It's back

It's not a great that I've kind of become accustomed to the sound of sirens.  In part, this is just a result of living and working in a densely populated city.  Sadly, another one of the reasons has been because of the protests.  There seems to have been a flurry of activity lately in the lead up to legislative debate about the introduction of laws regarding the Chinese flag and anthem.  Anger has built up on both sides and threats of action have been growing.

I was sitting in the office when I heard the sirens start.  At first I barely noticed them, but then I heard them get louder.  There were lots of them as well.  I went to the window and looked out.  Hundreds of people were slowly walking down the road.

The protesters looked to be slowly moving from Causeway Bay towards what I could only assume to be LegCo.  The traffic ground to a halt and soon the horns started.  The interesting times experienced in Hong Kong seem to be continuing.

Landscape artists

I hadn't been to the Hong Kong Museum of Art for years.  In fact, I was fairly sure I hadn't been there since I had moved to Hong Kong.  I had some recollections of having visited when I was younger, back before I lived in Hong Kong and I also remembered it being very ordinary.  Things have changed dramatically for this place.  A huge refurbishment took place and it's now something worthy of its prime location overlooking the harbour.

This was my first visit and I had come to see a landscapes exhibition showing off in particular, some works from Constable and Turner which had been shipped in from the Tate in London.

The paintings were unsurprisingly beautiful.  They showed all of the talent of these great artists and I felt lucky to be able to see these works.  In the past, when I had seen some of these types of traveling exhibits, I felt like I was being given a glimpse of some of the leftovers that the European museums couldn't be bothered showing.  This had some very high quality works.  They had even brought over some of the palettes and paintboxes used by the two artists as well.

Alongside these two famous artists were also a variety of other landscapes from other artists in the collection of the Tate.  The museum was now more than big enough and modern enough to properly accommodate these displays.  I was also very impressed by the staff who were looking after the works.  Gone were the sleepy Hong Kong guards who were normally staring into the distance, with no care at all for the paintings or for the location itself.  The security guards here were still older folk, but they patrolled with vigour and were frequently reminding people to keep their distance and to respect the quiet of the rooms.  It was nice to see them care.

The very top floor had been set aside for a large work from Hockney.  It was meant to be the "finale" of this exhibition, but it was completely lost on me.  It was very "big", but that was about it.  Looking closely at the large work, I couldn't help but get the feeling that this was something akin to an ambitious high school student's final year art project.  Whatever skill and technique that was used, I clearly couldn't appreciate it.

Next to this room, was a large exhibition hall dedicated to some large installation art.  Since we were finished with the landscapes exhibition, we decided to go and look around for a bit.  Once again, I was impressed by what had been put together and the space itself.  The high ceilings and the large windows overlooking the harbour gave the space and light and airy feeling that I hadn't experienced in any gallery in other cities in the world.  This made this place a bit more special than I remembered it and maybe it was something which would provide a unique selling point for artists in the future.

The gallery was quiet.  The impact of the coronavirus was still being felt as people were staying away from the crowds.  This suited Matty and myself.  We were able to take our time and look at everything we wanted to at our own pace.  We weren't rushed and there was no feeling of needing to move on for the sake of politeness.  You take the silver linings whenever you can.

So many coins

I've collected a lot of coins over the last few years in Hong Kong.

I mean A LOT of coins.

I have a habit where I generally don't spend my coins.  Whenever I get any change, I will generally just add it to the collection jars I have at home.  Over time, the amount of coins I have grows.  And grows.  And grows....  In fact, it had reached a point where I had filled up all of my jars and collection vessels.  Annoyingly, the banks in Hong Kong don't really provide a convenient service for coin collection.  They require you to self count and bag the coins, and even then, many of them will charge a "processing" fee.  Instead, you have to track a series of coin trucks run by the HKMA which drive around Hong Kong.  They provide a free way to change your coins into notes or to top up your Octopus card.  

So I carried my enormous amount of coins over to one of the trucks when it was close to my work.  I filled up the feeder and watched it work.  There's also something very satisfying about watching the coins slow rushing into the counter.  The noise it makes is almost zen like.

After all the saving, I walked away with several thousand dollars to take away.  They might have started as small amounts, but they certainly grew to be something big!

