inspiring

The weather forecast wasn’t inspiring yesterday. The chance of rain, according to the Hong Kong Observatory website, was ‘medium’, which pretty much guarantees rain at some point. Paula said that she didn’t want to do any walks in our neighbourhood—we’ve exhausted all the possibilities here—and she suggested that we travel into town and climb Victoria Peak (‘the Peak’) from Central, which is effectively from sea level. Accordingly, we walked into Luen Wo Hui to have breakfast at the Fairwood branch there, after which we could take a minibus to Fanling station and thence a train to Central.

However, just as we were finishing our breakfast, it started to rain. Heavily.

“Change of plan,” said Paula. “Let’s take a bus to Tsing Yi.”

Tsing Yi is an island northwest of Kowloon. It used to be an industrial centre, but nowadays it’s an important residential area with a forest of low-end, high-rise apartment blocks. And we wouldn’t even get wet going to the bus station, which is located directly underneath the Regentville housing estate (Fairwood is located in the shopping mall that forms the bottom two storeys of this estate).

Naturally, I concurred, especially as we would have a grandstand view of everywhere we passed through en route, unlike travelling by train, from which you can see almost nothing. I was actually wondering about the route the bus would take, and to my delight it took a round-the-houses route through the eastern part of Fanling and Sheung Shui before hitting the expressway. I was delighted because although I’m completely familiar with all of Fanling east of the main railway (the East Rail line), I’ve rarely ventured west of the railway, mainly because there doesn’t appear to be much to see, apart from Fung Ying Seen Koon, a Taoist monastery that I have visited; Kun Chung Temple, which I’ve also visited; and North District Hospital, where I’ve been a patient on more than one occasion.

I’d been wondering which route the bus would take, but I was taken aback when the bus hit the expressway, heading north! I shouldn’t have been surprised though, because shortly after passing through Sheung Shui, the expressway bends westwards and is thus the most direct route to Tsing Yi.

Another surprise as the bus cruised westwards along the expressway: the skies were slowly clearing, and it began to look as though we’d seen the last of the rain. So we eventually arrived at Tsing Yi station, but there didn’t appear to be much of interest in the immediate vicinity.

“Let’s take the train to Disneyland,” suggested Paula.

“I’m not going to Disneyland!” was my peremptory reply.

However, Paula didn’t have an actual visit to Disneyland in mind either. Apparently, there is a scenic park close to Disneyland that we could walk around (Paula had been before). So that’s what we did. Unfortunately, Paula couldn’t remember the exact location of the park, and we ended up walking all the way around the outside of Disneyland. This unplanned diversion, along roads named Magic Road and Fantasy Road, took us past the entrances to several hotels, and I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would want to stay here. Yes, the location is convenient for visiting Disneyland, but it’s far from ideal if you want to go to almost anywhere else in Hong Kong. Anyway, we eventually reached the park, and almost immediately I noticed that it contained quite a large lake:

I was amused to discover that this is named Inspiration Lake!

The plan was to walk around the lake in a clockwise direction, and as we did so we encountered very few people. I took photos of the lake at various points along our walk.

I couldn’t help but notice the large number of loose boulders along the shoreline, which led me to conjecture that this is an artificial lake.

This photo was taken looking back the way we’d just come. It shows just how well the path that we followed is paved:

The next photo provides more evidence of the artificiality of the lake:

What is shown here is not a natural feature.

We stopped briefly at some convenient benches to enjoy the view:

The lake contains an island, which you can see in the previous two photos, although it was not until we reached this point that I realized that there was an island here:

Continuing on:

What appears to be some kind of jetty in the next picture is actually the second such structure on the edge of the lake:

Although we didn’t actually stop here, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this rather quaint gazebo:

And this is the last photo I took in the park:

I just liked the tree.

Almost immediately after we left the park, we needed to cross a road, but there was a convenient pedestrian underpass:

…and this is a view of the exit from that underpass:

We still had some distance to walk, but we eventually reached Disneyland station. While we were waiting for the next train, I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the platform:

I just liked the ironwork, which makes this station unlike any other on the MTR network.

