Picture of the Day: Crystal Jade Encourages Mask-Wearing

The mask holder at Crystal Jade shows a dumpling with mask

Tropical storm Rai threatened to bring in heavy rains today, but they never materialised and instead brought clear blue skies that haven't been seen for a few days.

However, yesterday was a washout in terms of trying to get some exercise done.

My friend and I had hoped to do some walking after work, but by the time we started, the rain drops increased and we quickly gave up and took the bus to Central where we walked around each floor of IFC mall twice. 

Then I tempted my friend with the suggestion of eating dinner at Crystal Jade which is in the mall.

We waited for about 15 minutes before getting a table, not bad considering it is the dinner rush.

As soon as we sat down I spied the mask holder -- actually a sheet of paper folded in half. 

On it was this cute cartoon drawing of a dumpling man?! Mr Dumpling wearing a mask!

"Together we fight Covid-19" it says. 

Love it!

While there are zero Covid-19 cases in the city for the past 74 days, there are 28 imported Omicron cases.

Who knows when this pandemic will end or if it will ever end...

But in the meantime, wear your mask! Mr Dumpling will thank you!

Picture of the Day: Hong Kong Sakura

People were excitedly photographing the blossoms on the tree

 

Today my friend and I did a marathon walk from Sha Tin, well actually Shek Mun to Sai Kung, which was over 18 kilometres and took us three hours and 20 minutes.

It was a beautiful day for a walk, not too hot. I really enjoyed walking along the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin with the water very calm.

However at one point we saw a bunch of people standing around a young tree with pink blossoms and taking pictures of it!

With people unable to travel for the most part of this year, they were missing the chance to go to Japan to see the sakura, and so when they spotted the cherry blossoms on a tree locally, they took the opportunity to snap pictures of the transient blossoms.

Personally I found it amusing -- when they can travel they should visit Vancouver where there are entire streets lined with cherry blossom trees and in the spring they are all covered in pink.

Author Douglas Young called it "pinked out" many years ago.

In any event we finally made it to Sai Kung and were shocked to see the weekend tourists crawling all over the pier area. Restaurants, cha chaan tengs and cafes were doing a brisk business with lots of people willing to line up to get a seat.

We eventually settled on a western restaurant and I had a delicious lamb burger with a yogurt cucumber and red onion garnish. 

Then we boarded a bus back to where we came from -- and it took about 20 minutes.

Picture of the Day: Extreme Social Distancing

The scene tonight along the waterfront -- social distancing at its finest

Every evening after dinner I get all suited up and masked up to venture outside for some fresh air and exercise for the day.

There are usually people walking along the waterfront too, couples, small groups, runners, families.

But all day today there were very light showers that continued into the evening.

Despite the rain I ventured outside anyway with an umbrella and there was barely anyone around.

The picture here is taken by Sai Ying Pun and usually there are people hanging out here on the benches, or walking along the path, but tonight hardly anyone; after I took this picture, two runners emerged from the distance along with another pedestrian.

The rain wasn't too bothersome and actually it was nice to not see many people, save for a few die-hard runners. But on the way back the rain stopped and neighbourhood residents began appearing...

Today there were 32 new coronavirus cases, bringing Hong Kong's total to 714.

Picture of the Day: Please Adopt Him

This rescued Sheltie needs a forever home

This Sheltie doesn't have a name yet, but he's already about seven years old.

My friend in Mui Wo is currently fostering the dog after he was recently released from a puppy mill in the New Territories. He was the breeder dog.

As far as my friend knows, the dog has been in a cage up until recently and is trying to give him some love and care.

He walks the dog three times a day, but each time after a few minutes, the dog stops in its tracks and refuses to move. Only after some coaxing and maybe the temptation of a treat does the Sheltie continue to walk for another few minutes and then stops again. Perhaps the dog has hardly had a chance to exercise its legs and isn't used to walking so much.

The dog also seems to only want to walk on concrete and not on grass. Was it punished for being on grass? Or it has never experienced grass beneath its paws before?

Moreover its sad eyes indicate the Sheltie has been through a lot and it will take a lot of love and patience to help it find joy in its life.

Next weekend there will be an event to hopefully find a forever family to adopt him and some puppies that were also rescued from the puppy mill. My friend worries the cute puppies will be quickly adopted and no one will take the Sheltie home. He will make a good companion for anyone who has the time to give him the attention he deserves (which is a lot!).