First beach day

Some of the restrictions on gatherings and activities had been lifted.  We were now allowed to gather in groups of up to 8 people.  The limits of activities in Hong Kong had been relatively restrained in comparison to most other countries, so while this wasn't a huge change, it was still a welcome one.  With the weather looking good, I thought a trip out to Cheung Chau would be the best way to enjoy our greater freedoms. 

The weather was warm and none of us had any intention of a tough and arduous hike.  Instead, this was going to be a nice stroll on the island.  We started out the morning with some dim sum, sitting in one of the local restaurants relaxing over cups of tea and dumplings.  Then we very slowly set out.  We looked at the map and decided to cut out much of the loops around the southern part of the island.  Instead, we cut through the town and straight towards some of the temples on the coast.

It was a different way of walking around Cheung Chau.  I was used to taking the longer and more scenic routes around the outside edge of the island.  This normally offered the best views and best walk, but we had different goals in mind today.  After a pleasant walk which took us through areas that I had amazingly never been before, we reached the area near the beach.  My favourite beach in the whole of Hong Kong.

We had walked at a much slower pace than normal not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of our old friend we were taking for a walk.  Mers had decided to foster one of the friendliest dogs I've ever met, Amber.  Her family had left Hong Kong, and had sadly been unable to take her with them due to her health condition.  She was an old dog, but calm, inquisitive and keen to say hello to everyone she met.  Given how old she was, we didn't want to push her with too strenuous a hike.

We got to the beach and had some food at the cafe next to the helicopter pad.  The first sip of the ice cold drink was as always, the best.  After that, we migrated down to the beach where I jumped straight into the water for a swim.  The water was still cool, the temperatures in the sea not yet having caught up with the weather yet.  I pulled myself back onto the beach where I fell asleep.  Amber was also tired and she soon dropped herself down next to me for a rest as well.

When I finally stirred, I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Amber.  She didn't seem at all fussed as she starred at me, then suddenly she turned her head and started sneezing.  It was a strange wake up experience.

Dogs aren't allowed on the fast ferry, so we all joined Mers on the slow ferry back to Hong Kong.  It is quite a bit slower, but on this nice day out it was fine.  The open decks meant that a cool breeze was blowing and it gave us an opportunity to look out at Hong Kong as we arrived back home.

Coronavirus and social distancing

It turns out that Hong Kong has really gotten off lightly compared to many other parts of the world.  Whilst other places have gone into full lockdown mode, we in Hong Kong have been able to continue our lives with only mild interruptions.  This is quite a bit change in circumstances from only a couple of months ago.  I remember being on video chats with friends from Europe, Australia and the US, all them being curious about what was happening in Hong Kong and whether we were all wearing face masks.  All of us in Hong Kong were considered to be the ones suffering as people from other countries looked at us with pity.  Times and circumstances have now changed dramatically as I now find myself checking back with them to see how long it's been since they've been allowed out of their homes... 

None of this is to say that life has changed in Hong Kong.  The bustling nightlife is now long gone.  I went for a walk through Lan Kwai Fong one night to have a look at the extent of the carnage.  I expected to see it quiet, but I didn't expect it to be completely deserted.  Walking down to LKF from Soho, I passed by Dragon-I which was now shuttered.  The models and the bankers are all gone and the party was well and truly over.

Downstairs on Wyndham Street, there wasn't much difference.  Normally, it wouldn't matter what day of the week it was, there would still be people milled around drinking and there would be cars constantly driving past.  Not on this evening though.  I stood in the middle of the road to take the photo with no need to avoid any oncoming traffic.

Further down in Lan Kwai Fong itself, I stood in a ghost town.  This was the very heart of Hong Kong's nightlight... or it used to be the very heart of Hong Kong's nightlife.  Now, there was quite literally nothing.  Every single shop was closed and there weren't any of the usual touts trying to get you to go into their bars.  There was a tragedy to it all, it felt like part of Hong Kong had died.

I kept wandering around the area and walked up Pottinger street for a little bit.  This is one of my favourite old streets in Hong Kong, with its old paved stone steps.  I wondered when it was that these steps had last been empty for such a long stretch of time.

