Lion Rock

The weather has been holding up relatively well, so a group of us guys decided to arrange a hike.

One of the most famous locations in all of Hong Kong is "Lion Rock".  It sits overlooking Kowloon and stands with a distinct profile seems to come out of the hillside.  It is a spectacular looking rise that gives you a lovely focal point when looking up along Kowloon.  It's also a famous hiking location which is meant to give incredible views of all of Hong Kong.

We all met at Wong Tai Sin MTR station and even from the exit, we could see our destination in the distance.

We started walking up the hill towards the start of the hike.  The road up towards the park itself was incredibly steep.  The four of us powered up the hill, looking with a touch of surprise at some of the elderly people who were also slowly walking up the hill.  After what seemed like a long time, we walked past a large temple and then onto the walking trail of the park.

Eamon had been up before and he told us that the hike was short, but steep.  Within a short time, had risen up very quickly.  The steps and the walk were indeed very steep, but it did meant that we were quickly looking out towards sweeping views of Kowloon and Hong Kong.

This hike was by no means a long hike, but there were definitely parts of it which were a bit more challenging purely because of how steep it was.  Other friends had told me they had wandered up with their kids, so it's definitely doable from that perspective, but if you want to go up quickly it'll be much harder.

Once we got to the top, we found ourselves looking out over Hong Kong.  The views from this peak are some of the nicest I've seen in Hong Kong.  The peak rises up so sharply, it means you are very "close" to the city itself and so you look down on everything rather than just looking at everything from a distance.

At the top of the peak, you can walk along the ridge, moving from vantage spot to vantage spot.  It gives a more panoramic view of the skyline along with some enjoyable sections of boulders and rocks to scamper over.

We had gone up in the late afternoon, so we were given the lovely views of the setting sun as we stood and looked out across the horizon.  It's always incredible to see Hong Kong from these views, you get to appreciate just how small the residential parts of the city are compared to the vast areas of forests that form part of the HKSAR.

We kept wandering up and down the different rocks, tired but still trying to find a better spot with a better view.

As night fell, we started the slower walk back down the mountain.

We walked slowly in the dark with a few headlamps and torches to guide us.  About half way down, we all stopped as we reached an opening in the trees and saw out towards the golden lights of the Hong Kong.  Matty declared we were stopping as he pulled out his camera equipment to take a photo of the glowing image in front of us.

Out on the jetty

I've read that the Sai Wan Swimming Shed (or the jetty at the shed at the very least) is one of the most instagramed locations in Hong Kong.

It wasn't hard to understand why it was such a highly photographed location.

It was an exceptionally beautiful location which combined the natural beauty of the water and its surroundings with a strangely isolated and rickety structure.  The jetty didn't seem to quite belong in this place, and yet it was this juxtaposition of something so delicate, artificial and out of place which seem to make the whole scene that much more picturesque.

I had somehow managed to find myself here on a day when there was almost nobody in the water.  A few elderly swimmers were leaving the water just as I was entering and they all began to do their loud breathing exercises up on the hill.  They let out loud bellows as they cleared their lungs and sinuses, each like a horn being sounded.  Again, it was such a strange contrast.  The calm serenity of the water and surroundings being interrupted occasionally by the loud whoops of the elderly.  It didn't seem out of place though, it almost seemed to make the whole experience more alive. 

I walked back to Kennedy Town after that experience.  I felt refreshed and awakened by the swim and was hungry.  I found my friend Jon who had finished his workout and he took me to a local cafe.

I ordered a matcha latte and a smoothie bowl.  Looking at the different colours arrayed out in front of me, it all seemed a very far cry from my youth.  This incredibly hipster meal in front of me was didn't seem to out of the ordinary anymore as more and more people moved towards an increasingly healthy diet.  I still wondered though whether bacon and eggs would have been more satisfying.

Moo

I like the hike from Mui Wo to Pui O.  It's a good length, with some challenging parts and most importantly of all, the lovely payoff at the end of stunning views and some beach opportunities.

It had been a few years since I had first done this hike with Ed.  It was a strange feeling to be doing this hike now.  Ed was gone, back to France, but I was still here and now quite a different person to what I was back then.  I remembered that halfway through that first hike with Ed, I had to tap out as I was so unfit.  I was much better now and powered through the whole walk with only a few brief stops to rehydrate.

When we got to Pui O, everything was quiet.  It was too hot for there to be much outside activity, but we were lucky enough to see some of the Lantau water buffalo wandering around happily eating the grass.  I showed the pictures to one of my friends and she immediately thought they looked like some amalgamation between cow and rhino.