HK Govt Needs to Walk This Way

Hong Kong is walkable to a degree and then it gets frustrating and dangerous

It's odd that transport minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung says if Hong Kong people want a more walkable city then they should walk more.

Shouldn't the government take the lead? How can we walk more if there are impediments in the way or paths that are not developed yet?

He said this during the Walk21 Conference hosted by think tank Civic Exchange. While he acknowledged some people are keen on more walking and cycling for a health lifestyle, he noted there were others "less ready to change their commuting habits and patterns".

During Occupy pedestrians enjoyed walking along freeways

Cheung said there were many cases where communities were opposed to the re-routing or frequency of a bus network that would result in commuters having to walk an extra 10 or 15 minutes.

There is also the ongoing issue of car owners wanting to have more car parks in all 18 districts in the city.

"For many people, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We need actionable change and even a paradigm shift on how our city life is to be organized," he said.

"Are we willing to endure more congested trains and buses and to walk more so that we do not have to go for continuous expansion of the infrastructure? Tough questions and a tough trade-off indeed."

Part of the problem is that some offices are too far away to walk. In my case walking or taking the bus from Kennedy Town to Taipo is completely unfeasible.

I think I am like most commuters, always taking public transport and walking wherever I can.

The red path is a nice walk from Central to Wan Chai

But the government should be making more public land more accessible, particularly the harbourfront for people to exercise and have leisurely walks. There also needs to be more safe areas for people to cycle other than the bike paths in the New Territories.

Currently one can walk from Wan Chai all the way to Sai Ying Pun where the Western wholesale market is, but then one has to do a major detour before getting back to the harbourfront again towards Kennedy Town. If that was one wide, safe, continuous path, more people would use it for sure, including myself.

And by the way has he seen what it's like in the MTR during rush hour? He really should experience it himself to understand people's frustrations of having to wait for several trains before they can squeeze on?

Don't get us wrong -- we appreciate the MTR, but is it ready for a greater onslaught of people once the south line opens?

What are the alternatives?

Picture of the Day: Pacific Spirit Park

Enveloped in lush greenery with shades of blue above

Today is Christmas Day and after many days of rain we had an unusually sunny day.

So we took advantage of the blue skies, though chilly temperatures in the late morning by going for a walk at the nearby Pacific Spirit Park.

Also out were many other people with their families and lots of dogs -- lots and lots of canines keen to get some exercise in the woods.

A closeup of moss and fungus growing on a branch!

Seeing the dogs sniffing each other out and being well behaved was a far cry from the dogs in Hong Kong that snipe at each other and worse -- are carried by their masters and mistresses! Dogs are for walking!

We took in the crisp clean air and enjoyed the green scenery before tucking into another big Christmas meal...

Pictures of the Day: Pacific Spirit Regional Park

It's fun wandering through this forest!

During my visit in Vancouver I have been regularly going to Pacific Spirit Regional Park for walks. It's great to wander in the giant forest and feel like you're communing with nature.

Lots of moss and fungus growing on trees

It's 763 hectares of forest and foreshore that stretches from the neighbourhood of Point Grey to the University of British Columbia. The park even touches the Fraser River, the Strait of Georgia and Burrard Inlet. My brother even suggested that it is more than twice the size of New York's Central Park.

After some Googling, I see he's correct. 763 hectares is 1,885.41 acres compared to Central Park's 778 acres, so Pacific Spirit Regional Park is 2.4 times the size of the Big Apple's park, though many of the forested areas don't have paths.

Once you enter the park there are many routes to choose from, each with different names such as Imperial, Hemlock, Admiralty, Salish and Camosun. For the most part the trails are flat, only a few have an incline that isn't impossible to walk up.

A mini tree growing within a dead one...

The trees are very tall and covered in lots of moss and in many cases fungus as well. It's a great place to photograph trees though we have yet to find any creatures inhabiting the area.

The other fun aspect of this place is encountering the dogs that are walked here by their owners. The canines love the park because of the natural paths and in many areas they can freely roam and investigate with their sharp noses. They also seem to like to approach me...

The neon-green moss brightens up the path

We also love the fact that we can breathe in fresh oxygen! Coming from Hong Kong, walking through the park is a wonderful way to get a boost of clean air. Too bad I can't transport it back to Hong Kong. It's also the complete antithesis of the city -- pretty much in my backyard.