Reminiscent of Hong Kong..

I am getting lost in city by city nowadays.. (What a perfect life, huh?)
And it looks like there are places, some better than the other,( but let’s not speculate;), where You can have it all. Of course no perfect paradise exists, some of the contenders to the title have this magic aura.. Not the sort of aura, You think surrounds You when:
a) Tipsy, b) in love. (underline applicable.)
As much as I love London for its convenience, English summer 2008, which has never actually happened, has downgraded this fabulous city in an unofficial race for the Capital of my World title. Whatever tickles your fancy though, is to be found there.
Music fan’s promise land. Whether it’s about live gigs of Uncle Duncan’s friend’s dad’s son’s garage band, or 50000 strong, packed, world-class events, records from three decades ago on a format of a 12 inch from a second or even third-hand shop lost somewhere in Camden Town’s dusty cupboards, reagge, jazz, classical, bhangra, italodisco or cantopop. All have their home here. (Shouldn’t the latter ones be actually banned in public places?)
Shopping for latest, how utterly different, handbags with checked design from Burberry or waterproof traveller bags, space invaders hand consoles and latest mobile handsets for several thousand pounds, feel free to browse through virtually every pointless piece of rubbish ever made. As well as all the highly sophisticated devices of similar, pointless nature.
Batmobile ridden movie pre-premiers, good, old Mary F**kin’ Poppins, galleries, streetart, artists, pseudoartists, happenings, protests and everything in between the cultural spectrum to keep its inhabitants on a slightly higher level of consciousness or pretendace for some.
Architecture ranging from City’s skyline to British Museum’s noble building and everything in between..
Food catered for vegans and carnivores; from national disaster - fish and chips served on a piece of newspaper to tiny portions of fusion cuisine that everyone is yet to understand. Nightlife – well, lets be honest – this one especially, but I won’t elaborate for some reason…
List goes on.. Name and have it in London.
Economic gloom however, and the said “never-have-happened” summer, have put a dark curtain over London’s prominence.
Moving to the other part of the world, Hong Kong has a set of attributes it can’t be contested with.
Location, location and once again location. Feng Shui fantastic, with mountains and sea, city and parks, summer and winter weather with a big emphasis on the former one.
Economic centre of Asia can be escaped within matter of minutes from Hong Kong island to mainland New Territories, where trekking trails multiply themselves, roar of the engines swaps for flow of the waterfall and loud mobile conversations switch to bird singing. Almost like makeover on TV. Natural version though.
Lamma island, where no cars exist and seafood is livelier than any other form of life, Lantau, with its Giant Buddha and a peak with views to die for, beaches, vast national parks or even a stroll through one of the amazing markets provide easy getaway..
Well, not so escaped from the city with the last one, I suppose.
Transport system is second to none – look up to Hong Kong International Airport, Heathrow...
..And cry – although some development has been made, that a light in the Terminal 5 tunnel sparks, no lights are visible in London tube tunnels. Airtight and hot, with no mobile coverage, overpriced and rarely on time, please stand clear of the doors – this train is ready to rumble… Exact opposite of the Asian heavyweight system, where a spacious air-coned area, available in both music and chatter free “quiet car” or technologically advanced, mobile-ready carriage and extensive structure of clearly signposted exits are served for as little as 25pence depending on a distance.
Sounds unfamiliar, Transport for London?
But however long You’d like to compare them, there’s no point in fighting really, because both are fantastic cities.
And as much as love London..
..Put hands up for Hong Kong..

I Love this City!

Selamat Tahun Baru 2009!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas....
No, I'm not. Not anymore at least. And neither I dream of a white New Years Eve.
Poor You, who've been told, that this festive period can't be complete without snow powdering calmly from ths skies.. You shall believe it as long, as You believe in Santa, Easter bunny (not the Playboy version) and the four-leaf clover excluding Guiness shamrock of course!
Well, O.K. - it's still an option.. and hats off to all of You, who braved the hail, snow, rain, wind, below zero temperatures, mothers-in-law and other unforeseen circumstances to come out to greet New Year on its dawn. I however, who was always first one to get out in this bum-freezin' nite, have celebrated it to a slightly different tune this time.
How so?
I have simply not been cold. :)
I've been watching fireworks in 21C heat from the prime (forbidden at the time) location in Kuala Lumpur.
Petronas Twin Tower Fountain Park being closed, creates a great opportunity to trespass it of course. An opportunity not to be missed!
Even the guard, who has spotted shadows playing in the closed area of the gardens was somehow nice and let off... How inadequate for all these people looking from behind the fences..
One's loss is someone else's gain. Erm, would that be me this time?
This must be the start to a good year!
..which I'd like to wish to all of You!
2008 is dead. 365 days (long) live the 2009!
Selamat Tehan Baru - Happy New Year!

Sky high.