The walk from Mui Wo to Pui O had been long enough for me.  Given the heat, I didn't want to go any further on foot.  We grabbed the first cab we saw and went straight for the beachside restaurants at Cheung Sha.  These restaurants on the beach are some of my favourite in Hong Kong.  Sitting along side the water, people move in and out of the water, to and from the tables, as they enjoy their days with food and drink.  It is a lovely lifestyle that is so close to the business of Hong Kong.

With all of the coronavirus restrictions in Hong Kong, the beach was "closed", but all this seemed to mean was some ineffective tape which had been stretched across a small section of the beach which would have otherwise been supervised by the lifeguards.

Instead, people just swam to the side.  The water was warm, almost bath like, when I jumped in to wash off the sweat and dirt of the hike.

Oink oink oink

I'm working from home a couple of days a week these days.  I find it to be a good balance between the social interaction of going into work and the additional freedom of being able to have a bit more time to myself.

Others were now in full work from home and going a little bit stir crazy.

On those days when I was working from home,  took advantage of the extra time afforded to me and work up early to join some friends on a short hike.

We went up into the hills behind Quarry Bay.  I'm constantly amazed by how accessible the city of Hong Kong is to nature.  It is something I have tried to embrace more the longer I live here.

It's the middle of summer in Hong Kong, so during the day it is almost unbearably hot, but early in the morning it's far more comfortable.  It still feels humid, but the sun isn't up yet and the temperatures are a bit lower.  It's a nice walk through the hills and we normally end at a mountain stream.  We cool off a bit in the waters, as further upstream we see other morning hikers collecting fresh water for their daily tea.  There is something incredibly peaceful about the whole scene and the collection of different people enjoying it.

As we started walking back down the mountain, we came across the hilarious sight of three sleeping wild pigs.  Living in Hong Kong has made these animals so tame that they no longer seemed to care at all about hiding or protecting themselves.  Instead, they happily slept in the open, snoring and farting for the whole world.

Back in Quarry Bay, we completed our excursion with a quick breakfast at a local cha chaan teng.  The congee, noodles and fried dough sticks were oily and satisfying.

I've been in Hong Kong for a few years now and I'm feeling more and more local.  I feel like I'm moving past the mere expat phase of my time here and becoming increasingly immersed into what life is like here for most others.

Walking the East side

Hong Kong is such a small place and yet there are so many parts of it that I rarely visit.  One of those places is the Eastern side of the metropolitan part of Hong Kong island.  It's not far, and it's not in anyway deserted, but it's definitely not the part of Hong Kong that draws the tourist crowds.  The expats tend to live around Central and to the West of the island, as well as in the further-out parts of Hong Kong.  The Eastern part of Hong Kong is more local.  It's still densely packed and full of people, but it certainly doesn't have the usual draws that most visitors to Hong Kong would want to see.

I went out to meet my friend early one morning.  We decided we would walk along the waterfront of Quarry Bay towards Heng Fa Chuen.  

It was a beautiful developed area of waterfront.  The paths were clean and open and it wasn't anywhere near as crowded as some of the areas towards Central.  The crowd felt a bit older and far more local.  There were few (if any) expats and Westerners out walking. 

It's worthwhile to come out here more.  As I become more localised to Hong Kong, I think more and more about where I belong and where I want to establish myself culturally.  Many of my old expat friends have left or started to leave, and I find myself increasingly with those more stable relationships which tend towards the local.  Maybe it's just part of a natural progression that was always meant to happen.

Coronavirus and restaurant dining

The restrictions have returned to Hong Kong and we're back to only being able to dine in groups of 8 again.  The restaurants also have to keep their capacity at only 60% which must be causing all sorts of problems for them.  A few of us had booked dinner on the first night of the returned restrictions, but there were only four of us.  Luckily for us, we made the cut with our booking and we didn't get cancelled.  Other diners wouldn't have been so lucky.  We knew other restaurants had full bookings, so there would have almost certainly been a culling of the list of reservations.

The dinner we had was good.  We had decided on a steakhouse and we ate a dinner that was heavy and full of dense but satisfying food.  The meat was cut thick and the sides were creamy and generally fried.  I looked through the wine list before we started and knowing the dominating and overwhelming flavours we were facing, ordered a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape with its stronger and more intense taste. 

We really were the lucky ones.  We were able to enjoy one another's company with great food, even as things around us slowly ground back to a halt.  Others wouldn't be so lucky and the general suffering that many were going through seemed to be increasing by the day.  There was still the odd bit of humour to be found though.  As we walked past the drinks trolley, we saw a large bottle of hand sanitiser placed in the middle.  This was now the selection of spirits in the age of coronavirus!

