Sunday, January 21, 2007

Clearwater Bay Country Park

31-December-2006
My determination to 'conquer' all the parks / country park has been taken seriously so far. On the day of New Year eve, we drove to this lovely Clearwater Bay Country Park, together with a couple friend and his son. This is the 1st time we've been there. The cool air and the magnificiant scenic view make the trip a truely refreshing one.
Clearwater Bay Peninsula is a typical submergent coast. Submergence of the coastal plains was resulted either by subsidence during crustal movement or by the rise of sea level many millennia ago. The country park encompasses the wild eastern and western parts of Clearwater Bay Peninsula. Topographically challenging, these areas have largely escaped industrial and domestic developments.





This is a popular destination for nature studies and outdoor activities. It is also a popular barbecue and picnic destination for all walks of life.

I was admiring this view while munching the Thai noodle at the same time.

Enoch and Vincent. They get to see each other every Sunday by now because we've signed them in the same Tae-Kwan-To class since last Nov.



After finish eating, we went further to the hill side to see what's up there. CP bought each of the boys a bottle of bubble set, and they just couln't wait any longer but to blow it instantly.

Besides the tranditional BBQ pit that use charcoal to keep the fire burning, this place also got electronic BBQ pit offer to the public. Cool...One day, we will try it.



This place is blessed with cool breeze all the time, many come here just to fly kites. And that's why the 'Kite Flying Site' has been allocated for.



Towards the top of the hill.

At the top.

We see all sort of beautiful kites flying in the sky.









KS's masterpiece...very magical feel. It's like William is a magician, and he was going to turn something into a ....


KS and I think their pose look alike the brothers - Michael Scorfield and Lincoln Burrow, that appeared in a promotional poster of 'Prison Break'.








It's the moon. But at first glance, it looks like Earth instead.

We then drove to Po Toi O, a traditional fishing hamlet where villagers still pursue the old seafaring trade, and where you can sample fresh catches of the sea. No doubt, this place is very unique. At the same time this place become very famous, dining here become very expensive as well. We had had our seafood dinner at one of the restaurant there. The foods was nothing special, but I think we have been over charged by 50% at least. Well, what to do? Some more, it's the night of the New Year Eve.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sha Tin Park

30-Dec-2006
There are many beautiful parks in HK. Nevertheless, they don't seem to be very much appreciated by the public. This is not hard to be understood. KS and I, we seldom stepped foot in any parks the time before Vincent was born. I was talking about the first 4 years we lived in HK, visiting parks was never came across our mind.
Most of the time, the frequent visitors are parents with small kids, the romance young couples , the lonely elderly or the Filipino / Indonesian maids. If anyone want to isolate himself from the crowds, I would suggest those parks that's managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. You got to see it to feel what I mean.
I suddenly prompt up with this idea. I (means the 4 of us) want to "conquer" all the parks in HK. Gosh..that will make every visitation to the park a more adventuruos and missionable one.

Sha Tin Park (沙田公園), formerly known as Sha Tin Central Park (沙田中央公園). This lush eight-hectare park is situated along the Shing Mun River. It consists of six gardens with a wide variety of trees and shrubs. And its only 30 min walking distance, or 5 min driving distance from the place we live.

An eight-meter-high waterfall and two banyan tree bridges located in the South Garden provide great backdrops for photographs.





Fishes, and occasionally, tortoise are habitants of such a pond.

As usual, feeding them is prohibited, but people feed them anyway. They feed them plain bread, ok lah, that's what fishes eat too, right? But obviously, they are too full. From our latest feeding experience, we found that those fishes were not eating our bread at all. Bugger, we bought them the expensive plain bread (more expensive than the one we normally eat), but they didn't even go to smell it. If this continue, I guess the boys will eventually lost their enthusiasm in fish-feeding.


This man-made waterfall looks pretty natural and real.


Totally a peaceful place in the city of crowds.


Running to the playground at the South Garden.


Along the way, these resting huts we saw, have become a popular picnic spot for the Filipino / Indonesian maids.


Everywhere they go..they run.




Yes, the boys will never miss this piece of wonderland...

where they can walk up and down the rocks...go to and fro a bridge...


climb up and down this spider-web...


or, force daddy / mommy to squeeze inside the backseat, so as to satisfy their imaginative play to be a driver, and we, to be their passengers.


or pretend he is the greatest chef on earth that can serve me any foods I like in this imaginary 'kitchen'.

he was busy making something out from there, I forgot what kind of foods I had ordered that time.


later on, it suddenly became the prison they boys wanted to break out.

Why the heck they want to choose the hardest way to get out from there?

I think most adults would not find the children playground an interesting place to go, but got to go somehow. Me too. Most of the time, we either sit there eye-guiding the kids' safely, or find some activities to do, like taking photos every here and there. Sometimes, we find an objective, sometimes, none.

See that little boy in white shirt? He stood there for a long time and admired Vincent when he swing to and fro across the bars.


Excuse me, someone got to back off lah...Luckily, no one ended up crying and screaming.

Oh, I just noticed this is the same little boy (in white shirt) who had appeared in the previous photo.

Oh, the same little boy again (in white shirt).

This playground is indeed a big one. I have to admit that I would feel exhausted and breathless if I kept chasing them from behind. Thank godness it's a very safe place to let them run freely while we just need to keep an eye on them from far.

Only when I didn't see William's appearance in that playground compound for a long time, then I went to check on him. Apparently, he was engaged in some sort of problem solving there...


There is a maze-like pathway inside the wheel, and there is a little ball inside there too. Willaim was so focus to find ways to roll the little ball from one end of the path to another by turning the wheel left and right.


He met some setbacks at certain difficult parts...with my help, finally he made it.


After he played enough with the maze one, he turned to this one. Sigh, this one seems more complicated, I gave up. He didn't figure it out without my 'guidance', so he get bored of this one pretty fast.

Actually, this is only half of the Shatin Park I included here. There is another wing at the other side. But basically the concept is the same, just the scene a bit different.