A year of protests

Queenstown, Hong Kong, and home

We made the drive into Queenstown again, and after finding parking for the day, we split up into our respective bungee and non-bungee jumping groups.

Farewell for now

I feel a lot of guilt when I think about my grandmother. Living halfway across the world, we have always lived apart, save for a few months when she lived in Canada during my childhood. I always asked why she didn't live with us all the time, but as she didn't speak English, wasn't able to drive, and was nearly deaf, life was a lot less convenient for her here.

Sai Kung

Our original hiking destination on my first day back in Hong Kong was supposed to be Sai Kung, but due to the MTR delay, we had our impromptu hike to Stanley instead. For the entire trip, my friends had been telling me about the beauty of Sai Kung, and I was raring to go.

Lamma Island

The idea of being able to hop on a ferry and land on island has always seemed so incredible to me. To offer a local, albeit shoddy comparison, the short journey to Centre Island from downtown Toronto gets me excited. The scale of this is much greater in Hong Kong, with the many outlying islands; so on a free afternoon, my mom and I decided to pay a visit to Lamma Island.

Tian Tan Buddha

I really wanted to go see the Big Buddha last time I was in Hong Kong. I went when I was a kid, but have no recollection of it. Unfortunately, black rain made it impossible (well, highly not recommended) to go, and we spent our last day wandering around Causeway Bay and Victoria Park instead.

Tai Tam

I wish I could tell you I was trying out a new photography style, but in reality I had accidentally changed some camera settings when I last used my camera during my descent at Bukhansan, and I didn't have the time or realization to change them. I had thought it was due to the rain that the photos were so grainy, as my viewfinder got blurry due to the moisture, but that was only part of the reason. The sharper photos from my phone are interspersed throughout.

I arrived back in Hong Kong the night before, and I was absolutely knackered. I enjoy being in new places, but the to-and-fro part is a decidedly less enjoyable part, especially when it involves overseas immigration, customs, lines, and luggage woes.

Maybe I brought the bad luck of the TTC with me, but a historic signal outage issue caused mass delays with the MTR that morning. It took my friend a long time to travel a few stops, and so we, like the rest of Hong Kong, flooded to the streets to take the buses.

Back to Hong Kong

I recently came back from a few weeks overseas, and the first stop was Hong Kong.



Hong Kong is home to nearly all of my extended family. Having been born and raised in Canada, I didn't really know many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and they often remember me as the baby that they saw last.

Although I have only been to Hong Kong a handful of times, I always consider it a familiar place. I grew up hearing tidbits of my parents' lives there, and I feel connected to it through their stories.



I always enjoy my trips back here, and I hope the gap between them continues to decrease.

Tai Mei Tuk

One of my friends was studying at CUHK (香港中文大學) for the term, so I went to visit as it is also my mother's alma mater. Afterwards, we headed over to Tai Mei Tuk to see the area and walk around the reservoir.

First stop: Chinese University of Hong Kong - 香港中文大學
If you can see the white speck at the right of the photo - while at CUHK, we saw it and wondered what it was...

Tai Mei Tuk - 大美督

Luk Keng

Hiking has become a popular activity in Hong Kong as of late, and many people have been trekking to the mountains in the early morning to beat the heat.

I was invited to go hiking, but as it was a bit of a trek there, it was already 10am when we were on the last minibus up to the mountains.

Rediscovering Hong Kong

I first went to Hong Kong when I was a small child, and the memories I have are of a see-saw at a park, where my sister and her friend both sat on one end, and let me dangle in the air alone. I also remembering having 油炸粿 (yau za gwei) with congee for the first time with my grandpa, who had a stroke twenty years prior and would eat little else besides that.

I should mention that this was also the time of the avian flu and I distinctly remembering covering my nose while passing my caged chickens all along the streets. After that, my sister flatly refused to go back to Hong Kong, and I, ever the follower, decided the same.