Hong Kong 14

This is my 14th trip to Hong Kong - in the same period (since 2006 - 17 years), Helen has visited at least two additional times. Why so many trips? We have family in Hong Kong and Hong Kong has served as our base for exploring other parts of Asia. COVID hasn't been easy in Hong Kong - for many years, you could only visit Hong Kong with a long period in a quarantine hotel on your dollar. For more than a year, Hong Kong was only accepting people with a valid Hong Kong ID card. That said, things change and in late 2022 the rules softened and by March 2023 Hong Kong was completely open to visitors. Nara and Claira lamented that there last visit (2019) was when they were 7 and 9 years old and they were having trouble remembering the place. This was their chance to renew those memories and make some news memories.

Of course, every trip has it's bumps. We were supposed to fly out very early Saturday morning. We were lucky we kept an eye on the flights because Cathay delayed our flight 24 hours so we actually flew out very early Sunday morning.

We spotted other smaller butterflies, but not as many as some other trips.

I have visited Mai Po Marshes enough times that the marshes have their own tag on my website.  I visited in 2018 (Hong Kong 12), 2017 (Hong Kong 11), 2016 (Hong Kong 10), 2014 (Hong Kong 9), and my very first trip to Hong Kong in 2006.  While there are a lot of group tours available, many of them are large groups walking around several sites in the reserve.  This is the first year that Nara is old enough to come as an overseas naturalist and walk with me out to the blinds.

After walking past the inland ponds you come to the fence to the Frontier Closed Area.  This is basically the boundary of Hong Kong and this huge fence has a simple latch gate to let you though onto the floating boardwalks in Mangrove wetlands.

The boardwalks are a bit tricky to navigate with a big camera bag and a tripod, especially if you stop to take photos of wildlife along the way.  I've seen a few insects out here that I thought were pretty cool and you can often see the crabs and sometimes mud skippers on the mud shoreline.  Eventually you get to the elevated boardwalks (we ran into some University students updating their projects) and then onto the blinds.

There are a lot of "reliable sightings" at Mai Po - the migration brings large flocks of Pied Avocet and a variety of other shorebirds.  There are resident species -  Great Cormorants, Chinese Pond Herons and dozens of other species are commonly found here.
 

From the ocean side blind, there is a wide variety things to pay attention.  The water is coming in so you watch the birds pushed ashore.  Close to the blind you might see Chinese Pond Herons or Egrets going after Mud Skippers.  Somewhere in between, you can small birds pulling food out of puddles.  It's hard to know where to look, but when you hear someone else's camera start snapping, you better find where the action is.

Sham Shui Po is one of my favorite neighborhoods because it has fewer Starbucks and more interesting markets.  Their are a few bead shops the kids love, but there are also a ton of textile stores.

 
The bead stores have a lot of "bulk" plastic beads at reasonable prices and then a bunch of fancy things that drive your total bill up.  They have lots of inspiring projects on the horizontal surfaces which expand what your kids want to buy.

Sham Shui Po is also where (perhaps a long time ago), Hong Kong did a lot of textile manufacturing.  Textile work has long since moved to China so most of the shop are basically fronts for office back in China, but they do usually have samples of things that can be convenient for home projects.  The selection sure beats what is available in store in Vancouver, and it's easier to work with than what is on Aliexpress.

The first time I went to Man Mo temple (2007), I felt like I had been transported back in time to just after the British Colonized Hong Kong.  The light is amazing, the atmosphere is serene and the colors are vivid.  Man Mo temple is listed in the "What to do in Hong Kong" on most travel itineraries, but I have never seen the place busy.  Strange.  I've visited a few times since my first (2009, 2016), making this my fourth visit. 
 

The temple itself allows you to leave notes hope for good future outcomes like good exam results or good health.  The kids wanted mom to explain a lot of this so Helen purchased some incense sticks and the kids got to pray at some of the shrines.

