I have no idea how anyone can be in hong kong in the summer months! today we had to do very little and very slowly because of the humidity. Frosties first thing followed by a walk to the IFC (slowly), Starbucks, down to the Pier 3 bar, melted there for a while, bought a beer and slowly walked back to the apartment. Tonight, we slowly walked down to the Star Ferry pier and caught a ferry along with a million korean tourists over to Tsim Sha Tsui to watch the symphony of lights. A slight breeze by the water front tonight but that was it. Air con on full in both the lounge and the bedroom. I want to shave my head....
Saturday 22 May 2010
Drip drip drip......
I have no idea how anyone can be in hong kong in the summer months! today we had to do very little and very slowly because of the humidity. Frosties first thing followed by a walk to the IFC (slowly), Starbucks, down to the Pier 3 bar, melted there for a while, bought a beer and slowly walked back to the apartment. Tonight, we slowly walked down to the Star Ferry pier and caught a ferry along with a million korean tourists over to Tsim Sha Tsui to watch the symphony of lights. A slight breeze by the water front tonight but that was it. Air con on full in both the lounge and the bedroom. I want to shave my head....
Friday 21 May 2010
Big Buddhas Birthday!
Public holiday today because it is the big buddhas birthday. I sang to him earlier and received an email from my mum doing the same :) After thinking that due to the holiday, our cleaners would not be coming, we were rudely interrupted by the bell at around 1pm, when we were still lolling about in bed.
Quick shower and out so that the cleaners could come in and we had our first stop off of the day at the twee coffee shop on Princes Terrace (opposite from the nudey "white girls" exhibition). We picked up some photos that had been developed and because Starbucks was shut, we went to Pier 3 for Uncle Russ coffee and then back through central up to the escalators. Because of the high humidity (and shiny clamminess that comes with it) we came back to the apartment around 3 to sit in the air con!
Around half five we started to get ourselves together to do our last visit to Temple St Night Market. Rus had seen some holographic glasses last time that he HAD to get. Anyway, as you can see by the pic - we had success!! Noodles and chicken at the reclamation diners where we went with my brother Andrew when he came visiting, and was greeted by the same man doing the "two finger salute" and then mtr back to the apartment to finish. All in all a lovely but very sticky day. Thank you, the chap that invented aircon.
Thursday 20 May 2010
Tai Long Wan - The Final Big Hong Kong Adventure!!
Tai Long Wan is considered the jewel in Hong Kong's crown. It is a stretch of coastline on the coast of the Sai Kung East Country Park and is notoriously difficult to get to. It either involves shelling out for a boat to approach by sea, or a walk over the mountains from the west by foot. This is the place I probably most wanted to see while in Hong Kong. Partly because I love beaches and partly because it was going to be the hardest place for me to get to. Now strap yourselves in cos this is going to be a long one!!!!.I must stress at this point that I am fine so don't let what you're about to read concern you too much!!.
I set off on Wednesday morning as the forecast said there were storms coming on Thursday so I knew I would not get another opportunity. Firstly 2 hours to Wong Shek , the starting point by MTR, and buses.
Just around the bay from Wong Shek there is a place called Chek Keng where there is a pier. I had to get here to be able to pick up a path that would lead me to the "Maclehose Trail". This trail runs around the entire area and on first hand experience I can now confirm that it is a monster!!!. People usually camp here and do this trail sections at a time as it's so tough. I saw numerous runners here that obviously use this trail to "batter" their body's into competition shape. And I am not a particularly fit man!!. There are kilometre markers on the trail and although I had a rough idea as to the distance it ended up being 7 kilometre's each way from Chek Keng to Tai Long Wan, up and over 2 mountains. The most important thing here was to be able to get out and back to Chek Keng for the ferry out at 16.50, or I would be spending the night here. And trust me on reflection I wouldn't want to do that without good camping gear and I had none. And even then after dark you would have no chance of even finding the campsites.
