Thai wildlife - both asleep and awake

Random Thailand

Fun with Momo and Claire!

Buddhas of Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

From the 14th to the 17th century, this was the seat of the Kingdom, until the Burmese ransacked it. It's about an hour or so outside of Bangkok, and a few centuries in the past.

Thai Shrines

The variety of what is being worshipped is astounding - but always beautiful.

Not so dog friendly

So the one thing Kelly (the dog) and I noticed when hiking the trails this weekend, is that many Hong Kong people, although very very impressed with the small and fluffly and purebred, do not go so much for the rough and tumbly, playful, shepherd mutty type dog. The Hong Kong mutt is called Tong Gau, and throughout our hike people would move quickly aside with a squeel and a horrified: "Gau!" And sometimes they said with equal horror: "Gaai!", which I think might have been for me, equally mutty, clumsy and undiginified.

Hong Kong Trail part 2

The whole of the trail is actually 8 parts, so I guess I now have a project. This one, that starts above Wan Chai and goes all the way back to Jardine's lookout, took 5 hours! Maybe I took a few wrong turns, but all of it is beautiful, with hidden woody parts and big vistas. Now that the weather is cooler, even the steep ascents weren't too bad....there were even waterfalls. This is why Hong Kong is populated with so many foot massage places!

Hiking the Hong Kong Trail, p.1

Jardine's Lookout - behind and above Happy Valley, was the site of the Winnipeg Grenadiers last attempt to defend Hong Kong against the Japanese during WW2. Not successful. The views are amazing of course, and hidden in the hilly jungle brush are pillboxes and camouflaged gun emplacements, ghostly reminders of what were no doubt terrible days. Not ones to ponder over war memorials, however, many of the sites have been paved over for roads and petrol stations...very Hong Kong minded practicality!

Christmas shopping in Hong Kong

The crowds on any normal weekend are beyond belief. Shopping is a contact sport here, and as with all sports, practice makes perfect, and Hong Kong people are very very good at shopping. So the weeks before Christmas are like the Olympics of shopping, and the masses of people out chasing the sales are non stop, and double the normal size. Beware the double wide stroller!

The Best Thing About New York

Well, one of the best....early mornings in Central Park, watching the Paris and his pals play at Poodle Platz. That should be a song, I think.