farmland fandango

The triangle of land between the Sheung Yue River to the northwest, the Shek Sheung River to the northeast and the Fanling Highway to the south is extensively cultivated. It is also considered environmentally sensitive, to the extent that the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) was obliged to go underground when it wanted to construct a line to Lok Ma Chau. It also poses some keen route-finding problems for cyclists, because it is criss-crossed by an extensive network of narrow paths, many of which lead nowhere.

However, it is only recently that I’ve had to confront any of these problems. When I first ventured west of the main railway line in 2012 (Across the Tracks), I hardly ever strayed off the Drainage Services Department (DSD) access roads, although I did once cross the footbridge opposite the village of Ho Sheung Heung. It didn’t take long to reach a dead end, and I thence confined my cycling to the DSD access roads and Ho Sheung Heung Road.

A few months later, where the DSD access road running alongside the Sheung Yue River ended, I discovered a ramp leading up to Kwu Tung Road, which crosses the expressway and thus allows exploration further west. Paula then found that the footbridge over the expressway about 100 metres to the right of the end of the DSD access road provides an even better option, so whenever we did journey to the west or the long and winding road, we would use the footbridge on the outward journey and the ramp on the return.

That state of affairs persisted until this winter, when—to cut a long story down to more manageable proportions—I wondered whether there was anything worth exploring to the east of these two crossing points. It didn’t take me long to find another footbridge across the expressway, but that was only the beginning of my problems. How was I to reach the DSD access roads?

However, at this point I propose to jump ahead to the ‘finished article’. It turns out to be possible to combine the various paths in a variety of different ways, but Paula and I are now agreed on the optimum sequence—for now! The following video stills illustrate the various choices that have to be made.

The first shows the approach to a T-junction. A turn right doesn’t lead to an abrupt dead end, but the path becomes increasingly difficult to follow, while the left-hand option is straightforward:

The choice at the next T-junction is far less obvious. A turn right here is perfectly viable, although it is less interesting than the left-hand option:

For a while, I did turn right here, then by a circuitous route came back around from the left, but repeating a section of path in the same direction is not allowed in my rulebook.

The path to the left leads eventually to a road that is in a direct line from the footbridge, although it almost immediately dwindles to a path winding through a cultivated area. This is the way I came when I first visited the area, when I was surprised to discover that such a well-made path led nowhere:

But there is a turn-right option before the path peters out:

The ‘circuitous route’ that I referred to earlier came this way in reverse.

The path now becomes rougher and more broken, but it’s a while before another choice has to be made:

The left-hand option becomes impassable almost immediately.

The next decision to be made isn’t long in coming:

It’s possible to continue straight on here, ultimately arriving at the same place, but that option involves a short section on a road accessible to motor vehicles.

When I first came to the next T-junction, I recognized the cross-path immediately, because I’d explored it from the DSD access road running along the left bank of the Shek Sheung River, so it was easy to choose to turn left:

The route turns right at the final T-junction, although during my earlier explorations I had checked out the left-hand option. I’ve been wondering if I missed something here though, because according to Google Maps—not usually a reliable source—there is a path hereabouts that leads across the farmland to Ho Sheung Heung via the footbridge I referred to earlier.

Whenever I’m exploring an area like this, I have a three-dimensional mental map that connects everything together. Paula, however, can only memorize the route itself, which means that it takes her longer to become familiar with it. Nevertheless, when I asked her two days ago whether she now felt confident to lead, she accepted my challenge. This is the video:

Didn’t she do well!

Even though some of the buildings that you see in this video are very substantial, they’re technically ‘squatter’ houses. This doesn’t mean that they’re illegal, but they cannot be bought and sold. The exceptions are the village houses—a legal definition—on the right between 3:20 and 3:35, and on the left between 6:22 and 6:27, on the video.

Finally, a word about the title of this post: a fandango is a lively Spanish dance. I could have got the alliteration by describing this endeavour as a ‘foxtrot’, but ‘fandango’ is also a slang term for a foolish enterprise and thus seems more appropriate.

photographic abstraction #26

Although I keep thinking that I won’t find enough suitable images to continue my series of abstract photographs, I’m still coming up with new ideas and new motifs. Of course, a lot of the images I produce—and reject—are too amorphous to allow me to suggest a meaning through a title, although I think that you will find the present collection both varied and interesting.

What is going on in the first picture? To me, it is a perfect illustration of chaos.

chaos theory

I believe that most people are familiar with Descartes’ famous dictum, cogito ergo sum (‘I think therefore I am’)—indeed, I’ve had it quoted at me on several occasions by someone trying to make a philosophical point, invariably without their realizing that this statement assumes that ‘mind’ and ‘body’ are somehow separate, which is probably an error. The most cogent rebuttal of Cartesian dualism was made by British philosopher Gilbert Ryle, who called it ‘the ghost in the machine’:

ghost in the machine

You don’t need me to point out that the next image isn’t hair, but it is something that’s been brushed. I can’t remember what though.

hair today, gone tomorrow

The impact was on the left, but the target was in the middle. In other words, the attacker missed:

missed

The title I’ve given to the next image refers to the term’s cartographic usage rather than to remission of pain:

relief

It isn’t often that an image is so striking that I simply have to get off my bike and take a photograph, but this is what happened with my final image, which I’ve named after one of the few musical acts of the twenty-first century that I consider worth listening to.

white stripes

recent posts in this series
Photographic Abstraction #21
Photographic Abstraction #22
Photographic Abstraction #23
Photographic Abstraction #24
Photographic Abstraction #25

cycling: video action #2

Although I hadn’t intended to post links to more YouTube videos, there is quite a lot of background information to attach to this latest collection. All feature Paula riding in the front.

