flaming heck

Although I’m now back in the UK, I still have one post to compile that is related to my most recent sojourn in Hong Kong: the subject is flame trees, which originated in Madagascar but are now widely grown in Hong Kong as ornamental trees. They usually flower in June, when I’m not in Hong Kong, but thanks to the effects of the climate system El Niño, which has had a profound effect on the weather in Hong Kong during the past winter/spring, many of these trees started flowering at the beginning of May. Naturally, I wanted to take as many photos as possible, so I decided to postpone the posting of this collection until I could no longer add more photos. The order in which they appear here is the order in which they were taken.

My first photo was taken from our balcony on 2nd May:

Naturally, I wanted to take a closer look:

Whenever we go to Queen’s Hill for breakfast, we cross Sha Tau Kok Road via the only footbridge anywhere along this road. I took the next photo from the middle of the bridge, looking east:

This is one of several flame trees in the grounds of San Wai Barracks.

On the other side of the main road, there is a flame tree next to the start of the down ramp, so the next photo is effectively a close-up:

I took this photo from the down ramp, looking back west towards Fanling:

I’ve been a regular patient at the Fanling Clinic for the past few years, most recently to undergo acupuncture treatment for the ongoing problems with my hip joint. Following one such treatment session, I decided to walk back home along Jockey Club Road, the main north–south highway through Fanling. As I was walking along, I was suddenly confronted by an impressive flame tree in more or less full bloom:

Notice the cycle track. There is an extensive network of such tracks in Fanling, and in all the other towns in the New Territories. This is a close-up of the previous photo:

Once I’d crossed the side road, I turned to look back the way I’d just come:

I’d walked under a row of flame trees without noticing them!

This flame tree was on the other side of the main road:

I did notice several more flame trees around this area, none of which had started to flower. I never had time to go back to see whether this had changed.

I turned right at the next side road, intending to walk through Ignoble Hill (this is my name for a village that is located on the opposite side of Ma Sik Road to Noble Hill, an upmarket private housing estate, and is a sharp contrast to the latter). On the way, I stopped to take this photo:

The following day, I decided to walk along the section of Sha Tau Kok Road that separates Fanling’s industrial area from the residential area known as Luen Wo Hui, because I’d seen flame trees here in the past. I didn’t have much luck, but I did spot this tree on the residential side of the road (I was on the opposite side):

The building in the background is Luen Wo Hui’s wet market.

This is a closer view of the same tree, which is in a small park next to the main road:

While I was there, I spotted this tree on the industrial side of the main road:

I’d walked under it before crossing the road, again without noticing any flowers.

I decided to continue along Sha Tau Kok Road, out of Fanling, to see if I could spot any more trees. I took this photo from the south side of the road, shortly after passing the turn-off to the village where I live:

…and this one from the north side:

This tree is located in the southwest corner of San Wai Barracks:

On this occasion, I also took another photo of the tree that I could see from our balcony (see above):

The flowering had become more intense in just a couple of days.

I also took another photo from our balcony:

…because a second tree had started flowering.

A few days later, I walked further east along Sha Tau Kok Road, where I took the next three photos:

Here are two more flame trees growing in the grounds of San Wai Barracks:

On the opposite side of the road that skirts the barracks (and passes our house) is San Wai’s former school. Several flame trees grow in the grounds, including the first one I photographed (above), but access is not possible, except when the building is used as a polling station in local elections. I took this photo through a gap in the school’s wire-mesh gate:

For our last bike ride before heading off to the UK for the summer, Paula suggested Bride’s Pool Road, which is a tough ask, with a 2km hill at a steady gradient of about 10 percent. I stopped near the bottom of the downhill section to take this photo:

When we reached Sha Tau Kok Road, we had no option but to ride on the road. Fortunately, it was a public holiday (which explains the sheer number of sports cyclists on Bride’s Pool Road, and which I was not aware of), but once we drew closer to home, we turned off into familiar territory. I had intended to follow an unnamed road that leads to the village of San Uk Tsai, but there appeared to be some kind of construction ahead, so I turned towards the village of Leng Pei instead, intending to cycle along ‘country and eastern’. I’d never tried this path in this direction before, which was quite a challenge, but the hasty change of mind had a serendipitous result:

We would never have seen this tree had we continued along the unnamed road instead, because we would have turned off to tackle Hok Tau Country Trail #2 before reaching the tree.

Naturally, we stopped to take more photos, like this one:

Whenever we go to Queen’s Hill for breakfast, we continue up the hill afterwards. At the top of the hill is a path leading to Po Kak Tsai (‘poke in the eye’). Along this path, there is a flame tree that I hadn’t noticed until I spotted a few flowers on the ground. The next three photos feature this tree:

The high-rise buildings in the background are parts of Shan Lai Court, which adjoins Queen’s Hill Public Housing Estate and has buildings identical to those in the public area. It appears to be for first-time buyers, although that is just a guess.

I often stop in the San Uk Sitting-Out Area when coming back from Luen Wo Hui, which is why I spotted this tree:

This is the view from inside the village:

And that’s what I was able to record about flame trees last month. I wonder when, or if, I’ll see such sights again.