Sweating it out on Cheung Chau (長洲浴汗)

Saturday was hot.

I thought I might get some sea breezes in Cheung Chau and took the ferry there.

A Quiet Stroll(不起眼的閑逛)

It seems that whenever people go to Tung Chung, they think only of the mall there with all the so-called "factory outlets" right above the MTR station or of the cable car station for bringing them up to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping and little else.

But there is more to Tung Chung than all those items at "bargain" prices and being simply the transit spot for the Big Buddha.

There is a huge garden just by the coast

Tai O Again (重返大澳)

Tai O is one of those places one can go more than once to practice photography.

It's got hills, houses and boats

 
 leaves

The Other Side of Lamma (南丫的另一面)

Lamma Island is the 3rd largest island in Hong Kong, smaller only than Lantao and Hong Kong island,  well worth more than one visit.

On my way again!

 
 Clouds over Western

Exercises in Tai O (大澳練習)

Tai O is a place rich with colors and smells

the color of smell

Lamma in Mid-Summer (盛夏之南丫)

Clouds have always been an unending source of fascination for me.

  

 Heads rising on the pedestrian bridge to the outlying islands ferry piers

Heavy clouds overhanging Kowloon, our link to China

Symbol of the spirit of Hong Kong

Weekend at Peng Chau (週末坪洲)

Peng Chau is one of the few islands I never get tired of. Whether it's a sunny or a rainy day, the island seems so serene, so quiet, so leisurely. Whenever I want to spend some time relaxing, my feet invariably bring me to the pier for ferries to that tiny island.

The sky wasn't overcast. Nor was it sunny.

But that didn't take the colors off this abandoned oil drum.

Clear Water Bay Peninula (清水灣半島)

The Clear Water Bay Peninsula must be one of the most beautiful places in Hong Kong. When the weather is good, it'll be unforgivable if we don't spend some time there. It's quite accessible even by public transport. One takes the MTR and get off at Diamond Hill and then take the No. 91 bus and go right to the terminus, then walk about 5 to 10 minutes to the starting point of the path which leads uphill and just follow the trail until one reaches the middle of the footpath leading to the Tin Hau Temple (the "Big Temple) just another 10 minutes walk away, quite close to the entrance to the Clear Water Bay Country Club. This is exactly what I did.

Not more than 10 minutes up the path, and we can already have a beautiful view of the sea.

Tung Lung Chau in Winter (冬日的東龍洲)

If some one were to ask me of the 263 islands in Hong Kong, which is my favourite outlying island, it's got to be Tung Lung Chau (東龍洲 ) (literally "East Dragon Island) or Nam Tong Island (南堂島) (literally, the "Southern Hall Island) although the locals call it simply Tung Lung To (東龍島). Why? It's got some of the most magnificent cliffs in Hong Kong and the tall waves there can't be found anywhere else in Hong Kong. I can never have enough of them., each time I go there.

Since January 2014, there were no longer any scheduled ferry services to the island as the old operator Lam Kee had decided that it was no longer economically feasible to continue. But I learned from the very friendly Mr Chan, one of the two partners of boatpeople.com.hk who collected the fare of HK$65 for the return trip from me that he had just re-started the service in October this year, buying back the boat he previously sold to Lam Kee. He said that to make it financially viable, he has switched to just providing services to and from the island from Sai Wan Ho on weekends but otherwise only by special appointment for various groups for fishing or tours by telephone or email. For those interested, his telephone no. is 2337 6568 and his email is info@boatpeople.com.hk.but I emphasize that I am not in any way connected to his company at all. 
. 

I was lucky. It was really sunny on Sunday. The color of the water was the clearest emerald I ever saw on the island. 

Cheung Chau in Winter (冬日的長洲)

Hong Kong may not be the best city in the world to live in. Our urban areas are severely overcrowded. But for the same reason, we can afford a fast and efficient mass transit system and have no trouble getting to a shop or a restaurant within 5 to 10 minutes from where we live or work. We also got a government which is determined to let us have freedom to trade, freedom to do business, freedom to speculate, freedom to move in and out of the territory, freedom to worship, freedom to speak and write but unfortunately no freedom to elect our Chief Executive ("CE") and must indirectly choose our CE through a narrowly screened "electoral committee" from a list of  two or three candidates approved by Beijing. Fortunately, we still got a relatively robust and independent judiciary as yet free from meddling by the executive branch of our government. But we do have some compensations given to us by Nature in the form of our outlying islands with many relatively well maintained country trails which are easily accessible through our ferry services.

