Newcomer to an Old Restaurant (老店新客)

I'm not one of those, like so many of my gourmet/gourmand friends, who'd go out of his way to seek out new places to titillate their palates. But piqued by the recent introduction of fellow blogger Peter Yau, I decided to risk my time and my money on a new venture. Fortunately, I didn't have to risk much of my time and not much of my money either.

How often does one dine under the gaze of the emperor?

Another side to Central (另一面的中環)

Central sometimes seems little more than a heavy concentration of shadows and reflections.

 

But if it is, it's full of splits and divisions

Man Mo Temple (文武廟)

Temples are always fascinating places. Maybe there's something in the human psyche which yearns for the kind of unconditional care and protection one receives from one's mother and one's father whilst one is still too feeble to fend for oneself. One remembers with fondness the intimate sweet smell and warmth of the female body as one snuggles in complete trust as close as possible to the smooth and soft bosom of one's nurturer and looks back nostalgically to getting the kind of feeling of complete ease and restfulness one receives as a vulnerable child and hopes that somehow, one may magically be blessed by such experience again from the gods, especially when one is facing a new personal crisis in which one doesn't really know what will or will not happen the following day, the following week, the following month or the following year.  Perhaps one has just met a potential new mate. Perhaps one is thinking about the impending school or professional examination. Perhaps one is thinking about a new job interview. Perhaps a member of one's family is about to undergo a major surgery or maybe the one about to go undergo the life threatening surgery is oneself. Perhaps one has just signed a contract the outcome of which may make or break one's fortune. There are so many uncertainties in life. Of course, one can always make or has already made all the necessary preparations. But as the common saying goes, "man proposes, God disposes." There is always an element of chance, of randomness, of luck, of fortune, of destiny which one is not and cannot be in control of. During such periods of confusion, of anxiety, of fear, of hope, one longs to recover a little the kind of peace of mind one feels during more "normal" times. During such times, what does one do? One prays to whatever gods one's culture provides for such purposes. Perhaps that's the reason why we still got all kinds of chapels, all kinds of churches, all kinds of temples, all kinds of mosques, all kinds of shrines etc although theoretically we have entered into the age of electronic information, of routine jet travel and of universal education which encourages us to think that our future should really be in our own hands.

So many coils of incense, each burning with the hope embodied by the prayer sheet or wish list in red, the color of life. 

Flourishing Central (盛放的中環)

Walking through Central, one easily gets the impression that it's all steel, aluminum,  glass, and polished stone or marble surfaces. There is something in the human psyche which may find such an environment too tidy, too regular, too cold, too impersonal. Where is that apparently chaotic richness and abundance in the unplanned profusion of Nature in which that primitive loinging in us may find a measure of comfort?.

As if to assuage our sense of unease, here and there, along the corridors, the corners, the sides of the hallways or platforms one can find a wisp of Nature which beckons us from pots, bowls or vases or stands and even from a flower shop!.

Central Surfaces (中環的表面)

Central is unforgettable. Too much time there. Too many memories.
But scientists tell us that memories are not necessarily remembered or recollected.. 

Often they are more the products of creations than recollections.

 Whether they are recollections or creations, I'm certain that perceptions are never unbiased: we see what we wish to see.

Even supposedly objective realities are seldom as objective as we would like to believe or have others believe that they are, when we try to tell them about the "realities" of what we actually "see". 

The Central that I see now is certainly very different from the Central I used to see. Which is true, which false? Are both real or both false? Or partly each?  In the long run, does it really matter at all?



a mechanical caterpillar emerging from its box cocoon? It stands proudly, it head raised, on the very top of the edifice, secure of its foundation, surveying its surrounding, a symbol of the human will for domination.

Are our "social networks" social? (<社交網站>促進社交?)

The computerised electronic devices and internet must count as two of the greatest boons ever to appear in the history of  human civilization. We can now practically access and despatch almost instantly any form of "information" ("data") on it which is capable of being reduced to their formatting and processing protocols. We can do bank transactions, pay our taxes, file company returns, buy and sell various products, order food, book plane, train, ship and cinema and concert tickets, hotels, check trade or library cataloques, access electronic books, journals, magazines, newspapers, weeklies, check transport timetables, get news and weather updates and even take on-line educational courses on all imaginable subjects and use it as an aid in driving to unfamiliar places, view photos and videos, films and send and receive instant messages to and from those we wish to communicate with. The Christian God is said to be omnipotent and omnipresent. The  computer, I-pads and related mobile devices and internet have now usurped that status and have done so in a much more tangible form too. But there is one thing which they can't do yet: establish true old fashioned face to face human contact. But even the Christian God can't do that either. So they're still on par with God as far as that is concerned. Is it any wonder that the eyes of people from 3 to 83 are glued on to those "windows/screens" at all times of the day and night except when they actually fall asleep and their restless fingers are constantly tapping upon and sliding over those tiny lit rectangles for their face books, twitter and apps etc.