Immediately after leaving the ferry I was completely on my own. Apart from 1" ants and what looked like 2 inch parasites scurrying away with every step I took. Really spooky. There had been a bit of rainfall when I first arrived and there was thunder rolling around but the sun was out now. I set off on what was to turn out to be the biggest adventure of the trip, in both good and bad. The walk was arduous!!...serious incline after incline round every corner.
I saw butterflies with 6" wingspans, the biggest I've seen, groups of wild dogs, Insects of both the scuttling and flying variety that were nightmarishly big!!!. The downhill sections were as punishing as the up as they were so steep. But I made good time and got to Tai Long Wan and rested before taking some pics. Knowing I had it all to do again to get back!!. I saw a sign at a cafe with prices for boats directly back to Sai Kung for 800HKD and if I had it, it would have been a no brainer...I had 150. I spent about an hour and a half at Tai Long Wan after spending around 5 hours to get there, and set off back toward Chek Keng. Although now I had an idea how long it took for the walk I could afford to go a bit easier and rest more. I just wanted to make sure I was back at the pier for the one and only boat out and not stuck here should anything untoward pop up on the way back. I made Chek Keng with plenty of time to spare and waited on the pier. After my (for me) Epic 14k round trip walk I was truly shredded. But only had the wait for the boat and make the 2 hour trip on buses and MTR back to Hong Kong Island.....or so I thought........
At just before 4pm it began to rain, and the thunder I'd heard earlier was back so I headed for the nearby shelter happy that I had taken the decision to err on the side of caution and was back at the pier and had cover.
Then at about 4.15 I was happily listening to my ipod when a massive fork of lightning hit an electrical sub station on the bank across the water right in front of me. After this all hell broke loose.....the storm was right over me, lightning was going off everywhere and it was EXTREMELY scary.
Within minutes a group of 5 Chinese men came running around the corner toward the pier. They ran right past me shouting and gesturing for me to go with them, it was at this point I noticed the speedboat hammering it's way into the bay to get them. They had obviously phoned for someone to come and get them out. I quickly figured that this was NOT the place to be and followed them onto the boat. We only had a short distance to travel round the point and into the adjoining bay to Wong Shek Pier. We pulled off of the pier but although the speedboat had twin engines we were going nowhere against the now howling winds that were driving into the bay. The driver quickly manouvered us into a position behind the pier wall to shelter from what was now pretty obviously a typhoon.
We spent the next few minutes furiously bailing the boat out with 5 litre plastic containers with the tops chopped off as it was quickly filling up with the lashing rain. Even despite this it was a couple of minutes before we got the better of the flow. Soon after this the storm abated a bit, the wind dropped and the driver slammed the boat into reverse and then made the sprint out of the bay and round the point for Wong Shek. 3 or 4 minutes later we were at the pier safely. One of the men laughed and said for me to give the driver his 20 HKD fare. I gave him 50 and to my suprise he went to give me change!!!......I just laughed and left the boat, absolutely soaking!!!...He said "thanks".
All of my camera's were ok, and i made a point of wrapping them before heading off anywhere as it was still raining substantially. I rode the bus's, and MTR all the way home soaked, but was not the only one so I don't think it mattered. After getting back to central I met Em at the IFC with a coffee and we went home together at which point I had a HOT bath followed by copious amounts of deep heat!!.
Today I'm chilling and sorting out all my stuff, the storm was still rumbling through the night. I'm a bit achy but i'm all to aware that it all could have been so much worse.
But i got my pics!!!...looking at them now it's almost impossible to believe what actually happened later in the day.
Em is off from tomorrow so we'll have a chance to chill together before heading back.
Pics Here
Sai Kung West And Tolo Channel
I have finally manged to sort out some of the best pics of my 2 days on the Tolo Channel in The Sai Kung West Country Park. The ferry went from Wong Shek on the first day and docked at Ma Liu Shui and I went on the reverse version on the second day. It cost 18 HKD per day (About £1.50) and lasted 2 hours per trip. With around 2 hours travelling to and from the start and end points these were 2 busy but very rewarding days. I worked out the cost of not only the ferries but also the MTR, Buses, and trains taken in transit at around £6 per day for 6 hours of travel. Try and get that in the UK.This was one of my must see's.