It's always a joy to ride on one of the fast or slow boats to Cheung Chau, a small outlying island shaped like a pair of dumb bells, a kind of island called a "tombolo", formed by two former tinier  islands  joined together in the middle by a sand bank.

We can have an unrestricted view of our beautiful harbor.

Once we're ashore, we got lots of choices of "tai pai tongs" (cooked food stalls) for having  rice porridge with all sorts of yummy ingredients: fish belly, pork slices, pork balls, beef slices, beef balls, pigs liver slices, cuttefish strips, served piping hot with rolled up rice noodles (popularly known as "pig intestine" noodles) in lard, soya sauce, sweet bean paste or chilli paste or sesame paste or sprinkled with a light cover of fried sesame seeds, with or without deep fried crispy rolls (commonly called "fried foreign devils"), saltish deep fried doughnut( popularly known as "salty fried cake"), or a bigger deep fried double-roll doughnut (popularly called "ox-tongue cake") or deep fried sweet glutinous rice paste cake liberally covered with sesame (aka "fried lump") .

stalls selling refrigerated desserts.

There are all sorts of small cafe-restaurants with very original and personalized decorations, like this tiny coffee shop.

Close by the shore are moored all sorts of fishing boats and shrimp trawlers

For getting ashore, the fishermen rely on these smaller wooden sampans called by the colorful name of "mellon peel boats", some of which are now built or covered over with a layer of fibre-glass.

Many locals love to plant flowers outside their homes  

Because of they got unrestricted access to the sun, the flowers love this island.

The fishermen are frugal and resourceful people. They never waste anything. They recycle used planks, foams and old fish nets for building such improvised rafts.

This is the path leading to the famous pirate's enclave called "Cheung Po Chai  Cave" at one end of the island

Not far from the Cheung Po Chai Cave is a tiny cove

Opposite to the cove is the time-sharing holiday home site of "Sea Ranch" on Lantao Island

Another view of the cove looking out on the open sea.

Part of the shore is sheltered by a ring of sub-tropical bushes

Approaching the cove

The deserted beach is already visible. 

The beach is so clean and its water so clear

This is the path from the Cheung Po Chai Cave leading to the beach

 I can never have enough of looking at leaves. I adore their vibrant color.

More leaves

The way back to the pier, signaling the end of a few hours' respite from the assaults upon my eardrums by the non-stop cacophony of people talking loudly in the streets, in the restaurants, in public transport, the blare from their radios, the loud noises blurting out from  a pair of low-grade speaker playing sales puff or what the store owners thought was "music" from cheap all-in-one box set CD, digital recorder and amplifiers with boosted-up basses, or the annoying ringing tones from passers-by's mobiles, the honking of impatient drivers, the rumbling of passing trains, the dull whir of the motors running or the tiny hollow sounding explosions as they accelerate, the heavy thumping of never-ending piling work, the screeches of winches which hadn't been properly oiled as loads are lifted ....instead of the soothing sound of the waves washing the shores. 

Peng Chau in Winter (冬日的坪洲)

Peng Chau has always had a special meaning for me. It was the birthplace of one of my best friends who shared an important part of my life in a foreign land, who first initiated me into the art of the silver screen and who later went on to become the guardian of what we may see and may not see on the public cinemas of Hong Kong. It's also the site of the biggest manufacturer in Hong kong of a most convenient form of having instant fire which no cigarette smokers and no family could do without in the 1950s and 1960s if they didn't want to go without the joy of blowing smoke rings or even just simply having their breakfast, lunch or dinner, an economic activity which played a crucial part in providing bread and butter for my family. But nowadays, it has become one of the few places left in Hong Kong where I can still  enjoy a leisurely walk without fear of being run over by a speeding car, van or lorry and to smell the salty smell of the sea.

a view of the bridge linking Tsing Yi and Lantao Island from the Peng Chau Island Trail

An easy trail (易行的郊遊徑)

After the relatively difficult mountain trail to Tai Tung, perhaps I ought to introduce another much easier trail, also on Lantao Island. You can take the MTR to Tung Chung, get out from the shopping mall on to the road until you get to a Gas Station. You then take the narrow path to its right to go on to a paved path between the coast and the MTR tracks and stroll through it until you reach a tunnel which will take you to Pak Mong Village (白芒村). Then you go on to what's now called the Olympic Trail (it used to be called the Old Mui Wo Trail 梅窩古道), about 7 KM of nicely paved path with direction indication notices erected at the side of the trail wherever there are turnings.  Just follow the path and it'll take you all the way to Mui Wo. Along the way, you'll pass through the now disused Silver Mine Cave and a short distance below it, a magnificent set of waterfalls. 

