Hiking to Hawaii

I feel really like that there are so many hiking trails in Hong Kong.  One any given hiking trail there's so much to see in terms of scenery or animals (butterflies and birds).The weather this weekend was perfect for hiking, it was sunny and around 16°C. So CharK and I decided to try one of the trails that is close to home--the Little Hawaii Trail which goes from Lam Tin to Po Lam.

Jackfruit trees grown in the wild--I wonder if our wetmarkt sells these? (Photo: CharK)

I was really surprised to see bananas grown in the backyard (Photo: CharK).

On this hike, we started using the mapmyhike app and it's fun to see the statistics of our exercise. Between our photo taking and wandering around Lam Tin Park, it took about 2.5hours to cover 8.11km. The best part of the App is the there's a voice notification whenever we veered off the path that we had originally inputted.

The reason why the trail is called Little Hawaii is because of this beautiful waterfall that use to be the central feature of this former "resort". Surprisingly there's quite a bit of water that flows down and the drop starts off from quite high up.

One of the coolest waterfalls I've seen on a hike here (Photo: CharK)

A broken dam at the top of the waterfall (Photo: CharK)

The hike itself wasn't too difficult but the pathway is more rocky than I had imagined. But along the way the path goes through this village area where there are lots of 3-storey homes. It seems like kind of a pain to live up here because the roads are quite narrow and difficult to park cars even on the side of the road. And most people called taxis to dropped them off at the entrance of the village.

Village farm area off in the top right (Photo: CharK)

This hike goes through a variety of neighborhoods and we even pass by this open area that's been sectioned off in to a 10+ plots to grow vegetables. So even in the hills we can see many signs of modern life including the electrical towers and people living.

Overlooking the beautiful Lohas Park

We walked "backwards", ending our trip in Lam Tin Park, from most people. This worked out because the park is actually built on the mountain side and has a tons of stairs to walk down before making to the actual Lam Tin area. So going this way actually seemed less tiring at the end.

Getting creative at PMQ

It's become somewhat of a tradition for CharK and I to spend Valentine's Day at PMQ. Last year I wrote about enjoying both the combination of Chinese New Year festivities and Valentine's Day workshops. This year, there were many free activities like rose sculpting and mural painting to celebrate the day. I don't really enjoy doing crafts myself, but I do appreciate seeing art installations.

Among them was the "Hong Kong on Steps", an art project by artists from Hong Kong Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and France where they paint various scenes on the steps of PMQ. I was really impressed by the visualization ability of these artists. My favourite ones were the scene of HK's iconic Victoria Harbour and the Coy fish.

Makes walking up all those flights of stairs worth the effort (Photo: Chark)

Love how this captures the motion of the fish (Photo: CharK)

But my favourite display was the "Play Me I'm yours" which consist of 16 pianos designed by local artists featuring distinctive elements of Hong Kong. The piano that stood out to me most was the "Design Hawker Stall" which features a piano painted in green on one side, and a replica of a food stall on the other side. I can't say that I have fond memories of road side stalls since we really didn't have these in Toronto. But I can see they are still an important part of HK's culture even today.

Love the attention to details on this one (Photo: CharK)

I was really impressed by the collaborative nature of the art mural that was part of the Valentine's Day activities. Artists initially outlined the overall images, then people could take their turn at using these large acrylic pushes to colour in the drawing. Each person would paint with a single colour brush and the staff overseeing the activity would clean up and fill in the other spots.  

This kind of reminds of me the scene from lady and the tramp where they share a strand of spaghetti (Photo: Chark)

 Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Happy Lunar New Year

The fresh flower market at Victoria Park in Hong Kong Island is one of the most famous events held during the Lunar New Year celebrations. There are over 400 stalls in this one park, selling fresh flowers, toys, paper windmills, and traditional Chinese food and treats.

I haven't been there since my parents took me as a kid. So I was excited to relive the experience again this year. But I don't think I was quite ready for the crowds. There were moments when I felt I was literally being swept away by the crowds down an aisle even though I was just trying to get over to a stall. Many brave parents even brought babies in carriers on their backs.

／

I loved see the variety of flowers, so many beautiful colors and even scents. My favourite to look at were the funny shaped New Year Fruits and also surprisingly fragrant were the peach blossoms. The almost neon colors of some Chrysanthemum and pussy willows. By walking around a bit, you could find some good deals on flowers. A single potted orchid ranged from 50-100 HKD. While a small bundle of peach blooms were about 80 HKD.

Aside from the beautiful flowers, many local high schools and colleges sold their own DIY creations like these "煎釀三寶" (aka HK street foods)

To me, the only downside of the event was the politicizing of this cultural celebration. It felt really out of place that political parties had booths at the Lunar New Year Fair. While families were wandering around pick up fresh flowers and enjoying the holiday, there were politicians shouting their slogans and messages.

Regardless of the crowds and chaos, it was still nice to experience the traditional festivities in Hong Kong. While there's still a celebratory mood in Toronto, the overall excitement and the number of things to see just isn't the same.

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!