Pics here
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Sai Kung West Country Park Pics.
I Managed to get some great shots of the Sai Kung West Country Park over the last couple of days and will be putting them up just as soon as I have a chance to sort them. There are over 750!!.Tomorrow I'm off to the Sai Kung East Country Park to see if I can get to Tai Long Wan. This place is only accessible by chartered boat or by foot so I shall be trudging there to get some pics in the morning as it's probably the only chance i'll get as the weather is closing in after tomorrow.
Sai Kung West Country Park
Filmed during 4 hours on a Kai-To over 2 days, through some of the awesome scenery in the West Sai Kung Country Park near the China Mainland. This is one of the most remote parts of Hong Kong SAR.
Music: Tangerine Dream - Cloudburst Flight
Monday - Travelling in the New Territories.
Well Em has entered what is her final week of work here and is still furiously working on getting the new starter up to speed. It's a short one too with it being a national holiday for Buddha's birthday on Friday, so Em's last day here will be Thursday.
We were up at around 6 and I was out by 06.45 and on the MTR for 7.00 headed for the Sai Kung National Park in the New Territories. Just in case you're following on a map this involved an MTR from Central to Mong Kok, Change line and on to Choi Hung, Bus from there to Sai Kung, then another bus to Wong Shek ferry pier in the Sai Kung West National Park. I was already in the town of Sai Kung by the time Em got to work and in all it took me 2 hours to get to Wong Shek Pier, the start point for the day. After watching a load of college students loading their boat for the day up with all kinds of canoeing equipment. I got the 10.20 Kai-To from Wong Shek for a 2 hour journey stopping at Tap Mun Island, and various other places and skirting the Chinese border before heading down the Tolo Channel past Plover Cove and finally berthing at Ma Lui Shui in the Tolo Harbour. There are very few settlements here, and the Islands are for the most part untouched. The whole area is a protected geological park. There were both Police patrol boats doing spot checks in evidence and also numerous Chinese PLA PT boats and a Destroyer. The PLA have been maintaining a very high profile in the South China Sea in recent weeks and there have been a number of articles about it in the South China Morning Post. Apparently China has been building up it's navy over the past 10 years since becoming a major financial player and has been flexing it's muscle in the area over the last few months, much to the disgust of neighbours Japan, Taiwan, The Phillipines and Indonesia. Who are all alarmed at the scale of the manouvers that have been taking place. Indeed the PLA are currently patrolling the south China Sea enforcing a fishing ban in their waters. On arrival at Ma Lui Shui i headed for University station and headed straight down eastern rail line to Hung Hom where I picked up a Star Ferry to central, grabbed a coffee and went to the garden cafe/bar on pier 3 where i stayed till Em joined me after work. I got chatting to a very funny Danish airline pilot called Soeren over a beer or two. We ate at the reclaimation diners on our way home.
Pics will be up soon but as of writing this it's really sunny today so I am contemplating heading back to University to go on the Kai-To again to get some more pics as there are storms forecast for the end of what is our final week, but heading in the other direction this time ending at Wong Shek. The Boat leaves at 3pm which means I'll more than likely not be home too early so I may have to wait till tomorrow to put the pics taken over the 2 days up. That is of course if I don't make the trip to Tai Long Wan that I'm seriously contemplating!!