Flowers outside a house at Pak Mong village

Roaming Tai Tung (漫遊大東)

Tai Tung Shan must be one of the highest mountains in Hong Kong. I first went there years and years ago. But it has never lost its fascination for me. So from time to time, I would pay it a revisit for a bit of exercise and to jog my memory of the happy times I spent with an old friend who used to roam the mountains and countryside of Hong Kong with me and who has since left for the country of the maple leaves. I really don't know when he'll be back and have a drink with me for old times sake. But one can't really live in the past. As the weather in October was cool and dry, I chose a steep path: from Tung Chung straight up the mid-mountain trail. I was in for a surprise.

The Waters of Wu Kau Teng, Lai Chi Wor & Luk Keng (水水水：烏蛟籐、荔枝窩、鹿頸)

It's a long time since I went to Luk Keng, that part of Northeast New Territories facing Shenzhen. I've already been fascinated by the variegated landscape leading from Bride's Pool or Wu Kau Teng to that remote and unpolluted part of our fast vanishing country park.

  

I started off at Wu Kau Teng and had first to cross a stream.

The Sun, the Clouds, the Sea (陽光，雲朵，海)

Shek O is a very special place. It's the best beach on Hong Kong island. That every one knows. But not so many people know that there are nooks and corners in that tiny village tucked away quietly on the eastern tip of the island which has that little something which makes it look as if it's almost not a part of Hong Kong. At least not that Hong Kong we are all familiar with.

A decoration between on a village fence

The Color of Winter (冬之色)

Yesterday came as a big surprise to me. I have heard from others that there's a nice place for a leisurely stroll in the countryside. I went there. When I first started, there were not too many people on the tar mac . But as the day wore on, it became more and more crowded. I found whole troops of learner photographers, equipped with cameras of different brands, their huge lenses dangling in front of their undulating stomaches and their tripods at their side. There were young girls all made up and dressed in what they considered their best costume walking by the side of their camera-armed boy friends. There were also men of all ages, in their safari outfits, in jerseys and wind breakers, in track suits and sports shoes, either alone or with two or three of their photo buddies, all walking purposefully towards some destination or other, I sensed that there must be something good ahead of me, awaiting me. When I turned a corner and saw a group of photographer crouching down, straining their necks, their bodies twisted and contorted in all kinds of impossible postures but all looking up, I knew what was the common cause of their un-cordinated and yet convergent odyssey: maple leaves. I went to Tai Tong Country Park in Yuen Long.It was my very first visit there.

There were leaves in light yellow

leaves with deeper yellowish hues

Luck at Ma Wan (馬灣公園行大運)

The weather appeared excellent. I therefore took time off to pay another visit to Ma Wan Park. I was richly rewarded.

There were flowers everywhere.

It's wonderful to see the florescence fashioned by the sun upon the the roundish leaves of the begonia plant.

Clear Water Bay Country Park (清水灣郊野公園)

For many, the first day of 2013 was a day marked by conflict: a conflict between two groups, one for and the other against the continuance in office of our CE in a society now deeply divided between the rich and the poor with tendencies for the progressive impoverishment of an increasing number of petty bourgeoisie. I sought solace not from the hope that our politicians can do anything meaningful for us but from Nature. I went hiking at the Clear Water Bay Country Park. Whilst rival groups shout and chant their frustrations and their demands in the busy streets of Causeway, Wanchai to Central, Nature carries on, the way it has done for millions of years, speaking only the language of the wind and the waves.

 

Creepers continue to wind its slender branch around stronger ones in search of sunlight.

Green leaves continue to take in what they need from the sun

Still more practices: chrysanthemum. 2 (菊花.再再練習.2)

It's all pink and purple chrysanthemums in the last blog. Time now for their cousins in gold. . 

Really fascinating how flower farmers manage to create so many new varieties.