photographic highlights 2023–24: part 2

…continued from Part 1.

Over the past few months, I’ve taken quite a few photos of the construction of the (unnecessary) Fanling North bypass along the north bank of our local river, but this is the best, mainly because there was no wind, and the reflection on the river provides perfect symmetry:

The track on the right is now the only way to get up and down the river.

This year was our first time watching the Chinese New Year fireworks since 2018 (they were cancelled due to the protests in 2019, and in 2021–23 due to covid; I was ill in 2020). Many of the spectators spent all their time trying to photograph or film the display, but I put my phone away after taking this photo of the view across the harbour to Hong Kong island:

During the 1980s, I worked in Aberdeen, on the south side of Hong Kong island, and I travelled with a friend who worked in the same area. One of our running jokes centred on the number of cars we saw with windscreens full of ‘danglies’. I was reminded of this time by a truck that parks in our village:

I would say that the driver’s view is seriously obscured.

I’ve written about cotton trees before, but this is the only photo I’ve taken of my favourite Hong Kong trees this year. It was taken from our balcony and shows Queen’s Hill estate in the background:

Cotton trees have two unusual features for broad-leaf trees: the flowers appear before the leaves; and, like conifers, they have straight trunks with several branches growing out of the trunk at the same level.

There is a central garbage-collection point in our village, and on one occasion someone appears to have tried to dispose of two full tins of paint. Unfortunately, the lids came off, and paint splattered everywhere:

Two wheelie bins are still covered in spilt red paint.

In March, Paula and I were cycling along the Drainage Services access road that runs beside the Shek Sheung River, which joins the Ng Tung River (our local river) on the other side of the main railway line, when I spotted what appeared to be two small islands:

This is a close-up:

In fact, they’re probably flotsam from somewhere upstream, but from where is anyone’s guess.

A small stream flows through ‘the swamp’, and where the waterlogged area ends there is a small pool. I’ve photographed this pool several times in an attempt to capture the abstract patterns of froth on the surface, and this is my best effort:

Since the new running track in the PLA barracks opposite our house was inaugurated, there have been all manner of mysterious (to me) goings-on. On one occasion, an enclosure was constructed next to the track, presumably to monitor some kind of competition. This enclosure was completely dismantled at night for four or five days, and of course I took a few photos. This is the most interesting:

See the line of soldiers standing stiffly to attention. They’re all dummies!

In my recent survey of graffiti that I’ve recorded over the past few months, I included one example that I saw during a rare visit to Kowloon. During that visit, I also came across this example of abstract street art:

As with the graffiti, I couldn’t guarantee to find this location again.

Although I’ve been aware of koels (Hong Kong’s noisy birds) since we first moved to Fanling in 2008, I’d never actually seen one until last month. I was sitting on the roof enjoying a cold beer when one appeared on a dead branch on the tree next to the house. Naturally, I went downstairs to get my phone and took this photo:

Unfortunately, it moved its position while I was downstairs, and this photo doesn’t convey just how big this bird is.

I wrote about ‘the garden of earthly delights’, located near the start of the path across ‘the swamp’, last year, but since my survey, it has been allowed to decline. However, I did photograph this bathtub lotus pond recently:

We had a lot of heavy rain last month, and after one such downpour, I noticed a small group of egrets in a large pool of water opposite our house. However, when I stepped out onto the balcony to take a photo, they all took flight:

There are six egrets in this photo.

Paula spotted this cluster of fungi growing on a dead tree stump as we were walking through Fan Leng Lau Pleasure Ground last month:

Paula and I cycled out west to the Tam Mei valley earlier this month. The intention was to follow the loop of roads up and back down the valley, which we hadn’t done for quite some time. There are a lot of murals to be seen hereabouts (Wall to Wall, Fish out of Water), but on this occasion we came across something new. There are murals on both sides of this gate:

The words on the flag wielded by the figure on the left read ‘out in safe home’, which is a classical Chinese chengyu, or four-character idiom.

I spotted this shop window in the Queen’s Hill Shopping Centre:

Don’t ask me what they sell here.

The ‘garden of earthly delights’ may be in decline, but it appears to have inspired the neighbour on the other side of the footpath. This gate leads into the garden:

…and this is a close-up of the top half of the gate:

This is another fungal discovery in Fan Leng Lau Pleasure Ground. It wasn’t visible from the path through the park, but Paula wandered off the path and found it. The stalk is at least 30cm long, and unfortunately it appears to have been broken off deliberately:

I’d been wandering through Fanling’s industrial district on the lookout for graffiti and flame trees to photograph. I’d stopped briefly in a small garden when I spotted this truck:

I’ve seen quite a few bizarre company names during my time in Hong Kong (dating back to 1974), but this takes the biscuit.

I go out routinely for a short walk as soon as I get up in the morning. A few days ago, I was walking back along the road to our house when I noticed what looked like a spectacular sunrise. The sun was illuminating small wisps of cloud high in the sky, but unfortunately I didn’t have my phone with me. When I got home, I took this photo from our balcony:

The sun is just behind the horizon at this point, so the small clouds are no longer visible.

And that concludes this year’s ‘most interesting’ photos. Look out for next year’s collection.

previous highlights collections
Photographic Highlights: 2015–16
Photographic Highlights: 2016–17
Photographic Highlights: 2017–18
Photographic Highlights: 2018–19
Photographic Highlights 2019–20: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2019–20: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2020–21: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2020–21: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2021–22: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2021–22: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 3