that's why I may have looked funny (rather than because something bad had happened in my life recently)!

Nonetheless, my reaction to Ticket was mild in comparison to the Japanese tearjerkers supreme that are Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005) and its sequel, Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007). In all honesty, I found myself weeping so hard when viewing the latter that I actually experienced difficulty breathing and, at the end of the screening, bolted to the toilet to throw water on and thoroughly wash my face! And often, these weren't even tears of sadness but of other emotions, including joy!!

Returning to music, in particular that produced by Yo-Yo Ma and his cello though: Since coming to Hong Kong, I've had the privilege of attending concerts featuring other famed musicians like violinists Midori Goto and her younger brother Ryu (the latter of whose concert I must confess to having enjoyed more than his considerably more celebrated older sister), cellist Trey Lee and pianist Joanna MacGregor (the last of whom was the first musician I saw earn a standing ovation in Hong Kong). But while I found myself admiring the others' virtuosity, with Ma, I really found myself feeling deeply moved by the sounds that he produced from his cello.

So much so that even though this weekend also has included a near-miraculous Arsenal victory over Manchester United and a wonderful hike on Lantau Island in ideal conditions as far as temperature and air quality goes, it's the concert that I consider to be its highlight. And yes, if there should be any doubt, I do consider this to be very high praise indeed!

Together (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

This week's Photo Hunt theme is one that has various meanings; and I believe that a fair few are represented in these three photos taken of Shau Kei Wan's Tam Kung's Birthday Parade this past May. For one thing, it is an annual event and festive occasion that brings people together to showcase their group and community pride as well as just be plain happy together. Then there's it being so that the parade involves getting people to work together (i.e., combine to work with each other and at the same time in organized groups) to perform feats like getting 'lions' and 'dragons' up in the air, moving a giant unicorn's head along a parade route or displaying colorful banners and large flags with pride.

(And for those who love seeing images like this blog entry's, over here and here are Tam Kung festival photo-essays by me for you to check out! :b)

Victoria Harbour views (photo-essay)

I've been in Hong Kong for over one and a half years but there remain many a time that I find myself scarcely believing that I'm actually here, never mind living and working in the Big Lychee. Among those moments which seem special to me (yet are thoroughly normal to many native Hong Kongers) are those when I find myself on a ferry on Victoria Harbour or even just plain near that body of water that I admittedly wish were cleaner, yet is one that's part of some beautiful as well as interesting vistas, be they viewed from Hong Kong Island-side, Kowloon-side or from a ferry crossing the harbor...

Classic if not for the lack of bright sunshine?
View across Victoria Harbour
to Central from Tsim Sha Tsui

View from aboard a Star Ferry of another Star Ferry
along with Tsim Sha Tsui landmarks like the
Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower
and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Another view from a Star Ferry:
This time one that includes the Hong Kong Island
entrance into the Cross-Harbour Tunnel

View from Tsim Sha Tsui East which takes in
part of the Avenue of the Stars
harbor-side promenade as well as Central

For Hong Kong movie fans (especially of Needing You...),'
this Tsim Sha Tsui pier isn't just a regular cruise ship pier...

Now for something different:
View of the greener eastern section of the same harbor
from the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence
(go here to see more pictures from the same place)

View from further east and still higher ground
(and yes, it took a hike to get to this spot!)

View of Hong Kong at night
(from close to where the top most photo was taken!)

Hong Kong Rocks

It may not be shaped like a dragon but
Lion Rock still may well be Hong Kong's
most emblematic rock structure

As the proverbial 'they' say, time flies when you're having fun. And indeed, it's a bit of a shock to realize that it's been more than three months since I stopped writing (and editing) for bc magazine. And even more of a surprise to discover that the latest issue of the magazine has a piece written by me more than three months ago now as its cover feature article...

In any event, Hong Kong Rocks is the article's title but while I do continue to believe that Hong Kong does rock, actually the article really is about rocks in Hong Kong! And lest anyone wonder, of course I put in a mention of Lion Rock in the piece. Also, the famous Joseph Koo-James Wong song, the English translation of whose evocative lyrics can be found here (courtesy of the Lion Rock Spirit blog); excerpts of which include the following lines:-

Happiness is a certainty in life,
though there are times of tears,
Ever since we met beneath this Lion Rock,
there are more smiles more than sighs.

There are unavoidable obstacles in life,
Though journeys are without their woes & worries,
let's make this journey together
since we live beneath this Lion Rock...

...we shall find common ground
amidst adversities hand in hand,
Because together,
we are writing HK's success
amongst hardship with our hard work...

Blue (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

I'll not lie: When reading the theme for this week's Photo Hunt, I found myself wondering whether I could just point you to my Blue Skies in Hong Kong photo-essay that I put up just a little more than a month and be done with it! But, then, I figured that would be depriving me of the pleasure of going through my photo archive and hunting for some more photos with nice splashes of blue in them to put up this week.

While doing precisely that, I came across the third photo in this entry (with -- I think you'll easily agree -- its beautiful blue sky over Clear Water Bay); whereupon I must admit to thinking that, really, I might as well stop right there. But after some thought, I also decided to put up the first two photos even if they pale -- or, at least, seem less outright blue -- in comparison.

The thing with the first photo is that I really like that it shows how, what with the sea being blue as well as the sky, there are times and places (e.g., one afternoon while hiking out in eastern Hong Kong Island) where it's hard to figure where the sea ends, sky begins and horizon is! As for the second photo: some might describe the flower's color as more violet than blue but, all the same, what I like about it is that it's closer to blue -- my favorite color -- than the 'usual' (for flowers anyways) red, pink or yellow! :)