photographic highlights 2024–25

I’ll be heading back to the UK for the summer in a couple of days, and as usual, I’ve compiled a collection of what I consider to be the most interesting photos that I’ve taken during the past seven months in Hong Kong. Also as usual, the collection does not include any photos used to illustrate other posts on this blog.

Many years ago, I was wandering around Luen Wo Hui, the area of Fanling nearest to the village where we live, when I suddenly felt hungry. And I fancied a plate of one of my favourite Chinese food dishes, Singapore noodles. I picked a typical cafe at random and went in. Nowadays, whenever I fancy a plate of Singapore noodles, I still go to the same cafe, and this is a photo of the last plate I ate there:

Several years ago, I went into a Chinese takeaway in Penrith, not to buy anything—I never eat so-called Chinese food in the UK—but I was accompanying a friend who didn’t know any better. While he was placing his order, I browsed the menu on the wall, and my attention was drawn to ‘Singapore noodles’. So I asked the Chinese man behind the counter what kind of noodles they used in their Singapore noodles.

“What do you mean? Noodles!” he replied.

My guess is that he didn’t know that there are four types of noodle in Cantonese cuisine, and the correct answer should have been mai fan (rice noodles). The noodles in chow mein are made with wheat flour.

On one of our rare visits to Hong Kong Island, we somehow ended up in Wanchai (we were supposed to be going up the Peak). And I couldn’t miss seeing an extensive mural featuring lotus flowers. This is one of several photos I took:

On the same visit to Hong Kong side, we also went into Pacific Place, an upmarket shopping mall in Central, and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the men’s toilet:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a luxurious toilet anywhere else.

Sunset on the Ng Tung River (our local river):

A few years ago, I posted a collection of photos of elaborate gates leading to otherwise nondescript houses under the title The Gates of Delirium. This gate certainly belongs in that collection:

The next photo shows a shop in Green Code Plaza, a shopping mall in Luen Wo Hui:

The extraordinary thing about this display is that the shop only sells knitting materials, not dolls.

A sunset picture that I took from our roof:

…and another sunset picture looking down our local river:

And a telephoto that I took from our roof to show the progress that has been made in the Fanling North New Development Area (NDA):

I can no longer take photos like this, because the owner of the roof directly in front of the camera has built a structure that completely blocks our view to the west.

I came across this dragon in the forecourt of Belair Monte, a housing estate in Luen Wo Hui, during Chinese New Year:

I took several photos of a particular morning glory when walking past the construction site down our local river, but this one shows the most flowers:

I don’t often come across firecracker vines, which flower in January, that I haven’t seen before, but I found this one in Ko Po North, a sprawling village east of Fanling:

There is only one location in my neighbourhood where I can see pigeons, the gardens in front of Union Plaza, yet another housing estate in Luen Wo Hui. However, pigeons are almost always mob-handed here:

I can’t remember where I took this photo of a monitor lizard on he edge of a footpath. Notice how long its tail is:

Sometimes when we cycle ‘down south’ to Shatin, we stop for a rest in places that look like pleasant spots to sit for a while. We stopped once at what I would describe as a balcony that projects out over the Shing Mun River, directly opposite the Heritage Museum. I couldn’t help but notice this granite plaque, with its engraved plant motif, set into the floor of the balcony:

A few years ago, I posted a description of an outlandish garden at the start of the path across the Swamp under the title The Garden of Earthly Delights (Hieronymus Bosch would have approved). There is an equally bizarre entrance to a garden on the opposite side of the footpath that I’ve only recently got around to photographing:

My favourite bike ride, ‘the final frontier’ (so named because it passes through an area that was designated a part of the frontier closed area until 2016), passes a temple near Ping Che. On a recent ride, we noticed that there appeared to be some kind of festival in progress, so naturally we stopped to take a few photos. I particularly liked this statue:

Be sure to click on the photo to see the intricate detail.

The only way to cross Sha Tau Kok Road, the main road east out of Fanling, between that road’s junctions with Ma Sik Road and Fan Leng Lau Road, is via one of two subways. I’ve photographed graffiti on the walls of the more easterly subway before, but it was washed off long ago (the walls of the subway are tiled). I was therefore surprised to see this quite impressive tag recently:

I don’t expect it to still be here when we come back to Hong Kong in the autumn.

