Out & about in Hong Kong

All too soon my short stay in Hong Kong has come to an end.   A busy week has been spent researching at the HK Public Record Office and photographing old headstones in the Colonial Cemetery.  But the cemetery is not doom and gloom for if you look beyond the graves you will find masses of natural artwork.  Leaves in a puddle of raindrops make for a colourful picture.

 

The old fountain on the main pathway looks grand peeking out between luxuriant spring growth.

Look and you will find beauty all around.

But it has not all been work – there is always time for shopping!  From the sublime market at Stanley Village

To the ridiculous Designer Super Malls

  

And if shopping gets tedious there are always the back alleys to explore where once again art can be found in the most surprising of places.  Who would think that a tower of stopcocks could look as pretty as a picture?

Local elections have inspired graffiti

And how about this for a beautiful wall – would you believe it is in a public toilet?  Why have potted plants when a few shoots of bamboo can be grown?!!

Look up and you might see a figure on the roof of the old Central Police Station.  Do not worry he is not a prisoner about to jump – he is a sculpture.

Peer behind construction hoardings and discover a horse in a flower bed.  Hong Kong will always provide the unexpected!

For the first few days of my stay the weather was cloudy, hot and humid.  I always forget what it feels like to drip from morning to night – with humidity at 98% it is the same for everybody.  On Wednesday the heavens opened and tropical downpours rained upon the streets.  On Thursday a cold front arrived and the temperature dropped 10 degrees overnight (i.e. down to 12 degrees).  The locals donned thick woolly hats and padded jackets as this is VERY cold as far as they are concerned!  Today (Saturday) the clouds rolled in covering the top half of all the skyscraper buildings plus all the beautiful hills.  I feel so sorry for those passengers already on board Aurora for when they glide into the harbour tomorrow morning at 6am they will not be able to see anything.  At least I have had reasonable week – thank goodness I had the forethought to arrive 10 days early.

So tomorrow morning I make my way over the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui and the Ocean Terminal.  Next check-in to this blog will be from the swell of the ocean as Aurora steams over the South China Sea to Vietnam.