ko.yaa.nis.katsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
Over the past decade, I’ve had some sort of major change in my life every two-to-three years. Most of these changes have been location/job related, with the latter usually following the former. Read more
Earlier in the year (before moving to Tokyo) I visited Taiwan for the third time and spent a very enjoyable week travelling down the east cost by train. Along the way I stopped off at Taitung (台東市) – a rather unremarkable small city but the gateway to my intended destination of Green Island (綠島). Read more
“Permanent Revolution” by World Order / Genki Sudo
The amazing thing about living in Hong Kong is that you’re never more than 30-40 minutes away from beautiful mountain scenery and pristine beaches despite most people living the highly dense urban center in the south. One place many friends had recommended to me was the coastal district of Sai Kung (西貢區), on the northeastern side of the territory and a couple of weekends ago a visited a small island not far away. Read more
Since moving to Hong Kong at the beginning of 2011 I’ve been slowly building a bigger picture of this multifaceted metropolis and the people who live here – it’s been a fascinating year and undoubtably one of the best. In the first since 2010’s instalment of this series here are some more Hong Kong Moments – from dusk till dusk.
Ankle deep in stagnant water the rancid air magnified the sense of claustrophobia I felt as me and 5 other Indian-Jones wannabes trudged through the 70-year-old tunnels the Japanese Imperial Navy forced locals to dig during WWII (1941-45) on Lamma Island (南丫島) in Hong Kong. Read more
A few weeks ago before my life turned überbusy I visited the tiny island of Peng Chau (坪洲) located off the north-eastern coast of Lantau Island in Hong Kong for a bit of R&R. Around 6,300 people live on the island which, only being around 1 km², can easily be explored in a couple of hours. Read more
Despite being one of the most built-up and dense cities in the world Hong Kong provides some of the best hiking to be found so close to a large urban center. Within half an hour you can be away from the skyscrapers and climbing rolling mountains or walking along pristine coastlines. Read more
On my final day in Japan I visited the artificial island of Odaiba (お台場) in Tokyo Bay. The island was originally part of a number of coastal fortresses but was redeveloped in the early 1990s as Tokyo Teleport Town, a showcase for futuristic living. It suffered when the “bubble economy” burst but has since rebounded as a commercial and entertainment zone. Read more
This post should really be title “One Day in Hong Kong” but it didn’t match the above photo (a junk sailboat which was cruising along Victoria Harbour at night) so nicely. It’s not a wonderful photo but I like the red colour of the sails against the skyscraper shoreline. Of all the skylines in the world HK is hard to beat… anyway, I digress…
I hadn’t been to HK for a few months so on Saturday I crossed over the border for a day trip to explore the southern half of Lamma Island (southwest of Hong Kong Island proper). Starting from Shenzhen Bay I took the bus down to Kowloon and then a ferry from the central piers to the island, a trip of about 40 minutes.
Arriving at Sok Kwu Wan, a small fishing village on southwest coast, I had planned to follow the “family trail” which runs the length of the island. The only problem was that I didn’t have a good map and took a wrong turn somewhere diverting me on to a circular route which included traversing one of the islands small mountains. Not quite what I had in mind (especially considering I only had a single bottle of water and melted chocolate bar with me). Getting lost aside the walk was nice and there was hardly anybody about to disturb the peace.
The island itself is dense with lush green trees and plants which are apparently home to a number of poisonous snakes that I was (un)fortunate enough not to encounter. Curiously many of the islands small houses seemed to be abandoned or in a state of some disrepair. Given it was Halloween my imagination ran a little wild and I was convinced that each dilapidated shack I encountered was home to demented locals ready and waiting to feast on lost hikers.
After about two hours of walking I finally made it back to the dock and took a ferry to Aberdeen on the south shore of Hong Kong Island. Here high-rise apartments dominate the horizon built right up to the water’s edge where a small flotilla of fishing boats were moored. I’d liked to have explored further but time was against me so I took a bus through the long tunnel to Causeway Bay on the other side of the island which brings us nicely back to the beginning of this post.
On balance I think I prefer Cheung Chau Island but for hiking Lamma certainly has more on offer.