Been to couple of places so far then.
Seen few sights, ate few bowls of noodles and even more rice.
Watched the sunset passing behind the skyline few good times too.
..And there's a certain quality about this skyline. However bad the weather would be, it never gets boring, unlike another episode of Desperate Hosewives (oh, was it Housewives?) your girlfriend wants to watch.
It's simply magnifique, wunderbarr and esplendido. ( architecture, not the above series..)
Went to see it from the birds eye view. No animals were harmed during the process, only I have seemed to be like the mule carrying my rucksack - as always anyway.
One of the biggest tourist attractions of Hong Kong is Victoria Peak and its Tram - 120 years old and still climbing up vehicle, going straight to the top of this crown. Place with shops galleria and of course, great views of said skyline. Hundreds of mortals get there every day to admire this view and get a photo with some trees obscuring the panorama.
So did I. How average..
There's even a terrace, where apparently better views are being sold for total sum of 20HKD, but didn't even bother following the crowd..
This night I have decided to rise over the "top" of this even as a bar of chocolate normality.
Mission has been staged as follows:
3 a.m. The start-up time.
3.15 a.m. Shortcut leading nowhere (read: wall of forest in the night) and return to main road.
3.45 a.m. Not-so-shortcut no.2 , when realized, that after climbing through the fences of the Peak Tram, it stops inside the shopping Galleria, closed at night (!) - which led to another climb - through the bushy, steep slope onto the pavement.
4 a.m. Shooting from the square-like-boring platform, where purchase of a cheesy photo is a necessity and the end of tourist journey takes place. Within the regular, day timeframe that is of course, or meeting with band of brigand, stray dogs at night.
4.15 a.m. Lookout for a better spot and getting lost between housing estates.....
....
...
..
Somewhere between the dots was a little forest, building site and..
5 a.m. ..the answer to my needs. Radiotelecommunication tower.
No limitations, tree branches and so on. Unrestricted view of the harbour.
Only wind in your hair. Actually an awful lot of it! Enough to put the tower to wobble.
I managed to stay there until nearly 6 a.m., freezing my butt to the bones and wondering, if the crane operator on the nearby building site, starting work at dusk most likely, would alarm the guards about my presence.
Shaking cold went down the 66 steps of a metal ladder.
Sunrise wasn't the prize for me that night.
It's 3 a.m. again though and I suppose it's time to pack my bags. Night looks clearer.
Radioactivity - here I come!

After hours..

..After paying my respects to the Saints in the Commemoration Hall of Po Fook Hill, I took the smart advice of only English-written note and went back down. Being experienced in emergency paying (tax and visits, not respects) discovering the mistake this time was quite a pleasant surprise. Learn something new every day.I much rather this, than being slapped with bill, heisting 30% of my wages, from Her Majesty Customs department. The only price I paid was some 150 steps climbed up with a heavy rucksack on the sunny afternoon.
Eh, if only life was this easy..
Leaving the hall and turning around I've spotted some little, wooden signs leading to the promise land.
Tiny porcelain figurines, which have fallen into neglect, waiting endlessly to be praised were a herald of closing the target. Golden, lifesize sculptures of Buddhas situated just contrary to them, were a definite route marker. One seemed to be showing the way and greeting visitors, while the other one - on the opposite side - contemplating something. The rightness of climbing up again, perhaps. Now the only obstacle would be the overextending, curved, odd 500 steps leading to the hill I just got down from. Tirelessly I've started the race uphill. It's always harder than it looks. Universal truth says, that no matter how small the steps are, You'll never find them matching your footsteps. Right?
As I knew the reward will be waiting for me above I didn't really care at that point. The only issue rambling through my mind was the timing. It was 5.15 pm. Signpost saying open until 5.30 wasn't very worrying- at least I'd see it, I thought. Besides, Buddhist Monks wouldn't mind a late-ish visit, would they?
Zonk. I mean maybe they would not mind at all, but no monks were present whatsoever. Civil clothes wearing workers only, in a great number of 2.
Welcoming gates took me inside the tiled garden with red Pagoda rising in the middle of it, at the exact time of closure. Two clicks of camera inside the main room and the roller blind has hit the ground. There's a actually more than 10000 of postures inside I've found out- number reaches over 12k to set the record straight.
Disconsolate of the visiting-termination-time I wanted at least couple of more photos around. Always the last one to leave - that's me.
Still, something has told me, that this wasn't all to the cloister and a little path of winding stairs in the opposite direction to the exit only reaffirmed my theory.
Not bothered about timeframe, I wanted to find out where does this path lead to.
To more figurines maybe? Of course it does. Each and every different, hand-made and telling a different story. And a great view over the town of Sha Tin in addition.
The only story, which sounded inevitably the same as every day was told by my watch.
The story of I Am Late As Always.
Well, they've shut down the blinds, while I was still there, aware of my presence so what could happen? Closing the whole compound without checking for visitors could happen most definitely it has turned out. Since barbed wire and fences aren't my best friends and so isn't steep, concrete slope at night I started looking for an alternative to spending a night under the stars.
Suddenly I was enlightened..by the light coming out of someone's torch, while trying to climb down. Old Cantonese man was much more friendly than some of those sculptures' faces but spoke as much English as I do Cantonese. All his babble was a complete rinky dink to me.
Smiles did all the talking. Concerned with the situation, he's made a saving phone call, which has uncovered the secret of the key to emergency exit, locked in the emergency cupboard, hidden behind the emergency Buddha.
He has happily let me out by the lesser known exit in no time.
My shutter was employed for the last time on that day, on the way down ,immortalizing Buddha no. 439 to my photo collection.
Those steps have directed me through the squatter area of a traditional Chinese housing at the foot of the hill, where big, white, dog-resembling animal, whose barking and approaching me distance was proportional to the tempo of my walk appeared. Although he also turned out to be very understanding and let me pass through his territory without any problems.
I wish more friendliness of this kind is going to be found along my journeys..
About what I'm about to find out in the near future.