I walked out and decided to walk back home.  I felt full.  A bit too full which seems to usually be the case when you go to a steakhouse.  The streets were empty as I walked back.  Another Saturday night in Hong Kong which had been quietened by an unseen terror.

Trash

I love my picturesque Cheung Chau.  I repeatedly tell people that it's my favourite place in Hong Kong.  It's a place that makes me feel happier and more relaxed.  I've walked around the island so many times now that there aren't too many places I haven't wandered past at least once.  It's given me a familiarity to the place.  I now have a visual memory of most of the areas which helps me to explore and also to find the places I want to revisit.

The flip side to that knowledge and memory I have of the place is when I see it in a less than ideal state.

Some recent storms and the flow of the currents meant that certain parts of Cheung Chau had become filled with trash.  The oceans had brought in all the detritus floating around straight into all of the little coves on the South West of the Island.  It was disgusting and upsetting to see the normally clean beaches turned into garbage dumps.  I had seen other beaches of Hong Kong covered with trash on different occasions, but this was my first sad experience with this on Cheung Chau.  The tides and currents would eventually changes push a lot of these rubbish out to other areas, but it was still disappointing to see.

Thankfully my favourite beach was clear.  The currents carrying all the junk were on the other side of the island and so today was still a day for a swim.  After hiking around the entire Southern section of the island, I had arrived at the beach drenched in sweat.  I quickly changed and dove straight into the water.

From my vantage point in the middle of the water, I looked back at all of the umbrellas and deck chairs.  It was an inviting sight and I soon swam back for a cool drink.

Coronavirus and tourism

I was off to visit my grandmother who lives out in the New Territories when I saw an incredible sight out of the bus window.  I pulled my phone out as quickly as I could and tried to take a photo as best as I could as what I saw quickly flew out of view.

Inside one of the container terminals along there harbour, were dozens of tour buses all mothballed away.  The combination of protests and coronavirus had first reduced, then completely eliminated the need for these tour buses.  Normally, they would spend their time constantly ferrying mainland Chinese tourists in and out of Hong Kong.  The spending habits of the Chinese tourists had driven the Hong Kong economy for years and these buses had effectively been the arteries which let their money flow.

The buses have disappeared from our streets for a while and I like most, had assumed they were all parked somewhere in China.  Seeing all these buses now parked and out of use in this container terminal, I could only imagine how many more were now sitting unused in some parking lot somewhere in China.

Coronavirus and no one cares

My concerns about the death of Hong Kong's nightlife were clearly premature.  With the relaxation of the restrictions on bars, the party restarted very quickly.  Things weren't meant to be back to normal as there were meant to be some limitations on how everyone was meant to be behaving, but by and large it seemed like a return to normal.  Peel street in particularly has roared back to life.  As I was walking past one night, I saw the cops had pulled up to enforce some of the social distancing measures.  They weren't doing a great job.  The sirens were blaring and they were on the loudspeakers telling people to observe social distancing, but no one seemed to pay them any attention.  They walked around and asked people to behave, but most people ignored them completely.  After a while, they got back in the police car and drove away.

It's been incredible that Hong Kong has escaped most of the worst parts of the coronavirus, but it seems incredible that this has been the case at times given how little people seem to care at times and how poorly the officials are able to enforce anything...

90s night

Everyone has been entranced with the Michael Jordan documentary "The Last Dance" lately.  With most of the world in quarantine, the binging on different documentaries and series has gone into overdrive.  It seems like there couldn't have been a more perfect time for this Michael Jordan propaganda piece to come out.  I like most others was also interested in it, so I had been following it closely.  I was a child of the 90s, so I watched the battles that Jordan had against everyone closely (though I was a Phoenix Suns fan as a kid and loved Charles Barkley).

With the final two episodes on air, a friend and I decided that we would turn this into a true "90s night".  We set up the two episodes and then we ordered out Pizza Hut pizzas.  There didn't seem like anything more 90s than Pizza Hut after all!

We didn't just get any old pizzas though.  We go one stuffed crust and one cheese bite.  Both of them were shamefully delicious.  I can't remember the last time I had eaten Pizza Hut, but it hit a spot that neither of us realised we had.  We had looked at the two pizzas in front of us and thought that there wasn't a chance we would be able to finish even one of them.  Yet as the second episode started to come on, we both looked down and realised that we had almost finished both pizzas.  Gluttony it seems knows no bounds.

By the end of the second episodes we both felt terrible.  The combination of beers and Pizza Hut left us feeling bloated.  The documentaries were good though and it was a trip down memory lane to see the Bulls playing at their peak.  Still... the pizzas were probably a mistake.

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?