Nowadays, Paula and I go regularly to Queen’s Hill Public Housing Estate for breakfast. In addition to seven 40-storey residential blocks, there are two secondary schools here, and after breakfast we always have a walk around the public areas of the estate, which is why we happened to notice that one of the schools was conducting a fire drill:

Back in Green Code Plaza, I took the following photo of the central atrium from the mezzanine floor. The bright light source is an amusement arcade that calls itself CHECK POINT, and I was struck by the fact that the word ‘CHECK’ reads correctly even though it’s a mirror image:

Two days ago, we were riding along the cycle track through Taipo Waterfront Park when I spotted what looked like an interesting mural. Naturally, I stopped to take a few photos; this one is of the full mural, which appears to be anti-drug propaganda:

And that’s the highlights of my most recent sojourn in Hong Kong.

photographic highlights 2023–24: part 1

I shall be going back to the UK for the summer next week, and as usual, I’ve put together a collection of what I consider to be the most interesting photos that I’ve taken during the past seven months in Hong Kong. In fact, I’ve taken just one-third of the number of photos that I’ve taken in previous years, although this has only slightly affected the number of photos that I consider ‘interesting’.

Paula and I have started going to Fairwood in the Queen’s Hill Public Housing Estate for breakfast, and on the way there, I couldn’t help but notice these flowers next to Lung Shan Road, the only way into the estate for motor vehicles:

Although they probably weren’t the same ones, I kept noticing flowers here for several months!

We had also been in the habit of going to Sun Ming Yuen in Green Code Plaza for yam char (‘drink tea’), but this restaurant closed recently, and we still haven’t found a suitable substitute. The next photo is of a wool shop in this mall that I noticed after leaving the restaurant. Although knitting is quite popular in Hong Kong, I can’t explain why this window is full of quirky figures, few if any of which appear to have been knitted:

I attend the Fanling Clinic regularly, and whenever I do so, I always walk through Fan Leng Lau. The next two photos are of the crowd of ceramic figurines next to the village shrine

I took this photo (and several others) of our local goat herd back in October on the track running alongside our local river (Ng Tung River) that we now have to follow because of construction on the opposite bank:

I haven’t seen them since.

I captured this photo of a Chinese military helicopter in flight from our balcony:

One day, I was sitting in our living room when I suddenly realized that we have a great view:

There used to be a large tree covered in epiphytes that blocked the view, but it was destroyed in a typhoon a couple of years ago (while we were in the UK).

We often see large numbers of pigeons perched on the upstream railing of the first footbridge across the Ng Tung River downstream from where we live:

We don’t see them anywhere else.

There has been a running track in San Wai Barracks since British times, but the Tartan Track you can see here is a recent construction. When it was inaugurated, I thought that there would be a full athletics competition, but there were just a few 4×400-metre relay races:

Nevertheless, the entire garrison appears to have turned out to watch.

There is a café in Queen’s Hill called Lime Fish. We haven’t tried it yet, but I do like the neon logo:

Paula’s brother and his wife, who live in Canada, were visiting Hong Kong in November, and on one occasion we had dinner together. I’d never had this dish before, which is why I photographed it. All I remember is that it was delicious:

I don’t often go to Hong Kong island, but I had a medical appointment there, and I spotted this mural in a side street in Central:

I don’t know what it’s intended to represent.

Sunset on the Ng Tung River:

This is a view of Queen’s Hill estate from Po Kak Tsai. In the foreground is ‘the swamp’, and there is a good path running next to the trees, which we follow after breakfast in a roundabout way home:

Another sunset picture. This one was taken from our roof:

There is a line of bauhinia trees in the centre of our village (bauhinia is Hong Kong’s ‘national’ flower):

The flowers persisted for months.

I’ve probably photographed this artificial island several times. It’s located just south of Taipo, and we pass it when cycling south to Shatin:

It’s almost always covered in egrets.