Without our being aware of it, our lives are being transformed. And in a most radical way too. What do I mean?

Our visit to the beaches

On top of Hong Kong again (再度踏在香港之上)

It's been quite a while since I went up to the Peak. It's no fun being jostled and elbowed by the impatient horde from up North.

 

 
Now that their big vacation is over, perhaps one could perhaps take a peep around the peak again? I was lucky. Not very many of them around on the lookout tower.

The Harbor before the Concert (音樂會前的海濱)

It's often said that our harbor is beautiful

Maybe, not all the time.

But sometimes, when you least expects it to, it may surprise you.

Just before the concert last night started, I had a little time.

Spinoff from Artvironment (環保藝術之餘絮)

Life to me is often a  game of unceasing surprises. So many times, when I least expect it, strange images will appear right before my eyes. They would strike me with the force of a kind of silent thunderclap and force me to take notice of them.

This is what I found when I stepped out from the murkiness of the Artvironment exhibition

Artvironment (生息) 2013

Really tired after almost an entire week of reading. So I took a little time off to look at a current exhibition. It's not the usual type of art exhibition where the artists are merely interested in selling their work or getting a bit of lime light. It's got a theme. The theme is our need to reflect a little on how we are treating this much abused earth whom we plunder and pollute at pleasure in our our short-sighted concern for economic 'growth". I like the its title: "breathe life, 2013."

The notice at the entrance of the exhibition

According to Susan Yeung, one of the exhibitors, life may be likened to a drop of water: it begins as a serene trickle from the snow covered  mountain; rushes down between steep cliffs, passes a bustling and noisy zone of dazzling prosperity, then merges with the limitless ocean. Like life, there's a mesmerizing prelude, a resounding climax amidst leisurely lows and it ends with a lingering finale. To her, the landscape of life is a mosaic of chaos, of encounters which somehow magically sublimates everything into those boundless seas and limitless skies, with its highs and lows and its rise and fall. Everything changes with time. To her, our true self can survive only if we begin by loving: loving people, loving nature, loving life. She says that only love can fill our hearts which have run dry and remove what divides man from man.She concludes: to learn to let go is to arrive at our heart's final resting place, that ultimate source of all happiness.

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

Idle Shots (無聊之剪影)

A camera at one's side is a constant temptation. The temptation becomes practically irresistible when one is bored. I went for a hike to Cheung Chau recently. On the hour-long journey there, I found it impossible not to succumb to the temptation to put my fingers on the shutter. I excused my weakness on the pretext that I needed more practice. I ended up with these shots of ennui.

Green, green and green

Lines and circles

Ceiling light at the pier

Play of curves and circles

Play of light and shade

Orange

Orange on fire

Ropes and pummel

White bolt

red hydrant

Idle foot captured by an idle eye

Far from the Madding Crowd (遠離塵囂)

Yesterday wasn't so sunny. But I didn't want to be pushed around by the holiday crowd milling around shopping malls. I tried another route up Tai Tung Shan. The ascent was quite steep. But after that, it was simply skirting paths along the watersheds or the cols between the various hills. The route was full of surprise discoveries.

Some beautiful creepers at the side of a tree.

This tree in the distance look so fresh after a slight drizzle.

This tiny plant didn't lose any time. It pushed up new leaves.

This tree did the same

I thought I found traces of some ancient rock writing but on closer inspection, I discovered that they were merely patterns formed by some dried up wort.

One of the mountains I saw after the stiff climb up to the highest path along the side of the various mountains.

A twisted ball of fern leaf before it opens out I found along the mountain path

Some yellow leaves

The hills were still filled with late blooming camellias

its heart.



A view of the hills that I covered

Some huge moss like plants I found on the surface of a rock high up in the mountains

A close up of its leaf-like flowers

Other creepers were fighting for space upon the surface of this rock with the mosses

Other hills on my way to Broken Head Camp

One side of the hill on which the camp was built

I could see mountains and hills getting fainter and fainter with distance.

I found these growing at a shadowy spot shortly before I arrived at the camp

Close by were these fir like leaves of another type of fern

Finally the Broken Head Camp

Some worts growing on the planks sealing up the window of one of the camp houses.

A pattern formed by pieces peeling off its plastic window cover

Another such pattern

A view of Mui Wo on the way down

The path on the way down Pak Kung Au

A view of another part of the downward path

A farewell view of the mountain path I traversed.