First time visit for me - I grabbed an Uber from the hotel and went to a "View Point" as described on Google Maps.  The taxi dropped me off at the end of a street and I walked across a parking lot, through a downed fence and onto a surprisingly high seawall.  The foreshore is very scary - lots of cement blocks with a huge drop from the sea wall.

Tsing Yi is ground zero for shipping in Hong Kong.   Of course you can't go into the shipping yards but this viewpoint is at the end of docks so if you are lucky you will see the cranes loading and unloading right next to you.

I chose the view across the channel that include central and the bridge.

After the time lapse, I used Uber and had a ride in minutes to go back to our hotel.  I'm sure on future trips I'll be exploring other view points at Tsing Yi.
 

Almost every trip to Hong Kong has me spending time walking around Mong Kok taking photos like a tourist.  This town is just so photogenic.  I'm not much of an exotic car guy, but I was surprised how many were parked on the street in Kowloon.  I've seen lots of exotic cars in Central (where the dealerships are) and Lantau (where long twisty roads are found).
 

We took a walk over the flower market.  The shops were just opening so most of the plants were still in buckets having arrived from the auctions.
 

 
  Our last destination was the bird market.  
 

The kids wanted to just stay home in the hotel and I wanted a walk so I decided to catch the train and a taxi and go for a walk at Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve.  I've been here before - Back in 2017 (Hong Kong 11) I went to the park with Naturalist David Diskin. 
 

 
How did I do this time?  I learned a few things.  When you go to a new part of the world, the first time you see a new thing, even if it's common, it's still special.  Locals can even laugh at you for taking photos of common animals.  After doing research, I found out just how many animals can be seen in this park and it makes me want to visit even more.

 

After the Dumbo ride, we went to the Toy Story part of the park and enjoyed a few more short lineup rides.  The kids discovered (watching other kids) that there is a single line-up and they got to ride the parachute drop three times in the time Helen took to line up once.

First time visiting Nan Lian Garden - a garden is a short walk from Diamond Hill MTR station. It's actually a city park (no admission charge!) that was opened in 2006 that is connected to the older Chi Lin Nunnery.  The park is very new, but the plants are mature and filling in nicely.

The kids really enjoyed time in the hotel, but I wanted to go out to a newer place.  We have a few favorites outside of the city - Shek O has a great beach and Tai O has interesting boat rides and metal houses - but we decided to go to and Island I haven't been to since 2008 - Cheung Chau.  We met Jennie at the ferry terminal in central and grabbed the 11am fast ferry to Cheung Chau. 

I had done some research in advance so we found a "paint it yourself" art store.  They do a pretty good business, but being off season, off day we were the only people there.  Claira purchased a wooden letter, Nara a wooden box and they spent the next two hours painting their hearts out.  Helen and Jennie got a nice walk and exploration in.

 
While the retail here is competitive, it's there windows of retail that time forgot.  Helen found a candy store that had candy she remembers from her childhood.  She found a dry good store like the kind before grocery stores became big.  I found a store where the poor worker had fallen asleep at the desk.

 

Last trip I did some time lapses Mong Kok.  I took one from the Argyle Overpass and another of Fa Yuen Street from the overpass on Mong Kok road.  This trip, I looked for a few more places to do some Timelapses (they consume storage like crazy), but I think last trips timelapses were stronger.

The view down Nathan road is fantastic, but I'm not sure this overpass is the best.  Seeing the results, I might be better standing in the middle of the road.  Bear in mind that neon signs are slowly disappearing from Hong Kong, replaced with much cheaper LED signs.
 

Because of COVID, there were plenty of hotel deals to choose from.  We picked the Cordis because of it's location closer to our family, the discount for the long stay and because it was a nicer hotel than what would normally be in our travel budget.  The hotel offered a complementary "market tour" every afternoon which I never took advantage of.  While waiting for our departure, I decided to just walk around myself to take in the sights.

 
Hong Kong has fantastic fish and vegetable vendors as well.  In truth, I could spend all day taking photos in markets.
 

A little further down the street is reclamation street - small stores selling home improvement, building maintenance and tool supplies.