This is this year’s disappearing perspective photo, a view of Taipo Waterfront Park:

The mountain in the distance is Ma On Shan, after which the new town that you can see at its foot was named (I can remember when the land occupied by the town was just wilderness). When cycling down south, we invariably detour to follow a very pleasant cycle track that runs through this park.

I included a photo of this creature in my account of the Tang clan festivities in December, but I felt it was so intriguing that I’ve included another photo here:

I included San Uk Sitting-Out Area in my recent account of such facilities in my neighbourhood, but this is what it looked like in December, when all the trees here shedded their leaves in a very short period:

Morning glory is a very common plant here, and I particularly like this one, which is growing over a temporary fence that demarcates what is currently the only public footpath alongside our local river:

Continued in Part 2…

morning tea

Two days before Chinese New Year in 2020, Paula and I went to our local restaurant, Sun Ming Yuen, for yam char (‘drink tea’). We’d been regulars there for many years, originally when it was located in Fanling Centre, next to Fanling station. We were gutted when it appeared to close down a few years ago, but disappointment turned to delight when it reopened in Green Code Plaza, a shopping mall that forms part of a new private housing estate on the eastern edge of Fanling, a mere 15-minute walk from the village where we live.

At that time, we were in the habit of going for yam char two or three times a week. We used to go early—before 8 o’clock—which meant that we could simply walk in and pick an empty table (once all the ninety-plus tables are occupied, we would have had to wait for the door staff to allocate us empty seats on an already occupied table). However, on this particular occasion, even though we were early, the restaurant was already crowded. I wasn’t surprised by this though. The additional diners were probably from China and were visiting family members in Hong Kong for the new year.

So I didn’t think anything of it at the time. However, a couple of days later, I came down with an especially nasty cough and was out of action for the next two weeks. I’d heard about a mysterious illness that had recently emerged in China, but it hadn’t yet made the headlines, and I’ve often wondered whether I was hit by covid-19. Whatever is the truth of this situation, we stopped going for yam char for more than two years, but we’re back again now.

One thing in particular that I like about Sun Ming Yuen is that we don’t need to order tea. The staff know what kind of tea we drink and bring it without asking. They also know that we like chili sauce with our dim sum, so they bring that too. On this subject, I’m sometimes reminded of my experiences eating in Chinese restaurants in town. I lost count of how many times a waiter brought us a pot of tea without first asking what kind of tea we wanted. When I asked what kind of tea was in the pot, the invariable reply was heung pin (jasmine tea), presumably because they think that this is what gweilos drink. I happen to detest jasmine tea—Paula and I both drink sau mei.

Meanwhile, I’d been meaning to photograph the dim sum here for ages, and I finally got around to doing so a couple of days ago. We tend to order the same dishes every time, and the first to arrive at our table is always the cheung fan:

These are steamed rice-flour pancakes with a savoury filling, in this case char siu (a special kind of roast pork). They provide a stern test of one’s skill with chopsticks. I’ve always taken a certain amount of pride in being able to use these implements better than most Chinese. Whenever someone on a nearby table orders cheung fan, I watch to see how they will cut up the pancakes into bite-size pieces. Common methods include using one chopstick in each hand; holding the chopsticks in one hand and using the other hand to squeeze the chopsticks together; and using one’s spoon. I’ve even seen people pick up a pancake by one end and take a bite off the other end. I’ve never seen anyone cut up the pancakes with just the chopsticks in one hand, which is what I do:

A few years ago, when we still went to the restaurant in the afternoon, we were allocated space on a 12-seater table along with three other couples. We knew what we wanted and thus placed our order before the others, and when the cheung fan arrived, I set about cutting it up as usual. I didn’t realize at the time, but Paula told me afterwards: the other couples were sat there in open-mouthed amazement as they watched me dismember the pancakes.

Our remaining order usually arrives all at once, but for some reason we just got two dishes to start with on this occasion:

On the left is a basket of shrimp/veg dumplings (I don’t know the Chinese name), while on the right is a basket of char siu bao, steamed rice-flour buns with a filling of char siu in hoi sin (plum) sauce.