‘Way of the dragon’ is undoubtedly the best of my recent discoveries, although my first two attempts to shoot a video were failures. For my first attempt, I started filming at the beginning of the rough road leading off Ma Tso Lung Road, but when we started to go off-road, Paula went straight on at a point where she should have turned right. My second attempt was a much bigger disappointment though.

This is a still from that first video:

There is a drop of almost a metre from the concrete at the bottom of the photo to the dirt where Paula is, which means that it’s necessary to go very slowly. However, going slowly affects one’s stability, and Paula toppled over into the vegetation on her left. She wasn’t hurt, but here’s the rub: for reasons that I can’t explain, the video camera wasn’t behaving as it had done on its first day out, and there were no distinctive beeps to tell me whether I was turning it on or off. And I turned the camera off when I thought I was turning it on, so I missed all the drama. Paula was happy about that!

I explained how I discovered the first of the serendipity alleyways in Serendipity #1, but the first video I shot covered only the alley itself, and the complete connection between Ho Sheung Heung Road and Ma Tso Lung Road also includes a road that presents its own problems. If you watch closely, a lot of concrete has been slathered across this road, creating many 2–3cm lips that are uncomfortable to ride over on a bike.

The interesting point to note about the alleyway itself is the hill. This still of Paula near the bottom provides a flavour of this section:

I don’t think it’s particularly steep, but my legs always feel the strain. I think that this is because it’s natural to attack a hill on a narrow path to avoid wobbling, while the same gradient on a road can be treated more casually because wobbling a bit really doesn’t matter.

For something that really is steep and narrow, look no further than swiss roll:

This photo was taken from the top of the ramp, which I’d originally come across while exploring the road that runs past the top. However, once I’d established that there is a through path here, it was obvious that I would arrange things so that we cycled up, not down, this ramp.

I’ve included a second still image here because of the look of incredulity on the Filipina domestic helper’s face: did someone really just cycle up that hill? I don’t think anyone else does.

I’ve already posted videos of some sections of the long and winding road, but one of my favourite parts is the iron bridge path:

A few months ago, just before we reached the iron bridge, we met a man who told us “there is no way through”. Of course, we knew differently, but if you watch the video, you will get a sense of why a non-cyclist might think there really is no way through here:

When I established ping kong ping pong last year, we started linking this ride with the long and winding road. However, this meant missing out the last section of the original route, and in the last couple of months we’ve reverted to that original.

The first section is yet another uphill narrow path that feels steeper than it is, while the second still shows where the path joins a dirt road that provides an exciting finale:

bougainvillea boogie #2

When I posted Bougainvillea Boogie last year, I did so to illustrate the visual qualities of this breathtaking tropical plant. But I was mistaken! This year’s examples are far more spectacular. Take a look.

My first example is the only repeat from last year’s post:

This was the penultimate example in that collection, and a comparison reveals that this display is more impressive. I took the photo at the end of October, and I’m puzzled as to why at the moment there is absolutely no sign of colour here whatsoever, given that all the following photos were taken in the last couple of weeks, suggesting that this is the time. However, several more of the locations that I featured last year have also failed to burst forth.

The next photo shows two separate plants in the grounds of a school in Sheung Shui that we cycle past every time we ride out west:

…and this is the kind of thing we see ‘out west’:

This photo was taken along Hang Tau Road, the only exit to the outside world if you live in the village of Hang Tau (unless you ride a bike), while the next photo was taken where an unnamed road is about to join Hang Tau Road.

The following photo was taken on the path between Fanling and Taipo. The Hong Kong government built a dedicated cycle track between the two towns a couple of years ago, but I still use the old path, not least because the new cycle track has subsequently been disrupted by major construction work involving a road tunnel through the mountain to the east. Any sensible planner would have finished this project before building the cycle track, but, then, this is Hong Kong!

However, if you decide to follow the cycle track rather than the path, then you will see this example, outside the entrance to a quasi-industrial site:

The next photo may not seem as impressive, but it was taken from quite a distance. It is located on the banks of the Sheung Yue River and is viewed from the opposite side:

I’ve spent a lot of time recently exploring an area known as Long Valley, between the Sheung Yue and Shek Sheung rivers. There is quite a network of narrow paths here—and some of the most spectacular examples of bougainvillea that I’ve encountered. The next three photos were taken in this area:

The next example can be found in the village of Ma Tso Lung, which wasn’t part of my usual cycling itinerary until I discovered ‘the way of the dragon’ a couple of weeks ago.

I’m struggling to remember where I took the next photo, which I’ve included because it is a redder shade than most of the other examples:

Closer to home, the next photo is of a squatter hut next to an unnamed road that crosses the Ng Tung River:

…while, further downstream, this specimen can be found next to the Drainage Services access road:

The white ‘spots’ are actually the plant’s tiny flowers, the intense red bits being modified leaves, or bracts.

I took the next photo in San Uk Tsuen, the next village to where I live:

You may be thinking at this point that bougainvilleas are always some variant of red, but the next example, also found in San Uk Tsuen, is anything but:

…and I came across this specimen while looking for an alternative way to reach the Hok Tau country trails, east of Fanling, having almost run into wet cement on my usual route in this area:

Several of the examples above could probably be described as ‘pink’, albeit a shocking variant, but I spotted this delicate shade of pink while on ‘the final frontier’, near to the ‘zoological garden’:

My final photo is not particularly special. I just thought that I’d include it because this specimen is located right next to the previous example:

Yes sir! I can boogie.
I can boogie-woogie all day long.