When we boarded the train to Disneyland, which is on a branch line with no other stations, I couldn’t help but notice the Mickey Mouse windows and the upholstered seating, which is not like the hard stainless steel seats on other MTR trains. There were too many people in the train on the outward journey, but I took this photo as we waited to depart on our way back to the real world:

I suspect that Disney had a say in the design of the trains here. They may even have paid for them outright.

We did consider taking an alternative route back to Fanling, but in the end we opted to take the same bus. So did we find the day inspiring? Not really, but we did enjoy it.

across the border

Paula recently discovered that, as Hong Kong residents, we could apply for a card that would give us unlimited access to mainland China without having to carry any other form of identification, including a passport. Of course, we still need our Hong Kong ID cards to exit and re-enter Hong Kong.

A few days ago, we visited Shenzhen for the second time under this system. On both occasions, we’ve caught a bus on Sha Tau Kok Road, a five-minute walk from our house, which terminates at Heung Yuen Wai Port. On our first visit, we simply took the Shenzhen Metro to Lo Wu, the northern terminus of the MTR’s East Rail Line, which is just two stops from Fanling. However, on our second visit we wanted to start exploring, which is what we did. While there, I took quite a few photos, which I present here, with occasional comments.

I couldn’t resist taking the first photo, which shows Burger King and McDonald’s next door to each other, immediately upon exiting the Heung Yuen Wai immigration centre:

I was surprised to see two competing brands set up so close to each other.

We then took the Metro, just four stops to Grand Theater, one of the few stations on what is now an extensive network with an English name. Incidentally, because we are both over 65, we get to travel free on the Shenzhen Metro. All we need to do is show our Hong Kong Octopus cards, which include a photo ID, to a member of staff who is manning a separate entrance gate for seniors.

We didn’t see any signs of a theatre when we reached street level, but I was immediately impressed by this pointy skyscraper behind what appears to be a residential block:

I took the next photo partly because of the cotton tree (these trees have been flowering profusely in Hong Kong this year), although the building immediately behind does look interesting:

I took this photo because of the red projection on the side nearest the camera of what appears to be an office building:

I can’t help wondering what lies behind the blue windows.

And this is a hotel:

Quite a posh one too, I would guess.

Another odd-looking building, with the projecting bits near the top:

The main buiding in the next photo appears to be an upmarket residential block, but I took the photo because of the building closer to the camera, which appears to have had one of its upper corners broken off:

The next photo shows what I conjecture is a high-speed train, given the obvious streamlining:

I didn’t do a good job when taking the next photo. The object in the foreground appears to be some kind of avian creature, but I would like to have captured more of the building in the background (I cropped off quite a large area of featureless concrete at the bottom, and I would like to have captured more of the building in the background, the face of which is much more extensive than you can see here):

I’ve no idea what this artwork represents, but I had to take a photo:

By this time, we’d reached another Metro station, but before we headed home we thought we might as well walk around a little more. We’d spotted what appeared to be a traditional Chinese building in the distance:

As you can see, there appears to be quite a lot of construction taking place here, and what we’d thought was a traditional building is probably a modern shopping mall, judging by the McDonald’s sign on the roof.

This is a view of the same building from a different side:

The intended subject of the next photo is the tradional Chinese bell, but I had to include the building in the background because of the unusual shape of its windows:

And then we boarded a Metro train to Lo Wu. However, we needed something to eat before heading home, and we opted for a Chinese restaurant in a nearby hotel. This is the view from the restaurant that we enjoyed while eating:

After we had enjoyed our lunch, we went through immigration again and caught a train to Fanling. I’ve no idea where we will go the next time we cross the border, but the general plan is to take the Metro to a random station and simply walk around, much as we did on this occasion.

favourite photos: summer 2023 (part 1)

I usually post my summer photo collections before heading back to Hong Kong for the winter, but sitting in front of a computer for long periods remains uncomfortable. However, I’ve been back in Hong Kong for more than a week now, and I do want to maintain some semblance of continuity, so here is Part 1 of this summer’s collection. I should point out that all the photos in this latest collection were taken either in June or the first half of July, a period during which I took over 1,200 photos, but being confined to the house for several weeks, followed by severe restrictions on how far I could walk without a rest, meant that I took very few photos in the second half of my latest stay in Penrith. All the photos here are posted in chronological order rather than being grouped according to their subjects.