We’d polished off these two baskets before the last two arrived:

On the left is a basket of siu mai (minced pork with a prawn on top, while on the right are three fish balls. This photo also shows the small dish of chili sauce, for which we are not charged extra!

One thing that I regret about the restaurant’s move from Fanling Centre to Green Code Plaza is the ‘combination basket’:

In addition to the two siu mai and two shrimp/veg dumplings, there were two har gow (prawn dumplings), one char siu bao and one siu lung bao (which contains minced pork and hot broth and isn’t on the menu nowadays in the early morning).

Whenever I went cycling by myself, I could go to the restaurant afterwards and order this basket, but it has been discontinued since the move.

Finally, a word about the title of this post. A while ago, I was talking about our eating habits in Hong Kong with friends back in the UK and used the phrase ‘morning tea’. I was accused of being pretentious, even though I did so because nobody would know what I meant if I said that we went for yam char, which is what I would always say to Paula:

“Do you fancy going for yam char tomorrow morning?”

yum! yum!

I imagine that most people have a favourite dining place, somewhere outside the home that they particularly enjoy visiting. For me and Paula, it’s China Land, which is located in Fanling Centre, a small but lively shopping mall a short walk south of Fanling station:

Unlike the traditional Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, China Land is a very small establishment—the frontage in the photo is the width of the place, and the depth is about the same, meaning that, excluding the kitchen, it is probably no more than 50 square metres in area. Also unlike traditional restaurants, it doesn’t have movable tables and chairs but fixed bench seats and tables, like regular cafes, although the seats are much more comfortable. However, this arrangement means that it’s not a practical venue for parties larger than four.

After scanning our vaccination records—you can’t get into eating places, other than fast-food joints, without doing so—we picked out a table at the front of the restaurant. Paula chose a set meal for two from the menu, while I suggested that we add siu lung bao (‘small dragon bread’), one of my favourite dim sum delicacies, to our order.

First to arrive were two bowls of traditional soup and a plate of stir-fried beef:

The large lump in my bowl of soup is sai see kwat, a cut of pork that is unusual in that when cooked it goes soft and falls apart (pork usually goes hard when cooked). I’ve tried to obtain this meat when I’m back in Penrith, but English butchers cut up pig carcasses differently, and so far I’ve been unsuccessful.

One indication that China Land is an upmarket establishment is the two pairs of chopsticks, one to eat with and one to select food from the plates in front of you. Needless to say, however, we don’t observe this nicety when there are just the two of us.

The next dish to arrive was a kind of salad (on the left):

And then came the siu lung bao:

Although bao means ‘bread’ in Cantonese, these are actually dumplings. They contain minced pork and broth, and it’s usual to apply a few drops of vinegar before eating one. In fact, I like to place the entire dumpling in my mouth at once, so I can enjoy the explosion of taste that occurs when the dumpling is squashed and chewed.

I rated the last dish to arrive as the best:

I neglected to ask Paula how the dishes in this set meal were described on the menu, but I remember thinking that this one must be a kind of sweet and sour pork, although it didn’t look remotely like traditional gu lo yuk. I selected a piece of meat and placed it in my mouth. Wow! Absolutely delicious. The batter was wonderfully crunchy, and the sauce was, well, sweet and sour. Even the green chilies that came with this dish were packed with flavour.

I did think that we would struggle to finish everything (note how large the two main dishes were):

…but we polished off the lot. Without feeling stuffed!

A footnote: before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, this restaurant was so popular that you would normally have to take a ticket and await your turn when a table became vacant. Paula and I always used to go early to avoid this roadblock, but I took the first photo above just after leaving the restaurant, and there is absolutely no sign of a queue. This state of affairs appears to have affected most eating places in the last three years—the restaurant where we go for yam char (‘drink tea’) used to be crowded but isn’t at present. Whether this is down to natural caution or just not having one’s vaccination record encoded on one’s phone I’m unable to say.

Finally, I thought that I would shoot a short video of the central atrium of the mall from the mezzanine floor outside China Land—I found the constant stream of people on the escalators quite mesmerizing—while I waited for Paula, who had gone to the toilet: