The Journey is not the Destination

Whoever said the journey is the destination has never been on my trips. I got up and took the 6:20 ferry from Lamma, kids and luggage in tow on Saturday, October 4th. Then there was the MTR to the airport and waiting in the airport. We flew Kenyan Airlines on a flight to Bangkok (continuing on to Nairobi) in a 767 so old that the lights wouldn't come on in the bathroom. I also have my doubts about the seals in the plane because Granite's ears almost exploded on the way down. Then in Bangkok we took a taxi kitty-corner across town to a bus station, waited for an hour and hopped on a bus for a six hour ride. Here's a picture from the bus stop where we had supper. But even after getting off that bus, we weren't there yet.

Next morning, we got in the back of a pick-up for a two hour ride to the ferry pier. There, we waited for two hours and then took a catamaran to Koh Tao. From there it was only another short truck ride to the beach we stayed on. Here's a picture of the beach. You tell me which is better.I suppose I could write about scuba diving in 29 C water with schools of fish circling me. I suppose I could mention the snorkeling, the beach bars, the mango shakes, the green curry or the banana pancakes. I even heard the song "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson while I was sitting tired from diving all afternoon logging my dive and having a beer!

Actually I have to include this link to the YouTube video of the pancake guy who was just up from the dive resort we hung out at. He was originally from Bangladesh by way of Myanmar to Thailand. He spoke 7 languages. He said that after the first four, it comes easy. He's more entertaining than in the video, but here you go: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=wGR2zJTbu7U

But if I went on much about the colour of the water or the palm trees swaying; if I talked too long about how the kids and I kept breaking into South Pacific songs; if I reveled in lying in a manicured jungle garden in a raised pagoda having a Thai massage, well... all of you who just had your own tropical holiday would be bored. And the rest of you in temperate climes would just be annoyed.

As a courtesy to you who don't get a week off in October, let me just tell you about our trip home. We left paradise at 3:30 on Saturday. First there was a 2 hour ferry ride followed by an 8 hour bus ride interrupted by one and a half hours in a truck stop for dinner. We arrived in Bangkok at 4:15 a.m., went to the airport to sleep and kill time. We flew out of there at 1:50 p.m. (on another flight to Nairobi by way of Hong Kong) and arrived in Hong Kong around five. Then we took the MTR across town, missed a ferry, waited at the ferry pier and got home at 8 p.m. Sunday after traveling for 29 hours. And they say Thailand is only a two hour flight away. I think I'm doing something wrong!

The Lamma Commute

I'm still taking a ferry to a bus every day even though I moved. We get up even earlier and stumble down the hill to the ferry pier. It's lined with the bicycles of all the people who converge each morning and evening for the commute. One of these pictures is of the weather before the typhoon. The other is after the typhoon cleared the air - I like typhoons not just for days off school.

The main difference in the commute this year is that it's an ugly ferry. Instead of comfortable airline-type seats we ride on vinyl in a dark box that smells like goats. The commute should be just as beautiful except the ferry line never cleans its windows. So there are many fewer opportunities to take pictures out of the windows. I get a shot every now and again, though.
The typhoon came on Tuesday last week. During the night it passed by, rattling the metal awning on my roof and making me nervous enough that I was glad a child joined me in bed. But nothing was damaged at our place and we got a day off school, but barely. The Hong Kong Observatory predicted it would lower the T8 flag between 6 and 7 a.m. That's the signal that closes schools and businesses. The timing of it was such that the Education Board cancelled school for the day rather than letting kids start the morning trip to school in a T8. But if the typhoon had passed one hour quicker we would have had to go to school. I had to take a kid into the doctor's, so this last picture is the remnants of the storm we got to travel through on our way to Hong Kong Island. It's hard for a camera to see the darkness of menace contrasted with the luminosity of the water stirred by storm but lit by sunlight.

Living on Lamma

Two Saturdays ago I moved into a new flat on Lamma Island. Lamma is known for its weed, its artists, its seafood and its expat hippies. I haven't encountered much of any of that so far, though I do know one cool artist who lives here.

Here are some pictures of my new place and my rooftop.

I am not yet happy with my commute. The connections are bad and the ferry is ugly and kind of stinky. If I get organized, though, I may get to take a very slow, non-air conditioned ferry straight from Aberdeen to Lamma. Last Thursday I did that for the first time. I got off at a tiny village before the main village and walked the 20 minutes home. It was very peaceful - green and overgrown. Unfortunately I have some sort of foot/ankle injury and can't enjoy the plentiful hikes and runs that are all around me yet. Inshallah soon.

But the rooftop...
The rooftop deserves its own post.

Joshua Tree

Despite this blog being about Hong Kong, I'm still not ready to face my commute and the bustle of the city. So I'm taking a moment to reminisce about one of my favourite parts of my summer - camping in Joshua Tree.

Joshua Tree has always been one of my favourite places on earth. It's much more than an album, though I do like that, too. From the time I was little, I went camping and rock climbing there, so I was appalled to realize that my kids hadn't experienced the same thing.

Granite, Kestrel and I went out in July for a few days. It's usually way too hot in the high desert that time of year, but it's still fun. I expected to spend the days lolling in the shade panting and then venturing out in the late evenings and early mornings just like the coyotes.

But we had the strangest weather and even got rained on. It made for a perfect, comfortable, relaxing trip. The kids got the idea perfectly: Granite lay about reading on the tops of rocks and Kestrel found little holes to hide and play in.

It was the first time I'd taken the kids camping by myself, and it turned out to be a triumph. We didn't have a very deluxe camp set-up, but I didn't expect any sort of weather. We saw lizards and ground squirrels, hawks, coyotes and lizards. We even saw big horn sheep, which I'd never seen before in all my years of visiting the park.

I took dozens of pictures of the world reflected in Granite's cool sunglasses, but only a few of the world in the side mirror while I was driving. It's always important to be safe.

Vietnam

The first two weeks of the summer, I traveled in Northern Vietnam. I've just recently started reading about what happened 40 years ago this summer in the war, but it is almost inconceivable that the terrors could have happened in the delightful country I visited. I wrote lots (way too much) about my trip and posted pictures on my trip blog. The link is in the side bar. I really recommend Vietnam for the great food and nice people, for the exotic and the picturesque.