*  *  *

My first photo is a view of the bridge that carries the West Coast main line across the M6 motorway a short distance west of Penrith:

The bridge also carries a public footpath, signposted to the village of Stainton, and there is a graffito, not easily seen in this photo, on this side of the bridge. In fact, there are graffiti on all four corners of the bridge.

From the top of our street in Penrith, there is a lane that runs parallel to the railway. When I was growing up, this merely led to a private abattoir and beyond, a nondescript area of open fields. However, this area is now Penrith Industrial Estate, sandwiched between the town and the M6 motorway (which also wasn’t there when I was growing up). There is a footpath linking the end of the lane (Myers Lane) with the industrial estate, and although short, it is quite scenic:

I don’t know the identity of the pink flowers here, and I’ve not seen them anywhere else, but the yellow flowers are Welsh poppies, which are extremely common.

The wooded hill that you can see in the distance in the first photo above is the Beacon, which is inextricably linked to Penrith’s history (the name reflects the practice, until quite recently, of lighting bonfires on the top of the hill to warn the town’s population that yet another Scottish raiding party was on its way south. This is a view from the top of the Beacon, looking west:

Nowadays, the Beacon is a commercially managed forest, but the area immediately surrounding the summit has always been accessible to the public during my lifetime. I took the next two photos on the way back down after taking the previous photo from the top of the hill. This is what happens when you grow trees too close together:

Even the bracken develops attenuated stalks in response to the limited availability of light:

After leaving the Beacon plantation, we always follow the same path, which leads to an area of extensive housing development on the southeast corner of town (all fields when I was growing up). The one surviving field here always seems to contain a few Highland cattle:

However, sheep are probably the most common animal to be seen in the fields around Penrith. This field is located next to the lane connecting Thacka Lane and the Newton Rigg Agricultural College:

On the other hand, horses are also surprisingly common. This photo was taken from Thacka Lane, looking east:

The Beacon is on the skyline on the right of the photo.

We often walk along the banks of the River Eamont, a mile or so south of town, between Eamont Bridge and Brougham. There are plenty of opportunities for scenic photos like these:

Another horsey pic:

…this one was taken west of Penrith. I don’t know why its bridle has been left on.

This view of Penrith was taken a couple of miles west of town:

In fact, most of the town isn’t visible, because if you start in the town centre, whichever direction you choose to drive or cycle in order to leave town, you will have to travel uphill. The faint mountains in the distance are the Pennines, ‘the backbone of England’, and the highest point you can see in the photo is Cross Fell, which is the highest point in England outside the Lake District.

I mentioned Eamont Bridge above. This is the eponymous bridge:

And this is the bridge over the Eamont that carries the public footpath from Sockbridge to Penrith, a couple of miles upstream from Eamont Bridge:

…while this is a ewe and two lambs that I photographed further along the same path towards Penrith:

…and this is the tunnel whereby the same path crosses the railway:

This is a view of the main railway line from a bridge a couple of miles north of Penrith:

Paula and I decided to eat dinner at the North Lakes Hotel, on the western edge of town, to mark our 34th wedding anniversary. We couldn’t help but notice these ‘stick sheep’ in the grounds:

The next photo is of the public footpath between Penrith’s golf course and Beacon Edge, the road that marks the boundary between the Beacon plantation and the town:

The town’s cemetery is on the left, and the plantation is on the right.

I took the next photo, which I believe is of a cluster of wild rose flowers, because of the bee that appears to be drinking nectar:

The next photo shows houses on Folly Lane, which I remember being built in the 1950s because I grew up on the same public housing estate (Scaws):

This is a photo of Brougham Castle, about 1.5 miles southeast of Penrith on the south bank of the River Eamont:

This castle was founded by the Clifford family in the early thirteenth century and is now a ruin. Entry used to be free, but it is currently run by English Heritage, so you have to pay to enter.

And this is a photo of the nearby Brougham Hall:

The gatehouse that you can see in this photo is the oldest part of the hall, dating to the thirteenth century. Although most of the hall is currently in a ruinous condition, it is being renovated by volunteers and is open to visitors.

Finally, how’s this for a door knocker…?

It’s located on a door well to the right of the gatehouse in the previous photo.

Continued in Part 2…