an unexpected discovery

Whenever we go out for a walk or a bike ride, Paula usually leaves it up to me to decide the route, but a few days ago, I thought that I should leave it up to her to determine the route for that day’s walk. She opted to follow our local river downstream, where in the past we could simply follow the Drainage Services Department (DSD) access road that runs alongside the river.

The first part of this road, which is gated off and therefore only accessible by cyclists and pedestrians, is straightforward, but it is soon blocked by construction barriers, next to a temporary footbridge that allows people to cross to the other side of the river, where there is a makeshift road that was constructed by slathering concrete onto the ground. It isn’t ideal, because it allows access by motor vehicles to the ‘development’ area.

As we walked along this road, I happened to ask, rhetorically, where the goats go now that the area has been denuded of vegetation. There is a large herd of free-range goats in the area, which I saw a couple of weeks ago before the area being cleared was blocked off.

“There!” said Paula, pointing to the river bank under the first permanent footbridge that crosses the river.

I was reminded of an incident a couple of years ago, when it was still possible to walk into Fanling by a direct route. I happened to remark that I hadn’t seen a squirrel for ages. As if it had heard me, we immediately saw a squirrel scurrying up a nearby tree.

Anyway, I waited until we were well downstream of the footbridge before taking this photo:

The goats must have reached here by jumping the fence between the river and the road at some point. Along this section, the DSD access road no longer exists, although there is a path, which few people know about, on the far side of the construction area.

Further downstream, a minor road crosses the river, and beyond that there is currently no construction, so it remains a pleasant location for a walk. However, I’ve only ever cycled along this section, so although I was aware of this tree, I hadn’t noticed that it has completely engulfed the fence:

This is a view looking downstream, in which you can see a bridge that carries Man Kam To Road across the river:

This road is a major highway that leads to the border and carries a lot of freight traffic into and out of China. When we reached it, I learned that Paula’s plan had been simply to double back the way we’d come. Why not follow Man Kam To Road south and come back by a different route, I suggested.

That turned out to be a mistake, a serious error of judgement, because the pavement running alongside the road is extremely narrow, and having big trucks roar by isn’t pleasant. However, after a short distance, I spotted a path leading off to the side that ran alongside a large nullah (storm drain):

The streetlight was an encouraging sign.

“Look!” I said. “There appears to be a park ahead on the right”:

At one point, the path, which had been running tightly alongside the nullah, veered away to the left:

…and we were immediately confronted by a truly impressive banyan between the path and the nullah:

“Bloody hell!” I exclaimed.

You will probably understand my reaction. It certainly knocks the banyan in the forecourt of the Big Tree Temple, which I described in my last post, into a cocked hat! The large leaves around the base of the tree are elephants’ ears.

Here the path crosses to the other side of the nullah:

…and here both the path and the nullah turn abruptly to the left:

I imagine that most readers will know someone who had a rubber plant in a pot in their living room. Well, this is what they could become if allowed to grow unchecked, complete with prop roots:

There are several rubber trees like this along the perimeter of what I’d originally thought was a park but eventually realized was a school’s playing fields:

This cannot possibly be a government school. I base this opinion on two factors: if it had been a government school, the playing fields, which boast two football pitches and a hockey pitch, would have been built on; and no government school would include the word ‘innovative’ in its name.

All this time, I’d been wondering whether we would eventually reach a dead end, which is quite common with DSD access paths, and we’d have to double back:

Fortunately, though, there is a continuation path:

I invariably photograph impromptu wayside shrines that I come across, like the one near the start of this continuation path, but it was only when I looked at the photo I’d taken here that I spotted something odd:

This is a closer look at the main area of interest:

The figure on the left is obviously the Buddha, but why are there only two of the three immortals? The left-hand figure is Luk, who is usually portrayed with a winged hat, which symbolizes power and influence—such hats were once worn by civil servants—but he can also symbolize prosperity, the character on the cup in front of him. Next to him is Sau, who represents longevity, which is also symbolized by the peach in his left hand.

The missing immortal, Fuk, is usually portrayed with a scroll in one hand and a small child in the other, which suggests that the Buddha has been assigned this role here. This does seem odd though, because Fuk is usually associated with good fortune, the third component of an ideal life in Chinese culture. The figure on the right is an anonymous goddess. Notice that the cup in front of Luk, which probably contains rice wine, is larger than the other cups. The supplicant here clearly prioritizes prosperity, which probably reflects the location—an unofficial squatter site.

And notice too the child’s toy, which may be a model of the Space Shuttle or a delta-wing military aircraft. The significance of this is completely beyond my ability to explain.

After a short distance, this path emerges onto Tin Ping Road, which I’ve cycled along dozens of times, but I never noticed this (left of the parked car):

Of course, my oversight is because I don’t consider it prudent to look around me when cycling along urban roads.

This is a satellite photo of the area I’ve just described:

The two yellow X’s show the start and finish of the route, starting from the more northerly X and looping around the school playing field, indicated by a blue X. The Ng Tung River can be seen towards the east and in the northwest corner of the photo.

By the time we’d returned to the DSD access road on our way home, it was getting late, and I took this photo looking downstream from the first permanent footbridge across the river, having followed the little-known path that I referred to above:

After we’d crossed the temporary footbridge mentioned above, I took these last photos, which show the temporary footbridge:

…and which seem like a fitting finale to an extremely interesting excursion that exemplifies why I love Hong Kong: you never know what will be around the next corner.