Wrong turn.

Exploring continues. After breaking into the Fire Station, (not that I always wanted to be Sam the Firefighter), I decided, that maybe more food for thought would be needed to make the journey more fulfilling.
10000 Buddhas Monastery is the name of the game.
Based in Kowloon district nearby the Sha Tin station sounded as good as fresh cookies my girlfriend used to bake. It was suppose to be exactly what it says on the tin - a monastery with 10000 Buddhas figures in - Piglet knowingly tipped the wink.
I was on the lookout for a red pagoda to the West after leaving the station. Little walk down the back alleys and bingo - there it looks at me, from somewhere middle of the hill. That wasn't too difficult, was it?
I bravely went through the gates guarded by two marble postures of Chinese lions and made my way uphill.
Hold on - escalator in the monastery? Not even one, but each staircase leading to numerous pavilions was also served by moving set of stairs. I already knew, that Hong Kong had a great transport system (hats off by the way, ladies and gents!) but this was a bit over the edge.
It didn't neither put me off from searching for the unknown nor encourage to use those escalators.
Up again and again. Staircases seemed endless as well as my resources of sweat, but at least the first one proved not to be true.
Wall of little Buddha sculptures has put an end to my agony of climbing up. But wait a second - no matter how tired I was, I couldn't make 10000 of maybe 500 shapes. Then the second red pagoda emerged even higher. Stairs however, didn't magically appear again and no other ways to reach it came to my sight. Pointless attempts of conversation with no-english-spoken passers-by came to nothing and resigned I started walking down.
Office popped up unexpectedly. Shirts, ties, computers and a note on the door, saying:

"I'm sorry - we don't speak English.
If You're looking for 10000 Buddhas Monastery, it's not here, but You're very close.
Please go downstairs, turn left and ask for further directions.
Thank You."

I came to the point, that red and red-roofed pagoda aren't the same things.
This one was built in commemoration of all the saints on the little photos in different pavilions. Or rather regular people, who might now be the cause of squeeky floor in the lounge and slamming windows at night.
I clearly understood, why there was no 10000 figures of laughing Gods.
So far I was exploring local cemetery.

To be continued...

Lost?

..and so it has begun!
But first things first.
Spirit of a city can only be understood, when You'll understand its rhythm.
Best thing to do, I believe, is to go out and get lost.
Yes exactly, lost. Up to some extent of course - Piglet grunted with satisfaction.
No map and Lonely Planet books, no idea where to go and what to expect.
Observe eagerly, wait patiently and learn the pace of a place.
Strolling freely on the streets of Hong Kong island I've reached the point where I could no longer go North. End of walkway, start of highway.
Last rays of the Sun led me straight to the harbour nearby. Following the path and overcoming the obstacles in the form of fences dividing one property from another, I have immersed in silence and sunset.
It wasn't too long until this was violently broken by unidentifiable scream of an uniformed man running in my direction. And then I saw the sign. I've just broken onto the grounds of Firefighting Boat Division and Police Officers Club.
First photo I took was also the only one from that spot.
Nearly fell into the water, while trying to go back rapidly the way I came from.
I was a bit quicker, so it saved me from explaining to boys in blue, what the hell I was doing out there.. Looking for photo opportunities?
This time curiosity have earned me one more image, little bit of adrenaline and some priceless memories..

3 days after..

Therefore I am.
Wasn't that suppose to be starting with: "I think"??
Well, not in this case, it doesn't. I am here - I was meant to say.
I've landed in trekking boots, polar fleece, heavy duty jeans, and so-called breathable jacket. Waterproof, breathable jacket. I started thinking that my skin must have similar qualities - waterproof and breathable, right? With a little difference - my jacket did not have beads of sweat all over itself, when carrying 90L rucksack, 10kg photobag and a laptop, while dragging another 20 kg suitcase from arctic (in comparison) London to tropical Hong Kong.
End of whining though! ..I sound like a grumpy, old man, who serves time in County Jail.
Weather, in fact, is fantastic.
I bet, that not many of You can enjoy 25-30 degrees C of daily temperature, sunshine throughout the day, pleasant breeze and icy-cool refreshments every other corner.
Maybe apart the last one. (..only said that to make You feel better!)
Who, however, wants those refreshments in a winter? I suggest, You have a warming flip and read on..
Let the adventure begin!!!