We were up at around 6 and I was out by 06.45 and on the MTR for 7.00 headed for the Sai Kung National Park in the New Territories. Just in case you're following on a map this involved an MTR from Central to Mong Kok, Change line and on to Choi Hung, Bus from there to Sai Kung, then another bus to Wong Shek ferry pier in the Sai Kung West National Park. I was already in the town of Sai Kung by the time Em got to work and in all it took me 2 hours to get to Wong Shek Pier, the start point for the day. After watching a load of college students loading their boat for the day up with all kinds of canoeing equipment. I got the 10.20 Kai-To from Wong Shek for a 2 hour journey stopping at Tap Mun Island, and various other places and skirting the Chinese border before heading down the Tolo Channel past Plover Cove and finally berthing at Ma Lui Shui in the Tolo Harbour. There are very few settlements here, and the Islands are for the most part untouched. The whole area is a protected geological park. There were both Police patrol boats doing spot checks in evidence and also numerous Chinese PLA PT boats and a Destroyer. The PLA have been maintaining a very high profile in the South China Sea in recent weeks and there have been a number of articles about it in the South China Morning Post. Apparently China has been building up it's navy over the past 10 years since becoming a major financial player and has been flexing it's muscle in the area over the last few months, much to the disgust of neighbours Japan, Taiwan, The Phillipines and Indonesia. Who are all alarmed at the scale of the manouvers that have been taking place. Indeed the PLA are currently patrolling the south China Sea enforcing a fishing ban in their waters. On arrival at Ma Lui Shui i headed for University station and headed straight down eastern rail line to Hung Hom where I picked up a Star Ferry to central, grabbed a coffee and went to the garden cafe/bar on pier 3 where i stayed till Em joined me after work. I got chatting to a very funny Danish airline pilot called Soeren over a beer or two. We ate at the reclaimation diners on our way home.
Pics will be up soon but as of writing this it's really sunny today so I am contemplating heading back to University to go on the Kai-To again to get some more pics as there are storms forecast for the end of what is our final week, but heading in the other direction this time ending at Wong Shek. The Boat leaves at 3pm which means I'll more than likely not be home too early so I may have to wait till tomorrow to put the pics taken over the 2 days up. That is of course if I don't make the trip to Tai Long Wan that I'm seriously contemplating!!
Sunday 16 May 2010
Star Ferry Harbour Tour
Another late start today as we wallowed in bed for far too long again - but it is the weekend!
Quick march down to the IFC and onto Uncle Russ coffee at the pier followed shortly by a drink at Pier 3. When the weather is glorious, its good to get out of the shopping areas and somewhere peaceful. Deciding not to go to Lamma as it would be completely packed today, we chose to do the Star Ferry Harbour Tour. Starting from Central Pier 7, it took us to Wan Chai, Tsim sha Tsui, and back to Central. The boat ride took an hour and I sat at the front like lady muck (Hyacinth Bucket) while Rus did all the running around taking video footage! Some northern brit did a rendition of Kate Winslet at the front of the Titanic and almost got a shove from me for being so irritating. Weather was beautiful and we got some good footage (note, I say "we") of the skyline from the water. After disembarking we considered doing the full blown tourist thing and get on the big bus tour of hong kong but it was pretty pricey considering we've already walked the entire route and have seen all the buildings. Instead, we went back up to Pier 3 for a quick drink before making our way back up to the apartment. Grudge 2 was on the telly today - will have to sleep with the lights on. This evening was spent laughing at video footage and chilling in our pyjamas - rock and roll! x Em x
Quick march down to the IFC and onto Uncle Russ coffee at the pier followed shortly by a drink at Pier 3. When the weather is glorious, its good to get out of the shopping areas and somewhere peaceful. Deciding not to go to Lamma as it would be completely packed today, we chose to do the Star Ferry Harbour Tour. Starting from Central Pier 7, it took us to Wan Chai, Tsim sha Tsui, and back to Central. The boat ride took an hour and I sat at the front like lady muck (Hyacinth Bucket) while Rus did all the running around taking video footage! Some northern brit did a rendition of Kate Winslet at the front of the Titanic and almost got a shove from me for being so irritating. Weather was beautiful and we got some good footage (note, I say "we") of the skyline from the water. After disembarking we considered doing the full blown tourist thing and get on the big bus tour of hong kong but it was pretty pricey considering we've already walked the entire route and have seen all the buildings. Instead, we went back up to Pier 3 for a quick drink before making our way back up to the apartment. Grudge 2 was on the telly today - will have to sleep with the lights on. This evening was spent laughing at video footage and chilling in our pyjamas - rock and roll! x Em x
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