Further down at the bottom of LKF was the biggest shock of all.  Tsui Wah, the old late night dining institution of LKF had permanently closed.  It didn't seem like it was possible for this place to close.  There were so many nights over the years that I had found myself sitting inside greedily eating some noodles after spending far too long out with friends.

Even after the worst of the restrictions pass, I wonder how much will be left to reopen.  Will there be a rebirth of the nightlife or could this be the death of the party that used to never end?

Suicide Cliff

The weather in Hong Kong has been spectacular for the last few months.  The lack of the China haze has given Hong Kongers an opportunity to not only breathe, but to experience a climate that is far more temperate than normal.  In other years, by this time of year it would normally already be hot and humid beyond what is tolerable.  It seems like the drop in the industrial output globally may have had an unintended positive outcome for the climate.

All good things come to an end though and the cooler temperatures were now starting to give way to the heat.  It seemed like a good time to do a more strenuous hike before the overbearing heat prevented that.  With that in mind, we decided we would climb Suicide Cliff, but we would take the long way from Sha Tin.  The trip out to the start was annoying, with several station changes required before we reached City One.  Once there, we started walking through the town to reach the start of the hike.  In hindsight, it was a waste of time to walk from the station and it would have been far more efficient to have taken a minibus or a taxi to the start.  When we finally did start walking, we went past village houses, small farms and quite a bit more construction than expected.  At one stage, we were walking past intricately terraced banana farms.  The terraces, constructed with stones, reminded me of the terraces in Cinque Terre.

By taking the long way to Suicide Cliff, we ended up seeing some incredible sights and views.  The path took up up behind the back of Kowloon and we eventually connected to the Maclehose trail.  We pushed on through and eventually reached a road and dozens of a cars.  Others were clearly also keen to see the views and experience some of the fresh air, but they weren't so keen on the lengthy hike we had taken!  We were a bit pressed for time though as we wanted to get to Suicide Cliff before sunset and so we pressed onwards.  One of the last big pushes was to get over to the top of Kowloon Peak.  Getting to the top of this involved clambering on all fours up a fairly steep rock face.  It was tough, but still extremely fun.  It had been a long time since I had done anything like this, so it was a welcome challenge.  At the top, we saw 360 views across all of the New Territories.

We still didn't have that much time, so we continued onwards.  Our quick pace meant that the rest of the hike was done in far less time than we expected and we found ourselves passing the television broadcasting towers and cresting the final peak before we reached the edge, the section of the rise with some of the best views of all of Hong Kong.

The top of this climb was a bit treacherous and there were several bouldered up areas that required some climbing over.  The paths were quite narrow by this point and it's not a place I would bring someone who isn't physically fit or agile enough.  Still, it wasn't the deadly climb that some people seem to think it was.  The views were also very much worth the climb up.

Further along at the end, there was a sheer cliff that had me truly terrified.  I crawled up to the edge on my belly and looked over and down.  I then backed away, before standing up and shuffling closer again to look over.  I'm not amazing with heights and I could feel an unsettling sensation in my legs as I looked over the edge.

The views from the top showed that the clearer skies of Hong Kong were sadly gone.  The factories in China had restarted and so the familiar haze was back.  It was a bit harder to see into the distance, but the sky did have a nice reddish shade as the sun began to set.

As the skies darkened, we decided to start leaving before it was too dark.  From the other side of the peak, we could see towards Marina Cove and Sai Kung.  The sheer volume of vantage spots this hike provides really makes it one of the best in Hong Kong.

The final walk back down was the worst part of the entire hike.  It wasn't too long, but it was a hike down a lengthy set of uneven stairs in the dark.  We had some torches and headlamps which helped us down, but it was still tedious.  Some of the steps had worn away or be broken, leaving only the metal rods still sticking halfway out of ground.  There were a few near misses, but I luckily didn't break my ankles on any of these.  We walked past a cemetery and finally reached the road on the bottom.  We found ourselves in amongst some of the nicest houses I have ever seen in Hong Kong, enormous mansions in a city where people can live in a space of under 400 sqf.  We managed to get a cab and headed back to Elements where we devoured some burgers before heading home.  Once I was home, I jumped in the shower and washed away the layer of dirt and grime that I had accumulated through the day.  The moment I was in bed, I was out.